Flight Safety Information July 4, 2017 - No. 133 Incident: Allegiant MD83 at Springfield on Jul 3rd 2017, engine shut down in flight Incident: LGW Walter DH8D at Florence and Dusseldorf on Jul 3rd 2017, burst tyre on departure AirAsia A-330 Diversion Due to Bird Strike (Australia) Cessna 208B Clipped Power Lines (Texas) U.K. pilots warn of disaster, seek tougher rules for drones Canada's new air safety changes great for pilots. But what about passengers? Icao experts arrive in Nepal to conduct air safety audit The widow of 2015 Flight For Life crash victim won't stop until helicopters are safer Nigerian appointed Vice President of international aviation organisation, ICAO Local aircraft company sued over fatal crash (Waco, TX) Aviation insurance sector analysis: Allianz exec Utah flight programs increase fleets, partner with airlines to meet 'insatiable' demand for pilots Air India was once the company that inspired Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific Incident: Allegiant MD83 at Springfield on Jul 3rd 2017, engine shut down in flight An Allegiant McDonnell Douglas MD-83, registration N864GA performing flight G4-679 from Springfield,MO to Orlando Sanford,FL (USA) with 153 people on board, was in the initial climb out of Springfield's runway 14 when the crew advised they might need to declare emergency, it looked like they lost an engine (JT8D). The aircraft stopped the climb at 3000 feet and began to position for an approach to Springfield's runway 14. The crew subsequently did declare an emergency advising it looked like they lost the left engine. The aircraft landed safely on Springfield's runway 14 about 30 minutes after departure and taxied to the apron. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAY679/history/20170703/1516Z/KSGF/KSFB http://avherald.com/h?article=4ab26539&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: LGW Walter DH8D at Florence and Dusseldorf on Jul 3rd 2017, burst tyre on departure A LGW Luftfahrtgesellschaft Walter de Havilland Dash 8-400 on behalf of Air Berlin, registration D-ABQK performing flight AB-8883 from Florence (Italy) to Dusseldorf (Germany), was enroute when the crew was informed that tyre debris had been found on the departure runway in Florence, that had been attributed to the Dash 8. The crew decided to continue to Dusseldorf, performed a low approach to Dusseldorf to have the tyres inspected from the ground. Still not being able to rule out the nose wheels could be affected, the crew entered a hold to prepare for an emergency landing. The aircraft landed safely about 30 minutes after the low approach. Emergency services found both nose tyres okay, however the right inboard main tyre was found deflated. http://avherald.com/h?article=4ab262da&opt=0 Back to Top AirAsia A-330 Diversion Due to Bird Strike (Australia) Date: 03-JUL-2017 Time: ca 23:00 LT Type: Airbus A330-343 Owner/operator: Air Asia X Registration: 9M-XXT C/n / msn: 1549 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 359 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Unknown Location: near Coolangatta-Gold Coast Airport, QLD (OOL) - Australia Phase: Initial climb Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Coolangatta-Gold Coast Airport, QLD (OOL/YBCG) Destination airport: Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL/WMKK) Narrative: Air Asia X flight D2207 diverted to Brisbane Airport, Australia after suffering a suspected bird strike to the no.2 engine after takeoff from Coolangatta-Gold Coast Airport. The aircraft, an Airbus A330-343, operated on a passenger service from Auckland, New Zealand to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with an en route stop at Coolangatta, Australia. The aircraft took off from runway 32 at Coolangatta Airport at 22:49 hours local time. After the suspected bird strike, the flight crew arrested the climb at 3800 feet. The flight then positioned for an approach to Bribane Airport, where a safe landing was carried out on runway 01 at 23:10 hours. Two bird remains were found on the runway at Coolangatta. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=196493 Back to Top Cessna 208B Clipped Power Lines (Texas) Date: 03-JUL-2017 Time: 18:00LT Type: Cessna 208B Cargomaster Owner/operator: Martinaire Registration: N9714B C/n / msn: 208B0153 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Highway 118, North of Alpine, TX - United States of America Phase: Take off Nature: Cargo Departure airport: E38 Destination airport: KMAF Narrative: A cargo plane crashed near Highway 118, clipped power lines, north of Alpine, TX while attempting to return to the airport, due to mechanical problems, following takeoff. The pilot of the plane was able to walk away but did go to the hospital and was expected to be alright. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=196503 Back to Top U.K. pilots warn of disaster, seek tougher rules for drones LONDON - The British Airline Pilots Association is warning of a looming catastrophe unless drones are subject to tougher regulations. The association demanded the compulsory registration of drones Monday after Gatwick Airport briefly closed its runway over safety concerns when a drone was spotted in the area. Authorities diverted four EasyJet flights. One British Airways flight was sent to Bournemouth Airport. The union's flight safety specialist, Steve Landells, says the incident shows "the threat of drones being flown near manned aircraft must be addressed before we see a disaster." There have been several near-misses between drones and aircraft in Britain, with sheer chance averting collision in some cases. Under British rules, a drone operator must be able to see it at all times and keep them away from planes, helicopters, airports and airfields. http://www.seattletimes.com/business/uk-pilots-warn-of-disaster-seek-tougher-rules-for- drones/ Back to Top Canada's new air safety changes great for pilots. But what about passengers? Ashley Nunes is an Atlanta-based researcher in transportation safety, regulatory affairs and behavioural economics. On Friday, Ottawa proposed changes to the nation's air safety rules. Under the new guidelines, pilot rest periods will increase and stricter limits will be placed on the length of time that a crew can be scheduled to work. According to Transport Minister Marc Garneau, this will foster greater public confidence that Canadian pilots are, "fit for duty." The move comes after vigorously lobbying by Canada's pilot unions. These organizations have, for years, lamented over the nation's supposedly outdated pilot scheduling practices. Their message? These practices are unsafe and place passengers' lives at risk. Their solution? Give pilots more down time to avoid fatigue on the job. The proposed rules do just that. Pilots will, under these rules, work less compared to years prior and get more time off. That's great for pilots. But what about passengers? Are we really guaranteed a safer flying experience because of these rules? The safety case for managing pilot fatigue is purportedly based on scientific studies. These studies - many of which were conducted in the 1980s - examined the impact of fatigue on everything from oxygen levels in the brain to short-term memory to muscle activity. The results laid the groundwork for global air safety regulations, including those proposed by Ottawa. Yet, despite international buy-in, how fatigue affects a pilot's flying ability remains unclear. That's because current fatigue science relies on basic laboratory tests as the measurement tool of choice. Perform well on one of these (it takes 10 minutes) and you're fine. Perform badly and you're fatigued. How well these tests predict actual flying ability is anyone's guess. It's never been really studied. Do fatigued pilots rush through safety checks? We don't know. Do they communicate incorrectly with air traffic controllers? We don't know. Are they more likely to deviate from company procedures? We don't know. This is worrying because technology can monitor every facet of a flight. From an airplane's height to its speed to how much gas it has in its tanks, thousands of bits of safety-related data can be, and indeed are, continuously recorded. If something is wrong, computers know about it. And if a fatigued pilot is doing something wrong, we should know about it. The fact that we don't raises questions about the effectiveness of Ottawa's legislative efforts. That's because claims of safer skies, courtesy of the new rules, are unverifiable. The data to substantiate these claims simply doesn't exist. There have been cases where improper rest has led to air safety incidents. For example, a weary Air Canada pilot once mistook the planet Venus for another aircraft on a collision course. To prevent the imaginary accident, the pilot forced his airplane - a Boeing 767 jetliner - into a 400-feet dive over the Atlantic. Fourteen passengers and two crew were injured. But fatigue-related incidents have also been reported when pilots are given sufficient rest. For example, in 2009, two pilots working a 51-minute flight between the Hawaiian Islands fell asleep halfway through the flight. The airplane flew some 40 kilometres past its landing spot before the pilots woke up and turned the plane around. Investigators found that the crew had been given enough rest before flying (in fact, nearly twice the amount required by law). A similar conclusion was reached in the aftermath of a 2013 crash in Birmingham, Alabama. Pilot unions quickly linked that crash to fatigue, arguing for more down time. But investigators noted this would not have changed the outcome. The plane would still have crashed. Reconciling these findings is not easy. But it is necessary. Legislative efforts to improve Canadian air safety must be driven by sound science: the type of science that holds up to scrutiny. The public should demand evidence that supports legislative proposals and Ottawa should be able to provide that evidence. More time off may make for a happier pilot. But a safer pilot? The jury is still out on that. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/canadas-new-air-safety-changes-are-great- for-pilots-but-what-about-passengers/article35533793/ Back to Top Icao experts arrive in Nepal to conduct air safety audit Aerial view of Tribhuwan International Airport in Nepal. PHOTO COURTESY: ADB A two-member expert team of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (Icao) arrived in Nepal on Sunday to monitor the status of corrective measures taken by Nepal to address significant safety concerns (SSC) related to operations and other aspects of the civil aviation sector. The United Nations aviation watchdog, Icao, monitors Nepal's aviation safety oversight capabilities through the Icao Coordinated Validation Missions (ICVM). The mission is generally invited by a state when it is fully confident that it has fully complied with international safety standards. Icao operation expert Captain Eugene Voudri and airworthiness expert Edmund Bohland will begin the much-needed audit of the country's civil aviation industry from Tuesday, said Rajan Pokhrel, deputy director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (Caan). The audit will end on July 11. Among eight critical elements of aviation safety-primary legislation, organisation and safety oversight functions, personnel licensing, aircraft operations, airworthiness of aircraft, aerodromes, air navigation system, and accident and incident investigation-four will be audited by the Icao experts. They are legislation, organisation, operations and airworthiness. "Icao did not consider it necessary to conduct audits in three areas-personnel licensing, navigation system and aerodromes-as our performance is sound," Pokhrel said. Accident and incident investigation did not come under the scope of audit due to unsatisfactory progress made by Nepal. In July 2013, an Icao mission visited Nepal to validate the corrective measures taken by the country to address the deficiencies pointed out by the global aviation watchdog in 2009. The mission carried out an on-site audit from July 10-16. Unsatisfied with Nepal's progress, the UN supervisory body had given the significant safety concern (SSC) tag to Nepal's aviation sector in its audit report in August 2013. It had raised the red flag on 'operations', among the eight critical elements of safety oversight, due to sharp rise in the number of air accidents and incidents between 2009 and 2012. In those years, at least two passenger aircraft had crashed per year. Since July last year, an Icao expert has been assisting Nepal on 'operations' front under Icao's Safety Fund that aims to improve civil aviation safety globally. Likewise, experts from the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) has been assisting Nepal to help strengthen its aviation safety oversight since May, as safety concerns have emerged as a key challenge for the burgeoning airline industry. The aviation regulator had revoked the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) of 42 airlines since the implementation of AOC-Requirement Regulation 2012. The Caan had issued or renewed AOCs of 19 different airlines in 2016. Among them, 10 are fixed-wing and nine are rotor wing or helicopter operators. "We are hopeful that Nepal's air safety credentials will be reinstated," said Pokhrel. "There could be some minor issues, but we don't foresee any major issue because a lot has already been implemented as compared to previous audits." Nepal had performed poorly in effectively implementation of air safety oversight systems, appearing way down on the safety list among 46 Asian countries. The 2013 audit report had pointed out that Nepal's score of 55.01 percent in effective implementation (EI) of critical elements of safety oversight system was way below the Asia and the Pacific average of 59.9 percent. The EI has now improved to 58.1 percent. After conducting the audit, the mission is expected to produce a preliminary report in September. Caan decided to invite the audit mission after getting the go-ahead from the Combined Action Team (CAT) of Icao's Asia and the Pacific office in Bangkok. A six-member CAT mission provided assistance to Caan from November 22-25 last year to evaluate Nepal's performance in air safety and make preparations prior to conducting the audit. International airlines and travellers hesitate to travel to a country whose air safety has been questioned by Icao. http://kathmandupost.ekantipur.com/news/2017-07-03/icao-experts-arrive-in-nepal-to- conduct-air-safety-audit.html Back to Top The widow of 2015 Flight For Life crash victim won't stop until helicopters are safer Since losing her husband Patrick in the 2015 Flight For Life helicopter crash, Karen Mahany has made federal aviation safety advocacy a primary mission of her life moving forward. This is the second installment of a two-part series remembering the 2015 Flight For Life helicopter crash. Part one, published on July 3, is available at SummitDaily.com. The feel of the wind on her face as she stood flat-footed, watching the wreckage burn - it's a sensation that returns whenever Karen Mahany remembers first reaching the scene of her husband's death. Only moments earlier, Flight For Life's Lifeguard 2 helicopter crashed next to St. Anthony Summit Medical Center in Frisco shortly after takeoff with 64-year-old Patrick Mahany at the controls. Flight nurses Matthew Bowe, 32, and Dave Repsher, 45, were also on board and both seriously injured when the aircraft abruptly tomahawked from out of the sky and back to the pavement on July 3, 2015. Nearby hospital staff would battle a mix of flames and emotion as they rapidly worked to get each member of the crew over to the emergency room. Through medical interventions, Patrick - a pilot with the organization since 1987 following a decorated Army career in Vietnam - held on long enough for his wife to race over from Dillon and tell her physically shattered husband it was all right if he let go, that she'd eventually find a way to be OK again. "That was so hard, but I knew I needed to do that for him because I didn't want him to worry about me," said Karen, who lost her husband not quite two weeks after their 12th wedding anniversary. "That has been so helpful moving forward that I didn't have any regrets. I mean, I wish he was here and we were on the lake waterskiing in Missouri. I hate that that's not happening, but there wasn't anything left (unsaid) between us." Rather than allow the crippling grief to win out, Karen has chosen a different path. Since that Friday afternoon, she's channeled her energy into research and meeting with members of Congress to lobby for improved aviation safety measures on helicopters just like the Airbus model AS350-B3e Patrick was piloting. The unshakeable aim for Karen, who met Patrick in her prior career as a flight nurse with Flight For Life for nearly eight years, has become preventing such a tragedy from ever happening again. "It would have been easy to just close the doors to my house and shut the world away and ignore it," she said. "But any time I see a helicopter that's gone down and there's been life lost, it's like I relive that day all over again, watching Patrick die. I don't want one more wife to have to bury her husband or one more flight crew to have to come to a funeral or have to do the bedside vigil." 'A TAILSPIN' The National Transportation Safety Board released its initial findings from the incident in March of this year at a hearing in Washington, D.C. The federal investigative agency that reviews civilian accidents blamed a hydraulic issue and the lack of a sufficient alert system to warn Mahany of the problem before the crash. The board also stated the accident was preventable and pilot error was a contributing element. Few questioned Patrick's abilities, but the document noted that had he performed a standard "hover check" during takeoff, he would likely have determined the complication before the helicopter begun spinning wildly. "I've seen him do just some crazy, incredible things with a helicopter," said Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons. "I've been out in the middle of nowhere and Pat's landing a frigging helicopter where no one else could have done it, and getting the rescue out there and picking up the subject that's injured. I've seen Pat put a skid on a rock on the side of a mountain while we load the helicopter, with the blades seemingly inches from a cliff face. So it makes no sense." The NTSB added that it was a survivable event, but absent a crash-resistant fuel system the chances escalated significantly for it to be fatal. Along with Repsher and his wife Amanda, Karen Mahany attended that meeting in the nation's capital. "They flat out said this was a survivable crash if it had the proper safety equipment," said Karen. "They said, 'He should be sitting here with you if the safety equipment was there,' and that sent me into a tailspin." That final report, with its concluding recommendations for the Federal Aviation Administration, has yet to be submitted, but Bowe and the Repshers wasted no time hiring attorneys and filing civil cases in Summit County District Court. In identical but separate lawsuits against Englewood, Colorado-based helicopter operator Air Methods Corporation and manufacturer Airbus Helicopters, they charge negligence and liability based on inadequate servicing and maintenance, and flawed design. That jury trial is set for next spring. "We want to share our heartfelt condolences with Patrick Mahany's family, friends and colleagues. And our thoughts and prayers are with Dave and Matt, and their families," Air Methods said in a statement released at the time of the legal filings. "In addition, we need to be respectful of the legal process. The safe return of each member of our crew and our patients is our highest priority." "Everyone at Airbus Helicopters, Inc. is extremely saddened by this accident and our thoughts continue to be with the medical crew and their families and the pilot's family," the manufacturer added in its own statement. While believing the litigation process needs to play itself out for Bowe and the Repshers, Karen felt circumstances were different for her. Once she was able to come to terms with her husband's death, she decided to increase air travel safety through legislation. SOLDIERING ON Karen, now a resident of Wheat Ridge, Colorado, and a nurse anesthetist, started with her own probe of federal aviation standards. She found that technologies already exist to help save flight crews in crashes, but because the FAA does not require them she believes manufacturers do not pursue installing them on their aircraft. She discovered a loophole in the language allows choppers built after 1994 to sidestep updated fuel systems. Then she began dialing the nation's representatives. From there, meetings scheduled with a group of U.S. senators on the topic, including John McCain, R-Arizona, and Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, produced the suggestion she attempt to gain bipartisan support through her state's congressmen. Karen contacted Colorado's senators and representatives and quickly started to gain some traction. In October 2015, Reps. Jared Polis and Ed Perlmutter together sent a letter to the FAA pushing for revisions to its helicopter fuel systems. They upped the ante in February 2016 by introducing a formal bill requiring newly manufactured copters to have the spill- resistant systems. That proposed legislation floundered last year, but the two U.S. representatives from Colorado have now followed it up with by introducing a new version as of five days ago as part of the FAA's reauthorization for funding. "It's a start," said Karen. "First you have to make sure that they're on the new aircraft that are being pumped out. It's a move in the direction of putting it out there that people know it's a problem - and it's not a problem, it's a massive problem." She's also met with the two U.S. senators from Colorado, Michael Bennet, a Democrat, and Cory Gardner, a Republican. Sen. Gardner is currently working on language that would mandate that helicopter manufacturers inform operators when retrofits are available to raise safety levels for crews and the patients they bring aboard. Karen Mahany is not stopping there. On top of addressing the fuel systems, she wants improvements made to helicopter structures as well as the seating and restraints - what she calls "the big three." Each was a factor in the injuries sustained by her husband, Bowe and Repsher. She hopes to inspire Congress to use tax incentives to get manufacturers behind adopting the changes. "I'm not going to stop until the structure, the seating and the fuel tanks are on all aircraft and crews are protected," she said. "That may be when I'm 95 if I'm still alive, but I hope not. It's like slogging through wet sand. But it keeps clicking forward and again, you have to make our congressmen want to do it. So I would rather keep it in the public eye than slink away and lick my wounds under a rock." Two years later, Karen desperately misses her husband, his blunt but convivial personality and his seemingly unending number of well-known "Mahanyisms." At the same time, she said she does not view herself as a tragic figure, but rather as one of the luckiest people in the world for having had Patrick in her life as long as she did. The desire to soldier on and continue living a life Patrick would be proud of, particularly on his beloved July 4 holiday, is what acts as her daily motivation and why she shows no signs of quitting. "I can't live with myself if in 10 years, there are more crashes and deaths of flight crews," said Karen. "It will destroy my soul, so for my own self I have to keep trying to do something about it and make it part of the public psyche that something gets done. Nothing happens quickly in government, and I know that, so I have to be persistent and just have to stay with this. It's given me a purpose and is done in Patrick's honor." http://www.summitdaily.com/news/local/the-widow-of-2015-flight-for-life-crash-victim- wont-stop-until-helicopters-are-safer/ Back to Top Nigerian appointed Vice President of international aviation organisation, ICAO ICAO president visits Nigeria, to meet with President BuhariICAO president visits Nigeria, to meet with President BuhariNigerian government to support ICAO president's second term bidNigerian government to support ICAO president's second term bidJonathan orders priority attention for second Abuja airport runwayJonathan orders priority attention for second Abuja airport runwayWe need to reestablish Nigeria's integrity --BuhariWe need to reestablish Nigeria's integrity --BuhariEx-Minister Babalola Borishade is deadEx-Minister Babalola Borishade is dead The International Civil Aviation Organisation, ICAO, Council has elected a Nigerian representative, Musa Nuhu, as the Second Vice-President of the Council. Mr. Nuhu was appointed during the last meeting of the recently concluded 211th Session of ICAO Council, which held on June 30 at its headquarters in Montreal, Canada. Mr. Nuhu's election is in compliance with the Rules of Procedure for the Council (ICAO Doc 7559/10). The tenure is a one-year term for the elected Vice President. According to the Rules of Procedure for the Council, Rule 10 states that: "In the absence of the President, the First Vice-President, the Second Vice-President or the Third Vice- President in that order shall exercise the functions vested in the President by these Rules of Procedure." Mr. Nuhu started his career as an Airline Pilot with defunct Nigeria Airways Ltd, before serving for over 15 years as a captain and Safety Officer with Presidential Air Fleet. He ventured into the private sector for 10 years as an Airline Captain, Safety Officer and Chief Pilot. He was Technical Assistant to the Minister of State Aviation, Hadi Sirika, before his appointment as the representative of Nigeria on ICAO Council. In addition to Airline Transport Pilot License, Mr. Nuhu holds the International Aviation MBA Degree from Concordia University Montreal, Canada. He also obtained several professional and managerial certificates in Aviation Safety, Aircraft Accident Investigation, Audit, Quality Management Systems amongst others. Mr. Nuhu is a member of several professional organisations including the renowned Royal Aeronautical Society, London, UK. http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/235757-nigerian-appointed-vice- president-international-aviation-organisation-icao.html Back to Top Local aircraft company sued over fatal crash (Waco, TX) The son of a Maryland couple who died in a plane crash in Wyoming in July 2015 is suing a local aircraft maintenance firm that reportedly overhauled the aircraft's engines. Christopher Stubbs of Maryland, son of Gerald and Diane Stubbs, is seeking more than $1 million in damages in his lawsuit, filed Friday in Waco's 414th State District Court against RAM Aircraft. Gerald Stubbs, 69, a biologist for the Environmental Protection Agency, and his wife of 47 years, Diane Stubbs, an attorney with the Department of Energy, died in the crash. Also killed were Diane Stubbs' brother, Don Scott, who was the pilot, and his friend, Joyce Bartoo. The Stubbses lived in Annapolis, Maryland, while Scott and Bartoo lived in Washington, D.C. Engine work According to the lawsuit, RAM, an aircraft maintenance firm with headquarters at Waco Regional Airport, "received, removed, overhauled, modified, inspected and reinstalled" the twin engines of the Cessna T310 aircraft in May 2009. Phone messages seeking comment on the lawsuit left for RAM corporate officers and RAM attorney Robin Baird were not returned Monday. The suit, filed on the Stubbses' behalf by Dallas attorney Ladd Sanger, alleges the plane's two engines "and/or their components, accessories and systems were maintained, troubleshot, repaired, serviced, overhauled, installed, inspected, modified, and/or replaced by RAM." "Records of the accident aircraft reveal that on or about the time that RAM completed its work on the engines on the accident aircraft, Defendant RAM certified that the engines, including the overhauled turbocharger, were airworthy and safe for flight," the suit claims. That work was done in May 2009, according to the suit. "On July 18, 2015, the accident aircraft was not airworthy nor was it safe for flight," the suit alleges. Flight to Colorado Two days before, the two couples left Colorado for a pleasure trip that was scheduled to end in Colorado on July 21, 2015, the suit says. On July 17, 2015, the plane made a stop at the Sheridan County Airport in Wyoming and took off from there the next morning. The four flew over Yellowstone National Park and experienced left engine failure while the aircraft was about 15,000 feet above sea level and less than 3,000 feet above a nearby mountain peak. Scott lost control of the plane, and it crashed and burst into flames. Negligence claims The lawsuit claims RAM was negligent in its work on the plane, breached its warranty to provide proper services and equipment, and negligently misrepresented the quality of its work. A fourth cause of action alleges RAM acted "recklessly, outrageously, willfully and wantonly, and, in dereliction of their responsibilities, failed to correct or warn of said defects and deficiencies and the likelihood of serious personal injury and/or death." It was reported in an article published May 26, 2016, in the Powell (Wyoming) Tribune that National Transportation Safety Board investigators determined a failed left engine likely caused the crash, but they were unable to determine why it failed. http://www.wacotrib.com/news/courts_and_trials/local-aircraft-company-sued-over-fatal- crash/article_716bcbf2-4fb9-5e33-b0bd-9d69521c67fa.html Back to Top Aviation insurance sector analysis: Allianz exec Aviation insurance sector analysis: Allianz exec The aviation insurance industry, like other sectors, is facing a number of challenges - but some of those could be become positives for the right markets. Mike Hansen, who was recently promoted from heading North American aviation to the global head of aviation for Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty, said the soft market has been difficult for aviation, but as companies enhance and specify their offerings, their performance and results could become a differentiator in the market. "From an insurance market perspective, this has been the longest soft market - pretty much 12-13 years and counting - that I have experienced in my 35 years in the business as a broker and underwriter," Hansen said. "While the investments made by the industry [in terms of aviation safety] have, without a doubt, improved the frequency of losses over time, the cost of repair and replacement of equipment has increased and, in an increasingly global world, the cost of settling liability claims wherever they occur continues to rise. "The issue we face as a market is that we are barely covering the cost of the attritional claims and our own internal costs with the premium volume in the market. There is little being put in the pot for the larger or cat type events." So while market has been stretched, Hansen said aviation insurance clients should begin to notice changes in coverage amongst carriers - and that should separate the good from the bad. "Over the last few years, the increase in exposures has mostly been absorbed within the existing premium base," Hansen said. "This is not a situation that is sustainable and if we are to continue to survive as a robust, vibrant and competitive market for our clients then we need to address the premium base we trade off. "Considering the limited size of our market compared to the wider P&C world, we offer some of the broadest and most extensive coverage in the insurance industry which we are rightly proud of - for example, a major airline has circa $2 billion of liability coverage every time an aircraft takes off - however, that is a monumental transfer of risk from our clients' balance sheet on to ours and therefore we need to reflect that in the premiums we charge and the cost of both capital (financial and intellectual) we need to deploy to achieve this outcome. "Market forces will obviously dictate the speed and scale of that change, but we are encouraged that clients are starting to differentiate more clearly between the leading markets who provide global footprints to meet their needs, strong balance sheets, excellent ratings and, more importantly, a strong team of people in all regions and those that may view this market more as a diversification and index play. I foresee greater dislocation in this regard which ultimately should be a positive for us as a market and for our clients." http://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/news/breaking-news/aviation-insurance- sector-analysis-allianz-exec-72063.aspx Back to Top Utah flight programs increase fleets, partner with airlines to meet 'insatiable' demand for pilots SR 20 Cirrus plane used in the Southern Utah University Flight School Bracing for a potential surge of aviation students, Southern Utah University this year spent about $3.8 million on 10 new Cirrus airplanes. Utah State University officials, feeling the strain of burgeoning flight enrollment a year earlier, paid about $806,000 for four gently used planes. The investments are examples of how Utah universities are responding to the growing demand for pilot training - a positive trend in an industry that anticipates needing 617,000 commercial airline pilots by 2035, according to worldwide aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing. "This is a very exciting time; airplane pilot demand is insatiable," said Mike Mower, executive director of SUU's aviation program. Boeing's 2016 Pilot and Technician Outlook report attributes the increased demand to economic expansion across the globe, with airlines growing their fleets and flight schedules to accommodate it. Though most pilots will be needed in the Asia Pacific region, the U.S. also is preparing for a shortage. "Meeting this demand will require innovative solutions - focused on educational outreach and career pipeline programs - to inspire the next generation of pilots, technicians, and cabin crew," the report states. Growing the fleet * In the four years that SUU has operated an aviation program, Mower has watched the popularity of the university's flight school steadily increase, he said. The school has always leased planes for student use and last semester had three. But when school officials realized fall semester enrollment for the whole program could increase 50 percent compared to spring - to nearly 300 students from about 200 - Mower said it became clear they needed to grow their fleet. The leased planes were costly to maintain and needed frequent repairs, said Ellen Treanor, university spokeswoman. They also did not have advanced safety features - such as on-board, deployable parachutes and cockpit airbags - the school desired, she said. A lease agreement obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune showed that, for at least one of the planes leased last school year, officials were required to pay $250 each month, plus $50 per hour of use. The school must pay for a minimum of 50 hours each month regardless of usage, the agreement states, and cover all maintenance and insurance costs. Officials opted to purchase 10 new planes at about $385,000 each, for a total of about $3.8 million, according to the purchasing contract. The school aims to have 10 students assigned to one airplane, Treanor said, and the new planes will help them reach that ratio in the fall. Utah State's aviation program also is facing an increase in students - with fall semester enrollment expected to reach 400. This growth, in part, prompted USU officials to purchase four planes in 2016 - bringing their total fleet to 19, said Andreas Wesemann, the pilot program director. But the school opted to purchase used planes that had clocked low air time, Wesemann said, In total, those planes cost about $806,000, according to the school. "They fit our needs well ... we got them cheaper than new, but got a good value," he said. Partnering with airlines * Chip Childs, president and CEO of Utah-based SkyWest, in March described to Congress a scenario in which two-thirds of the U.S. regional airline fleet could be grounded. It could happen, Childs told a U.S. House of Representatives panel, if airlines don't figure out how to bring in 18,000 new pilots in the next three years. It's a trend that leaves officials with SkyWest and other airlines concerned. Part of the problem, Childs added, is that pilot programs have historically been very expensive. Though flight lab fees at SUU can vary, Mower said students can expect to pay $15,000 each semester, on top of tuition. Aviation students at Westminster College, a private Salt Lake City school, can spend $100,000 to $150,000 on their flight training, said Gail Avendano, director of aviation student support . Some airlines, such as SkyWest, offer scholarships to promising students and have bridge programs with schools, including SUU, USU, Westminster and Utah Valley University. In SkyWest's program, students enter mentorships and can receive enhanced seniority and benefits when they are hired by the airline, said Marissa Snow, spokeswoman for the airline. "It's a clear path for aspiring pilots to come to SkyWest," Snow said. SkyWest also has a tuition reimbursement program set up with SUU, she added. These partnerships are making programs more enticing to students, Avendano said, and Westminster has seen that reflected in its enrollment. Last semester, 85 students trained in Westminster's 12 planes, but Avendano said the school is expecting even more fall semester. The school can accept 125 students, so Avendano said it has not yet needed to create a wait list. UVU already has a waiting list for fall semester, said Ryan Tanner, coordinator for aviation recruiting at Utah Valley. With its 23 planes, UVU can accept up to 200 students. Students applying now are being told they can't start flying until spring 2018, he added. Officials do not plan to purchase more planes. Instead, Tanner said, the school is discussing making it more difficult to get into the program, such as increasing the grade point average requirement. Dealing with this kind of a problem is new in the nearly 30 years of UVU's program. "We have a lot of airlines approaching us - that's never happened before," Tanner said. "They're asking, 'What can we do to make ourselves more attractive to your graduates?' http://www.sltrib.com/home/5346697-155/utah-flight-programs-increase-fleets-partner Back to Top Air India was once the company that inspired Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific In the early 1970s, the government of Singapore, led by prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, had a great idea. In order to attract investment into the little island nation, it thought of starting an international airline that would act as a kind of flying advertisement for Singapore and its world-class capabilities. It would do this by demonstrating to decision- makers around the world a level of excellence that that they had never experienced from the top global airlines of the time. It was a brilliant idea, but this new Singapore Airlines would obviously need to collaborate with an existing airline from which it would acquire the necessary know-how and service standards. The question was, which airline could that be? The authorities made a shortlist of the world's best airlines, and finally zeroed in on one of them. And that airline, believe it or not, was Air India. Anthony Sampson, in his best-selling book, Empires of the Sky-The Politics, Contests and Cartels of World Airlines, devotes a chapter to how Asian carriers like Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, and Thai Airways began to dominate the skies in the 1970s by redefining the concept of service. But the very first Asian airline to do so, Samson notes, was Air India, which provided the inspiration for all the others, right from the 1940s. Delivering letters from Karachi to Chennai Air India had a curious beginning. In the early 1930s, airmail letters from Europe to India were unloaded from international airlines in Karachi. This mail was then sent on to its intended destination by train-a process that could take several days. A former Royal Air Force pilot named Nevill Vintcent had an idea: What if someone set up an air service that could pick up the mail from Karachi and deliver it to its destination the same day? Vintcent took the idea to JRD Tata, the 25-year-old scion of the Tata family and an aviation freak (as a child in France, his family had been neighbours of Louis Bleriot, a legendary pioneer of aviation, and the young JRD had been given his first flight by none other than Adolphe Pegoud, the world's first fighter ace in World War I, and the first man ever to accomplish the aerobatic maneuver called "loop the loop"). Thus, in 1932, JRD Tata and Vintcent started Tata Air Mail. They had two little Puss Moth aircraft, which could fly at 100 mph, carrying a consignment of mail, as well as two passengers; the only equipment was a pair of goggles and an old-fashioned slide rule to help the pilot navigate. Tata Air Mail's first flight took off on Oct. 15, 1932. JRD Tata carried the mail from Karachi to Bombay, and then Vintcent took over to carry the remaining mail from Bombay to Madras. (Interestingly, that first flight was delayed by a month because unseasonal rains had flooded the mud-flat runaway in Bombay, and they had to wait until it had dried completely.) An advertisement for Tata Airlines circa 1939. (Author provided) The infant airline had a staff of two pilots, three ground engineers, four coolies, and two chowkidars, and it did the Karachi-Bombay-Madras run every Monday, stopping for the night at Bellary en route-a 28-hour journey in all. In its first year, Tata Air Mail made a profit of Rs60,000, carrying a total of 10 tonnes of mail, as well as 155 passengers (it would be fascinating to know who these intrepid early passengers were, but, alas, there is no record of their names). In a couple of years it extended its service to Delhi (via Indore, Bhopal, and Gwalior), Hyderabad, Goa, and Colombo, and in 1938, it changed its name to Tata Airlines. tata air lines Malabar Princess flies to London The next stage of the airline's evolution came in 1946. JRD Tata, looking at the post- WWII world, saw huge possibilities for the airline industry. He therefore took the company public, changed its name to Air India, and acquired a sizeable fleet of aircraft-the pride of which was a Lockheed Constellation, one of the most advanced aircraft of its time with a range capable of international flights, which was named "Malabar Princess." At five minutes past midnight on June 8, 1948, the Malabar Princess took off from the Santa Cruz airport, Bombay, on its first international flight to London, via Cairo and Geneva. On board were 35 passengers, including Duleepsinhji, the famous cricketer; Krishna Menon, the high commissioner to the UK; several Bombay industrialists, including Neville Wadia, Narottam Lalbhai, and Fazal Fazelbhoy and their families; as well as two Indian cyclists on their way to the London Olympics. The fare, interestingly, was the princely sum of Rs1,720. The entire Air India crew had rigorously rehearsed for months, flying dummy runs to various international routes under JRD Tata's meticulous eye for detail, so, not surprisingly, the Malabar Princess landed in London on the dot. "Set your watches, boys, we are right on schedule," said JRD Tata to the press as he stepped off the aircraft. Over the next 30 years, Air India became known to the cognoscenti as one of the world's finest airlines. It may have been small compared with its giant global competitors, but it had the kind of service that the other airlines talked about with admiration and envy. Just one example of this was the fact that when in the 1950s, BOAC (later British Airways) introduced a jet service that cut a few hours off the trip, people still preferred to fly by Air India's slower propeller-driven aircraft, simply because of the way they were pampered on board. But Air India's finest service probably was on its trans-Atlantic flights, where it took great pleasure in stealing passengers away from its American and European competitors. And long before Singapore Airlines created an icon of its "Singapore Girl" in her silk sarong-kebaya, Air India had made an icon of its air-hostesses in their exotic silk saris. For example, in the 1960s, the heyday of the miniskirt, an Air India ad in the US showed an air hostess in a sari, with the tongue-in-cheek line: "3, 4, maybe 5 times longer than a mini-skirt." JRD Tata's microscope One of the main reasons behind Air India's superlative service was JRD Tata himself, who (in the nicest possible way) used to micro-manage everything. He was notorious, for example, for wandering about on flights, making notes of tiny details that needed to be fixed, from the level to which the wine was poured into a wineglass to the hairstyles of the air hostesses. If he saw a dirty airline counter he would shame everyone by requesting a duster and wiping it himself and, on at least one occasion, he rolled up his sleeves and helped the crew clean a dirty aircraft toilet. It was his eye for microscopic detail that inspired (and terrified) the Air India staff into performing way beyond the ordinary call of duty. And that, ultimately, was what made the airline what it was. For JRD Tata it was entirely "a labour of love", as he once said, because by then Air India had been nationalised, and the only personal stake he had in it was an emotional one. He may have been chairman of the Tata group, but he spent most of his time not on any of the Tatas' own companies, but on the airline he had created and nurtured. And that is why when, in 1978, JRD Tata was humiliatingly sacked by prime minister Morarji Desai, the nation was outraged, because Air India was, at that time, a matter of deep national pride. (The main issue apparently was that the puritanical Morarji had issued a diktat that no alcohol was to be served on board Air India, and JRD had objected strongly, saying that was no way to run an international airline.) JRD Tata was, of course, later reappointed to the Air India board by Indira Gandhi, when she came back as prime minister, but the descent of Air India had begun. Now that the government has finally okayed the airline's disinvestment, one hopes that the Tatas (or Indigo, or whoever else takes it over) will soon be able to steer it back to its former position in the global airline industry. If nothing else, it could be, as the canny Lee Kuan Yew realised long ago, a great flying advertisement for the country, rather than the equivalent of an anti-smoking ad, specially designed to put you off. https://qz.com/1021026/air-india-was-once-the-company-that-inspired-singapore- airlines-and-cathay-pacific/ Curt Lewis