Flight Safety Information July 6, 2017 - No. 135 Incident: ANZ B772 over Tasman Sea on Jul 5th 2017, captain incapacitated Incident: Map AT42 near Belem on Jul 4th 2017, dropped panel in flight A340 Tire Burst on Landing Senate ignores Trump, moves bill that keeps FAA intact Deputy FAA Chief Reaffirms 2020 ADS-B Mandate Airbus Signs 140 Aircraft Deal With China All you need to know about safety measures at Buddha Air Incident: ANZ B772 over Tasman Sea on Jul 5th 2017, captain incapacitated An ANZ Air New Zealand Boeing 777-200, registration ZK-OKC performing flight NZ-87 (dep Jul 4th) from Auckland (New Zealand) to Hong Kong (China), was enroute at FL340 over the Tasman Sea about 850nm northnorthwest of Auckland when the crew in consultation with doctors decided to return to Auckland due to the captain feeling increasingly unwell. The aircraft returned to Auckland for a safe landing about 2 hours later. Passengers reported a call for a doctor on board occurred about 30 minutes into the flight. About 2 hours after departure the aircraft turned around and returned to Auckland. The airline reported the captain was taking a scheduled rest and was not at the controls when the decision was taken to return to Auckland. http://avherald.com/h?article=4ab3b04c&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Map AT42 near Belem on Jul 4th 2017, dropped panel in flight A Map Linhas Aereas Avions de Transport Regional ATR-42-300, registration PR-MPN performing flight PAM-5952 from Altamira,PA to Belem,PA (Brazil) with 24 passengers and 4 crew, was in the initial descent when the crew noticed unusual drag. The crew continued the flight for a safe landing in Belem. An inspection of the aircraft revealed parts of a panel just underneath the right hand wing root had departed the aircraft in flight resulting in noticeable drag. http://avherald.com/h?article=4ab3ae59&opt=0 Back to Top A340 Tire Burst on Landing Date: 06-JUL-2017 Time: 09:45am Type: Airbus A340-311 Owner/operator: Mahan Air Registration: EP-MMB C/n / msn: 056 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Minor Location: Düsseldorf Int. DUS/EDDL - Germany Phase: Landing Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Teheran IKA/OIIE Destination airport: Dusseldorf DUS/EDDL Narrative: Left main gear tyre burst during roll-out after landing on runway 05L, flight IRM100. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=196534 Back to Top Senate ignores Trump, moves bill that keeps FAA intact An air traffic controller works at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey in May 2015. (Julio Cortez/Associated Press) The Senate on Thursday ignored President Trump's desire to lop more than 30,000 workers from the federal payroll, approving legislation that protects the Federal Aviation Administration from being split in two. Trump endorsed with great fanfare this month a House plan to spin off air traffic controllers and close to 20,000 other workers into a nonprofit private corporation. Flanked by several former secretaries of transportation at a White House ceremony, Trump said: "The previous administration spent over $7 billion trying to upgrade the system and totally failed. Honestly, they didn't know what the hell they were doing, a total waste of money." But an increasingly independent Senate, emboldened by Trump's legislative failures, opted to disregard the White House push to privatize the controllers and those working on modernizing the aviation system. [Who's afraid of Trump? Not enough Republicans - at least for now.] "I remain open to moving the FAA's functions into a not-for-profit nongovernment body, but I also appreciate that sincerely held concerns exist," Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said Thursday as his committee approved a bill that would keep the FAA intact. "I hope and expect that we will consider this proposal more fully as the bill advances." Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) speaks during a weekly news conference after a policy luncheon on Capitol Hill on June 13. (Zach Gibson/Getty Images) The committee's ranking Democrat, Sen. Bill Nelson (Fla.), was blunter: "The support is not there on this committee or in the Senate." In talking with reporters last week, Thune acknowledged the lack of committee support, adding, "If that issue were to get addressed, it would probably have to be on the [Senate] floor or in conference." The bipartisan Thune-Nelson bill requires greater accountability by the FAA on the much- criticized pace of the modernization program known as NextGen. It also includes new protections for airline passengers, deals with safety and privacy issues in the use of drones, and increases airport funding. Airlines would be required to refund services, such as early boarding and seat assignments, that the passengers do not ultimately receive. Addressing another passenger complaint - shrinking seat sizes - the bill asks the FAA to review the safety implications of seat size. With Congress facing a Sept. 30 deadline to approve FAA funding authorization, the privatization proposal is a big hurdle in an otherwise bipartisan agreement. The House Transportation Committee on Tuesday approved an authorization bill that would create the nonprofit private corporation. [House Committee approves spinoff of 30,000 workers from federal payroll] At issue is the FAA's handling of the $36 billion NextGen program. Often described as a "GPS-based system," it is a far more complicated system that would move U.S. aviation into the 21st century. But Congress has grown increasingly frustrated with the FAA's progress amid regular critical reports from oversight agencies. Critics of the privatization plan argue that the corporation's board would come to be dominated by the airlines, and they fear that this domination would come at the expense of those who operate small planes and corporate jets. More significantly, they worry that airline dominance would diminish service to smaller airports and those in remote, rural areas. The proposal to break off more than half of the FAA's workforce has divided the two unions that represent most of the workers "Severing air traffic control from the federal government is an unnecessary undertaking for a system that is not broken," Mike Perrone, president of the 11,000-member Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said in a statement Wednesday. "We believe that our national airspace system is a complex entity that works for all users of the system today because of its public structure and accountability to Congress and the American people." That position is counterbalanced by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), which has almost 20,000 members and supports the House bill. "After extremely careful review, consideration and deliberation, we have decided to support the bill because it fully aligns with NATCA's policies, practices and core principles," said NATCA President Paul Rinaldi. "This bill protects our workforce - including pay, benefits, retirement and collective bargaining rights." https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/senate-ignores-trump- moves-bill-that-keeps-faa-intact/2017/06/29/76e0488c-5ccf-11e7-a9f6- 7c3296387341_story.html?utm_term=.24cc5dfb93a4 Back to Top Deputy FAA Chief Reaffirms 2020 ADS-B Mandate The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) welcomed the newly appointed FAA deputy administrator's reaffirmation of the 2020 deadline for ADS-B. In one of his first public addresses as FAA deputy administrator, Daniel Elwell told the NextGen Advisory Committee (NAC) meeting last week, "You have heard my predecessors say this before, and I will continue to communicate this important message: The ADS- B OUTut equipage mandate will not change. The December 31, 2019 date is firm." Elwell is the designated federal official on the NAC, which is chaired by FedEx president and COO Dave Bronczek. The latest NAC meeting, held June 28 in Memphis, also addressed priorities for improving Northeast corridor operations, space-based ADS-B in FAA-controlled oceanic airspace, DataComm, mixed equipage and implementation of certain NextGen capabilities such as wake recategorization and PBN. Elwell's pledge to stick by the 2020 deadline followed concerns of General Aviation Caucus co-chair Sam Graves (R-Missouri) that general aviation might need to ask for an extension. Graves pointed to the backlog of aircraft that still must equip and referred to the limited capacity to accommodate those aircraft and said, "The numbers don't work." But at this point, both GAMA and AOPA continue to back the deadline. "We are supportive of ADS-B equipage and encourage pilots to do so to meet the 2020 mandate," AOPA said last week. "The 2020 mandate remains in place, and GAMA supports it," GAMA added. Following Elwell's remarks, GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce further stated, "We have confirmed across the full spectrum of general aviation associations that our industry strongly supports air traffic control modernization to include having the ADS- B OUT mandate stand firm. We look forward to working with the deputy administrator to facilitate accelerated equipage rates for fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft as the mandate deadline approaches." https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2017-07-05/deputy-faa- chief-reaffirms-2020-ads-b-mandate Back to Top Airbus Signs 140 Aircraft Deal With China Airbus has signed an agreement to supply 140 aircraft to China in a deal worth over USD$22 billion at list prices. The general terms agreement, signed with the China Aviation Supplies Holding Company (CAS), is for 100 A320-family aircraft and 40 A350s. The aircraft will be bought on behalf of several Chinese airlines. The agreement was signed in Berlin by Airbus chief executive Tom Enders and CAS executive VP Sun Bo, during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Airbus said the global passenger aircraft fleet with capacity of more than 100 seats will double in the next 20 years to over 40,000 planes, with traffic forecast to grow at 4.4 percent per year. China is set to become the world's largest market, according to the Airbus Global Market Forecast for 2017-2036. http://news.airwise.com/story/airbus-signs-140-aircraft-deal-with-china Back to Top All you need to know about safety measures at Buddha Air KATHMANDU, July 6: News on flight safety hovers around the Nepali media constantly, with frequent unfortunate news. As many airlines have made their flight in Nepal, both in domestic and international scope, among the few reliable domestic airlines, Buddha Air tops the list. We conducted a poll among 100 passengers and 80 of them voted Buddha as the safest, among others. Here, we wanted to know the secret, we paid them a visit, and now sharing you 'the how'. Since 1997, Buddha Air has been a regular name for Nepali sky, and as of now, two Beechcraft 1900D, three ATR 72-500 and three ATR 42-300 aircrafts make its fleet, flying to over 13 domestic and international destinations. As the number of years in experience and aircrafts has gone up, we found out that Buddha maintains a standard flight operation system. Flight Operations at Buddha Air is guided by the operation manual to ensure safe and smooth operation. To provide the customers with safe, efficient and comfortable service, Buddha Air has put Safety Management System (SMS) in place which helps monitor, identify and implement the safety standards. For this reason, it maintains an average of 60 hours flight time per crew per week even if the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal's (CAAN) limitation is 100 hours per month. This ensures that the crew is well rested and free of stress which decreases the likelihood of making mistakes during the flight which in turn improves the safety. Every crew is provided with the training that exceeds the requirements set by the CAAN. For example, CAAN requires the crew to have at least 60 minutes of PPC (Pilot Proficiency Check) training every 6 months but Buddha Air steps it up a notch and provides the total of 4 hours of PPC training to the crew every six months. Each crew also gets flight emergency simulation training. While other airlines perform these training simulations here in Nepal, Buddha Air conducts all of its training simulations abroad where the crew gets better training. The management also conducts different trainings and briefings throughout the year. One of them is "the Pre-monsoon Briefing" which is conducted every year for all the crew members before the start of the monsoon to ensure additional safety measures. Other employees from flight operations department are also provided with a proper training based on their job descriptions. Buddha Air has Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) system in place which allows it monitor the activities of its aircrafts during the flight. It routinely captures and analyses the recorder data which is then used to identify the risks and take appropriate safety measures. In- depth analysis of the data obtained from the FDM system can be used to assess the performance of the crew or to find a safety precaution for future events. To ensure further operational safety, Buddha Air has been conducting internal safety audits. Ten auditors from Buddha Air have been certified by IATA (International Air Transport Association) to perform corporate quality assurance of all the departments of the company. The auditors provide a report to the management after the completion of the audit which then takes necessary actions based on the recommendation provided by the auditors. It usually means that the concern regarding safety in all the departments will be addressed. "We put the safety first, and hence we leave no issue uncheck to maximize the safety", says U.K. Shrestha, Chief Operation Engineering. "Buddha Air recently built its own closed door hangar as well. It is equipped with a maintenance facility, which is the first of its kind in Nepal. Rather than flying its aircrafts abroad for maintenance, it can now be done here in Nepal", adds Shrestha. Having access to this kind of facility on top of regular audits ensures that the safety in flight operations is not compromised. http://www.myrepublica.com/news/23217/ Curt Lewis