Flight Safety Information July 28, 2017 - No. 151 In This Issue Incident: Westjet B738 at Los Angeles on Jul 24th 2017, wake turbulence in initial climb from A321 Incident: Avianca A332 near San Salvador on Jul 17th 2017, engine shut down in flight Incident: Smartwings A320 at Bourgas on Jul 18th 2017, runway excursion on landing due to hydraulic failure Incident: Sun Express Deutschland B738 over Slovakia on Jul 24th 2017, loss of communication Embraer ERJ-190LR (ERJ-190-100 LR) Birdstrike (Frankfurt) Airbus A320-232 Hail Damage (Istanbul) Plane nearly ran out of fuel after pilots forgot to bring up landing gear Marine Corps grounds KC-130T aircraft in wake of deadly crash Jakarta's air traffic controllers reassigned over safety concerns United Airlines pilots getting angrier about Norwegian Air's operating tactics Already? Airbus delivers its 100th A350 widebody jet NASA Will Chase August Solar Eclipse With Two Jet Planes Qatar Airways Sticks to Jet Orders Despite Crisis New Space Station Crew Launches on Soyuz Rocket Today: Watch It Live ISASI 2017, San Diego CA...August 22 - 24. 2017 GRADUATE RESEARCH REQUEST (SURVEY) Incident: Westjet B738 at Los Angeles on Jul 24th 2017, wake turbulence in initial climb from A321 A Westjet Boeing 737-800, registration C-GWSX performing flight WS-1513 from Los Angeles,CA (USA) to Calgary,AB (Canada) with 138 passengers and 6 crew, was in the initial climb between 500 feet AGL and 900 feet AGL out of Los Angeles' runway 24L when the aircraft encountered turbulence causing an uncommanded roll and the autopilot to disconnect. The crew took manual control, corrected the roll, notified ATC and continued the flight to destination for a safe landing. The Canadian TSB reported the turbulence was caused by wake vortices from a preceding departing Airbus A321. ATC had correctly applied separation between both aircraft. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/WJA1513/history/20170724/1545Z/KLAX/CYYC http://avherald.com/h?article=4ac2e1a8&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Avianca A332 near San Salvador on Jul 17th 2017, engine shut down in flight An Avianca Airbus A330-200, registration N973AV performing flight AV-72 from Bogota (Colombia) to Mexico City (Mexico), was enroute at FL400 about 130nm westnorthwest of San Salvador (El Salvador) when the crew needed to shut the right hand engine (Trent 772) down. The aircraft turned around, drifted down to FL250 and diverted to San Salvador for a safe landing on runway 07 about 55 minutes later. Colombia's AIB rated the occurrence a serious incident and opened an investigation. http://avherald.com/h?article=4ac2dfa8&opt= Back to Top Incident: Smartwings A320 at Bourgas on Jul 18th 2017, runway excursion on landing due to hydraulic failure after touchdown A Smartwings Airbus A320-200, registration SX-ORG performing flight QS-1482 from Brno (Czech Republic) to Bourgas (Bulgaria) with 178 passengers and 6 crew, performed a VOR approach to Bourgas' runway 04 maintaining routine communication, tower reported winds from 300 degrees at 4 knots, and touched down on the runway at 08:47L (05:47Z) but veered right off the runway and came to a stop with all gear on soft ground about 1900 meters/6300 feet down the runway. After coming to a stop the crew radioed they needed assistance, they had a hydraulic problem after landing, the nose wheel steering went inoperative, they wanted to evacuate the aircraft via stairs. The passengers disembarked onto soft ground via mobile stairs. No injuries are being reported. Bourgas Airport reported the aircraft was off the runway, however, there were no injuries. The airport was closed until the aircraft could be moved off the runway. Aircraft were being redirected to Varna Airport. On Jul 27th 2017 Bulgaria's AAIU reported the aircraft performed a VOR approach to runway 04. After touchdown, during roll out, the green hydraulic system failed causing the loss of nose wheel steering. The aircraft veered right off the runway and came to a stop about 30 meters/100 feet from the right runway edge with all gear on soft ground. The passengers disembarked via mobile stairs. The occurrence was rated a serious incident and is being investigated by the AAIU. http://avherald.com/h?article=4abc9582&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Sun Express Deutschland B738 over Slovakia on Jul 24th 2017, loss of communication A Sun Express Deutschland Boeing 737-800, registration D-ASXD performing flight XQ-714 from Samsun (Turkey) to Frankfurt/Main (Germany), was enroute at FL400 over Slovakia when ATC lost radio contact with the aircraft, the aircraft continued according to flight plan. Fighter Aircraft from Pardubice were dispatched by the Czech Republic to intercept the aircraft while flying over Czechia, the aircraft restored radio communication thereafter. In the meantime Germany's Airforce dispatched two Eurofighters to intercept the aircraft in supersonic flight, too, the fighter aircraft reached the Boeing near Hof (Germany) near the border between Czechia and Germany. About two minutes prior to the intercept near Hof the aircraft called Germany's Air Traffic Control on radio. Following a cockpit check the Eurofighters aborted their mission and returned to their home base. The Boeing 737-800 continued but diverted for a safe landing in Cologne (Germany). Germany's Police reported that radio contact had been lost due to a pilot error. Czech Media reported on Jul 27th 2017, that two Gripen fighter aircraft had been dispatched from Pardubice and intercepted the Boeing near Karlovy Vary. The fighter pilots established contact with the Boeing crew on emergency frequency, the boeing crew had a wrong ATC frequency selected and now established contact with Czech ATC on the correct frequency. http://avherald.com/h?article=4ac1922a&opt=0 Back to Top Embraer ERJ-190LR (ERJ-190-100 LR) Birdstrike (Frankfurt) Date: 28-JUL-2017 Time: ca 13:08 LT Type: Embraer ERJ-190LR (ERJ-190-100 LR) Owner/operator: Lufthansa CityLine Registration: D-AECA C/n / msn: 19000327 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 67 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Unknown Location: Frankfurt International Airport (FRA/EDDF) - Germany Phase: Initial climb Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Frankfurt International Airport (FRA/EDDF) Destination airport: Florence-Peretola Airport (FLR/LIRQ) Narrative: Lufthansa flight LH312 returned to land at Frankfurt International Airport in Germany following a bird strike on departure. The aircraft, and Embraer ERJ-190LR, took off from runway 18 at 13:06 hours local time. Multiple birds were ingested by one of the engines, forcing the crew to arrest the climb at 4000 feet and circle back for an emergency landing. While on downwind for runway 25C the flight began squawking 7700. A safe landing was made at 13:18 hours on runway 25C. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=197023 Back to Top Airbus A320-232 Hail Damage (Istanbul) Date: 27-JUL-2017 Time: ca 15:45 UTC Type: Airbus A320-232 Owner/operator: AtlasGlobal Ukraine Registration: UR-AJC C/n / msn: 1663 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Minor Location: near Istanbul - Turkey Phase: Initial climb Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Istanbul-Atatürk International Airport (IST/LTBA) Destination airport: Tymvou Ercan International Airport (ECN/LCEN) Narrative: AtlasGlobal flight KK1010 returned to land at Istanbul-Atatürk International Airport in Turkey after passing through a hail storm. The nose radome of the Airbus A320 had caved in and sustained a hole as a result of being battered by hail stones. The aircraft took off from runway 05 at 15:40 UTC. A safe landing was made on runway 35L at 16:08 UTC. Weather at the time of the incident: LTBA 271520Z 32021G34KT 290V350 3600 -TSRA SCT016CB BKN026 20/20 Q1003 RETSGRRA BECMG TL1600 9999 NSW LTBA 271534Z 34017KT 6000 -TSRA FEW020CB BKN035 21/20 Q1002 BECMG TL1600 NSW RMK RWY17L /////KT RWY05 33018KT RWY23 34016KT 310V020 >> LTBA 271550Z 34021KT 9999 -SHRA FEW020CB BKN030 22/20 Q1002 RETSRA NOSIG RMK RWY17L 35016KT RWY05 33019KT RWY23 34016KT LTBA 271620Z 30016KT 7000 FEW014 SCT025CB BKN080 22/20 Q1004 RESHRA NOSIG RMK RWY17L 31015KT RWY05 29015KT RWY23 31015KT 290V350 https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=197007 Back to Top Plane nearly ran out of fuel after pilots forgot to bring up landing gear Landing gear normally retracted shortly after take off Two pilots have been suspended from duty after their aircraft, carrying 99 passengers, nearly ran out of fuel because they forgot to retract the landing gear after take-off. Air India Flight AI676 was en route to Mumbai from Kolkata on July 22 but was forced to divert to Nagpur when the crew became alarmed by the speed at which the aircraft was losing fuel thanks to the additional drag created by the extended wheels. Landing gear on a British Airways aircraft An unidentified source told the Times of India that the "brand new Airbus A320", one of the most fuel efficient aircraft in existence, had struggled to climb after take-off, prompting the pilots to settle on an altitude of 24,000 feet as opposed to a usual cruising height of 35,000 feet. The source, who made a point of saying that both pilots were women, said it flew like this at 230 knots - as opposed to around 500 knots - for about an hour-and-a-half, while the extended landing gear dragged heavily on the aircraft. At this point, 90 minutes into a two-and-a-half-hour flight, the crew requested permission to divert to Nagpur as their fuel would have run out before reaching Mumbai. "When preparing to land, they decided to lower the landing gear. At this point they realised that the wheels had been out all the while from Kolkata," said the source. A playback of the flight from FlightRadar24.com shows it failing to reach an altitude higher than 24,000 feet but put the aircraft's speed at just over 300 knots. A spokesperson for Air India told the Times of India the pilots have been "de-rostered" and the airline is investigating. The problem is more often experienced in reverse when pilots have difficulty lowering the landing gear during an approach. Such landings are called "belly landings" as aircraft attempt to negotiate a touchdown without wheels. This has been known to occur because crew simply forget to lower the gear. One such incident happened to a light aircraft in 2015 when a pilot, distracted by a moose on the runway in Alaska, forgot to lower the landing gear, meaning his twin-engine Piper PA 31-350 landed on its belly, skidding across the tarmac. A moose on the runway caused one pilot to forget to lower his landing gear The report from the National Transportation Safety Board read: "While on final approach, an airplane that landed in front of him reported a moose in the vicinity of the runway. An airport maintenance person announced on the common traffic advisory frequency that he was attempting to chase the moose off of the runway. The pilot became distracted trying to avoid wake turbulence from the preceding airplane and monitor the location of the vehicle and moose and failed to extend the landing gear prior to landing." A remarkable video from 2011 shows a LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 767 landing at Warsaw Chopin Airport without its landing gear, grinding to a halt on the runway on only its fuselage. There were no injuries. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/news/air-india-forgotten-landing-gear-low-fuel/ Back to Top Marine Corps grounds KC-130T aircraft in wake of deadly crash The Marine Corps Reserve has grounded its fleet of 12 KC-130T transport aircraft, the same type of plane that was involved in the deadly July 10 crash in Mississippi that killed 15 Marines and a Navy corpsman. The cause of that crash remains under investigation, but Marine officials had said shortly afterward that it appeared that something occurred to the aircraft while it was at cruising altitude. "Out of an abundance of caution the Marine Corps took the prudent action not to fly KC-130Ts in the wake of the mishap on July 10 until further notice," said Second Lt. Stephanie Leguizamon, a Marine Corps Reserve spokesman. The 12 KC-130Ts in the Marine Corps Reserve all belong to VMGR-452, the same unit based in Orange County, New York, that the aircraft that crashed in Mississippi belonged to. The grounding was ordered by Brig. Gen. Bradley James, the commander of the 4th Marine Aircraft Wing. Shortly after the July 10 crash, James said at a news conference that something had occurred to the KC-130 aircraft in mid-flight. "Indications are, something went wrong at cruise altitude," James said at a news conference on July 12. Separately, the C-130T aircraft, known colloquially as "Fat Albert," that flies with the Navy's Blue Angels precision air team will not fly at a Wisconsin air show this weekend. "Unfortunately, Fat Albert was unable to join us for the show in Oshkosh this weekend," said Lt. Joe Hontz, a spokesman for the Blue Angels. "During the course of the ongoing Marine Corps KC-130T investigation, an airframe similar to Fat Albert, we determined it may be prudent to allow time for the investigation to provide more information on possible causal factors prior to resuming flight," Hontz said in a statement. "There is no timeframe for Fat Albert's return." The July 10 crash remains under investigation. http://abcnews.go.com/US/marine-corps-grounds-kc-130t-aircraft-wake- deadly/story?id=48896213 Back to Top Jakarta's air traffic controllers reassigned over safety concerns The Indonesian Air Traffic Controllers Association noted that the 84 hourly take-offs and landings were beyond the airport's handling capacity, adding that it violates an instruction from the transport ministry, which caps the use of the airport's runways at 74 aircraft per hour and four irregular flights for emergencies. Photo: Bloomberg JAKARTA - A dispute between Jakarta's air traffic controllers and a state run air navigation company over how their high workload has compromised civil aviation safety escalated on Thursday (July 27), with a number of controllers being reassigned. Indonesian Air Traffic Controllers Association (IATCA) Jakarta branch deputy chair Andre Budi said: "We are transferred to various regions." The association's Jakarta branch chairman Ahmad Zakaria said he regretted the administrative sanctions. "This harms our efforts and commitment in improving the quality of Indonesian aviation safety," he stated in a release. Mr Zakaria added it is ironic that the controllers' "professionalism and efforts to remind the management and the government of potential aviation safety hazards have resulted in sanctions". A day earlier, IATCA revealed that state-run air navigation company AirNav regularly allows 84 take-offs and landings per hour at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, as was the case during the recent Hari Raya Puasa holidays. "By allowing this, the chance of an accident will increase and air traffic controllers will be the ones who are blamed," Mr Budi had said. The group noted that the 84 hourly take-offs and landings were beyond the airport's handling capacity, adding that it violates an instruction from the transport ministry, which caps the use of the airport's runways at 74 aircraft per hour and four irregular flights for emergencies. IATCA also accused AirNav of intimidating air traffic controllers by inviting military personnel to monitor their work. On Thursday, the transport ministry said it has increased maximum flight frequency at Soekarno- Hatta to 81 take-offs and landings per hour to accommodate increasing demand from aviation companies. Changi Airport handles about 40 hourly take-offs and landings. Both Changi and Soekarno-Hatta have two runways. Civil aviation in Indonesia has come under the spotlight, with two Indonesian passenger planes involved in a near collision last month at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. It was the second such incident in three months. Garuda Indonesia's Flight GA425 from Denpasar was into its final approach when it had to abort its landing. This was because Sriwijaya Air's Flight SJ580, which was scheduled to depart for Makassar, was still on the runway. A similar incident took place at Soekarno-Hatta in April, and it involved Garuda Indonesia and Sriwijaya Air planes as well. A Garuda aircraft was flying in from Saudi Arabia's Jeddah, and it nearly landed on a runway where another plane operated by Sriwijaya Air was preparing for take-off. Last year, two Lion Air planes collided on the ground at Soekarno-Hatta. No injuries were reported. There was also an incident of passengers on a flight from Singapore being ferried to the wrong terminal upon arrival in Jakarta, bypassing immigration. Soekarno-Hatta is one of the busiest airports in South-east Asia, serving more than 55 million passengers last year, with 1,200 flights per day. Indonesia's aviation market has grown by double digits in the past 10 years following the appearance of several low-cost carriers that have made air transportation more affordable. Jakarta is seeking to reclaim control of the Flight Information Region (FIR) above the Riau Islands from Singapore. The FIR around Riau has hitherto been controlled by Singaporean air traffic controllers. Singapore has said that the FIR is not an issue of sovereignty, but of the safety and efficiency of commercial air traffic. http://www.todayonline.com/world/asia/jakartas-air-traffic-controllers-reassigned-after-complaints- high-workload-affecting Back to Top United Airlines pilots getting angrier about Norwegian Air's operating tactics United Airline pilots are infuriated again in their ever-more-vocal struggle to get President Donald Trump's administration to better regulate Norwegian Air's ever-more-aggressive encroachment into United States airspace. The United Airlines pilots union, a unit of the Air Line Pilots Association, fired off a statement this morning lambasting the United States Department of Transportation for tentatively approving Norwegian Air's newest subsidiary based in London and known as Norwegian Air UK (NAUK). The Norway-based parent Norwegian Air Shuttle has a similar subsidiary in Ireland called Norwegian Air International (NAI). United Airlines pilots now have a new reason to be angry about Norwegian Air's growing presence in the United States. Though its unclear how many flights operated by NAUK would fly to the United States, a number of Norwegian Air flights to the U.S. are technically being operated by Norwegian's Irish subsidiary. A Norwegian Air spokesman today said the airline's flights between Chicago and London scheduled to start in March of 2018 would be operated by the Norwegian Air Shuttle parent company. In their statement today United pilots called the DOT's move to greenlight a second Norwegian Air subsidiary in the United Kingdom "unfathomable" because it would allow a "Norway-based company to tilt the playing field in their favor by operating out of Ireland and the UK with pilots hired in Asia expressly to avoid Norwegian labor protections." United pilots also said Trump and his administration need to do more to ensure Norwegian Air is held in check. The United pilots statement said "the president promised that 'we will protect our workers, promote our industry and be proud of our history because we will put America first.' " United pilots fear that if Norwegian Air's presence in the United States continues to grow it could negatively impact U.S.-based carriers and potentially lead to layoffs. In recent months Norwegian has repeatedly countered that argument by saying it has opened recruitment centers in the United States to hire U.S.-based pilots and cabin crew. But United pilots contend that qualified U.S. pilots are leery of going to work for Norwegian Air, which has led in some instances to a shortage of staff to man Norwegian Air's rapidly-expanding flight schedule from the U.S. Indeed a Norwegian Air spokesman confirmed today that some flights operating out of Providence, Rhode Island, one of Norwegian's newer U.S. gateways, have been cancelled in recent weeks - some due to crew issues and others for mechanical reasons. The United pilots closed their statement today by underscoring their wish to see Trump and his administration get tough with Norwegian: "Instead of listening to the Norwegian Air CEO's hollow promises that he will hire U.S.-based pilots, the DOT needs to amend their approval and make such hiring a requirement to operate to the United States. Otherwise, we will be listening to Norwegian Air's foreign investors laughing at the expense of American workers." A Norwegian Air spokesman also confirmed today the airline isn't stopping with subsidiaries in Ireland and the UK. Plans are afoot to launch a third subsidiary in Argentina. United Airlines is a subsidiary of United Continental Holdings (NYSE: UAL). https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2017/07/27/united-airlines-pilots-getting- angrierabout.html Back to Top Already? Airbus delivers its 100th A350 widebody jet Airbus celebrated the delivery of its 100th A350 at a delivery ceremony in Toulouse, France, on July 26, 2017. The milestone aircraft went to customer China Airlines. (Photo: Airbus) Airbus delivered its 100th Airbus A350 on Wednesday, handing over the milestone aircraft to customer China Airlines during a ceremony at the jetmaker's assembly line in Toulouse, France. "The 100th A350 XWB milestone comes as we reach our fastest widebody production ramp-up, on track to meet the target of 10 A350 deliveries per month by the end of 2018," Airbus COO Fabrice Bregier said in a statement. "We are especially proud to deliver today's aircraft to our long-standing customer China Airlines. The A350 is setting new standards for long haul air travel in terms of efficiency and comfort, thus being the perfect aircraft for China Airlines to expand its long-haul network." Airbus' inaugural A350 delivery was just in December 2014, when launch customer Qatar Airways became the world's first carrier to take one of the jets. Since then, Airbus has delivered A350s to a total of 14 airlines. Among the others that now have A350s in their fleets: Cathay Pacific, Finnair, LATAM Airlines, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines. In fact, it was a Singapore Airlines A350 that helped Airbus mark another milestone just this past October. That came when Singapore Airlines took possession of an A350 that Airbus commemorated as the 10,000th all-time aircraft to roll off its assembly lines. In the USA, Delta took delivery of its first A350 earlier this month. American and United also have ordered the Airbus A350. However, each has since deferred their initial delivery schedules for the plane, raising uncertainty about the status of those orders. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2017/07/27/airbus-delivers-its- 100th-a-350-widebody-jet/515612001/ Back to Top NASA Will Chase August Solar Eclipse With Two Jet Planes This composite photo shows how it might look as the WB-57F research aircraft chase the Aug. 21 solar eclipse. (NASA/Faroe Islands/SwRI) When a total solar eclipse shrouds parts of the United States in darkness on Aug. 21, NASA will get a longer look at it than most, thanks to a pair of WB-57F jet planes. The retrofitted planes will carry telescopes that'll get the clearest view ever seen of the sun's outer atmosphere, known as the corona, according to a NASA release. Additionally, they'll be able to capture thermal images of Mercury for the first time to learn about varying temperatures on the planet's surface. "These could well turn out to be the best ever observations of high-frequency phenomena in the corona," Dan Seaton, co-investigator of the project and researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder, said in the release. "Extending the observing time and going to very high altitude might allow us to see a few events or track waves that would be essentially invisible in just two minutes of observations from the ground." A WB-57F jet is prepared for a test flight at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston; instruments are mounted under the silver casing on the plane's nose. (NASA's Johnson Space Center/Norah Moran) In the seven minutes these planes will experience the eclipse - for most viewers on the ground, the eclipse won't even last two and a half - they'll capture 30 high-definition pictures of the corona each second, the release also said. It's one of 11 NASA-funded projects that'll take place in the U.S. during the eclipse, according to a separate NASA release. The planes will take off from Houston's Ellington Field and will fly over Missouri, Illinois and Tennessee, according to NASA. They'll fly at a cruising altitude of 50,000 feet, where the sky is 20 to 30 times darker than on the ground and there's less turbulence to shake the telescopes while the high-quality images are captured. "When the moon blocks out the sun during a total eclipse, those regions of Earth that are in the direct path of totality become dark as night for almost three minutes," Steve Clarke, director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C., said in the release. "This will be one of the best-observed eclipses to date, and we plan to take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn as much as we can about the sun and its effects on Earth." https://weather.com/science/space/news/nasa-to-chase-solar-eclipse-jet-planes Back to Top Qatar Airways Sticks to Jet Orders Despite Crisis, Official Says * Government seeks to regain air corridor at UN agency hearing * Country 'not in a hurry' to buy stake in American Airlines Qatar Airways, which has been losing passengers after a flight embargo from four Arab countries, is still making money and will go through with jet orders it's already committed to, as the nation seeks an international ruling restoring its access to air corridors, a senior official said. "We are continuing and maybe we'll go faster," Qatar Transport Minister Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti said of the carrier's plane orders from Boeing Co. and Airbus SE. He was speaking at a meeting with reporters in Montreal on Thursday. The airline may not be able to meet its previous financial targets but is "in good shape" as it opens new routes, he said. At a hearing Monday, Al Sulaiti will make a case to the International Civil Aviation Organization, a Montreal-based United Nations agency, to open six or seven international flight corridors and mitigate the economic fallout from the crisis between Qatar and a bloc comprised of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The request is the first of three files the country is preparing to regain air rights, he said. Qatar's neighbors last month severed diplomatic and transport links to punish it for allegedly backing Islamic militants, a charge the Gulf nation denies. The resulting isolation has forced the world's richest country per capita to open new trade routes to import food and other essentials, and added hours to flight times as pilots circumvent its neighbors' airspace. Qatar is also in discussions with two countries to invest in ports, Al Sulaiti said, declining to name them. If Qatar Air's plan to acquire 10 percent of American Airlines falls through, there will be other opportunities elsewhere, according to the minister. "We are not in a hurry to do it," he said. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-27/qatar-airways-sticks-to-jet-orders-despite- crisis-official-says Back to Top New Space Station Crew Launches on Soyuz Rocket Today: Watch It Live A trio of new crewmembers will launch toward the International Space Station (ISS) this morning (July 28), and you can watch the liftoff live. NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik, cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy and the European Space Agency's Paolo Nespoli are scheduled to launch atop a Russian Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today at 11:41 a.m. EDT (1541 GMT, 9:41 p.m. local Baikonur time). You can watch the launch live on Space.com here beginning at 10:45 a.m. EDT (1445 GMT), courtesy of NASA TV. If all goes according to plan, the Soyuz spacecraft carrying Bresnik, Ryazanskiy and Nespoli will arrive at the orbiting lab a little over 6 hours later, at 6 p.m. EDT ( 2200 GMT), NASA officials said. You can watch the docking between the two craft as well; coverage begins at 5:15 p.m. EDT (2115 GMT). The newcomers will then join the three people already aboard the ISS: NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer, and cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin. Expedition 52 flight engineers Paolo Nespoli of the European Space Agency, left; Sergey Ryazanskiy of Roscosmos; and Randy Bresnik of NASA pose for a photograph outside the Soyuz simulator. Bresnik, Ryazanskiy and Nespoli are all spaceflight veterans. Bresnik flew aboard the STS-129 mission of the space shuttle Atlantis in November 2009, and Ryazanskiy lived aboard the ISS from September 2013 through March 2014 as a crewmember of the orbiting lab's expeditions 37 and 38. Nespoli served on the shuttle Discovery's STS-120 mission in 2007 and was an ISS crewmember from December 2010 through May 2011, during expeditions 26 and 27. A Russian Soyuz rocket stands atop its launchpad at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to launch the Expedition 52 crew to the International Space Station. Liftoff is set for July 28, 2017. After getting to the orbiting lab today, the trio will serve on expeditions 52 and 53. (The ISS has been continuously staffed by a rotating series of crewmembers since November 2000. Most of these astronauts' missions last about six months.) https://www.space.com/37655-new-space-station-crew-expedition-52-launch-webcast.html Back to Top ISASI 2017, San Diego CA August 22 - 24. 2017 The International Society of Air Safety Investigators (ISASI) will hold their 48th annual seminar at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina from August 22 - 24, 2017. This year's theme is: "Investigations - Do They Really Make a Difference?" All up to date information including the link for registration and hotel reservations can be found at www.isasi.org. Dates to Remember Early Registration rate cut off is midnight July 5, 2017 PDT Seminar rate at the hotel will end on July 27. After that date there will be no guarantee that rooms will be available. We look forward to seeing many of you in San Diego Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH REQUEST (SURVEY) Pavement Management Research Request Hello, my name is Mary Popko and I am a student as San Diego State University currently working towards a B.S. in Statistics. I would like to request your participation in my survey regarding pavement management through the use of advanced technology. The survey is less than ten questions long. Thank you so much for your assistance. Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WJ8T9M6 Mary Popko San Diego State University Department of Mathematics and Statistics Curt Lewis