November 6, 2017 - No. 087 In This Issue China Aims to Launch Reusable Space Plane by 2020 Airbus, Dassault vie for leadership of Franco-German fighter NASA, Boeing testing synthetic vision technologies Airbus Completes Sale of Vector Aerospace to StandardAero Smart autopilot promises to keep flying safe FAA's plan to accelerate drone integration NASA Hosts Industry Day for Unmanned Aircraft in National Airspace Collaboration ASU launches collaboration effort on European NVIS standards Evolving ACARS landscape is backbone of connected aircraft age SpaceX's "toasty" Falcon 9 booster arrives back at port FAA issues NPRM detailing rotorcraft certification changes China Aims to Launch Reusable Space Plane by 2020 China plans to launch a homegrown, reusable space plane for the first time in 2020, according to Chinese media reports. "The spacecraft can transport people or payload into the orbit and return to Earth," China's state-run outlet Xinhua reported last week. Xinhua cited a statement by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), as well as Chen Hongbo, a researcher at the corporation: "Chen said that the spacecraft will be easier to maintain and can improve the frequency of launches at lower cost, bringing new opportunities for more people to travel into space." China has already made significant progress in the space plane's development, the nation's space officials have said. "Currently, China is developing its own reusable earth-to-orbit space vehicles that can take off and land horizontally," Liu Shiquan, vice director of the state-owned China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation (a different entity than the CASC), said this past June, according to the People's Daily, a newspaper published by the Chinese Communist Party. "We have already finished several crucial ground tests for engines and [other key components], yielding remarkable achievements," Liu added. The space-plane goal lines up with China's ambitious spaceflight posture. For example, the nation aims to have a space station up and running in Earth orbit by the early 2020s, and it wants to land people on the moon by the mid-2030s. China's space plane would not be the first winged vehicle to reach orbit, of course. For example, NASA's now-retired space shuttle fleet flew 135 missions between 1981 and 2011, and a similar vehicle built by the Soviet Union, called Buran, made it to orbit once, in 1988. (The Buran program was canceled in 1993.) The United States Air Force owns two small uncrewed X-37B space planes, which have flown a total of five orbital missions. The first X-37B flight launched in 2010; the fifth mission began in September 2017 and is still underway. And several other space planes are in development as well, most famously Virgin Galactic's suborbital SpaceShipTwo and Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Dream Chaser. SpaceShipTwo will ferry payloads and people to and from suborbital space, whereas Dream Chaser will be an orbital vehicle. Sierra Nevada plans to launch two versions of the vehicle - a robotic cargo craft and a crew-carrying variant. https://www.space.com/38662-china-launch-space-plane- 2020.html?utm_source=notification Back to Top Airbus, Dassault vie for leadership of Franco-German fighter PARIS (Reuters) - With the ink barely dry on a deal between France and Germany to develop a new combat jet, Airbus and Dassault are squaring up for leadership of a project that could reshape Europe's fragmented fighter industry. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel unveiled the plans at a summit in July, burying past defense industry rivalries as part of efforts to tighten co-operation as Britain withdraws from the European Union. The new combat system could involve a mixture of manned and unmanned aircraft and would eventually replace the Rafale and Eurofighter, rival jets that compete fiercely for global sales, as well as the older Panavia Tornado. That sets the tone for co-operation between Airbus, which represents Germany and Spain in the Eurofighter consortium, and Dassault Aviation, the manufacturer of France's Rafale. But there has been little formal discussion yet over the shape of the project, let alone who would take the lead in development, according to industry and defense officials. Airbus, whose mostly Germany-based defense arm makes up about a quarter of its sales, laid claim to the leading role in an op-ed article published on Friday. "On the assumption that the necessary political will is in place, Airbus is offering to drive cooperation with its European partners and to shape this aspect of our common European future," Dirk Hoke, chief executive of Airbus Defense & Space, wrote in Germany-based defense newsletter Griephan Briefe. He described his company as "the lead...for a project of this nature." Dassault has itself offered to be the "architect" of the Franco-German project and Chief Executive Eric Trappier told Reuters recently that it would be the natural leader due to its experience in building an all-French fighter plane.[nL5N1KH7O7] Airbus's call also appeared aimed at speeding up the project as Germany looks to U.S. rivals to meet interim fighter gaps. Germany earlier this year asked Washington for a briefing on the Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) F-35 fighter as it gears up to replace its current fleet of fighter jets from 2025. [nL1N1K206B] It has also asked for data on Boeing's F/A-18E/F. Hoke said buying American could weaken the European defense industry and make it ever-more reliant on U.S. "black box" technology that is not shared with foreign operators, while injecting uncertainty into Franco-German plans for a new jet. "An interim solution for the replacement of old fleets already appears probable. If important decisions are delayed, a stopgap of this type could take on a dimension that would cast doubt on the economic efficiency of the entire project," he said. France and Germany said in July they aim to come up with a roadmap by mid-2018 for jointly leading development of the new aircraft to replace their existing fleets of rival warplanes. Dassault Aviation appears to have been caught by surprise by July's announcement, which cut across its existing partnership with BAE Systems to build a demonstrator for an unmanned combat vehicle, called Future Combat Air System (FCAS). Defense analysts say the French company is in a strong position to be in the driving seat from a technological point of view, having made it plain it regards BAE as its technological peer. But at least for now, such considerations are likely to take a backseat to how the project will be funded amid tight defense budgets, an industry source said. "It is quite normal for industrialists to claim leadership, but it is too early to talk about that," he added. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-germany-defence/airbus-dassault-vie-for- leadership-of-franco-german-fighter-idUSKBN1D31W0 Back to Top NASA, Boeing testing synthetic vision technologies NASA and Boeing are working together under a new Space Act Agreement to improve flight training and aviation safety using NASA's synthetic vision technologies and Boeing's 787 simulators. The research will test pilots' awareness and reactions to unplanned situations. NASA research technical lead Kyle Ellis says the agreement opens the door to exciting new research opportunities. "This is just the first of many potential experiments that we can conduct using this collaborative environment," said Ellis. "We're looking at training for attention management, advanced upset recovery technologies and combined vision technologies." Pilots deal with more challenges than ever - higher levels of aviation traffic, bad weather and the addition of new challenges (such as unpiloted vehicles) into the global air space. "We want to equip them with the greatest intelligent flight systems available to be able to cope with all of these different adverse conditions," said Ellis. Synthetic vision technologies can be part of that solution. "We've developed technology that allows us to be 'weather independent,'" said Ellis. "Synthetic vision systems are essentially weather-immune displays that allows you to see what the world looks like in perfect weather conditions all the time." It's a powerful tool that can effectively negate the visual penalties associated with even severe weather in a clear, intuitive manner. The technology offers the potential to improve aviation system safety and increase the efficiency of aircraft operations. "Essentially what we're doing is we're taking away the old attitude indicators - that blue- over-brown attitude indicator that shows where the horizon is - which is critical to flying safely, especially in poor weather conditions. That dates all the way back to Doolittle," says Ellis. We're basically piggybacking on top of that attitude reference system and throwing a real-world image on it." The pilots who will participate in these tests fly for Avianca Airlines in Colombia, and they're something of an extraordinary test group. Typically, research study participants are highly experienced pilots with tens of thousands of flight hours logged. The Avianca pilots are a group of 24 junior pilots. They represent the changing face of global aviation. "The international pilot community is getting younger, so the idea is to get them accustomed to what's possible in an airplane sooner," says Capt. Jim Wilkerson, Boeing flight crew training instructor. "And this training does that." Testing at Boeing's Miami training facilities will begin in late 2017. Today, Ellis and his research team are working with Boeing to test and certify synthetic vision systems for attitude state awareness. He sees it as a stepping stone toward a larger goal, anticipating a future in which technologies that give pilots vision far beyond what the eye can see. That kind of cockpit technology has a name - combined vision systems. A combined vision system is a merger of synthetic vision (i.e., systems that generate rendered environments in real time based on stored database information) and enhanced flight vision systems (i.e., displays that use forward-looking infrared systems and millimeter wave radar to give pilots a live look at the world around the aircraft). It can give pilots a best-of-both-worlds representation of the world and their orientation within it. Under stressful situations, it's much harder for pilots to absorb essential information and execute the appropriate actions. Synthetic Vision systems look just like the world outside the window, and that makes them more intuitive - more believable - for pilots. "Seeing is believing," says Ellis. With this technology, pilots will be able to believe what they see, trust it and follow that to safety. About Space Acts The Space Act Agreement between NASA and Boeing supports the Commercial Aviation Safety Team, a partnership between the U.S. government and the aviation industry developed to reduce the commercial aviation fatality rate in the United States. NASA and Boeing are members. Space Act Agreements are, in a sense, strategic alliances. They are the primary vehicle NASA uses to partner with the external community, and they give NASA access to technologies and capabilities that are not in its core portfolio. These partnerships expand NASA's ability to meet technical challenges, often at virtually no cost to taxpayers. As NASA advances its goals, Space Act Agreement partnerships can also advance the mission of our partners. http://www.aerotechnews.com/blog/2017/11/03/nasa-boeing-testing-synthetic-vision- technologies/ Back to Top Airbus Completes Sale of Vector Aerospace to StandardAero SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - November 3, 2017 - StandardAero Aviation Holdings, Inc. ("StandardAero") and Airbus SE ("Airbus") today announced that they have finalized the acquisition by StandardAero of Vector Aerospace Holding SAS ("Vector") from Airbus. Vector is a global aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul company, providing responsive, quality support for turbine engines, components, fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. A truly international company, it generated revenues of over US$700 million in 2016 and employs approximately 2,200 people in 22 locations across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Kenya, South Africa, Australia and Singapore. The newly combined company, which will maintain the name of StandardAero, has more than 6,000 employees in 42 locations across five continents, with annual revenues of approximately US$3 billion. "We are excited to join forces with the Vector team in becoming one of the largest MRO companies in the world," said Russell Ford, CEO of StandardAero. "Our combined organizations are better positioned to provide the industry with more global services, expanded MRO capabilities and operational benefits to deliver faster, higher quality solutions to our combined customers worldwide. We look forward to joining together with the Vector leadership and employees as we begin to integrate our two organizations." About StandardAero StandardAero is a global independent provider of services, including engine and airframe maintenance, repair and overhaul, engine component repair, engineering services, interior completions and paint applications. StandardAero serves a diverse array of customers in business and general aviation, airline, military, helicopter, components and energy markets. The company celebrated its 100th year of industry leadership in 2011. In 2015, StandardAero was purchased by Veritas Capital, a leading private equity firm headquartered in New York City. Veritas invests in companies that provide critical products and services to government and commercial customers worldwide including those operating in aerospace & defense, healthcare, technology, national security, communications, energy and education. More information can be found on the company's web site at www.standardaero.com. About Airbus Airbus is a global leader in aeronautics, space and related services. In 2016 it generated revenues of €67 billion and employed a workforce of around 134,000. Airbus offers the most comprehensive range of passenger airliners from 100 to more than 600 seats and business aviation products. Airbus is also a European leader providing tanker, combat, transport and mission aircraft, as well as one of the world's leading space companies. In helicopters, Airbus provides the most efficient civil and military rotorcraft solutions worldwide. http://www.aviationpros.com/press_release/12379043/airbus-completes-sale-of-vector- aerospace-to-standardaero Back to Top Smart autopilot promises to keep flying safe Intelligent autopilot and cockpits designed by virtual reality could ease the burden on pilots and make flying safer for Europe's airline passengers. Figures show that 918 million passengers travelled by air in the EU in 2015 - a 4.7% increase on the previous year - and passenger numbers are still growing. Flight safety is a key priority and now researchers have developed a digital co-pilot that can help to analyse risks and offer in-flight advice to the human pilots on board, while also monitoring their stress levels and workload. The issue There has been a considerable increase in the number of flights and air carriers within the EU over the past 25 years. Passenger numbers have also risen - from 360 million a year in 1993 to almost a billion today. As the volume of air traffic continues to grow, the EU needs to ensure that the rate of air accidents continues to decline in order to keep the level of fatalities low. Developing a smart, green and integrated transport system, which includes aviation safety, is a key priority for the next three years of the Horizon 2020 funding programme, which was announced on October 27. A consortium of experts from across the aerospace industry, including global giants Honeywell and the German Aerospace Center (DLR), teamed up with research institutions on the EU-funded A-PiMod project to look at how sophisticated software could relieve the burden of stress on pilots in the cockpit. "Too high a workload can cause stress, which leads to mistakes," said Dr Helmut Többen of DLR, which led the project. "This system could reduce the risk of accidents." The system makes recommendations based on the condition of the aircraft and also the condition of the pilot. By measuring eye movements, gestures and inputs from the pilot, A-PiMod draws conclusions about their stress levels and their workload, and offers suggestions to the pilot which are adapted to the situation. It cannot override pilots' decisions but can make suggestions to the crew about which tasks they should perform themselves and which they should let the autopilot take over. There are other benefits too. "Variation of workload is a problem for flight crews," Dr Többen said. "For example, on a flight taking off from a busy airport such as Paris and landing in New York, the first and last minutes of the flight will have a high workload. In between, for six hours the crew will not have much to do." Uniform A system like A-PiMod could lead to a much more uniform workload, with the intelligent autopilot taking over more tasks when pilots are busy. It could also free up time for the crew to undertake training programmes or other tasks in quieter moments. The system has so far been tested on flight simulators, but one potential sticking point to rolling out a technology like this is data protection, says Dr Többen. "The pilots who tested the system were worried about the data the system collects about the performance of the pilots and whether it would be passed on to the airline," he said. But he is hopeful that those issues will be resolved. "I believe, sooner or later, we will have these systems." Improved human-centered design is also at the heart of the EU-funded i-VISION project which uses virtual reality technology to evaluate cockpit configuration. The i-VISION concept stemmed from European aircraft manufacturer Airbus's wish to explore new flexible and low-cost tools for designing and evaluating aircraft cockpits. Growing levels of new technology combined with new safety requirements and changing operational needs has meant the flight decks of airliners are becoming ever more complicated places for pilots. "These elements comprise a complex workspace that allows (no) room for errors," explained Dr Dimitris Mavrikios, of LMS-University of Patras in Greece which led the project. "Thus they need to be tested thoroughly before and after the actual integration in the real cockpit for safety and security reasons." Virtual environment The i-VISION project uses a virtual environment to evaluate new cockpit components and how crews interact with them. Using a head-mounted display, a finger tracking system and a flight simulator, i-VISION analyses a stream of data from the flight instruments and about the pilots' behaviour. It also makes use of semantic web technologies, which are digital languages specially developed to define and find connections in data by expressing that data in a way that machines can easily process. Together they form a system that eliminates the need for costly and time-consuming physical mock-ups to be built. It can also be used to provide crew training. "The semantic engine that is attached to the virtual reality framework, dramatically increases the usefulness and relevance of manipulated data to human operators," said Dr Mavrikios. "This makes virtual cockpits and interaction with them smarter than simple simulators." The use of virtual reality reflects a growing trend across many industries, not just aerospace, added Dr Mavrikios. "Virtual reality offers a unique and critical advantage when compared to the more conventional desktop simulation," he said. '(It has) the ability to obtain information directly from the user's actions and behaviour during the simulation of a scenario." The i-VISION project, which finished last year, will soon have a concrete impact on how cockpits are developed. Airbus will be using the tool to experiment with new cockpit concepts, taking human factors into account early on in the design process. Dr Mavrikios believes there is potential for much more use of virtual reality technology in many sectors but especially in aerospace and aviation, for flight training and real-time pilot assistance among other applications. "The high-stakes nature of modern aviation where a mistake can come at a huge cost, has spurred on technological progress," he said. "The aviation industry has always been willing to try out new technologies for the sake of ensuring safety. As such, virtual reality has been welcomed by the aviation industry." https://phys.org/news/2017-11-smart-autopilot-safe.html Back to Top FAA's plan to accelerate drone integration Days after the White House issued a memo calling forthe Federal Aviation Administration to stand up an UAS Integration Pilot Program within the next three months, the agency has it waiting on the runway. Under the plan, released Nov. 2, the agency will act as a kind of matchmaker for state, local and tribal governments, pairing them with private companies, such as UAS operators or manufacturers. Those teams will then apply to the FAA to set up local test zones and feed their airspace integration data to the agency. The agency has taken considerable flak from drone makers and potential commercial drone operators for its sluggish response to enabling a rapidly growing, and potentially revolutionary, technology. The White House memo was aimed at speeding up the process of integrating the burgeoning technology into the overall National Air Space. The FAA has been so inundated with applications to operate drones in controlled airspace, it recently filed an emergency request to automate the process to winnow down thousands of backlogged requests. The program is designed to "forge deep working relationships" between commercial users and state, local and tribal governments, according to a Federal Register notice scheduled for publication on Nov. 8. Operators will have latitude to experiment with operational and communications concepts to advance the integration of drones into the existing aviation environment. The oversight will be managed locally, but the FAA will have a role. Data gathered under pilot projects will be used to help develop regulations to govern use cases, including package delivery, news gathering over populated areas and beyond the line-of-sight operations in remote areas for tasks such as inspecting pipelines or conducting search and rescue operations. https://fcw.com/articles/2017/11/03/faa-drone-integration-plan.aspx Back to Top NASA Hosts Industry Day for Unmanned Aircraft in National Airspace Collaboration EDWARDS, Calif., Nov. 2, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Aeronautics is heavily involved in developing solutions for safe integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in the national airspace. NASA has two UAS projects that work in lock-step with the Federal Aviation Administration to address the challenges facing UAS integration across the full spectrum of aircraft type and sizes, and the environments in which they fly. NASA's Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration in the National Airspace System project, or UAS in the NAS, will contribute capabilities designed to reduce the technical barriers related to safety and operational challenges associated with integrating larger-sized UAS - - those that weigh 55 pounds or more and fly higher than 500 feet, including full-size repurposed Predator and Global Hawks -- into the national airspace. For UAS under 55 pounds that fly below 400 feet, NASA leads an associated effort called UAS Traffic Management, or UTM, that focuses on integration solutions to safely enable large scale small UAS operations in low altitude airspace. Accommodating these new entrants in a safe manner along with pre-existing users, such as gliders and helicopters, is a critical national objective. The purpose for NASA's Industry Day, currently scheduled for Nov. 30 in San Diego, is to meet and gather input from various commercial and academic partners who have an interest in or have technologies available that can support the UAS in the NAS project's Systems Integration and Operationalization (SIO) demonstration in the summer of 2020. The goals for the day include leveraging agency research in integrated detect and avoid, command and control, and other state-of-the-art UAS vehicle technologies with a pathway toward Federal Aviation Administration certification for vehicle operations above 500 feet or more above ground level. Specific objectives for the Industry Day include: * Gaining technical information on relevant industry efforts such as technology development cycles and overall plans for UAS commercialization * Obtaining schedule-related information to determine whether or not a 2020 SIO demonstration date is feasible * Acquiring reasonable fiscal rough orders of magnitude (ROMs) from Industry to guide partnership/acquisition decisions, and ensure the SIO demonstration can be successfully executed within resources * Communicating NASA expectations for the NASA partnership development process * Fostering coordination across industry participants and potential partnership teams For additional information, visit the Industry Day RFI notice at: https://go.nasa.gov/2htYxBO http://www.aviationpros.com/news/12378913/nasa-hosts-industry-day-for-unmanned- aircraft-in-national-airspace-collaboration Back to Top ASU launches collaboration effort on European NVIS standards Aviation Specialties Unlimited (ASU) hosted the inaugural roundtable discussion at the Helitech International Expo in London in early October to discuss night vision operations in Europe. ASU of Boise, Idaho, are a leading provider of night vision imaging systems (NVIS) and expertise. Having been responsible for training Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) pilots and inspectors, it is hoping to bring that experience into Europe, where NVIS procedures and practices are still not widely standardized. Attendees included representatives from the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (ADAC) - the leading helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) operator in Germany - as well as senior figures from HEMS and search-and-rescue (SAR) operators across Europe. The event was chaired by Kim Harris, ASU's director of business development and sales. He said that while night vision goggles (NVGs) are being used more and more in Europe, the bulk of the experience of night vision operations is held by the operators rather than the regulator. "The goal of the roundtable discussion was to begin a conversation, exchanging ideas and information from all sectors that involve aided night flight," he said. "I am pleased to say that we achieved our goal of beginning the conversation, asking questions, and exchanging information on a professional, non-competitive basis." In launching the collaboration between ASU, the end-users and the regulatory bodies, the U.S. company is aiming to identify common issues as well as solutions, and increase the European Aviation Safety Administration (EASA)'s confidence in the use of the technology so that NVIS can be more widely adopted to improve safety. Speaking after the event, Harris was optimistic about the future expansion of NVIS utilisation in Europe. "As the greater safety provided by aided night operations continues to become recognized by more operators and government entities, questions and operational issues will continue to arise," he said. "Government agencies and regulators will encounter increased demand for operational NVIS approvals including aircraft NVIS modifications." The next European NVIS roundtable is to be held at Helitech in Amsterdam in October 2018, and Harris said the goal would be to expand the number of participants and organizations, adding depth of knowledge and experience for all to draw from. https://www.verticalmag.com/news/asu-launches-collaboration-effort-european-nvis- standards/ Back to Top Evolving ACARS landscape is backbone of connected aircraft age An evolving multi-link ACARS landscape, embracing cutting-edge cockpit connectivity and solid VHF foundations, will remain the backbone of the aviation industry for the foreseeable future. So says SITAONAIR, global leader in aviation operational and ATC communications, in its latest white paper, ACARS: Timeless tech for the connected aircraft age. With a staggering 7.2 billion passengers expected to take to the skies in 2035, according to IATA projections, SITAONAIR's latest report argues that driving the evolution and diversification of its ACARS technologies is key to empowering the industry to negotiate an increasingly crowded airspace. SITAONAIR recently announced major partnerships with Inmarsat and Teledyne Controls that illustrate the adaptability of ACARS capabilities for emerging technologies, reflecting and supporting the diverse global aviation community in the connected aircraft age. SITAONAIR has added Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband-Safety (SB-S) to its portfolio; an ACARS-reliant next-generation flight deck communications platform giving airlines a dedicated IP connectivity service supporting enhanced safety and operational efficiency. Working with Teledyne Controls, SITAONAIR is delivering the aviation industry's first-ever airline-integrated ACARS datalink terrestrial cellular 3G/4G service. Employing Teledyne Controls' GroundLink Comm+ system, SITAONAIR is able to integrate terrestrial cellular services into its core datalink network, giving airlines the flexibility and benefit of another transmission channel for aircraft communications. Meanwhile, VHF, VDL and legacy networks continue to be adopted, advanced, and work alongside these alternate technologies, around the world. Among these significant programs, detailed in the white paper, SITAONAIR has upgraded Europe's primary ATC- airline communications network, delivering Europe's first Multi-Frequency (MF) Very High Frequency Digital Link mode 2 (VDLm2) infrastructure. In March 2017 the Czech Republic's Air Navigation Service Provider, ANS CR, appointed SITAONAIR to deliver a "communication gateway" to Prague Airport and others - through its ACARS network. The company's VHF/VDL network has also established an important new aircraft communications infrastructure in developing parts of the world, with more than 50 sites established in Brazil prior to the Rio Olympic Games. Evolving ACARS landscape Paul Gibson, Portfolio Director, AIRCOM at SITAONAIR, explains: "SITAONAIR's ACARS network continues to evolve from its VHF origins, embracing satellite services, VHF and higher-speed VHF Digital Link (VDL), to deal with the steady rise in air traffic. "Our recent announcement with Inmarsat on our adoption of SwiftBroadband-Safety to our wide-ranging connected aircraft portfolio will prove critical. We're excited about the potential SB-S will bring to enable us to further innovate new, and enhance our existing, services and solutions, around a dedicated, secure IP connection to the cockpit. "SITAONAIR is taking strides to ensure the ACARS network is evolving in tandem with the digital age, to enable message transmission using alternate technologies. Traditional ACARS and ACARS over IP will have a mutually important role to play in the ground-to-air connectivity landscape. Whether supporting the transmission of millions of ACARS messages exchanged every day, advancing Brazil's complete VHF and VDL datalink network ahead of the Rio Olympics, or launching a next-generation flight deck IP communications platform, SITAONAIR is and will remain central to our industry's ACARS story." ACARS remains heavily integrated into the ground systems of most airlines. Huge volumes of vital aircraft data come to and from aircraft via ACARS messaging, with 220 airlines now relying on SITAONAIR's multi-link ACARS technology. The white paper highlights why ACARS, in its diversity, remains the most reliable, efficient and cost- effective ground-to-air messaging system, with SITAONAIR as its core service provider. https://www.traveldailynews.com/post/evolving-acars-landscape-is-backbone-of- connected-aircraft-age Back to Top SpaceX's "toasty" Falcon 9 booster arrives back at port The SpaceX steamroller continues to roll on, and the company's recent launch of KT Sat's Koreasat 5A satellite is no exception. The 16th Falcon 9 of 2017 took flight from Kennedy Space Center on October 30 and successfully placed its payload into a high-energy geostationary transfer orbit. Before the satellite had even separated from the second stage of Falcon 9, first stage 1042 had already successfully landed aboard SpaceX's East coast drone ship OCISLY. The floating landing pad extinguished a small fire that was seen creeping up the booster. Barely 72 hours later, the drone ship and its Falcon 9 cargo arrived back at Port Canaveral, docking soon after. Launch photographer Tom Cross was on scene to capture the booster's return home. Closeup shots serve as evidence of booster 1042's apparent burn trauma, although it is almost certainly worse than it looks. A number of common operations follow each booster landing, and one of the most important sequences involves emptying residual propellant and depressurizing the rocket's fuel tanks. This is accompanied by the expulsion of remaining TEA-TAB reserves, a volatile compound used to ignite Falcon 9's Merlin 1D engines during launch and recovery. TEA-TAB is pyrophoric, meaning it spontaneously catches fire when exposed to your run of the mill air, a decidedly human-unfriendly feature. The fires that occur after successful landings are thus best described as intentional and (mostly) controlled, and SpaceX's drone ships are equipped with water guns in the event that things get a bit too spicy. Despite the small fire, the booster looks to be in great condition. Tom waited patiently as the the sun set and tugboats swarmed to dock the unwieldy drone ship. The dock's powerful night lights came into full effect and provided an opportunity for some final beauty shots of the gritty booster and industrial surroundings. After a brief nap aboard OCISLY, SpaceX's recovery crew wasted no time craning the toasty Falcon 9 core onto dry land, where workers began removing landing legs to prepare the rocket for transport. SpaceX is clearly building confidence with their recovery procedures, and 1042's journey has been exceptionally fast and efficient. With 19 successful recoveries now under the company's belt, the company's growing expertise is readily apparent, and the clockwork- like nature of their refined processes will benefit SpaceX immensely as it pursues ever- higher launch cadences. With multiple major SpaceX customers expressing newfound interest in reused rockets in the last two weeks alone, the demand for recovered boosters will likely continue to grow, and every successful recovery and commercial reuse is a concrete step along the path to rapid and complete reuse. https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-toasty-falcon-9-booster-dock-port-photo-gallery/ Back to Top FAA issues NPRM detailing rotorcraft certification changes The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued its proposals to update the certification standards for normal and transport category helicopters, noting that existing revisions to the original 1964 regulations "have not kept pace with advances in technology for rotorcraft." The changes, detailed in a notice of proposed rulemaking(NPRM) published on Nov. 1, impact title 14 Code of Federal Regulations part 27 (normal category) and part 29 (transport category) rotorcraft certification. "The proposed changes are necessary due to the extensive application of advancing technologies to rotorcraft," the NPRM states. "Existing airworthiness standards are inadequate because they do not address increasing design complexity." The FAA has three main mechanisms to help accommodate changes to technology within the current regulations: it can issue reoccurring special conditions (when the applicable airworthiness standards do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards because of a novel or unusual design feature), equivalent level of safety (ELOS) findings (where a design does not literally comply with the airworthiness standards, but compensating factors exist that provide an equivalent level of safety), or means of compliance (MOC) issue papers (which document compliance methodologies that fall outside existing guidance and policies). The proposed updates to the standards would eliminate the need for many special conditions, ELOS findings and MOC issue papers, the NPRM states, which would reduce the burden on applicants for certification of new rotorcraft designs - and reduce the burden on the FAA itself. Compliance with the proposed changes would continue to be shown through the same testing, analysis, and inspections as in the current certification process. One of the proposed changes is to powerplant instruments. Current rules specify separate indicators for many engine instruments, such as manifold pressure and engine r.p.m. for piston engines, or gas producer speed, gas temperature, and torque for turbine engines. The FAA is proposing to allow means other than dedicated indicators for these instruments, thereby permitting designs incorporating a synthesized power indicator - or similar concept - that provides a single indicator of engine performance. Other areas impacted by the NPRM include flight control automation, one engine inoperative condition simulation, automatic flight guidance and control systems, lithium batteries, and instrument markings. The FAA is inviting comments on the proposals before Jan. 30, 2018. https://www.verticalmag.com/news/faa-issues-nprm-detailing-rotorcraft-certification- changes/ Curt Lewis