Flight Safety Information November 29, 2017 - No. 237 In This Issue Accident: United B789 near Tokyo on Nov 28th 2017, two turbulence encounters cause injuries Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-212ER, was being towed when the tow truck caught fire Air NZ flight diverted to Palmerston North because of electronic cigarette FAA TO UPDATE 'OBSOLETE' ROTORCRAFT CERTIFICATION RULES Police: Woman arrested after causing disturbance on Phoenix flight, entering cockpit Investigators detail WestJet low-level wake encounter Amazon delivery drone could self-disintegrate for safety if it falls from sky Hitting a Bird Less Damaging to Aircraft Than Drone of Same Size FAA and ASSURE Announce Results of Air-To-Air Collision Study The future of air traffic control is Twitch-style live streaming The Flight Attendant Demoted After the 'Nut Rage' Incident in 2014 Is Suing Korean Air To counter a Japanese pilot shortage, training schools to offer no-interest loans FedEx announces major purchase of U.S.-assembled feeder aircraft to continue fleet upgrade Rolls-Royce joins race to develop electric passenger jets NASA launched this record into space in 1977. Now, you can own your own copy SASI Pakistan Seminar...on 7th December 2017. at Islamabad Club Book: Quietus - Last Flight THE COMPLETE HANDBOOK ON PILOTING AND AERONAUTICS Book: Angle of Attack The NBAA Safety Committee is conducting its...3rd annual...Business Aviation Safety Survey Risk Culture Survey NTSB Chairman to deliver Royal Aeronautical Society 14th annual Assad Kotaite Lecture at ICAO 9th ESASI Regional Seminar Accident: United B789 near Tokyo on Nov 28th 2017, two turbulence encounters cause injuries A United Boeing 787-900, registration N27958 performing flight UA-2 from Singapore (Singapore) to San Francisco,CA (USA), was enroute at FL350 over the South China Sea about 360nm east of Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) around about 04:00Z when the aircraft encountered moderate to severe turbulence causing injuries to a flight attendant. The aircraft continued towards San Francisco, climbed to FL360 later into the flight and was enroute at FL360 about 3 hours into the flight approximately 320nm south of Taipei (Taiwan) around 05:30Z when the aircraft encountered sudden severe turbulence again causing injuries to another flight attendant. The aircraft continued across the Philippine Sea and diverted to Tokyo Narita (Japan) for a safe landing to take care of the injured. A passenger reported the crew indicated the first clear air turbulence encounter (90 minutes into the flight the aircraft was at FL350 near position N11 E112) probably was due to the weather. The crew later indicated the second encounter probably was wake turbulence and occurred at waypoint ABVAR (coordinates N19.4133 E120.6283) at crossing airways where an Asiana Boeing 747-400 flight AAR702 (editorial note: registration HL7428 performing flight OZ-702 from Manila (Philippines) to Seoul (South Korea)) tracked the crossing airway at FL370 passing the crossing point about 2 minutes prior to their aircraft. The passenger reported that second sudden turbulence took everybody at surprise. Following both turbulence encounters the aircraft continued to San Francisco, but about 90 minutes after the second encounter the crew announced they were diverting to Tokyo due to severity of one injury to have medical services take care of the injured. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground in Tokyo for about 2 hours, then continued and is estimated to reach San Francisco with a delay of 2.5 hours. Infrared Satellite Image Himawari 8 Nov 28th 2017 04:00Z (Graphics: AVH/JMA): http://avherald.com/h?article=4b1a70a9&opt=0 Back to Top Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-212ER, was being towed when the tow truck caught fire. Date: 29-NOV-2017 Time: ca 04:00 Type: Boeing 777-212ER Owner/operator: Singapore Airlines Registration: 9V-SQK C/n / msn: 33368/428 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Unknown Location: Singapore-Changi International Airport (SIN/WSSS) - Singapore Phase: Pushback / towing Nature: - Departure airport: - Destination airport: - Narrative: A Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-212ER, 9V-SQK, was being towed from a remote parking bay to Terminal 3 at Singapore-Changi International Airport when the tow truck caught fire. The fire was put out by ARFF. The lower forward fuselage was covered in soot. The technician who was on the flight deck at the time of the incident evacuated the aircraft. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=202303 Back to Top Air NZ flight diverted to Palmerston North because of electronic cigarette A Tauranga-to-Wellington flight never made its destination after reports of an electrical smell in the cabin. An Air New Zealand flight on its way to Wellington was diverted to Palmerston North because of an electronic cigarette. The incident on the ATR-72 happened about 11.30am on Wednesday on a flight from Tauranga. An Air NZ spokeswoman said the diverted landing happened after an electrical smell wafted through the cabin. Some passengers weren't happy with their alternative travel arrangements, but others were more understanding. "The cause of the smell has since been identified as an electronic cigarette that a customer had forgotten to switch off as is required under our in-flight safety procedures," she said. Emergency services were called to the incident, with firefighters checking out the plane. They left about 12pm. Firefighters cleared the plane after it was diverted to land in Palmerston North. The spokeswoman said this was in line with "normal procedures". She said it was not an emergency landing. All the passengers on board were safe and were taken to the Air New Zealand Koru lounge at the airport. It was closed to other passengers about 12pm. Passengers continued to Wellington on a bus. The difference in time of landing in Palmerston North rather than Wellington would have been minimal, he said. McOviney was told it was procedure to put people on buses rather than offering another flight, which he said was a "copout". American tourist Caitlin Tougas said staff did their best in the situation. "They were super-accommodating and really helpful." "They were awesome. They took care of us." Passengers were at the airport about 30 minutes before being taken to Wellington, she said. A separate flight to Wellington from Palmerston North, scheduled to leave at 12.30pm, was cancelled. A flight to Auckland was also delayed, with a scheduled boarding time of 12.50pm rather than 12.30. Other people at the airport at the time the affected plane landed were unaware of the incident. Customers on the diverted flight were offered transport to Wellington by road. https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/99356454/emergency-landing-at-palmerston-north Back to Top FAA TO UPDATE 'OBSOLETE' ROTORCRAFT CERTIFICATION RULES The FAA has filed a notice of its intention to revise regulations dating to the 1960s that govern the certification of rotorcraft, noting that some technological advances "have rendered the regulations obsolete." Bell Helicopter unveiled the FCX-001, its first concept aircraft, at Heli-Expo 2017. Photo by Mike Collins. The agency will accept public comments on its notice of proposed rulemaking until Jan. 30, 2018. The regulations in question-the certification provisions of Part 27, Airworthiness Standards: Normal Category Rotorcraft; and Part 29, Airworthiness Standards: Transport Category Rotorcraft-no longer address "the extensive application of advancing technologies to rotorcraft," the FAA said. The agency currently deals with the gaps in regulatory coverage by issuing "reoccurring special conditions, equivalent level of safety findings (ELOS), and means of compliance (MOC) issue papers. This proposed rule would address these problem areas by updating those standards that cause unnecessary burdens in cost and time to both the FAA and the rotorcraft industry," states the regulatory filing published Nov. 1. It notes, "In some cases, advancements in technology have rendered the regulations obsolete." The FAA intends to use the same methods now in place for assuring compliance, "and there would be a reduced burden through clarification of the safety requirements for the installed systems." The FAA highlighted technological advances in several design areas including flight-control automation as areas in need of revision. "The rotorcraft autopilot systems of previous years controlled only altitude, attitude, and heading. The more advanced autopilot systems also control airspeed, vertical speed, and hover," it said, acknowledging that changes in the marketplace suggest that the flight-control automation trend will continue. The proposed rule also would incorporate safety recommendations issued in 2014 by the National Transportation Safety Board on compliance methods "used to certificate in-service lithium-ion battery aircraft installations" for rotorcraft. The NTSB recommendations also called for developing new safety-practices policies including establishment of a panel of technical experts to advise on compliance. Members who wish to comment on the proposed revisions identified by docket number FAA-2017-0990 may do so by Jan. 30, 2018 online or by mail to Docket Operations, M-30; U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Room W12-140, West Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC 20590-0001. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2017/november/21/faa-to-update-obsolete-rotorcraft-certification-rules Back to Top Police: Woman arrested after causing disturbance on Phoenix flight, entering cockpit PHOENIX - A woman is facing charges after she caused a disturbance on a flight at Sky Harbor Airport and entered the plane's cockpit, police say. Phoenix police report that on November 19 they were called to remove an unruly passenger on a flight from Phoenix to Oakland. The American Airlines flight returned to the gate after 25-year-old Oakland resident Albertina Rochelle Engram allegedly refused to sit down and was cursing at a flight attendant and other passengers. The flight attendant reported the situation to the captain who returned the plane to its gate. Four police officers were waiting there and could reportedly hear Engram yelling inside the plane. Police say as Engram was being removed from the flight, she "rushed the reopen cockpit door" and assaulted the flight attendant and attempted to get to the captain. As officers grabbed her, she yelled, "I paid for my ticket, you can't kick me out." She was taken to a local hospital. The plane resumed its flight to Oakland after about 45 minutes. Engram has been charged with aggravated assault, criminal trespassing, and resisting arrest. http://www.abc15.com/news/crime/police-woman-arrested-after-causing-disturbance-on-phoenix-flight-entering-cockpit Back to Top Investigators detail WestJet low-level wake encounter Canadian investigators have disclosed an incident in which a WestJetBoeing 737-800 encountered substantial wake turbulence at low level during take-off from Toronto Pearson. The 737 (C-FKRF) had been bound for Varadero in Cuba and encountered the turbulence about 300ft above ground just after departing runway 24R. Transportation Safety Board of Canada says the aircraft "banked left and right considerably" as a result of the turbulence, which continued until it had climbed to 3,000ft. None of the 170 occupants was injured during the event, which occurred on 7 November. The board says the aircraft had been following an Airbus A320. Both types are classified as 'medium' for wake turbulence purposes. Transport Canada regulations outline a separation requirement of 2min for aircraft departing behind a 'heavy' category type on the same runway, or typically 3min for intersection departures if the preceding aircraft is a higher category or a 'heavy' jet. www.flightglobal.com Back to Top Amazon delivery drone could self-disintegrate for safety if it falls from sky amazon delivery drone self disintegrate safety prime air Hopefully it won't happen very often, but when Amazon and others finally get fully fledged drone delivery services off the ground, there'll be occasions when the flying machines suddenly drop out of the sky. Whether it's inclement weather, a software malfunction, or some ne'er-do-well with a catapult and a rock, we have to accept that those multi-copter contraptions will sometimes get into difficulties and fall all the way back to the ground. It's one of several challenges that gives the Federal Aviation Administration folks sleepless nights as they consider the safest way to let companies and organizations use the popular technology as part of their operations. But Amazon may have the answer. The online shopping giant is exploring an innovative system that would cause an airborne drone that's in difficulties to disintegrate in mid-air, minimizing the force of the potential impact on any human, animal, or object on the ground. The idea is outlined in a patent granted this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Titled "direct fragmentation for unmanned airborne vehicles (UAVs)," the document describes how a malfunctioning drone could dismantle itself in the sky after assessing the conditions on the ground. "The fragmentation sequence includes a release timing and a release location to fragment away (e.g., release, drop, jettison, eject, etc. away) one or more UAV components in case the flight operation of the UAV is disrupted," the company says in the patent. amazon delivery drone self disintegrate safety patent Conditions that could cause problems for a delivery drone are listed as "unexpected heat, cold, wind, rain, hail, high or low (e.g., barometric) pressure regions, or other meteorological conditions." These could affect the drone's rotor system, flight control computer, battery, flight sensors, or other components, resulting in a major malfunction that makes it behave more like a brick than an aircraft. The patent, which Amazon filed in June 2016, says that the release system could include "attachment mechanisms, such as clips, latches, hooks." Amazon says the fragmentation sequence would happen automatically, and that depending on which parts of the drone are jettisoned, "the weight, speed, air drag coefficient, and other factors related to the UAV can be altered." This suggests that the drone wouldn't always completely disintegrate. Rather, it would in some situations only eject the parts causing the problem if it allowed the damaged drone to make a safer landing. We're assuming the system would also do its best to ensure that whatever it's carrying - several textbooks for a delivery, for example - is jettisoned away from anyone its sensors detect on the ground ... providing it's not its sensors that are malfunctioning. It's an intriguing idea, though Amazon has been filing a lot of intriguing ideas related to its delivery drone ambitions, some more outlandish than others. Check out this city-based drone tower that would look - and sound - like a giant beehive. And if you want to go full bonkers, then this patent for a "flying warehouse" should tickle you. There's no telling whether this latest idea will become a thing, but it nevertheless offers some interesting insight into how champions of the technology are hoping to overcome the great challenges that lie ahead. https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/amazon-delivery-drone-self-disintegrate-safety/ Back to Top Hitting a Bird Less Damaging to Aircraft Than Drone of Same Size Research conducted in the wake of last month's collision of a commercial plane and unmanned aircraft near Quebec City's airport. When it comes to in-air collisions, it's better to hit a bird than a drone. That's the conclusion released Tuesday by researchers who used computer simulations to look at what happens when a small unmanned aircraft system, i.e. a drone, and an airplane hit. "Drones that collide with large manned aircraft can cause more structural damage than birds of the same weight for a given impact speed," the Federal Aviation Administration said in a release. While birds are soft mass and tissue, most drones are made rigid, with stiffer components including the motor, battery, and payload, capable of causing the most damage. Concentrating those harder parts on the drone can also cause greater damage, researchers found. Last month's collision of a commercial aircraft and a drone near Quebec City's airport renewed public concern, as commercial aircraft are designed to withstand bird strikes, not collisions with other aircraft or drones. The FAA plans to use the findings of the research, conducted by a group of universities through the Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence, to develop operational and safety rules for drones. "While the effects of bird impacts on airplanes are well documented, little is known about the effects of more rigid and higher mass sUAS on aircraft structures and propulsion systems," Mississippi State University's Marty Rogers, director of the group, said in a separate statement. "The results of this work are critical to the safety of commercial air travel here in the United States and around the world." The areas of manned aircraft most likely to be impacted include wings, vertical and horizontal stabilizers, and windscreens, the researchers found. http://www.thedrive.com/sheetmetal/16481/hitting-a-bird-less-damaging-to-aircraft-than-drone-of-same-size Back to Top FAA and ASSURE Announce Results of Air-To-Air Collision Study WASHINGTON, Nov. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Last month, a report from Canada indicated the possible collision of a drone with a jet approaching Quebec City's International Airport. The incident reintroduced public concerns about air collisions between small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) and commercial aircraft and what it may mean to the safety of air travel. Quadcopter Wing Impact Although the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is not yet able to definitively address these concerns, studies by a consortium of leading universities, through the Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE), have begun to bring better understanding to the physical damage associated with small unmanned aircraft - or drones - colliding midair with commercial and business aircraft. The ASSURE research team began its research in FY 2016, using unique resources from Mississippi State University, Montana State University, Ohio State University, and Wichita State University. This research team set out to answer the question of what happens when - not if - there is a collision between a sUAS and an airplane. "While the effects of bird impacts on airplanes are well documented, little is known about the effects of more rigid and higher mass sUAS on aircraft structures and propulsion systems," said Mississippi State University's Marty Rogers, the Director of ASSURE. "The results of this work are critical to the safety of commercial air travel here in the United States and around the world." Today at 12:15 p.m. EST, at the FAA Federal Headquarters in Washington, D.C., the FAA, along with ASSURE members, announced their findings in The sUAS Air-to-Air Collision Severity Evaluation Final Report. Researchers' efforts began by first determining the most likely impact scenarios. This was done by reviewing operating environments for both sUAS and manned aircraft. The team then selected the commercial and business aircraft and sUAS based on these impact scenarios and their likely exposure to one another. The commercial narrow-body air transport selected was characteristic of a Boeing B737 and an Airbus A320 aircraft, which represent 70% of the commercial aircraft fleet. The business jet model represented a Learjet 30/40/50. Similarly, the team selected a small quadcopter and a light fixed-winged unmanned aircraft as representative of the most-likely threats to manned aircraft. Researchers determined the areas of manned aircraft most likely to be impacted as being the leading edges of wings, vertical and horizontal stabilizers, and windscreens. ASSURE researchers also performed engine impact simulations on the fan section of an existing business-jet-sized, turbofan-engine model that the FAA previously used for fan blade-out testing. The FAA/ASSURE team conducted this research to better inform the scope of the next phase of research, as well as the critical variables essential to their continued research and engine ingest testing. "Computer simulations, supported by material and component level testing, were conducted to determine the effects of sUAS impacts on manned aircraft," said Gerardo Olivares, Ph.D., Director, Crash Dynamics and Computational Mechanics Laboratories at Wichita State University. "Conducting this study through full-scale physical tests would not have been possible from a cost and time perspective due to the immense complexity of the task. On the other hand, simulation enabled us to study over 180 impact scenarios in a twelve-month period. To ensure results accurately predict the actual physical behavior of collisions, we have spent a lot of time developing, verifying, and validating detailed models of manned and unmanned aircraft. Once the models are validated, we can use them in the future to investigate other impact scenarios." Researchers observed various levels of airframe and engine damage in all sUAS collision simulations. They confirmed that energy (projectile mass and velocity) and the stiffness of the sUAS are the primary drivers of impact damage. This research showed that the severity of the collision is also dependent on the design features of the sUAS and the dynamics of the impact. Commercial aircraft manufacturers design aircraft structural components to withstand bird strikes from birds up to eight pounds for the empennage and four pounds for windscreen. ASSURE simulations show sUAS collisions inflict more physical damage than that of an equivalent size and speed bird-strike. sUAS components are much stiffer than birds, which are mostly composed of water. Therefore, bird-strike certification regulations are not appropriate for unmanned aircraft. Additionally, regulators do not require and manufacturers do not design commercial and business aircraft to withstand collisions from other aircraft. The ASSURE research team also conducted both physical testing and simulation on sUAS lithium batteries. Typical high-speed impacts caused the complete destruction of the battery, therefore, in these cases, there was not an increased risk of fire due to a shorted battery. However, during some of the low-speed impacts, associated with landing and takeoff, the battery was not completely destroyed. In some of these simulations, the battery remained lodged in the airframe and there was potential for increased risk of battery fire. The findings above show the importance of properly researching and regulating the use of sUAS in a crowed national airspace system. While design features can decrease the severity of a drone impact, sUAS pilots and the public must be aware of and abide by regulations for safe sUAS operations. It is critical that everything be done to keep these collisions from occurring through the safe separation of all aircraft, both manned and unmanned. The FAA will depend on the sUAS community to help develop the technology for proper detect-and-avoid so that these aircraft do not meet in flight. This is the first in a series of research projects conducted to understand and quantify the potential severity of airborne collisions. Future studies will research the severity of collisions with general aviation (GA) aircraft, rotorcraft, and high-bypass turbofan engines representative of those found in airline fleets today. Because of the scope and magnitude of this research, and the impact it will have on industry and national airspace safety, the follow-on studies will be broken into multiple phases beginning this year and running through FY21. The complete report is available at http://www.assureuas.org/projects/deliverables/sUASAirborneCollisionReport.php ABOUT ASSURE ASSURE partners represents 23 of the world's top research institutions and more than 100 leading industry and government partners. (Learn more at ASSUREuas.org.) ASSURE membership includes representation in 13 states, 9 countries, and over 200 locations, and core to 3 UAS test sites. SOURCE ASSURE Related Links http://www.ASSUREuas.org https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/faa-and-assure-announce-results-of-air-to-air-collision-study-300562734.html Back to Top The future of air traffic control is Twitch-style live streaming Goodbye, air traffic control towers. London City Airport is outsourcing landing and take-off to a digital centre 128 kilometres away The demonstration digital control room at NATS in Swanwick, Hampshireuses pre-recorded footage of London City Airport, captured from a temporary crane at the same height and location of the tower Wherever you're flying from, whether you're on a business trip or a holiday, your aeroplane takes off and is guided into land the same way. In an air traffic control tower, a vast structure often found tucked away behind a terminal building, Air traffic controllers look out the window and monitor radar, conferring over radio with pilots about when and where they can take off and land. It's a system that has worked for decades, but increasingly feels outdated. So now things are beginning to change, as the remote working revolution is coming to air traffic management. From January 2020, flights in and out of London City Airport won't be guided in land by an air traffic controller in a tower on-site, but by controllers 128 kilometres away in Swanwick, Hampshire, at the headquarters of the National Air Traffic Services, or NATS, the body which oversees air traffic in the UK. The bulky tower that currently looms over the airport will be replaced by a sleek new one a fraction of the size, adorned with the latest video streaming technology. In the new system, between 300 and 500 megabits per second of livestreaming video footage, captured by a nest of 14 HD cameras and two pan-tilt-zoom cameras providing a full 360 degree view of the airport, will be transported back to NATS headquarters via fibre lines moving anywhere between 300 and 500MB of data per second. Once there, the images are displayed on 14 HD screens producing a panoramic view of the entire airfield. "We couldn't have done this 10 or 20 years ago," explains Steve Anderson, head of airport transformation at NATS. "The camera technology just wasn't there, and the cameras themselves weren't reliable enough." Radar control, which tracks the planes in the skies above, has been operated remotely from UK airports by NATS for nearly 20 years, but the eyes on the ground have until now always been confined to a tall tower in one corner of an airport. Planes land and take off from airports thanks to the guidance of two teams - air traffic controllers and radar controllers. London City - where 40 aircraft take off and land every hour - is the third airport to commit to this new technology, but by far the biggest. In Sweden, two remote, rarely-used airports have already installed similar towers: Örnsköldsvik in 2015, and Sundsvall in 2016. Similar trials are taking place across the world. The airport and NATS had to spend many months convincing the Civil Aviation Authority, which oversees air safety, that the system was suitable and failure proof. NATS also had some sceptics internally, who wondered whether it wouldn't always be safer to have the tower at the airport. "This is one I hear quite a lot," Anderson wrote in a recent blog post. "I always answer by turning the question around: could it not be safer and more resilient to have your ATC operation offsite? "As a former controller myself I was a total sceptic about the concept," he continued, "but having now seen it and experienced it, I'm not only a convert, I'm utterly convinced that what they offer is something not only better, but also safer than today." The new, 50-metre-high digital tower (a magnitude of scale taller than the airport's existing 18 metre tower), which is currently being constructed at the midway point of London City's runway, will be tested before going live in January 2020. Although the camera-led tower can be little more than a pole to which the camera rig is attached, London City has elected to build a tower with a footprint 50 per cent bigger than the minimum required. "The job of the tower controller is to look at a plane out of a window, so we really need to give them a view that's representative of the human eye," explains Anderson. The cameras in the sky will allow controllers an even better view: users will be able to zoom in up to 30 times closer than the human eye would be able to, and at Swanwick they'll be able to overlay radar information and other details on top of the picture, just like a video game heads-up display. London City Airport's outsourced air traffic control tower is the first in the UK - but is unlikely to be the last. "As we start to get three, four and five towers in the same building, you get some benefits," Anderson explains. "Controllers can control more than one airport in a given day." And already, business is looking up - just kast week, NATS announced that it had been awarded the contract to develop a prototype smart digital tower for Singapore's giant Changi Airport, the world's sixth-busiest. "There's been a lot of excitement, and we're trying to convert that into proper business interest," says Anderson. http://www.wired.co.uk/article/london-city-airport-remote-air-traffic-control Back to Top The Flight Attendant Demoted After the 'Nut Rage' Incident in 2014 Is Suing Korean Air Korean Airlines plane on runway The flight attendant who gained attention for being the whistleblower against Korean Air in 2014 is filing a lawsuit against the airline and the airline chairman's daughter. Park Chang-jin was chief flight attendant on the now-infamous flight out of New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport, on which the airline chairman's daughter, Cho Hyun-ah, allegedly humiliated the crew after she was served peanuts in a bag instead of on a plate. Cho was allegedly so angered by the service that she forced the plane to return to the gate at JFK. The so-called "nut rage" incident earned Cho criticism in both South Korea and abroad. She lost her job and was sentenced to one year in prison in South Korea in 2015 for violating air safety laws. (She served three months.) However, Park says he was also ultimately punished for the incident for his whistleblowing. Former Korean Air executive Cho Hyun-ah nut rage trial JUNG YEON-JE/Getty Images After Park took a leave of absence, he came back to his job in May 2017 with a demotion to a regular flight attendant. Park claims that the airline's reasoning for the demotion was in retaliation for this whistleblowing. "My case illustrates how those who say no to economic power in South Korea come under a systematic attack from their organization," Park said at a news conference last week, according to the The New York Times. "I hope my case will help our society to think about the dignity and rights of common workers." In the lawsuit, Park claims Cho forced flight attendants to apologize to her on their knees "like slaves in a medieval era," used abusive language, and threw documents, The New York Times reported. Park's plans to sue were first reported in 2015. Lee Young-kee, a lawyer who heads the Horuragi Foundation, which works on the behalf of whistleblowers in South Korea, told the New York Times in 2016, "[Government officials and corporate executives] do whatever it takes to find an excuse to expel whistle-blowers." "There has been no discrimination or unfairness against him," Korean Air said in a statement. "We dealt with his case strictly according to our regulations." http://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/nut-rage-whistle-blower-sues-korean-air Back to Top To counter a Japanese pilot shortage, training schools to offer no-interest loans In response to a pilot shortage, six pilot-training institutions Tuesday said they will team up to establish a program in fiscal 2018 where they will provide select students with no-interest loans worth ¥5 million each. The six are J.F. Oberlin University, Tokai University, Sojo University, the Chiba Institute of Science, Japan Aviation College and New Japan Aviation Co. An organization will be set up April 2018 to run the financial assistance program. Currently, during each academic year, loans are provided to a total of 25 students from the six institutions who have met the standard, which is based on grades and other factors. For the no-interest loans, recipients will be required to pay back the money within 10 years of their graduation date. The loans will be provided by Orient Corp. The financial assistance program organization and participating airline firms will pay the required debt-guarantee costs to the nonbank lender. The government is aiming to increase the number of visitors to Japan to 40 million by 2020. The country needs to add 380 new pilots every year to meet the expected 2020 demand, but according to the transport ministry, currently only up to around 300 pilots enter the job market annually. There is an urgent need for new young pilots due to the aging of current pilots within the field, a trend which is especially affecting low-cost airlines. There is also monetary hurdle, with current tuition costs amounting to ¥20 million. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/11/29/national/counter-japanese-pilot-shortage-training-schools-offer-no-interest-loans/#.Wh51mFWnGUk Back to Top FedEx announces major purchase of U.S.-assembled feeder aircraft to continue fleet upgrade Cessna SkyCourier 408 FedEx Express on Tuesday announced a major purchase of U.S.-assembled feeder aircraft to continue a push to modernize its 659-aicraft fleet. The Memphis-based air express unit of FedEx Corp. said it has agreed to buy 50 Cessna SkyCourier 408 aircraft with options to buy 50 more from Textron Aviation Inc. It's the second significant deal that the company has announced in November to upgrade its fleet of more than 300 feeder aircraft, which serve small- and medium-dized markets. Three weeks ago the company said it would buy 30 ATR 72-600F aircraft with the option to purchase up to 20 more from French manufacturer ATR. The company says the enhanced feeder network will also help create a robust pipeline of pilot applicants as the aviation industry faces a pilot shortage in coming years. The feeder aircraft upgrade mirrors FedEx's efforts to modernize its jet fleet in recent years, buying larger, more efficient planes -- Boeing's 777, 767 and 757 -- while retiring older aircraft including Boeing 727s, MD-10s and MD-11s. Fleet modernization has been a key to meeting targets for greater fuel efficiency and aircraft reliability, reduced emissions intensity and larger profits. The Cessna purchase agreement calls for deliveries of one aircraft a month over four years starting in mid-2020. "This continues our very successful fleet modernization strategy, which improves our fuel efficiency, reliability and operating costs," FedEx Express president and chief executive officer David L. Cunningham said in a news release. "We worked closely with Textron Aviation to develop the Cessna SkyCourier 408, which includes several key features that will help us grow our business in small and medium-sized markets, especially in the air freight segment," Cunningham said. Features of the twin-engine, high-wing turboprop include a digital cockpit, an aft large cargo door and a flat floor cabin equipped to handle containers and pallets. It will have almost twice the volumetric capacity of FedEx's Cessna 208B. FedEx said the Cessna SkyCourier 408 will be assembled by Textron Aviation in Wichita, Kansas. Greg Hall, executive vice president of air operations, FedEx Express, said the Cessna and ATR purchases "are part of our long-term feeder fleet strategy. That strategy will not only improve our fuel efficiency and fleet reliability, but thanks to a collaborative training program we are planning, will create a reliable pipeline of well-qualified pilot applicants for FedEx Express pilot jobs, leveraging the experience they will gain in our feeder system." http://www.commercialappeal.com/story/money/industries/logistics/2017/11/28/fedex-announces-major-purchase-u-s-assembled-feeder-aircraft-continue-fleet-upgrade/900954001/ Back to Top Rolls-Royce joins race to develop electric passenger jets Collaboration with Airbus and Siemens on E-Fan X project could result in a partly UK-built hybrid electric plane flying by 2020 The three companies aim to build an E-Fan X demonstration model based on a BAe 146 aircraft. Photograph: PR Tuesday 28 November 2017 09.45 EST First published on Tuesday 28 November 2017 09.12 EST A partly British-built hybrid electric plane could be flying by 2020 as the result of a collaboration between Airbus, Siemens and Rolls-Royce. The manufacturers will convert a short-haul passenger jet, paving the way to making commercial air travel running partly on electricity a reality. Engineers involved in the E-Fan X project said the technology could mean cleaner, quieter and cheaper journeys. They also raised the prospect of radically changing aircraft and airport design, allowing air travel to supplant rail for many more intercity journeys. The companies are in talks with the British government to partially fund the joint project, which could cost hundreds of millions of pounds. They aim to build an E-Fan X demonstration model based on a BAe 146 aircraft in which an electric unit, powered by an onboard generator, replaces one, and eventually two, of the plane's four gas turbine engines. Airbus flew a single-seater electric plane, the E-Fan, across the Channel in 2015. The E-Fan X passenger jet will require more than 30 times the power, two megawatts, for a single electric engine. How the E-Fan X jet could work. Photograph: Handout Mark Cousins, the head of flight demonstrators at Airbus, said: "We decided we needed to be more ambitious because the world and technology is moving so fast." A number of airlines were interested, he said. "The objective is to reduce environmental impact and significantly reduce fuel burn." Paul Stein, the Rolls-Royce chief technology officer, said: "Aviation has been the last frontier in the electrification of transport, and slow to catch up. This will be a new era of aviation." Electric motors, which can be tilted more easily, could lead to radical changes in overall plane design. Quieter and cleaner travel could also mean airports situated much nearer city centres and, particularly in the developing world, less need to build or maintain infrastructure such as rail lines, Stein said. "It has the potential to move mass transport from rail to air; flying might become the norm." For now, challenges include accommodating the weight of a two-tonne battery storing electricity onboard a small plane. Frank Anton, the head of eAircraft at Siemens, said: "We have to get more than 10 times the power out of the same weight." However, Anton said he believed he would one day buy tickets for short-haul commercial flights using hybrid electric planes. The addition of Rolls -Royce to the Airbus-Siemens collaboration will step up the race to transform gas turbine aircraft. Earlier this year, easyJet said it hoped to be flying planes powered by batteries rather than jet fuel within a decade on shorter flights. The airline has signed a deal with the US engineering company Wright Electric to support the development of electric aircraft that could reach Paris and Amsterdam from London. Carolyn McCall, easyJet's departing chief executive, said it was "a matter of when, not if, a short-haul electric plane will fly". Wright Electric has operated a two-seater prototype but hopes to develop a single aisle, commercial plane able to carry 120 passengers. Another US company, Zunum Aero, backed by Boeing, is building a 12-seater hybrid electric plane that it claims could hugely reduce operating costs for private jets. It has said the planes will be ready by 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/nov/28/rolls-royce-electric-passenger-jets-airbus-siemens-e-fan-x-hybrid-electric-plane-2020 Back to Top NASA launched this record into space in 1977. Now, you can own your own copy. "The Voyager Golden Record" and its cover, which was blasted into space in 1977. (NASA/JPL) A NASA-created phonograph album - the "Voyager Golden Record" - is floating in space in search of a listener. It's a mix tape "intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials," according to NASA's website. Of course, the extraterrestrials have to stumble upon it and figure out how to make it play. NASA launched two copies of the album - which contains spoken greetings in 55 languages, music by Bach and Chuck Berry, and even songs by humpback whales - into space in 1977 on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecrafts. It did not include a record player. Until recently, the album hasn't been made public except to donors of a Kickstarter campaign by Ozma Records, which raised nearly $1.4 million to issue a limited number of copies on vinyl. That campaign was so successful that the company decided to release the album to the general public, Ozma Records co-founder David Pescovitz, who co-produced the record, told The Washington Post. At the end of January 2018, the company will begin shipping a box set vinyl edition through the record distributor Light in the Attic. The Voyager spacecraft. (NASA/JPL) For NASA, compiling a snapshot of the planet's history on a single record was no easy task - especially given its purpose, which President Jimmy Carter outlined in a statement included on the album: a message from planet Earth. "This is a present from a small distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings," Carter's statement said. "We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours. We hope someday, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations." NASA approved the record about six months before the launch of the two Voyager spacecrafts, according to science writer Timothy Ferris, who worked with the team, which was led by astrophysicist Carl Sagan and also included radio astronomer Frank Drake and author Ann Druyan as the project's creative director. "The chances of aliens finding the Voyagers in the vast emptiness of space are small - some say infinitesimal - but we took our jobs seriously," Druyan said in a NASA article. "From the moment when [Sagan] first broached the project to Tim Ferris and me, it felt mythic." Some technical specifics were quickly worked out. They couldn't use an 8-track tape, a popular format at the time, because space radiation would degrade the magnetic tape, according to NASA. Instead, they made a record from copper and coated it with gold, which would protect it from the extreme temperatures and radiation encountered in space. And they used records that spun at 16 2/3 revolutions per minute rather than the conventional 33 1/3 RPMs. That meant lower sound quality, but it allowed them 90 minutes of music rather than 27, as the Atlantic noted. The real question was what to put on it. "I remember sitting around the kitchen table making these huge decisions about what to put on and what to leave off," Druyan said. "We couldn't help but appreciate the enormous responsibility to create a cultural Noah's Ark with a shelf life of hundreds of millions of years." They chose each track for a different purpose. Some are obvious. The 12-minute audio essay fittingly titled "The Sounds of Earth" filled with sounds of everything from waves, laughter, an earthquake, crickets, chimpanzees, thunder, rain, footsteps, a baby's cry and the wet smack of a kiss - to name a few - offered a short glimpse into the natural sounds we encounter here on Earth. Others were more practical. The records included three compositions by J.S. Bach and two by Ludwig van Beethoven. The composers were given so much space in case the potential extraterrestrial life-forms were unable to hear the music, but could feel its vibration, Ferris noted in the New Yorker. He wrote: To understand why we did this, imagine that the records were being studied by extraterrestrials who lacked what we would call hearing, or whose hearing operated in a different frequency range than ours, or who hadn't any musical tradition at all. Even they could learn from the music by applying mathematics, which really does seem to be the universal language that music is sometimes said to be. They'd look for symmetries-repetitions, inversions, mirror images, and other self-similarities-within or between compositions. Others were chosen as metaphors. Take Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," for example. The song, representing rock-and-roll, "was the music of motion, of moving, getting to someplace you've never been before and the odds are against you, but you want to go," Druyan told Anderson Cooper on "60 Minutes." "That was Voyager," Druyan said. And Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was the Night" was a symbolic choice, Druyan told Pitchfork. The blues song aches with Johnson's pain as he moans through indecipherable lyrics, which drew her to the song. Johnson "died of exposure because he was that poor and uncared for; it was just him and his wife and his ruthless church, this broken-down church," Druyan said. "There are no words so it's transcended immediately in any of the limitation of the differences of human languages. It was pure, universal feeling, and it was a planet-wide feeling." The record also included folk music from around the world, featuring instrumentation like panpipes from the Solomon Islands or percussion from Senegal. Scientists also electronically encoded 115 various images on the record, such as photographs of a mother nursing her child, an astronaut floating in space, a violin with sheet music and an illustration showing a male and a pregnant female, according to NASA. Finally, they printed directions of how to play the record and a dedication on its cover: "To the makers of music-all worlds, all times." Then, they blasted it off into space and the unknown. Voyager 1 exited the solar system - the first probe to do so - in 2012, according to NASA. Voyager 2 is still in the solar system. Despite the passage of time, the Voyager records should still be in perfect condition, according to NASA. But, of course, it's impossible to know if it will ever be heard by any extraterrestrial life. "I'd say it's as fresh and new as the day it was placed aboard the spacecraft," David Doody, an engineer on the Voyager mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told the Atlantic. "It's been stored in a vacuum more perfect than any attainable on Earth, and protected from dust and cosmic rays by an aluminum metal case." Doody guessed the records "would be in playable condition for many hundreds of millennia." https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/11/27/nasa-launched-this-record-into-space-in-1977-now-you-can-own-your-own-copy/?utm_term=.7e69d4874574 Back to Top SASI Pakistan Seminar on 7th December 2017. at Islamabad Club Back to Top Book: Quietus: Last Flight Quietus details sixteen crashes between February 1943 and February 1944, in Alaska, British Columbia, Ontario, the Maritimes, and Newfoundland; the thesis: 'Accident Proneness.' The book is a collaboration involving WWII RCAF veterans, RCAF post-war pilots, members of the Directorate of Flight Safety, and historical aviation enthusiasts, as well as the pilots', crews' and passengers' families along with many others interested in aviation safety and the RCAF during the Second World War, offering a unique insight into war (and accident investigation) on the Canadian Home Front. If you would like further information about Quietus, please visit my website or the Bomber Command Museum of Canada's website. The books are available through me ($35 + $15 postage) or through the museum for $55, which also includes postage. All are listed in Canadian funds. http://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/store/?wpsc-product=quietus Anne Gafiuk Calgary, Alberta, Canada www.whatsinastory.ca Author of Wings Over High River and She Made Them Family Back to Top THE COMPLETE HANDBOOK ON PILOTING AND AERONAUTICS "For the first time, in one comprehensive volume, complete coverage of the airplane and piloting for normal and hazardous flight conditions." NOW AVAILABLE FOR ORDER FROM THE PUBLISHER THE COMPLETE HANDBOOK ON PILOTING AND AERONAUTICS by Arthur Torosian This book is invaluable for pilots, aspiring pilots, accident investigators, college engineering students and those in positions where understanding the technology and operation of airplanes is important. It is a unique, single-source tool, complete with in-depth coverage on all facets of the airplane and its operation in all situations. In depth chapters cover every aspect of flying from take-off and landing, through essential trigonometry, weather situations, accident analysis, plane design and testing, angle-of-attack, load, stability, control, flutter, written by a lifetime expert in the field of aviation and pilot training and engineering. The breadth of knowledge is now available to students, pilots and enthusiasts to share in and understand. The book investigates 100s of near-misses, runway incidents, all major accidents and offers analysis and explanation of what went wrong and why. Over 600 photographs, detailed diagrams and equations illustrate the text to make it the one volume you need on your shelves, with a comprehensive index and chapter contents, you can easily find what you are looking for. SAVE 15% OFF THE LIST PRICE We are offering Curt Lewis FSI readers 15% off the list price for two weeks only. Add the code CURTLEWIS at checkout. ORDER HERE Arthur Torosian has spent a lifetime connected to all aspects of aviation. As well as flying 90% of the aircraft illustrated in the book, he worked at McDonnell Douglas as Director of Performance and Control, Director of Product Design, Chief Pilot Customer support and engineering test pilot. He has an Airline Transport Rating, is type rated in the DC-8, DC-9, MD-80 and DC-10. He is a graduate of the USAF Experimental Test Pilot School, USAF Research Pilot Course, and the California Institute of Technology, MS Aeronautics. Back to Top Angle of Attack NOW AVAILABLE FOR ORDER EXCLUSIVELY FROM CURT LEWIS AVIATION BOOKS Second Printing Rushed to Press Finally, the definitive book on the Titanic of aviation accidents, a state-of-the-art jet that couldn't stall until it did and took the lives of 228 Air France passengers and crew. Based on exclusive interviews with the aircraft's manufacturer, the airline, flight crews, families of the pilots, accident investigators and the Woods Hole led team that recovered the missing jet from the bottom of the South Atlantic, Angle of Attack reveals why airlines and regulators everywhere must respond now to critical lessons from this legendary event. AUTOGRAPHED COPIES NOW AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY FROM CURT LEWIS AVIATION BOOKS at http://www.pilot-errormovie.com/book/angle-of-attack BUY THE BOOK AND THE HIT MOVIE IT INSPIRED, PILOT ERROR BY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28 AND SAVE $6. http://www.pilot-errormovie.com/book/book-and-dvd TAMPA, FLORIDA EVENT THIS WEEK: Meet co-author, 777 Captain Shem Malmquist, at the Pilot Error screening Sunday December 3 at 3 p.m., Riverview 14 GDX , 9390 Theater Drive, Gibsonton. (813) 295-6468. He will lead a discussion following the film and autograph Angle of Attack. Order tickets here. WHAT THE EXPERTS ARE SAYING ABOUT ANGLE OF ATTACK "We owe Rapoport and Malmquist a great debt of gratitude. Read every word." -Dr. Gary Helmer, Embry Riddle University "A great resource for aeronautical professionals ... exposes the failed defenses that can reside at each layer of the aviation system. A must read for anyone with an interest in aviation accident investigation and aviation safety." -Dr. Chris Johnson, Director of Aviation Education and Research, Industrial & Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison "A must read for professional pilots, aircraft designers, government regulators and political decision makers." -Gregory Fox, Director of Safety, Florida Institute of Technology, ATPL pilot, safety manager since 1971, 35 years safety regulator, and 20 years check inspector on A320 and A340. "Angle of Attack sheds light for the novice and expert alike. Their subject matter expertise is admirable. They have used the Air France 447 crash and other crashes of automated airplanes as examples of accidents that might have been prevented if the crews had access to realistic training to prepare them for those rare events and if their aircraft had been equipped with angle of attack indicators." -Captain Elaine M. Parker, Beyond Risk Management "You don't have to be a [pilot to find this book moving and absorbing." - Adam Hochschild, Author of Spain in Our Hearts and King Leopold's Ghost "This book proves conclusively that education by meteorologists is the key to fundamental understanding of the impact weather has on the elements of the aviation arena." - Debbie Schaum Embry-Riddle University Back to Top The NBAA Safety Committee is conducting its 3rd annual Business Aviation Safety Survey and needs your feedback. By providing input on the safety culture within business aviation, you will help guide the committee's work in the coming year and have a direct impact on our ability to continue improving the level of safety within our industry. Survey responses are sought from the entire spectrum of aircraft operations, personnel, and responsibilities. Whether you are a pilot, technician, scheduler/dispatcher, flight attendant or someone in a non-aviation role who frequently interacts with business aircraft, your feedback is invaluable to our efforts. Questions on the 2017 survey relate to important topics such as: • Risk management activities • Data sharing • Distractions in safety-critical moments • Participation in formal aviation training and third-party audit programs • Threats and risks you feel are most likely to impact your operation This completely anonymous survey takes approximately 20 minutes to complete, and your response is needed by Dec. 8, 2017. Thank you in advance for your participation, and for helping us work toward minimizing the risks you face in your daily operations. TAKE THE SURVEY NOW LEARN MORE You can also review the analysis and results of last year's survey, and we will make this year's survey results available in the coming months after the analysis is complete. National Business Aviation Association 1200 G Street NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005 * Tel: (202) 783-9000 * info@nbaa.org Back to Top Risk Culture Survey The results of the 1st Survey and the link to participate in the 2nd Survey can be found @ www.riskculture.org Back to Top NTSB Chairman to deliver Royal Aeronautical Society 14th annual Assad Kotaite Lecture at ICAO Back to Top 9th ESASI Regional Seminar We are pleased to announce that the 9th ESASI Regional Seminar will take place at the Baltic Beach Hotel in Jurmala / Riga, Latvia on 23-24 May 2018. In addition, the meeting of the military investigator group is scheduled to take place on the afternoon of 22 May 2018. The aim of the seminar is to keep the European air safety investigation community abreast of current developments and evolving best practice in aircraft safety investigation. As in previous years, the seminar will include presentations on case studies, the European environment, challenges of modern air safety investigations and human factors in aircraft accidents and incidents. ESASI welcomes proposals for presentations to be given during the 2018 seminar, which should last a maximum of 20 minutes with a further 5 minutes for questions. Presentations should address issues relating to air safety investigations; particular areas of interest are: * challenges faced by air safety investigators; * the environment, and culture, that air safety investigators operate in; * practical experience of applying investigation techniques; * new techniques to aid the investigation; * topical case studies. Details of proposed presentations should be sent to - presentations@esasi.eu. https://www.esasi.eu/ Curt Lewis