Flight Safety Information January 12, 2018 - No. 010 In This Issue Incident: Kuwait A320 at Lahore on Jan 11th 2018, cabin overpressure Incident: UTAir B735 at Surgut on Jan 10th 2018, engine auto-shutdown on landing while in reverse Incident: Lufthansa A319 near Krakow on Jan 11th 2018, unusual odour on board Incident: Arabia A320 at Khartoum on Jan 9th 2018, fire in cabin EVAS - Cockpit Smoke Protection Incident: UPS MD11 at Almaty on Jan 11th 2018, runway excursion on turn off Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante landing gear collapse on landing (Bahamas) Jet Airways prohibits 'smart' luggage with non-removable batteries on flights from January 15 Wing panel falls off Japanese PM Abe's jumbo jet $70 Million Reward on Offer In Hunt for Missing MH370 Jet Unstable approach behind plane crash that killed Jean Lapierre, TSB says Ask the Captain: Why aviation was so safe in 2017...By: John Cox Crew Resource Management: Cure for Amtrak's safety woes? Another nail in Virgin America's coffin as Alaska Airlines gets FAA signoff Boeing Shows Off Prototype Unmanned Electric Vertical-Takeoff-&-Landing Cargo Aircraft Global business jet market starting to recover: Dassault Aviation chief Garuda defers all new aircraft deliveries in 2018 Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity Soars on 7th Glide Flight (Photo) GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Call for Papers - ISASI 2018 Cabin Operations Safety Conference MITRE - SMS Course - March 2018 Structural Failure Identification Workshop at ERAU Incident: Kuwait A320 at Lahore on Jan 11th 2018, cabin overpressure A Kuwait Airways Airbus A320-200, registration 9K-AKC performing flight KU-204 from Lahore (Pakistan) to Kuwait (Kuwait), was climbing out of Lahore when the crew stopped the climb at FL160 due to over pressure indication for the aircraft cabin. The aircraft returned to Lahore for a safe landing about 30 minutes after departure. The aircraft is still on the ground in Lahore about 15 hours after landing back. http://avherald.com/h?article=4b383737&opt=256 Back to Top Incident: UTAir B735 at Surgut on Jan 10th 2018, engine auto-shutdown on landing while in reverse A UTAir Boeing 737-500, registration VP-BXO performing flight UT-824 from Baku (Azerbaijan) to Surgut (Russia), landed on Surgut's runway 25, when after touchdown the crew deployed the thrust reversers, the right hand engine (CFM56) however spontaneously shut down. The crew slowed the aircraft safely. Rosaviatsia reported the cause of the engine shutdown upon deployment of the thrust reverser is being investigated. http://avherald.com/h?article=4b383245&opt=256 Back to Top Incident: Lufthansa A319 near Krakow on Jan 11th 2018, unusual odour on board A Lufthansa Airbus A319-100, registration D-AIBH performing flight LH-1365 from Krakow (Poland) to Frankfurt/Main (Germany) with 40 passengers, was climbing through FL210 out of Krakow when the crew stopped the climb reporting an unusual odour on board and returned to Krakow for a safe landing on runway 25 about 35 minutes after departure. The airline confirmed the aircraft returned to Krakow due to an unusual odour. The source of the odour is being investigated. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Krakow about 10 hours after landing back. http://avherald.com/h?article=4b382ecd&opt=256 Back to Top Incident: Arabia A320 at Khartoum on Jan 9th 2018, fire in cabin An Air Arabia Jordan Airbus A320-200, registration JY-PTD performing flight G9-666 from Khartoum (Sudan) to Sharjah (United Arab Emirates) with 103 people on board, was climbing through FL110 out of Khartoum when the crew reported a fire in the cabin and decided to return to Khartoum. Cabin crew in the meantime were able to put the fire out. The aircraft landed safely on Khartoum's runway 18 about 13 minutes after departure. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Khartoum about 61 hours after landing back. http://avherald.com/h?article=4b381238&opt=256 Back to Top Back to Top Incident: UPS MD11 at Almaty on Jan 11th 2018, runway excursion on turn off A UPS United Parcel Service McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighter, registration N271UP performing freight flight 5X-11 from Seoul (South Korea) to Almaty (Kazakhstan), landed on Almaty's runway 23R and rolled out safely. When the aircraft attempted to vacate the runway at the last right hand exit the aircraft did not follow the turn and went off the paved surface of the runway coming to a stop with all gear on soft (but frozen) ground about 20 meters off the edge of the runway. The airport reported instead of turning right the aircraft continued straight when the aircraft attempted to vacate the runway coming to a stop about 20 meters off the paved surface of the runway. Metars: UAAA 111300Z 32002MPS 9999 OVC050 M03/M04 Q1029 R23L/4/0537 NOSIG= UAAA 111230Z 20002MPS 160V240 5000 BR OVC033 M03/M03 Q1029 R23L/4/2034 NOSIG= UAAA 111200Z 20002MPS 170V240 3800 BR OVC026 M03/M03 Q1030 R23L/4/2034 NOSIG= UAAA 111130Z 21002MPS 170V250 2100 -SN BR OVC019 M03/M03 Q1030 R23R/4/2035 R23L/4/2034 NOSIG= UAAA 111100Z 21002MPS 1100 R23R/1100N R23L/1500U SN BR OVC014 M03/M03 Q1030 R23R/4/2035 R23L/4/2034 NOSIG= UAAA 111030Z 21002MPS 0900 R23R/1200 R23L/1400 SN FZFG BKN010 OVC022 M03/M03 Q1030 R88/4/1037 TEMPO 0300 SN FZFG= UAAA 111000Z 20002MPS 0650 R23R/1000 R23L/1100 SN FZFG BKN008 OVC022 M03/M03 Q1029 R88/4/0540 TEMPO 0300 SN FZFG= UAAA 110930Z 27002MPS 250V340 1800 R23R/1900N R23L/1800U SN BR BKN007 OVC021 M03/M03 Q1029 R88/4/0540 NOSIG= UAAA 110900Z 30004MPS 2200 -SN BR BKN011 OVC024 M02/M03 Q1029 R88/4/0540 NOSIG= UAAA 110830Z 30005MPS 270V330 1800 R23R/1900U R23L/1800U SN BR BKN008 OVC023 M02/M03 Q1029 R88/4/0540 NOSIG= UAAA 110800Z 30002MPS 270V330 1000 R23R/1000 R23L/1200D SN BR BKN007 OVC021 M02/M03 Q1028 R88/4/0540 NOSIG= Ground tracks and aircraft on soft ground (Photo: Denis Krivosheyev): http://avherald.com/h?article=4b380f05&opt=256 Back to Top Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante landing gear collapse on landing (Bahamas) Status: Preliminary Date: Tuesday 9 January 2018 Time: ca 20:00 Type: Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante Operator: Pineapple Air Registration: C6-MIC C/n / msn: 110407 First flight: 1982 Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 15 Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 17 Airplane damage: Unknown Location: Governor's Harbour Airport (GHB) ( Bahamas) Phase: Landing (LDG) Nature: Passenger Departure airport: Nassau-Lynden Pindling International Airport (NAS/MYNN), Bahamas Destination airport: Governor's Harbour Airport (GHB/MYEM), Bahamas Narrative: The plane sustained a landing gear collapse upon landing and subsequently swerved off the left side of the runway. One occupant suffered minor injuries. https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20180109-0 Back to Top Jet Airways prohibits 'smart' luggage with non-removable batteries on flights from January 15 Following a direction from the global airline grouping IATA, Jet Airways on Thursday said it will prohibit passengers from carrying smart luggage, which include devices with non-removable batteries, on its aircraft from January 15. Smart bags/smart luggage include devices with integrated lithium batteries, motors, power banks, GPS, GSM, Bluetooth, RFID or Wi-Fi technology. Since lithium batteries are likely to heat up and sometimes even explode, bags with a lithium battery will only be accepted if it is possible to remove the battery. This does not mean that a passenger will not be able to carry the mobile phone on a flight. The move effective from January 15 comes after the International Air Transport Association (IATA) banned any such baggage on a passenger aircraft across the world. The IATA had late last month announced that its Dangerous Goods Board restricted carrying smart luggage on passenger flights operated by its 275 member-airlines from January 15. "In accordance with the regulations issued by the IATA towards ensuring flight safety, smart bags or smart luggage which include devices with non-removable batteries, will not be permitted on all our flights, effective January 15," Jet Airways said in an advisory today. "Guests checking in smart luggage must uninstall the batteries prior to check-in. Post-removal, batteries can be carried separately in cabin baggage only," the airline said. The airline further advised passengers to remove batteries from their smart luggage and to declare them to the check-in staff. "The liability of the airline and its staff is limited to the extent of only advising and guiding guests to ensure compliance with these procedures," Jet said. The airline will not be liable for any damage/malfunction of the smart luggage in any form due to un-installation or re-installation, the advisory added. http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/jet-airways-prohibits-smart-luggage-on-flights-from- january-15-2481491.html Back to Top Wing panel falls off Japanese PM Abe's jumbo jet Officials noticed the panel was missing from the Boeing 747, one of two jetliners used by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for foreign trips, after it flew from Tokyo to its base on the northern island of Hokkaido. TOKYO (REUTERS) - A panel the size of a laptop computer fell off one of the Japanese prime minister's jumbo jets, the defence force said on Friday (Jan 12), a potentially embarrassing mishap amid concern over the dangers posed by parts falling off US military aircraft based in Japan. Officials noticed the panel was missing from the Boeing 747, one of two jetliners used by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for foreign trips, after it flew from Tokyo to its base on the northern island of Hokkaido on Thursday, a spokesman for the Japan Air Self Defence Force (ASDF) said. The part, measuring 38cm by 20 cm, has not been found. It is an access panel near the pylon connecting one of the engines to the right wing. "There was no sign of it on the runways so it's going to be very difficult to locate," the spokesman said. A recent string of incidents involving US aircraft based on Japan's southern island of Okinawa prompted Japan's Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera on Tuesday to ask his US counterpart James Mattis to implement measures that would prevent any recurrences. Those incidents, which included a window falling from a helicopter onto a school playground last month, have fuelled public opposition to the US presence on the strategically located island at the edge of the East China Sea. The air force would conduct an investigation to determine why the panel had fallen off Abe's plane, the ASDF spokesman said. The two government jumbos left Tokyo on Friday carrying Abe, government officials and Japanese business representatives on a six-day trip to Eastern Europe, including stops in Estonia, Lithuania, Serbia and Romania. Abe did not board the 747 that lost the panel. Japan has ordered two Boeing 777 planes to replace the ageing jumbos after March 2019. It also plans to switch to ANA Holdings for maintenance work from rival Japan Airlines Co. http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/wing-panel-falls-off-japanese-prime-ministers-jumbo Back to Top $70 Million Reward on Offer In Hunt for Missing MH370 Jet * Reward ranges $20m-$70m depending on where aircraft is found Ocean Infinity to search 25,000 sq km area identified in 2016 The hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will resume after the government agreed to pay a U.S. exploration company as much as $70 million if it solves modern aviation's biggest mystery. The Boeing Co. 777 aircraft disappeared on March 8, 2014, on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board. The government signed a contract with Ocean Infinity on Wednesday, but said the company would only be paid if it locates the aircraft or flight recorders. "It is my hope that we will find the answer that we seek for nearly four years and bring some closure to this unfortunate incident," Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said at a press conference outside Kuala Lumpur. After combined efforts by the governments of Australia, China and Malaysia failed to locate the vanished aircraft, the new search will be carried out in a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean west of Australia. Authorities have identified the 25,000 square kilometer area as the wreck's most likely resting place before they abandoned their attempts last year. The vessel Seabed Constructor is on her way to the area with 65 crew on board, with the search due to begin in mid-January, Liow said. The government is pledging $20 million if the aircraft or both flight recorders are found within 5,000 square kilometers of the primary search area, with the reward topping off at $70 million if it's found in a search area exceeding 25,000 square kilometers. Investigators believe MH370 headed south over the Indian Ocean for about six hours before plummeting into the water. While no bodies have ever been recovered, a few fragments of the jet have turned up on Africa's eastern seaboard. The previous search effort and the wreckage found have allowed researchers to revise their assessments on the search area, underpinning Ocean Infinity's confidence in finding the aircraft, CEO Oliver Plunkett said. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-10/new-mh370-search-approved-as-malaysia- offers-70-million-reward Back to Top Unstable approach behind plane crash that killed Jean Lapierre, TSB says Decision to press ahead with unstable approach key factor in plane crash that killed former cabinet minister Jean Lapierre and six others. A16A0032 - Sequence of events - Mitsubishi MU-2 crash in Īles-de-la-Madeleine The Transportation Safety Board says an unstable approach led to the 2016 crash that killed former federal cabinet minister Jean Lapierre and six others. The flight was heading for Iles-de-la- Madeleine, Que. (The Canadian Press) OTTAWA-Pilot Pascal Gosselin was behind the plane. Way behind. Nearing the airport at Īles-de-la-Madeleine in bad weather, he had misjudged his approach and now his Mitsubishi MU-2B-60, a high-performance twin-engine turboprop aircraft was high and fast, as much as 185 km/h too fast, just a few kilometres back from the runway. Riding in the cabin behind him were Jean Lapierre, a former federal cabinet minister and four family members. They were flying to Lapierre's hometown for the funeral of his father. Gosselin pulled the engines to idle in an attempt to slow down. The plane "meandered" across the approach path. He was behind in his landing checks. And then the plane became critically slow. Apparently startled by the decaying speed, Gosselin jammed the throttles forward. The sudden burst of power caused the plane to suddenly roll out of control to the right in a sharp descent. He managed to get the wings level but did not have enough time to arrest the plane's descent before it slammed into the ground, killing all onboard. Gosselin's decision to push ahead with an unstable approach that was high, fast and rushed was a key factor in the March 29, 2016 crash, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said in a report released Wednesday. The plane that crashed killing former cabinet minister Jean Lapierre and six others was a Mitsubishi MU-2B-60, known for being a challenging aircraft to fly. "He was behind the airplane. With a high performance aircraft, it's flying fast and pilots have to think faster to stay ahead of the airplane," Kathy Fox, chair of the safety board, told the Star in an interview Wednesday. The flight had departed Montreal's St. Hubert airport. Onboard with Lapierre - a high-profile Quebecer who had been a long-time MP, cabinet minister and journalist - were his wife Nicole Beaulieu, sister, Martine Lapierre, and two brothers, Marc and Louis Lapierre. Pilot Fabrice Labourel accompanied Gosselin in the cockpit though he had no experience on the MU-2B. Gosselin, a personal friend of the former federal cabinet minister, had offered to fly the family to the remote Quebec island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, reports at the time said. Yet weather in the region was poor with high winds, low cloud and poor visibility. The plane made an instrument approach to the airport, using electronic aids to navigate. Though high and fast, the pilot tried to salvage the landing rather than abandon it and try again - the action investigators suggest he should have taken. "The pilot's high workload and reduced time available resulted in a task-saturated condition, which decreased his situational awareness and impaired his decision making," the report found. "The pilot 'got behind' the aircraft by allowing events to control his actions, and cognitive biases led him to continue the unstable approach," it said. In this case, the pilots never discussed the possibility of going around. The board has listed unstable approaches as an urgent safety issue. The report discusses at length the various pressures that too often cause pilots to press ahead with a bad approach rather than go-around and try again, such as tunnel vision, overconfidence and a reluctance to change plans. "We know that very, very experienced commercial flight crews who fly a lot more can find themselves . . . on an unstable approach and continue to landing because it's already worked before . . . and they wind up having an accident," Fox said. A spate of fatal accidents involving MU-2B aircraft prompted the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to require pilots of these planes to get special training. Gosselin had received the training but only had 125 hours on the aircraft, and had flown just 20 hours in the last 90 days, Fox said. "It didn't give him the opportunity to practice his skills and procedures to maintain his proficiency on a high performance aircraft," she said. Though not required by law, the plane was equipped with a lightweight recorder that recorded cockpit sounds, radio communications, GPS position data, all valuable clues that helped investigators piece together what happened. "The audio recording made a huge difference," Fox said. The safety board has pushed Transport Canada to make voice and data recorders mandatory on smaller commercial aircraft, a point it made again in this report. https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/01/10/tsb-says-unstable-landing-approach-key- factor-in-plane-crash-that-killed-former-cabinet-minister-jean-lapierre-6-others.html Back to Top Ask the Captain: Why aviation was so safe in 2017 By: John Cox, Special to USA TODAY Question: Can you explain some of the factors that led to such a safe year for aviation in 2017? Answer: In 2017, commercial aviation flew over 4 billion passengers on 38 million flights without a single fatality in a scheduled jet airliner. This wonderful milestone is the work of thousands of dedicated professionals in the aviation industry. Is it a surprise? No, it is the continuation of a trend that has been underway since the beginning of heavier-than-air flight in 1903. Becoming a part of the aviation industry in 1970, I have gotten to witness this remarkable journey to become the safest form of public transportation in history. It has been a remarkable 48-year experience. Today, aviation is regarded as a world leader in safety. Many other industries - such as medicine, maritime, nuclear and manufacturing - look to aviation for its safety practices. Aviation's record provides a shining example of what can be accomplished when political will, resources and expertise become focused on reducing accidents and injury. The expectation of safety continues to rise in aviation. Despite having a record-breaking year in 2017, continued progress will be needed for 2018 and beyond. One of the ways that we have become so safe was to realize that our efforts were never going to be good enough. The ever-rising expectations forced the industry to adopt new technologies, training methods and to improve human performance. Manufacturers built better, safer airplanes with improved design and performance. Pilots improved their skills. Regulators provided improved oversight, and accident investigators generated better analysis of the decreasing number of accidents. Flight attendants improved evacuations, while dispatchers have better tools to make weather forecasts and dispatch decisions. Maintenance technicians improved procedures to enhance reliability and safety. All of these professionals committed themselves to continuing improvement, to attaining the reality of zero fatalities, to doing what the naysayers said could not be done. Those of us in aviation safety have seen a change in many of the leaders in the industry. These leaders now demand safety as well as operational excellence. Aviation now embraces the use of external auditors to ensure that the operation is following industry best practices. The evolution to being proactive in safety is becoming the standard. While 2017 was a milestone year, and should be celebrated, much work remains to be done. Improving pilot training to reduce the number of loss-of-control events is a priority. Realizing the inherent risk of lithium batteries onboard aircraft is going to require better training and equipment. Learning how to reduce the number of runway incursions and improving runway safety areas remain a challenge. One of the greatest challenges is how are we to address the exploding number of unmanned aircraft now sharing our airspace? Current regulations are behind this technology, making the safe operation of aircraft and unmanned aircraft a struggle. To enjoy a window seat in aviation's remarkable progress from the early jets of the 1970s to today's modern jets has been an incredible experience. We are much better than we were, but not as good as we are going to be. John Cox is a retired airline captain with US Airways and runs his own aviation safety consulting company, Safety Operating Systems. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/cox/2018/01/07/ask-captain-why-aviation-so- safe-2017/1005183001/ Back to Top Crew Resource Management: Cure for Amtrak's safety woes? Amtrak has a new Executive Vice President and Chief Safety Officer, and he is a former chief safety officer at both Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines. The Jan. 9 appointment of Ken Hylander clearly signals that Amtrak CEO Richard Anderson-also a Northwest and Delta alumnus- has decided the passenger railroad's safety programs need a wholesale overhaul. Hylander's three-decade airline management resume also includes leading the Delta Connection Safety Alliance and 17 years at United Airlines. He is the Chairman of the influential Flight Safety Foundation's governing board. At Amtrak, Hylander will report directly to Anderson. Anderson and Hylander have a big task ahead. U.S. passenger airlines and U.S. railroads-both freight and passenger-ended 2017 with polar opposite safety records. Fixing the railroads may require more than just Positive Train Control, the massive technology injection that has shattered original budget estimates and eluded full implementation for years. Anderson and Hylander might consider adapting a proven airline industry training and operations management program called Crew Resource Management (CRM). When paired with PTC, CRM might bring U.S. passenger railroad safety levels closer to that of U.S. airlines. A TALE OF TWO SAFETY RECORDS Sadly, 2017 ended badly for Amtrak. Just a few days before Christmas, Amtrak train #501, a high- visibility inaugural run for expanded Cascades service, tumbled onto Interstate 5 south of Tacoma, Wash. Suspected railroad crew training issues were in the headlines for days. And while final Federal Railroad Administration numbers for 2017 aren't available, media reports chronicled the sad stories of eight U.S. railroad employees who died in safety-related railroad incidents. In spite of the railroads' best efforts, including work by a dedicated corps of safety professionals, the rail industry has never gone a calendar year without an employee or contractor fatality. In sharp contrast, scheduled U.S. passenger airlines ended 2017 with an exemplary safety record-0 crashes, 0 crew fatalities, and 0 passenger fatalities. That's zip, zero, nada. Further, 2017 was actually the eighth calendar year that scheduled U.S. passenger airlines could make this claim! SAFETY PROGRAM OVERHAUL ON "SHORT FINAL APPROACH" When Richard H. Anderson joined Amtrak as Co-CEO last year, he promised to improve customer service. By all accounts, Anderson's CEO tenures at Northwest and Delta were highly successful. Amtrak supporters have clear expectations that his previously demonstrated passenger service management skills soon will transfer to the government railroad. As 2018 begins, veteran railroad manager Wick Moorman is gone. Anderson now is alone in the Amtrak CEO suite. And with the Cascades wreck still making occasional news, Anderson's appointment of Hylander says "how Amtrak does safety" is about to undergo a transformation. Odds are high that hefty injections of airline-style safety programs will be applied to fix Amtrak's imperfect safety record and tarnished image. ELIMINATING HUMAN FACTOR FAILURES One of the proven tools Anderson and Hylander could deploy is a version of CRM, an airline training and flight operations management system designed to help airline flight crews avoid Human Factor performance failures. Properly modified, CRM could become a cornerstone of the safety management system recommended by National Transportation Safety Board. Amtrak has endorsed that recommendation. Initially conceptualized in the late 1970s, airline CRM systems focus on crew communications, decision-making and leadership. CRM recognizes that aircrew performance may decrease as task complexity grows and provides training and tools designed to help a Captain and First Officer effectively handle increasingly complex tasks. And it's Human Factor performance failures that have figured prominently in the causes of four major passenger train accidents-Spuyten Duyvil (2013, Metro-North); Frankford Curve (2015, Amtrak); Hoboken Terminal (2016, NJ Transit), and the Amtrak Cascades debacle. In all four calamities, railroad operating crews rolled into a speed restriction significantly above the speed limit. Other factors were involved, including lost situational awareness, fatigue and engineers' chronic medical conditions, such as obstructive sleep apnea. The fatality and injury totals from the four events are unsettling to stakeholders-16 dead and approximately 437 injured. Among those stakeholders is the U.S. Congress, the folks controlling Amtrak's and the big commuter railroads' substantial subsidies. RIDING THE JUMPSEAT I came face-to-face with CRM four years ago on a 3.5-hour trip in a major airline's Boeing 757-200 flight deck. I was looking for a training strategy that railroad operating crews then under my safety supervision could apply to avoid running through switches and derails that had been in the same locations for decades. Now obviously, taking Amtrak's Southwest Chief out of Dodge City at 70-plus mph and getting a B757 across the country does not create an apples-to-apples comparison. But in 2013, U.S. airlines clearly were "doing safety" better than U.S. railroads. I wanted to see first-hand one of the systems acknowledged as essential to the U.S. airline industry's safety record. The trip started with an extensive crew briefing, which included the flight attendants, before the crew even got onto the aircraft. The captain did a thorough walk-around aircraft mechanical inspection. But once on the flight deck and strapped into the four-point jump seat restraints, it took fewer than 10 seconds to appreciate the magnitude of difference between the communications heard in a locomotive control cab and the aircraft flight deck. There were checklists-before engine start; after engine start; before taxi; before take-off-and many more as the flight changed altitude, took different headings, and landed. The captain and first officer were always talking to each other. The net results of this communication was a system that put at least two sets of trained eyes (and minds) on every critical crew decision. Flight attendants were an integral part of the CRM process. After all, their primary responsibility is passenger safety, not Cokes and Seven-Ups. When crunched in a middle seat, passengers don't see the critical safety duties for which flight attendants are responsible. What I saw was not a show for the visitor. Having had brief prior glimpses of flight deck procedures (on movie studio charter trips), I am convinced this was the way things were done-on every flight, every day. Clearly, the U.S. airline industry's safety record proves CRM's effectiveness. HEADWINDS AND TURBULENCE Should Anderson and Hylander contemplate installing a modified CRM system at Amtrak, they likely will face headwinds and at least Level 3 turbulence. After all, DNA-level change in the railroad industry historically has always been difficult. Congressional priorities: Over the past ten years, Congress has been hesitant to truly prioritize epic changes in railroad safety training. The rail industry has been a good self-starter when it comes to training, testing, qualification and certification program improvements. Consider the snail's pace of Rail Safety Improvement Act (RSIA) implementation. Passed in October 2008, RSIA's Section 401, Minimum Training Standards and Plans, mandated improved railroad employee training. As it now stands, some RSIA-required training improvements won't be in place until 2024. 49 CFR Part 243, Training, Qualification, and Oversight for Safety-Related Railroad Employees, (downloadable at the link below), does not require dramatic rail training enhancements. The regulation mostly focuses on organizing, labeling and documenting existing training courses and training contractors. Notably, Part 243 fails to put forth specific instructional strategies to eliminate Human Factor incidents. Eliminating Human Factor incidents rated only brief mentions during Part 243's prolonged rulemaking. In the eyes of many, Part 243 is a "90% paper shuffle." Airline-style training and operations safety programs will leave Part 243 in the dust. Unions: It's unknown how Amtrak's unions, and the unions representing state and regional passenger railroads, would respond to a CRM program. Many unions view additional operating practices and safety rules as a way to shift responsibility for employee failures away from management. They call it "Blame The Employee First" and might see CRM training as another strategic step in the wrong direction. Additionally, airline CRM training is rigorous. Not everyone passes. Rail unions might worry that some of their members, whose study and learning skills are rusty, might not make the grade. Every railroad manager has encountered very competent and safety-conscious railroaders who "simply don't test very well." Both labor and management will worry that CRM might result in some good employees being disqualified. Management Challenges: Lower-level Amtrak managers may raise objections. However, Hylander's position on the Amtrak organization chart suggests the Anderson-Hylander team won't tolerate foot-dragging. The entire railroad industry is dealing (some would say struggling) with PTC's challenging rollout. Every entity has a limit on how much change it can digest at any one time. Many believe PTC has stretched railroads to their limits. Further, designing and installing truly new training programs aren't cheap. Strategic reconstruction of a score or more of qualification and certification programs would be an enormous task. It is into this uncertain regulatory, labor and industry environment that any Amtrak-sponsored airline-style CRM initiative would fly. CRM champions would certainly need to fasten their seatbelts. Indeed, five-point restraints might be necessary! IN THE LONG RUN Undeniably, Amtrak is the 500-pound lowland gorilla when it comes to the U.S. passenger rail industry. And if CEO Anderson and Chief Safety Officer Hylander moved forward with a CRM-based crew training and operations management proposal, the program could quickly become a passenger rail industry standard. By moving ahead with both PTC and a version of CRM, it's possible that Anderson, aided by Hylander, might go down as both an outstanding passenger airline CEO as well as a trail-blazing passenger railroad CEO. And if Amtrak (and other subsidized passenger railroads) were to start turning in safety records like the airline industry, Congress might more favorably view their future appropriations requests. SWITCH RUN-THRU: Nothing says "Human Factor Incident" like the buckled hardware and wheels on the ground around a run-thru switch. This switch had been in the same location since the railroad was built early in the past century. On many short line and regional railroads, Human Performance failures at switches and derails account for more than half of all reasonable-cause drug tests and decertification procedures. CHECKLISTS: A CRM hallmark is putting two sets of trained eyes on safety-critical duties and decisions. A major airline's captain and first officer use one of at least three checklists required before an MD-90 jet aircraft can push back from a boarding gate. DISASTER STRIKES! "When all the Swiss cheese holes line up." Multiple factors contributed to shoving empty freight cars off the end of an industry track into a gravel pit. The poster and a rules review were the core of a task-oriented Operating Crew training program applying modified CRM communication procedures. After training, shoving movement failures dropped significantly. Creating this one lesson consumed eight man-hours. CRM-INSPIRED SAFETY RULE: Cab Red Zone rules adapt CRM procedures to focus operating crews' attention on challenging situations. Reducing unrelated activities improves crew performance. http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/blogs/art-miller/crew-resource-management-cure-for- amtraks-safety-woes.html?channel=00 Back to Top Another nail in Virgin America's coffin as Alaska Airlines gets FAA signoff A Virgin America plane taxis past an Alaska Airlines plane waiting at a gate in April 2016. Alaska announced it would buy Virgin America that month. The two airlines recently received a joint operating certificate from the FAA, allowing them to fly as a single airline. It's another last for Virgin America - the Federal Aviation Administration's approval of a single operating license with Alaska Airlines Thursday officially signals the end of Virgin flights. The license allows Alaska Airlines and Virgin America to operate as a single airline in the eyes of aviation regulators, pilots and air traffic controllers. Virgin's "Redwood" call sign, what controllers use to address airlines, will retire and those flights will take on the "Alaska" name. Travelers can still expect to see Virgin America's quirky, colorfully lit planes until April 25, when the two airlines will roll out a single reservation system. Alaska, headquartered in Seattle, announced the purchase of Burlingame's Virgin America in April 2016 and finished the deal in December of that year. Since then, the company has moved deliberately to integrate the two airlines. Alaska Airlines said that the change in operating license will not affect travelers on either airline. Until the full merger in April, the two airlines will maintain separate apps and websites, and passengers can book flights with either airline. Virgin America's Elevate loyalty program was rolled into Alaska's Mileage Plan on Jan. 1, the airline said. A single payroll and benefits program for employees also debuted on the New Year. Alaska Airlines said it expects to consolidate its operations control center in Seattle by March. Alaska Airlines said it expects to finish merging operations and retire the Virgin America brand entirely sometime in 2019. Virgin Group founder Richard Branson has criticized Alaska for retiring the Virgin America name, and proposed reviving it. http://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Another-nail-in-Virgin-America-s-coffin-as- 12492044.php Back to Top Boeing Shows Off Prototype Unmanned Electric Vertical-Takeoff-&-Landing Cargo Aircraft A prototype of a new unmanned and electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) cargo air vehicle (CAV) design has just been shown off by Boeing - with the idea being for the new prototype to serve as a test vehicle for the company's autonomous operation tech. The prototype is a sort of rough draft, to put it lightly, as it was designed and built in fewer than 3 months and can "only" carry up to 500 lbs in cargo weight via its electric propulsion system. "Our new CAV prototype builds on Boeing's existing unmanned systems capabilities and presents new possibilities for autonomous cargo delivery, logistics and other transportation applications," stated Steve Nordlund, the vice president of Boeing HorizonX (the developer of the CAV). "Chicago-based Boeing's development of the environmentally-friendly electric propulsion system comes as the race intensifies to advance battery technology and electric motors to lower flying costs and move away from fossil fuels," Reuters notes. "Airbus, Rolls-Royce, and Siemens, came together in November to develop a hybrid electric engine, with Airbus responsible for the control architecture of the propulsion system and batteries. "In October, a Seattle-area startup - backed by the venture capital arms of Boeing and JetBlue Airways Corp - announced plans to bring a small hybrid-electric commuter aircraft to market by 2022." None of that amounts to much until development yields solid results, though. The only thing being publicly revealed to date is really just the videos Siemens released last year. Presumably, it won't be long until further real-world demonstration of the tech is forthcoming. For now, here are a few more details regarding the Boeing news, via Boeing: "It successfully completed initial flight tests at Boeing Research & Technology's Collaborative Autonomous Systems Laboratory in Missouri. ... "Powered by an environmentally-friendly electric propulsion system, the CAV prototype is outfitted with eight counter rotating blades allowing for vertical flight. It measures 15 feet long (4.57 meters), 18 feet wide (5.49 meters) and 4 feet tall (1.22 meters), and weighs 747 pounds (339 kilograms)." Also, while we write about electric vehicles every day and increasingly have written about VTOL aircraft, it was interesting to see that Boeing chose to abbreviate "electric vertical-takeoff-and- landing" as "eVTOL." Perhaps we should start using that acronym as well. https://cleantechnica.com/2018/01/11/boeing-shows-off-prototype-unmanned-electric-vertical- takeoff-landing-cargo-aircraft/ Back to Top Global business jet market starting to recover: Dassault Aviation chief PARIS (Reuters) - The global business jet market, which had been bruised by the 2007-08 financial crisis, has started to show signs of recovery, the head of France's Dassault Aviation (AVMD.PA) said on Thursday. Sales of business jets halved from their peak of 1,317 in 2008 to 661 in 2016, according to data from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, but jet maker Dassault's chairman and CEO Eric Trappier told reporters there were signs the market is picking up and that his company is also in the process of developing a new business jet. Speaking in his capacity as head of the French Gifas aerospace business interest group, Trappier said there had been a pick up in activity over the past month. Trappier's comments echoed those made in October by Honeywell (HON.N), which said it expected the market to receive a boost from the global economy's steady growth and upgrades to newer aircraft from U.S. companies. Dassault Aviation last month said it was scrapping development of the Falcon 5X jet because of delays and technical problems with its French-supplied engines. It added that it would launch a new model powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp (UTX.N). https://www.reuters.com/article/us-aerospace-dassault-avi/global-business-jet-market-starting-to- recover-dassault-aviation-chief-idUSKBN1F0173 Back to Top Garuda defers all new aircraft deliveries in 2018 Garuda Indonesia confirms that it will not add any aircraft in 2018, and will instead work to maximise the utilisation of its existing fleet. The airline tells FlightGlobal that it has pushed back the delivery of its 49 Boeing 737 Max 8s on order from 2017 to 2020. The jets, which will gradually replace its 737-800s, are now scheduled to be delivered from 2020 to 2024. The Indonesian flag carrier will also take three Airbus A330neos in 2019. Asked about the 14 ATR 72-600s on order, the airline would only say that discussions are still ongoing. FlightGlobal reported last June that Garuda has approached Boeing, Airbus and ATR seeking to defer the majority of its aircraft deliveries in the coming years amid financial woes. The airline has also said that it is considering removing smaller aircraft such as the ATR and Bombardier CRJ from its fleet, and in its latest investor presentation lists finding a "solution" for the two aircraft types as an objective for 2018. Flight Fleet Analyzer lists Garuda with 14 A330neos, 14 ATR 72s and 49 737 Max 8s on order. Its 141 aircraft fleet comprises 74 737s, 24 A330s, 18 CRJ1000s, 15 ATR 72s and 10 777s. Low-cost unit Citilink meanwhile has 30 A320neos on order, and will take delivery of two this year. Garuda has said that its five-aircraft fleet has been a drag on its finances, and that it can raise capacity by 12% simply by better utilising existing aircraft. In a disclosure to the Indonesia Stock Exchange, the carrier also confirmed a news report that it will require between $100-200 million in capital expenditure this year. It adds that it is also studying funding options for the year, with the issue of global bonds being considered. Garuda reported an operating loss of $109 million in the first nine months of 2017, as its attributable net loss widened to $222 million, from the $44 million loss a year ago. Low-cost unit Citilink also slumped to a net loss of $44.3 million over the same period. https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/garuda-defers-all-new-aircraft-deliveries-in-2018- 444805/ Back to Top Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity Soars on 7th Glide Flight (Photo) Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity vehicle on the ground in Mojave, California, after a successful "glide flight" on Jan. 11, 2018. Virgin Galactic's second SpaceShipTwo vehicle has taken to the skies once again. The spacecraft, known as VSS Unity, completed its seventh unpowered "glide flight" today (Jan. 11) over Mojave, California, Virgin Galactic representatives said. Unity hadn't been aloft since August 2017. Engineers and technicians had spent the intervening five months making sure the vehicle will be ready for the higher loads of rocket-powered flight when the time comes, according to the company. [Photos: Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity] "Today we tested that work by pushing Unity's atmospheric capabilities hard, touching top-end glide speeds as pilots Mark 'Forger' Stucky and Michael 'Sooch' Masucci completed a busy test card," Virgin Galactic wrote in an update today. "After release from mothership VMS Eve, the spaceship was immediately pushed into a sharp descent, accelerating to Mach 0.9, which is around the maximum airspeed we can achieve without igniting the rocket motor!" they added. (Mach 1 is the speed of sound - 767 mph, or 1,234 km/h, at room temperature.) As that note indicates, SpaceShipTwo is designed to be carried aloft by a specialized airplane. During operational flights, the spacecraft will be dropped at an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,000 meters), then boost itself to suborbital space using its own rocket motor. The passengers aboard - SpaceShipTwo can fit six paying customers, along with two pilots - will get to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the curvature of Earth against the blackness of space before gliding back down to Earth. Tickets to ride SpaceShipTwo currently sell for $250,000. To date, more than 600 people have put a deposit down for a seat, Virgin Galactic representatives have said. But VSS Unity will have to ace some powered flights before it can start taking customers and research payloads to suborbital space. The company is laying the groundwork for powered tests: During today's flight, Unity carried water ballast to simulate the rocket motor's weight, and it was outfitted with a thermal protection system, which will shield the spacecraft from the heat and friction of atmospheric re-entry, Virgin Galactic representatives said. Unity is Virgin's second SpaceShipTwo vehicle. The first, VSS Enterprise, broke apart during a rocket-powered test in October 2014. The tragic accident killed co-pilot Michael Alsbury and injured pilot Peter Siebold. https://www.space.com/39360-virgin-galactic-spaceshiptwo-seventh-glide-flight.html Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY I am a student with City University in London doing my MSc in Air Transport Management and conducting a survey for academic research on the Importance of Pilot Mental Health and Peer Support Group and would be grateful if you could complete the survey below: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/B3HGHVV Thank you in advance! Bilal Farid Curt Lewis