Flight Safety Information June 4, 2018 - No. 112 In This Issue Incident: Delta B772 over Greenland on Jun 1st 2018, engine problem Incident: Azerbaijan A320 at Istanbul on Jun 2nd 2018, bird strike Incident: Emirates B773 at Sialkot on Jun 2nd 2018, bird strike Incident: Lufthansa A346 at Mexico City on May 28th 2018, burst 4 main tyres on landing Incident: Korean B772 near Tokyo on Jun 2nd 2018, cargo smoke indication Incident: Lufthansa A321 near Izmir on Jun 1st 2018, electrical odour in cabin Incident: Virgin Australia B738 near Coolangatta on Jun 1st 2018, smoke in cockpit 'Panic' aboard flight from Dubai as smoke fills cabin EVAS - Cockpit Smoke Protection Incident: PIA B772 at Lahore on Jun 2nd 2018, bird strike on landing Incident: American B38M near Port of Spain on May 29th 2018, "we think somebody is stuck in our cargo compartment" Incident: Ethiopian B788 near Sao Paulo on May 31st 2018, cracked windshield Incident: Lufthansa A321 at Frankfurt on Jun 1st 2018, engine failure on departure Incident: Spicejet B738 at Ahmedabad on Jun 1st 2018, rejected takeoff due to burst tyre Al Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Jaza'eriya Lockheed C-130H-30 Hercules accident Cracked windshield forces American Airlines emergency landing LIBIK Fire Suppression Kits for the Cabin and Flight Deck. The U.S. Army Is Going to Blow Up This Ex-Saudi Airlines Boeing 777 Jet FAA UPDATES AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS Rolls-Royce warns of a peak in B787s groundings in late 2Q18 Global airlines slash profit outlook as fuel costs jump Chinese Lessor CALC in Talks for $20 Billion Airbus, Boeing Jets 'There's no one': pilot sickness, faults stretch Qantas Aircraft Fire Hazards, Protection and Investigation, Course, Oct 31-Nov 1, Woburn MA USA 2018 SERC of ISASI HIGH ALTITUDE FLYING: WHAT EVERY PILOT NEEDS TO KNOW - New Online Course - Fall 2018 Human Factors in Accident Investigation from SCSI Flight Safety Officer Course from SCSI Call for Nominations For 2018 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY - 1 GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY - 2 Incident: Delta B772 over Greenland on Jun 1st 2018, engine problem A Delta Airlines Boeing 777-200, registration N867DA performing flight DL-35 from Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) to Seattle,WA (USA), was enroute at FL360 over Greenland about 500nm west of Keflavik (Iceland), when the crew decided to turn around and divert to Keflavik due to an engine (Trent895) losing oil. The aircraft initially descended to FL350 for the diversion but needed to drift down to FL200 about 10 minutes later when the crew needed to shut the engine down. The aircraft landed safely in Keflavik about 80 minutes after leaving FL360 and turning around. A replacement Boeing 777-200 registration N709DN was dispatched to Keflavik, resumed the flight as DL-9895 and reached Seattle with a delay of 28 hours. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground in Keflavik for about 45 hours, then positioned to Atlanta,GA (USA) as flight DL- 9979. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL35/history/20180601/0820Z/LFPG/KSEA https://avherald.com/h?article=4b968f38&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Azerbaijan A320 at Istanbul on Jun 2nd 2018, bird strike An Azerbaijan Airlines Airbus A320-200, registration 4K-AZ83 performing flight J2-80 from Istanbul (Turkey) to Baku (Azerbaijan), was in the initial climb out of Ataturk Airport's runway 35L when the crew reported a bird strike, stopped the climb at 3000 feet and returned to Istanbul for a safe landing on runway 35R about 13 minutes after departure. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 10 hours, then departed as flight J2-80A and reached Baku with a delay of 10 hours. The airline confirmed the aircraft returned to Istanbul due to a bird strike. The passengers are to be sent to Baku by another aircraft. https://avherald.com/h?article=4b967202&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Emirates B773 at Sialkot on Jun 2nd 2018, bird strike An Emirates Airlines Boeing 777-300, registration A6-EGL performing flight EK-620 from Dubai (United Arab Emirates) to Sialkot (Pakistan), was on approach to Sialkot's runway 04 when an engine (GE90) ingested a bird. The crew continued for a safe landing on runway 04. The aircraft was unable to depart for the return flight, the flight was cancelled. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground for 27 hours, then positioned to Dubai but has not yet returned to service about 8 hours after landing in Dubai. https://avherald.com/h?article=4b966d63&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Lufthansa A346 at Mexico City on May 28th 2018, burst 4 main tyres on landing A Lufthansa Airbus A340-600, registration D-AIHH performing flight LH-520 from Munich (Germany) to Mexico City (Mexico), landed on Mexico City's runway 05L but burst 4 main tyres during roll out. While the aircraft taxied towards the apron smoke emanated from the landing gear prompting the crew to declare Mayday reporting "we have fire on the aircraft, we need the fire brigade". Emergency services responded and sprayed the landing gear, the passengers were kept on board while emergency services were working. A passenger reported the aircraft touched down very hard, rolled out and vacated the runway when the aircraft stopped. The captain told passengers that the brakes needed to be cooled, smoke was seen from the landing gear area. The passengers were re-briefed on the procedures for a possible evacuation. After emergency services had arrived and dealt with the situation, passengers disembarked onto the taxiway via stairs as the aircraft was disabled, it was hinted to the passengers that a tyre had come off. The airline reported that 4 main tyres had blown during braking activity. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground in Mexico for 3 days, then positioned to Munich and remained on the ground in Munich for another 3 days before returning to service. https://avherald.com/h?article=4b95d7b6&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Korean B772 near Tokyo on Jun 2nd 2018, cargo smoke indication A Korean Airlines Boeing 777-200, registration HL7752 performing flight KE-2711 from Seoul Gimpo (South Korea) to Tokyo Haneda (Japan) with 189 people on board, was descending towards Tokyo when the crew received a cargo smoke indication, declared emergency, worked the related checklists and continued for a safe landing at Haneda Airport. Emergency services found no trace of fire, heat or smoke. Japan's Ministry of Transport reported there was no confirmation of a fire, the circumstances are under investigation. https://avherald.com/h?article=4b95d3bb&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Lufthansa A321 near Izmir on Jun 1st 2018, electrical odour in cabin A Lufthansa Airbus A321-200, registration D-AIDG performing flight LH-582 from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Cairo (Egypt) with 163 people on board, was enroute at FL350 about 75nm southsouthwest of Izmir (Turkey) when the crew decided to divert to Izmir reporting an electrical odour in the aft lavatory and cabin. The aircraft landed safely on Izmir's runway 34R about 20 minutes later. The airline reported the aircraft diverted due to the development of an odour in the aft lavatory area, a short circuit is being suspected. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Izmir about 10 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=4b952c90&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Virgin Australia B738 near Coolangatta on Jun 1st 2018, smoke in cockpit A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-YVA performing flight VA-745 from Melbourne,VI to Coolangatta,QL (Australia), was on approach to Coolangatta's Gold Coast Airport when the crew reported smoke in the cockpit prompting a number of ambulances to be dispatched to the airport. The aircraft continued for a safe landing. The airport reported the crew reported smoke in the cockpit, two stretcher ambulances were dispatched to the airport, all five crew were examined for smoke inhalation at the airport but did not need to be taken to hospitals. The airline reported the aircraft was met by emergency services as a precaution after smoke was detected in the cockpit. All passengers and crew disembarked safely. The cause of the smoke is under investigation. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Coolangatta about 8 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=4b94f959&opt=0 Back to Top 'Panic' aboard flight from Dubai as smoke fills cabin An Air India flight from Dubai to Mumbai was forced to make an emergency landing Sunday after fire alarms sounded and smoke filled parts of the cabin, according to local media. Smoke was reportedly detected in one of the washrooms. Passengers were asked to fasten their seat belts and were given emergency safety instructions. "Crew members rushed to the washroom as soon as smoke was detected from it. When they opened the washroom door, it was learnt that the dustbin in the washroom had caught fire," said a passenger. The plane landed safely in Mumbai and passengers were evacuated. An investigation revealed that one of the passengers had lit a cigarette in the washroom and dropped the burning stub into the dustbin, igniting its contents. The passenger responsible for the incident was handed over to police. https://www.logisticsmiddleeast.com/business/30853-%E2%80%98panic%E2%80%99-aboard-flight- from-dubai-as-smoke-fills-cabin Back to Top Back to Top Incident: PIA B772 at Lahore on Jun 2nd 2018, bird strike on landing A PIA Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 777-200, registration AP-BHX performing flight PK-710 (dep Jun 1st) from Manchester,EN (UK) to Lahore (Pakistan), was on final approach to Lahore's runway 36R when the left hand engine (GE90) ingested a bird. The crew continued for a safe landing on runway 36R. The airline reported mechanics were dispatched to Lahore to repair the engine, two parts of the engine needed to be replaced. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 10 hours, then was able to depart for flight PK-757 to London Heathrow. https://avherald.com/h?article=4b95bba7&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: American B38M near Port of Spain on May 29th 2018, "we think somebody is stuck in our cargo hold" An American Airlines Boeing 737-800MAX, registration N308RD performing flight AA-2282 from Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago) to Miami,FL (USA), was climbing through FL160 out of Port of Spain when the crew reported they thought somebody was stuck in their cargo hold, they heard noise from the cargo hold believed to be screaming. The aircraft returned to Port of Spain for a safe landing about 35 minutes after departure. Nobody was found in the cargo holds. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 2.5 hours, then departed again and reached Miami with a delay of 2.5 hours. The airline confirmed the aircraft returned due to some unusual noise. However, the noise appeared to have been caused by some mechanical problem rather than a hapless stowaway. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL2282/history/20180529/1045Z/TTPP/KMIA https://avherald.com/h?article=4b9533dd&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Ethiopian B788 near Sao Paulo on May 31st 2018, cracked windshield An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787-800, registration ET-ARE performing flight ET-507 from Sao Paulo Guarulhos,SP (Brazil) to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), was climbing through FL330 out of Sao Paulo when the first officer's windshield cracked prompting the crew to return to Sao Paulo. The aircraft dumped fuel and landed safely back in Sao Paulo about 65 minutes after departure. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 29 hours while the windscreen was replaced, then departed for the flight again and reached Addis Ababa with a delay of about 30 hours. https://avherald.com/h?article=4b95314d&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Lufthansa A321 at Frankfurt on Jun 1st 2018, engine failure on departure A Lufthansa Airbus A321-200, registration D-AIDK performing flight LH-612 from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Baku (Azerbaidjan), was rotating for takeoff from Frankfurt's runway 18 when the right hand engine (V2533) emitted a loud bang and streaks of flame. The crew climbed the aircraft to 3000 feet and declared emergency. ATC immediately assigned runway 25C for landing and began to keep the runway sterile sending other arriving aircraft to 25L or 25R and kept communication with LH-612 to an absolute minimum telling them "it was all yours" (meaning speed and altitude) and to approve the turns onto downwind and base. The aircraft landed on runway 25C about 14 minutes after departure. A replacement A321-200 registration D-AIDN reached Baku with a delay of 5:15 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground about 9 hours after landing back. The aircraft seen departing (Photos: @crowded.sky): https://avherald.com/h?article=4b9528c5&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Spicejet B738 at Ahmedabad on Jun 1st 2018, rejected takeoff due to burst tyre A Spicejet Boeing 737-800, registration VT-SLE performing flight SG-85 from Ahmedabad (India) to Bangkok (Thailand) with 188 people on board, had backtracked runway 23 for departure, turned around and was accelerating for takeoff from runway 23 when the crew rejected takeoff due to a burst tyre. The aircraft slowed safely and came to a stop about 2000 meters/6600 feet down the runway and was disabled. The airport was closed until the aircraft could be towed to the apron. The airline reported there was a tyre burst during the takeoff roll, the pilots brought the aircraft to a halt. The passengers disembarked normally. https://avherald.com/h?article=4b951f3e&opt=0 Back to Top Al Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Jaza'eriya Lockheed C-130H-30 Hercules accident Status: Preliminary Date: Sunday 3 June 2018 Type: Lockheed C-130H Hercules Operator: Al Quwwat al-Jawwiya al-Jaza'eriya Registration: 7T-WHT C/n / msn: 4911 First flight: 1981 Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 10 Airplane damage: Damaged beyond repair Location: near Biskra Airport (BSK) ( Algeria) Phase: Approach (APR) Nature: Military Departure airport: Biskra Airport (BSK/DAUB), Algeria Destination airport: Biskra Airport (BSK/DAUB), Algeria Narrative: The C-130 Hercules transport plane was returning from a mission to drop skydivers when it crashed. The fuselage broke in two just behind the wing. https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20180603-0 Back to Top Cracked windshield forces American Airlines emergency landing (Reuters) - A hail storm cracked the windshield of an American Airlines jetliner headed to Phoenix and forced it to divert to El Paso, Texas, Sunday night, officials said. Flight 1897 from San Antonio, Texas, to Phoenix diverted "due to damage sustained by weather in flight," the airline said in a statement, but gave few other details other than the plane sustained damage to "its nose and windshield" from hail. None of the 130 passengers and crew of five was injured and the plane was able to taxi normally to the gate, the statement said. The Airbus A319 landed shortly after 8 p.m. local time and the aircraft was being evaluated by maintenance crews, the airline said. All passengers were later taken on another plane to their destination. https://www.yahoo.com/news/cracked-windshield-forces-american-airlines-emergency-landing- 085015662.html Back to Top Back to Top The U.S. Army Is Going to Blow Up This Ex-Saudi Airlines Boeing 777 Jet * The service has a deal with Department of Homeland Security to collect data about how vulnerable commercial aircraft are to explosives. The U.S. Army has hired a private contractor to fly an old Boeing 777 airliner from Saudi Arabia to the United States just so it can blow it apart. It may sound like a piece of the conspiracy at the center of a Hollywood spy thriller, but it's actually part of an arrangement to help the Department of Homeland Security see how the plane might respond to a terrorist's bomb or some other explosive incident. On May 31, 2018, the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland announced that it had finalized the contract, worth nearly $1.5 million, with Clear Sky Aviation, LLC of Tucson, Arizona via the U.S. government's main contracting website, FedBizOpps. Under the terms of the deal, the company will fly the Ex-Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 777-268ER jet, which has tail number HZ-AKF, from that country's capital Riyadh to Phillips Airfield at Aberdeen. The firm is also supplying four cargo sections from scrapped Boeing 747 jumbo jet airliners for additional destructive testing. The "Aberdeen Test Center (ATC) is required to acquire and conduct commercial aircraft vulnerability testing in accordance with their interagency agreement ... with [the] U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)," an earlier contracting document explained. "ATC intends to use the aircraft solely for destructive testing purposes and agrees that it will not allow the aircraft, nor any of its component parts, to be used on any other aircraft by any party." HZ-AKF looks to have been a good candidate for the Army's needs. It rolled off Boeing's production line in 1998 and has flown almost 34,800 flight hours already. The jet has been sitting in storage in Riyadh since August 2017. In their quote, Clear Sky Aviation noted they were in the process of acquiring other 777s that might have had even higher flight hours and that it could substitute one of those for HZ-AKF if the Army was amendable. We don't know whether or not ATC chose to accept an alternative airframe. The original requirements called for a 777 of any subseries in a passenger configuration that ATC could pressurize to a representative level on the ground during the tests. The original request for proposals makes clear that airworthiness was not their primary concern. For example, the aircraft only had to have "the complete landing gear assemblies or suitable replacement which could consist of time-expired landing gear components or fabricated steel components that would be able to safely support the aircraft and not hinder the aircraft from being repositioned to a specific location on a test pad as needed," according to the initial contracting notice. "Timber shoring or cradles will not be an acceptable means of support." After getting HZ-AKF to Maryland, Clear Sky Aviation has a month to rip out anything it hasn't agreed to sell to the Army and might want to keep for itself. The company says it will retain the aircraft's two engines, the auxiliary power units, and other components. The idea of buying an entire plane just to destroy it might seem odd, but this kind of full-scale physical testing is an important part of exploring a commercial aircraft's vulnerabilities to terrorist attacks. We don't know what ATC has in store for HZ-AKF specifically, but it is very likely so-called "Least Risk Bomb Location" (LRBL) testing. These experiments are intended to determine the where the crew of an airliner can chuck a bomb if they find one and have the best chance of mitigating the explosion. Since 1972, the FAA has maintained established LRBL rules that aircraft makers can voluntarily submit to when they design an aircraft. There's no testing requirement, though, so DHS, with the help of the Army, routinely does it themselves to examine whether the specific features hold up. Aberdeen could easily use the aircraft for additional destructive testing, as well, and the data obtained from the LRBL experiments would likely be applicable more broadly. For nearly as long as there have been airplanes, there have been criminals and terrorists eager to hijack or sabotage them for various reasons. In 1933, in what is accepted as the first incident of its kind, a United Airlines Boeing 247 crashed after a bomb exploded on board. The case remains unsolved, but the prevailing theory it was a mob hit. Airline hijackings and bombings surged in the 1970s and 1980s. One of the most notable attacks was the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland on Dec. 21, 1988. Then-Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi is understood to have ordered the bombing, likely in retaliation for the U.S. military's strikes on his country in 1986 during Operation El Dorado Canyon. As such, full, destructive testing has only become increasingly valuable as a means to let investigators, engineers, and scientists see firsthand what sort of damage results from different types of explosives going off in different portions of the plane. At the same time, the data can be useful for training individuals to spot certain telltale signs that point to a bombing rather than some sort of accidental malfunction. In many ways, the explosive destructive testing is also similar to other fatigue and environmental torture testing, which also look to stress an airframe to discover potential vulnerabilities before they become a more serious problem. Some of that same data from Aberdeen might help uncover potential weaknesses in various aircraft types to other kinds of possibly catastrophic failures. There's a continual need to test more aircraft as new threats emerge, as well. A plot in 2006 to use liquid explosives to bring down airplanes fundamentally changed airport security procedures. In 2015, ISIS terrorists claimed they had brought down a Russian airliner over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula using a bomb hidden inside a soda can. Pre-existing data might not have been applicable in determining the exact danger that either these types of devices posed to commercial flights. More recently, Boeing's 787 suffered a number of problems with its lithium-ion batteries, which led to a number of serious fires and exposed the potential danger from any device using one. Civil aviation authorities have since continued to explore the impacts of these power sources experiencing a "thermal runaway" and either bursting into flames or exploding. In 2017, the FAA went as far as to propose a ban on laptops in checked baggage as result. There's also just normal wear and tear and other hazards. The engine on a Southwest Airlines 737 exploded in mid-air in April 2018, which led to the death of one of the passengers. Bird strikes can also have serious consequences, especially if they impact a jet's engines. So, for decades, various U.S. government agencies have carried out representative explosive testing on retired airliners for forensic and other purposes. In 1984, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) joined forces to deliberately crash a remotely- piloted Boeing 720 at Edwards Air Force Base to study the result of the impact on the airframe and simulated occupants. Authorities in other countries have done the same. In 2015, the United Kingdom's Civil Aviation Authority and the FAA worked together to blow up a retired Air France Boeing 747-100 jumbo jet at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome north of London. Three years earlier, the Discovery Channel paid to smash a remote-controlled Boeing 727 into the desert near Mexicali, Mexico. Similar to the FAA-NASA test in 1984, researchers filmed the impact from the exterior and interior and turned the event into a television special. Private companies have also used destructive testing to explore potential ways to mitigate or defeat terrorist bombs on airliners. In 2015, a European consortium led by a U.K.-based company called Blastech blew apart cargo holds from an Airbus 321 and a Boeing 747 to test prototypes of a system called Fly-Bag, intended to contain the explosion within the compartment to keep a plane aloft and the crew and passengers safe. We don't know exactly how long ATC's own effort has been going on, but in 2012 the Army put out a similar contract to buy a single Embraer ERJ-145 regional jetliner for destructive testing. The next year, pictures showed portions of an Airbus A300 and Boeing 737, 757, and 767 aircraft sitting at Phillips, according to a story from Aviation Week. In August 2013, the Army put the ex-China Airlines A300 hulk up for sale to make room for another jet. Clear Sky Aviation, which has a nearly non-existent web presence, was also able to sweeten its proposal by noting that it has delivered aircraft to the Army for these purposes in the past. The company said it had flown at least one Airbus A300, as well as a Boeing 757 and 767 types - the ones seen in the 2013 images, to Aberdeen for previous experiments. According to the final contract, HZ-AKF is supposed to touch down at Aberdeen in November 2018, but we don't know when the actual tests might occur. But if anyone spots the jet flying in, they might be seeing it for the very last time! http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/21260/the-u-s-army-is-going-to-blow-up-this-ex-saudi-airlines- boeing-777-jet Back to Top FAA UPDATES AIRMAN CERTIFICATION STANDARDS Student pilots and especially flight instructors will want to pay attention to new revisions to the FAA's airman certification standards (ACS) for Private Pilot-Airplane, Instrument Rating-Airplane, Commercial Pilot-Airplane, and Remote Pilot-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, effective June 11. The Federal Aviation Administration is one of the many government agencies that have influence over general aviation. Photo by David Tulis. The revisions, initially developed by the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee Airman Certification System working group, include some new regulations, such as those accommodating Part 68 BasicMed privileges and limitations. Additional changes include edits to account for the FAA's recent reorganization, different types of hypoxia, and giving the evaluator discretion to ask for a full aerodynamic stall on a checkride, to name a few. "The enhancements to the standards are clearly laid out in the beginning of each document," said David Oord, AOPA senior director of regulatory affairs and chair of the ACS working group. "The integrated standards incorporate all the knowledge, risk management, and skill elements needed for a certificate or rating-clearly defining what an applicant is expected to know, consider, and do in order to pass and to also be a safe pilot." The working group consists of experts and stakeholders from both the FAA and industry, working together on a system that connects the certification standards to FAA advisory handbooks, test questions, and the practical test. "The working group's motto of 'continuous improvement' is reflected in the effort to provide predictable, regular updates to the standards," said Oord. Processes have been established to identify and coordinate any changes to regulations, policies, and/or technologies that will need to be accounted for and incorporated into the standards. With this set of foundational standards in place, the ACS working group continues its development of the next set of certificates and ratings, including ATP, Commercial Pilot-Military Competence, Aviation Maintenance Technician, Rotorcraft, Powered-lift, and Instructor. Recommendations for those standards and other components of the certification system will be channeled through the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee for its review and submittal to the FAA, Oord said. For those who would like additional information, the FAA will host a webinar on June 6 at 2:30 p.m. Central Time to go over the 2018 updates. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2018/may/31/faa-updates-airman-certification- standards Back to Top Rolls-Royce warns of a peak in B787s groundings in late 2Q18 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner Rolls-Royce has warned that the number of B787-8s and -9s grounded for the required checks of Trent 1000 Package C engines may grow from the current around thirty-five to fifty in the first week of June, ahead of the June 9 deadline for inspections mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). "We fully recognize the unacceptable levels of disruption our customers are facing. While we expect the number of aircraft affected to rise in the short term as the deadline for the completion of initial inspections approaches, we are confident that we have the right building blocks in place to tackle the additional workload," President (Civil Aerospace) Chris Cholerton has said. It is recalled that in March, Rolls-Royce, in conjunction with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), issued an Airworthiness Directive (AD) requiring operators of Package C Trent 1000 powerplants to carry out earlier than usual maintenance checks on a specific part of the engine compressor. This check was already required prior to the engine reaching a threshold of 2,000 cycles, although the EASA later reduced that timeframe to just 300 cycles. In addition, in early May the FAA issued another directive effectively limiting affected B787s' ETOPS capabilities, forcing the operators to remain within a 60-minute diversion range at all times. Operators of the affected Trent 1000 engine variants (the -A2, -AE2, -C2, -CE2, -D2, -E2, -G2, -H2, -J2, - K2, and -L2) include British Airways, Thai Airways International, Air Europa, Avianca, Ethiopian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Norwegian, Norwegian UK, Scoot, Air New Zealand, Royal Brunei Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and LATAM Airlines. Most of these airlines have at times reduced their B787-operated schedule to allow for the increased downtime, with some carriers wet-leasing capacity to cover for the grounded B787s. https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/67714-rolls-royce-warns-of-a-peak-in-b787s-groundings-in- late-2q18 Back to Top Global airlines slash profit outlook as fuel costs jump SYDNEY (Reuters) - Global airlines on Monday slashed their forecast for industry profits in 2018 on a spike in fuel costs, while warning higher interest rates and a host of geopolitical tensions would add to operating risks. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) logo is seen at the International Tourism Trade Fair ITB in Berlin, Germany, March 7, 2018. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents about 280 carriers, said the industry is expected to post a $33.8 billion profit this year, 12 percent below a previous forecast of $38.4 billion. But passenger yields, a proxy for air fares, are expected to rise by 3.2 percent this year, the first annual gain since 2011 as a stronger global economy drives growth in demand, IATA said. "It's certainly true to say that 2018 is a tougher year, but airlines are doing a good job," IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac told reporters at the association's annual meeting, adding that most of the profit decline was due to higher oil prices. IATA expects an average oil price of $70 a barrel this year, up from $54.90 last year and its previous prediction of $60. The less upbeat earnings outlook is a drop from a record $38 billion in 2017, but comparisons to that figure are distorted by special accounting items such as one-off tax credits that boosted annual profits, the industry group said. Airline profits could cover the industry's high cost of capital for a fourth year, attracting investment for new fleets and infrastructure. But IATA warned airlines were still operating on a knife-edge compared to many industries. De Juniac said this year's forecast profit represented 4.1 percent of sales of about $750 billion. "Four percent is not a big number. It is still a fragile industry. Our capacity to resist big shocks is limited," he told Reuters in a separate interview. POLITICAL CHALLENGES De Juniac warned that airlines could be hit by the effects of "political forces pushing a protectionist agenda", without specifying which political forces he was most concerned about. "We haven't faced any significant decline in numbers of passengers or cargo related to trade wars or protectionist barriers up to now, but if it continues it will happen," De Juniac told reporters. The United States and China have threatened tit-for-tat tariffs on goods worth up to $150 billion each, while some European countries have expressed anger over new U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum. Britain meanwhile plans to exit the European Union, a politically polarizing move which has been stalled by confusion about when and how it will take place. IATA called for governments to boost infrastructure spending to meet demand, but added airport privatization had proven ineffective. [L3N1T602R] Alan Joyce, CEO of Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd (QAN.AX), criticized his country's airport privatization program, telling reporters "the whole aviation industry is paying attention to the bad example that's been set". FUEL TAKE-OFF While IATA said rising fuel prices were putting pressure on airline profits, it declined to give a price at which significant numbers of airlines would face insolvency. "The price point is a matter of supply and demand, its not pre-determined," said Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) CEO Goh Choon Phong, IATA's chairman. Air Baltic CEO Martin Gauss said the price hike was not catastrophic, adding that "fuel prices are rising but it's not gone to a level where we would say that we are not having a profit any more." Willie Walsh, CEO of airlines group IAG (ICAG.L), which includes British Airways and Iberia, said the high oil price "will put some pressure on airlines that aren't hedged and who have weak balance sheets and weak P and L's". "It's going to be an interesting time," he added. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-airlines-iata/global-airlines-slash-profit-outlook-as-fuel-costs-jump- idUSKCN1IZ10S Back to Top Chinese Lessor CALC in Talks for $20 Billion Airbus, Boeing Jets (Bloomberg) -- China Aircraft Leasing Group Holdings Ltd. is in talks with Airbus SE and Boeing Co. to order as many as 200 planes that may be valued at more than $20 billion as the state-backed lessor seeks to meet surging demand from Asian carriers. The company is looking at single-aisle and wide-body planes from the makers, with the bigger planes slated to account for 20 percent of the order, Chief Executive Officer Mike Poon said in an interview Monday. The models it is considering include the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 for short-haul flights, and the 787 Dreamliner and A350 for long-haul routes, he said. The leasing company is expanding its fleet to help meet demand in Asia, a region Boeing estimates will need 16,050 new aircraft valued at $2.5 trillion by 2036. China alone is likely to surpass the U.S. as the world's biggest air travel market by as early as 2022, according to IATA forecasts. While the leasing company is weighing both the manufacturers, China is also under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to cut its annual trade surplus by $200 billion. Airliners are among the biggest- ticket items that can be bought to help meet such targets reached in trade negotiations. A decision by China Aircraft Leasing, known locally as CALC, will depend on the pricing and the available slots with the manufacturers, Poon said while attending the International Air Transport Association's annual meeting in Sydney. The firm, a unit of government-controlled China Everbright Group, was the first Asian plane leasing company to list in Hong Kong. It has previously made large orders. In December, the company agreed to buy 50 Airbus single-aisle jets with a combined list price of $5.42 billion. In 2016, the lessor agreed to purchase 60 ARJ21 regional jets from state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd., in a deal valued at $2.3 billion in list prices. In 2014, Airbus won a pledge from the lessor for the purchase of 100 planes valued at $10.2 billion. As of May 28, CALC had 114 aircraft, 101 of them belonging to the A320 family. Seven are 737s and six are A330s. It had 140 Airbus planes and 50 Boeing aircraft on order, along with 20 C919 jets made by China's Comac. https://www.bloombergquint.com/china/2018/06/04/china-aircraft-has-mandate-to-order-up-to-200- planes-this-year-jhzxnvls Back to Top 'There's no one': pilot sickness, faults stretch Qantas Qantas' fleet of A330 aircraft has been stretched to cover services over the past few days after two of the twin-aisle plane types suffered engine and flight control faults. And in a sign of the pressure on crewing, a Qantas 747-400 jumbo bound for the Chilean capital of Santiago from Sydney with a full load of passengers narrowly avoided being cancelled on Sunday when a replacement for a sick pilot was found in the nick of time. Qantas flight QF23 bound for Bangkok was forced to return to Sydney Airport on Friday. "Scheduling is desperately seeking a first officer or suitably qualified [right-hand seat] captain to crew the QF27," a Qantas manager of base operations wrote in an "urgent request" to pilots fewer than three hours before the jumbo was due to depart Sydney. "All standby crew have been used and SMS messages sent plus management pilots contacted. There's no one. The flight is likely to be cancelled." The urgent email request was sent about 2½ hours after the company fired off a text message to well over 100 pilots to see if anyone was available to step in. The Qantas jumbo eventually took off on the 12-hour flight to Chile about 45 minutes late. While a sign of strong demand for flights, pilots say the airline's high utilisation of aircraft is placing pressure on crewing. And it also raises the likelihood of disruptions to flights when aircraft encounter significant technical problems. All standby crew have been used and SMS messages sent plus management pilots contacted. There's no one. Qantas manager of base operations On Friday, a Qantas A330 bound for Bangkok turned back to Sydney Airport shortly after take off when one of its two engines suffered a "high vibration event". The plane circled Sydney before landing safely about an hour after departing. Passengers on QF23 were later put on a replacement plane bound for Bangkok, but the affected A330 remains grounded at Sydney to allow for the engine to be replaced. And late on Friday night, another Qantas A330-300 bound for Hong Kong was forced to remain on the ground at Brisbane Airport due to a flight-control malfunction, resulting in a three-hour delay. "Due to the increased utilisation and complexity in the A330 network, I would expect there to be ongoing delays for the next few days due to these two events," Qantas' deputy manager for Airbus fleet operations told pilots in an email on Saturday. The email sent to Qantas staff just hours before the flight was due to depart. "This is unfortunately going to result in some roster disruptions." The senior manager said the A330 engine's "high vibration event" above Sydney on Friday bore similarities to an engine problem on an aircraft departing Brisbane recently. "We will be investigating the cause and provide information to you as soon as possible," he said in the note. At the weekend, six international flights were delayed by an average of about three hours. Qantas Flight 23 circled above Sydney on Friday after one of its engine suffered a 'high vibration event' Qantas said in a statement that airline schedules were finely tuned and, while it had a level of redundancy to help recover quickly if an aircraft had unexpected technical issues or crew suddenly became unwell, it sometimes did cause delays. "Qantas is undertaking one of the largest pilot recruitment programs in its history, with 150 pilots to be recruited into Qantas and QantasLink in the next financial year," it said. Qantas plans to open a pilot academy next year capable of training up to 500 pilots annually. https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/there-s-no-one-pilot-sickness-faults-stretch-qantas- 20180604-p4zj9v.html Back to Top Aircraft Fire Hazards, Protection and Investigation Course presented by N. Albert Moussa, PhD, PE October 30-November 1, 2018 BlazeTech Corporation 29 B Montvale Ave, Woburn MA 01801 USA. Dear Colleague, While commercial air transport is very safe, the advent of new technologies poses fire safety challenges that will be treated in this course. This offering draws upon Dr. Moussa's work in this area since 1971 as well as related courses that BlazeTech has been teaching since 1998. Lectures will include Li and Li-ion battery fires, flammability of carbon fiber and glass fiber composites, emerging aviation fluids, engine fires, fuel tank fire/explosion, fire extinguishment methods, protection methods, aircraft accident investigation, and fire/explosion pattern recognition. Recent accidents are continuously added to the course. For each type of fire, this course will provide a cohesive integrated presentation of fundamentals, small- and large-scale testing, computer modeling, standards and specifications, and real accident investigation - as outlined in the course brochure. This integrated approach will enable you to address safety issues related to current and new systems and circumstances, and to investigate one of a kind fire and explosion accidents. The course will benefit professionals who are responsible for commercial aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles including design, equipment selection, test, operation, maintenance, safety management system, hazard/risk assessment, and accident investigation. View Brochure for course content and registration form (also embedded below). View Testmonials of previous attendees and their Companies. View some of the technical references discussed in this course. We also offer this course at the client site as well as customized courses on fire and explosion in other areas. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. Albert Moussa, Ph.D., P.E. Sign Up For Our Course Announcement BlazeTech Corporation 29B Montvale Ave. Woburn, MA 01801-7021 781-759-0700 x200 781-759-0703 fax www.blazetech.com firecourse@blazetech.com LinkedIn Back to Top Back to Top Back to Top Back to Top Back to Top FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 25, 2018 CONTACT: Philip Barbour, 205-939-1700, 205-617-9007 Call for Nominations For 2018 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation is now accepting nominations for the 2018 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award, honoring a leader in global aviation safety. The award will be presented during the 71st Annual International Air Safety Summit, taking place Nov. 12-15 in Seattle, Wash. Presented since 1956, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award recognizes notable achievement in the field of civil or military aviation safety in method, design, invention, study or other improvement. The award's recipient is selected for a "significant individual or group effort contributing to improving aviation safety, with emphasis on original contributions," and a "significant individual or group effort performed above and beyond normal responsibilities." Mechanics, engineers and others outside of top administrative or research positions should be especially considered. The contribution need not be recent, especially if the nominee has not received adequate recognition. Nominations that were not selected as past winners of the Award can be submitted one additional time for consideration. Please note that self-nominations will not be considered. The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award's story dates back 70 years. On April 14, 1945, after visiting family in Pittsburgh, Laura Taber Barbour was aboard a Pennsylvania Central Airlines DC-3 when it crashed into the rugged terrain of Cheat Mountain near Morgantown, West Virginia. All passengers and crew were killed. In the years following, her husband, Dr. Clifford E. Barbour and son, Clifford E. Barbour, Jr., established the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award in her honor. The Award Board, composed of leaders in the field of aviation, meets in June of each year to conduct a final review of nominees and selection of the current year's recipient. Please help us honor this year's most deserving recipient. Nominations, including a 1-2-page narrative, can be submitted via the Laura Taber Barbour Foundation website at http://ltbaward.org/the- award/nomination-form/. Nominations will be accepted until June 14, 2018. For more information, including a complete history of Award recipients, see www.ltbaward.org. ABOUT THE LAURA TABER BARBOUR AIR SAFETY AWARD: The Award was established in 1956 through early association with the Flight Safety Foundation and from its founding has enjoyed a rich history of Award Board members, nominees and Award recipients. In 2013, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation was formed from members of the Award Board, the aviation community and the Barbour family. As the foundation plans to broaden the scope of its intent, with great purpose, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award will continue to spotlight those champions who pioneer breakthroughs in flight safety. Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY - 1 Dear pilots, My name is Koen Scheers, First Officer and postgraduate student 'Air Transport Management' at City, University of London. Currently, I am working on my research project, which is the final part of my studies at City to gain a Master of Science (MSc) degree. My research project, entitled 'A sustainable model for pilot retention', aims to establish a model of organisational practices to keep pilots in the airline they are working for. To support my research project with data I have created a web survey for pilots, and via this way, I kindly ask your help by participating in the survey. The survey is not affiliated with any airline, training organisation, or any other. Participation in the survey is voluntary and anonymous. The survey will take about 10 minutes of your time to complete and is open for participation until 15 July 2018. Also, I would be very grateful if you could forward this message to other pilots in your contact list or spread the word in the airline you are working for. Please click the link below to enter the survey: SURVEY WEB LINK: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/pilotretention Your participation is highly appreciated, kind regards, Koen Scheers +32 486 85 07 91 Koen.scheers@city.ac.uk Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY - 2 Dear fellow professional pilots, As part of my Masters Degree in Aviation Management, I am conducting a survey on 'Operator Conversion Courses' (A Course taken by pilots in a new airline when moving from one airline to another but remaining on the same aircraft type) May I ask that commercial pilots amongst you take just 5 minutes to answer this short survey; it is only 10 questions. I would also ask that you pass on the link to as many of your professional pilot colleagues around the world who might also be able to provide valuable data to the survey. The survey is open until the 15th June 2016 and all data is de-identied and shall only be used for the purposes of this paper. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VJFHRSK If you have any questions, please feel free to email me on guy.farnfield.1@city.ac.uk Thank you Guy Farnfield Curt Lewis