Flight Safety Information November 1, 2018 - No. 222 In This Issue Incident: LOT DH8D at Warsaw on Oct 30th 2018, gear problem Incident: Blue B738 near Bratislava on Oct 31st 2018, loss of cabin pressure Incident: Canada A333 near Paris on Oct 12th 2018, crew oxygen escaping Incident: Skywest CRJ2 at Ottawa on Oct 5th 2018, fumes from overhead bin EVAS - Cockpit Smoke Protection Incident: LATAM A320 near Posadas on Oct 31st 2018, hail strike Incident: Jet2 B733 at Girona on Oct 30th 2018, fuel leak Airbus A330-203 - Ground Collision (France) Report: Inappropriate maintenance to modifications likely caused loss of control crash in Malta Divers recover Lion Air jet's flight recorder on Indonesia seafloor ANA apologizes for flight delays due to pilot's boozy night out Napping American Airlines baggage handler trapped in cargo hold on flight to Chicago Bizav Experts Highlight Need for Safety Data Garuda picks Inmarsat's GX Aviation for in-flight wi-fi Airbus and Georgia Tech open new facility to design aircraft Western Aircraft Logs 100th Falcon C-inspection L3 agrees to settle lawsuit alleging bias against Guard and reserve pilots DOCTORAL RESEARCH SURVEY GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE Upcoming Cranfield Short Courses Incident: LOT DH8D at Warsaw on Oct 30th 2018, gear problem A LOT Polish Airlines de Havilland Dash 8-400, registration SP-EQE performing flight LO-651 from Warsaw (Poland) to Cluj (Romania), was climbing out of Warsaw when the crew stopped the climb at 7000 feet reporting a gear problem and decided to return to Warsaw. The aircraft landed safely back about 20 minutes after departure. A replacement Dash 8-400 registration OY-YBY departed about 75 minutes after SP-EQE landed back and was climbing through FL240 when the crew decided to return to Warsaw due to smoke in the cockpit. OY-YBY landed safely back on Warsaw's runway 33 about 25 minutes after departure. The flight was cancelled. SP-EQE is still on the ground in Warsaw 36 hours after landing back. OY-YBY is also still on the ground in Warsaw 34.5 hours after landing back. http://avherald.com/h?article=4bfae879&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Blue B738 near Bratislava on Oct 31st 2018, loss of cabin pressure A Blue Air Boeing 737-800, registration YR-BMP performing flight 0B-3755 from Cluj (Romania) to Dublin (Ireland), was enroute at FL360 about 130nm east of Bratislava (Slovakia) in Hungarian Airspace when the crew received indication of the loss of cabin pressure and initiated an emergency descent, the passenger oxygen masks were released. The aircraft diverted to Bratislava for a safe landing 40 minutes after leaving FL360. The airline reported a sensor activated indicating the possible loss of cabin pressure. The crew reacted according to standard operating procedures, released the passenger oxygen masks. A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration YR-BMM reached Dublin with a delay of 5:15 hours. The occurrence aircraft returned to service 10 hours after landing. http://avherald.com/h?article=4bfae475&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Canada A333 near Paris on Oct 12th 2018, crew oxygen escaping An Air Canada Airbus A330-300, registration C-GHLM performing flight AC-892 from Montreal,QC (Canada) to Rome Fiumicino (Italy) with 292 people on board, was enroute at FL380 about 260nm westsouthwest of Paris (France) when the crew heard some air escaping and subsequently noticed the pressure for the crew oxygen was decreasing. The crew initiated a descent to FL100 and divered to Paris Charles de Gaulle where the aircraft landed safely about 55 minutes later. The aircraft remained on the ground in Paris for about 4.5 hours, then continued the journey and reached Rome with a delay of 4.5 hours. The Canadian TSB reported maintenance replaced the overpressure discharge disk. http://avherald.com/h?article=4bfae0e6&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Skywest CRJ2 at Ottawa on Oct 5th 2018, fumes from overhead bin A Skywest Canadair CRJ-200 on behalf of United, registration N679SA performing flight OO-5480/UA-5480 from Chicago O'Hare,IL (USA) to Ottawa,ON (Canada) with 50 passengers and 3 crew, was descending towards Ottawa when the flight attendant observed an odour in the cabin near seat row 9 and identified the fumes originated from the overhead bin. The flight crew declared emergency and expedited the approach. The captain advised the flight attendant it would be a normal landing, she should be ready for an evacuation however. The aircraft landed safely with emergency services on stand by. The Canadian TSB reported emergency services found no trace of fire, heat, smoke or any source of the odour. The aircraft taxied to the apron. Maintenance tested both packs, the APU and both engines but did not find any anomaly. Maintenance concluded the smoke was result of water condensation from the lower air conditioning vent. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SKW5480/history/20181005/1140Z/KORD/CYOW http://avherald.com/h?article=4bfadee5&opt=0 Back to Top Back to Top Incident: LATAM A320 near Posadas on Oct 31st 2018, hail strike A LATAM Brasil Airbus A320-200, registration PR-MHP performing flight JJ-8050 from Sao Paulo Guarulhos,SP (Brazil) to Santiago (Chile), was enroute at FL300 about 50nm south of Posadas,MI (Argentina) deviating around weather on a southerly heading about turning southwest again (changing also flight levels from FL320 to FL340 and down to FL300) when the aircrft encountered turbulence and hail causing both windshields to crack and a damaged nose cone. The crew descended the aircraft to FL240 and diverted to Buenos Aires Ezeiza,BA (Argentina) for a safe landing on runway 11 about 80 minutes after leaving FL300. There were no injuries. Argentina's JIAAC dispatched investigators on site and opened an investigation. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/TAM8050/history/20181031/0450Z/SBGR/SCEL The hail-strewn aircraft in detail: http://avherald.com/h?article=4bfad1dc&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Jet2 B733 at Girona on Oct 30th 2018, fuel leak A Jet2.com Boeing 737-300, registration G-GDFE performing flight LS-612 from Girona,SP (Spain) to East Midlands,EN (UK), was climbing out of Girona's runway 20 when the crew stopped the climb at 6000 feet due to a fuel leak. The aircraft entered a hold while the crew was working the related checklists, the crew subsequently decided to divert to Barcelona,SP (Spain), climbed the aircraft to FL080 and landed safely in Barcelona about one hour after departure. A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration G-JZBM reached East Midlands with a delay of 3.5 hours. http://avherald.com/h?article=4bfad670&opt=0 Back to Top Airbus A330-203 - Ground Collision (France) Date: 31-OCT-2018 Time: 10:44 Type: Airbus A330-203 Owner/operator: Air France Registration: F-GZCI C/n / msn: 502 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Other fatalities: 0 Aircraft damage: Unknown Location: Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG/LFPG) - France Phase: Taxi Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG/LFPG) Destination airport: Sint Maarten-Juliana Airport (SXM/TNCM) Investigating agency: BEA Narrative: Air France flight AF498, an Airbus A330-203 (F-GZCI), contacted Delta Air Lines flight DL97, an Airbus A330-323 (N817NW) while both aircraft were taxing for departure at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. The Delta A330 suffered damage to the left-hand winglet. The Air France aircraft suffered unreported damage. Both flights were canceled. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=216948 Back to Top Report: Inappropriate maintenance to modifications likely caused loss of control crash in Malta Status: Final Date: Monday 24 October 2016 Time: 07:20 Type: Swearingen SA227-AT Expediter Operator: CAE Aviation Registration: N577MX C/n / msn: AT-577 First flight: 1983 Total airframe hrs: 9261 Cycles: 3503 Engines: 2 Garrett TPE331-11U-611G Crew: Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 Total: Fatalities: 5 / Occupants: 5 Aircraft damage: Destroyed Aircraft fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Malta-Luqa Airport (MLA) ( Malta) Phase: Takeoff (TOF) Nature: Official state flight Departure airport: Malta-Luqa Airport (MLA/LMML), Malta Destination airport: Malta-Luqa Airport (MLA/LMML), Malta Flightnumber: LXC77 Narrative: A Swearingen SA227-AT Expediter, registered N577MX, was destroyed after impacting terrain during takeoff from Malta-Luqa Airport. All five crew members sustained fatal injuries. The Expediter operated on a surveillance mission for the French Ministry of Defence. The aircraft left its parking stand at 07:15 and was cleared to line up and then take off at 07:18 for a standard instrument departure termed SUDIK 2B. The engines were throttled to full power and the brakes released at 07:19. On lift-off, the retraction of the landing gear was initiated, and the aircraft continued to increase its pitch attitude. When the pitch angle reached 34°, the aircraft entered a power-on stall and banked suddenly to the right until it was three-quarters inverted. The bank angle was reduced at the apogee of the flight path, and then the aircraft continued its flight nose down. The aircraft hit the ground with a 38° nose-down attitude, a bank angle of approximately 70° to the right and a symmetrical installed power on the two engines. A total of approximately ten seconds elapsed between lift-off and impact. The Expediter operated on a surveillance mission for the French Ministry of Defence. The aircraft had been modified several times. Flight control modifications were carried out in 1985 prior to delivery to a shell company that was known to be used by the CIA. After being acquired by CAE Aviation, new sensors were installed in 2011 along with TCAS, TAWS, extra fuel tanks and HF/UHF antennas. In 2016 old sensors were removed and new sensors and antennas were installed. The aircraft maintenance was performed in conformity with the maintenance programme by a French company in accordance with an FAA Repair Station approval. The maintenance company did not have the specific documentation for the flight controls modification carried out in 1985, which was protected under ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations). Probable Cause: Causes of the accident: Investigations show that a technical malfunction was the cause of the accident. This malfunction probably originated in the specific modifications of the aircraft and in the application of an inappropriate maintenance to these modifications. Three scenarios can be envisaged: - rupture of the HF antenna, which then wrapped around the elevator control surface; - inadvertent activation of the SAS, countered by the pilot; - jamming of the elevator due to a technical failure in the flight control line. Given the condition of the wreckage and the absence of witness reports from the crew, only a flight data recorder could have enabled the BEA-É to confirm one of these hypotheses. However, in consideration of the factors detailed in the analysis, the hypothesis of damage to a component of the elevator control line remains the most plausible explanation. Accident investigation: Investigating agency: BEA-É Status: Investigation completed Accident number: I-2016-15-A Download report: Final report https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20161024-0 Back to Top Back to Top Divers recover Lion Air jet's flight recorder on Indonesia seafloor Divers on Thursday recovered a flight recorder from the crashed Lion Air jet on the seafloor, a crucial development in the investigation into what caused the two-month-old plane to plunge into Indonesian seas earlier this week, killing all 189 people on board. One TV station showed footage of two divers after they surfaced, swimming to an inflatable vessel and placing the bright orange device into a large container that was transferred to a search-and-rescue ship. "I was desperate because the current below was strong but I am confident of the tools given to me," said navy 1st Sgt. Hendra, who uses a single name, in a television interview. After narrowing the possible location, "I started digging and cleaning the debris until I finally found an orange object," he said, standing on the deck of a ship next to his diving mate. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane crashed early on Monday just minutes after takeoff from the Indonesian capital Jakarta. It was the worst airline disaster in Indonesia in more than two decades and renewed concerns about safety in its fast-growing aviation industry, which was recently removed from European Union and U.S. blacklists.. Navy Col. Monang Sitompul told local TV that was is believed to be the aircraft's fuselage was also seen on the seafloor. Officials said the location is about 400 meters (yards) northwest of the coordinates where the plane lost contact. Data from flight-tracking sites show the plane had erratic speed and altitude in the early minutes of a flight on Sunday and on its fatal flight on Monday. Safety experts caution, however, that the data must be checked for accuracy against the flight data recorder. Several passengers on the Sunday flight from Bali to Jakarta have recounted problems that included a long-delayed takeoff for an engine check and terrifying descents in the first 10 minutes in the air. Lion Air has ordered 50 of the MAX 8 planes and one of its subsidiary airlines was last year the first to operate the new generation jet. Investigators say a preliminary report into the accident could be released within a month but complete findings will take several months more. The Lion Air crash is the worst airline disaster in Indonesia since 1997, when 234 people died on a Garuda flight near Medan. In December 2014, an AirAsia flight from Surabaya to Singapore plunged into the sea, killing all 162 on board. Indonesian airlines were barred in 2007 from flying to Europe because of safety concerns, though several were allowed to resume services in the following decade. The ban was completely lifted in June. The U.S. lifted a decadelong ban in 2016. Lion Air, a discount carrier, is one of Indonesia's youngest and biggest airlines, flying to dozens of domestic and international destinations. It has been expanding aggressively in Southeast Asia, a fast-growing region of more than 600 million people. https://www.yahoo.com/news/divers-recover-lion-air-jet-061953406.html Back to Top ANA apologizes for flight delays due to pilot's boozy night out All Nippon Airways Co. apologized Wednesday for flight delays in Okinawa last week caused by a pilot who called in sick after a night out drinking. Five domestic flights departing and arriving in Japan's southern island prefecture were delayed for up to 58 minutes until a replacement pilot was found. The pilot, in his 40s, had been drinking alcohol until 10 p..m. on the night of Oct. 24 in the city of Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, and called in sick the next morning, being unable to make his first flight at 8:10 a.m., said the company. In its apology, ANA said it will ensure its staff are properly educated about alcohol in order to prevent similar situations in the future. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/10/31/national/ana-apologizes-flight-delays-due-pilots-boozy-night/#.W9rgctVKjIU Back to Top Napping American Airlines baggage handler trapped in cargo hold on flight to Chicago An admittedly intoxicated American Airlines baggage handler fell asleep on the job and ended up flying from Kansas City to Chicago in the belly of a Boeing 737. The employee, who works for American subsidiary Piedmont Airlines at Kansas City International Airport, was working on the ramp for American Flight 363 on Saturday Oct. 27, when he apparently took a nap inside the cargo hold before the flight. No one noticed him missing, and the plane took off at 5:52 a.m. local time with the worker in the forward cargo hold, airline and law enforcement officials confirmed. The baggage handler, who has not been identified, wasn't discovered until the plane landed at O'Hare International Airport and parked at the gate just before 7:30 a.m. local time. The employee was interviewed by the Chicago Police Department, FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office, standard policy in matters involving aviation security. He told law enforcement officials he was intoxicated and fell asleep, according to Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The baggage handler was not charged with a crime and flew back to Kansas City on another American flight, he said. American spokesman Ross Feinstein said the airline is investigating the matter and that the employee has been suspended. "The American team is very concerned about this serious situation, and we are reviewing what transpired with our Piedmont and Kansas City colleagues,'' he said in a statement. Feinstein said the 23-year-old employee was unharmed and did not request any medical attention when the flight landed in Chicago. The cargo hold is pressurized and heated, he said. "We are grateful that he did not sustain any injuries,'' Feinstein said. This isn't the first time an airline employee has been stuck in the cargo hold during a flight. In January 2017, a baggage handler was trapped in cargo on a United Express flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Washington Dulles. He was unharmed. The most high profile recent incident occurred in 2015, when an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Los Angeles had to turn around after pilots and passengers heard banging from beneath the aircraft shortly after takeoff. A baggage handler was stuck in the cargo hold. He called 911 and said he was trapped in the plane but the connection was lost. The American baggage handler did not have a phone on the flight. Feinstein said cell phone use is prohibited on the airport ramp. Bill Waldock, professor of safety science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona, said being trapped in a cargo hold is probably "pretty claustrophobic'' but overall not as risky as it sounds since the area is pressurized and temperature controlled. Besides bags and packages, many airlines carry animals in the cargo hold. "Particularly if they have live animals traveling, they'll keep it on average between 60 and 70 (degrees),'' he said. Waldock counts as many as a dozen publicized incidents of airline workers becoming trapped in the cargo hold over the years, usually because someone fell asleep. He said baggage handling is tiring work, with long shifts and heavy lifting. "Every now and then they try to take naps because they're so tired,'' he said. Waldock said airlines generally have two or three baggage handlers per flight depending on the size of the plane, plus a baggage handling supervisor. The supervisor is charged with making sure employees are accounted for after bags and other cargo are loaded, he said. "But sometimes they slip through the cracks,'' he said.. A person familiar with the American incident in Kansas City but unauthorized to speak publicly about it said the napping employee was overlooked because no bags were loaded into the forward cargo hold and the door was closed. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2018/10/31/american-airlines-baggage-handler-trapped-cargo-hold-kansas-city-chicago-flight-piedmont-airlines/1833903002/ Back to Top Bizav Experts Highlight Need for Safety Data Drilling down to trend lines, preparing for change, filtering out the "noise" of substantial data collection, and learning more about employees personally were among the lessons provided to attendees yesterday at the 2018 Bombardier Safety Standdown. In a workshop entitled "Safety, Education, and Experience Talks," top business aviation executives, many of them NBAA Dr. Tony Kern Professionalism in Aviation Award winners, told tales of safety issues they encountered or initiatives they have undertaken in their continual quest to build safety cultures. Dan Boedigheimer, CEO of Advanced Aircrew Academy, noted the belief that all the low-hanging fruit for safety improvements have been addressed to drive the accident rate down to a low level. "But what if we had a system that in the next 90 days you could reduce your own error rate by 50 percent?" he asked. Boedigheimer described his own effort to manage personal errors through a certification program that involved a tally sheet to track every time a small error would crop up. Tracking personal patterns is important because everyone has different issues-"everyone is weird"-he said. These errors involved mostly minor issues, such as initially forgetting to turn on a rotating beacon light, and on the surface looked random. But looking closely he saw a thread connecting many of them: self-induced time pressure. "I am always trying to cram 90 minutes into every hour," he said, and this pressure led to 50 percent of his errors. This realization allowed him to step back and write personal standard operating procedures (SOPs) to address those occurrences. He was able to reduce those errors in half. Jeff Wofford, chief pilot and director of aviation, CommScope, highlighted efforts his company went through to upgrade to a larger aircraft, a Challenger 300, and effectively managing change. This involved extensive planning and list-making that started with a single spreadsheet and soon spread to several sheets. Everybody in the flight department was involved, from the pilots to the maintenance technicians. The change-management process, he said, is just like other parts of safety management systems, looking at risk, mitigation, and then assurance of the risk-mitigation efforts. This is a continual cycle, he said and applies to any change, whether hiring a new pilot, accommodating a change in leadership, or adding an aircraft. James Slabaugh, pilot and safety chairman at Kiewit Corp., provided guidance of how to "filter out noise" from the vast amount of information that has begun to flow in through all the safety programs and data-collection efforts. His organization noticed a higher level of events reported on arrival procedures and he realized this was an issue that needed to be addressed. "The difficult part was figuring out how to solve [the issue]," he said. Slabaugh's organization sorted through the different reports and came up with 13 corrective actions based on the data. These actions were all "legitimate things" representing best practices, but they were disjointed, not really taking into account the full picture, he said. Instead, his group took a step back, filtering out excess noise to determine root causes, he said, and they discovered three most common triggers that were beyond the control of the pilots and might have led to increased pilot workload: being vectored off the arrival and then cleared to rejoin; a runway change that occurs after arrival procedures begin; and being given an unpublished restriction by ATC. The pilots then were aware of those triggers and could make sure they follow through with proper procedures. The result has been notable, he said, "definitely better than before." "Beware of what you don't know," was the message of Don Wade, director of safety at Pinnacle Aviation, discussing fatigue management. "Fatigue is everywhere," he said, noting that his organization, which is IS-BAO Stage 3 certified, has tried to address this with policies, training, and reference materials from top fatigue experts. But it was what they didn't know about their pilots that would lead to fatigue issues. He cited as an example two pilots dealing with health issues involving family members. This was keeping those pilots up at night, resulting in fatigue. Another pilot had a caffeine addiction, which was resulting in loss of sleep and thus leading to fatigue. Because the organization wasn't aware of issues such as these, it created the possibility of two such pilots being paired on a mission. This underscored the need to learn as much as possible about factors that could play into fatigue among its pilots. Automation errors also were highlighted. Jim Weaver, vice president of operations with Advanced Aircrew Academy, discussed his experience with a Part 135 operation, which learned through a two-year-old Aviation Safety Action Program that automation management errors were causal in 24 percent of the operation's altitude deviations and 37 percent of course deviations. Looking at policies and procedures, the organization realized automation management procedures were spread over many places, often "bolted on" over time. The organization streamlined and simplified its procedures. A feedback loop was incorporated to enable discussion with pilots, and the organization began conducting pilot briefings. "We had a great reduction in our deviations following this," he said. FBI supervisory special agent Troy Smith discussed how his organization's flight department began factoring in ground support equipment in its preventative maintenance program. "If you are not looking at this stuff, it is going to come back and hurt you. There are little gremlins in every one of these things," he said, citing data that eight employees are killed annually while using scissor lifts. In an effort to develop checklists that apply to ground support equipment, the FBI realized that much of the equipment came with maintenance manuals, but not all. The agency then went to equipment providers for preventative maintenance programs. Another story relayed by Erika Armstrong, director of instructional design for Advanced Aircrew Academy, involved an instance where a Citation X crew learned of poor runway braking conditions just before touchdown, essentially too late to go around. The aircraft skidded off the runway on landing. While everyone on the flight survived, the pilots were shaken by the event and in the moment they froze. They were unable to figure out how to retrieve the emergency response plan in their iPads. The lesson here, she said, is that while the use of electronic devices can be positive, it may be worthwhile also having a laminated emergency procedure checklist available. Marty Grier, senior manager for aircraft maintenance for Home Depot, discussed the importance of having measurables, saying, "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it." He outlined a series of data points-such as near misses or other incidents and errors-that come from safety reports. The reports must be easy for employees to file, he said. Grier cited a change effected from a report that came in a few years ago involving a pilot who injured his back while helping a passenger board with a manual lift chair. That touched off a series of questions of how it happened and ultimately why he was using a manual lift chair. That led to the discovery of the availability of an automated chair that could protect against such injuries and the subsequent acquisition of the chair. Home Depot has a mantra, he said, adding, "You take care of the associates, they take care of the customers, and the rest takes care of itself." https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2018-10-30/bizav-experts-highlight-need-safety-data Back to Top Garuda picks Inmarsat's GX Aviation for in-flight wi-fi Inmarsat's GX Aviation in-flight broadband service has been selected by Garuda Indonesia for its fleet of Airbus A330s. The carrier joins low-cost subsidiary Citilink in adopting the wi-fi product. Garuda will work with Lufthansa Systems, Lufthansa Technik and Indonesian technology company Mahata Aero Teknology on the installation. Lufthansa Technik will manage the hardware, engineering, installation design and certification, while Lufthansa Systems will manage the software platform and integration. "Following the installation of GX Aviation in-flight wi-fi at Citilink, Garuda Indonesia, our parent company, has expressed their intention to apply the same wi-fi technology on their A330 aircraft through the same provider," states Citilink's chief executive Juliandra Nurtjahjo. Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that Garuda operates 24 A330-300s and has 14 A330-900s on order. https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/garuda-picks-inmarsats-gx-aviation-for-in-flight-wi-453222/ Back to Top Airbus and Georgia Tech open new facility to design aircraft Airbus, in collaboration with the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in the US, has opened a new centre for overall aircraft design (OAD) activities. The new Airbus/Georgia Tech Center features a model-based systems engineering (MBSE) design and will support the development and demonstration of a concurrent overall aircraft design process. It will employ MBSE, interactive, parametric design space exploration and digital enablers to achieve its goal. A group of 30 Georgia Tech researchers, doctoral students and Airbus experts will work at the centre. Georgia Tech Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering chair Dr Mark Costello said: "This collaboration between Airbus and our Aerospace Systems Design Lab provides a unique opportunity for our students and faculty to work on research projects that are defining the next generation aircraft. "This partnership aims to build a much larger ecosystem within and beyond Airbus, bringing our European and international partners on board." "Model-based Systems Engineering is a specific strength of the Aerospace Engineering School, and this collaboration with Airbus will enable us to help develop the next-generation of aircraft design thinking." In addition, the Airbus/Georgia Tech Center offers a multi-year roadmap for the two organisations. Airbus Flight Physics senior vice-president Dr Marc Fischer said: "Our future aircraft developments will benefit from much more integrated and interdisciplinary processes. "Model-based systems engineering is at the foundation of this ambition and allows us to cover not just the conventional OAD disciplines, but also trade opportunities between engineering and manufacturing. "This partnership aims to build a much larger ecosystem within and beyond Airbus, bringing our European and international partners on board." In a separate development, Airbus has launched the second edition of #Africa4Future, a joint accelerator programme between the company's global aerospace accelerator BizLab and Make-IT in Africa. Developed by Airbus BizLab, #Africa4Future initiative aims to help African startups to rethink how their technology could be used in the aerospace industry. https://www.aerospace-technology.com/news/airbus-georgia-tech-aircraft/ Back to Top Western Aircraft Logs 100th Falcon C-inspection Western Aircraft recently completed its 100th C-inspection on a Dassault Falcon, the largest scheduled maintenance event on these business jet types. The Boise, Idaho-based MRO provider became a designated heavy jet service center in 2001, allowing it to perform C-inspections as an authorized Falcon service center. Since that time, Western Aircraft has completed C-inspections on an array of Falcons, including variants of the Models 50, 2000, 900, and 7X. "Our team of factory-trained technicians understands these aircraft inside and out, and that's why the majority of Falcon operators in the Western U.S. and Canada use our service center when they need a big inspection completed," said Western Aircraft director of aircraft services Jody Harris. He added that the majority of the C-inspections her company completes are combined with interior refurbishments and/or avionics upgrades. In addition to its maintenance authorization, Western Aircraft is also an authorized service center for Pratt & Whitney Canada and Honeywell engines and Rockwell Collins, Honeywell, and Gogo avionics. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2018-10-31/western-aircraft-logs-100th-falcon-c-inspection Back to Top L3 agrees to settle lawsuit alleging bias against Guard and reserve pilots National Guard and reserve pilots are looking to settle a lawsuit with L3 Technologies over biased hiring practices. (Airman 1st Class Haley Phillips/Air Force) A major defense contractor has agreed to pay $2 million to National Guard and reserve pilots who were passed over for jobs at the company going back to 2011, under a proposed settlement filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington state. Nathan Kay, a former pilot in the Washington Air National Guard, sought preliminary approval of the settlement in his class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. In the lawsuit, Kay alleged that employees working in L3 Technologies' intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance operations regularly discriminated against National Guard and reserve pilots because of their ongoing service commitments, according to court documents provided to Military Times. The lawsuit alleged that statistical evidence supported its claim that L-3 had a practice of preferring veterans without ongoing military obligations in order to not interfere with the company's 60-day work rotations, which involved deployments to the Middle East and South Asia. Kay, the lead plaintiff, originally filed the lawsuit in 2015, claiming L3 violated the Uniformed Services Employment & Reemployment Rights Act - a federal law that prohibits workplace discrimination based on a person's military service or status. The Air Force should make greater use of contractors to bolster its pilot training capabilities as it works to fix its festering pilot shortfall once and for all, according to a new report. In early 2017, after his attorneys gathered 65,000 pages of documents through discovery, the court allowed Kay to pursue claims on behalf of others who were denied pilot jobs by L3. L-3 denied liability, claiming that it never discriminated against anyone in its hiring practices. However, the company agreed to no longer ask about military status before extending job offers, to train workers on the employment rights of reservists and to make it easier for employees to schedule work around their military obligations. "This is a favorable settlement from both parties' perspectives," said Peter Romer-Friedman, a lawyer at Outten & Golden who represented Kay in the lawsuit. "We respect and recognize L3's leadership in taking these positive steps, even though L3 had a very different view about the facts and law in this case." Under the proposed class action settlement, which has to be reviewed by the court, L3 would also pay $2 million to settle hiring discrimination claims. L3 reported $9.6 billion in sales in 2017 and has roughly 31,000 employees worldwide. According to the company, it is entering into the settlement for the purposes of preventing any protracted and costly litigation. Kay and other reservists will receive monetary payments under the settlement if they file claim forms demonstrating that they were reservists or Guardsmen who were qualified applicants for the "Senior Pilot I" position in L3's ISR operations between 2011 and 2018. The plaintiffs alleged that reserve and veteran pilot applicants to L-3's ISR programs had similar professional experiences and were ideal candidates for the pilot position, due to high flight hours, combat flying experience, comfort working with the military and active security clearances. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told lawmakers Wednesday that the Air Force trained 1,160 new pilots in fiscal 2017, and expects to train 1,311 in fiscal 2019, before expanding further to 1,500 by 2022. But, after "analyzing tens of thousands of pages of application files to determine which applicants were reservists, veterans and civilians when they applied for the Senior Pilot I position, plaintiff's counsel and expert determined that veterans were hired at a substantially greater rate than Reservists," the court documents read. The plaintiffs allegedly determined that if reservists and veterans had been hired at the same rate, between 20 and 35 additional reservists would have been hired from 2011 to 2018 for the Senior Pilot I position, according to the documents. "Before I became a lawyer, I served in the Army National Guard," said Matthew Crotty of the Crotty & Son law firm in Spokane, Washington, who also represented Kay. "Many of my troops would report to me about how hard it was to find work because of their military reserve duty," he said. "That's what got me into representing service members. It's nice to play a small part in ensuring that members of the military reserves are treated properly when they apply for civilian jobs." https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2018/10/31/l3-agrees-to-settle-lawsuit-alleging-bias-against-guard-and-reserve-pilots/ Back to Top DOCTORAL RESEARCH SURVEY My name is Robert Lee. I am a doctoral candidate at Northcentral University. I am conducting a study on employee safety climate in the FBO industry. The purpose of the study is to examine how manager turnover affects safety climate. To be eligible to participate you must be at least 18 years old and be currently employed as a line services professional. The survey should take 10 to 15 minutes to complete. All responses will be confidential and anonymous. Your name and company will not be requested nor linked to you. If you would like to participate, please click on the provided Survey Monkey web link, complete the online informed consent form, and proceed with the questionnaire. SURVEY: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6WVY9ZN Your participation is greatly appreciated. Thank you. Robert Lee Doctoral Candidate - Organizational Leadership Northcentral University 352.284.6989 R.Lee2968@o365.ncu.edu Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY I am a grad student at City University of London and am completing work on my Masters in Aviation Safety. In my thesis I am trying to determine what the competencies are for being an airline Captain. This is to complement the 9 competencies That ICAO identifies for training pilots. My ultimate goal is to identify the relevant competencies and determine if they are trainable from a flight education standpoint. The first step is to determine the state of Captain/Command training in the United States. The link provided for a survey via survey monkey that hopefully will help me establish a baseline of where we are at in the industry in the US. Thank you for your consideration. Regards, Captain Jeff Kilmer FDX 901-651-6070 https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/58SMR3B Curt Lewis