Flight Safety Information November 2, 2018 - No. 223 In This Issue Incident: WOW A321 at Keflavik on Nov 1st 2018, engine shut down in flight Accident: Frontier A321 at Islip on Nov 1st 2018, fumes on board injure 10 people EVAS - Cockpit Smoke Protection Incident: Jazz DH8C near Gander on Oct 22nd 2018, uncommanded feather Damaged Black Box Poses New Challenge for Lion Air Crash Probe Pilot radioed alert on doomed Indonesian jet's previous flight Indonesia hunts sea bed for crashed Lion Air jet's second black box What is a 'black box', and why do we still rely on them? A Japanese Pilot Was Arrested After Being Caught Nearly 10 Times Over Legal Alcohol Limit Indonesia tightens aviation safety standards FAA Working With Industry on High-altitude O2 Mandate FAA Asks Operators To Examine W&B Procedures FAA MAPS 'OFF-RAMP' FROM SPECIAL ISSUANCE MEDICALS LEARN TO FLY SIKORSKY'S NEW HELICOPTER IN JUST 45 MINUTES Cirrus Aircraft Launches Cirrus Services Amid rising global demand for aircraft mechanics, a training program opens in Bethel (Alaska) The Mars Society's Robert Zubrin Has a 'Moon Direct' Plan to Drive a Lunar Economy DOCTORAL RESEARCH SURVEY GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE Upcoming Cranfield Short Courses Incident: WOW A321 at Keflavik on Nov 1st 2018, engine shut down in flight A WOW Air Airbus A321-200, registration TF-WIN performing flight WW-117 from Keflavik (Iceland) to Baltimore,MD (USA), was climbing out of Keflavik when the crew stopped the climb at about FL210 reporting they had needed to shut an engine (CFM56) down. The aircraft returned to Keflavik and landed safely on runway 19 about 35 minutes after departure. The airline reported the aircraft returned due to a "minor engine failure". The crew decided to return for safety reasons prior to the Oceanic crossing.. A replacement A321-200 Neo registration TF-DTR is estimated to reach Baltimore with a delay of about 2.5 hours. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/WOW117/history/20181101/1540Z/BIKF/KBWI http://avherald.com/h?article=4bfb9119&opt=0 Back to Top Accident: Frontier A321 at Islip on Nov 1st 2018, fumes on board injure 10 people A Frontier Airbus A321-200, registration N702FR performing flight F9-1851 from Islip,NY to Myrtle Beach,SC (USA) with 218 people on board, was climbing out of Islip when the crew stopped the climb at FL220 reporting fumes in the cockpit. The aircraft returned to Islip for a safe landing 15 minutes later. A member of the cabin crew and 2 passengers were taken to a hospital, 7 passengers were treated at the airport. The FAA reported the crew declared emergency due to fumes in the cockpit. The airline reported an odour was detected in the cabin, there was no smoke, the aircraft landed safely. One member of the crew and 2 passengers were taken to a hospital for medical evaluation. 7 passengers were treated at the airport. The flight was cancelled. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground about 6 hours after landing back. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/FFT1851/history/20181101/1558Z/KISP/KMYR http://avherald.com/h?article=4bfb8e0e&opt=0 Back to Top Back to Top Incident: Jazz DH8C near Gander on Oct 22nd 2018, uncommanded feather A Jazz de Havilland Dash 8-300, registration C-FACT performing flight QK-8861 from Gander,NL to Halifax,NS (Canada) with 50 people on board, was climbing out of Gander when the crew stopped the climb at 6000 feet due to an uncommanded feather of the right hand propeller. The crew shut the right hand engine (PW123) down and diverted to Deer Lake,NL (Canada) due to Gander being at Weather Minimums. The aircraft landed safely in Deer Lake.. The Canadian TSB reported the uncommanded auto-feather was caused by the loss of the #2 engine torque signal. The related torque sensing/transmitting components were removed from the aircraft and sent for further analysis. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/JZA8861/history/20181022/0840Z/CYQX/CYHZ http://avherald.com/h?article=4bfb8c3b&opt=0 Back to Top Damaged Black Box Poses New Challenge for Lion Air Crash Probe A flight data recorder, part of the ill-fated Lion Air flight JT 610's black box. Photographer: Malekiano/AFP via Getty Images Indonesian authorities seeking to solve the mystery behind the Lion Air plane crash have recovered only a section of what they suspect is the flight data recorder, the latest challenge in the investigation into what downed the Boeing Co. jet. The shattering of the device, which is built to withstand high-impact crashes, shows how violently the 737 Max jet plunged and broke into pieces. Teams from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and General Electric Co., the maker of aircraft engines, have joined the investigation, according to the Indonesian government. "The section is most likely the flight data recorder," the search agency said in a statement, citing Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee Chairman Soerjanto Tjahjono. "Next, the hope is that the other black box, the cockpit voice recorder, can be found immediately to uncover the cause of the accident." The flight data and cockpit voice recorders -- both of which are often referred to as black boxes -- hold information on a plane's electronics, systems and store the conversation of pilots and help aid accident investigations. More than four days after Lion Air flight JT610 carrying 189 people lost contact, Indonesian search crews have fished out little else than small pieces of the aircraft, body parts of victims and personal belongings. The hunt for clues has evoked images of the years-long and as yet unsuccessful search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared over the Indian Ocean in 2014. The doomed jet went down from 4,850 feet (1,479 meters) altitude in just 21 seconds, according to data compiled by FlightRadar24, a flight-tracking system. The final data point obtained by FlightRadar24 showed the plane descending at 30,976 feet per minute, meaning it was moving downward at about 350 miles an hour. Such speeds are typical of mid-range flight speeds, but unheard of for a descent. While it may take days or weeks before definitive information emerges on the crash, Lion Air has said the aircraft had experienced problems with sensors used to calculate height and speed in its previous flight. The issue was checked by maintenance workers overnight before the plane was cleared for the ill-fated flight, the airline said. Divers are scouring a 270 square-mile area under the Java Sea to recover the remains of the plane that plummeted into the shallow waters off Jakarta. The nation's navy said on Oct. 31 that they stumbled on "quite a large" object, about 20 meters long, but that turned out to be a false alarm. "Our search is focused on the area around the discovery of the black box section yesterday to look for the fuselage, evacuating victims, while also looking for the cockpit voice recorder," the search agency said early Friday. The nation's transport ministry said it will step up checks on aircraft and ground planes with technical snags that can't be solved. On Thursday, the ministry ordered the suspension of Lion Air managers in charge of quality control, fleet maintenance and an engineer who cleared flight JT610. Personnel from NTSB, Boeing and Search and Rescue check debris st the Tanjung Priok port on Nov. 1.Photographer: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images The government has vowed "strict sanctions" on Lion Air if a probe by the safety board proves negligence on the part of the airline, the ministry said on Oct. 31. The tragedy has raised questions about the safety record of a country whose airlines were for years judged too dangerous to fly over Europe. Lion Air was among Indonesian airlines that were banned by the EU from 2007 through 2016, according to the Aviation Safety Network database maintained by the Flight Safety Foundation. The nation's domestic airline market has boomed in recent years to become the fifth largest in the world. Local airline traffic more than tripled between 2005 and 2017 to 97 million people, according to the CAPA Center for Aviation, and is dominated by flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia and Lion Air Group. Carriers have struggled with safety issues partly as a result of the pace of that expansion, as well as issues intrinsic to a region of mountainous terrain, equatorial thunderstorms and often underdeveloped aviation infrastructure. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-02/damaged-black-box-poses-new-challenge-for-lion-air-crash-probe Back to Top Pilot radioed alert on doomed Indonesian jet's previous flight JAKARTA (Reuters) - The pilot of a Lion Air flight from Indonesia's Bali island on Sunday made a radio alert minutes after take-off due to technical problems, but they were overcome and he pushed on to Jakarta. The same jet crashed on another flight hours later, killing all 189 people on board. Herson, chief of the airport authority for the Bali-Nusa Tenggara area, told Reuters that after the alert the pilot updated the control tower to say that the plane was flying normally and he would not return to the airport as requested. "The captain himself was confident enough to fly to Jakarta from Denpasar," said Herson, who goes by one name, speaking by phone from Bali and referring to the resort island's airport. The pilot of another plane that was approaching Bali just after the Lion Air jet had taken off said he was ordered to circle above the airport and listened in to a radio conversation between the Lion Air pilot and air traffic controllers. "Because of the Pan-Pan call, we were told to hold off, circling the airport in the air," said the pilot, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. "The Lion plane requested to return back to Bali five minutes after take-off, but then the pilot said the problem had been resolved and he was going to go ahead to Jakarta." Chief of National Search and Rescue Agency Muhammad Syaugi shows a part of the black box of Lion Air's flight JT610 airplane, on Baruna Jaya ship, in the north sea of Karawang, Indonesia, November 1, 2018. Antara Foto/Muhammad Adimaja via REUTERS Pilots use 'Pan-Pan' calls to flag urgent situations. They are a step down from 'Mayday', which signals severe distress. The Denpasar-Jakarta flight landed at the Indonesian capital's airport at 10:55 p.m. local time on Sunday. The same Boeing 737 MAX jet took off at 6:20 a.m. the next morning, bound for Bangka island, off Sumatra, and plunged into the sea 13 minutes later. Just before the crash, the pilot had made a request to return to base. A Lion Air spokesman declined to comment when asked about the alert on the earlier flight, citing the ongoing crash investigation. The budget airline's CEO, Edward Sirait, said earlier this week that a technical problem had occurred on the Denpasar-Jakarta flight but it had been resolved "according to procedure". Amid media speculation over the airworthiness of the aircraft, the transport minister suspended Lion Air's technical director and three other officers on Wednesday to facilitate the crash investigation. The suspended technicians "issued the recommendations for that (final) flight", the ministry said in a press release. It did not say how many technicians had been suspended. The country's second-deadliest air disaster since 1997 has renewed concern about Indonesia's patchy aviation safety record. It will also put a spotlight on Boeing's 737 MAX, which was introduced into commercial service last year and until Monday had an accident-free record. The narrowbody MAX is an update of Boeing's 737 series, the world's most produced family of commercial aircraft and one widely considered to have a strong safety record. ERRATIC FLIGHT During its earlier flight from Bali on Sunday, JT43, the aircraft flew erratically and its airspeed readings were unreliable, according to an accident investigator and a flight tracking website. According to data from FlightRadar24, the jet displayed unusual variations in altitude and airspeed in the first several minutes of flight - including an 875-foot drop over 27 seconds when it would normally be ascending - before stabilizing and flying on to Jakarta. Search crews think they found crashed Lion Air jet However, the pilots kept the plane at a maximum altitude of 28,000 feet compared with 36,000 feet on the same route earlier in the week. National Transport Safety Committee (NTSC) deputy chief Haryo Satmiko told reporters on Tuesday there were technical problems on the flight, including unreliable airspeed readings. Divers on Thursday retrieved a flight data recorder from the plane that lay shattered on the muddy sea floor off the coast of Jakarta. The NTSC said it would examine the device to get a clearer picture of what happened on the flight from Bali on Sunday in addition to the flight that crashed on Monday. Herson, the airport authority chief in Bali, said the aircraft had encountered a "speed and altimeter" problem but the captain was confident that it was airworthy and pressed on. "He requested to return to the airport for RTB (return to base) but ... they updated and flew to Jakarta. The pilot double-checked to ensure that they could fly," he said. Two passengers from Sunday's flight posted on Instagram, reporting that they had been concerned about problems with the air conditioning system and cabin lighting before the plane left Bali nearly three hours late. Another passenger on JT43 described, in a talkshow broadcast by Indonesia's TVOne, a turbulent flight during which the seatbelt signs were never turned off. "When the plane took off, it climbed and then went down. It rose again, and then dropped again violently, shaking," said Diah Mardani. "Everyone in the plane shouted Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest), Subhanallah (Glory to God). We recited every prayer we knew." https://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-crash-flight-exclusive/exclusive-pilot-made-distress-call-on-doomed-indonesian-jets-previous-flight-idUSKCN1N64ZE?il=0 Back to Top Indonesia hunts sea bed for crashed Lion Air jet's second black box Rescue workers load up recovered debris of Lion Air flight JT610 onto a truck at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Indonesia, November 2, 2018. REUTERS/Edgar Su JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian divers on Friday resumed a search for a second black box amid the sunken wreckage of a nearly new aircraft that slammed into the sea off Jakarta this week, killing all 189 people on board. Searchers have found only part of one black box and just one passenger has been identified from partial remains after air traffic control lost contact with the plane 13 minutes after it took off on Monday from the capital. Efforts are now focused on retrieving the second of the two black boxes, as the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder are known, the head of Indonesia's transport safety panel said. "The team have been hearing the 'ping' sound from another black box since two days ago," Soerjanto Tjahjono told Reuters. The seafloor is just 30 m (98 ft) down, but strong currents and nearby energy pipelines have hampered the search for the aircraft operated by budget carrier Lion Air, which was heading for the tin-mining town of Pangkal Pinang when it crashed. While victims' relatives are desperate to know what happened, the investigation of the first crash of a Boeing Co 737 MAX, which only went into service in August, is also the focus of scrutiny by the global aviation industry.. Navy divers on Thursday pulled from the muddy seabed the "crash-survivable memory unit" of one black box, raising hopes its stored data will show what went wrong on flight JT610, whose pilot had received permission to turn back before the crash. But the damage suffered by the device reflected the severity of the impact, said investigators, adding that they did not yet know which of the black boxes, housed at opposite ends of the plane, it came from. Indonesia's transport safety panel pledged to move as quickly as possible to download the data, which can take as little as two hours, although analyzing it might require several weeks. Results of a preliminary investigation will be made public after 30 days, one panel official said. Indonesia is one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets. Its transport safety panel investigated 137 serious aviation incidents from 2012 to 2017. https://www.yahoo.com/news/indonesia-hunts-sea-bed-crashed-lion-air-jets-053957425--sector.html Back to Top Back to Top What is a 'black box', and why do we still rely on them? The black box contains all of a plane's vital information and voice recordings - iStock The black box from Lion Air flight JT 610 has been found, a discovery which should help to explain why the plane crashed off the coast of Indonesia on Monday. The Boeing 737 MAX plummeted into the Java Sea just minutes after taking off from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board - the worst aviation disaster in Indonesia since 1997. There is currently no indication as to what caused the crash, although the aircraft is thought to have experienced technical problems on its penultimate flight on Sunday. Several passengers from that flight from Bali to Jakarta have recalled problems including a delayed take off and rapid descents in the first 10 minutes in the air. Divers on Thursday recovered the black box flight recorder on the seafloor. This, it is hoped, could help investigators identify what exactly happened in the moments before the crash. The hunt for the black box is a central part of any air crash investigation. But what exactly is a black box? Why are they not black? And why don't planes just use satellite technology instead? Planes are not tracked by satellites during all stages of the flight - Credit: iStock What does the black box do? Every commercial aircraft must contain two flight recorders, known as black boxes. The first is a Flight Data Recorder (FDR), which contains all of the instructions sent to any electronic systems on an aircraft. So all of the plane's crucial information - airspeed, altitude, fuel flow - is recorded in the FDR. The other black box is the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), which keeps a log of what the pilots are talking about between themselves and conversations with air traffic control. It also picks up ambient sounds from the flight deck, which can provide vital clues when it comes to piecing together what happened in the final moments before a plane crash. How is the black box found? Black boxes contain underwater locator beacons. As soon as the unit is immersed in any kind of liquid, it will start sending out an ultrasonic ping. The black box is designed to work in depths up to 6,000 metres of saltwater and is designed to ping every second for 30 days before the battery runs out. If a black box sinks to the bottom of the ocean, the search vessels looking for it must be almost directly above the beacon to detect the ping. In deep waters, using hydrophones can help search teams get closer to the signal. Black box pings every second for 30 days, before falling silent - Credit: iStock Is the black box actually black? No. The black box is actually painted in 'international orange', a colour used in aerospace and engineering to help an object stand out from its surroundings. It is not known where the term "black box" came from (perhaps because early designs were black inside) but aviation professionals generally refer to the device as an electronic flight data recorder. Early 1950s prototypes of the black box, masterminded by Australian research scientist David Warren, were known as the "Red Egg" for its oval shape and bright red colour. Where in the aircraft is the black box? The black box is kept in the rear of the aircraft, where there is a greater chance for it to survive the impact of an accident. Is the black box indestructible? They are very robust indeed. Double-wrapped in a shell of titanium or stainless steel, the black box is designed to withstand extreme impact and temperatures. The memory unit can take an impact velocity of over 300mph and heat of over 1,000 degrees celcius for an hour. It is rare for a black box to be totally destroyed to the point of containing no useable data. Can't the black box stream its data? In a world where digital data can easily be transmitted and streamed, there is the question of why planes still store their flight information and voice recordings on a physical black box, rather than in the Cloud. It turns out this technology does exist, but it just hasn't been widely adopted yet. FLYHT Aerospace has designed a tracking system, about the size of a hotel room safe. It transmits data including coordinates, speed and altitude, to the ground via satellite as soon as the plane suddenly loses altitude, banks sharply or experiences engine vibrations. However, this black box streaming service doesn't come cheaply - over $120,000 per plane. The airline industry is unlikely to invest money in such technologies that will only be used in very rare circumstances. Why aren't planes tracked by satellites? When Malaysia Airline's flight MH370 went missing on March 8 2014, many people were surprised to learn that something as large as a Boeing 777 could effectively disappear from radar screens. It was sobering to discover that, when you're on board a plane watching the in-flight tracker, you have more information about the plane's exact whereabouts than air traffic control. Commercial aircraft are fitted with transponders that relay their location via radar, but these cannot be detected once the plane is more than 150 miles from land. The technology is getting better. A new innovation called Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) means planes can be tracked by receivers on the ground for up to around 290 miles from the shore. So in this moment, there's still no way for air traffic control to accurately track planes above the ocean. There is one company, however, called Aireon, which is planning to launch a fleet of 66 satellites with ADS-B receivers to monitor air traffic.. If all goes to plan these will be launched by the end of 2018. This, they say, will allow air traffic controllers to track planes flying in previously un-trackable areas with pin-point accuracy. https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/apos-black-box-apos-why-160219143.html Back to Top A Japanese Pilot Was Arrested After Being Caught Nearly 10 Times Over Legal Alcohol Limit A Japan Airlines (JAL) passenger jet takes off from Tokyo's Haneda airport in Tokyo A Japan Airlines copilot was arrested in London earlier this week after he was found to nearly ten times over the legal alcohol limit shortly before takeoff. The tipsy copilot, identified as Katsutoshi Jitsukawa, was arrested Sunday at London's Heathrow Airport after a test administered just 50 minutes before takeoff revealed the level of alcohol in his system, the BBC reports. He was detected by the sensitive nose of a crew bus driver, who smelled alcohol and reported him to police, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK. A test later revealed that Jitsukawa had 189mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, nearly 10 times the U.K.'s legal limit of 20 mg for pilots, according to the BBC. He had been scheduled to serve on a flight to Tokyo, which took off just over an hour late. Jitsukawa was not aboard. Jitsukawa, 42, attributed the elevated alcohol levels to a bout of serious drinking the previous night in his hotel bar and room, according to NHK. He appeared in court in London on Thursday and pleaded guilty to exceeding the alcohol limit, according to the BBC. He is expected to remain in custody until his sentencing on Nov. 29. The airline issued an apology, promising "immediate actions to prevent any future occurrence." It also announced it would roll out a more sophisticated breathalyzer system to monitor its pilots' alcohol overseas later this month, according to NHK. The new system, which is already in place for Japanese domestic flights, will send test results back to Japan in real time. Japan's Transport Ministry also responded to the incident, promising to institute a national standard for pilot blood-alcohol levels. Previously, the country had allowed airlines to set individual thresholds. In a separate case last week, Japanese domestic airline All Nippon Airways was forced to apologize after five flights were delayed by a hungover pilot, the Associated Press reports. http://time.com/5442770/japan-pilot-drunk-heathrow-alcohol-limit/ Back to Top Indonesia tightens aviation safety standards Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi delivered information related to the development of the Lion Air JT 610 plane accident at the Ministry of Transportation office, Jakarta, Thursday (1/11/2018). In this statement the Ministry of Transportation released four Lion Air employees to facilitate the investigation process carried out by the NTSC, ramp check all. ANTARA Photo Dhemas Reviyanto/foc. Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Ministry of Transportation will tighten aviation safety standards by conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the regulations for low-cost carriers and full service airlines. "We will evaluate aviation safety regulations for all airlines," Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said here on Thursday. The minister remarked that the evaluation would be adjusted to the report on the results of the investigation of the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT). The minister will also seek assistance from the United States` Federal Aviation Administration, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and the European Union. "The government will also seek recommendations from the EU, ICAO, and FAA regarding safety standards," he remarked. A joint diving team earlier managed to retrieve the black box of the crashed Lion Air plane from the waters of North Karawang, West Java, an official stated on Thursday. "Both the Baruna Jaya boat and KRI Rigel warship located its position, and the joint diving team then dove deep down and pulled out the black box from the water," Col Iswarto, commander of the SAR task force, informed the press. The black box was found at a depth of 25-35 meters under the sea and was drifted for some 100 meters from the initial estimated location. The black box was sent to the Tanjung Priok seaport and then handed over to officials of the National Committee for Transportation Safety. The Lion Air plane JT610 crashed some 15 minutes after taking off from Jakarta and en route to Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung Province, on Monday morning. The aircraft departed from Jakarta at 6:20 a.m. local time and was scheduled to arrive in Pangkalpinang at 7:05 a.m. local time, according to the Depati Amir Airport authority in Pangkalpinang. Before it lost contact, the aircraft had sought permission to return to Jakarta due to a problem. The aircraft carried 178 adult passengers, three infants, six crew members, as well as a pilot of Indian nationality and a co-pilot. https://en.antaranews.com/news/120102/indonesia-tightens-aviation-safety-standards Back to Top FAA Working With Industry on High-altitude O2 Mandate The FAA is considering changing high-altitude oxygen equipment requirements, and a key business aviation executive involved in the issue expressed hope that "something is going to happen soon that is very positive." After a four-plus-year effort to gain attention on concerns surrounding mandates for high-altitude oxygen masks in business aircraft, Rick Miller, chief pilot for Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. and chairman of the NBAA High Altitude Supplemental Working Group (HASO), spoke at the Bombardier Safety Standdown on Tuesday. He said that the FAA met with leaders on the issue in May and opened a productive dialog on potential changes to FAR 91.211. That meeting resulted in a strategy on the issue, Miller said, adding he is encouraged that the FAA planned to act on their concerns, although he wasn't able to say just yet what the final result might be. Under 91.211, pilots must continuously wear an oxygen mask when flying above FL410 and when only one pilot is available at FL350. If two pilots are on the flight deck between FL350 and FL410, oxygen masks must be within reach. Data suggests that 60 percent to 80 percent of pilots do not comply with the requirement to don oxygen masks, he said, expressing a belief this number might actually be closer to 90 percent. Miller, who has written a paper and given a number of presentations on the issue, said noncompliance is not a matter of lazy or undisciplined pilots. Instead, he believes the risks of using the masks outweigh the benefits. Concerns arise over potential fatigue setting in from extended use, interference with cockpit resource management, interference with vision, possibility of contamination of oxygen masks, and possible health risks from prolonged exposure to 100 percent oxygen, among others. It was actually a noncompliant event that motivated Miller to begin the campaign for change. He learned of the event and subsequently reached out to the pilots involved. His concern was that he had to require his pilots to comply with a rule that none of them liked, but that he would have trouble continuing to mandate such compliance if others were not setting examples. This led to a dialog that expanded to others in the industry, and Miller eventually discussed his concerns at an OEM conference. NBAA subsequently worked with Miller to form the HASO working group, which has since been joined by numerous safety experts, business aircraft operators, and manufacturer representatives, among others. The group sent out a survey to pilots on the issue and received 2,000 responses, many with detailed comments, underscoring the interest in a change to 91.211. Miller believes the strong response caught the attention of the FAA, which led to the collaboration on the issue. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2018-10-31/faa-working-industry-high-altitude-o2-mandate Back to Top FAA Asks Operators To Examine W&B Procedures A newly published FAA Safety Alert for Operators (SAFO) reminds Part 135 airplane and rotorcraft certificate holders how critical it is to ensure accurate data entry when calculating aircraft weight and balance. According to the FAA, "A number of accident and incident investigations have revealed several instances where inaccurate basic operating weight was entered into the weight and balance software program. Errors of this type could have serious ramifications." Software programs usually have pre-loaded information, such as basic operating weight. But If the pre-loaded data is not verified to be accurate, then the calculations will be incorrect and could place the aircraft outside of weight and/or center-of-gravity limitations, "which could have catastrophic consequences," the FAA warned. The agency is asking operators to review Advisory Circular 120-27E and examine their weight-and-balance procedures to ensure aircraft weight-and-balance information is correct, as well as verifying that pre-loaded information in weight-and-balance software programs is correct. Regulations require aircraft to operate within approved weight and center-of-gravity limits. Yet the FAA said it is aware of accidents or incidents related to the aircraft operating outside of its approved weight and balance limits. The agency noted that accurate weight-and-balance calculations can be completed using aircraft-specific software programs, "as long as the data entered is correct." https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2018-10-30/faa-asks-operators-examine-wb-procedures Back to Top FAA MAPS 'OFF-RAMP' FROM SPECIAL ISSUANCE MEDICALS The FAA has detailed how pilots with special issuance medical certificates can transition from their first, second, or third class medical certificate and fly as sport pilots, as glider pilots, or under BasicMed. Some pilots have found it difficult to navigate the transition from special issuance medical certification to alternative medical qualifications, like sport pilot or BasicMed rules. The solution starts by understanding that the holder of a special issuance has obligations on two levels. First, an FAA special issuance authorization letter contains specific terms that the individual must meet to be eligible to apply for and hold a medical certificate. Second, the airman must then be able to pass the examination for a first, second, or third class medical certificate. A recent FAA legal opinion explains that if the pilot's special issuance medical has expired, but the pilot's authorization letter that allows the pilot to seek medicals hasn't, the pilot's ongoing obligation to submit medical information to the FAA ended when the associated special issuance medical certificate expired. To help guide pilots through the transition from costly medical certification to BasicMed, AOPA has worked with multiple FAA offices including Flight Standards, Chief Counsel, and Aerospace Medicine. (BasicMed's requirements, which include taking a medical knowledge course online, took effect in May 2017.) In January 2018, AOPA met with FAA representatives and followed up with a set of questions that highlighted the association's concerns. AOPA requested "clear and published FAA guidance" and offered draft responses the FAA could consider adopting. AOPA believes that the legal opinion the FAA posted on Oct. 12 addresses some-but not all-of the questions. The interpretation clarified a major procedural sticking point in explaining that "an airman's responsibility to comply with the terms of an unexpired Authorization-including a term that requires regular submission of medical information-terminates when the associated special issuance medical certificate expires. Because there is no reasonable basis for requiring an airman in those circumstances to provide medical information that is not needed for determining medical certification under § 67.401, the FAA would not have a basis to withdraw the Authorization." However the legal opinion did not take up several other ambiguities-such as whether a pilot participating in BasicMed may surrender an unexpired medical certificate or an authorization for special issuance to resolve any conflicting compliance rules. "We are hopeful the FAA will answer these outstanding questions soon and further clear up any remaining confusion," said David Oord, AOPA senior director of regulatory affairs. The legal opinion cited congressional intent, noting that "it does not appear that Congress, who mandated BasicMed, wanted an airman to be beholden to continued requests for information related to a prior authorization after the most recent special issuance medical certificate has expired and the airman is not in the process of seeking a renewed special issuance medical certification." "With more than 41,000 pilots now flying under BasicMed, it is in everyone's best interest for the transition from traditional medical certificates to be clear and well defined," said Oord. "This interpretation helps in that effort, and we look forward to future clarifications from the agency." AOPA recommends that pilots consult with Pilot Protection Services staff prior to transitioning off a special issuance authorization and medical certificate. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2018/october/25/faa-maps-off-ramp-from-special-issue-medicals Back to Top LEARN TO FLY SIKORSKY'S NEW HELICOPTER IN JUST 45 MINUTES In this Sikorsky helicopter, the human gives orders and the computer executes them.DARPA With the possible exception of Tom Cruise, learning to fly a helicopter demands months of classroom, simulator, and in-air training. The controls feature all the logic of Bop It: Twist one hand, move the other to the left. Push one foot, then the other. Watch the instruments, but don't forget to look at the horizon. I once spent a full day working with Airbus' top instructors, and by the end couldn't even keep the chopper in level flight. I was nowhere near pulling off a low hover, a move that looks simple but requires extraordinary coordination and concentration.. But last month, a group from the US Army, including one person who'd never even been in a helicopter, flew a Sikorsky S-76B helicopter up and over a small watching crowd in Fort Eustis, Virginia, hovered over an adjoining field, dropped down, adjusted their position to dodge another vehicle, then safely landed. And they did it all after as little as 45 minutes of training. US Army Pilot Tests ALIAS' Autonomy Capabilities in Demonstration Flight "It's pretty neat to see the transformation from 'I have no idea what this system does' to 'I can now control this system,'" says Sikorsky helicopter pilot Mark Ward, who put the newbies through their minimalist training. "This is not to say that they're combat-ready, hardened, ready to go. But it is a testament to the ease with which they can now adapt to a nonlogical control system like a helicopter," he says. It's not like these people are aeronautical savants (no offense) or leather-clad Carrie-Anne Mosses. But computers are key, as given away by the retro blocky graphic on the chopper: "Matrix Technology." This, as you may have guessed, is no ordinary helicopter. It's controlled by a hand-held tablet that lets wannabe pilots fly about using familiar gestures and movements, like they would to play a game or fly a quadcopter drone. Matrix Technology is the name of Sikorsky's program for rotorcraft that minimize, or even eliminate, the role of the human pilot. It's part Darpa's Alias program (that's the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System). Just as some automakers are approaching self-driving cars with gradually more capable driver assistance tech, the idea here is that making a chopper easier to fly is a step toward letting a computer take control. The human on board controls the flight using a tablet and a couple of joystick-like controllers called interceptors. "It allows the onboard crew members to rapidly communicate their intent to the autonomy system, which kind of becomes like a copilot," says Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky's autonomy program. DARPA Instead of learning the steps of the complicated throttle and pedal dance, the human onboard controls the flight using a tablet and a couple of joystick-like controllers called interceptors. The tablet is used for inputting mission changes, like changing the destination. The interceptors are for more immediate inputs, like a push to the right or a quick climb. But unlike in conventional flight, adjusting any of these controls leads to an input into the computer controlling the flight, requesting a change, rather than a direct movement of a flight control surface. This is fully fly-by-wire, under the control of an algorithm. "It allows the onboard crew members to rapidly communicate their intent to the autonomy system, which kind of becomes like a copilot," says Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky's autonomy program. The human gives orders, the computer executes them. Although Sikorsky put the humans in the helicopter for this demo, the system could work just as efficiently as a kind of remote control, says Cherepinsky, with the human on the ground below holding the tablet, or in a remote center, dialing in and supervising. Those applications could be useful for first responders like firefighters, who could direct aircraft over forest blazes from a safe distance. For the military, automating more aspects of flight could help make missions safer. "Really, we want the pilot's eyes and mind on the fight rather than holding an altitude," says Graham Drozeski, the Darpa program manager for Alias. For Darpa, Sikorsky is now integrating its system into a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, for more mission-driven demonstrations next year. In the civilian world, increased autonomy, and smarter helicopters in particular, could be a useful stepping stone on the way to fully autonomous air taxis, whisking commuters from building top to building top in Dallas and LA by 2023- if Uber has its way. At the same time, startups like SkyRyse are betting that helicopters with sensors and smarts will show that air trips can be cheaper, quicker to dispatch, and ultimately more useful than they are now. Even before they become fully autonomous, which could take years of technological and regulatory overhauls, they would lower the bar for human pilots. Sikorsky's system is all about augmenting the human, at least for now, Cherepinsky says. "We are all marching toward the holy grail of pushing one button on the screen saying 'get me here,' point A to point B." https://www.wired.com/story/sikorsky-helicopter-darpa-alias/ Back to Top Cirrus Aircraft Launches Cirrus Services New division will focus on delivering 'world-class' flight training, service and support. Cirrus Aircraft has launched Cirrus Services, a new division focused on providing flight training, services and support to Cirrus aircraft owners. With the understanding that building airplanes is just one facet of its overall business, Cirrus Aircraft has launched what it calls Cirrus Services, a division "created to build lifetime relationships with customers by addressing their needs before, during and after initial aircraft ownership," the company said. The new business unit combines flight training, service and support into a single division focused on delivering "world-class care, to make owning a Cirrus rewarding, safe and simple for a lifetime," said Todd Simmons, Cirrus Aircraft President, Customer Experience. "As Cirrus continues to grow aviation by bringing game-changing new personal aircraft to the market, most recently with the Vision Jet, we recognize the importance of bringing that same innovation to developing a premium, comprehensive and lifetime Cirrus ownership experience," Simmons said. The newly formed group will focus on expanding capabilities and offerings at the company's Vision Center Campus in Knoxville, Tennessee, including a recently opened flight training center with a level-D full-motion Vision Jet simulator, as well as through a network of authorized service and training partners around the world. Ravi Dharnidharka will lead Cirrus Aircraft's customer experience team as Senior Vice President, Cirrus Services. Ravi joined Cirrus Aircraft in 2016 as Senior Vice President, Business Development. Before joining Cirrus, he served as director of business development for Senior Aerospace Ketema where he led strategic planning and execution of business growth functions. He has also worked in business development with UTC Aerospace Systems focusing on airline aftermarket service.. "Our goal is to welcome more people into general aviation by significantly elevating the entire customer experience," Dharnidharka said. "Cirrus Aircraft is already known for an exemplary new aircraft sales and delivery experience and we're excited to combine our collective talents into a fully integrated team dedicated to continuing that world-class experience throughout the lifetime of ownership." Dharnidharka is a former U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot with experience flying the AV8B Harrier and F5N Tiger II, and continues to serve as a Lieutenant Colonel with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. He holds an MBA from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor's of Science degree in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. https://www.flyingmag.com/cirrus-aircraft-launches-cirrus-services Back to Top Amid rising global demand for aircraft mechanics, a training program opens in Bethel (Alaska) BETHEL - Airplanes connect rural Alaska to the world, and all those planes need mechanics to maintain and fix them. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta has a severe shortage of aircraft mechanics, and it's expected that a shortage will soon be felt across the world's airline industry. A new Bethel training program wants to fill the gap with local workers. Inside a bright white hangar at the Bethel Airport sits a fleet of small, multicolored airplanes. "We have Cessnas. We have Pipers. We have a Bonanza, a Navajo Chieftain, a Cherokee 140," Mike Hoffman - executive director of Yuut Elitnaurviat, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta's adult workforce development program - says as he points around the hangar to some of the most common types of planes flown in the region. Yuut Elitnaurviat is opening an aircraft mechanic school in Bethel. Hoffman takes pride that many of the program's planes and the resources to get them here were donated. "I went up to McGrath and took the wings off the blue one that's in the back there with my brother Jeff, and threw it on a barge that my other brother was the captain of, and he brought it down for free," Hoffman said. "It's just people understanding this school and what it's going to bring to the region." What it will bring is local people earning local training to fill critical local jobs in the region of the state that has the lowest per-capita income and highest unemployment rate. "Virtually every airline that I know of here is looking for mechanics," said Keith Henthorn, business manager for regional airline Yute Commuter Service. None of the airline's mechanics are Bethel residents. Instead, they come from Fairbanks or Anchorage, or even out of state. "You know," Henthorn said, "I just Tuesday offered a guy from Florida $42 an hour to come up here and be a mechanic for me." But Henthorn would rather hire locals and keep that money in the region. He could hire five mechanics today. Local hire would both serve the community and boost the airline's bottom line. Bringing in outside workers is expensive, involving flights, housing and, because of the mechanic shortage, overtime. Fewer mechanics creates less effective airlines. The deficit clogs up the system with grounded planes, delayed flights, backed-up freight and disgruntled passengers. "Our goal is to have 10 aircraft available every day," Henthorn said. "Typically, we have eight. Now, we still get most of the things flown that we need to get flown. Just makes for a little bit longer business day than is practical in most environments." The population of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is growing, and Yute Commuter Service wants to grow with it. To do that, they'll need more mechanics, and so will the rest of the region's airlines. Yuut Elitnaurviat's aircraft mechanic program can nearly guarantee jobs for graduates. That's what programs director Jeremy Osborne found when he surveyed regional airlines. "They said if we could turn out magically maybe 300 airplane mechanics, they would probably be able to be employed all over the Y-K Delta," Osborne said. "I mean, Ravn and Grant are not just in the Y-K Delta. They have Nome, Unalakleet, all the villages up there." [Pilot-hungry airlines are raiding flight schools - creating a shortage of instructors to train the next generation] Graduates could work anywhere. Over the next two decades, Boeing predicts North America will need 189,000 more aircraft mechanics. Worldwide, Boeing forecasts the demand will reach 754,000. A national shortage of aircraft mechanics is expected to appear in four years as baby boomers retire, and the U.S. Senate has recognized the problem. This spring, the Senate passed a bill to provide half a million dollars to aircraft mechanic programs like Yuut Elitnaurviat's. It could be said that when it comes to job opportunity and security in this field, well, the sky's the limit. "You could go down to Anchorage. You could go down to Texas," Osborne said. "You could go anywhere, and this credential follows you." The first cohort of mechanics begins February 2019 and runs a year and a half. If you're interested in applying for Yuut Elitnaurviat's aircraft mechanic program in Bethel, call 907-543-0999. https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2018/11/01/amid-rising-global-demand-for-aircraft-mechanics-a-training-program-opens-in-bethel/ Back to Top The Mars Society's Robert Zubrin Has a 'Moon Direct' Plan to Drive a Lunar Economy An artist's illustration of Lockheed Martin's crewed lunar lander, which is designed to let astronauts spend two weeks at a time on the moon's surface. Credit: Lockheed Martin Founder of the Mars Society Robert Zubrin, who has long sought to push humanity toward missions to the Red Planet, has a new idea to send astronauts to the moon faster and cheaper than NASA can. Those travelers would then mine the lunar surface to kick-start a cosmic economy. The Moon Direct plan, which Zubrin laid out in today's edition (Oct. 31) of the journal The New Atlantis, aims to send astronauts directly to the moon, rather than making a pit stop at NASA's planned Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway. That space station would orbit the moon and serve as an outpost for crewed missions to the moon, Mars and deep space. Zubrin argued that the Gateway is unnecessary and instead suggested building a moon base.. This idea, Zubrin argued, would reduce mission propulsion requirements, as well as other costs associated with building and maintaining a lunar gateway. [Moon Base Visions: How to Build a Lunar Colony (Photos)] "If we want to explore the moon and prepare to go beyond, we don't need a space station in lunar orbit - but we could use a base on the moon itself," Zubrin said in his Moon Direct plan. "A moon base would be much more than a stopping point." In August, astronomers announced the discovery of water ice on the lunar surface. Mining this natural resource could produce material for hydrogen-oxygen rocket propellant to fuel return trips to Earth, Zubrin said. Also, it could fuel lightweight lunar excursion vehicles (LEV) for long-range surface trips that would allow astronauts to explore additional areas of the lunar surface more efficiently, Zubrin said. "This is a powerful propellant that has been a mainstay of rockets for decades, used by the Saturn V and the space shuttle," Zubrin said. "Mining this water and electrolyzing it into hydrogen and oxygen would allow vehicles to refuel on the moon. This would provide the means not only to return from the moon, but also to travel from place to place on the moon, thereby markedly lowering the ongoing cost and increasing the capability of a sustained lunar-exploration program." Specifically, Zubrin recommended building a lunar base near the moon's poles, which is where water was discovered in shadowed craters. This area also receives the most sunlight, meaning there is a greater potential to harvest solar energy. Sending astronauts directly to the moon will also reduce any liabilities of maintaining a space station in lunar orbit and reduce the risks to astronauts, Zubrin said. "For the same reason that on Earth we always see the same side of the moon, viewed from the surface of the moon, the Earth is always at the same place in the sky - so the window for the return launch is always open," Zubrin explained. However, if we were to use the same lunar orbit rendezvous flight plan that Apollo employed, the launch of the lunar module from the moon's surface would need to be perfectly timed. This would be necessary in order to connect with the orbiter and successfully return to Earth. "Further, because the moon lies largely beyond the protection of Earth's magnetic field, astronauts stationed in lunar orbit will receive unnecessary doses of cosmic radiation, violating the principle that radiation doses should be kept as low as reasonably achievable," Zubrin said. "In contrast, there are vast amounts of shielding material readily available on the moon." Therefore, rather than maintaining a space station in lunar orbit, Zubrin recommended using the LEV to transport astronauts to and from the moon. The LEV would leave the moon and rendezvous with spacecraft in low Earth orbit, such as the International Space Station. In this case, the LEV's crew would transfer to the space station before returning to Earth, and the LEV would refuel and then be used to take another crew back to the moon. The Moon Direct plan would consist of three choreographed phases. The first step would require an uncrewed mission to the moon to deliver materials for building the lunar base. Next, crews would fly to the moon to set up the base and begin producing the hydrogen-oxygen propellant. Next, the final, long-term stage would involve recurring piloted missions using the propellant produced on the moon. Zubrin argued that one major benefit of his Moon Direct plan is that it would use systems that are either already available or could be readily adapted from existing technologies. "The moon itself, not lunar orbit, is where we can do things. It is the potential site for human ingenuity and achievement, the place where resources and discoveries await," Zubin said.. "Moon Direct would give NASA, for the first time in decades, a human space program with a clear purpose. It would not only provide valuable experience and insight for an eventual Mars mission, but would [also] give a badly needed boost to public confidence that America can and will remain a nation of pioneers." A digital copy of Zubrin's full Moon Direct article is available online in The New Atlantis. https://www.space.com/42303-robert-zubrin-moon-direct-lunar-colonization.html 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