Flight Safety Information November 19, 2018 - No. 234 In This Issue Incident: Eurowings A320 near Jerez on Nov 18th 2018, lightning strike Incident: BA A321 over Poland on Nov 16th 2018, loss of cabin pressure Incident: UPS B763 over Atlantic on Nov 18th 2018, engine shut down in flight Incident: Arkia E195 at Tel Aviv on Nov 17th 2018, brakes problem Incident: KLM E190 at Amsterdam on Nov 15th 2018, loud bang and vibrations on departure Incident: United B738 at Denver on Nov 17th 2018, runway excursion on vacating the runway Incident: Azul E190 at Sao Paulo on Nov 14th 2018, engine shut down in flight Incident: Saudia B773 at Islamabad on Nov 16th 2018, burst tyre on landing Incident: American B763 at Philadelphia on Nov 13th 2018, loud thud and air rushing noise Incident: El Al B738 at Tel Aviv on Nov 15th 2018, gear problem Incident: Canada A319 at Los Angeles on Nov 11th 2018, nearly uncontained engine problem Incident: SARPA JS32 at Bahia Solano on Nov 15th 2018, runway excursion on landing Mystery odor sends American Airlines plane full of cheerleaders back to Charlotte EVAS - Cockpit Smoke Protection Boeing 777-240LR - Ground Damage (Pakistan) North American P-51D Mustang - Fatal Accident (Texas) United Airlines Pilots Just Made Some Astonishingly Critical Statements About Pilots At Other Airlines UAL Union: Pilots Don't Need To Know About All Automatic Systems Drunk pilots prompt alcohol rule change at Japan Airlines More guns seized at ATL airport than any others in the country Tawuniya insures Saudi Arabian Airlines fleet Chinese Flight Academy Orders 30 Tecnams UPS opens new Global Aviation Training Center with 3 new flight simulators 'SMART SKIN' WARNS OF STRAIN IN BRIDGES AND AIRPLANES Lockheed Martin starts production of its experimental supersonic plane Airbus Gains Ground on Boeing in the Race for Orders During October Caught on video: Virgin Orbit jet spotted on its first captive-carry flight with a rocket Space station supplies launched, 2nd shipment in 2 days Incident: Eurowings A320 near Jerez on Nov 18th 2018, lightning strike An Eurowings Airbus A320-200, registration D-ABHA performing flight EW-9571 from Jerez,SP (Spain) to Dusseldorf (Germany) with 116 passengers and 6 crew, was climbing out of Jerez's runway 20 about 5 to 10 minutes into the flight when the aircraft received a ligthning strike. In the absence of abnormal indications the crew continued the flight to Dusseldorf for a safe landing about 2.5 hours after departure. A post flight inspection revealed the lightning had entered the nose of the aircraft near the cockpit and exited through the tail of the aircraft. There was damage to the nose disabling the aircraft to continue its schedule. The aircraft is still on the ground about 11 hours after landing in Dusseldorf. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c072f9c&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: BA A321 over Poland on Nov 16th 2018, loss of cabin pressure A BA British Airways Airbus A321-200, registration G-MEDF performing flight BA-232 from Moscow Domodedovo (Russia) to London Heathrow,EN (UK), was enroute at FL340 about 140nm northeast of Warsaw (Poland) when the crew initiated an emergency descent to FL100 being level at FL100 6 minutes after leaving FL340, the passenger oxygen masks did not need to deploy. The aircraft diverted to Berlin's Tegel Airport for a safe landing about 65 minutes after leaving FL340. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 2:15 hours, then continued the flight climbing to a maximum cruise level 280 and reached London with a delay of 2:20 hours. The aircraft remained on the ground in London for 2:15 hours, then departed for the next scheduled flight climbing to FL350. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c072295&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: UPS B763 over Atlantic on Nov 18th 2018, engine shut down in flight A UPS United Parcel Service Boeing 767-300, registration N344UP performing flight 5X-209 (dep Nov 17th) from Philadelphia,PA (USA) to Cologne (Germany) with 3 crew, was enroute at FL330 over the Atlantic Ocean about 190nm west of Shannon (Ireland) when the crew declared emergency reporting they had needed to shut the right hand engine (CF6) down due to low oil pressure. In response to the emergency declaration ATC queried "do you wish to continue lower", the crew replied in the positive and was cleared to descend to FL210. The aircraft diverted to Shannon for a safe landing on runway 06 about 30 minutes after leaving FL330.. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Shannon 9 hours after landing. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c071f1b&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Arkia E195 at Tel Aviv on Nov 17th 2018, brakes problem An Arkia Embraer ERJ-195, registration 4X-EMC performing flight IZ-821 from Tel Aviv to Eilat (Israel) with 29 passengers, was climbing out of Ben Gurion Airport's runway 26 when the crew stopped the climb at about 21000 feet reporting a problem with the brakes. The aircraft entered a hold for about 70 minutes, then returned to Ben Gurion Airport for a safe landing on runway 21 about 100 minutes after departure. The flight was cancelled, the passengers were rebooked onto the next flight IZ-843. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c071bba&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: KLM E190 at Amsterdam on Nov 15th 2018, loud bang and vibrations on departure A KLM Embraer ERJ-190, registration PH-EXV performing flight KL-1057 from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Bristol,EN (UK), departed Amsterdam's runway 24 when just prior to rotation a loud bang followed by severe vibrations occurred, that subsided immediately after becoming airborne. Upon contacting departure the crew advised ATC they believed they had hit something on the runway, they probably had burst a nose tyre. While continuing the departure route a runway inspection was conduced however did not find any debris on the runway. The crew subsequently stopped the climb at FL240 and returned to Amsterdam for a safe landing on runway 18C about 40 minutes after departure. Responding emergency services advised the nose gear tyres and all tyres were okay and cleared the aircraft for taxiing. A passenger reported that just before becoming airborne there was a loud bang followed by severe vibrations until becoming airborne. About 10 minutes later a captain flying as passenger announced the flight's captain believed they had hit something on the runway and were returning to Amsterdam. After touchdown there were severe vibrations again from the right hand side. Emergency services inspected the aircraft, about 5 minutes later the aircraft taxied to the apron. The passenger was subsequently told there had been damage to the right hand engine (CF34), the engine failed after landing while being inspected by emergency services on the runway. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c070679&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: United B738 at Denver on Nov 17th 2018, runway excursion on vacating the runway A United Boeing 737-800, registration N87507 performing flight UA-1941 from Tucson,AZ to Denver,CO (USA), had landed on Denver's runway 35L and slowed to taxi speed. The aircraft turned into high speed turn off M6 but was not able to follow the turn radius and slid off coming to a stop ahead of the short stop line inside the runway protected area with the nose gear on soft ground north of the taxiway at 18:21L (01:21Z Nov 18th). The passengers disembarked through the rear left door and a mobile stair onto the taxiway and were bussed to the terminal. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c0703f3&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Azul E190 at Sao Paulo on Nov 14th 2018, engine shut down in flight An Azul Linhas Aereas Embraer ERJ-190, registration PR-AZE performing flight AD-5200 from Sao Paulo Viracopos,SP to Curitiba,PR (Brazil), was climbing out of Viracopos' runway 33 when the crew stopped the climb at FL140 and shut the right hand engine (CF34) down due to the loss of oil pressure. The aircraft returned to Viracopos for a safe landing on runway 33 about 30 minutes after departure. According to information The Aviation Herald received oil was found leaking from the forward drain. An engineering investigation is underway. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c05ea74&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Saudia B773 at Islamabad on Nov 16th 2018, burst tyre on landing A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 777-300, registration HZ-AK11 performing flight SV-3720 from Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) to Islamabad (Pakistan), landed on Islamabad's runway 28L but burst one of the right main tyres on landing. The aircraft rolled out without further incident. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Islamabad about 28 hours after landing. The burst tyre: http://avherald.com/h?article=4c05e6d5&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: American B763 at Philadelphia on Nov 13th 2018, loud thud and air rushing noise An American Airlines Boeing 767-300, registration N388AA performing flight AA-2665 from Philadelphia,PA to Miami,FL (USA), was climbing through about 9000 feet out of Philadelphia when the crew heard a loud thud followed by sounds of an air rush. The crew continued the climb, at about 13,000 feet the crew noticed the cabin altitude was increasing, an cabin altitude warning occurred. The crew stopped the climb at 15,000 feet and performed a rapid descent to 10,000 feet. The aircraft returned to Philadelphia for a safe landing about 25 minutes after departure. According to information The Aviation Herald received the aircraft had been dispatched under Minimum Equipment List requirements with the forward equipment overboard exhaust valve inoperative. The valve was supposed to be forced closed for dispatch. Maintenance had attempted to repair the valve without success, and worked the related procedure to disable the valve and pulled the related circuitbreaker, however, did not position the valve into the closed position. A replacement Boeing 767-300 registration N392AN reached Miami with a delay of 6.5 hours. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL2665/history/20181113/1604Z/KPHL/KMIA http://avherald.com/h?article=4c05e30c&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: El Al B738 at Tel Aviv on Nov 15th 2018, gear problem An El Al Boeing 737-800, registration 4X-EKI performing flight LY-5425 from Tel Aviv (Israel) to Amsterdam (Netherlands) with 190 people on board, was climbing out of Tel Aviv's runway 26 when the crew stopped the climb at FL260 reporting a problem with the gear. The aircraft descended to FL050 and entered a hold to burn off fuel. A helicopter was dispatched to inspect the landing gear, the emergency response was downgraded thereafter. The aircraft landed safely back on Tel Aviv's runway 12 about 2:15 hours after departure. A replacement Boeing 767-300 registration 4X-EAL reached Amsterdam with a delay of 5:45 hours. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c05e0db&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Canada A319 at Los Angeles on Nov 11th 2018, nearly uncontained engine problem An Air Canada Airbus A319-100, registration C-FZUH performing flight AC-556 from Vancouver,BC (Canada) to Los Angeles,CA (USA) with 120 passengers and 5 crew, completed what appeared to be an uneventful flight. A post flight inspection revealed however that there was a large dent from the inside at the outboard cowl of the right hand engine and noticed an engine part that had nearly punctured the cowl. The part was identified to be a Directional Guide Vane that had separated from the bypass duct, had punctured the outer cowl but had not gone completely through. The Canadian TSB reported it is being suspected that the incident occurred in flight, the flight crew however did not report any abnormal indications or vibrations of the engine. The air operator is investigating. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ACA556/history/20181111/2355Z/CYVR/KLAX http://avherald.com/h?article=4c05d950&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: SARPA JS32 at Bahia Solano on Nov 15th 2018, runway excursion on landing A SARPA Servicios Aereos Panamericanos BAe Jetstream 3200, registration HK-4394 performing a flight from Medellin to Bahia Solana (Colombia), went off the runway while landing on Bahia Solana's runway 18 and came to a stop with all gear on soft ground. There were no injuries, the aircraft sustained minor if any damage. The airport features an asphalt runway 18/36 of 1211 meters/3973 feet length. The aircraft "grazing" off the runway: http://avherald.com/h?article=4c05b90e&opt=0 Back to Top Mystery odor sends American Airlines plane full of cheerleaders back to Charlotte A mysterious odor forced an American Airlines plane carrying University of Pittsburgh cheerleaders to return to Charlotte's airport Friday morning, the Tribune-Review of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, reported. When some passengers stood to ask flight attendants about the odor, one of them replied, "everything is under control," passenger Ken Strauss told the Tribune-Review. Traveling to Greensboro on a connecting flight from Charlotte, and the plane catches on fire right as we get airborne. The pilot turned around and came back to Charlotte. The Pitt Cheerleaders are on the same flight. Everyone is safe. #H2P Flight 5118 was headed to Greensboro but returned to Charlotte Douglas International Airport at about 8:30 a.m., "shortly after take-off," Charlotte Observer news partner WBTV reported. The cheerleaders and fans of the university's football team were headed to Greensboro because the team is scheduled to play Wake Forest on Saturday. In a statement, the airline said only that "the flight operated by PSA Airlines made that emergency landing due to an odor in the cabin," WSOC-TV reported. "Only one person was treated by medical personnel and then released," WSOC-TV reported. The flight had 59 passengers, according to the station. Strauss, a die-hard University of Pittsburgh fan, told the Tribune-Review and also tweeted that the odor smelled like fire, but the newspaper said officials confirmed no fire was involved. Airline officials have yet to say what caused the odor, WBTV reported. The passengers caught another flight "and arrived at 11:43 a.m., nearly three hours later than originally scheduled," according to the Tribune-Review. On Thursday morning, an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Orlando safely returned to Charlotte's airport just after takeoff because of a mechanical issue, the Observer reported in an article later Thursday. https://www.thestate.com/news/state/north-carolina/article221810935.html Back to Top Back to Top Boeing 777-240LR - Ground Damage (Pakistan) Date: 18-NOV-2018 Time: Type: Boeing 777-240LR Owner/operator: PIA - Pakistan International Airlines Registration: AP-BGZ C/n / msn: 33782/519 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Other fatalities: 0 Aircraft damage: Minor Location: Karachi-Jinnah International Airport (KHI/OPKC) - Pakistan Phase: Standing Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: OPKC Destination airport: CYYZ Narrative: Pakistan International Airlines flight PK783 from Karachi to Toronto was delayed because the aircraft - Boeing 777-200LR (registration AP-BGZ) - was hit by a passenger boarding bridge at Karachi Airport. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=218069 Back to Top North American P-51D Mustang - Fatal Accident (Texas) Date: 17-NOV-2018 Time: 15:15 LT Type: North American P-51D Mustang Owner/operator: Pea Hochso LLC Registration: N4132A C/n / msn: 122-40985 Fatalities: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 Other fatalities: 0 Aircraft damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: ENE of Gillespie County Airport (T82), Fredericksburg, TX - United States of America Phase: Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) Nature: Demo/Airshow/Display Departure airport: Destination airport: Narrative: The P-51 "Pecos Bill" crashed in a parking lot at the Friendship Place Apartments on South Creek Street. Witness said that he heard the engine sputtering just before the accident. The 2 occupants died. It was participating to the War November WWII Pacific Combat Program show of the National Museum of the Pacific. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=218042 United Airlines Pilots Just Made Some Astonishingly Critical Statements About Pilots At Other Airlines Usually, pilots have similar views about many things. Not about this. Disagreeing on fundamentals? Absurdly Driven looks at the world of business with a skeptical eye and a firmly rooted tongue in cheek. The most important thing is to find out what happened. Yet, unusually in the aftermath of a plane crash, there seems to be considerable controversy about what contributed to its cause. In Indonesia last month, a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 189 people on it.. Not all plane crashes elicit immediate indications of what may have caused them. In this case, however, focus was immediately placed on the aircraft's Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System. This is automatically activated when the plane's computers think its so-called Angle of Attack is too steep. In essence, the system lowers the nose of the plane. Indonesian investigators say the system may have given Lion Air's pilots false information, leading to a fatal stall. In a remarkable development, however, pilots at Southwest and American Airlines claimed they had no idea the system might do this. They said Boeing hadn't been explicit in either its manuals or its training. I contacted Boeing to ask for its view and will update, should I hear. This is, after all, a new plane which is now very much in use around the world. Southwest, for example, ordered 280 of them. American ordered 100. Surely, the newer the plane, the safer it must be. Yet Capt. Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines pilot who is also spokesman for the pilots' union -- the Allied Pilots Association -- told NPR: It shakes the trust you have in the manufacturer. Why weren't we told about this? Oddly, though, United Airlines pilots seem to think this attitude wayward. Capt. Todd Insler, chairman of the United branch of the Air Line Pilots Association union offered a much harsher view to the Seattle Times: The story here is not why we didn't know about [the new system], it's why the pilots didn't fly the plane. He added that the Lion Air pilots should have immediately reacted to the danger and exerted full control to prevent the dive. He said: There is plenty of feedback as to how this airplane flies, more than enough inputs and opportunity to recover. Tajer maintained his opposed view. He told the Seattle Times: The pilots of American Airlines, and I'm confident at Southwest Airlines too, want to know everything about all the systems on their airplanes in the interests of ensuring our passengers are safe at all times, whether in normal operations or during emergency procedures. This is, for most people, the only important point. When you get on a plane, you want to believe that it's safe to fly and that the pilots know what to do in every situation. So much of pilots' expertise is never known, because it's never seen. Pilots are trained to avert dangers and know precisely how to react. In Insler's view, the job is very simple: If the plane doesn't do what I want it to do, I make it do so. If it's not responding, I make it respond. What passengers would like, however, is a concerted response from the airlines they fly that something like the Lion Air crash won't happen again. Seeing pilots of major airlines disagree in public doesn't inspire confidence. https://www.inc.com/chris-matyszczyk/united-airlines-pilots-just-made-some-astonishing-statements-about-pilots-at-other-airlines.html Back to Top UAL Union: Pilots Don't Need To Know About All Automatic Systems As Boeing pushed to provide airlines with more information on a background auto trim system on its 737 MAX, the head of one pilot union said it's not necessary for pilots to know the details of every automatic system on an airliner and that they're already adequately trained to handle runaway trim abnormals. The auto trim system is called MCAS and is intended to improve pitch characteristics and stall protection when the aircraft is hand flown at high angles of attack and high load factors. Although it's not directly implicated in the Oct. 29 crash of a Lion Air 737 MAX into the Java Sea, investigators are examining what role it might have played. Breaking ranks with two other pilot unions and his own Air Line Pilots Association leadership, Todd Insler, chairman of the United Airlines ALPA unit, questioned why ALPA publicly pushed Boeing to provide more information on the auto trim system, insisting that pilots are already well trained to handle any uncommanded trim events. Unions for Southwest and American Airlines and ALPA's national leadership have been critical of Boeing for failing to provide pilots with documentation on MCAS as they transitioned to the MAX. "We're the only U.S. ALPA operator of the airplane," Insler told Forbes. "We weren't consulted by ALPA prior to their putting the letter out.." Insler said although MCAS isn't specifically described in United training manuals, runaway trim procedures are: "You have to manually take control-that is one of the early things they teach you when you fly jets. The procedure is there in our manual, and we practice this over and over again. The first time I see an adverse event, I want to see it in a simulator, not with 300 people behind me," Insler said in the Forbes report. In an interview with the Seattle Times, Insler compared automated background systems on airliners to watching television. "I don't need to know how it works," he said.. Indonesian investigators revealed flight tracking data that showed Lion Air JT610 flew sharp pitch, vertical speed and altitude excursions before plunging almost directly into the water 11 minutes after taking off from Jakarta. All 189 people aboard were killed. The aircraft had a recent history of unreliable airspeed indications and an angle-of-attack sensor had been replaced prior to the flight. MCAS-Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System-relies in part on data from the AoA sensor. If it detects high AoA at high load factors when the airplane is being flown manually with flaps up, it automatically rolls in nose down stabilizer trim at the rate of 0.27 degrees per second to a maximum of 2.5 degrees. If the AoA condition isn't resolved, the cycle repeats. The 737 has stabilizer trim cutout switches that inhibit electric trim from functioning and pilots are trained to use these as a standard runaway trim response. Indonesian investigators say they hope to release a preliminary accident report by the end of November. Meanwhile, shortly after the crash, Boeing sent information on MCAS to MAX operators and the FAA followed up with an emergency AD describing failure indications and responses. https://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/UAL-Union-Pilots-Dont-Need-to-Know-About-All-Automatic-Systems-231865-1.html Back to Top Drunk pilots prompt alcohol rule change at Japan Airlines A Japan Airlines pilot was arrested in London after failing a breathalyzer test in October. (CNN)Japan Airlines has moved to update its rules on drinking alcohol after its pilots failed breathalyzer tests in a series of incidents. It has been reported that Japan Airlines pilots have failed breathalyzer tests 19 times since August 2017, when a more sensitive breathalyzer was introduced for in-house checks. Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun Thursday cited unnamed airline officials in a report that said failed tests resulted in delays to 12 domestic flights. Passengers were told the delays were due to "crew health conditions," and staff made no mention of alcohol levels. Japan Airlines introduced new breathalyzers in August 2017. The latest report follows news that a Japan Airlines pilot admitted being almost 10 times over the legal alcohol limit at London Heathrow airport in October. Katsutoshi Jitsukawa, 42, was arrested after failing an alcohol test shortly before a flight to Tokyo. A few days earlier, fellow Japanese airline All Nippon Airways suffered delays after a pilot was taken ill after drinking. Eight of the 25 domestic Japanese airlines don't impose alcohol tests on pilots who are about to fly, according to a survey carried out by Asahi Shimbun, another Tokyo-based newspaper. In the face of growing concern about alcohol abuse among pilots, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways held meetings with the Japanese government Friday. "We feel deeply responsible for causing the (Jitsukawa) incident that should never have happened," said Japan Airlines President Yuji Akasaka at a press conference after the meetings. The airline said in a statement that it has extended the drinking ban for pilots to 24 hours prior to flying, and some ground staff will now be subject to breathalyzer tests. Akasaka will also take a 20% pay cut as a result of the Jitsukawa incident, reports Mainichi Shimbun. While the Japanese aviation industry deals with these issues, Japan Airlines executives may prefer to look back on brighter days. In July, Japan Airlines received an award for the best economy seat at the prestigious Skytrax World Airline awards, widely regarded as the aviation industry's equivalent of the Oscars. https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/16/world/japan-airlines-failed-breathalyzer-scli-intl/index.html Back to Top More guns seized at ATL airport than any others in the country, according to federal authorities COLUMBUS, GA (WTVM) - Federal authorities say more guns have been seized at security checkpoints in Atlanta's airport during 2018 than at any other airport in the nation. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that nearly 300 firearms have been found this year at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. That means it has set a record even before the year ends. Atlanta's airport has held the No. 1 spot in the nation for guns uncovered at checkpoints for the past two years. https://www.wtvm.com/2018/11/18/more-guns-seized-atl-airport-than-any-others-country-according-federal-authorities/ Back to Top Tawuniya insures Saudi Arabian Airlines fleet Tawuniya Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing Adel Al-Hamoudi The Company for Cooperative Insurance (Tawuniya) has entered into a contract with Saudi Arabian Airlines to provide insurance coverage for its aircraft fleet and its affiliated airlines. According to the contract, Tawuniya will provide insurance coverage for the Saudia fleet against aviation accidents and public liability due to third parties' injuries, death, and property damage as well as war risk. Tawuniya also signed a contract with Flynas to provide insurance coverage for its aircraft. The company also provides property insurance to local and international airports of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). Tawuniya Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing Adel Al-Hamoudi underlined the "distinguished partnership between both companies." "This partnership led to the signing of the largest aviation insurance contract in the Kingdom and will enhance the growth of Tawuniya's aviation insurance portfolio," he said. Al-Hamoudi noted that the insurance contract provides full protection for all Saudia aircraft in partnership with major global reinsurers who will provide an integrated reinsurance program for this type of risk. Al-Hamoudi also highlighted the wide scope of cooperation with Saudia that includes one of the largest medical insurance contracts to provide health care for Saudia employees and their family members. http://www.arabnews.com/node/1406876/corporate-news Back to Top Chinese Flight Academy Orders 30 Tecnams Italian aircraft manufacturer Tecnam announced confirmed orders for 30 aircraft from Chinese Anhui Lantian International Flight Academy (ALIFA) at the biannual Zhuhai International Air Show last week. The ab-initio academy will acquire Tecnam P2006T twin-engine trainers, as well as P2010 models to replace its fleet of legacy training aircraft. "We are so proud to partner with the Anhui Lantian International Flight Academy," said Tecnam Global Sales and Marketing Director Walter Da Costa. "ALIFA have a well-earned reputation for delivering flight training to an exceptional standard and we are honored to be key partner in the future development of China's next-generation of commercial airline pilots." With the International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicting that China will displace the U.S. as the world's largest aviation market by 2022-two years sooner than previously expected-many Chinese aviation academies are working to keep ab-initio students in China to complete their airline pilot training. A large number of the new recruits are still moving to the United States, Europe and Australia to finish training. With pilot demand expected to continue growing in China, many seats are currently still filled by pilots from outside the country. https://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Chinese-Flight-Academy-Orders-30-Tecnams-231858-1.html Back to Top UPS opens new Global Aviation Training Center with 3 new flight simulators UPS is spending millions of dollars on "video games" to train new pilots inside the company's new UPS Global Aviation Training Center. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- UPS is spending millions of dollars on "video games" to train new pilots inside the company's new UPS Global Aviation Training Center. UPS Airlines pilot Will Ashlock said the flight simulators are "probably one of the most expensive, most dynamic and most accurate [video games] you'll ever be able to play." The simulators look, feel and even sound like the inside of a real cockpit, but UPS Airlines pilots don't have to set foot inside an airplane to do most of their training. The simulators help pilots practice procedures, so if a plane malfunctions in the air, it won't be their first time handling it, whether "it's weather, wind shear, low weather conditions like we have here today, or malfunctions," Ashlock said. The simulators are about $10 million each, and UPS just bought three more of them. There is space for four total simulators inside the new 28,000-square-foot UPS Global Aviation Training Center, which opened near UPS Worldport on Thursday. The new building took eight months to complete. "We are hiring pilots," UPS Strategic Communications Director Mike Mangeot. "We've hired several hundred over the last few years. We're also adding 40 aircraft, primarily 767 and 747s, to add capacity for our customers all over the world." Pilots who are new to UPS will train in the simulators for two months. About 75 to 80 percent of the total training is spent inside a simulator, Ashlock said. http://www.wdrb.com/story/39490452/ups-opens-new-global-aviation-training-center-with-3-new-flight-simulators Back to Top 'SMART SKIN' WARNS OF STRAIN IN BRIDGES AND AIRPLANES Thanks to one peculiar characteristic of carbon nanotubes, engineers will soon be able to measure the accumulated strain in an airplane, a bridge, or a pipeline-or just about anything-over the entire surface or down to microscopic levels, according to new research. They'll do so by shining a light onto structures coated with a two-layer nanotube film and protective polymer. Strain in the surface will show up as changes in the wavelengths of near-infrared light emitted from the film that a miniaturized hand-held reader captures. The results will show engineers and maintenance crews whether structures like bridges or aircraft have been deformed by stress-inducing events or regular wear and tear. Like a white shirt under an ultraviolet light, single-wall carbon nanotubes fluoresce, a property discovered in 2002 in the lab of chemist Bruce Weisman. In a basic research project a few years later, the group showed that stretching a nanotube changes the color of its fluorescence. When Weisman's results came to the attention of civil and environmental engineer Satish Nagarajaiah-who had been working independently on similar ideas using Raman spectroscopy, but at the macro scale, since 2003-he suggested collaborating to turn that scientific phenomenon into a useful technology for strain sensing. COLOR CHANGING Now, Nagarajaiah and Weisman have published a pair of papers about their "smart skin" project. The first appears in Structural Control & Health Monitoring, and introduces the latest iteration of the technology they first revealed in 2012. It describes a method of depositing the microscopic nanotube-sensing film separately from a protective top layer. Color changes in the nanotube emission indicate the amount of strain in the underlying structure. The researchers say it enables two-dimensional mapping of accumulated strain that no other non-contact method can achieve. The second paper, which appears in the Journal of Structural Engineering, details the results of testing smart skin on metal specimens with irregularities where stress and strain are often concentrated. THE TWO-LAYER FILM IS ONLY A FEW MICRONS THICK, A FRACTION OF THE WIDTH OF A HUMAN HAIR, AND BARELY VISIBLE ON A TRANSPARENT SURFACE. "The project started out as pure science about nanotube spectroscopy, and led to the proof-of-principle collaborative work that showed we could measure the strain of the underlying substrate by checking the spectrum of the film in one place," says Weisman, a professor of chemistry and of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University. "That suggested the method could be expanded to measure whole surfaces. What we've shown now is a lot closer to that practical application." Since the initial report, the researchers have refined the composition and preparation of the film and its airbrush-style application, and also developed scanner devices that automatically capture data from multiple programmed points. Unlike conventional sensors that only measure strain at one point along one axis, researchers can selectively probe the smart film to reveal strain in any direction and location. The two-layer film is only a few microns thick, a fraction of the width of a human hair, and barely visible on a transparent surface. "In our initial films, the nanotube sensors were mixed into the polymer," says Nagarajaiah, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, of mechanical engineering, and of materials science and nanoengineering. "Now that we've separated the sensing and the protective layers, the nanotube emission is clearer and we can scan at a much higher resolution. That lets us capture significant amounts of data rather quickly." 'POINTS OF FAILURE' The researchers tested smart skin on aluminum bars under tension with either a hole or a notch to represent the places where strain tends to build. Measuring these potential weak spots in their unstressed state and then again after applying stress showed dramatic changes in strain patterns pieced together from point-by-point surface mapping. "We know where the high-stress regions of the structure are, the potential points of failure," Nagarajaiah says. "We can coat those regions with the film and scan them in the healthy state, and then after an event like an earthquake, go back and re-scan to see whether the strain distribution has changed and the structure is at risk." "WE MEASURED POINTS 1 MILLIMETER APART, BUT WE CAN GO 20 TIMES SMALLER WHEN NECESSARY WITHOUT SACRIFICING STRAIN SENSITIVITY..." In their tests, the researchers say the measured results were a close match to strain patterns obtained through advanced computational simulations. Readings from the smart skin allowed them to quickly spot distinctive patterns near the high-stress regions, Nagarajaiah says. They were also able to see clear boundaries between regions of tensile and compressive strain. "We measured points 1 millimeter apart, but we can go 20 times smaller when necessary without sacrificing strain sensitivity," Weisman says. That's a leap over standard strain sensors, which only provide readings averaged over several millimeters, he says. The researchers see their technology making initial inroads in niche applications, like testing turbines in jet engines or structural elements in their development stages. "It's not going to replace all existing technologies for strain measurement right away," Weisman says. "Technologies tend to be very entrenched and have a lot of inertia. "But it has advantages that will prove useful when other methods can't do the job," he says. "I expect it will find use in engineering research applications, and in the design and testing of structures before they are deployed in the field." With their smart skin refined, the researchers are working toward developing the next generation of the strain reader, a camera-like device that can capture strain patterns over a large surface all at once. The Office of Naval Research and the Welch Foundation supported the research. https://www.futurity.org/airplanes-strain-smart-skin-1913002/ Back to Top Lockheed Martin starts production of its experimental supersonic plane • Lockheed Martin's experimental supersonic plane has officially entered production, the defense giant announced Friday. • NASA will flight-test the experimental QueSST aircraft by the end of 2021. • Earlier this year, NASA awarded Lockheed a contract worth nearly $250 million to develop an aircraft capable of reaching supersonic speed without creating the deafening sonic boom that comes with breaking the sound barrier. Defense giant Lockheed Martin building a supersonic plane WASHINGTON - Lockheed Martin's experimental supersonic plane has officially entered production, the defense giant announced Friday. Earlier this year, NASA awarded Lockheed a contract worth nearly $250 million to develop an aircraft capable of reaching supersonic speed without creating the deafening sonic boom that comes with breaking the sound barrier. Lockheed answered with its X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology aircraft, which is designed to cruise at 55,000 feet and reach speeds of about 940 miles per hour. The new aircraft is expected to create a noise level akin to the sound of a car door closing. Current regulations ban commercial supersonic aircraft from operating over land. New companies like Boom Supersonic are trying to make use of the technology for transoceanic routes, with backing from investors like Richard Branson and Japan Airlines.. But Lockheed Martin and NASA want to advance the technology through noise reduction to overturn regulations. The new experimental plane is designed to return supersonic passenger air travel to routes over land. The last such flight was by the Concorde in October 2003. Lockheed Martin and NASA are building a supersonic plane that will be as quiet as closing a car door "The start of manufacturing on the project marks a great leap forward for the X-59 and the future of quiet supersonic commercial travel," said Peter Iosifidis, Low Boom Flight Demonstrator program manager for Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. "The long, slender design of the aircraft is the key to achieving a low sonic boom. As we enter into the manufacturing phase, the aircraft structure begins to take shape, bringing us one step closer to enabling supersonic travel for passengers around the world," he added. The X-59 will conduct its first flight in 2021. It will be used to collect community response data on the acceptability of the quiet sonic boom generated by the aircraft, helping NASA establish an acceptable commercial supersonic noise standard to overturn current regulations banning supersonic travel over land. This new contract is a separate venture from Lockheed Martin's work with Aerion Corp. to develop a supersonic business jet, the AS2, which has its first flight planned for 2023. Lockheed Martin is also in the process of developing the SR-72, a hypersonic unmanned plane dubbed the "son of the Blackbird." And when it comes to developing a high-speed reconnaissance aircraft, the Pentagon's top weapons supplier is playing in its home court. In 1976, the Air Force flew Lockheed Martin's SR-71 Blackbird from New York to London in less than two hours - at speeds exceeding Mach 3, or three times the speed of sound. The SR-72 is envisioned to operate at speeds up to Mach 6. And while the hypersonic SR-72 isn't expected to be operational until 2030, the company sees developing a platform of that magnitude as a game changer. "This could forever change our ability to deter and respond to conflict, allowing warfighters to quickly address threats before an adversary may have time to react," Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson said of the hypersonic plane in March. Hewson also said the development of the aircraft, which is estimated to cost $1 billion, will change the "definition of air power by giving the U.S. significant tactical and strategic advantages." https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/16/lockheed-martin-starts-production-of-its-experimental-supersonic-plane.html Back to Top Airbus Gains Ground on Boeing in the Race for Orders During October Over the past several years, Airbus (NASDAQOTH: EADSY) has routinely surpassed Boeing (NYSE: BA) in terms of annual aircraft orders, driven by strong demand for its A320neo family of single-aisle planes. However, 2018 has been a different story. Boeing has led its European rival all year in terms of order activity. During the first nine months of 2018, Boeing captured 631 net orders, compared to just 256 for Airbus. Yet after getting off to a slow start this year, Airbus bounced back with a strong October performance. Combined with a quiet month for Boeing, this narrowed the gap in 2018 order activity between the two aircraft manufacturers. Airbus gets going The main highlight of October for Airbus was the finalization of an order for 50 A321neos from Vietnamese budget carrier VietJet. This deal was first announced as a commitment during the Farnborough Airshow back in July. Airbus also received an order from Lufthansa for 17 additional A320neos. An Airbus A320neo jet parked on the tarmac Airbus continues to see strong demand for A320neo family airplanes. Image source: Airbus. These two agreements made up the bulk of the 84 net orders Airbus brought in last month. That said, the aircraft manufacturer's sales activity in the wide-body market was more significant, given that Airbus already had a backlog of nearly 6,000 A320-family orders. First, Kuwait Airways ordered eight A330-800neos, rescuing that model from the indignity of having no firm orders on the books. Second, Airbus booked an order for 10 A330-900neos from an unidentified customer. These two deals boosted Airbus' backlog for the new A330neo family by more than 7%, to 242 aircraft. A slow month for Boeing On the other side of the Atlantic, Boeing recorded very modest order activity during October. It received 18 orders, or 11 net of cancellations. This brought its full-year firm order total to 642 -- still nearly double Airbus' 340 net firm orders. Boeing's most notable order for the month came from Indian airline upstart Vistara, which placed a firm order for six 787-9s, finalizing an agreement that had been reached at Farnborough. Each of the other deals it reported were for three or fewer aircraft, primarily 737s. Big opportunities -- but major challenges as well Looking just at its 2018 order activity, Boeing would appear to be cruising along, while Airbus is bouncing back following a brief order slump in the first part of the year. And indeed, there are good reasons to be optimistic about both companies' prospects. Global air travel demand is surging, driving aircraft order backlogs (particularly for the workhorse Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 families) to record levels. That said, there are also legitimate reasons for concern. There is growing evidence that a new safety feature installed on the Boeing 737 MAX -- but not described in the operating manual -- backfired and contributed to the crash of Lion Air Flight 610 last month. If that was indeed the case, it opens Boeing up to potential lawsuits. It also casts doubt on the company's design, engineering, and safety procedures, which could potentially weigh on future sales. Airbus faces a different set of risks. Most immediately, its profitability and cash flow remain quite weak compared to Boeing's results. Different accounting policies and ongoing transitions to new models may be responsible for some of the discrepancy, but Airbus also appears to suffer from some combination of weak pricing and inefficient production. Longer-term, Airbus must reverse ongoing sales slumps for the A330 (including the A330neo) and A380 families, which have forced it to reduce output of both aircraft types. It remains to be seen how effectively Boeing and Airbus can respond to these challenges. But at least they will be doing so against the backdrop of healthy aircraft demand. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/airbus-gains-ground-boeing-race-122600379.html Back to Top Caught on video: Virgin Orbit jet spotted on its first captive-carry flight with a rocket Cosmic Girl A photo taken in October shows Virgin Orbit's Cosmic Girl jet on the runway with a LauncherOne rocket tucked beneath its left wing. (Virgin Orbit Photo) Virgin Orbit's modified Boeing 747 jet, nicknamed Cosmic Girl, was spotted today taking off from California's Victorville Airport with what appears to be a rocket under its wing. When you put that fact together with the flight tracking data for the outing, it seems to add up to the first captive-carry flight for Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket. The key evidence comes in the form of a video passed along by a Twitter user with the handle Zia Aerospace, or @zia_aero. Next Spaceflight's Michael Baylor took notice of Cosmic Girl's course, as plotted by FlightRadar24, and figured something was up: Virgin Orbit's Cosmic Girl performed another test flight today. The company hasn't yet provided public confirmation of the captive-carry milestone but signaled that photos and videos would be coming soon. (We'll update this item with anything more we get about today's flight.) The flight represents a major step in Virgin Orbit's plan to start launching rockets by late this year or early next year. LauncherOne is designed to drop from Cosmic Girl's carrier pylon at an altitude of about 30,000 feet, and then fire up its rocket engine to send payloads weighing as much as 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) to low Earth orbit. The same basic principle is behind other air-launched vehicles ranging from SpaceShipOne and Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane to Northrop Grumman's Pegasus XL and Stratolaunch's future rockets. Captive-carry test flights are aimed at checking the aerodynamics of the Cosmic Girl mothership and its LauncherOne piggyback-rider before the rocket drops begin. During such flights, the rocket-powered craft remains firmly attached to its carrier plane. (And yes, SpaceShipTwo went through captive-carry outings as well.) Virgin Orbit is expected to follow the captive-carry flights with a test flight that involves dropping an inert LauncherOne from its pylon, leading up to the first aerial lighting up of the engines - perhaps, appropriately, during the holiday season. When the air-launch system is ready for prime time, Virgin Orbit should be able to capable of launching payloads into any orbital inclination, from any locale with an airport big enough to accommodate Cosmic Girl. If the weather's not great for launching, the plane could theoretically fly to clearer skies to execute its mission. And the advance time needed for launch could be as little as a few hours. Virgin Orbit, which was spun off from Virgin Galactic as its own corporate entity last year, already has customers lined up for LauncherOne. Those customers, including Seattle-based Spaceflight and the OneWeb broadband satellite venture, will no doubt be glad to see how Cosmic Girl is growing up. https://www.geekwire.com/2018/captive-carry-captured-virgin-orbit-jet-spotted-first-flight-rocket-wing/ Back to Top Space station supplies launched, 2nd shipment in 2 days Northrop Grumman Antares rocket lifts off from the launch pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va., Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018. The rocket will deliver supplies to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - A load of space station supplies rocketed into orbit from Virginia on Saturday, the second shipment in two days. And another commercial delivery should be on its way in a couple weeks. "What an outstanding launch," said NASA's deputy space station program manager, Joel Montalbano. Northrop Grumman launched its Antares rocket from Wallops Island before dawn, delighting chilly early-bird observers along the Atlantic coast. The Russian Space Agency launched its own supplies to the International Space Station on Friday, just 15 hours earlier. The U.S. delivery will arrive at the orbiting lab Monday, a day after the Russian shipment. Among the 7,400 pounds (3,350 kilograms) of goods inside the Cygnus capsule: ice cream and fresh fruit for the three space station residents, and a 3D printer that recycles old plastic into new parts. Thanksgiving turkey dinners - rehydratable, of course - are already aboard the 250-mile-high outpost. The space station is currently home to an American, a German and a Russian. There's another big event coming up, up there: The space station marks its 20th year in orbit on Tuesday. The first section launched on Nov. 20, 1998, from Kazakhstan. "As we celebrate 20 years of the International Space Station," Montalbano noted, "one of the coolest things is the cooperation we have across the globe." Then there's the U.S. commercial effort to keep the space station stocked and, beginning next year, to resume crew launches from Cape Canaveral. "To me, it's been a huge success," he said. This Cygnus, or Swan, is named the S.S. John Young to honor the legendary astronaut who walked on the moon and commanded the first space shuttle flight. He died in January. It is the first commercial cargo ship to bear Northrop Grumman's name. Northrop Grumman acquired Orbital ATK in June. SpaceX is NASA's other commercial shipper for the space station; its Dragon capsule is set to lift off in early December. Experiments arriving via the Cygnus will observe how cement solidifies in weightlessness, among other things. There's also medical, spacesuit and other equipment to replace items that never made it to orbit last month because of a Russian rocket failure; the two men who were riding the rocket survived their emergency landing. Three other astronauts are set to launch from Kazakhstan on Dec. 3. https://www.yahoo.com/news/space-station-supplies-launched-2nd-shipment-2-days-090319600.html Curt Lewis