Flight Safety Information March 7, 2019 - No. 049 In This Issue Incident: Ethiopian B788 near Jeddah on Mar 5th 2019, "minor technical problem" Incident: Flybondi B738 at Buenos Aires on Mar 4th 2019, gear problem on departure Incident: India B788 at Delhi on Mar 6th 2019, cabin pressure problems Incident: China Southern B738 at Zhuhai on Mar 5th 2019, rejected takeoff due to engine and APU fire Incident: Qantas B738 near Adelaide on Mar 5th 2019, cabin pressure problems Passengers and crew quarantined at London Gatwick after becoming sick mid- flight Delta flight struck by lightning leaving Los Angeles International Airport returns amid storm Alaska Airlines flight makes emergency landing at Spokane International Airport. MH 370 - 5 Years Passengers tried to bring 66 guns onto airplanes at RDU in 2018, TSA says NBAA Names 2019 Top Safety Focus Areas Flammability Tests Are The Front Line In The Fight Against Fire Hazards FAA's Duncan To Keynote BASS Gulfstream and Bombardier Break Speed and Distance Records within Weeks of Each Other From MD-87 twin jet aircraft in Madrid to Boeing 747s in Malaysia: Why planes are abandoned BOEING ACQUIRES FOREFLIGHT The 20 biggest airlines in the world, ranked Nasa astronauts to carry out first all-female spacewalk Angle of Attack - Book Aviation Innovations Conference: Cargo Airships...March 14 - 15, 2019...Toronto, Canada ISASI-Mid-Atlantic Regional Chapter (MARC) Dinner/Meeting--2 May 2019 ISASI 2019 - Call For Papers Incident: Ethiopian B788 near Jeddah on Mar 5th 2019, "minor technical problem" An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787-8, registration ET-AOP performing flight ET-502 (sch.dep. Mar 4th) from Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) to Dublin (Ireland), was enroute at FL400 over the Red Sea about 60nm southwest of Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) when the crew selected the emergency squawk into the transponder and descended the aircraft to FL100 being level at FL100 9 minutes after leaving FL400 (average sinkrate 3333 fpm). The aircraft turned around to return to Addis Ababa. About 10 minutes after levelling off at FL100 the aircraft climbed back to FL240 maintaining FL240 until reaching the top of descent into Addis Ababa. The aircraft landed safely back in Addis Ababa about 2:20 hours after leaving FL400. The airline apologized to their passengers for the "minor technical problem", a replacement aircraft would take them to Dublin. A replacement Boeing 787-8 registration ET-AOQ reached Dublin with a delay of 6:15 hours. The occurrence aircraft returned to service 21 hours after landing back. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c50ff6c&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Flybondi B738 at Buenos Aires on Mar 4th 2019, gear problem on departure A Flybondi Boeing 737-800, registration LV-HFQ performing flight FO-5800 from Buenos Aires Palomar,BA (Argentina) to Punta del Este (Uruguay), was in the initial climb out of Palomar Airport's runway 17 when the crew received a gear disagree indication after selecting the gear up. The crew stopped the climb at about 2000 feet and returned to Palomar for a safe landing on runway 17 about 15 minutes after departure. The aircraft returned to service about 37 hours after landing back. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c50fc24&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: India B788 at Delhi on Mar 6th 2019, cabin pressure problems An Air India Boeing 787-8, registration VT-ANU performing flight AI-121 from Delhi (India) to Frankfurt/Main (Germany) with 191 people on board, was climbing out of Delhi's runway 29 when the crew stopped the climb at about FL220 due to problems with the cabin pressure and performed a rapid descent to FL100, the passenger oxygen masks were released. The aircraft returned to Delhi for a safe landing on runway 29 about 75 minutes after departure. The flight was postponed to the following day. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c50f79c&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: China Southern B738 at Zhuhai on Mar 5th 2019, rejected takeoff due to engine and APU fire indications A China Southern Boeing 737-800, registration B-5165 performing flight CZ-3773 from Zhuhai to Changde (China) with 138 passengers, was accelerating for takeoff from Zhuhai's runway 05 when the crew received multple fire indications for at least one engine (CFM56) and the APU prompting the crew to reject takeoff at high speed. The aircraft slowed safely and came to a stop about abeam the terminal buildings about 1800 meters/5900 feet down the runway. An emergency evacuation was performed via slides. No injuries are being reported, emergency services found no trace of undue fire, heat or smoke. The airline confirmed the crew rejected takeoff after receiving engine and APU fire indications. The 138 passengers were safely evacuated. Maintenance subsequently found no evidence of any fire, the fire indications were identified false. Nonetheless, another aircraft has been dispatched to conduct the flight. A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration B-6067 reached Changde with a delay of 4 hours. Evacuation just completed, emergency services still deploying: http://avherald.com/h?article=4c50cd8e&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Qantas B738 near Adelaide on Mar 5th 2019, cabin pressure problems A Qantas Boeing 737-800, registration VH-VXL performing flight QF-706 from Adelaide,SA to Canberra,AC (Australia), was climbing out of Adelaide when the crew stopped the climb at FL250 due to problems with the cabin pressure. About 13 minutes after levelling off at FL250 the aircraft performed a rapid descent to FL100 and turned to divert to Melbourne,VI (Australia), where the aircraft landed safely about 45 minutes after leaving FL250. Passengers reported the oxygen masks were released due to the loss of cabin pressure and were put to good use. The airline reported the crew followed standard operating procedures following cabin pressure issues. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c501de6&opt=0 Back to Top Passengers and crew quarantined at London Gatwick after becoming sick mid- flight Passengers and crew said they fell sick while flying from Bridgetown, Barbados to London, England on March 6, 2019. London (CNN)A flight from Barbados to London's Gatwick Airport was met by authorities on arrival in the British capital after passengers and crew reported feeling unwell mid- flight. Emergency services greeted the plane as it touched down on Wednesday morning following an 8-hour journey from Bridgetown, Sussex Police said. As a precaution, the aircraft was quarantined and those on board were taken to a reception area to be examined by ambulance service personnel, police added. "All passengers have since continued their onward journeys," the police statement ended. Passenger Trevor Wilson told CNN that travelers on the aircraft had come exclusively from a cruise ship, the MSC Preziosa. "The illness seems to have originated on board [the] ship, not the plane." Wilson said symptoms were "mainly a bad chesty cough, possibly chest infection." Virgin Atlantic confirmed "a number of customers on board a charter flight from Barbados to London Gatwick this morning reported feeling unwell" in a statement to CNN. The flight operator said: "The safety and well-being of our customers and crew is always our absolute priority, and local ambulance services attended the aircraft upon landing to provide medical assistance." Virgin Atlantic said it was working closely with airport and medical officials and would conduct "a full investigation" following the incident. https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/06/uk/london-airplane-illness-gbr-intl/index.html Back to Top Delta flight struck by lightning leaving Los Angeles International Airport returns amid storm Southern California experienced more than 2,200 powerful pulses of lightning during a five hour period of time. USA TODAY A Delta Air Lines flight leaving Los Angeles International Airport Tuesday night was struck by lightning while flying to Seattle. Amid a lightning storm affecting several regions of California, the plane was able to safely return to LAX and land, and no passengers or staff on board were injured, Delta spokesperson Kate Modolo told USA TODAY. Flight 2432 returned "out of an abundance of caution," according to a statement. She said customers were "reaccommodated quickly" with another aircraft. The airline apologized for any inconvenience. Airplanes are designed to withstand lightning strikes, and might not suffer any significant damage from even multiple strikes. This was the third instance this month that a jet leaving LAX was struck by lightning. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2019/03/06/delta-flight-struck-lightning- leaving-lax-heading-seattle/3077815002/ Back to Top Alaska Airlines flight makes emergency landing at Spokane International Airport A spokesperson with Alaska Airlines said flight 738 from Seattle to Kansas City was diverted. An Alaska Airlines flight was diverted to the Spokane International Airport for a medical emergency Wednesday night. A spokesperson with Alaska Airlines said flight 738 from Seattle to Kansas City was diverted. The plane made a medical emergency because one of the captains was not feeling well, according to the spokesperson. He said the pilot was able to perform his duty; however, he was advised by medical professionals to make the emergency landing. The pilot was later transported to a nearby hospital. On the flight there were 64 passengers, two pilots and four flight attendants. Passengers on the plane are expected to leave the Spokane Airport around midnight. A pilot from Seattle will be operating the flight. https://www.krem.com/article/news/local/alaska-airlines-flight-makes-emergency- landing-at-spokane-international-airport/293-9781bfa6-8d56-4848-bb68-1c663a6c9138 Back to Top MH 370 - 5 Years Tomorrow is the 5th anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370, a Boeing 777 which flew off course and appears to have run out of fuel in the South Indian Ocean. Only pieces of the airplane have been found and there has been no determination of what happened. Two hundred and thirty-nine people died in the accident. In her book, The Crash Detectives Investigating the World's Most Mysterious Air Disasters, published by Penguin in 2016, Christine Negroni presents a scenario of what might have initiated the series of events that ended in disaster. This is an excerpt from her book. No one knows for sure what happened aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared five years ago tomorrow. The scenario I am about to describe is based on a framework of events put forward by Malaysian and Australian investigators and other sources who participated in gathering or analyzing the known data. To this I have applied Occam's razor, the principle that suggests that if there are many possible explanations for something, the simplest is the most likely. Shortly after midnight on March 8, 2014, and seemingly without warning, what had been an entirely normal flight devolved into an illogical series of events including a seemingly deliberate variation in the route of flight that concluded with the airplane flying off course and until it ran out of fuel somewhere over South Indian Ocean. Such an unraveling has been seen before: when pilots are afflicted with altitude sickness, known as hypoxia. An inability to get enough oxygen into the lungs to maintain executive function happens when airplanes lose pressurization, and that can happen for a variety of reasons. It can be triggered by an electrical problem or some mechanical difficulty. Pilots sometimes fail to turn the pressurization on at the beginning of the flight, but even when the pressurization is working as it should, there's no way to keep a plane pressurized if there is a hole in the fuselage or if leaks at the seals that allows the denser air to escape. At the time of the MH-370 disaster, people were boarding airplanes around the world at a rate of eight million a day. Few air travelers then (or now) gave a thought to the fact that outside those aluminum walls the air is too thin to sustain cogent thought. Still, at least 40 to 50 times a year, an airliner somewhere in the world will encounter a rapid decompression, according to a study for the Aviation Medical Society of Australia and New Zealand. The reason we don't see tragedies more often is that pilots are taught what to do. First, they put on their emergency oxygen masks. Then they verify that the system is on. There are many cases of pilots discovering that they failed to set cabin altitude upon takeoff. If pressurization was set correctly and is still not working, pilots immediately begin a rapid descent to an altitude where supplemental oxygen is not necessary. When pilots do not follow these steps, the situation spins out of control quickly. On an American Trans Air flight in 1996, a mind-boggling sequence of events brought a Boeing 727 a hairbreadth from catastrophe. ATA flight 406 departed Chicago's Midway Airport bound for St. Petersburg, Florida. At 33,000 feet, a warning horn sounded because the altitude in the cabin was registering 14,000 feet. First Officer Kerry Green was flying. He immediately put on his emergency oxygen mask. Captain Millard Doyle did not, opting to try to diagnose the problem. He instructed the flight engineer, Timothy Feiring, who was sitting behind and to his right, to silence the alarm. Doubtless already feeling the effects of steadily increasing altitude, Feiring could not find the control. The captain turned his attention to the flight attendant in the cockpit, asking her if the passenger oxygen masks had dropped. They had, she replied, and promptly collapsed in the doorway. Captain Doyle reached for his own mask, but it was too late. Disoriented and uncoordinated, he could not place it over his head, and he passed out too. Two of four people in the cockpit were now incapacitated and Feiring was having trouble thinking. He mistakenly opened an outflow valve, creating a rapid and total decompression of the airplane. He put on his mask and then got up to attend to the unconscious flight attendant, placing the flight observer mask on her face but dislodging his own in the process. He passed out, falling over the center console between the two pilots' seats. Through all this, First Officer Green, with his mask on, was taking the plane down to a lower altitude at a speed of about 4,000 to 5,000 feet per minute. His action allowed American Trans Air Flight 406 to land safely in Indianapolis. The story, equal parts chilling and absurd, tells me that knowing what to do does not mean pilots will actually do it if their ability to think has begun to deteriorate. Nine years after Flight 406, a Boeing 737 took off from Cyprus on August 14, 2005, on a flight to Athens. Helios Flight 522 ran out of fuel and crashed into a mountain south of the airport after flying on autopilot for more than two hours-long after the pilots and nearly everyone else on board had fallen into deep and prolonged unconsciousness. They had been starved of oxygen, presumably because the pilots failed to pressurize the aircraft after takeoff. The pilots were hypoxic before they realized what had gone wrong. The Helios 522 disaster started about five and a half minutes after takeoff, as the plane climbed through 12,000 feet. A warning horn alerted the pilots that the altitude in the cabin had exceeded 10,000 feet. Less than two minutes later, the passenger oxygen masks dropped, but Captain Hans-Jürgen Merten and First Officer Pampos Charalambous did not put on their masks, deciding instead to try to figure out what was wrong: a classic case of impaired judgment due to hypoxia. For nearly eight minutes, Captain Merten conversed by radio with the operations center in Cyprus in an exchange that grew increasingly confusing to the crew on the ground. As Helios 522 continued its ascent, Captain Merten collapsed at his last position, checking a switch panel behind his seat. First Officer Charalambous passed out against the airplane control yoke. We can assume that the passengers and flight attendants were uneasy once their masks dropped; everyone waited for news from the flight deck that did not come. The cabin crew had emergency oxygen bottles and portable oxygen masks. With more than a half- hour's supply in each, they were likely conscious longer than the passengers. Twenty-five-year-old Andreas Prodromou was a flight attendant who also happened to be a private pilot. Around two hours into the emergency he entered the flight deck. He saw the first officer lifeless in the right-hand seat and the captain behind the left seat. Prodromou put on the captain's oxygen mask as the last of the left engine's fuel was spraying into the combustion chamber. For two and a half minutes he scanned the instrument panel while the airplane picked up speed in descent. He called for help in a frail and frightened voice. "Mayday, mayday, Helios Flight 522 Athens..." The radio was not set to the proper frequency to transmit the message so Prodromou's mayday would only be heard in the post-crash examination of the cockpit voice recorder. In the early days of the Malaysia 370 mystery, I thought of these previous events. After all, MH 370 was an ordinary flight-under the command of an experienced and well- regarded captain-that suddenly turned baffling. The Boeing 777 had departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8, 2014, on an overnight trip to Beijing. Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a 33-year employee of the company, was in command. He had 18,000 flight hours. Professionally speaking, First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid was everything Zaharie was not. Inexperienced on the Boeing 777, he was still training on the wide-body while Zaharie supervised his performance. The flight to Beijing would bring the young pilot's total hours on the airplane to 39. The moonless night was warm and dark with mostly cloudy skies when the jetliner lifted off at 12:41 a.m. on Saturday morning. Fariq was making the radio calls, so we can assume Zaharie was flying the airplane. Twenty minutes after takeoff, at 1:01 a.m., the plane reached its assigned altitude, 35,000 feet, and Fariq notified controllers. Independent of what the pilots were doing, the 12-year-old Boeing 777 was relaying through satellites a routine status message with information about its current state of health. In the acronym-loving world of aviation, this data uplink is called ACARS, for Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System. The automatic status report is transmitted on a schedule set by the airline. At Malaysia, it was every 30 minutes. Around the time the ACARS message was being sent, it appears control of the flight was transferred to the first officer because Captain Zaharie was now making the radio calls. He confirmed to air traffic control that the plane was flying at cruise altitude. Eleven minutes later, as the airplane neared the end of Malaysian airspace, the controller gave the crew the frequency to which they should tune their radio upon crossing into Vietnam's airspace. "Malaysian Three Seven Zero, contact Ho Chi Minh one two zero decimal niner, good night." "Good night Malaysian," Zaharie replied. It was 1:19. His voice was calm, according to a stress analyst who listened to the recording as part of the Malaysian probe. There was no indication of trouble. Zaharie, 53, had been in his seat since around 11:00 p.m., ordering fuel, entering information in the onboard computers, arming systems, checking the weather en route, and discussing the flight with the cabin attendants. He had also been supervising Fariq, who, after landing in Beijing, would be checked out on the Boeing 777. The airliner was at cruise altitude, flying a pre-programmed course. There was very little difference at this point between the Boeing 777 and every other jetliner Fariq had flown. So, in the scenario I envision on Malaysia 370, this would have been the perfect time for Zaharie to tell Fariq, "Your airplane," leaving the triple-seven in the first officer's hands so he could go to the bathroom. While Zaharie was out of the cockpit, it would be Fariq's job to tune the radio to the air traffic control at Ho Chi Minh City. But instead of making that switch, the transponder stopped transmitting entirely. The question is why. Fariq knew he had to get the squawk code from Ho Chi Minh-but first he had to tune the radio to that frequency. This is about the time when, I think, a rapid decompression happened near or in the cockpit. The first officer would have recognized the emergency immediately. The denser air inside the first officer's body would have rushed out through every orifice. His fingers, hands, and arms would have started to move spastically. Fariq would have struggled to understand this rapid change from normal to pandemonium while irretrievable seconds of intellectual capacity ticked away. He would have reached over to the transponder to enter 7700, the four digits that will alert everyone on the ground and in the air that something has gone wrong with the plane. His fingers would still have been trembling as he clutched the small round knob on the bottom left of the device and turned it to Standby. It is not what he would have intended, but in an attempt to transmit a message of distress, he would have inadvertently severed the only means air controllers had of identifying his airplane and the details of his flight. I find it logical to assume that Zaharie was in the business class bathroom near the flight deck. Imagine what it would have been like for him to experience the decompression there, to see the yellow plastic cup bob down. He had to make a choice: Try to get back to the cockpit without supplemental oxygen, or remain in the bathroom and wait for Fariq to get the airplane to a lower altitude and then rejoin him on the flight deck. I'm guessing Zaharie wasn't confident in Fariq's ability. Pilots at Malaysia Airlines tell me that in a rapid decompression, it would have been very difficult for Captain Zaharie to get back onto the flight deck in time. The captain was unable to regain command of the airplane. If he had, things might have turned out differently. By: Christine Negroni author of The Crash Detectives Investigating the World's Most Mysterious Air Disasters Published by Penguin Books What the critics are saying about The Crash Detectives Order The Crash Detectives here (print) Or the audio book, here. Back to Top Passengers tried to bring 66 guns onto airplanes at RDU in 2018, TSA says Security checkpoints at North Carolina airports stopped passengers from bringing 171 guns onto planes in 2018. DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Security checkpoints at North Carolina airports stopped passengers from bringing 171 guns onto planes in 2018. The Transportation Security Administration said 66 of those guns were stopped at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Most of the guns were loaded. TSA said passengers trying to bring loaded guns with them onto flights continues to be a problem across the country. The agency confiscated 4,239 firearms at airport security checkpoints in the USA in 2018. TSA also stopped passengers from bringing other hazardous materials and weapons-- such as grenades, brass knuckles and martial arts tools--onto airplanes last year. Passengers caught trying to bring weapons onto airplanes could face civil penalties of more than $13,000. The agency says planning ahead and packing properly can make sure you avoid having to pay penalties and get through the screening process faster. https://abc11.com/travel/tsa-found-66-guns-in-carry-on-bags-at-rdu-in- 2018/5172014/ Back to Top NBAA Names 2019 Top Safety Focus Areas Washington, DC, March 6, 2019 - The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) has released its annual list of Top Safety Focus Areas, addressing the most pressing safety issues facing the broad array of business aviation operations. In order to determine those areas of greatest interest, the NBAA Safety Committee evaluated accident/incident statistics, operational safety data and robust hazard reporting information. The 2019 Top Safety Focus Areas are: * Reduce the risk of loss of control-inflight (LOC-I) * Reduce the risk of runway excursions * Reduce the risk of controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) * Reduce the risk of aircraft ground operation and handling incidents * Improve the safety performance of single-pilot operations * Increase the use and sharing of human-reported and automated safety data* Improve defenses against automation mismanagement The Foundations for Safety remain the same and underscore competencies that enhance operational safety: * Professionalism * Safety Leadership * Risk Management * Fitness for Duty * Technical Excellence "The 2019 NBAA Top Safety Focus Areas list represents those actionable and impactful items that all organizations need to address to improve business aviation safety," said Tom Huff, aviation safety officer for Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation and chair of the NBAA Safety Committee. "It is important to the Safety Committee that business aviation operators keep loss of control - inflight, controlled flight into terrain and runway excursions in focus, since these risks remain in the majority of business aviation accidents." Also, Huff said, the continued focus on single-pilot operations can help the NBAA Safety Committee Single Pilot Working Group and industry effect positive change, making the biggest impact in improving business aviation safety. "There are few hazards unique to single-pilot operations - the hazards are just magnified," said Huff. "NBAA is reaching out to aircraft-type clubs and local and regional groups, to highlight the association resources that are available to single pilot operators, recognizing they often don't have the support infrastructure of larger flight departments." Although several topics remain on the list from previous years, one topic - safety data - has been modified for 2019 to emphasize that collecting data is not enough, operators need to share their findings with a broader audience to have a greater impact on safety, noted Paul Ratté, director of aviation safety programs at USAIG and Safety Committee team leader. "Illuminating ways to improve an already safe and stable system is a challenge, but that's the worthy goal of putting this list forward," said Ratté. "Safety has always been a core value for the business aviation community, and the NBAA Safety Committee serves an important role in identifying an annual list of top concerns to focus on each year, so we can continually enhance the industry's safety," said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. "These recommendations - which are based on well-researched data, and in collaboration with industry and government safety organizations, including the National Transportation Safety Board - will benefit NBAA members, and the entire aviation community." https://www.aviationpros.com/aircraft/business-general-aviation/press- release/21071087/national-business-aviation-association-nbaa-nbaa-names-2019-top- safety-focus-areas Back to Top Flammability Tests Are The Front Line In The Fight Against Fire Hazards Test laboratories across the U.S. are working to ensure materials and components can withstand flames before they become airborne. Fires onboard aircraft mercifully are extremely rare, but if one does occur, it can lead to the loss of that aircraft and passengers and crew in relatively short order. There is a general view in the industry that in the event of a major fire onboard, the crew has an average of 17 min. to land the aircraft safely. During that time, it is critical that the fire is contained so it does not spread through the cabin or other areas-and that is where flammability and fire-resistance testing comes in. Flammability testing of many parts of the aircraft is required, from interior panels and seats in the cabin to internal components and systems such as the auxiliary power unit (APU). NTS, based in Anaheim, California, confirms it assesses an enormous variety of aircraft systems and components for resistance to fire. The company typically will perform flammability and fire-resistance tests on "everything that is on the interior or exterior of the aircraft," explains Bill Arnold, program manager at the company's lab in Fullerton, California. He says NTS laboratories must "recreate life-like environments" to ensure new products will withstand potential onboard fires. "This includes every section from inside to outside, even under conditions such as vibration," he says. The rationale behind flammability testing is to ensure an aircraft can cope in the short- term with an onboard fire, giving the pilots time to take evasive action to protect passengers and crew. "Flammability testing is critical to safety," explains Jarod Triplett, president of Illinois aircraft interiors specialist Skandia, which has an FAA-recognized flammability test laboratory. "The intention is to use materials that are so flame- resistant that if an inflight fire occurs, there is enough time to land the plane and evacuate all passengers and crew before the aircraft cabin flashes over." * Element Materials Technology in Los Angeles specializes in flammability testing of aircraft interiors. John Moylan, general manager at Element Materials Technology in Los Angeles, which specializes in testing aircraft interiors, agrees the aim of testing is to do "everything we can to give people time to get off the aircraft before a fire event becomes serious." The FAA has prescribed a series of different flammability tests for the materials that go into aircraft interiors, he notes. The most common types are ignition tests-12-sec. or 60-sec. vertical ignition-in which a Bunsen burner is applied to samples of materials. The items to be tested are suspended vertically or horizontally. The duration of the burn and the rate at which the material burns once the burner is removed are measured, as well as the amount of smoke generated. Toxic gases within the smoke also are measured and assessed. The FAA has criteria based on the burn time and length that determine whether materials can be used onboard. "Often in fire events, it is the smoke that kills people, not the flames, so the toxicity of the smoke is a very important factor," Moylan explains. Smoke is also a factor when it comes to cabin visibility, which has an effect when an aircraft is being evacuated. At Element, the "heat-release rate"-the amount of energy that materials release when they are burned-also is measured. This is effectively a measure of the fuel that is available for a fire, and is another area covered by FAA regulations. There tend to be many commonly used materials within aerospace interiors where the flammability properties are known, but the introduction of newer materials requires new tests, particularly in the business jet market. "People may want to use more exotic materials. We do a lot of testing of materials for luxury and business-jet interiors as a result," Moylan says. If a material fails an ignition test, it cannot be used on an FAA- certified aircraft. At Skandia, testing is performed on all interior components as standalone items. Additionally, tests are required on "as-installed configurations," says Triplett. For example, if two materials are adhered in the cabin, they must be fire-tested separately and as a combination. Much like at Element and NTS, Skandia tests measure the length of the burn of the material and the duration after the fire source is removed from the specimen. For example, cushions undergo a flammability test measuring the length of the burn across the specimen and the percentage of weight loss during the testing period. NTS' Fullerton, California, lab features large kerosene burners for conducting longer, more intense fire-resistance tests. Heat-release tests will apply a flame and then measure the amount of heat given off by a material, while smoke-density tests measure what is emitted from the test sample. "Airbus and Boeing both have standards for acceptable levels of toxic off-gassing from materials," Triplett explains. Facilities at Skandia include two Bunsen-burner test chambers, three oil-burn laboratories, separate test apparatus and an 800-ft.2 conditioning room. "Ultimately, all items must show a certain level of flame resistance," Triplett says. "But the standards and test requirements vary, based upon the type of the operation of the aircraft, number of passengers and where the materials are being installed." NTS also carries out a wide range of flammability tests in its dedicated laboratories. These include evaluations for ignition, fire resistance and fireproofing. Flame-spread tests on materials might take 5-15 min. The material passes the test if no backside ignition, burn-through or sustained flame is observed. "The main objective is that the material will self-extinguish immediately or soon after the flame is removed," Arnold says. At NTS' Fullerton laboratory, lengthier fire-resistance and fireproofing tests use much larger kerosene burners with nozzles set up to burn at 2,000F and at a minimum of 4,500 Btu per hour. These burners are used to assess the fire resistance of larger items such as aircraft engines and firewalls. A fire-resistance test takes 5 min., and a fireproofing evaluation lasts 15 min. "The aim is always to give the pilot time to shut down the engine if necessary and engage the extinguisher systems," Arnold says. The objective of these more intense tests can be to ensure there is no burn-through on a firewall, for example. "Backside ignition-testing" measures the likelihood of a firewall becoming hot enough on its backside to set off a blaze elsewhere, he notes. "We provide the fire. The objective is that the item under test doesn't add to that hazard. You don't want it to leak, burn through or experience backside ignition." Samples under test include not just firewalls but mechanical components such as actuators, seals and valves or new types of composite materials. If fire-resistance testing identifies a problem, a customer may change the design or the material. Composites and silicone, aluminum and stainless steel materials are among those tested at Fullerton. "There's a wide variety of materials we test," says Arnold. The standards for fire resistance are only likely to become more stringent in time. Engineers at NTS are working closely with the FAA to upgrade flammability and fireproof test regulations, they say. The aim is to standardize the regulations and bring them in line with ISO 2685, the European equivalent. The European Aviation Safety Agency also is helping the FAA to rewrite the specifications, NTS says. Types of Aircraft Fires * Engine Fire - An engine fire normally is detected and contained by the aircraft fire- detection and suppression systems. In certain circumstances (e.g., an engine explosion), the nature of the fire is such that onboard systems may not be able to contain the flames, and they may spread to the wing and/or fuselage. Where an engine fire has been contained, there is still a risk that it may reignite, so it is advisable for the crew to land the aircraft as soon as possible and allow fire crews to visually examination the engine. * Cabin Fire - A fire within the cabin usually will be detected early and contained by the crew using onboard firefighting equipment. As with an engine blaze, it is still advisable to land the aircraft as soon as possible and carry out a detailed examination of the cause and any damage. * Hidden Fire - A hidden fire may be detected by onboard detection systems or by the crew or passengers noticing smoke or fumes, a hot spot on a wall or floor, or by unusual electrical malfunctions, particularly when the systems are unrelated. This is the most dangerous type of fire because hidden ones are difficult to locate and access. The time delay may allow the fire to take hold. A hidden fire initially may be difficult to confirm, and the crew may be slow to initiate an emergency landing. The consequence of such a delay may be that the fire becomes non- survivable before the aircraft can be landed. https://www.mro-network.com/engineering-design/flammability-tests-are-front-line- fight-against-fire-hazards Back to Top FAA's Duncan To Keynote BASS Flight Safety Foundation is kicking off its 64th Business Aviation Safety Summit (BASS) with senior FAA safety official John Duncan as the keynote speaker. Held in partnership with NBAA, the two-day BASS provides a forum for the business aviation community to discuss safety concerns, approaches to risk reduction, and initiatives to improve safety. This year's event is scheduled for May 2 and 3 in Denver. Duncan, who is the FAA's deputy associate administrator for aviation safety, helps lead the organization within the FAA that establishes, oversees, and enforces safety standards for the aviation industry. "His more than 30 years at FAA, plus his experience as a corporate and airline pilot before that, give him a unique perspective from which to address the challenges facing the aviation industry broadly, and business aviation specifically, today," said FSF president and CEO Hassan Shahidi. Duncan, who joined the FAA in 1986 as an aviation safety inspector, has held numerous positions within the agency, including as executive director of the Flight Standards Service. He has established a reputation for pursuing a collaborative approach to resolving safety issues. He has been a champion of the FAA's Compliance Philosophy and also has been helping to steer the realignments within the agency's safety organizations. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2019-03-04/faas-duncan- keynote-bass Back to Top Gulfstream and Bombardier Break Speed and Distance Records within Weeks of Each Other The ultralong-range G650E and Global 7500 jets break speed and distance records. Gulfstream G650ER Sprints From Singapore To San Francisco In High-Speed Ultralong- Range Demonstration Photo: Courtesy of Gulfstream On February 19, Gulfstream announced its ultralong-range Gulfstream G650ER broke a city-pair record when it flew from Singapore to San Francisco, or 7,475 nautical miles. Flown at an average speed of Mach 0.87, Gulfstream reports the flight took 13 hours and 37 minutes. The G650ER is powered by two Rolls-Royce BR725 A1-12 engines and can fly up to 19 passengers. It has a maximum speed of Mach 0.925. On March 4, Bombardier disclosed that its new Global 7500 business jet flew 8,152 nautical miles-from Singapore to Tucson, Ariz.-the longest mission ever flown by a purpose-built business jet. At a sustained speed of Mach 0.85, this flight also sets the record for the highest speed over the longest distance in business-aviation history. Bombardier reports that the flight's duration was approximately 16 hours. BOMBARDIER GLOBAL 7500 AIRCRAFT COMPLETES THE WORLD'S LONGEST RANGE BUSINESS JET FLIGHT IN HISTORY Global 7500 jet's 8,152 nm flight is the longest mission ever flown by a purpose-built business jet. "The priority on this trip was to show that customers could realistically fly such missions with ample fuel reserves. Thus we decided to use our Long-Range Cruise setting to maximize fuel at landing. The LRC setting on the Global 7500 is a variable speed but works out to about Mach 0.85. This allowed us to land with reserves well over NBAA IFR requirements and represented over 90 minutes more of additional flight time," explained Dominique Cristall, Bombardier's senior public relations and sustainability advisor. "The mission was flown at optimal altitudes for fuel burn well above commercial traffic." Bombardier Global 7500 lands in Tucson. The Bombardier Global 7500 entered service in December, can carry up to 19 passengers in its four living spaces, and is powered by GE Passport engines. The Gulfstream G650ER entered service in 2014, five years after the G650. Flying with eight passengers and four crew at Mach 0.85, the G650ER has a range of 7,500 nautical miles. Combining the G650 and G650ER, this Gulfstream aircraft holds more than 85 records. https://robbreport.com/motors/aviation/gulfstream-g650er-bombardier-global7500- break-records-within-weeks-of-each-other-2843095/ Back to Top From MD-87 twin jet aircraft in Madrid to Boeing 747s in Malaysia: Why planes are abandoned and what happens to them An Iberia McDonnell Douglas MD-87, the same model that has been abandoned at Adolfo Suarez Madrid Barajas Airport. Cars get abandoned. So do dead washing machines and mattresses that appear mysteriously overnight outside apartment blocks. I occasionally can be seen shuffling around cavernous parking stations when I forget where I parked my car - but an MD-87 twin jet aircraft? Seemingly abandoned and unloved at Madrid Barajas Airport? Left for several years, and now with a parking ticket for millions of dollars? Airport officials want it gone, but there's a mystery - who owns it? First flown in 1990 wearing the logo of Iberia, Spain's national carrier, the aircraft was later acquired by a charter airline that soon went broke. In 2010 it ended up in the hands of Saicus Air, a freight operator which attempted to transition to a passenger carrier using the MD-87. That lasted for just a month before Saicus Air ceased operations in December 2010. Images exist from that month showing the aircraft on the tarmac at Madrid Barajas Airport, and that is where it has sat ever since. Airport director Elena Mayoral has issued a notice in Spain's state gazette asking for anyone with information to come forward. As required by law, that notice will run for three months, and if the owners have not been found the plane will be auctioned off. The ad that appeared a newspaper searching for the owners of three Boeing 747s in Malaysia. Whoever the rightful owner may be, they have probably made the calculation that 10 years' worth of parking fees and whatever else Saicus Air might owe to creditors is far greater than what the aircraft might fetch at auction. That could be around $2 million, although Globalair.com currently has the same aircraft listed for sale at $US4.8 million, but in this case the owner has decided to keep schtum. No surprise really, since to keep an aircraft airworthy requires certification. After it's been sitting around for a while, getting it back into the air is going to cost major bucks. Why aircraft get tossed Abandoning an intact aircraft is far from common, but it happens. Sure, there are aircraft graveyards where decommissioned aircraft are parked, most famously the Mojave Air & Space Port in California, but who parks an aircraft, shuts down the engines and walks away, never to return? As it happens, it's not that uncommon. The reality is that commercial jet aircraft depreciate faster than a BMW M5. Maintenance and certification requirements are a big cost item for airlines and new models are constantly evolving that offer lower cost per passenger-mile performance. Whether to stick with an existing fleet and wear ever-increasing costs for aircraft that are steadily depreciating or shell out to invest in newer, more efficient aircraft is a constant juggling act for airline managers. Delay too long and you might end up with an aircraft that no one wants, that's too expensive to operate and market forces make the decision for you. You're left with an aircraft that's headed for the boneyard. Or you might strip out whatever's saleable and walk away, which is what happened when Athens opened a new international airport in 2001. The former airport, Ellinikon International, was abandoned, and a few things got left behind. Including a Boeing 747-200, minus engines and bearing the colours of Greek national carrier Olympic Airlines and the name "Olympic Eagle". Also a Boeing 727 and 737, also wearing Olympic Air colours, plus a Hellenic BAC-111 and miscellaneous light aircraft that once belonged to now-defunct carrier Athens Airways. There they sit, tyres flat, avionics stripped out, luggage compartments gaping. Malaysia's abandoned 747s As Oscar Wilde might say had he still been alive, "To lose one 747 may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose three looks like carelessness". But that's exactly what happened in 2015 at Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur International Airport. After three 747-200s had been parked there for more than a year, management began to wonder who owned them, and then there was the small matter of parking fees. The trail of ownership began with aircraft leasing corporation Air Atlanta Icelandic, owner of one of the world's largest B747-400 fleets, but according to AAI, the aircraft were sold in 2008. Since then the 747s had been on-sold several more times, passing to a Turkish operator and China-based Yangtze River Express until the trail of ownership became opaque. In the absence of any identifiable owner, and in accordance with Malaysia's Civil Aviation Act on 1969, airport management published a notification in the country's newspapers in December 2015 to the effect that the aircraft would be sold if not claimed within 14 days. That notice aroused curiosity, the curious started digging and soon revealed that the last owner of the aircraft was MASkargo, the cargo arm of Malaysia Airlines. Suddenly, up pops SWIFT Air Cargo, under the command of an expat American pilot named Blue Peterson, protesting innocence, maintaining the aircraft were the rightful property of SWIFT and claiming the operator had been holding meetings with Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad as recently as two months previously. Eventually the question of ownership was decided in court and the three aircraft, once worth tens of millions of dollars - minus their engines and many of their more valuable electronic components, were sold at a public auction for RM800,000, equal to less than $300,000, and broken up for scrap. http://www.traveller.com.au/from-md87-twin-jet-aircraft-in-madrid-to-boeing-747s-in- malaysia-why-planes-are-abandoned-h1c2tt#ixzz5hT91YgP7 Back to Top BOEING ACQUIRES FOREFLIGHT The co-founder of ForeFlight says the breakneck pace of enhancements to the flight planning app will not change now that his company is owned by airliner behemoth Boeing. The airliner manufacturer announced March 6 that it had acquired Houston-based ForeFlight. Previously privately held, ForeFlight is believed to be the largest player in the electronic flight bag app business. The company teamed with Boeing-owned Jeppesen in 2016 to incorporate Jeppesen terminal and en route charts as an option in ForeFlight. ForeFlight was also working with Jeppesen's FliteDeck Pro app team to bring new features to that product. In a press release, Ken Sain, Boeing vice president of digital solutions and analytics, said, "We are excited to build on ForeFlight's tremendous success in personal, business and defense aviation so we can provide next-generation, integrated tools to our aviation customers today. This acquisition also expands Boeing's rapidly growing, unparalleled digital services portfolio which will enable us to compete and win in the $2.8 trillion, 10- year services market." ForeFlight was founded in 2007 when general aviation pilots Tyson Weihs and Jason Miller developed a weather planning service for the first generation of Apple iPhone. When the next iPhone model could handle apps, the team quickly expanded the capabilities into flight planning. When the iPad came about in 2010, the product sprouted IFR and VFR chart overlays and many other features. Today, the app integrates weather and preflight planning with a moving map and overlays a variety of additional resources for GA, business aviation, the military, and the airlines. In addition to the mobile app for Apple iOS products, the company offers a free online flight planner that integrates with the app. Subscription price points in the GA world vary between $100 and $300 annually, depending on features selected. ForeFlight has developed a reputation for an amazing pace of innovation and new features, with app updates occurring every few weeks. The company also has an admirable reputation for customer service. The ForeFlight Airport 3D view demonstrated on different devices. Graphic courtesy of ForeFlight. And the pace of innovation and focus on GA will continue, said co-founder Tyson Weihs in a March 6 interview. "We're going to keep the same velocity up. Every time we have a software release, we think about what can we do for everyone. There are some features that require a lot of investment for a certain segment of the market. Our roots are in GA. That's where we grew up. It's our passion. We're on a mission to continue to create the sort of impact we've done over the past decade with GA." Weihs said the relationship with Boeing developed over many years and ultimately the two companies decided that the acquisition was the best move. "We're as excited as we've ever been. It's great opportunity for us and the team. We couldn't be more thrilled to be working with Boeing on the next leg of our flight." He said the entire leadership team and all of the 180 employees are involved in the transition and that ForeFlight is continuing to hire and is expanding its office space in Texas and in Denmark. The AOPA Air Safety Institute will be awarding its 2019 General Aviation Safety Award to Weihs and Miller during the Hoover Trophy presentation on March 20 in Washington, D.C. Air Safety Institute Executive Director Richard McSpadden said ForeFlight has "revolutionized how general aviation pilots plan their flights and use the app to bolster in-cockpit situational awareness and cockpit resource management. ForeFlight's exceptional leap in enhancing general aviation pilots' flight planning experience and improving in-flight situational awareness and decision making demonstrates a company focused on quality, innovation, and safety." https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2019/march/06/boeing-acquires- foreflight Back to Top The 20 biggest airlines in the world, ranked An American Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner. AP * Through recent mergers, airlines such as American, Delta, and United have grown to become colossal mega-carriers. * Recently, the aviation-data firm OAG provided us with data sets that ranked the 20 largest airlines in the world based on the number of seats each carrier made available to passengers during 2018. * As expected, US carriers made a strong showing with American, Delta, United, Southwest, and Alaska airlines all in the top 20. * The low-cost carriers Ryanair, EasyJet, and IndiGo placed in the top 20. * Other international carriers to make the list include Emirates, Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines, ANA, LATAM, British Airways, Air France, Air Canada, and Aeroflot. Over the past century, the airline industry has changed the way humans travel. It has effectively made the world a smaller place - making it possible for billions of people everywhere to explore the world. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), consumers spent an estimated $871 billion, or roughly 1% of the global GDP, on air travel. The trade group, which has a membership made up of 290 airlines, expects the total number of airline passengers around the world to reach 8.2 billion people by 2037 - that's double today's passenger count. As a result of the industry's growth, many of the world's airlines have become household names. Through recent mergers, American, Delta, United, and Southwest have grown to become colossal mega-carriers. Read more: The 11 longest flights in the world, ranked This got us at Business Insider thinking about how they stack up against the largest airlines. Fortunately, the good folks at OAG provided us the data sets that answered our question. The London-based aviation-data-and-intelligence firm ranked the world's airlines based on the total number of seats each carrier made available to customers during 2018. OAG also included the total number of aircraft in each airline fleet. Some airlines on the list are able to offer substantially more seats while operating fewer aircraft. According to OAG senior analyst John Grant, this variation is because of the differences in the planes that comprise a carrier's fleet and the seat configurations of each aircraft. As a result, airlines that operate larger aircraft and aircraft with higher seat density will be able to make more seats available to customers. Here's a closer look at the 20 biggest airlines in the world: 20. Alaska Airlines Capacity: 54,574,295 seats. Fleet size: 233 aircraft. 19. Aeroflot Russian Airlines Airbus Capacity: 56,260,035 seats. Fleet size: 253 aircraft. 18. Air France Airbus Capacity: 58,888,616 seats. Fleet size: 206 aircraft. 17. British Airways British Airways Capacity: 63,253,213 seats. Fleet size: 267 aircraft. 16. Air Canada Air Canada Capacity: 64,529,302 seats. Fleet size: 180 aircraft. 15. LATAM Airlines Group LATAM/Airbus Capacity: 68,393,747 seats. Fleet size: 309 aircraft. 14. All Nippon Airways (ANA) AP Capacity: 72,674,568 seats. Fleet size: 294 aircraft. 13. IndiGo REUTERS/Adnan Abidi Capacity: 74,570,054 seats. Fleet size: 206 aircraft. 12. Emirates Emirates Capacity: 78,255,966 seats. Fleet size: 271 aircraft. 11. Lufthansa Lufthansa Capacity: 90,465,791 seats. Fleet size: 338 aircraft. 10. Air China Airbus Capacity: 90,531,776 seats. Fleet size: 418 aircraft. 9. Turkish Airlines Boeing Capacity: 93,109,025 seats. Fleet size: 350 aircraft. 8. EasyJet Airbus Capacity: 100,082,969 seats. Fleet size: 317 aircraft. 7. China Eastern Airlines Airbus Capacity: 122,917,175 seats. Fleet size: 525 aircraft. 6. China Southern Airlines Airbus Capacity: 131,972,745 seats. Fleet size: 597 aircraft. 5. Ryanair Ryanair Capacity: 142,540,776 seats. Fleet size: 439 aircraft. 4. United Airlines United Airlines Capacity: 193,981,547 seats. Fleet size: 765 aircraft. 3. Southwest Airlines Chris Parypa Photography/shutterstock Capacity: 209,526,838 seats. Fleet size: 749 aircraft. 2. Delta Air Lines Airbus Capacity: 233,758,798 seats. Fleet size: 879 aircraft. 1. American Airlines American Airlines Capacity: 256,928,663 seats. Fleet size: 956 aircraft. https://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-airlines-world-oag-2019-3 Back to Top Nasa astronauts to carry out first all-female spacewalk Christina Koch and Anne McClain to make history at International Space Station on 29 March US astronaut Christina Koch will carry out the first all-female spacewalk together with Anne McClain. Photograph: AP The first all-female spacewalk is to take place later this month, 35 years after a woman first took part in one. The US space agency Nasa said astronauts Christina Koch and Anne McClain will walk outside the International Space Station on 29 March on a mission to replace batteries installed last summer. They will receive ground support from flight director Mary Lawrence and Kristen Facciol of the Canadian Space Agency in Nasa's Johnson Space Center in Texas. "I cannot contain my excitement!" Facciol tweeted. Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first woman to carry out a spacewalk on 25 July 1984. There have been 213 spacewalks at the ISS since 1998 for the purposes of maintenance, repairs, testing of new equipment or science experiments, according to Nasa. Fewer than 11% of the more than 500 people who have been to space have been female, and spacewalk teams have either been all-male or male-female. In the nearly 60 years of spaceflight, there have only been four times when expeditions included two female members trained for spacewalks. McClain is on the ISS and her Twitter posts with a stuffed toy Earth have garnered tens of thousands of retweets. Koch is due to lift off on 14 March for her first space flight. NASA estimated their walk will last about seven hours. McClain and Koch were part of the 2013 Nasa class that was 50% female. "It definitely resonates with women around the agency that we're at this point," Nasa's Stephanie Schierholz said. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/mar/07/nasa-astronauts-to-carry-out-first- all-female-spacewalk Back to Top Back to Top Aviation Innovations Conference: Cargo Airships March 14 - 15, 2019 Toronto, Canada www.aviationinnovationsconference.com https://www.facebook.com/events/1842427552533870/ Curt Lewis