Flight Safety Information March 19, 2019 - No. 058 In This Issue Boeing says finalising software upgrade, revising pilot training for 737 Max Chao requests investigation into certification of Boeing 737-Max 8 aircraft Accident: Iran F100 at Tehran on Mar 19th 2019, main gear did not extend Incident: British Airways B772 over Atlantic on Mar 19th 2019, cargo smoke indication EVAS - Cockpit Smoke Protection Passengers kept woman from opening plane door Incident: KLM B773 near Shannon on Mar 19th 2019, engine oil problem Hawaiian Airlines flight lands back on Oahu after mid-air disturbance Investigation Found FAA Employees Warned of Boeing Influence Over Safety Approvals Blacklisted Avior Airlines passes IATA safety audit Trump nominates former Delta executive to lead FAA Cockpit voice recorder of doomed Lion Air jet depicts pilots' frantic search for fix - sources An off-duty pilot saved Lion Air's 737 Max from a crash the day before its fatal flight Here's how airplane crash investigations work, according to an aviation safety expert Plane Crash Deaths More Than Double in Russia - Aviation Authorities NTSB: Pilot in fatal Harrison County plane crash not certified to fly that type of aircraft Why did Qatar Airways Flight 968 drop from radar and go on an erratic path? DOT IG Finalizing FAA Aircraft Registry Audit Report Where Investigators Learn to Prevent Accidents Why Drivers, Like Pilots, Should Be Trained to Use Autonomous Features Report: Boeing could be readying additional space to store 737 MAXs Japan Taps Toyota to Build Futuristic Moon Rover GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY 2019 - RTCA Global Aviation Symposium Workshops Across Canada! There's Still Room! Aircraft Cabin Air Conference ISASI-Mid-Atlantic Regional Chapter (MARC) Dinner/Meeting--2 May 2019 Boeing says finalising software upgrade, revising pilot training for 737 Max FILE PHOTO: Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are parked at a Boeing production facility in Renton, Washington, U.S., March 11, 2019. REUTERS/David Ryder/File Photo By Tracy Rucinski (Reuters) - Boeing Co said on Sunday it was finalising the development of a software upgrade and a revision of pilot training for its 737 MAX, the plane that has suffered two fatal crashes in the last five months. The updates are intended to address how the aircraft's flight control system - MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System) - responds to erroneous sensor inputs, the planemaker said https://boeing.mediaroom.com/2019-03-17-Boeing-CEO-Muilenburg-Issues-Statement-on-Ethiopian-Airlines-Flight-302-Accident-Investigation in a statement. A 737 MAX 8 operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed shortly after take-off on March 10, killing all 157 on board. Ethiopia said on Sunday the crash had "clear similarities" with a Lion Air crash in Indonesia in October, according to initial analysis of the black boxes recovered from the wreckage of the March 10 disaster. Concern over the plane's safety caused aviation authorities worldwide to ground the model. Boeing has been working on a software upgrade for an anti-stall system and pilot displays on the 737 MAX, its fastest-selling jetliner, following the deadly Lion Air crash, and has said it was updating pilot training as well. One idea for revised training is an additional 10-15 minute iPad course that would explain the new software, according to Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the American Airlines pilot union and a 737 pilot. However, specific new pilot training is not expected to be defined until the software fix is in place, industry sources said. Boeing plans to release upgraded software for its 737 MAX in a week to 10 days, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. Boeing did not immediately return a request for comment. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/boeing-says-finalizing-software-upgrade-210719205.html Back to Top Chao requests investigation into certification of Boeing 737-Max 8 aircraft Transportation Department Secretary Elaine Chao said in a letter released Tuesday that she's requested the department's inspector general to audit the activities that resulted in the certification by the Federal Aviation Administration's Boeing 737-Max 8 aircraft. That aircraft has had deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. "To help inform the Department's decision making and the public's understanding, and to assist the FAA in ensuring that its safety procedures are implemented effectively, this is to confirm my request that the Office of Inspector General proceed with an audit to compile an objective and detailed factual history of the activities that resulted in the certification of the Boeing 737-Max 8 aircraft," the letter states. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/chao-requests-investigation-into-certification-of-boeing-737-max-8-aircraft-2019-03-19 Back to Top Accident: Iran F100 at Tehran on Mar 19th 2019, main gear did not extend An Iran Air Fokker 100, registration EP-IDG performing flight IR-215 from Qeshm Island to Tehran Mehrabad (Iran) with 24 passengers, needed to land at Tehran Mehrabad's airport with both main gear struts not extended at about 21:30L (18:00Z). The aircraft came to a stop on its nose gear and aft belly. There were no injuries, the aircraft sustained substantial damage. Metars: OIII 191930Z 29006KT 9999 FEW035 BKN100 08/00 Q1015 A2998= OIII 191900Z 28008KT 9999 FEW035 SCT100 08/M00 Q1015 A2999 NOSIG= OIII 191830Z 27008KT 9999 FEW035 SCT100 10/M00 Q1015 A2998= OIII 191800Z 00000KT 9999 FEW035 11/M04 Q1015 A2998= OIII 191730Z 00000KT 9999 FEW035 BKN090 11/M05 Q1015 A2998= OIII 191700Z 30004KT 9999 FEW035 BKN100 12/M05 Q1015 A2998 NOSIG= OIII 191630Z 31004KT 9999 FEW035 BKN100 12/M05 Q1015 A2998= OIII 191600Z 26008KT 9999 FEW035 SCT100 12/M04 Q1014 A2997 NOSIG= OIII 191530Z 27006KT 9999 FEW035 SCT100 12/M04 Q1014 A2996= OIII 191500Z 26008KT 9999 FEW035 SCT100 13/M05 Q1014 A2996= The aircraft seen after landing: http://avherald.com/h?article=4c596d76&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: British Airways B772 over Atlantic on Mar 19th 2019, cargo smoke indication A British Airways Boeing 777-200, registration G-ZZZA performing flight BA-174 from New York JFK,NY (USA) to London Heathrow,EN (UK) with 202 passengers and 13 crew, was enroute at FL370 over the Atlantic Ocean about 400nm eastnortheast of St. John's,NL (Canada) when the crew received a cargo smoke indication, declared Mayday and diverted to St. John's advising ATC that both forward and aft fire bottles had been discharged. The aircraft descended to FL240 for the way back, due to winds about 200 knots slower westbound than it had been eastbound, and landed safely on St. John's runway 29 about 90 minutes after turning around. Emergency services did not find any trace of fire, heat or smoke. A passenger reported the captain announced there was an alarm, a potential fire indication, for the forward cargo hold. A replacement Boeing 777-200 registration G-VIIJ was dispatched from London Heathrow to St. John's as flight BA-9156 but has not yet departed from St. John's about 5.5 hours after landing. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in St. John's about 18 hours after landing. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/BAW174/history/20190319/0005Z/KJFK/EGLL http://avherald.com/h?article=4c5981d3&opt=0 Back to Top Back to Top Passengers kept woman from opening plane door Passengers on a Delta flight from Indianapolis to Detroit Metro Airport restrained a woman who tried to open the plan door shortly after take-off, officials say. (Photo: Max Ortiz, The Detroit News ) Romulus - After a woman allegedly tried to open a plane door Monday night during a flight from Indianapolis to Detroit, fellow passengers restrained the woman, the Wayne County Airport Authority confirmed. The incident took place on a Delta flight from Indianapolis, which landed at Metro Airport about 6:45 p.m. Monday. After the woman allegedly tried to open the plane door shortly after take-off, passengers prevented the woman from doing so, per a statement from the airport. When the plane reached Romulus, officers from the airport authority took the woman into custody. Officials say the woman may have been suffering from a medical issue and did not have criminal intent in her actions, according to the statement. The FBI is investigating the matter. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/wayne-county/2019/03/19/airport-passengers-kept-woman-opening-plane-door/3209758002/ Back to Top Incident: KLM B773 near Shannon on Mar 19th 2019, engine oil problem A KLM Boeing 777-300, registration PH-BVF performing flight KL-791 from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Sao Paulo Guarulhos,SP (Brazil), was enroute at FL320 about 120nm south of Shannon (Ireland) when the crew decided to return to Amsterdam due to the #1 engine (GE90) using more oil than permitted. The aircraft dumped fuel on the way back and landed safely back in Amsterdam about 70 minutes later. A replacement Boeing 777-300 registration PH-BVK is estimated to reach Sao Paulo with a delay of 4.5 hours. A passenger tweeted the aircraft returned to Amsterdam due to an electrical failure. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c598677&opt=0 Back to Top Hawaiian Airlines flight lands back on Oahu after mid-air disturbance HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A Hawaiian Airlines flight bound for Los Angeles returned to Oahu Tuesday night. Hawaiian Airlines flight 2 was in the air heading to LAX when the pilot decided to turn the plane around. Witnesses on the flight say there was a verbal altercation between two passengers. Multiple passengers say the fight started after one of the men bumped the other with his chair. "I heard a bunch of shouting coming from behind me - about three rows back. Some dude was in another dude's face telling him to *expletive* off," passenger Justin Moore-Brown said. The flight was about halfway to LA when the plane was turned around. "I just heard yelling. It started quietly and I turned around and they were in each other's face already," Moore-Brown added. Witnesses said at least one flight attendant got involved trying to calm the passengers down. Hawaiian Airlines released a statement on the incident saying: "Hawaiian Airlines Flight 2 departed Honolulu for Los Angeles at 2:50 p.m. local time. Approximately two hours into the flight, the captain elected to return the aircraft to Honolulu due to two unruly passengers. Local law enforcement met the aircraft upon arrival at 6:38 p.m. There were 276 passengers and 11 crew onboard. Safety is our priority, and we apologize to our guests for the inconvenience. The new departure time is 8 p.m." The delay was undoubtedly a major inconvenience for others on the flight. "There was no physical contact between the two parties. That's what I saw," fellow passenger Tony Morberg said. "And that's why I thought they could let it go. We didn't need to disrupt 300 people's day of travel for two people who got pissed off and yelled at each other." Local authorities reportedly removed at least one of the passengers involved when the flight landed on Oahu. http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2019/03/20/hawaiian-airlines-flight-lands-back-oahu-after-mid-air-disturbance/ Back to Top Investigation Found FAA Employees Warned of Boeing Influence Over Safety Approvals By Alan Levin and Peter Robison Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees warned as early as seven years ago that Boeing Co. had too much sway over safety approvals of new aircraft, prompting an investigation by Department of Transportation auditors who confirmed the agency hadn't done enough to "hold Boeing accountable." The 2012 investigation also found that discord over Boeing's treatment had created a "negative work environment" among FAA employees who approve new and modified aircraft designs, with many of them saying they'd faced retaliation for speaking up. Their concerns pre-dated the 737 Max development. On Sunday night, a person familiar with the 737 Max said the Transportation Department's Inspector General was examining the plane's design certification before the second of two deadly crashes of the almost brand-new aircraft. Earlier Sunday, Ethiopia's transport minister said flight-data recorders show "clear similarities" between the crashes of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 on March 10 and Lion Air Flight 610 last October. Shares of the Chicago-based planemaker fell early Monday after Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg and FAA officials were forced to defend the quality of testing of the new aircraft, and the Wall Street Journal reported on a grand jury probe. The stock was trading at $371.99 in pre-market U.S. trading - down 1.8 percent from Friday, and below any closing price since the Ethiopian Airlines disaster. Boeing Faces Spate of Lawsuits After Second 737 MAX 8 Crash A Seattle Times investigation found that the U.S. regulator delegated much of the safety assessment to Boeing and that the company in turn delivered an analysis with crucial flaws. Separately, a grand jury in Washington, D.C., issued a broad subpoena dated March 11 to at least one person involved in the development process of the 737 Max jets, the Wall Street Journal reported late Sunday. In recent years, the FAA has shifted more authority over the approval of new aircraft to the manufacturer itself, even allowing Boeing to choose many of the personnel who oversee tests and vouch for safety. Just in the past few months, Congress expanded the outsourcing arrangement even further. "It raises for me the question of whether the agency is properly funded, properly staffed and whether there has been enough independent oversight," said Jim Hall, who was chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board from 1994 to 2001 and is now an aviation-safety consultant. Outsourcing Safety At least a portion of the flight-control software suspected in the 737 Max crashes was certified by one or more Boeing employees who worked in the outsourcing arrangement, according to one person familiar with the work who wasn't authorized to speak about the matter. The Wall Street Journal first reported the inspector general's latest inquiry. The watchdog is trying to assess whether the FAA used appropriate design standards and engineering analysis in approving the 737 Max's anti-stall system, the newspaper said. Both Boeing and the Transportation Department declined to comment about that inquiry. In a statement on Sunday, the agency said its "aircraft certification processes are well established and have consistently produced safe aircraft designs," adding that the "737 Max certification program followed the FAA's standard certification process." The Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed minutes after it took off from Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board. The accident prompted most of the world to ground Boeing's 737 Max 8 aircraft on safety concerns, coming on the heels of the October crash of a Max 8 operated by Indonesia's Lion Air that killed 189 people. Much of the attention focused on a flight-control system that can automatically push a plane into a catastrophic nose dive if it malfunctions and pilots don't react properly. In one of the most detailed descriptions yet of the relationship between Boeing and the FAA during the 737 Max's certification, the Seattle Times quoted unnamed engineers who said the planemaker had understated the power of the flight-control software in a System Safety Analysis submitted to the FAA. The newspaper said the analysis also failed to account for how the system could reset itself each time a pilot responded - in essence, gradually ratcheting the horizontal stabilizer into a dive position. Software Fix Boeing told the newspaper in a statement that the FAA had reviewed the company's data and concluded the aircraft "met all certification and regulatory requirements." The company, which is based in Chicago but designs and builds commercial jets in the Seattle area, said there are "some significant mischaracterizations" in the engineers' comments. In a separate statement Sunday, Muilenburg reiterated the company's sympathies for the affected families and support for the investigation into the flight-control system, known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System. "While investigators continue to work to establish definitive conclusions, Boeing is finalizing its development of a previously announced software update and pilot training revision that will address the MCAS flight-control law's behavior in response to erroneous sensor inputs," Muilenburg said. The newspaper also quoted unnamed FAA technical experts who said managers prodded them to speed up the certification process as development of the Max was nine months behind that of rival Airbus SE's A320neo. The FAA has let technical experts at aircraft makers act as its representatives to perform certain tests and approve some parts for decades. The FAA expanded the scope of that program in 2005 to address concerns about adequately keeping pace with its workload. Known as Organization Designation Authorization, or ODA, it let Boeing and other manufacturers choose the employees who approve design work on the agency's behalf. Previously, the FAA approved each appointment. Under the new approach, which was fully implemented in 2009, the ODA representatives are still under U.S. legal requirements and the FAA has the authority to oversee them and request that their management be changed. Anonymous Faxes In 2012, a special investigator of the Office of Inspector General at the Department of Transportation sent a memo to the FAA's audit chief warning him of concerns voiced by agency employees about the new process. Some allegations were made in anonymous faxes sent to the inspector general's office, and the office followed up by interviewing employees in the FAA's Transport Airplane Directorate. "Our investigation substantiated employee allegations that TAD and FAA headquarters managers have not always supported TAD employee efforts to hold Boeing accountable and this has created a negative atmosphere within the TAD," according to the June 22, 2012, report sent to the FAA. (The memo was made available later in a public records request and appears now on a website operated by governmentattic.org, which warehouses government documents. A spokesman for the inspector general's office confirmed its authenticity.) The employees told the investigators that managers had overturned a recommendation by staff to remove the administrator Boeing had chosen for the program and "had not adequately addressed employees' concerns" about potential conflicts of interest, the memo said. The employees, it said, viewed this as evidence of management having "too close a relationship with Boeing officials." Despite those concerns, as well as others raised in a subsequent report by the inspector general, Congress has embraced the program as a way to improve the FAA's efficiency. President Donald Trump signed into law a change on Oct. 5. It allows manufacturers to request that the FAA eliminate limitations on how company representatives certify "low and medium risk" items, giving them even more authority over their own products. The agency doesn't have the budget to do every test, and "the use of designees is absolutely necessary," said Steve Wallace, the former head of accident investigations at the FAA. "For the most part, it works extremely well. There is a very high degree of integrity in the system." Dreamliner Fires But the program was also at issue in the FAA's 2013 grounding of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner after two fires of battery packs. Boeing's designated engineering representatives oversaw tests of the battery packs. A 2015 report by the Department of Transportation's inspector general, requested by U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio, found the FAA lacked "an effective staffing model" and "risk-based oversight process" over the ODA program. DeFazio, an Oregon Democrat, now heads the House transportation and infrastructure committee, and has said he will conduct a "rigorous investigation" to make sure the FAA is protecting safety. Hall, the former NTSB chairman, said the agency's move to shift power to the manufacturers contributed to the unusual situation in which two of Boeing's newly introduced aircraft were grounded in a period of six years. Before the Dreamliner, the FAA hadn't grounded a model since 1979. "When I was chairman of the NTSB, my single most important job was who we hired," Hall said. "Do we have in the federal government the level of funding and expertise we need? Are we attracting the kind of young, smart minds that continue to uphold our reputation in the aviation area?" As the investigation continues, mourners marched in the hundreds past the Library of Parliament in Addis Ababa to Selassie Cathedral for a funeral service Sunday, wearing black or the sea-green uniforms of Ethiopian Airlines and carrying photos of the dead. After a priest read the victims' names aloud, people carried empty coffins from the cathedral to a graveyard. All that was heard was sobbing, wailing and chanting. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2019/03/19/521002.htm Back to Top Blacklisted Avior Airlines passes IATA safety audit 19 March 2019 Avior Airlines, blacklisted in the European Union, passed the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). Avior is a Venezuelan airline. It was founded in 1994 and currently has a fleet of five Boeing 737-200; eight Boeing 737-400; and one Airbus A340-300 aircraft. On 30 November 2017 Avior was added to the List of air carriers banned in the European Union, stating that, at the time there was "clear evidence of serious safety deficiencies on the part of Avior Airlines." The IOSA programme is an evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline. IOSA uses internationally recognised quality audit principles and is designed to conduct audits in a standardised and consistent manner. It was created in 2003 by IATA. All IATA members are IOSA registered and must remain registered to maintain IATA membership. https://news.aviation-safety.net/2019/03/19/blacklisted-avior-airlines-passes-iata-safety-audit/ Back to Top Trump nominates former Delta executive to lead FAA President Trump on Tuesday nominated former Delta Air Lines executive Steve Dickson to lead the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The announcement comes at a critical time for the FAA, which as been the subject of questions and criticism over its handling of Boeing's 737 Max 8 aircraft. A 737 Max 8 was involved in an Ethiopian Airlines crash earlier this month that killed 157 people, and in a Lion Air crash in Indonesia last October that left 189 people dead. The FAA insisted the planes were safe in the wake of the Ethiopian Airlines crash amid mounting political pressure and after numerous countries opted to ground the aircraft pending an investigation. The Trump administration eventually followed suit and temporarily halted use of the planes. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao confirmed Tuesday that she's asked the department's watchdog to audit the FAA's certification process for the Boeing 737 Max 8. Dickson will require Senate confirmation before officially taking the job. A former Air Force pilot, he retired last year as Delta's senior vice president of flight operations. Dickson's nomination comes roughly 14 months after the last administrator, Michael Huerta, departed at the conclusion of his five-year term. Daniel Elwell has led the agency in an acting capacity since then. Elwell is a former military and airline pilot who has worked closely with Chao prior to and during his tenure as acting administrator. Trump, who launched the long-defunct Trump Shuttle airline service decades ago and has periodically injected himself into the conversation on aviation safety, reportedly considered his former personal pilot for the post but later abandoned the idea. https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/434781-trump-nominates-former-delta-executive-to-lead-faa Back to Top Cockpit voice recorder of doomed Lion Air jet depicts pilots' frantic search for fix - sources Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) of a Lion Air JT610 that crashed into Tanjung Karawang sea is seen inside a special container after it was found JAKARTA/SINGAPORE/PARIS (Reuters) - The pilots of a doomed Lion Air Boeing 737 MAX scoured a handbook as they struggled to understand why the jet was lurching downwards, but ran out of time before it hit the water, three people with knowledge of the cockpit voice recorder contents said. The investigation into the crash, which killed all 189 people on board in October, has taken on new relevance as the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other regulators grounded the model last week after a second deadly accident in Ethiopia. Investigators examining the Indonesian crash are considering how a computer ordered the plane to dive in response to data from a faulty sensor and whether the pilots had enough training to respond appropriately to the emergency, among other factors. It is the first time the voice recorder contents from the Lion Air flight have been made public. The three sources discussed them on condition of anonymity. Reuters did not have access to the recording or transcript. A Lion Air spokesman said all data and information had been given to investigators and declined to comment further. The captain was at the controls of Lion Air flight JT610 when the nearly new jet took off from Jakarta, and the first officer was handling the radio, according to a preliminary report issued in November. Just two minutes into the flight, the first officer reported a "flight control problem" to air traffic control and said the pilots intended to maintain an altitude of 5,000 feet, the November report said. The first officer did not specify the problem, but one source said airspeed was mentioned on the cockpit voice recording, and a second source said an indicator showed a problem on the captain's display but not the first officer's. The captain asked the first officer to check the quick reference handbook, which contains checklists for abnormal events, the first source said. For the next nine minutes, the jet warned pilots it was in a stall and pushed the nose down in response, the report showed. A stall is when the airflow over a plane's wings is too weak to generate lift and keep it flying. The captain fought to climb, but the computer, still incorrectly sensing a stall, continued to push the nose down using the plane's trim system. Normally, trim adjusts an aircraft's control surfaces to ensure it flies straight and level. "They didn't seem to know the trim was moving down," the third source said. "They thought only about airspeed and altitude. That was the only thing they talked about." Boeing Co declined to comment on Wednesday because the investigation was ongoing. The manufacturer has said there is a documented procedure to handle the situation. A different crew on the same plane the evening before encountered the same problem but solved it after running through three checklists, according to the November report. But they did not pass on all of the information about the problems they encountered to the next crew, the report said. The pilots of JT610 remained calm for most of the flight, the three sources said. Near the end, the captain asked the first officer to fly while he checked the manual for a solution. About one minute before the plane disappeared from radar, the captain asked air traffic control to clear other traffic below 3,000 feet and requested an altitude of "five thou", or 5,000 feet, which was approved, the preliminary report said. As the 31-year-old captain tried in vain to find the right procedure in the handbook, the 41-year-old first officer was unable to control the plane, two of the sources said. The flight data recorder shows the final control column inputs from the first officer were weaker than the ones made earlier by the captain. "It is like a test where there are 100 questions and when the time is up you have only answered 75," the third source said. "So you panic. It is a time-out condition." The Indian-born captain was silent at the end, all three sources said, while the Indonesian first officer said "Allahu Akbar", or "God is greatest", a common Arabic phrase in the majority-Muslim country that can be used to express excitement, shock, praise or distress. The plane then hit the water, killing all 189 people on board. French air accident investigation agency BEA said on Tuesday the flight data recorder in the Ethiopian crash that killed 157 people showed "clear similarities" to the Lion Air disaster. Since the Lion Air crash, Boeing has been pursuing a software upgrade to change how much authority is given to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, a new anti-stall system developed for the 737 MAX. The cause of the Lion Air crash has not been determined, but the preliminary report mentioned the Boeing system, a faulty, recently replaced sensor and the airline's maintenance and training. On the same aircraft the evening before the crash, a captain at Lion Air's full-service sister carrier, Batik Air, was riding along in the cockpit and solved the similar flight control problems, two of the sources said. His presence on that flight, first reported by Bloomberg, was not disclosed in the preliminary report. The report also did not include data from the cockpit voice recorder, which was not recovered from the ocean floor until January. Soerjanto Tjahjono, head of Indonesian investigation agency KNKT, said last week the report could be released in July or August as authorities attempted to speed up the inquiry in the wake of the Ethiopian crash. On Wednesday, he declined to comment on the cockpit voice recorder contents, saying they had not been made public. https://kfgo.com/news/articles/2019/mar/20/exclusive-cockpit-voice-recorder-of-doomed-lion-air-jet-depicts-pilots-frantic-search-for-fix-sources/ Back to Top An off-duty pilot saved Lion Air's 737 Max from a crash the day before its fatal flight When a Lion Air flight crashed in Indonesia on Oct. 29 killing 189 people, it was the first accident for Boeing's new 737 Max jet, and it drew investigator attention to a little-known new flight-control function. Known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, the system directs the plane's nose downward in response to sensor data that shows the plane is in danger of a stall. The redirection happens without pilot intervention, and can be quite forceful. In the Lion Air case, it was triggered in response to erroneous sensor data indicating the plane's nose was too high. Pilots say they didn't learn of the system until after that crash. A day earlier on Oct. 28, the same plane had experienced similar problems to those seen on the flight that crashed, but managed to resolve them and proceed with the flight safely. Bloomberg reported that's because a third off-duty pilot (paywall) who was in the cockpit took the steps needed to stop the plane from engaging in repeated nose-down maneuvers-known in aviation as "runaway trim." The third pilot's presence wasn't noted in Indonesia's preliminary report on the crash of flight JT610, which attributed the corrective action to the commanding pilot on the Oct. 28 flight. On its penultimate flight, the plane began automatically adjusting the nose downward less than six minutes into the flight-soon after a cockpit alert activated at 400 feet to indicate an impending stall. The flight system carried out three maneuvers to adjust the nose downward, flight data showed, but the crew initiated steps to override it a little over eight minutes into the flight. The flight landed safely in Jakarta about an hour and a half after takeoff. When the pilots logged the flight later, along with several instrument failures, they noted they had faced "[speed trim] also running to the wrong direction." It's not clear why pilots of the Oct. 29 flight, which crashed soon after taking off from Jakarta, weren't able to override the system or what procedures they tried to use. Its 31-year-old Indian commanding pilot had more than 6,000 hours of flying experience, while the second-in-command, a 41-year-old Indonesian national, had over 5,000 hours of flying experience. The cockpit voice recorder was only recovered in January. In its response to Indonesia's preliminary report in November, Boeing made a point of comparing the response of the pilots on the doomed flight, with that of the pilots the day before. The statement angered the airline (paywall) for appearing to highlight the role of human error, as well as maintenance, over the role of the new flight system. A final report is due in July or August. In the wake of the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people on March 10, which was also a 737 Max jet, the plane has been globally grounded. Ethiopian and US authorities have said there are similarities to the Lion Air crash, citing black-box data, physical evidence from the scene, and satellite data. Since then, the design of the anti-stall system, how robustly it was safety tested, and how pilots were prepped for the Max have been under fierce scrutiny. Pilots say they should not have been kept in the dark, particularly when the system relies on pilot action as a crucial safety backstop. Some pilots, such as those of United Airlines, have disputed that stance, saying a properly trained pilot should be able to diagnose the problem and resolve it even without knowing about MCAS. That seems to be what happened on Oct. 28, the Lion Air jet's penultimate flight. But many pilots say that being aware of the presence of MCAS, and of how it might make the plane behave, makes diagnosing and resolving a problem likely to happen more quickly in a situation where every second is crucial. https://qz.com/1576597/off-duty-pilot-saved-lion-airs-737-max-the-day-before-its-fatal-flight/ Back to Top Here's how airplane crash investigations work, according to an aviation safety expert By: Daniel Kwasi Adjekum The fatal crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 has resulted in the worldwide grounding of Boeing 737 Max aircraft. Investigators are probing the crash and another like it that occurred less than five months earlier in Indonesia. As an experienced airline pilot, aircraft accident investigator and professor of aviation, I know that such major crash investigations are an enormous effort often involving many countries' governments and input from dozens of industry partners. The inquiries can take months of painstaking work. They often yield important insights that improve flight safety for everyone long into the future. Here's how an investigation generally goes. A massive collaboration The accident investigation process is laid out by the standards and recommended practices in an international agreement called Annex 13 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation. That document outlines the process of gathering and analyzing information and drawing conclusions - including determining the causes of a crash and making safety recommendations. The government of the country where the crash occurred takes the lead in the investigation. Also involved are investigators from the countries where the aircraft is registered, where the airline's headquarters is, where the aircraft designer is based and where the aircraft was assembled. Countries where the engines or other major aircraft components were designed and assembled and those with citizens killed or seriously injured in the crash may also take part in the investigations. The Ethiopian Airlines crash is under investigation by Ethiopian authorities, with the assistance of members of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. Other countries - including Kenya, France, Canada, China, Italy and the U.K., which all lost several citizens in the crash - may ask to be part of the process. Ethiopian investigators can seek technical advice not only from participating countries' representatives, such as the NTSB, but also from the companies that made the plane and its engines - in this case, Boeing and CFM international, respectively. From emergency to inquiry At the beginning of the inquiry, the investigator-in-charge, usually an investigator from the lead country's aviation safety board, coordinates with local first responders to determine what hazards may be present at the crash site, and ensures safe access for investigators to visit the wreckage. Dangerous debris could include hazardous cargo, flammable or toxic materials and gases, sharp or heavy objects and pressurized equipment. Human remains or blood from injured victims may also pose dangers of disease, meaning investigators must protect themselves against viruses, bacteria or parasites. The investigators on the scene take photos and videos of the wreckage and collect as much physical evidence as they can. They also conduct interviews with eyewitnesses and draw charts showing the debris field and any indications of how the aircraft hit the ground, such as the angle of impact, the distribution of debris and other details. If parts of aircraft can be salvaged, they can be moved to a secure facility such as a hangar for wreckage reassembling. This can assist in determining missing or damaged components, and gaining a fuller idea of what happened. Investigators also collect all the documents related the plane, its crew and its recent flights for forensic analysis. An early priority is locating the crucial evidence in what are often called the plane's "black boxes." There are two kinds. The flight data recorders keep track of flight parameters such altitude, heading, instrument readings, power settings and flight control inputs. The cockpit voice recorders store all communications with the aircraft, including from air traffic controllers, and record any conversations among cockpit occupants and other audible cockpit sounds for the two hours leading up to the crash. All that information lets analysts reconstruct, and even create video simulations of, the last moments of the plane's flight. If either of those devices is damaged, authorities may ask the aircraft's manufacturer to verify the salvaged data. Ethiopian investigators have asked for foreign help to analyze the black-box data. They originally asked Germany's Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation, but that agency said it didn't have the technical know-how either. France's Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety, one of the most experienced crash investigation agencies in the world, is handling them instead. In the early stages of an investigation, there are a lot of people working on different aspects of the inquiry all at once. As the preliminary lead accident investigator for the Ghanaian MI-17 helicopter crash in Adukrom, Ghana, in January 2007, I had to coordinate the securing of the crash site and do field interviews of witnesses while charting the debris and recovering the "black box" for further analysis. Technical groups assemble Other teams look at technical aspects that might have contributed in any way to the crash. They look at air traffic control activity and instructions, weather, human performance issues like crew experience and training, maintenance records, emergency response, safety equipment, aircraft performance and subsystems. They may disassemble the crashed plane's engines or other components and use flight simulators to attempt to experience what the pilots were dealing with. Analysts even study the metals used to make components to see how they should perform - to later compare that information with what actually happened during the crash. A team also interviews any survivors, rescue personnel and subject-matter experts. Forensic teams and medical examiners will analyze victims' remains to identify them for family members and to examine the injuries they suffered, and test for any drugs, alcohol or even carbon monoxide in their bodies that might have impaired their judgment or performance. In some cases, especially high-profile crashes, investigators will hold public hearings, at which they gather more evidence and make public some of what they have found. This helps assure the public that the process is open and transparent, and is not covering up the responsibility of any guilty party. Findings and conclusions After they rigorously analyze all the data, devise, test and evaluate different hypotheses for what could have happened, the investigative team must determine causes and contributing factors. The goal is to identify anything - acts someone did (or didn't) do, properties of a materials, gusts of wind, and so on - that had any role in the crash. The report should include both immediate causes - such as active failures of pilots or maintenance crew - and underlying reasons, like insufficient training or pressure to rush through a task. Within 30 days after the crash, the investigation team must release a preliminary report to the International Civil Aviation Organization, the U.N.-related global agency overseeing commercial air travel. A final report is normally expected to follow before a year has passed. In cases where a final report can't be issued on that timeline, the team should release an interim report on each anniversary of the event, detailing the progress so far. Improving safety At any point during the investigation, investigators can recommend any preventative action that it has identified as necessary to improve flight safety. In the wake of the Lion Air crash, Boeing was reportedly working on a fix to a software system, but it didn't get released before the Ethiopian Airlines crash. The final report, including all the safety recommendations, isreleased by the country that conducted the investigation to the publicand is aimed at improving aviation safety and not to apportion blame. https://phys.org/news/2019-03-airplane-aviation-safety-expert.html#jCp Back to Top Plane Crash Deaths More Than Double in Russia - Aviation Authorities More than twice as many people have died in Russian plane crashes last year than in 2017, a top interregional aviation safety organization has said. Aviation safety has come under scrutiny after a spate of air accidents in Russia in 2018, including a deadly collision outside Moscow in February 2018 that killed 71 people. A total of 128 people died in 42 plane crashes and accidents that occurred in Russia in 2018, the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) said in a report published on Wednesday. In 2017, 51 people died in 39 accidents. Three-quarters of all accidents in 2018 were blamed on human error. The IAC previously named 2016 as a record-setting year with 63 accidents in Russia and 11 other post-Soviet countries. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/03/20/plane-crash-deaths-more-than-double-in-russia-aviation-authorities-a64878 Back to Top NTSB: Pilot in fatal Harrison County plane crash not certified to fly that type of aircraft • William Kendrick was certified to fly single-engine planes, not twin-engine planes • NTSB: Pilot in fatal Harrison County plane crash not certified to fly that type of aircraft TYLER, TX (KLTV) - A preliminary report on the fatal two-engine plane crash that occurred in Harrison County on March 9 released by the National Transportation Safety Board indicated that the pilot had a private pilot's license with only a single-engine land rating. The Texas Department of Public Safety identified the pilot as William Robert Kendrick, 51, of Huffman, His three passengers were identified as his Kendrick's wife, Rebecca Marsh Kendrick, 51, of Huffman, daughter, Kaycee Ann Kendrick, of Farmer's Branch, and her boyfriend, Coty Ray Shrum, of Farmer's Branch. All four crash victims were pronounced dead at the scene, by Harrison County Justice of the Peace Nancy George. The NTSB report stated that William Kendrick's last aviation medical exam was on Aug. 8, 2018, when he applied for a Federal Aviation Administration third-class medical certificate. William Kendrick stated on his application that he had accumulated a total of 1,200 hours of total flight time. However, he didn't log any flight time in the six months before the medical examination, the NTSB report stated. The NTSB report also stated that William Kendrick's pilot logbook was found in the plane's wreckage. The entry before the last entry was dated May 7, 2005. The last entry was dated Aug. 23, 2018. William Kendrick's plane was a 1968 model Cessna T337C twin-engine "push-pull" configuration, meaning that it had one engine in the front and one in the back. "According to the prior owner of the airplane, it recently underwent an annual inspection shortly after the sale," the NTSB report stated. "He sold the airplane 'in the fall' and that was the last time he flew it. The prior owner, in part, reported, 'The plane performed perfectly. Total airframe time was about 1800 hrs motors were both about 600 hrs. Excellent flying airplane. Good radios and everything worked properly the last time I flew it.'" The flight left Lancaster regional Airport at about 9:30 a.m. on March 9 and was on its way to the Lakefront Airport near New Orleans, Louisiana when it went down in Harrison County. The NTSB report cited an LNC employee who told investigators that William Kendrick came inside and bought a quart of oil for his plane. "He was in a good mood and told me that his daughter was from Houston and they were flying to Louisiana," the airport employee is quoted as saying. The LNC employee said that William Kendrick did a long preflight check and put the oil in the Cessna's front engine. In addition, the employee told investigators that a thunderstorm had blown through earlier that day, but the weather condition was "clear' when William Kendrick took off. Later, a friend of the family reported that the plane was missing, and an Alert Notice was issued. Immediately after the crash, DPS reported that William Kendrick may have encountered severe weather, which caused the plane to lose altitude and crash in a wooded area on private property. A witness who had been driving down a road saw debris along a cleared area above an underground pipeline and realized that it was a plane crash, the NTSB report stated. He called 911 at about 7 p.m. on March 9. George told East Texas News that the crash occurred south of FM 968 on Waldron's Ferry Road at about 6:30 p.m. on March 9. A DPS spokesperson said the crash happened about three miles south of Hallsville. According to the NTSB report, the recorded weather at the East Texas Regional Airport near Longview showed wind speeds of up to 20 mph and gusts of up to 32 mph. The temperature was 73.4 degrees Fahrenheit, and visibility was 10 miles. Thunderstorms started in that area at 10:25 a.m. on March 9, the NTSB report stated. The NTSB report stated that the Cessna was destroyed after it struck trees and terrain. The main wreckage, which consisted of the fragmented fuselage, empennage, inboard wings sections, and both engines that were found embedded about 6 to 8 feet below grade in wooded terrain about 62° and 10 nautical miles from [the East Texas Regional Airport]." The NTSB report stated. "One fuel tank was found fragmented near the main wreckage in the woods and one fuel tank was found in a clearway for an underground pipeline near the main wreckage." Other pieces of the plane, including parts of the fuselage and wings, were found scattered through a nearby wooded area, the NTSB report stated. George ordered that an autopsy be performed on William Kendrick's body. She also ordered a toxicology report, the NTSB report stated. "Radar data from the FAA was requested for plotting the flight's recorded track and a weather study will be conducted to determine the weather along the recorded track," the NTSB report stated. The FAA assisted the NTSB with the investigation at the crash site. http://www.ksla.com/2019/03/19/ntsb-pilot-fatal-harrison-county-plane-crash-not-certified-fly-that-type-aircraft/ Back to Top Why did Qatar Airways Flight 968 drop from radar and go on an erratic path? Qatar Airways flight #968 from Doha, Qatar, to Hanoi, Vietnam, declared an emergency when approaching Hanoi on today's scheduled flight. After this, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner went on an erratic flight path. According to information recorded on Flight Aware, the aircraft turned around, left Vietnam and went back into Thailand air space. The flight did not approach the kingdom's largest airport Bangkok, but landed in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Looking at flight details on the website, it shows the plane 5 1/2 hours into the flight rapidly dropping from an altitude of 40,000 feet to 10,000 feet and then over the next half hour down to almost ground level while approaching Hanoi, then back up to where it sustained a low level of around 3,000 feet for several minutes before climbing back up to 35,000 feet and then coming back down approximately an hour later on it's approach to Chiang Mai. The aircraft safely navigated to gate 7 where it is now parked and passengers are disembarking. https://www.eturbonews.com/247833/what-did-qatar-airways-flight-968-drop-from-the-sky-and-go-on-an-erratic-path Back to Top DOT IG Finalizing FAA Aircraft Registry Audit Report The U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General's (DOT IG) office is expected to release a draft audit report of the FAA civil aircraft registry this week to the aviation agency, according to DOT IG program director of aviation audits Marshall Jackson. Speaking yesterday at the NBAA Business Aircraft Finance, Registration, and Legal Conference, Jackson said the FAA will then have 30 days to review and comment on the report before the watchdog agency makes the document public next month. Spawned by a series of Boston Globe stories about lack of aircraft owner transparency in the FAA registry, the audit seeks to assess the FAA's modernization progress of the registry and policies for providing public access to records, he said. The DOT IG also coordinated this audit with the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which is also conducting its own review related to aircraft registration. Jackson noted that the FAA reauthorization bill passed last year requires the agency to modernize its aircraft registry in three years. "It's good that Congress pushed the FAA on this issue," he said. "However, three years is a really aggressive timeline, and I'm not sure if the FAA will be able to meet that." The FAA issued a request for information in December to solicit interest and capabilities from interested vendors regarding its new digital aircraft registry, Jackson said. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2019-03-19/dot-ig-finalizing-faa-aircraft-registry-audit-report Back to Top Where Investigators Learn to Prevent Accidents Aviation Safety and Security Program teaches courses to pilots across the globe USC'S AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION LAB ALLOWS STUDENTS TO OBSERVE AND EXAMINE THE WRECKAGE OF REAL PLANE CRASHES TO GAIN THE REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE IN ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION. (IMAGE CREDIT: THOMAS ANTHONY) When it comes to preventing aircraft hazards, crashes, and emergencies, the contributions of USC are among the most important in the nation. For over 60 years, USC professors have taught pilots, aircraft investigators, and aviation officials about why planes crash and how to prevent these failures through the USC Aviation Safety and Security Program. This program operates around the globe, teaching how to identify hazards in aircraft systems and take action to prevent them from manifesting into an accident. The USC Aviation Safety and Security Program has recently extended aid to the World Food Program, an operation run by the United Nations where pilots fly in food, potable water, medical supplies, and other resources to regions in need, often in the wreckage of natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, and flooding. Navigating landing in these regions is extremely difficult. Pilots often land on gravel airstrips or roads, sometimes packed with cattle or other obstacles. "Each year, the World Food Program flies approximately 400,000 aid workers, peacekeepers, and others to regions all around the world," said Dan Scalese, the automation and laboratory specialist for the Aviation Program. USC's course trains these UN pilots on how to recognize, mitigate, communicate, and prevent hazards. In addition, USC's training has helped numerous pilots working for different governments and companies around the world land safely in dangerous terrain and perilous conditions. Just last November, a recent student of USC's course, David Nordquist, who is a pilot for the Los Angeles Fire Department, successfully completed a dangerous rescue mission. While fighting the Woolsey Fire, he landed a plane in the Santa Monica Mountains, dealing with hazards including smoke, flames, and wind, then landing amidst communication towers and parked vehicles. Nordquist navigated a hazardous landing, ushered three people and two dogs fleeing from the fire aboard, and safely took off once again. "We recognize the value of knowing what we teach here, so we try to give back," said Tom Anthony, director of the USC Aviation Safety and Security Program. Anthony volunteers to give free training to World Food Program pilots and aircraft authorities. Before Anthony began working for the Aviation Safety and Security Program, he worked for seven years in air traffic control and 18 years as an investigator for the Federal Aviation Administration. When he learned of USC's program, he volunteered to teach at it, becoming a contract instructor. In 2007, after the position opened up, Anthony became the director of the program at USC. The program's Aircraft Accident Lab, located in an old warehouse in Los Angeles, is one of the best in the world. Amidst the twisted metal and wreckage of real crashed planes lies an opportunity for learning, where pilots can investigate what went wrong and learn how to prevent such mistakes in future flights. "Our growing lab makes our program more attractive to investigation students from around the world," Scalese said. "And finding new examples of plane crashes and learning their stories and what went wrong is always a treasure hunt." The Aviation Safety and Security Program has 45 instructors on staff. Classes are taught not only taught in the program's classrooms in Los Angeles, but around the world. Many countries do not have training facilities that are designed to teach aircraft accident investigation, so USC's program is immensely valuable to their pilots. A wide variety of aviation organizations enroll in the program, from safety officers from major airlines in the United States to militaries, from civil aviation authorities to accident investigators from countries including Denmark, Mexico, Singapore, Chile, Namibia, and South Africa. "Just this week we ran a course in Trinidad. The week before that, we taught in Tunisia," Anthony said. USC's Aviation and Aircraft Safety and Security Program began in 1952 with a grant from the United States Air Force. At the time, the Air Force was experiencing too many crashes, losing too many planes and pilots and urgently wanted a program to increase air safety. The Safety Command at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino came to USC asking the university to research the root causes of aircraft accidents in the Air Force. The first USC class took place in 1953. Although the program began by focusing on military aviation, it eventually extended to include civil aviation as well. During its first few decades, the program primarily focused on accidents and looking into their causes. Today, the program seeks a more proactive approach, aiming to identify and act upon hazardous activities and conditions before they result in accidents. Mishaps that occur in aviation can usually be traced back to several related causal factors. To improve safety, the course teaches how to begin to identify all the links in the chain leading up to the mishap. USC is also in the process of developing an app that could be used as a tool for pilots to teach them to identify and deal with possible hazards. The app is based on an acronym, PRIFISE, which stands for Plan; Roles; Intel; Fences, Gates, and Barriers; Identify Friend or Foe; Search or Screen; and Emergency Response. The acronym runs through the steps pilots should take when dealing with a dangerous situation in the air or while landing, preparing them for secure and safe trips in marginalized or dangerous regions of the world. The app will be used by pilots to assess risk, but also to quantify and record hazards. "In the world of aviation safety, which is the whole world, this is the first aviation safety program that was established at a major research university," Anthony said. "We continue to recognize the responsibility of that heritage and seek to be as current and effective in our contributions to aviation security as we can. It's a big responsibility that we take seriously." https://viterbischool.usc.edu/news/2019/03/have-a-safe-flight-with-usc-viterbi/ Back to Top Why Drivers, Like Pilots, Should Be Trained to Use Autonomous Features Should drivers using vehicles with autonomous features be trained on those features before they get behind the wheel? A new paper, "What Do We Tell the Drivers? Toward Minimum Driver Training Standards for Partially Automated Cars," recently published by the Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making, explores that question and suggests looking to the experience of pilots for an answer. Despite autonomous car systems being designed to respond to conflicts, crashes could still occur if there is not proper human training, according to authors Stephen M. Casner of NASA and Edwin L. Hutchins of the University of California San Diego. Casner says this issue is increasingly relevant as more and more vehicles are being equipped with autonomous features such as lane keeping and automatic braking. By providing no standard training for drivers on these machines, automakers are handing average drivers complex pieces of equipment and hoping for the best, the authors say. Currently, there has been little coordinated attempt to train drivers of vehicles with autonomous features about how the systems work or how they affect driver behavior. "The current strategy seems to be to place additional pages in the operator's manual and hope drivers will pull it out of the glovebox and carefully read it," Casner said. Casner and Hutchins argue that, while autonomous-feature vehicles will reduce common crash scenarios, the lack of educated drivers could lead to a slew of other types of accidents. To demonstrate their point, they cite the advent of autopilot in airplanes. Decades ago when automation was first deployed in airplane cockpits, there was little front end training for pilots on how these systems worked. This led to new kinds of crashes, and ultimately pushed the industry to increase the training offered for these systems. "That early research yielded a number of unexpected findings," the article states. "We found that pilots were sometimes surprised by the behavior of the automation, unable to predict what a complex system would do next. Ironically, being able to predict what the automation would do next seemed to require more knowledge about how the automation works than we originally anticipated." They say people need training not just on how the technology works, but also on how humans respond to it and the general concept of a human-automation team. The paper explores how what was learned nearly 50 years ago in planes could foreshadow what will happen if society doesn't start educating autonomous-feature vehicle drivers how their machines work. The authors point to studies showing that drivers often let their attention drift and don't understand how the automation works. While they applaud that car makers, insurance firms, government agencies and others are discussing some of these issues, they conclude there appear to be few actual plans to provide drivers with the training they need. The authors offer a first attempt at a set of minimum standards for what drivers should know before they operate a partially automated car. The paper, which will appear in print in the Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making in June, is available online now. The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society is a professional organization for human factors/ergonomics professionals with an interest in designing systems, tools, consumer products, and equipment to be safe and effective. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2019/03/20/521127.htm Back to Top Report: Boeing could be readying additional space to store 737 MAXs Boeing could reportedly have an option in eastern Washington state for storing 737 MAX aircraft during the aircraft's current grounding and suspension of deliveries. With planes grounded and deliveries halted, the Boeing Co. will need room for its 737 MAX jets as it maintains production at the record rate of 52 aircraft per month on the 737 line. And, according to a report from the Puget Sound Business Journal, the company might be looking to a former B-52 bomber facility in eastern Washington state for storage space. The PSBJ reports that Boeing (NYSE: BA) owns more than 100 acres of property, including a ramp that could be used for parking undelivered aircraft, surrounding what is now Grant County International Airport. That was formerly Larson Air Force Base and is around 180 miles east of Boeing's 737 assembly facility in Renton, Wash. It is also where Boeing used to deliver the B-52 bomber to the U.S. Air Force until it became a civilian airport in the mid-1960s. The PSBJ also reports that a source said snowplows had begun clearing off some of the ramp on Friday - a day after Boeing announced it would suspend deliveries of the aircraft in the wake of the Federal Aviation Administration joining other regulatory bodies and airlines around the world in grounding the new aircraft. The FAA order that grounded the American fleet of 737 MAX aircraft allows Boeing to get flight permits "to allow non-passenger carrying flights, as needed for purposes of flight to a base for storage, production flight testing, repairs, alterations, or maintenance." The grounding followed two deadly crashes of 737 MAX 8 jets in a little more than five months that killed a combined 356 people. But the company has said that, at least for now, it will continue to build at the rate of 52 aircraft a month while it develops software upgrades that could get the planes back in the air. In an open letter and video to airlines published late Monday, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said that the company will "soon" release that software upgrade and related pilot training. "Boeing has been in the business of aviation safety for more than 100 years, and we'll continue providing the best products, training and support to our global airline customers and pilots," the CEO said. "This is an ongoing and relentless commitment to make safe airplanes even safer." Maintaining the current build rate through the grounding keeps the production line churning at Spirit AeroSystems Inc. in Wichita, where the company builds around 70 percent of the structure on every 737. That includes on the Next Generation variant that Boeing is still delivering to customers, though the MAX was expected to account for around 90 percent of 737 deliveries this year. A Spirit spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the company could itself store any of the full fuselages it builds for the 737 in the event such a step was needed. Those fuselages and other components the company builds on the 737 are shipped by rail from Wichita to Renton. https://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/news/2019/03/19/report-boeing-could-be-readying-additional-space.html?ana=yahoo&yptr=yahoo Back to Top Japan Taps Toyota to Build Futuristic Moon Rover Japan's space agency has teamed up with Toyota to develop a huge moon rover for future astronauts. It could be ready by 2029, JAXA says. Japan's space agency has teamed up with Toyota to develop a huge moon rover for future astronauts. It could be ready by 2029, JAXA says. (Image: © Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Japan wants to build the ultimate moon rover for astronauts and has tapped Toyota to help develop a futuristic, off-road, lunar vehicle that could potentially launch in 2029. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced Tuesday (March 12) that it is working with vehicle manufacturer Toyota to develop the moon rover of the future - a massive vehicle powered by fuel cells with a maximum range of a whopping 6,213 miles (10,000 kilometers). "Manned rovers with pressurized cabins are an element that will play an important role in full-fledged exploration and use of the lunar surface," JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa said in a statement. "Through our joint studies going forward, we would like to put to use Toyota's excellent technological abilities related to mobility, and we look forward to the acceleration of our technological studies for the realization of a manned, pressurized rover." The plan, JAXA officials said, is to work with Toyota on a huge, pressurized rover that will be typically crewed by two astronauts but capable of accommodating up to four people in an emergency. If current concept designs hold true, the rover will be huge - at least 20 feet (6 meters) long, have six wheels, and measure 17 feet (5.2 m) wide and 12.4 feet (3.8 m) high. The vehicle will have about 140 square feet (13 square meters) of living space, JAXA officials said. Two concept images of the the JAXA-Toyota moon rover show a sleek, futuristic lunar car with a cockpit like a nose covered in angular windows. The concept design shows that the rover has headlights and running lights (they might be signal blinkers), as well as brake lights. One image shows what appears to be a rollout solar array to generate power. This concept of a Japanese moon rover built by Toyota appears to use a rollup solar array for power. JAXA and Toyota are exploring the use of fuel cells for electric power. In comparison, NASA's unpressurized lunar rovers used on the Apollo missions decades ago could seat two astronauts (wearing spacesuits) and were powered by batteries. These vehicles had four wheels and were 10.1 feet long (3.1 m) and 7.5 feet wide (2.3 m), with a maximum height of 3.7 feet (1.14 m). The Lunar Roving Vehicles, as NASA called them, were powered by batteries, according to NASA documents. JAXA and Toyota have been working together on the moon rover project since May 2018. Building the equivalent of a rugged sports utility vehicle for the moon comes with challenges, JAXA officials said. "Lunar gravity is one-sixth of that on Earth. Meanwhile, the moon has a complex terrain with craters, cliffs, and hills," astronaut Koichi Wakata, JAXA's vice president, said in the statement. "Moreover, it is exposed to radiation and temperature conditions that are much harsher than those on Earth, as well as an ultra-high vacuum environment." For its part, Toyota said the company is excited to develop JAXA's moon rover, and stressed that the vehicle's safety will be vital for astronauts. "Furthermore, cars are used in all of Earth's regions, and, in some regions, cars play active roles as partners for making sure that people come back alive," Toyota President Akio Toyoda said in the statement. "And I think that coming back alive is exactly what is needed in this project." JAXA's moon rover projects comes as NASA is developing its own plans to return astronauts to the moon, first with a lunar orbiting "gateway" space station. That would be followed by crewed lunar landings in 2026. NASA chief Jim Bridenstine has repeatedly stressed that the U.S. agency's return to the moon will occur in cooperation with international partners. JAXA officials did not specifically say that the Toyota moon rover project will be part of its contribution to a future human moon mission effort, the agency did say in a joint statement with partners that it is committed to participating in NASA's lunar plans. https://www.space.com/japan-futuristic-moon-rovers-by-toyota.html Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Participants for a 5-minute survey regarding hypoxia and high altitude chamber training are being sought for a study assessing hypoxia perceptions and experiences related to hypoxia awareness training. To be eligible for participation, you must have previously completed high altitude chamber training. All responses are anonymous and no identifying information will be collected. The study is being conducted by Kasey Stevenson, a graduate student studying Aviation Management and Human Factors at Arizona State University. Kasey's research is being conducted at the Del E. Webb High Altitude Chamber; previously the Williams Air Force Base High Altitude Chamber. The research is being completed with the goal of improving hypoxia awareness and training methods, in an effort to reduce hypoxia-related incidents and accidents. The survey can be accessed at: https://asu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ealbH4xwJRL8P2J Curt Lewis