Flight Safety Information March 25, 2019 - No. 062 In This Issue Boeing testing software changes to 737 MAX planes Boeing Plans to Meet Regulators, Pilots to Explain 737 Max Fixes Relationship Between Boeing, FAA Safety Regulators Under Scrutiny Incident: Pobeda B738 near Sochi on Mar 23rd 2019, lightning strike Incident: Aeromexico B789 near Lima on Mar 23rd 2019, problem with cockpit oxygen Incident: American A332 at Munich on Mar 22nd 2019, pack problem Incident: BoA B737 near Cochabamba on Mar 22nd 2019, engine shut down in flight Incident: Cathay Pacific A333 at Jakarta on Mar 22nd 2019, hydraulic failure Incident: PIA B773 at Lahore on Mar 22nd 2019, bird strike penetrates leading edge of wing Incident: Southwest B737 at Houston on Mar 21st 2019, flock of birds on short final Allegedly suicidal pilot crashes Beech Super King Air into building at Matsieng Aerodrome, Botswana Diamond DA42 Twin Star - Fatal Accident (New Zealand) Why are airplane black boxes so important? Colorado's 'Boom Supersonic' & Alabama Firm Team Up To Build New Aircraft Earth Networks Launches Aviation Early Warning System for the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation Mother and daughter pilot Delta Boeing 757 from Los Angeles to Atlanta 200 Jet Airways pilots may switch to SpiceJet, IndiGo cockpits QANTAS PILOT ACADEMY STILL ON TRACK DESPITE LOSS OF PARTNER Cathay Pacific Prepares For Their Boeing 777X Launch 2020 Mars Helicopter Could Open Alien Skies to Exploration 2019 - RTCA Global Aviation Symposium Workshops Across Canada! There's Still Room! Boeing testing software changes to 737 MAX planes Seattle (CNN)Pilots from the three American carriers that fly Boeing 737 MAX planes tested software changes developed by Boeing to a key stabilization system on Saturday, a person briefed on the tests said. The changes are intended to decrease the chances of triggering the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, which is believed to have played a role in the Lion Air crash in October. The Federal Aviation Administration has said there are similarities between that crash and a second 737 MAX crash earlier this month in Ethiopia. Pilots and training officials from Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines met with Boeing officials Saturday to review the software changes in the Seattle area, where the model is assembled, according to multiple airline sources. At the gathering, pilots from the three American carriers, plus two smaller non-US airlines, ran simulated flights designed to mimic the situation that brought down the Lion Air flight in Indonesia last year, using the current and updated software, according to the person briefed on the session. Each pilot using the flight simulator landed the plane safely, the person said. In the simulations with the current MCAS software, the test pilots used existing procedures to disable the system, while test flights using the new software required less intervention from the pilots, the person said. Saturday's test flights were first reported by the New York Times. The updated software designed by Boeing uses input from two sensors on the nose of the plane, instead of one, and is designed to not trigger the MCAS system repeatedly, which is believed to have pitched the Lion Air plane's nose down so sharply that the pilots' attempts to regain control were futile. In a statement Sunday, Boeing called the meeting a "productive session" and said that they had invited more than 200 pilots and technicians, as well as regulators, to an informational session at the company's production facility in Renton, Washington, on Wednesday. "This is part of our ongoing effort to share more details about our plan for supporting the safe return of the 737 MAX to commercial service," Boeing said. "We had a productive session this past Saturday and plan to reach all current and many future MAX operators and their home regulators. At the same time, we continue to work closely with our customers and regulators on software and training updates for the 737 MAX," Boeing said. The FAA, which is part of this effort to test the new software, declined to comment. One source familiar with the tests said the FAA is expected to receive the software early in the week. But the FAA is not expected to allow the dozens of 737 MAX planes it grounded back into the air until it learns more about the causes of the Ethiopian Air crash, the source said. Data from the flight data and cockpit voice recorders is being analyzed in Ethiopia. US air carriers would like to see the plane return to the sky. American, which has 24 MAX aircraft in its fleet, and Southwest, which has 34, agree with union statements that their pilots are trained well enough to deal with the incidents that the Lion Air pilots encountered. American alone is canceling dozens of flights a day as a result of the grounding of the MAX aircraft. On Sunday, the airline said in a statement that the cancellations would continue through April 24, resulting in 90 flights grounded every day. https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/24/politics/boeing-software-737-max/index.html Back to Top Boeing Plans to Meet Regulators, Pilots to Explain 737 Max Fixes • The planemaker invites stakeholders to a Wednesday meeting • Boeing met with some customers Saturday, statement says Boeing Co. plans to meet this week with customers and regulators to explain plans for getting its 737 Max back into service, after the aircraft was grounded following two deadly crashes in less than five months. The planemaker invited more than 200 pilots, technical leaders and regulators for an informational session Wednesday in Renton, Washington, Boeing said in an emailed statement Monday. The company said it met Saturday with some U.S. and overseas customers. Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration have come under scrutiny over the certification of the 737 Max aircraft after crashes of an Ethiopian Airlines flight this month and a Lion Air flight in October raised concern about an automated safety system on the plane. U.S. air-safety regulators are leaning towards approving Boeing's changes to software and pilot training for the Max, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier, citing people familiar with the matter. "We had a productive session this past Saturday and plan to reach all current and many future Max operators and their home regulators," Boeing said in the statement. "We continue to work closely with our customers and regulators on software and training updates for the 737 Max." American Airlines is extending flight cancellations for its 737 Max aircraft until April 24 as it waits for information from U.S. authorities about when service can resume, according to a statement on the airline's website. This will mean the cancellation of about 90 flights each day, it said. Extensive changes to the plane's software will make its automated stall-prevention feature less aggressive and more controllable, according to the Journal's report. Training will highlight information about when the system engages and how to shut it off, the report said. The system, which is called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, was supposed to counteract a changed center of gravity on the Max, which has larger and more powerful engines than its predecessors. The software intervenes automatically, without a pilot's knowledge, when just one of two sensors indicates the aircraft is at risk of a stall. The so-called angle-of-attack vane provided a faulty reading to pilots of the Lion Air plane that crashed in October, according to a preliminary report by Indonesian investigators. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-25/boeing-plans-to-meet-regulators-pilots-to-explain-737-max-fixes Back to Top Relationship Between Boeing, FAA Safety Regulators Under Scrutiny Soon after Lion Air Flight 610 plummeted into the Java Sea last October, killing all 189 people aboard, Boeing Co. began to point gingerly toward mistakes the airline may have made. A preliminary report by Indonesian authorities recounted the trouble pilots had with a litany of mechanical woes. That same day, Boeing released its own summary of the findings. The aircraft maker didn't draw conclusions. But it focused on other factors - potential miscues by maintenance crews and then by pilots who didn't follow a checklist on the 737 Max 8 jet's final flight. The November statement set off Lion Air's founder, Rusdi Kirana. In public, days later, he said he felt "betrayed" by what he saw as a shifting of blame. In a conference call, he hurled expletives at Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg, according to a person who heard the exchange and asked for anonymity to describe the private conversation. Boeing's narrative largely held - until Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed minutes after takeoff this month. Now scrutiny is landing on the iconic American planemaker, facing Congressional hearings and law enforcement investigations into how it handled its own responsibilities to guarantee the safety of the 737 Max planes. At the heart of the questions is the almost fraternal relationship between the company and its regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration. As both pushed for savings and efficiency, alarms sounded. In one previously unreported case involving a separate aircraft program, a Boeing engineer sued three years ago, claiming he was fired for flagging safety problems that might have slowed development. Boeing has denied the claims. Some FAA inspectors raised similar concerns, saying the agency had given Boeing too much responsibility for its own safety checks. The FAA manager at the center of complaints that triggered a federal audit seven years ago is now, after a stint at an aerospace lobbying group, in charge of safety for the agency. The official, Ali Bahrami, was a vocal supporter of delegating authority. He would tell FAA staffers that Boeing knew the systems and the rules and that the company could handle the program, said one former employee in the office. Bahrami, who wasn't at the agency during the certification of the 737 Max, declined to comment for this article. Own Nation The office, in the Seattle area, "defaulted" to Boeing - and didn't answer to headquarters staff back in Washington either, said Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general for the Transportation Department. "They were a nation unto themselves, and basically they treated themselves as independent," she said in an interview this week. The FAA defended the delegation program, noting that similar approaches are also used by Canadian and European regulators. In a statement, the agency said certification of the 737 Max took about five years and that it received no complaints about pressure to speed the process. "FAA has never allowed companies to police themselves or self-certify their aircraft," it said. "Delegation extends the rigor of the FAA certification process to other recognized professionals, thereby multiplying the technical expertise." Boeing says the designated representatives "participate in regular training and receive guidance and oversight from the FAA." Still, weeks after the Lion Air crash, the U.S. Transportation Department inspector general's office obtained information that raised concerns about the 737 Max's certification, according to people familiar with the matter. An investigation initiated then by federal law-enforcement agents focuses on how Boeing won approval for stall-prevention software implicated in the crash, and why it wasn't flagged in pilot manuals, Bloomberg News reported. For Boeing, these are extraordinarily sensitive inquiries, casting doubt on both the aircraft that supplies a third of its profit, and its tight relationship with regulators. In recent years, Boeing's variations on popular planes, including the 737 Max 8 and 9, and the 787-9 and 787-10, entered the market smoothly and on time, a rarity in the industry. Boeing and its main rival, Airbus SE, have focused on upgrading existing airplanes with new engines, saving tens of billions of dollars that would be required to design them from scratch. They've successfully argued to regulators that planes like the Max and the Airbus A330neo are similar enough to older versions to share the same airworthiness certificate. Doing so narrows the scope of certification. It also saves money for customers by shortening pilot training. In a statement Friday, Boeing stressed that "safety is our highest priority as we design, build and support our airplanes." Jet Inspections In a decades-old system, the FAA lets engineers employed by manufacturers themselves oversee tests and vouch for safety. At Boeing, the work is monitored by the FAA certification office in the Seattle area, where most of the jetliners are designed and assembled. The Transportation Department in turn oversees the FAA, and an audit in the 1990s found that 95 percent of the 777 was inspected and certified by Boeing itself, said Schiavo, the former inspector general. She's now an aviation attorney and the author of a 1997 expose, "Flying Blind, Flying Safe," contending the agency hasn't done enough to protect travelers because of persistent conflicts of interest. In 2005, the FAA shifted even more authority to manufacturers under an approach pushed by then-chief Marion Blakey, who later ran the Aerospace Industries Association, the industry's main lobbyist. She insisted staff refer to airlines and aircraft makers as "customers" and billed the changes as a way to promote efficiency. Under the new rules, which took effect in 2009, the agency let Boeing pick the employees who would vouch for its safety. Previously, the company only nominated them. Bahrami, now the FAA's top safety official, is himself a former aircraft engineer. When he managed the agency's Seattle office, Boeing was under enormous pressure to complete the 787 Dreamliner, which was billions of dollars over budget. Airbus had also startled Boeing by stealing customers with its updated A320neo, forcing Boeing into its own update: the 737 Max. iPad Course A big selling point for the Max was that pilots wouldn't need to be drilled on its finer points in a flight simulator; it handled so similarly to a preceding generation of 737 that they could teach themselves via a take-home iPad course. The Dreamliner won certification and entered service in 2011, three years late. At the same time, scrutiny of the shift in delegation to the company was mounting. The Transportation Department inspector general said in a report that year that the FAA "has not ensured engineers are adequately trained to perform their expanded enforcement responsibilities." The next year, a Transportation Department special investigator wrote to the FAA's audit chief, telling him that employees in the office run by Bahrami had complained the agency wasn't holding Boeing accountable. The memo detailed cases where people had told the investigator that managers were slow to address safety issues, and said many feared retaliation for speaking up. In January 2013, after the Dreamliner had flown 52,000 hours with paying customers, the FAA grounded it when lithium-ion batteries on two planes caught fire within a week. It was the first time the agency had grounded a model since 1979. Boeing designed an FAA-approved fix and the planes were flying again within three months. FAA managers including Bahrami were called before a National Transportation Safety Board hearing that April that laid bare the scope of the agency's reliance on Boeing. The NTSB later found that a test of the battery's flammability - driving a nail into it - was inadequate and faulted FAA for failing to catch the design deficiency. Lobbyist Job Within a few months, Bahrami took a job as vice president of civil aviation at the Aerospace Industries Association, whose members include Boeing, Lockheed Martin Corp. and other industry giants. His compensation there rose to $315,228 in 2016, tax filings show. In congressional testimony in 2013, representing the association, he applauded the delegation of the FAA's work. "While industry has continued to grow, certification offices have been facing budget cuts, hiring freezes and furloughs," he said. "Expecting the FAA to keep pace with industry while conducting business as usual is not realistic." In November 2013, as Boeing worked its way past the Dreamliner fiasco, the company launched the 777X, with a wingspan so wide that the tips fold to squeeze into airport gates. This one, too, was a derivative of previous models and deemed to require less-extensive certification and training. Whistleblower's Fears The next year, a Boeing engineer named Michael Neely took a temporary assignment on the 777X at the company's offices near Seattle. His managers asked him to evaluate a plan to adapt a power-distribution system from the preceding version of the 777, according to a lawsuit he later filed seeking protected whistleblower status. The idea was to require "minimal changes," according to the suit. After a month, Neely reported that the plan wasn't feasible or safe. Managers ignored him, the suit says, and sent the plan on to the electrical contractor, a General Electric Co. unit. Supervisors began evaluating Neely poorly in 2015 and fired him in 2016, when he sued. In its statement on Friday, Boeing said: "We encourage an open culture of sharing information on quality and safety. We would never dismiss an employee on the grounds of raising a safety concern." GE reported within months of receiving its contract that Boeing's plan was inadequate and would have to be substantially expanded, according to court documents. Depositions and internal emails filed in connection with the suit offer a glimpse into the culture at the Boeing Commercial Airplanes business, known as BCA. They portray it as lacking the clear responsibility and authority structures that Neely, an engineer for 33 years, was accustomed to at Boeing's space and defense operation in Huntsville, Alabama. "In BCA, there is more of a culture of people who know grabbing things and running with them if they have the knowledge and skills," Martin Weikart, then a Boeing employee and one of the FAA's authorized representatives, wrote in one message to Neely. "I agree it is not a good way to run a big business. But I think it is part of the culture that we are fighting to get under control." Boeing has painted Neely as unreliable. In its motion to dismiss the suit, Boeing said he didn't get along with co-workers and violated policy on expensing alcoholic drinks with dinner. The safety-related whistleblower claims were dismissed because of lack of jurisdiction, and are now before an administrative law judge at the Labor Department; the suit also claims age discrimination and violations of securities law. Neely is now representing himself. He declined to comment on the specifics of the case because of the ongoing litigation, but said he was encouraged by the 737 Max investigations. Cutting Costs Under Muilenburg, a Boeing lifer who became CEO in 2015, the company has focused on reducing costs and boosting productivity to generate record amounts of cash. As share repurchases helped triple Boeing's stock price, executives and long-time employees alike have benefited handsomely. Muilenburg has collected $88 million since the year he took over as CEO, proxy filings show. The 737 Max, certified by the FAA and delivered to a Lion Air subsidiary in 2017, seemed like another success. That same year, Bahrami returned to the FAA as associate administrator for aviation safety in the Trump administration. At one industry event, he told air-cargo carriers that he was especially excited about working with manufacturers to correct safety issues; since 2015, he said, enforcement actions had dropped 70 percent. "We used to measure success by how high our stack of hate mail was," he said. "That's no longer the case." In their first year, the 737 Max planes carried 6.5 million passengers for more than 118,000 hours, with what Boeing said was the highest schedule reliability - 99.4 percent - of any new airplane. Then came the crash of the Lion Air flight in October, carrying, as the Indonesian report tabulated, the flight crew and 181 passengers consisting of 178 adults, one child and two infants. Software Trouble Within weeks, investigators began focusing on the stall-prevention software, one of the supposedly minimal changes Boeing had made. In a testy meeting with Boeing executives in November, American Airlines Group Inc. pilots wanted to know why the software wasn't highlighted as a key difference. "Our entire relationship changed after that meeting," said Dennis Tajer, a 737 captain and a spokesman for the American pilots union. "I don't need to know about every rivet, but I do need to know about something that's going to take over my airplane." The system baffled the Lion Air pilots by pushing down the plane's nose about two dozen times, exerting force until they lost control. Five months later, the Ethiopian Airlines jet went down in circumstances that authorities say are similar. On March 13, the U.S. ordered airlines to stop flying the 737 Max. It's the second grounding in six years for a nearly new Boeing model, both since the FAA shifted more oversight to the company. That same day, employees working on the 777X had a low-key party to celebrate a milestone. The first plane had been finished, right on time. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2019/03/25/521514.htm Back to Top Incident: Pobeda B738 near Sochi on Mar 23rd 2019, lightning strike A Pobeda Boeing 737-800, registration VP-BPL performing flight DP-338 from Kazan to Sochi (Russia), was on approach to Sochi about 20nm before touchdown when the crew received a lightning strike. The crew continued for a safe landing on Sochi's runway 06. The aircraft remained on the ground in Sochi for about 15 hours, then positioned to Moscow Vnukovo for further examination and repair. The aircraft is still on the ground at Vnukovo Airport about 24 hours after landing there. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c5cb76d&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Aeromexico B789 near Lima on Mar 23rd 2019, problem with cockpit oxygen An Aeromexico Boeing 787-9, registration N438AM performing flight AM-30 from Mexico City (Mexico) to Buenos Aires Ezeiza,BA (Argentina) with 260 people on board, was enroute at FL390 about 80nm south of Lima (Peru) when the crew decided to turn around and divert to Lima due to a problem with the crew oxygen supply in the cockpit. The aircraft performed a normal descent and landed safely in Lima about 22 minutes after leaving FL390. Passengers are tweeting that they were kept on board for about 2 hours, then 3 hours at the airport before they were taken to hotels, however, they have been left without any information. One passenger wanted to purchase a ticket on another airline to continue to Buenos Aires but wasn't able to fetch the luggage from Aeromexico. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground in Lima for 22 hours, then continued the journey to Buenos Aires as flight AM-8746 and is estimated to reach the destination with a delay of 23 hours. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c5cb484&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: American A332 at Munich on Mar 22nd 2019, pack problem An American Airlines Airbus A330-200, registration N293AY performing flight AA-717 from Munich (Germany) to Philadelphia,PA (USA) with 237 people on board, was climbing out of Munich's runway 08L when the crew stopped the climb at 5000 feet reporting one of their air conditioning packs was inoperative preventing them to fly to the USA and they were returning to Munich for an overweight landing. The aircraft landed overweight but safely on runway 08L about 20 minutes after departure. The flight was cancelled. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground in Munich for about 19 hours, then departed for a positioning flight AA-9204 to Philadelphia. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c5c0be3&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: BoA B737 near Cochabamba on Mar 22nd 2019, engine shut down in flight A BoA Boliviana de Aviacion Boeing 737-700, registration CP-2923 performing flight OB-642 from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz (Bolivia) with 132 passengers and 6 crew, was climbing out of Cochabamba when the crew stopped the climb at FL290 due a oil pressure indication for the right hand engine (CFM56). The crew shut the engine down and returned to Cochabamba for a safe landing on runway 32 about 45 minutes after departure. The airline reported the crew received indication of low oil pressure in the right hand engine, followed established protocol and safety procedures and returned to Cochabamba for a normal landing. The passengers were taken to Santa Cruz by another aircraft. A Boeing 737-300 registration CP-3020 reached Santa Cruz as flight OB-646 with a delay of 2:15 hours. The occurrence aircraft returned to service after 16 hours on the ground. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c5c021d&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Cathay Pacific A333 at Jakarta on Mar 22nd 2019, hydraulic failure A Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300, registration B-LBC performing flight CX-770 from Jakarta (Indonesia) to Hong Kong (China), was climbing out of Jakarta's runway 25R when the crew stopped the climb at FL100 reporting the green hydraulic system had failed. The aircraft returned to Jakarta for a safe landing on runway 25R about 40 minutes after departure. The aircraft was towed off the runway. A replacement A330-300 registration B-HLR reached Hong Kong with a delay of about 13 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground 21 hours after landing back. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c5b6eec&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: PIA B773 at Lahore on Mar 22nd 2019, bird strike penetrates leading edge of wing A PIA Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 777-300, registration AP-BHW performing flight PK-760 from Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) to Lahore (Pakistan), was on approach to Lahore's runway 36R when a bird impacted and penetrated the leading edge of the left hand wing. The aircraft landed safely. The aircraft however was unable to depart for the next flight PK-759 to Jeddah on schedule. The aircraft remained on the ground for 15.5 hours for repairs, before the aircraft departed with a delay of about 21.5 hours. The penetrated leading edge: http://avherald.com/h?article=4c5b6b84&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Southwest B737 at Houston on Mar 21st 2019, flock of birds on short final A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700, registration N754SW performing flight WN-2831 from Mexico City (Mexico) to Houston Hobby,TX (USA), was on short final to Houston's runway 04 when the crew reported they had flown through a flock of small birds, probably sparrows, descending through 200 feet AGL, no birds on the runway. The aircraft continued for a safe landing and taxied to the apron. The FAA reported the highest injury on board was unknown, the damage to the aircraft was unknown after the aircraft struck multiple birds. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA2831/history/20190321/2115Z/MMMX/KHOU http://avherald.com/h?article=4c5b4381&opt=0 Back to Top Allegedly suicidal pilot crashes Beech Super King Air into building at Matsieng Aerodrome, Botswana Date: Saturday 23 March 2019 Time: 20:20 Type: Beechcraft B200 Super King Air Operator: Major Blue Air Registration: A2-MBM C/n / msn: BB-1489 First flight: 1994 Crew: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 Total: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 Aircraft damage: Destroyed Aircraft fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Matsieng Aerodrome ( Botswana) Phase: Maneuvering (MNV) Nature: Illegal Flight Departure airport: Gaborone-Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE/FBSK), Botswana Destination airport: - Narrative: A Beechcraft B200 Super King Air, A2-MBM, impacted the ATC tower and club house at the Matsieng Aerodrome, Botswana. The pilot and sole occupant of the airctraft was killed. Earlier in the afternoon the pilot was an uninvited guest at a private function that was held at the Matsieng Flying Club facility at Matsieng Aerodrome. In a statement, the Matsieng Flying Club reported that it was rumoured that the pilot was involved in a domestic dispute earlier in the afternoon. At approximately 18:15 UTC (20:15 LT) the aircraft approached Matsieng Aerodrome from the direction of Sir Seretse Khama Airport and made a number of low level fly pasts from different directions past the Club facilities next to the Air Traffic Control tower. An immediate evacuation of the club premises was ordered. The final extreme low level run by the aircraft along runway 36 resulted in an impact with the Matsieng Flying Club facility at ground level. The Club facility and Matsieng ATC tower was destroyed on impact. The post impact fire destroyed 13 parked vehicles. https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20190323-0 Back to Top Diamond DA42 Twin Star - Fatal Accident (New Zealand) Date: 23-MAR-2019 Time: 22:00 LT Type: Diamond DA42 Twin Star Owner/operator: Ardmore Flying School Ltd Registration: ZK-EAP C/n / msn: 42.258 Fatalities: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 Other fatalities: 0 Aircraft damage: Substantial Location: Kaimanawa Ranges, 24 km E of Turangi, NI - New Zealand Phase: En route Nature: Unknown Departure airport: Palmerston North Airport (PMR/NZPM) Destination airport: Taupo Airport (TUO/NZAP) Narrative: An aircraft with two occupants, enroute from Palmerston North to Taupo ,was reported missing Saturday night near the Kaimanawa Ranges on the North Island were it was located at Sunday 24 March at 11:30, about 24 km east of Turangi. Both pilots, who were qualified flight instructors, were fatally injured. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=223479 Back to Top Why are airplane black boxes so important? The "black box" on board the devastated Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 was recovered on Tuesday at the crash site, and recently sent to France for further investigation. We hear the words "black box" whenever aviation accidents occur. It's a colloquial term for what the experts call the flight data recorder, which records information of a flight that is essential for investigators to understand how it all went wrong. What does it do? The flight data recorder records critical information for investigations should an aircraft malfunction. They're designed to work even when pilots are uncontactable and are off the radar. There are two parts to a flight data recorder. The first records activity in the cockpit, where the pilots are. It keeps a record of conversations between the pilots and crew, as well as announcements to the passengers, and dialogue with flight control. For the sake of a potential investigation, private conversations between the pilots also have to be recorded. These recordings are sensitively handled by investigators for the sake of privacy, which is why only the latest two hours of dialogue are recorded. Noise from the switches, the engines and other non-verbal sounds are also captured, which can offer further context for the incident. The second box is the actual flight data recorder itself, which constantly notes over 88 parameters of the flight. Information such as altitude, direction, fuel level, cabin temperature, and air pressure are all detailed clearly for investigators to analyze. It also marks down the pilot's every action, from steering to switches toggled, and whether the auto-pilot was engaged. It's crucial information for the investigation that really helps to visualize the whole event. What does it look like? Black boxes aren't actually black. Despite what you might think, the color only comes from a a nickname that's incorrectly given to the device. In fact, it's bright orange to make it more visible when lost in the wreckage or at the bottom of the ocean. They have a big reflective strip down the middle as well, also to make them easier to spot. Sadly, despite these precautionary measures, these boxes are often so badly burnt, or deep down in the sea, they are hard to find. Therefore, the handle doubles as a beacon, emitting a signal for up to 30 days in hopes of being discovered. How indestructible are they? The boxes may look pretty bulky, but it all houses the most important component: the memory board for the sensors. Today, these chips are solid state drives that record everything we previously mentioned. The memory boards are housed in a thick metal block, often made of steel or titanium, designed and brutally tested to withstand impacts of up to 3400 G's. To wrap your head around this figure, a car colliding at 30 mph generates 30 G's. In the event that the plane sinks in the sea, these containers are also strong enough to survive up to 3.7 miles underwater - and bear up to 2.25 tons of pressure for over 5 minutes. Within this steel container are the insulation and thermal blocks. Manufacturers ensure the memory chips can survive over 1,100 degrees Celsius - or more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit - of heat for longer than an hour before clearing these for use. They are then placed at the rear-end of the aircraft, to further minimize the potential of damage to the device. Shockingly though, memory blocks are often almost exposed when investigators recover the black box, despite the extensive efforts to keep them protected. How do investigators use them? Special software is required to decode the data captured on black boxes, which isn't owned by airlines themselves but by specialized investigative teams located in the U.S. or France. The black box from the recent Ethiopia Airlines Flight 302 is headed to France, most likely to avoid any signs of potential conflict of interest with the U.S. and Boeing. A lot depends on the condition of the memory blocks. In an ideal situation, these chips can be extracted and plugged in, transferring all the key data and recordings for analysis. Most of the time, though, the chips are damaged, and that requires further effort to clean them up and restore their data. The team of experts usually include representatives from the airline, airplane manufacturer, the FBI, and safety specialists. It's a broad team as there is a lot at stake here, from reputations, to liabilities, and to just keep things fair. Data from the black boxes are then plotted down on charts for examination, and also rendered into animations to recreate the final moments of the flight. It is in these moments where investigators discover the most likely cause and who should be held responsible. The future of the black box If the recent tragedy of MH370 proved anything, it's that deployable black boxes may seriously need to be considered. Live streaming of flight information in the event of a radar black-out is unfeasible, therefore the need for the off-network black boxes. However that was lost in the case of MH370. The ideal solution to this, it has been suggested, is to have it deployed before the point of impact. Image recorders have also been suggested, just in case the information provided to pilots didn't correspond with the actual parameters of the flight, as it was prone to error. The National Transportation Safety Board have also suggested implementing footage of the cockpit in case of investigation. Pilots, though, have refused that, due to the violation of their privacy. While the technology exists for these changes to be made, actually implementing them would cost manufacturers a lot of money, not to mention the impact of the logistics involved. Manufacturers are also keen on developing live-streaming directly to satellites or ground-based systems. Black boxes have always been a last-ditch effort for aircraft emergencies, when all signals are cut off and no information is being received. We hope these changes come in fast for the answers they give to the aviation industry and, more importantly, those who are hurt. https://www.slashgear.com/airplane-black-boxes-what-are-they-how-do-they-work-23570810/ Back to Top Colorado's 'Boom Supersonic' & Alabama Firm Team Up To Build New Aircraft BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - An Alabama firm is partnering with a Colorado company to build a manufacturing facility that would produce supersonic aircraft. Hoar Program Management of Birmingham will help locate, plan, design and build the facility for Boom Supersonic, which is planning a supersonic commercial airliner for transoceanic routes, the news site Al.com reported. Colorado-based Boom Supersonic was founded in 2014, and has announced pre-orders of the Overture from airlines including Japan Airlines and Virgin Group, the Alabama news site reported. "They were looking for a partner," HPM President Mike Lanier said. "We're humbled by the fact that we're being brought in this early to help them establish who they are." The Overture is described as a supersonic commercial airliner with travel speeds more than twice as fast as subsonic aircraft. Boom is now assembling the XB-1, a Mach-2.2 supersonic demonstrator aircraft. That aircraft's test flights will help refine the design of Overture, Al.com reported. Boom expects to pick a site for its manufacturing facility by year's end. HPM has partnered with Site Selection Group to choose a location for the manufacturing plant, and a shortlist of about 10 to 15 airports for the site is being developed, Lanier said. "Supersonic aircraft have different needs than a normal aircraft," Lanier said. "That's in terms of length of runway and proximity to supersonic test space, so that limits the options." In Colorado, Boom has a full-time team of more than 130 employees and anticipates doubling its staff over the next year, Al.com reported. To accommodate the assembly of XB-1 and development of Overture, Boom recently relocated to a large facility in Centennial, Colorado, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of Denver. https://denver.cbslocal.com/2019/03/23/colorados-boom-supersonic-alabama-firm-team-up-to-build-new-aircraft/ Back to Top Earth Networks Launches Aviation Early Warning System for the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) African airspace now protected by comprehensive lightning and weather detection network GERMANTOWN, Md. - Earth Networks today announced it has completed a new aviation early weather warning system for The Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA). The announcement was made at the 6th annual InterMET Asia conference in Singapore. Designed for air traffic management and airport operations professionals to issue alerts on severe weather and lightning threats that have the potential to affect air and land operations including ground crews, fueling, and aircraft, the newly operational global aviation early warning system includes: • Real-time lightning detection powered by the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network, featuring over 1,700 sensors in more than 100 countries • On-the-ground weather monitoring via the Earth Networks Weather Network • Sferic Maps, a web-based severe weather monitoring and alerting platform • Severe weather data and visualization tools such as Dangerous Thunderstorm Alerts and PulseRad, a lightning-derived radar alternative • Short-range point forecasts powered by ENcast, enabling highly accurate short-term weather prediction for specific areas • Lightning data integration with SYNERGIE, Meteo France International's (MFI) web-based, multi-task software that manages METAR weather observations from existing automated weather observing systems (AWOS), making all ASECNA AWOS P/T level ready • Comprehensive training and ongoing operational support Based in Dakar, Senegal, ASECNA is one of Africa's largest Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSP) covering 17 member states in Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa Republic, Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Chad, Togo, Union of Comoros and France. With 6 Flight Information Regions (FIRs), and a vast coverage area 1.5 times the size of Europe's, ASECNA is responsible for air traffic management for 16.5 million square kilometers of airspace over the African continent. "We have areas in Central Africa that are affected by heavy cloud cover and thunderstorms nine months out of the year," said Moctar Mahfoud, Director of Aeronautical Meteorology at ASECNA. "The need to have real-time information about weather phenomena that can cause severe turbulence and plane diversions is crucial." Thomas Sobakam, Manager of Meteorological Services at ASECNA added, "After a six-month period of using lightning-derived storm tracking from Earth Networks, we found our rate of false alarms decreased, and have improved our ability to predict when a storm will pass, helping to eliminate delays due to convective storms, which account for 40% of the incident cases in our area of control." Jim Anderson, Senior Vice President, Global Sales at Earth Networks said, "We are thrilled with the operational results and their clear impact on safety and operational efficiency improvements in the African airspace. Working with ASECNA, we have substantially enhanced the ability to detect, track and alert for severe weather across an airspace 50 percent larger than all of Europe. These capacity improvements will have significant economic benefits across much of Africa." About Earth Networks Earth Networks is a leader in early warning systems for aviation, with more than 50 airport and aviation customers around the world. Its comprehensive weather monitoring, visualization, alerting and forecasting decision support tools help the aviation industry reduce delays due to weather, eliminate false alerts and provide safe operating conditions during flight and on the ground. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190324005014/en/ Back to Top Mother and daughter pilot Delta Boeing 757 from Los Angeles to Atlanta ATLANTA, GA. - A photo taken of a mother and daughter on the flight deck of an Atlanta-bound Delta Boeing 757 has gone viral. The duo, Capt. Wendy Rexon and First Officer Kelly Rexon, can be seen smiling ear-to-ear at the helm of the duel-engine Boeing 757, which seats around 170 passengers. The photo was taken by Dr. John R. Watret, the chancellor of Embry-Riddle Worldwide, a world-renowned aeronautical university, who just happened to overhear that there was a mother-daughter flight crew. Dr. Watret, who was a passenger on the flight, overheard a mother and kids coming from the cockpit talking about the "mother and daughter" flying the passenger airliner. "I thought that was amazing. I was in awe. I asked if I could visit them, too," he said in the press release. This was especially meaningful for Watret because of Embry-Riddle's commitment to creating more opportunities for women in all areas of the aviation industry. "There has to be more diversification in the industry. It's crucial and one of the key factors we focus on. When there are more opportunities, everyone wins," Watret said in the release. Delta airlines official twitter account also replied to his tweet: Kelly Rexon's sister is also a pilot, according to the release from Embry-Riddle. https://www.ajc.com/news/national/viral-photo-mother-and-daughter-pilot-delta-boeing-757-from-los-angeles-atlanta/l04uUqJvCJwQZGefHQ9EzK/ Back to Top 200 Jet Airways pilots may switch to SpiceJet, IndiGo cockpits The pilots may be inclined to take up the SpiceJet offer as the airline's aircraft mix is similar to that of Jet Airways. Accepting an IndiGo package means the pilots will have to undergo retraining, which may require them to sign a three-year bond to service the carrier, sources said Naresh Goyal's possible departure notwithstanding, Jet Airways may be headed for more trouble as over 200 pilots may resign depending on the outcome of the March 25 board meeting. Its pilots have offers from SpiceJet or IndiGo, sources told Moneycontrol. The airlines have promised pilots a base city of their choice, besides a two-month base salary as a joining bonus, they stated. The pilots may be inclined to take up the SpiceJet offer as the airline's aircraft mix is similar to that of Jet Airways. On the other hand, accepting an IndiGo package means the pilots will have to undergo retraining, which may require them to sign a three-year bond to service the carrier, sources said. IndiGo, which has been expanding its fleet at a rate never seen before in the industry, is facing a shortage of pilots, mainly captains. About 260 pilots, including 150 captains, attended interviews organised by SpiceJet in Mumbai last week for Boeing 737 rated captains, non-type rated captains and first officer with frozen airline transport pilot licence (ATPL). Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita are expected to step down from the board of cash-strapped airline on March 25, sources told Moneycontrol. Chief Executive Vinay Dube is expected to stay on board the 25-year-old airline Goyal set up with his wife in 1993. Also Read: Jet Airways founder Naresh Goyal to quit as Chairman today Jet Airways has a Rs 8,000 crore debt and has not been able to furnish instalments for loan repayment, which led to the grounding of over 75 aircraft in its fleet. Many of its pilots have got truncated rosters in March. The financial woes have also led to non-payment of pilot salaries. The distressed airline, which is urgently seeking a resolution plan to overcome serious liquidity crunch, has been delaying salaries to its pilots. At present, a major chunk of the December salary, and that of January and February are pending. In fact, the pilots have threatened to stop flying from April 1, if the dues are not cleared by March-end. On March 20, Moneycontrol reported that Jet Airways' lenders had worked out an alternate rescue plan for the debt-ridden airline, which involves taking majority control and reconstituting the entire board of the country's second largest carrier. With just 6 days left to the end of this financial year, lenders are in a rush to seal a resolution plan. They have asked Goyal to step down immediately and make way for a new management. As per the plan, Goyal's stake will likely be capped at 10 percent by diluting the rest at nominal value. https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/200-jet-airways-pilots-may-switch-to-spicejet-indigo-cockpits-3694981.html Back to Top QANTAS PILOT ACADEMY STILL ON TRACK DESPITE LOSS OF PARTNER Qantas says it is on track to launch its Queensland-based group pilot academy by mid-year despite the loss of the original training partner and the need to house students in temporary accommodation. The airline originally announced it was working with US training provider L3 Commercial Aviation but the two have parted ways after failing to come to an agreement. Qantas said it expects to announce a new provider soon and the change would not affect its plans to start training its first student intake mid-year. The airline announced with much fanfare in September 2018 that it had chosen Toowoomba's Wellcamp Airport and as the first site for training operations. The academy will have the capacity to train up to 250 pilots a year from Australia and overseas and is part of a strategy to ensure that Qantas has a long-term talent pipeline for its airlines in an environment of rising demand for pilots. Toowoomba is the first of two locations chosen from a shortlist of nine regional cities, with Alice Springs, Bendigo, Busselton, Dubbo, Launceston, Mackay, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga still under consideration for the second academy site. The airline has continued to work with the owners of Wellcamp, the Wagner family, to develop facilities and it said it expected the first cohort of trainees to start while the "wider development" continued. Passengers win as Qantas reverses 7kg cabin baggage decision. Architects were working on final designs for facilities such as hangars, classrooms and student accommodation. "It's been a busy couple of months for the pilot academy team with detailed design work underway with the Wagners and the local community to bring together plans for our new pilot academy,'' Qantas Group Pilot Academy executive manager Wes Nobelius said. "Naturally, it takes time to have facilities designed, approved and built so to make sure we can start training as soon as possible, we're looking at temporary accommodation for the first intake of students in the mid-2019." Meanwhile, rival Virgin Australia has hit out at coverage of its proposed training facility in the NSW regional center of Tamworth. The airline, which has key Chinese shareholders who together own almost 40 percent of the company, has denied it is "secretly" dealing with Chinese interests to set up the facility. Tamworth had originally been one of the contenders for the Qantas academy but announced in October it would join with Virgin to establish "an aviation centre of excellence". Virgin has been talking with one its shareholders, HNA Group, about the project but said this because HNA subsidiary Australian International Aviation College already operates a pilot school in Port Macquarie and had the necessary skills and resources. "The idea that we are in secret talks is completely untrue, and any suggestion that this is anything other than confidential, commercial negotiations would be wholly unsubstantiated," the airline said in a statement "We have been completely transparent in our discussions with the appropriate parties about our intention to work with a number of suppliers, including the Australian International Aviation College (AIAC). "We have also been in discussions with the Tamworth Regional Council and the New South Wales Government who have been supportive of our proposal." Virgin said the facility would support its own pilot needs and be open to all nationalities. It said there was no truth to claims that it had announced in August that a deal had been done with Chinese interests. It had made an application to the Foreign Investment Review Board because its ownership structure required it to do so to complete the deal to lease the facilities at Tamworth. Manufacturer Boeing has estimated the fast-growing Chinese market will need 128,500 pilots over the next 20 years, including those employed in the helicopter and business aviation sectors. https://www.airlineratings.com/news/qantas-pilot-academy-still-track-despite-loss-partner/ Back to Top Cathay Pacific Prepares For Their Boeing 777X Launch Asia's first 777X customer has begun preparations for the introduction of their Boeing 777-9X. Cathay Pacific CEO Rupert Hogg says the airline is 'already in discussion' with Boeing and others on every aspect of the 777-9X aircraft, which Cathay is planning to roll out as part of the airlines' future long-haul fleet. Cathay Pacific 777-9X will feature a four-class configuration. Photo: Boeing On December 20th, 2013, Cathay Pacific announced an order for 21 Boeing 777-9X aircraft as part of their future long-haul fleet strategy. The order is valued at more than $7 billion at current list prices. The 777-9X delivers Cathay Pacific with improved payload range capability and reduced operating costs, in addition to a significant reduction in carbon emissions. According to chief customer and commercial officer Paul Loo, Cathay is expected to receive its first 777-9X around June 2021. Deliveries will continue through 2024. The Boeing 777X The Boeing 777X will be the largest and most efficient twin-engine jet in the world. The 777X will feature greater cabin width and seating capacity, new GE9X engines and new composite wings with folding wingtips. Boeing designed the aircraft to build on the engineering and interior innovations introduced in their 777 and 787 Dreamliner. The Boeing 777Xs folding wing-tip. Photo: Wikipedia Boeing has two variants for the 777X: the 777-8 and the 777-9. The technical specifications of the aircraft, are as follows: What will the interior look like on Cathay's 777X? Cathay Pacific's 777-9 will feature a four-class configuration. Unlike the Airbus A350s used in their long-haul fleet, the 777-9 will feature a first class cabin. The 777-9 will receive a substantial upgrade to the soft product over existing first class seats, which are already undergoing a hard product refresh. Cathay is working closely with the airframer, seat supplier, inflight entertainment provider, and its own industrial designer, to avoid the problems the airline encountered with its last premium product, introduced on the Airbus A350. Vivian Lo, general manager of customer experience and design at Cathay Pacific, talked about the upgraded first class, saying, "we have always taken pride whenever we launch a product that it is flagship and industry-leading, and that's where we aspire to be. We're committed to be best in class. We're working towards a new product that will come in 2021. Meanwhile, we're also looking at how we want to enhance the first class experience before we add the new product." "Part of that is refreshing the hard product, but my team and I are also working towards looking at the soft product, whether that's food and beverage, the amenities, the duvets, so that you also enhance that overall experience for our most premium and special customers,". Do we know what routes the 777-9X will fly on? With the capabilities that the 777X offers, it's certain that Cathay would want to maximize the use of the aircraft by putting the aircraft on a route with a high demand each day. John Slosar, Chief Executive of Cathay Pacific, talked about the potential routes of the 777X, saying, "We think it will be an ideal fit for long-haul destinations in North America and Europe, in particular those routes where we carry high volumes of passengers and cargo each day. Cathay Pacific is committed to modernizing its fleet to provide a superior experience to passengers." In my opinion Toronto, New York (JFK) and London would be the most likely routes for Cathay's 777-9X. Each route receives several 777-300ER passenger flights a day, as well as the 747F which operates to these cities throughout the week. Overall With the 777-9X offering high seat capacity and range capability, it will be interesting to see what routes the aircraft will fly. Also, it's exciting to hear that Cathay will be putting an upgraded first class product onboard. https://simpleflying.com/cathay-pacific-boeing-777x/ Back to Top 2020 Mars Helicopter Could Open Alien Skies to Exploration The little craft's demonstration mission could lead to big things. The 4-lb. Mars Helicopter will travel to the Red Planet with NASA's next Mars rover, which is scheduled to launch in mid-2020.The 4-lb. Mars Helicopter will travel to the Red Planet with NASA's next Mars rover, which is scheduled to launch in mid-2020.(Image: © NASA/JPL) A few brief hops in the Martian air two years from now could help open alien worlds to an entirely new kind of exploration. An autonomous mini-helicopter will fly with NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission, which is scheduled to launch in July of that year and land on the Red Planet in February 2021. The bantam chopper is a stripped-down technology demonstration, and it will make a maximum of five short sorties in the Martian atmosphere. Success in this pioneering work would be a big deal, extending the reach of humanity's robotic explorers, which are currently restricted to the surfaces of alien worlds or the dark realms far above them. "We envision helicopters opening doors to new types of exploration on Mars," Hεvard Grip, flight-control and aerodynamics lead for the Mars Helicopter, said Wednesday (March 20) during a presentation with NASA's Future In-Space Operations (FISO) working group. One day, more-advanced versions could serve as scouts for rovers or explore the Red Planet on their own, added Grip, who's based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology, which are both in Pasadena. "In the future, we could imagine doing things like [engaging in] regional exploration using multiple helicopters or going to inaccessible areas or biologically sensitive areas using small helicopters," he said. The Mars Helicopter weighs 4 lbs. (1.8 kilograms) and has a body about the size of a softball. It carries a range of avionics and communications gear, a small solar panel, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, "survival heaters" to keep its electronics warm through the frigid Martian night, and a navigation camera. The helicopter doesn't have any science instruments, but it is outfitted with a high-resolution color imager. "That's, so to speak, the payload," Grip said. "That's what we [use to] take pretty pictures and send them back to Earth." The helicopter will travel to Mars attached to the belly of the car-size 2020 rover, which will hunt for signs of ancient Red Planet life and collect and store samples to return to Earth in the future, among other tasks. A month or two after the rover lands on the Red Planet, the chopper will drop down and hit the dirt itself. The little vehicle will then make a series of short flights, each of which will last about 90 seconds and reach a maximum altitude of 16.5 feet (5 meters) or so, Grip said. These sorties will be made between 330 feet and 3,300 feet (100 to 1,000 m) away from the rover - far enough away to pose no collision danger, but close enough to be in communications range. (The helicopter will talk to its handlers on Earth via the rover.) Success would be quite an achievement, considering that the Martian atmosphere is just 1 percent as dense as that of Earth at sea level. Cruising just above the Martian surface is equivalent to flying at an altitude of 100,000 feet (30,000 m) here on Earth, more than twice as high as any helicopter has ever gotten. (The handicap imposed by the thin air is only partially offset by the Red Planet's lower gravity, which is 38 percent that of Earth, Grip said.) To generate enough lift, the Mars Helicopter sports two stiff rotors that measure 3.9 feet (1.2 m) long - pretty much as big as the team could make them, Grip said. And the rotors will spin at 2,400 revolutions per minute, about 10 times faster than the blades of a chopper on Earth, mission team members have said. The team has put this design through its paces many times in Mars-like conditions here on Earth, Grip said. Indeed, the little craft is pretty much ready to go. "The flight model is built and more or less tested," Grip said. The ultimate test, of course, will come on Mars. "The Mars Helicopter's initial flight will represent that planet's version of the Wright brothers' achievement at Kitty Hawk and the opening of a new era," Susan Gorton, manager of NASA's Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology project, which has been working with the Mars Helicopter team, said in a statement last week. "For those of us whose research revolves around all things related to flight, that would be a remarkable, historic moment," Gorton added. Such historic moments may not be limited to Mars' skies. NASA is considering launching a quadcopter lander to Titan, Saturn's huge, haze-enshrouded moon. This mission, called Dragonfly, would fly from spot to spot on Titan, investigating the complex chemistry occurring on the potentially life-supporting moon. Dragonfly is one of two finalists for a mid-2020s launch slot under NASA's New Frontiers program of medium-cost missions. The other contender is a comet sample-return mission called CAESAR. NASA is expected to announce its selection later this year. The Mars Helicopter and Dragonfly teams have not collaborated to date, Grip said. https://www.space.com/mars-helicopter-nasa-space-exploration.html Curt Lewis