JUNE 6, 2019 - No. 045 In This Issue Teamsters And Allies Advocate For Safety At Aircraft Maintenance Outsourcing Summit U.S. Lawmaker to Introduce Bill on Aircraft Maintenance Disclosure HOUSE COMMITTEE BACKS FUNDING AVIATION WORKFORCE PROGRAMS United starts building $33 million hangar at Tampa airport Why allowing pilots to sleep in the cockpit might improve airline safety CAS Is Awarded the Maintenance Approval Certificate from the Republic of Indonesia Metro Aviation completion center receives EASA seal of approval Why Mitsubishi Heavy May Want Bombardier's Money-Losing CRJ Regional Jet Line EASA Issues Second Proposal on Aviation Cybersecurity Altran demonstrates first step to aviation's VR factory of the future NASA's first SpaceX astronauts ready for 'messy camping trip' to space Teamsters And Allies Advocate For Safety At Aircraft Maintenance Outsourcing Summit WASHINGTON, June 5, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday Teamsters joined Congressman John Garamendi (D-CA), Consumer Advocate Ralph Nader and other aviation industry stakeholders at the Aircraft Maintenance Outsourcing Summit, an event that was organized by the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and the Business Travel Coalition. Teamsters and their allies brought attention to the life-threatening hazards to consumers and workers associated with having aircraft repaired overseas. "Commercial carriers that have their fleets repaired in countries with lax regulation and oversight to cut costs are endangering their passengers," said Capt. David Bourne, Teamsters Airline Division Director. They are putting the lives of their passengers in the hands of non-certificated aviation maintenance helpers who are tasked with repairing an aircraft when they are not even licensed aircraft mechanics. Aircraft in the United States should be repaired only in the United States, by professionally licensed mechanics who abide by regulations that were implemented to prevent tragedy." Teamsters International Representative and Chairman of the Aviation Mechanics Coalition Chris Moore attended the summit, where he was on a panel that addressed the future of aviation maintenance. Moore emphasized that the Teamsters are working with their fellow airline unions to fight outsourcing. "What the industry has never seen before, and what they're about to see, is all of the major airline unions coming together as a group to talk about the same issues and move in the same direction," Moore said. The keynote address of the summit was given by legendary consumer advocate Ralph Nader, who tragically lost his grandniece when she was killed in the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash last March. Nader emphasized that if safety isn't a priority, there could be more accidents to come. "We are moving into a new era of risk," Nader said. "It's like if you had a rubber band, and you keep stretching it. You say, 'things are okay, nothing's happened!' and then it snaps." Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/teamsters-allies-advocate-safety-aircraft-maintenance-outsourcing-summit-221500048.html Back to Top U.S. Lawmaker to Introduce Bill on Aircraft Maintenance Disclosure U.S. Rep. John Garamendi (D-California), a senior member of the House Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee, plans to re-introduce legislation this summer that would require carriers to disclose more information about their maintenance activities to the public. Garamendi introduced the legislation last year under the Committee's former Republican chairman Bill Shuster, but it didn't go anywhere. He said he's hopeful that the Committee's Democratic leadership will be more receptive to the proposal this time. "As a person who spends at least 5,000 miles a week on an airplane, I want to know that airplane is well maintained, and I want to know where its maintenance was done, so I can hold that airline accountable," Garamendi said at the Aircraft Maintenance Outsourcing Summit in Washington, DC on June 4. The bill would require carriers to display notices providing the public with the location at which aircraft most recently underwent heavy maintenance, as well as the dates of such maintenance. That information would have to be "prominently displayed" on carriers' websites and boarding documents, and airline workers at the ticket counter would be required to communicate it clearly to passengers. It is not clear whether the requirement would extend to the component level. During an airframe or engine overhaul, parts are removed and sent to many locations-some in other countries. Many are restored to airworthy condition and re-installed on the aircraft or engine. In many cases, the heavy shop performs less work than the component shops, particularly during engine overhauls, which muddies the idea of pinpointing where a specific overhaul is done. The congressman said the point of legislation is to "create the pressure to force Congress to force the FAA" to take action on oversight deficiencies with foreign aircraft maintenance stations, adding that staffing, budget and resource constraints at the agency have exacerbated the agency's challenges. He said the current system whereby FAA alerts countries ahead of time that inspections will take place provides bad actors advance notice to conceal safety risks from the agency's inspectors. Speaking candidly, Garamendi said there is a "structural problem" at the FAA posed by the agency's sometimes contradictory dual mandates of protecting safety while promoting U.S. industry. He suggested separating those two responsibilities, but declined to offer any specifics about what that would look like. "The FAA has dual responsibility and that dual responsibility is in conflict. The solution relies on separating the responsibilities and giving them to two different organizations; one tasked with safety and the other responsible for the profitability and success of the airline industry," he said. "We've made a choice to allow that conflict to exist within the FAA, which led to 346 people losing their lives because getting [the MAX 8] up and running was more important than getting the issue resolved." FAA's mission once included both ensuring safety and promoting the aviation business, but this was changed via a 1996 congressional mandate. Today, the agency's stated mission is to "provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world," its website says. Its oversight of foreign repair stations-including the practice of providing notice when inspectors are planning mandatory site visits-has come under scrutiny before. Agency officials have explained that, in many cases, they are not permitted to show up unannounced due to local security protocols that are not related to aviation. They also emphasize that their system-safety approach entails examining written processes and procedures that cannot be altered quickly. https://www.mro-network.com/maintenance-repair-overhaul/us-lawmaker-introduce-bill-aircraft-maintenance-disclosure Back to Top HOUSE COMMITTEE BACKS FUNDING AVIATION WORKFORCE PROGRAMS The House Appropriations Committee has voted to recommend full funding of two workforce development grant programs supported by AOPA and the aerospace industry to develop high school aviation science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) curriculum and support aviation maintenance technician initiatives to meet growing demand for aviation workers. The two programs each received committee backing for $5 million in fiscal year 2020. Both programs are authorized for five years, as proposed in the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-254) but require funding through the annual appropriations process The pilot education grant program is intended to support the creation and delivery of curriculum and teacher development designed to provide high school students with meaningful STEM and aviation education, and develop the next generation of commercial, general aviation, drone, or military pilots. The aviation technical workforce grant program includes scholarships and apprenticeships, establishes new training programs, and allows the purchasing of equipment for schools. It also supports career transitions for members of the armed forces. In July 2018, Boeing's 20-year aviation jobs forecast predicted demand for 790,000 new pilots worldwide by 2037, including 206,000 new pilots in North America. The pilot education program advances AOPA's goal of bringing aviation-based STEM education to high school students nationwide through the AOPA High School Initiative, a component of the You Can Fly program dedicated to supporting and growing the pilot population. Congress recognized the need to support aviation workforce development when creating the grant programs as part of the FAA's reauthorization legislation, said Jim Coon, AOPA senior vice president of government affairs, noting that U.S. Reps. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) and Sam Graves (R-Mo.) were leading supporters of the grant programs in the House, along with Sens. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) in the Senate. "We are very appreciative of several members of the House Appropriations Committee who were instrumental in supporting funding for these programs which will have an enormous impact on influencing the next generation of pilots," Coon added. In approving the programs' funding, the Appropriations Committee said it supports "increasing the strength and number of aviation professionals who are well-trained and can be relied upon to make air travel safe and efficient." The committee also voted to provide $169 million to support the contract tower program; $1.9 million for general aviation alternative fuels research; and an additional $3.5 million to reimburse New Jersey's Solberg and Somerset airports and Florida's Palm Beach County Park Airport, also known as Lantana, for losses arising from closure when long-term presidential temporary flight restrictions are put in place. A vote by the full House of Representatives is expected in June. The Senate must also consider its own Fiscal Year 2020 Transportation Housing and Urban Development bill, and the two chambers will have to reconcile differences before a final bill can go to the president for signing. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2019/june/05/house-committee-backs-funding-aviation-workforce-programs Back to Top United starts building $33 million hangar at Tampa airport TAMPA - United Airlines is starting construction on a $33 million maintenance hangar at Tampa International Airport where about 100 mechanics and skilled technicians will do work that should relieve congestion at some of United's bigger hubs. In February, the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority voted to lease United 9.5 acres east of Tampa International's terminal and airfield as a site for a three-bay maintenance hangar and tarmac for its Boeing 737 and 757 jets. "We knew at that time this would be a great deal," aviation authority chairman Robert Watkins said at a ceremony Wednesday to mark the start of construction. He also said the new facility will complement the airport's $2 billion master plan that includes more curbside space, more commercial development and a new airside to accommodate future growth. "This United hangar will fit right in with our plan of bringing more flights, more residents, more jobs and more economic impact to our community." United will start paying rent two years after the agreement was approved, whenever its new hangar is finished or as soon as it starts to use the property for its operations, whichever comes first. The rent will be $297,950 during the first year of the 20-year agreement, then rise in line with consumer price index. The airline will get a rent credit of about $1.2 million for doing site preparation work that normally would be the responsibility of the airport. Details about potential economic development incentives for the hangar project were not available Wednesday from the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp., which can mean that the state and local decision-making process regarding an application for incentives is not complete and that details of any potential incentives are exempt from disclosure under Florida's public records law. The airport and airline have been talking about building a new maintenance hangar for four years. Each week, United has 277 flights serving six markets into or out of Tampa International. United vice president of maintenance operations Don Wright said United chose Tampa for the expansion because "Tampa's a great place to do business," because the airport made a compelling case for the facility and because the bay area's quality of life and relatively low cost of living should make it easier to recruit employees internally, from aviation schools and from retiring military technicians. When it opens in the spring of 2020, the hangar will include about 66,000 square feet of hangar space and 17,620 square feet of office and shop space, or 75 percent more warehouse area than United's mechanics have now. It is expected to bring more aircraft maintenance work into Tampa, helping to relieve congestion at the airline's hubs. "This will improve our efficiency with the United system and we will no longer conduct heavier aircraft maintenance checks on the overnight aircraft at the gate," said Dan Sonego, United's senior manager of aircraft maintenance in Tampa. Wednesday's event comes a day before United is scheduled to double its daily service between Tampa and San Francisco to twice a day. That expansion will start this month and allow business fliers to get to San Francisco for an afternoon meeting or dinner and return to Tampa on the new red-eye flight. United's nonstop flights to San Francisco began in February 2017 and effectively "connected us to the grid," Tampa International Airport chief executive officer Joe Lopano said. "If you're not connected to San Francisco and Silicon Valley, you're not connected to the grid," he said. "It's done great things for our high-tech community." https://www.tampabay.com/business/united-starts-building-33-million-hangar-at-tampa-airport-20190605/ Back to Top Why allowing pilots to sleep in the cockpit might improve airline safety (CNN) - Airline pilots are often exhausted. An extreme example happened in 2008, when a pilot and a co-pilot both fell asleep at the controls, missing their landing in Hawaii -- earning pilot's license suspensions as well as getting fired. More recently, overtired pilots came very close to landing on top of another airplane at San Francisco International Airport in 2017. It's not uncommon for a pilot for a major commercial airline to, for instance, start work in Florida at 5 p.m., with her first flight departing an hour later for a five-hour trip across the country, arriving in California just after 8 p.m. local time. Then she might get a short break and fly a 90-minute short-hop flight to to another California city. When she lands from this second flight, she has spent six and a half hours of the last nine in the cockpit. She is also three time zones from where she started work, and her body thinks it's 2 a.m. There's no doubt she's tired -- and she's lucky not to have encountered any schedule adjustments for aircraft maintenance or weather delays. The airline industry and the government agency that regulates it, the Federal Aviation Administration, have taken steps to reduce pilot fatigue, but many pilots and others remain worried that two pilots are required to remain awake and alert for the entire flight, though one or both may be dealing with symptoms of fatigue. One possible suggestion is letting pilots take brief naps in the cockpit. As researchers of consumer opinions about the airline industry, we've found that the American public is wary of this idea, but may feel better about it once they've heard an explanation of how it actually makes their flights safer. Limiting pilots' work time Pilot fatigue can be difficult to predict or diagnose -- especially since tired pilots usually manage to take off, fly and land safely. Even when something goes wrong, accident investigators may have little evidence of fatigue, except perhaps the sound of someone yawning on cockpit audio recordings. In 2014, the FAA imposed the first new pilot-rest rules in 60 years, limiting overall on-duty time and flight hours per day depending on when a pilot's shift starts. The rules also established a process by which pilots can report fatigue without being disciplined by their airlines or the government. Resting in the cockpit It's widely known that a short nap can improve a pilot's alertness. Some planes, such as those commonly used on long international flights, have beds their pilots and other crew can use, but smaller planes don't have the space. Only flights that are longer than eight hours require an additional pilot to be on board so one pilot at a time can rotate out for rest. On shorter flights, US regulations expect both pilots to remain alert for the entire length of the flight, without any chance for rest during the flight. Some countries, including Canada and Australia, allow for pilots to nap in the cockpit. In an example from China, a pilot was caught napping and faced disciplinary action for napping in the cockpit. The official procedure to allow for pilots to nap in the cockpit is called "controlled rest in position." CRIP has established policies and procedures to allow pilots to rest. The Conversation The rules are strict. The Air Canada Flight Operations Manual, for instance, says a pilot who wants to rest must notify the co-pilot and a flight attendant. The pilot can sleep for no more than 40 minutes, and must wake up at least half an hour before the descent for landing. They get the first 15 minutes after the nap to fully awaken, during which they can't resume actually flying the plane, unless they need to help deal with an emergency. Consumers' opinions As consumer opinion experts, we have conducted a series of studies to see what members of the public think about letting pilots use this CRIP procedure to nap in the cockpit. In general, people are less willing to fly when they know a pilot might be allowed to sleep at the controls, and women are less willing than men. In our research, we find that this is mostly attributed to fear, because they don't understand the benefits of pilot naps. Some of our earlier work has shown that when consumers understand the value of a new procedure, they'll feel better about it. It seems likely that explaining to people how better-rested pilots makes a flight safer could help more people feel comfortable flying in a plane where the CRIP procedure is allowed. What do pilots think? In a follow-up study, we asked pilots what they thought about being allowed to rest in the cockpit during flight -- and they were much more enthusiastic than nonpilots. Seventy percent of pilots favored allowing CRIP. On average, all participants who completed the survey felt that naps of 45 minutes should be approved, which was closely related to the 40 minutes suggested by scientific evidence. They also recognized the need for the pilot to be awake at least 30 minutes before beginning the descent to landing. Overall, the participants thought there were very few potential problems with CRIP and said it would be useful. However, some pilots did express worry about unintended consequences of CRIP implementation. The airlines, knowing that pilots could take naps during the flight, might be tempted to impose more rigorous flight schedules that would eliminate any benefits derived from CRIP. Lastly, participants commented on how this procedure is already being used by international carriers such as Air Canada and Qantas with success. So far, those companies' crews have not registered widespread complaints about abuse of scheduling practices, and none of the survey respondents who fly for those airlines complained about this potential problem. Will the United States allow it? It is hard to say whether the FAA would ever move to let US pilots nap in the cockpit. The scientific research provides empirical evidence as to its advantages, and while consumers are somewhat hesitant, pilots seem very supportive of it. What is clear is that fatigue in the cockpit remains a threat to the aviation industry worldwide. Given the scientific evidence supporting CRIP to counter fatigue, clearly there is value in considering how it could improve aviation safety. Perhaps it's time to listen to the pilots we trust to fly these airplanes and let them rest when they need to -- within reason, and so they can fly more safely. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/pilots-sleep-cockpit-airline-safety/index.html Back to Top CAS Is Awarded the Maintenance Approval Certificate from the Republic of Indonesia Fairhope, Alabama, June 5, 2019 - Certified Aviation Services, LLC (CAS), is proud to announce it has been awarded the Maintenance Approval Certificate from the Republic of Indonesia, Ministry of Transportation, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The scope of this certificate covers work for CAS' component repair shop in Fairhope, Alabama. The DGCA requires its candidates to assemble a safety management system (SMS). While the SMS is suggested by the FAA, it is a mandatory requirement in order to receive the DGCA. The completion of CAS' SMS not only enhances the safety of its employees and customers, but also shows its commitment that safety and quality standards are continuously met. The certification authorizes CAS' component shop to not only complete component repair and overhaul services for airlines of Indonesia, but also with aircraft part brokers that work in company with the particular airlines. Brad Caban, CAS' President of Components, stated, "Over the years CAS has enjoyed a close relationship with Indonesian airlines through its AOG Go Team. We are excited to strengthen the relationship with our component repair and overhaul services. The addition of the DGCA certificate has pushed us forward to create a SMS and embrace the new safety enhancements. We look forward to helping the air carriers of Indonesia with our world class repair services as well as assisting our current aircraft parts brokers." About Certified Aviation Services: Certified Aviation Services (CAS) is a leading provider of MRO services for fleet operators, leasing organizations, OEMs and Adjusters globally. Backed by more than 300 world-class A&P mechanics and more than 25 years of service, CAS is one of the most experienced MRO service providers. Throughout our nationwide network, CAS conducts line maintenance, modifications, installations, component overhaul and engine services, as well as heavy recovery and repairs. Each division is committed to providing our customers innovative, cost-effective solutions when and where they need it. To learn more, visit www.certifiedaviation.com. https://www.aviationpros.com/aircraft/maintenance-providers/press-release/21083447/certified-aviation-services-llc-cas-is-awarded-the-maintenance-approval-certificate-from-the-republic-of-indonesia Back to Top Metro Aviation completion center receives EASA seal of approval The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued a U.S. Approval Certificate to Metro Aviation as a part 145 maintenance organization. EASA is responsible for the certification of aircraft in the European Union (EU) and for some European non-EU countries. "With the addition of this rating, we will be able to better support repair approval for our EU customers who are using any of the Metro Aviation, Inc. STC/PMA products," said Metro Aviation managing director Milton Geltz. Metro was required to meet four steps of the certification process to include technical familiarization and certification basis, establishment of the certification program, compliance demonstration and technical closure/issue of approval. Metro is a worldwide provider of completion services and has aircraft or aircraft parts on six of the seven continents. https://www.verticalmag.com/press-releases/metro-aviation-completion-center-receives-easa-seal-of-approval/ Back to Top Why Mitsubishi Heavy May Want Bombardier's Money-Losing CRJ Regional Jet Line Bombardier may be close to completing its exit from the airliner business, confirming Wednesday morning that it's holding talks with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to sell its once-mighty CRJ regional jet line. For Mitsubishi Heavy, which has struggled to make the climb from an aircraft component supplier to a jet maker, the deal may be less about the money-losing CRJ than acquiring its extensive service network. Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Heavy is years behind schedule on the MRJ, a twin-engine regional jet that was initially expected to be launched in 2013 with Japanese airline ANA. With certification of the 90-seat version believed to be on track for 2020, acquiring the competing CRJ program would solve the knottiest remaining problem for Mitsubishi: product support and maintenance, says Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with Teal Group. "They have no experience at that, and no infrastructure," he says. Montreal-based Bombardier created the regional jet market with the CRJ, a stretched, 50-seat version of the Canadair Challenger 600 business jet that it launched in 1989. With jet fuel cheap in the 1990s, U.S. airlines snapped up the CRJ to replace propeller-driven planes on short-haul routes serving smaller cities. Bombardier has sold 1,950 CRJs, but sales slowed in the early 2000s as oil prices climbed and airline consolidation shrank route networks. The 51 current orders for the aging airframe should be completed by 2020. Bombardier refreshed the CRJ in recent years with a new cabin design, but its seventies-vintage General Electric engines are inefficient by modern standards, and it's not clear if the plane could be retrofitted with newer ones. What's kept sales trickling along has been the persistence of so-called "scope clauses" in U.S. airlines' labor contracts with their pilots, which restrict the major carriers from contracting with regional airlines for flights of planes above 76 seats and a maximum takeoff weight of 86,000 pounds. With the MRJ, Mitsubishi made a losing bet that the scope clauses would be relaxed by the time it came into service: the MRJ90 is too big to be used in the U.S. now. Embraer made the same miscalculation with its new E2 regional jet line. Mitsubishi has been working on a 70-seat version, but that project is reportedly going through a redesign that could delay it until 2023. United and Delta pilots are negotiating new contracts, and American and Southwest's agreements are up in 2020, but it's unclear whether the airlines will be able to win relaxation of the scope clause restrictions. It's also unclear whether Mitsubishi would want to keep producing the CRJ, scope clauses or no, given its unprofitability. The company could choose to fulfill current orders and wind it down, says Aboulafia. Beyond the CRJ maintenance network, Mitsubishi could benefit from adding experienced engineers from the Bombardier program who could aid in developing the MRJ and in the complicated regulatory certification process. Bombardier filed a lawsuit against Mitsubishi in October, alleging that former Bombardier employees had supplied it with trade secrets that would help the MRJ gain certification. A sale of the CRJ line would be the sunset of an era of ambition for Bombardier, a snowmobile maker that expanded into rail in the 1970s and aviation in the 1980s with a series of acquisitions, but stumbled badly earlier this decade with an attempt to challenge Airbus and Boeing by developing a 100- to 130-seat jet, the CSeries, that almost bankrupted the company. CEO Alain Bellemare, who came aboard in 2015, has sold off assets and raised new debt and equity to pare Bombardier's heavy debt load, aiming to slim the company down to its strongholds in business jets and trains. In 2018, Bombardier gave away a majority share in the CSeries to Airbus, which has rebranded it the A220. Airbus has the option to buy full control in 2025. This week Bombardier closed the sale of its Q Series regional turboprop line to Longview Capital, and last month it announced that it would sell an aerostructures factory in Morocco and its Northern Ireland unit, which developed innovative composite resin technology used to make the wings for the A220. For the CRJ program, Bombardier could fetch a similar price to its sale of the Q Series, which netted $250 million, says analyst Christopher Murray of AltaCorp Capital, and a deal could allow it to offload other contingent liabilities. Bombardier shares rose 8.9% Wednesday morning to 2.14 Canadian dollars on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The stock tumbled 20% in late April after the company cut its 2019 sales and profit outlook due to delays and quality issues on multiple contracts at its rail unit. Bombardier said during its first-quarter earnings call last month that it would no longer commit to previously announced financial goals for 2020, including raising sales to $20 billion. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2019/06/05/its-not-the-planes-that-mitsubishi-heavy-is-after-in-eyeing-purchase-of-bombardiers-crj-regional-jet-line/#1b51b8634443 Back to Top EASA Issues Second Proposal on Aviation Cybersecurity EASA issued a notice of proposed amendment (NPA) that introduces provisions for the management of information security risks related to aeronautical information systems used in civil aviation. These cybersecurity provisions would apply to authorities and organizations in all aviation domains: design, production, management of continuing airworthiness, maintenance, training and training devices, air operations, aeromedical, aircrew, air traffic control, air navigation services, and airports. This NPA and similar others are in response to EASA's concern that cyberattacks are no longer just random events. "Therefore, not enough focus may have been put in properly addressing cybersecurity because existing flaws can be exploited by individuals with a malicious intent," EASA said. "Such a risk is constantly increasing in the civil aviation environment as the current aeronautical information systems are becoming more and more interconnected." These information security risks have the potential to generate events that can have direct consequences on the safety of flight. "Therefore, the interactions between information security and safety management systems (SMS) may be relevant for addressing information security risks," EASA added. Comments on the NPA are due September 27. This NPA is the second in a series to help protect the industry from cybersecurity attacks. The first NPA, published earlier this year, dealt exclusively with mitigating cyberattacks on aircraft and their systems through proposed changes to airframe, engine, and accessory certification rules. It also proposed to replace special conditions to meet these threats with dedicated requirements. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2019-06-04/easa-issues-second-proposal-aviation-cybersecurity Back to Top Altran demonstrates first step to aviation's VR factory of the future Imagine a future where managers and executives at airframers and suppliers can move instantly from Toulouse to Tianjin, Seattle to Singapore, Cwmbran to Kadoma at the tap of a key, giving project managers and leadership real-time views of progress on an airframe, a seat, an inflight entertainment system. That's the future that Altran sees, and the first step to getting there is a project that "recreated a complete aeronautical plant as part of a proof of concept for the smart factory of the future," Altran spokesperson Karoline Heidtmann tells Runway Girl Network. "The application allows a virtual visit to the factory, including information about the operations of the plant through virtual dashboards in real time, with analytics performed on the IoT platform for predictive maintenance." Including a training scenario for one of the maintenance processes from the factory and a management capability demonstration (rescheduling a maintenance operation), it's clear that this is only the beginning for this technology, which is currently based on static imagery rather than live video. At present, it uses three technologies. To build the 3D model, Altran's supplier used drone-based photogrammetry to take measurements, using GPS, angles and photographs to feed into its computer aided design, in this case CATIA, the software suite from Dassault. Images from the real factory were then placed on top of the CAD models by Altran and outsourced developers, and presented in the application, with from-scratch modeling of non-virtualized elements and object using the photogrammetry images as reference. But it's not just a demonstrator. Altran is also planning to use some of the techniques for future projects, and has used the VR factory as a proof of concept. To create a live factory, Altran currently expects to require a large amount of data from the factory. That would include a digital twin process, where individual machines' live performance from the real world part of the twin is fed back into the virtual twin, in a way that enginemakers and airframers are already using to greater and lesser extents on their products. Live streaming would also be required, but none of these needs are either revolutionary or dealbreakers. There are, however, five key barriers that Altran sees. Firstly, industrial security and data regulations: nobody wants their live factory to be viewable by just anyone online. Secondly, network limitations, where infrastructure underinvestment in some countries may mean that connection improvements, redundancy or supplementation are required to deal with bandwidth, lag or other problems. Third, there may well be a large data acquisition effort: companies and factories may imagine that they are digital organizations when in fact they are not. Barriers four and five come when the live virtual factory wants to be two-way, with interaction between the remote participant and factory-based machinery a challenge, at which point the performance limits of the remote IT setup and the comms robustness between the remote and factory-based ends may also pose issues. The key technologies, though, are largely in place. Virtual reality, says Heidtmann, "is mature enough and it will be improved in terms of quality of the headset and how easy is the set up". The IoT is well established on the ground even as it continues to push onto the aircraft, and sensors are increasingly connected and available. Analytics requires more consideration along the 'solutions looking for problems' sort of angle, while biometric monitoring (EEG in particular) raises huge ethical questions. But with supply chain problems from engines to cabins, the ability for an airframer's program management team to hop instantly from the production site of lavatories, seats, galleys, engines, and any other crucial component will be nothing short of revolutionary. https://runwaygirlnetwork.com/2019/06/05/altran-demonstrates-first-step-to-aviations-vr-factory-of-the-future/ Back to Top NASA's first SpaceX astronauts ready for 'messy camping trip' to space HOUSTON (Reuters) - The first U.S. astronauts chosen to fly aboard a SpaceX capsule built for NASA shrugged off a spate of design and test mishaps, saying such setbacks were "part of the process" and the new technology was far more advanced than the space shuttle program that ended eight years ago. Space shuttle veterans Bob Behnken, 48, and Doug Hurley, 52 are slated for blastoff later this year from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the debut manned flight of the Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station and back. Two fellow astronauts, Mike Hopkins, 50, and Victor Glover, 43, are designated for launch aboard the vehicle's first official operational mission at a later date, possibly with two more crew members from other countries. While a series of design hitches and test accidents may end up pushing back this year's maiden launch to 2020, the astronauts voiced trust in the capabilities and safety of the space vehicles being developed through NASA's new commercial partnerships. They also said the business of space flight was not always neat and clean. "People to a degree think it's pretty glamorous to be able to go into space, but it's actually like a messy camping trip," Hurley told Reuters in recent interviews with the astronauts conducted at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. California-based SpaceX, the privately owned venture owned by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, successfully launched an unpiloted Crew Dragon to the space station in March on a test mission known as Demo 1. The capsule safely splashed down in the Atlantic and was recovered several days later. But the following month, on April 20, SpaceX experienced a high-profile setback when the same Crew Dragon blew up during a ground test of the vehicle's emergency abort thrusters, designed to propel the capsule and its crew to safety from atop the rocket in the event of a launch failure. INVESTIGATING 'ANOMALY' The April accident, which SpaceX and NASA referred to as an "anomaly" in the bland parlance of aerospace engineers, is under investigation, although the astronaut team has been given "remarkable" access to the SpaceX-led inquiry, Behnken said. "In general, the anomaly that happened to us in the past, that's the best kind because we'll figure that one out ... and we'll make sure that that's not going to happen again," Behnken said. "We're the risk-takers, and being informed on that risk is super important as well." Hopkins said: "This is part of the process. It's not surprising that it's happened. We all wish that we haven't had some of these issues, but ... as long as you've got a good process, a good team put together, you can get through them." The Crew Dragon and the Falcon 9 rocket that loft it into orbit are both SpaceX creations. The first crewed launch of the two will mark a major milestone, not only for Musk's company, but for NASA in its quest to resume human space flight from U.S. soil after nearly a decade. NASA is paying SpaceX and aerospace rival Boeing Co nearly $7 billion combined, for each to construct rocket-and-capsule launch systems for ferrying astronauts to the space station. Since NASA ended its space shuttle program in 2011, U.S. astronauts have had to fly aboard Russian-launched Soyuz spacecraft on missions to the orbital research laboratory. The first unmanned flight of Boeing's Starliner crew capsule is expected to follow on the heels of SpaceX's debut crewed mission, to be followed by a mission carrying actual astronauts into space in 2020. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-exploration-spacex-astronauts/nasas-first-spacex-astronauts-ready-for-messy-camping-trip-to-space-idUSKCN1T611Y Curt Lewis