JULY 4, 2019 - No. 053 In This Issue Dassault Buys Ruag's Geneva and Lugano Sites Indian Airlines Had Five Landing "Incidents" In Two Days INVESTIGATORS HEAD TO REGIONAL EXPRESS AS SAFETY STOUSH CONTINUES. Flexjet to Deploy New Flight Data Management System on Corporate Jets Airline Labor To Regulators: Why Do Foreign Repair Stations Have Lower Standards? Safran and Thai Aviation Industries expand engine support partnership Recruiting Engineers Is Getting Tougher in UK This new helicopter design looks like an 'Avatar' prop Etihad reports substantial increase in training demand SpaceX camera captures incredible view of rocket part returning to Earth Dassault Buys Ruag's Geneva and Lugano Sites Dassault is continuing the recent expansion of its customer service offerings with the purchase of Ruag's operations in Geneva and Lugano, the companies announced this morning. This move follows similar deals earlier this year when Dassault purchased ExecuJet's global aircraft maintenance business and TAG Aviation's European aircraft maintenance operations, and strengthens the manufacturer's presence at Geneva, one of Europe's top business aviation hubs. "The acquisition of the business aviation activities of Ruag is part of our strategy to develop a worldwide MRO network of excellence and will allow Dassault Aviation to reinforce its footprint in Switzerland," said Eric Trappier, the French airframer's chairman and CEO, adding that Ruag has been a long-time authorized Falcon service center. "We are extremely satisfied that we have completed this transaction with Dassault Aviation, a leader in manufacturing and maintaining aircraft," said Ruag CEO Urs Breitmeier. "They are an experienced partner of Ruag and can provide a strong foundation for successfully continuing operations in Geneva and Lugano, as well as for the future of the members of our staff at both sites." While Ruag will retain its maintenance operation and FBO at Germany's Munich-Oberpfaffenhofen Airport, the deal with Dassault also includes its FBOs at Geneva-Meyrin and Lugano-Agno Airports. "Both Geneva and Lugano FBO activities will complement the full range of services offered by Dassault Aviation in Switzerland," concluded Trappier. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2019-07-02/dassault-buys-ruags-geneva-and-lugano-sites Back to Top Indian Airlines Had Five Landing "Incidents" In Two Days All things considered aviation is incredibly safe. Incidents occur, though fortunately a vast majority of them don't have any fatalities. While they might make the news, everyone makes it out safely, and there are no major injuries. Along those lines, two Indian airlines - Spicejet and Air India Express - had a rough start to the week. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, the two airlines had a combined total of five incidents on landing. Fortunately there were no fatalities, though you also can't help but wonder if this is just a really bad coincidence, or reflective of a bigger issue. So, what happened? On Monday an Air India Express 737-800 flying from Dammam to Kohzikode had a tail strike on landing; amazingly the plane returned to service about seven hours later On Monday a Spicejet Dash 8 flying from Bhopal to Surat Gujarat overran the runway by nearly 900 feet On Tuesday a Spicejet 737-800 flying from Jaipur to Mumbai overran the runway, and was going about 80 knots at the end of the runway; the nose gear ended up collapsing, and the plane was substantially damaged On Tuesday a Spicejet 737-800 flying from Pune to Kolkata veered right during landing, making contact with a number of runway lights, before the crew managed to get the plane back on the runway centerline; the plane returned to service about eight hours later On Tuesday an Air India Express 737-800 flying from Dubai to Mangalore veered right on landing and the nose gear went over a drainage ditch at the end of the runway (below is a video of that) Admittedly India has had bad weather the past few days, and at least some of the incidents were weather related. Still, to see five incidents over the course of two days is pretty significant. Incidents happen, so I suppose this could just be bad luck. However, it is also worth noting that over the past decade or so we've gone from a pilot surplus to a pilot shortage. As we see air travel become more accessible and the aviation industry grow, we're also seeing less experienced pilots at the controls. That's true across the world, especially at low cost carriers. So while I'm not saying that's definitely the case here, having this number of landing incidents in a short period is... concerning. This is only the start of India's monsoon season, so hopefully this was isolated and isn't reflective of what's to come. https://onemileatatime.com/indian-airlines-landing-incidents/ Back to Top INVESTIGATORS HEAD TO REGIONAL EXPRESS AS SAFETY STOUSH CONTINUES Australia's safety regulator is sending in a team to review maintenance operations at the nation's biggest independent regional airline, Regional Express (Rex). A team of Civil Aviation Safety Authority airworthiness investigators will visit the airline's maintenance facilities in the regional NSW regional town of Wagga Wagga Thursday as part of an investigation into allegations of safety problems at the carrier. "We're continuing our investigation of the allegations and as part of that we're going to be doing an onsite visit at the Rex heavy maintenance facility at Wagga,'' CASA spokesman Peter Gibson told AirlineRatings "It's a normal part of CASA investigations to do onsite visits." The move comes as a bitter argument has developed between Regional Express and the association representing small aircraft owners over a union call to ground the carrier. The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association lodged a 17-page complaint with CASA in May alleging that a culture of intimidation and bullying meant employees were reluctant to report defects on aircraft. It cited an example where an engineer performing routine line maintenance reported corrosion on a propeller shaft was subject to a formal investigation into whether he followed the correct procedures. It argued the move was counter to the Just principles of aviation and had created a circumstance where defects may not have been reported and aircraft could operate where there was a risk to safety. Rex has vehemently denied the claims and says the furor, which affected its share price, is inspired by a dispute with the union and a disgruntled engineer. It also hit back at the Airport Owners and Operators Association for what it says are reckless and irresponsible remarks questioning why CASA had not acted sooner. AOPA executive director Ben Morgan during an interview on ABC radio called for the union report to be made public and for assurances from CASA to about whether "things were being done properly" inside REX. Describing the allegations as troubling, he said there seemed to be a difference in the way CASA treated the airline industry compared to the way it treated smaller operators. He accused the regulator of being unwilling to jump into the REX issue. "I feel that it really is incumbent on CASA at this point in time, given the magnitude of the allegations, that they do come forward and that they offer some explanation to the Australian public of the safety status of allegations and provide an assurance as to whether the aircraft are, or are not safe in their current form,'' he said. CASA's Gibson said it was a matter of evidence and facts and the authority needed to look at allegations deeply, carefully and thoroughly. He said if there were immediate safety issues, the authority would take immediate action as it had when it banned the 737 MAX from Australian skies, or it did some years ago when it grounded Tiger Airways. Rex responded by labeling Morgan's remarks as "reckless and irresponsible". The regional carrier said it had undergone five extensive CASA safety audits since February, 2018, and these had looked at all aspects of its safety management system and aircraft maintenance. It provided a number of quotes from CASA correspondence indicating the regulator was satisfied the airline was meeting its safety obligations. "It is inconceivable that Rex's safety culture could have so sharply deteriorated as alleged in just one month or that CASA would have failed to pick up troubling signs of Rex's safety culture in over two years of intense scrutiny,'' it said. "Rex believes that our safety management system, including our safety culture, is second to none in Australia." https://www.airlineratings.com/news/investigators-head-regional-express-safety-stoush-continues/ Back to Top Flexjet to Deploy New Flight Data Management System on Corporate Jets Flexjet is in the process of completing the largest-ever implementation of GE Aviation's wireless flight data management system across a fleet of 150 corporate jets. The investment in the avionics and service upgrades are designed to improve the internal flight operations quality assurance (FOQA) program for one of the largest fractional ownership providers in the world. Under a new partnership with GE Aviation, Flexjet is installing new quick access recorders (QAR) and cellular data services designed to help improve flight data monitoring and eliminate potential flight operational safety hazards. The QAR and cellular data service equipment is being supplied by Avionica, the Miami, Florida-based avionics maker that formed a joint venture with GE Aviation in July 2018. FOQA, is a method used by business and commercial jet operators to collect and analyze aircraft data on a regular basis to improve the safety and efficiency of their flight operations, air traffic control procedures and aircraft maintenance programs. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) first amended Annex 6 in 2008 to introduce new requirements and recommendations related to the implementation of safety management systems that included FOQA guidelines. The FAA and other civil aviation regulators and air navigation service providers use FOQA data to monitor regional trends in flight operations and target areas that pose potential operational risks. "We were able to customize the QAR firmware to include Flexjet-specific flight events by using the roughly 4.5 million data points collected per wireless transmission that the equipment sends immediately after landing of every flight," Todd Anguish, chief safety officer for Flexjet, said in a statement regarding the new partnership. Flexjet has also established a new data analyst team, trained by GE Aviation, that will perform real-time analysis of flight data immediately after every flight. Results from their analysis will provide insights to Flexjet on optimizing future safety protocols, pilot training and maintenance program. "The comprehensive data we can gather instantly allows us to ensure safer operation of our fleet with real-time Flight Data Monitoring to address any potential flight safety concerns immediately," Anguish said. A representative from Flexjet was unable to confirm when fleet-wide installations will be complete. https://www.aviationtoday.com/2019/07/03/flexjet-deploy-new-flight-data-management-system-corporate-jets/ Back to Top Airline Labor To Regulators: Why Do Foreign Repair Stations Have Lower Standards? Four top airline industry labor leaders have written to Transportation Secretary Elain Chao, asking that safety standards at foreign aircraft maintenance facilities be enhanced to the same level that domestic maintenance stations meet. "Aircraft maintenance overseas needs to have the same standards as we have in the U.S.," said Sito Pantoja, general vice president of the International Association of Machinists and one of the four signatories. "These are not new issues for us," Pantoja said in an interview. "They are issues we have been addressing in FAA reauthorization bills for 20 years." The letter said foreign repair stations trail U.S. stations in employee drug and alcohol testing, in employee security standards and "risk-based safety oversight of [stations] that have a demonstrated track record of performing poor work." Congress addressed the concerns in 2012 and 2016 Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization acts, but the safety measures have not been implemented, the letter to Chao said. "The reforms mandated by Congress and their initial deadlines predate your time as Secretary of Transportation, but the responsibility to fulfill these obligations now falls to you," it said. The transportation department oversees the FAA. Spokespersons for the agencies were not available Tuesday or Wednesday to comment on the substance of the letter. Pantoja said foreign repair stations employ unlicensed mechanics -at times, with dozens of unlicensed mechanics overseen by a handful of licensed mechanics -and are not subject to unannounced inspections in the way that U.S. stations are. In fact, major maintenance facilities in the U.S., in cities including Charlotte and Tulsa, have FAA inspectors on site. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tedreed/2019/07/03/airline-labor-to-regulators-why-do-foreign-repair-stations-have-lower-standards/#4c2b080a34f1 Back to Top Safran and Thai Aviation Industries expand engine support partnership Safran Helicopter Engines has reached an agreement to expand the scope of its helicopter engine support partnership with Thai Aviation Industries (TAI). The partners will extend their support to helicopter engines used by the Royal Thai Armed Forces and Thai parapublic operators. The new agreement builds on the relationship between Safran and TAI, which began in 2017. At that time, Safran agreed to support the Makila engine that powers the Airbus-built H225 helicopters operated by the Royal Thai Air Force. Pursuant to the agreement, the companies will expand the support and services provided through the partnership to include more operators. The partnership will now cover customers such as the Royal Thai Navy and new engine models, including the Arrius and the Arriel. Arriel engines are used on the Royal Thai Armed Forces' fleets of H125M, H145M, AS365N3+ and H155. Furthermore, the agreement seeks to optimise the technical support provided by Safran to include inventory management. Safran has also chosen TAI as a national distributor of its spare parts in Thailand. In a statement, Safran said: "The partnership with TAI, covering around 50 engines, is built around the global support package (GSP) service model, which guarantees engine availability to military and parapublic operators. "It is executed through the industrial capabilities of TAI, the main aircraft repair and maintenance service provider in Thailand." Services offered by the partnership include helicopter engine line maintenance, depot repair, inventory management and technical support expertise for government operators. The GSP model guarantees the availability of serviceable engines to customers whenever they need them. It also offers budget stability, fixed price per engine flying hour and a technical partnership with the OEM. Safran Helicopter Engines Asia manages the company's partnership with TAI. Based in Singapore, Safran Helicopter Engines Asia supports more than 1,000 Safran helicopter engines serving over 175 operators in South East Asia and the Indian sub-continent. https://www.army-technology.com/news/safran-tai-support-partnership/ Back to Top Recruiting Engineers Is Getting Tougher in UK Aviation maintenance's need for new engineers is just one aspect of the larger market for newly graduated engineers. David Lynchehaun, sales director of the Morson Group, which helps recruit staff for aircraft maintenance and other industries, sees the big picture in the UK. "Demand remains strong for engineering talent in the UK, but recruiting in the sector faces some challenges brought on by a skills shortage," Lynchehaun observes. Due to new technology, clients are changing how they engage with recruitment firms. "And Brexit also looms with its uncertainty." A recent report by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies found demand for contract engineers down by 20%, but demand for permanent placement of engineers up by 16%. That's good news for engineering candidates, with more steady jobs available. But it can make it tougher for hiring companies. "In the UK, competition is fierce for top engineering candidates, and there's a growing shortage of talent with in-demand engineering skill sets," Lynchehaun says. Apart from aerospace, other sectors are also feeling the pinch. In the nuclear sector, for example, nearly half of workers will reach retirement age in the 2020s. Given the shortage, Lynchehaun says it is increasingly important for hiring companies to ensure their candidates' recruitment journeys are as positive and seamless as possible. "This is especially true with social media and smartphones making communication ubiquitous." If a candidate is unhappy with a company's recruitment process, the bad feelings can spread quickly. Morson itself tries to provide candidates with the best experience, partly by offering the latest Web accessibility technology to minimize barriers to success. Interestingly, some companies are exploiting transferable skills by hiring people from other sectors. "Casting the recruitment net outside of the traditional talent pool can help to deal with peaks and troughs during project delivery," Lynchehaun says. It can also yield revealing insights into how to upskill other candidates. As they leave school, engineering candidates consider many career paths, not just engineering. The Morson exec says many young people are simply unaware of the many opportunities available in engineering. And then there's Brexit. In the past, the UK has sourced workers from throughout Europe to fill labor gaps. "It's unknown how Brexit will affect overseas labor pipelines," Lynchehaun says. But improving technology can help recruiters and recruiting companies. Technology now automates parts of recruitment, especially repetitive, high-volume tasks such as reviewing resumes. "Ultimately, artificial intelligence (AI) can make the recruitment process faster and more efficient," Lynchhaun argues. For example, AI video interview software can use biometric and psychometric analysis to evaluate not just the quality of candidate answers but voice quality, pace of speech, voice energy, avoidance of fillers, facial micro-expressions and body language. In other words, just the sort of signs that veteran interviewers look for. Morson itself is using RecruitmentSMART software for recruitment sourcing and screening. And SniperAI uses machine learning and auto screening to help Morson match job specifications with possible resumes rapidly. https://www.mro-network.com/maintenance-repair-overhaul/recruiting-engineers-getting-tougher-uk Back to Top This new helicopter design looks like an 'Avatar' prop The Army's working hard to fulfill six big modernization efforts including a new utility helicopter to replace the UH-60. But now the Army has signaled it may need a new scout helicopter first, and a small design firm has a bold pitch for the program that looks like it's been lifted out of a James Cameron movie but could be the future of Army aviation. The design firm AVX has pitched to the military before, but you're probably not familiar with their work. That's because they don't have a full aircraft to their credit or any big programs that everyone would recognize. But they've been quietly working to make military aviation better, winning maintenance contracts and bids to increase fuel efficiency. And their work in the fuel efficiency space led them to propose a fairly radical redesign of the helicopter. Right now, the "traditional" helicopter design calls for one main rotor that generates lift and a tail, "anti-torque" rotor that keeps the bird pointed in the right direction. It's the design at work on the Apache, the MH-6 Little Bird, the Lakota, and lots more. But AVX wants to see more use of "coaxial" designs where the main rotor has two discs instead of one. They spin in opposite directions, stabilizing the helicopter without the need for a tail rotor. These coaxial designs are typically more efficient, and AVX wants to combine that with two ducted fans for propulsion, allowing for a helicopter that's safer, faster, and more efficient. AVX tried to get the Army to adopt these changes when it was looking to upgrade the OH-58 scout helicopter. The Army was looking to overhaul the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior, and AVX felt certain that giving it a coaxial rotor and two ducted fans would give the helicopter increased endurance, lift capability, cruise speed, time on station and range. The Army ended up retiring the OH-58 instead of going through an overhaul, but that left it with no dedicated scout helicopter. Right now, the AH-64 Apache is switch hitting, serving as a scout helicopter and an attack helicopter. But Apaches are more expensive per flight hour, heavier, and require highly specialized pilots that the Army is already short on. Getting a new scout helicopter would alleviate a few of these problems. But AVX isn't as large or as experienced an aviation company as Bell, Boeing, Lockheed, or other companies that have produced rotary platforms for the Army. So AVX has partnered with L3 Technologies, another company experienced in supporting Army aviation. And the aircraft these companies are pitching to the Army for the new scout helicopter? You guessed it: Coaxial rotor blade for lift and two ducted fans for propulsion. As an added bonus for efficiency, there are two stubby wings that will generate significant lift at high speeds. It won't have the ducted main rotors of the Aerospatiale SA-2 Samson from Avatar, but it's easy to see how you get from AVX's proposal for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft to something like the SA-2. Now, it's far from certain that AVX will get selected by the Army. The Army wants to be buying and fielding the birds by 2024, an aggressive timetable that a small company will struggle to meet. And it wants to buy the aircraft for $30 million apiece flyaway cost, meaning there won't be a lot of room in the budget for inefficiencies and screwups. So, the Army may prefer a more experienced manufacturer. But there are early elements of the design that signal a possible AVX advantage. First, despite all the tech required to make those coaxial blades and ducted fans work, the technologies are fairly proven and don't add a whole lot to cost. Also, the program has ambitious requirements for speed, size of the aircraft, and agility, and the AVX design fits the bill if it makes it through selection and manufacturing process without any big compromises. So the next helicopter looking over your shoulder in battle might just look like a science fiction aircraft, but don't expect Michelle Rodriquez to be flying it. She'll most likely be busy with Fast and the Furious 14. https://www.wearethemighty.com/news/new-helicopter-design-avatar-prop Back to Top Etihad reports substantial increase in training demand Etihad Airways is seeing a leap in demand for the services of its pilot training division, Etihad Aviation Training (EAT), the Abu Dhabi-based carrier said June 27. Fast-growing demand for airline pilots, particularly for Airbus A320 and Boeing 787 crews, is behind the growth of the division, the company said. Etihad said it had won contracts in the past year to train pilots for more than 40 clients. Just one year ago, it supported only three other carriers. "Air travel is booming, and so is demand for pilots and other aviation professionals," EAT MD Paolo La Cava said. "The number of passenger journeys on the world's airlines is expected to double within 20 years, and Airbus and Boeing are both predicting that total aircraft numbers will also double to accommodate this growth." EAT handles a considerable amount of ab initio training, but the fastest-growing segment of its business is retraining pilots to fly new types, particularly Airbus A320-family members and Boeing 787s. "Many operators simply don't have the facilities or capacity to retrain the number of pilots required for these planes," La Cava said. "But we do, and demand for our services is growing. In the first half of this year, our volumes have exceeded expectations by 30%. A key reason for our success is that our instructors are also active pilots with Etihad Airways, operating the aircraft types on which we are training other pilot," he said. Among EAT's 10 full flight simulators three for both the Airbus A320 and Boeing 787. An A320 fixed base training unit will be introduced later this year. EAT was created in early 2018 by bringing together Etihad Flying College and the airline's maintenance training activities. Initially, the college catered rely for Etihad's own needs, but was relaunched early that year as a commercially focused operation, offering training to other carriers. In late 2018, EAT became the first aviation business in the UAE to receive accreditation as an Approved Training Organization by EASA. "From small beginnings just over a year ago, we have built our training business in Abu Dhabi to become the largest such facility in the Middle East, and one of the largest independent providers of training in the aviation industry," La Cava noted. https://atwonline.com/training/etihad-reports-substantial-increase-training-demand Back to Top SpaceX camera captures incredible view of rocket part returning to Earth On June 24, SpaceX sent the world's most powerful rocket, the Falcon Heavy, into space. On top of the Heavy, within the payload bay, were 24 satellites being carried to orbit to take up residence in space. But some parts of the Heavy were destined to come back to Earth, including the protective payload fairing that shielded the satellites from the extreme forces of a rocket launch. For the first time, SpaceX captured the fairing before it dropped into the Atlantic -- and have now provided stunning vision of its return to Earth. The SpaceX twitter account shared the video below on Tuesday evening, giving rocket chasers a fairing-eye's view of the return to Earth. As the half pipe-shaped metal zips through Earth's atmosphere, it lights up the particles, turning the screen a brilliant blue. This is what it looks like when you return from space: Twitter Post Catching the fairing is a particularly important milestone for SpaceX. The fairing acts like a nose cone for the rocket and shields the cargo being launched off-planet. Once the rocket has punched through Earth's atmosphere, the fairing gets jettisoned and comes back to Earth. It's a short life for the fairing, but it's an expensive one. Estimates suggest each fairing costs around $6 million, which means recovering them is important to drive down spaceflight costs for SpaceX. Rather than manufacture a new fairing each time, it's better just to re-use them -- but until the most recent launch it's been difficult to catch the falling hunk of metal as it descends toward the ocean. However, during the launch on June 24, SpaceX did it. Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO, shared vision of the capture by the company's speedy boat, known as Ms. Tree, on Twitter Tuesday. The next step for the fairing? Going back to space, of course. Here's hoping it can provide equally stunning vision on its next flight. https://www.cnet.com/news/spacex-camera-captures-incredible-view-of-rocket-part-returning-to-earth/ Curt Lewis