Flight Safety Information December 5, 2019 - No. 250 In This Issue Boeing chief engineer who defended Max airliner is retiring Air Zimbabwe passes IATA safety audit Qazaq Air confirms its safety compliance with IATA standards FAA Reauthorization Mandates Review Of Safety Data Handling Vietjet Air becomes latest airline to enhance aviation safety management with Ideagen Are Accident Rates Out of Control? United's Oscar Munoz to step down as CEO MOONEY AGAIN MAKING PARTS, AIRCRAFT World's first ISO approved drone safety standards announced APiJET wins NASA license to commercialize a Waze-like app to guide airlines and pilots Bombardier on track to meet 2019 Global 7500 business jet delivery targets: executive Indonesia to Fire Garuda CEO After Harley Smuggled on Jet The Arctic Is Warming Much Faster Than the Rest of Earth Safety Management Systems Certificate Program from SCSI Business Aviation Safety Consortium (BASC) announces second Safety Dividend Safety and Investigation Training in Sydney IATA Safety and Flight Ops Conference - Baku, Azerbaijan 31 March - 2 April, 2020 USC Aviation Safety & Security Program Boeing chief engineer who defended Max airliner is retiring FILE - In this Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019, file photo, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Vice President and Chief Engineer John Hamilton, testifies during a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Hamilton who has played a key role in the company's response to the grounding of the 737 Max is retiring. Boeing said Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019, that Hamilton planned to retire last year as chief engineer of commercial airplanes, but he stayed on to help get the Max back into service. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File) CHICAGO (AP) - The Boeing engineer who has played a key role in the company's response to the grounding of the 737 Max is retiring. Boeing said Wednesday that John Hamilton planned to retire last year as chief engineer of commercial airplanes, but he stayed on to help get the Max back into service. Hamilton appeared alongside CEO Dennis Muilenburg during two congressional hearings in late October and explained the design and production of the Max, which has been grounded since March following two deadly crashes. Hamilton acknowledged Boeing made some mistakes. Those included not having tested whether a faulty sensor could trigger the plane's anti-stall system, which investigators believe happened in both crashes, pushing down the noses of the planes. At other times he defended Boeing's safety culture. While a couple lawmakers expressed frustration with Hamilton's answers, they reserved most of their anger for Muilenburg. Hamilton has spent 35 years at Boeing and served as chief project engineer for several planes including the 737 NG, the version that preceded the Max. He was responsible for engineering design and safety for all Boeing airliners when the company got final approval of the Max from the Federal Aviation Administration. He was named to his current position in March to deal with the accident investigations and other technical risks, according to the company. He will be replaced by Lynne Hopper, vice president of engineering for Boeing's commercial airplanes business. She will be the first woman to hold the job at Boeing, a company spokesman said. Boeing's expectations for returning the Max to flight have been set back several times. Boeing engineers began updating flight-control software called MCAS shortly after it was determined to have played a role in the crash of a Lion Air Max off the coast of Indonesia in October 2018. They were still working on the software when an Ethiopian Airlines Max crashed near Addis Ababa in March. The company's hopes for a quick return to service were dashed in June, when test pilots for the Federal Aviation Administration discovered a separate problem involving flight computers during a session in a flight simulator. The three U.S. airlines that own Max jets - Southwest, American and United - don't expect them back in the schedule until March. https://www.yahoo.com/news/boeing-chief-engineer-retiring-defended-235942955.html Back to Top Air Zimbabwe passes IATA safety audit 4 December 2019 Air Zimbabwe passed the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). Air Zimbabwe is the national carrier of Zimbabwe. It was founded as Air Rhodesia in 1967 and was renamed Air Zimbabwe in 1980 when the Republic of Zimbabwe was formed. The airline currently has two Airbus A320s, two Boeing 737-200s, two Boeing 767-200s and two Xian MA60s. Of those aircraft, only one Boeing 767 is currently operational. The airline is preparing a Boeing 737 to resume service. The IOSA programme is an evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline. IOSA uses internationally recognised quality audit principles and is designed to conduct audits in a standardised and consistent manner. It was created in 2003 by IATA. All IATA members are IOSA registered and must remain registered to maintain IATA membership. https://news.aviation-safety.net/2019/12/04/air-zimbabwe-passes-iata-safety-audit/ Back to Top Qazaq Air confirms its safety compliance with IATA standards Qazaq Air Qazaq Air's aim for this year is 420,000 passengers (Qazaq Air) Qazaq Air, the state-owned Kazakh regional carrier, has renewed its IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) registration and IOSA operator status up to November 2021. With Qazaq Air successfully concluding its second IOSA, the renewal has confirmed the airline's commitment to "the highest safety standards throughout all levels of the company," advises Plamen Atanassov, chief executive of the airline. "IOSA registration has allowed our airline to become a full member of IATA, giving great opportunities for the development of cooperation with the global aviation community," he adds. In the course of the audit, which was conducted in June 2019, the accredited independent auditors performed comprehensive checks on nearly 1,000 individual standards and recommended IOSA practices thereby covering all aspects of the airline's operational activities including the company's organisational structure and corporate management, its safety management system, flight operations, operational control and flight dispatch, aircraft MRO, cabin and ground handling operations, cargo operations and aviation security. This summer the airline launched its first international flights from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan and from Atyrau to Astrakhan (Russia). Qazaq Air, which is 100 per cent-owned by the Kazakhstan Samruk-Kazyna National Welfare Fund, was launched in August 2015 and, by the first half of 2019, had served some 170,000 passengers, a 16 per cent year-on-year improvement. Its aim for this year is 420,000 passengers amidst a change of its base airport from Almaty to the country's Nur-Sultan (formerly Astana) capital. http://www.rusaviainsider.com/qazaq-air-confirms-safety-compliance-iata-standards/ Back to Top FAA Reauthorization Mandates Review Of Safety Data Handling Congress directs government watchdog to assess FAA progress toward safety data systems improvements. The U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (OIG) is looking into the FAA's handling of its safety data analysis system. In response to a congressional mandate, the inspector general will evaluate and report back any new information related to the FAA's efforts to improve the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing (ASIAS) system since the program was initiated in 2007. The ASIAS is a jointly led industry and government partnership that compiles data from a variety of sources. The program provides tools and resources to analyze and disseminate aggregated and de-identified data to proactively detect risks before accidents or serious incidents occur. Source data is compiled from a myriad of databases including the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP), FAA Service Difficulty Reports and the FAA Accident/Incident Data System. The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 specifically directed the OIG to evaluate the agency's efforts to "improve the ASIAS system's predictive capabilities and solutions developed to more widely disseminate results of ASIAS data analyses." As part of the study, the OIG will also evaluate the FAA's response to recommendations it made in a 2013 audit report, to include establishing a mechanism for providing safety inspector access to aggregate, de-identified data trends and developing guidance on how inspectors can use the data to enhance oversight, including integration with the Flight Standards Safety Assurance System (SAS). FAA.GOVMR-SAFETY-2-data_faa-gov.jpg The FAA's big data project is undergoing congressional scrutiny again, following years of delays. The previous audit found that ASIAS lacked advanced analytical capabilities and that aggregate results were not readily available to aviation safety inspectors. The FAA concurred with all four OIG-issued recommendations set forth in the 2013 audit report. Those recommendations have since been marked as "closed" in the OIG Recommendation Dashboard. Nevertheless, the renewed look will focus on progress made since then to improve the system and provide better data access. According to a recent FAA release, 47 air carriers, 88 corporate operators, 12 educational institutions, five manufacturers and two MROs contribute to the ASIAS program. The agency has recently started targeting the business and general aviation communities in an effort to broaden the scope of its data and will soon expand its reach to the helicopter industry. The OIG mandate is one of more than 400 directives Congress passed down to other branches of the government in the 2018 FAA Reauthorization Bill. https://www.mro-network.com/safety-regulatory/faa-reauthorization-mandates-review- safety-data-handling Back to Top Vietjet Air becomes latest airline to enhance aviation safety management with Ideagen VietJet Air Plane and Staff Software firm Ideagen will help the Vietnamese airline implement its Coruson software We are very excited to be working with Ideagen and its Coruson software, both of which have an outstanding reputation across the global aviation industry."- Vice President To Viet Thang at Vietjet Air NOTTINGHAM, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, December 5, 2019 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Vietjet Air, Vietnam's international new-age airline, is to enhance aviation safety management with software from Ideagen. Coruson, Ideagen's enterprise cloud-based software, will be implemented as an organisation-wide safety, reporting and risk management solution. The software will provide Vietjet Air - which carries out 400 flights daily - with safety performance oversight across its operations, delivering detailed performance data to quickly highlight potential safety weaknesses and risks, such as those linked to pilot fatigue or aircraft incidents. Coruson will strengthen the airline's safety culture through functionality such as smart forms, GEO tagging and a mobile app for detailed reporting. Vice President To Viet Thang at Vietjet Air, said: "Coruson will enhance a number of areas within the organisation, particularly our safety reporting and risk management. "It will become our dedicated safety, quality, risk and reporting solution and it will provide us with excellent functionality to truly take our approach to aviation safety management to the next level. "We are very excited to be working with Ideagen and its Coruson software, both of which have an outstanding reputation across the global aviation industry. Coruson will play a huge part in how we manage safety, risk and reporting going forward and will also be a key solution in helping us strengthen our safety foundations ahead of planned future growth." Vietjet Air is Vietnam's first privately owned new-age airline. It is a fully-fledged member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) with the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate. As Vietnam's largest private carrier, the airline was awarded the highest ranking for safety with seven stars in 2018 and 2019 by the world's only safety and product rating website AirlineRatings.com. It is also listed as one of the world's 50 best airlines for healthy financing and operations by Airfinance Journal in 2018 and 2019. The airline has also been named as Best Low-Cost Carrier by renowned organizations such as Skytrax, CAPA, Airline Ratings, and many others. With a young, modern fleet, and as one of the leading airlines in the world in terms of safety, quality and technical reliability, Vietjet has carried nearly 100 million passengers to date across an expansive network that includes destinations throughout Vietnam and international destinations in India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia and China. Steven Cespedes, Ideagen's Head of Aviation, said: "We are delighted to have secured this project with VietJet, who join an ever expanding list of clients benefiting from our Coruson software across the aviation industry. "This project will enable the team at VietJet to enhance their safety, quality and risk management processes and we are confident that our software will not only meet but exceed their requirements for safety, security, quality and risk management now, and in the future." Ideagen is a market leader and innovator in aviation safety, quality, risk and performance management. The company currently has more than 300 aviation clients across the globe, including Emirates, the International Airlines Group, British Airways, Ryanair, Flybe and KLM. www.ideagen.com www.ideagen.com/products/coruson www.vietjetair.com https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/504038875/vietjet-air-becomes-latest-airline-to- enhance-aviation-safety-management-with-ideagen Back to Top Are Accident Rates Out of Control? Thanksgiving weekend was a bad time for air safety. Nine people were killed in a PC-12 crash in North Dakota and seven more died in a PA-32 accident in Ontario. And we didn't even mention the three who died in the crash of a Comanche in San Antonio. What's going on here? This spate of crashes gives the sky-is-falling impression that fatal accidents are on the rise. As we reported last month, after years of a downward trend, the GA fatal accident rate rose sharply in 2018. What is sharply, exactly? It's 13 percent more bodies, 10 percent more crushed airframes and an equal rise in the accident rate. Is that a lot? Consider the context. As recently as 2014, the fatal rate was 1.305/100,000 hours, so the historic low of 0.935 in 2017 was 28 percent lower than that. Yeah, that's a lot. I can quibble about errors in the hours-flown data, but stone cold bodies paint a more undeniably vivid picture. In 2017, 347 died in 206 GA accidents, compared to 393 in 2018 and 217 crashes-a little more than one every other day. Nonetheless, 2018's record, sad as it is, it still below the seven-year average and still represents a downward trend. Curiously, 2017 might actually be the outlier for having been so low. But it's fair to wonder: What did we do in 2017 that we failed to do in 2018? Is there some trend we need to be aware of? My educated guess from reading more accident reports than is particularly healthy is no, there probably is not. But good luck proving that right or wrong. And here's where I think the NTSB and FAA have some work to do. Between them, these agencies are too slow in investigating accidents and getting the findings to the GA public, in my view. Remember the Roy Halladay fatal Icon crash? That occurred two years ago last month and I've been asking for the final report for at least the last year. The NTSB says it's due shortly. We need to get these things quicker than that if we expect to identify and arrest any trends they might reveal. I spent a couple of frustrating hours poring over the 2018 data and there's just not enough information yet to develop more than a vague understanding. The last year for which reliable, hard data is available appears to be 2016. I don't know if these agencies need more resources or not, but one way or another, what they're doing now needs an overhaul. That overhaul should include revision of the NTSB web site. The data is difficult to search with much precision and I have found queries to be returned inconsistently. With better data access, industry groups could do a better job of meaningful analysis and so could the FAA and NTSB. Dan Gryder, who's on a quest to reduce stall accidents, told me he thinks the NTSB doesn't issues enough specific recommendations for general aviation. It certainly does for every airline accident and sometimes just based on analytical trends and even when it's not a direct party to an investigation. It's a good point, but I'm not sure what those recommendations would be, other than the all-purpose suggestion to stop doing stupid ^%#$. Do we need a government edict to do this? I'm not convinced. I much prefer industry initiatives, perhaps in concert with FAA or NTSB recommendations. We've had that in the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee and while it has been effective, maybe it's time to rethink the concept with more timely and better data analysis. Organizations such as SAFE and AOPA's Air Safety Institute have done and can do this sort of thing. So do owner groups like the American Bonanza Society and the Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association. Timely accident data would help. And anyway, is it too much to assume that anyone smart enough to earn a pilot certificate can read this data and, you know, figure out how not to make a smoking hole? Or has the age of personal responsibility ended? Insurers play a role in this, but perhaps aren't as influential as some of us imagine. Insurers are reactive to loss rates and that's how they set premiums, accept customers and specify required training. Insurance companies expect a certain level of attritional losses-hangar rash, runway excursions, fires and so forth. But they really brace for the occasional big liability payouts that involve deaths and/or high hull value airplanes. The PC-12 crash I mentioned above may be one of those. But they don't share their internal data with each other or the public. Should they, in the name of air safety? Possibly. After the engine of our Mooney quit, putting the airplane into a swamp, I found a handful of identical accidents involving the same engine type. I asked the insurance company why they wouldn't investigate these in the name of loss prevention. Not interested, they said. Too expensive and the company's attritional losses were acceptable. I can't argue with the business logic. Theoretically, insurance requirements for training may have a downward or positive push on accident rates, although this is hard to document. More training ought to produce more competent pilots who wreck less often. But is the reverse also true? For most of the last decade, the aviation insurance markets have been blessed (or cursed) with over capacity-too many insurers chasing too few customers. As a result, premiums have been soft and training requirements less demanding. In other words, there are insured people flying around in airplanes with minimal, if any, insurance- required training. Whether that has yielded more accidents is intriguing speculation. But aviation insurance losses are up because of higher claims frequency and much higher claims value. As a result of that and just too many players losing money, some companies who sought the golden goose in airplane insurance are bailing, turning the market "hard" as they say in the industry. That means premiums are rising and insurers are getting more picky about who they'll cover. They may require more training than they would have, say, two years ago. Insurance has always been cyclical and we've been here before. Insurance expert Jon Doolittle of Sutton James Insurance tells me that thus far, the hard market has applied more to the turbine market than the piston segment. But inevitably, there will be some spill over. Big accidents with big payouts do impact the market. Many of the accident reports I review involve some level of faulty aviation decision- making. Those aren't just weather related, but things like aircraft loading, exceeding crosswind limits, the ever-popular fuel exhaustion and bad maintenance practices. If I were the NTSB trying to make recommendations or industry advocacy groups doing the same, that's where I'd start. Pilots often crash not because they don't know how to put the stick here and the rudder there, but because they get themselves into situations beyond the travel limits of each, metaphorically speaking. Consider the recent PC-12 accident. I'm loathe to speculate on accident causes ahead of the investigation, but I would make this observation: The pilot took off in a heavily loaded single-engine turboprop into low ceilings and visibility, windshear and turbulence and potential icing. While this may very well be within risk limits for most of us- including him-it's also toward the outer edge of the envelope and perhaps a decision that left fewer options than if the airplane were lighter and the weather better. These are the kinds of decisions-judgments, really-that are difficult to teach. There's no one-size-fits-all solution. It has always been thus in aviation and until the robots take over-any maybe not even then-it always will be. https://www.avweb.com/insider/are-accidents-rates-out-of-control/ Back to Top United's Oscar Munoz to step down as CEO, President Scott Kirby will take over * United Airlines said CEO Oscar Munoz will turn over day-to-day management of the airline next spring to President Scott Kirby, who will become company's chief executive officer. * The transition will happen In May when Munoz transitions to the role of executive chairman of United, while the airline's current Chairman, Jane Garvey, will retire from the board of directors. * The move is one many in the airline industry and on Wall Street have anticipated for some time. United Airlines on Thursday said CEO Oscar Munoz will turn over day-to-day management of the airline next spring to President Scott Kirby, who will become company's chief executive officer. The transition will happen In May when Munoz transitions to the role of executive chairman of United, while the airline's current Chairman, Jane Garvey, will retire from the board of directors. The announcement ends speculation Kirby could be hired to replace Doug Parker as CEO of American Airlines, where shares are down 26% in the last year. Kirby was Parker's top lieutenant for a decade as Parker merged America West with U.S. Air and later merged U.S. Air with American, creating the largest airline in the U.S. In October, Kirby said he would not be leaving United. GP: Oscar Munoz, chief executive officer of United Continental Holdings Inc., speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. A spokesperson for United tells CNBC rumors of Kirby possibly leaving United did not play a role in the decision to elevate him to chief executive. Instead, the company says the board and Munoz both felt it was time to begin the process of a smooth transition to the next CEO. "With United in a stronger position than ever, now is the right time to begin the process of turning over the baton to a new leader," Munoz said in a news release from United announcing the leadership change. The move is one many in the airline industry and on Wall Street have anticipated for some time. Kirby, who was hired by Munoz in 2016 with a mandate to improve the airline's execution, has been a driving force behind United improving its performance and growing profits over the last two years. In a videotaped message sent to United employees announcing the leadership change, Kirby thanked Munoz for hiring him in 2016. "I will be a much better executive today, will be a much better CEO and a better person, for what I learned from you and following in the footsteps of an incredible leader," said Kirby. Munoz tenure: Turmoil then growth Munoz will turn over the CEO job with United in much better shape than the day he took the job four years ago. Back then, Munoz, who was on the United Board of Directors, was suddenly tapped to run the airline after former CEO Jeff Smisek was forced to resign due to a federal investigation into United adding flights to influence decisions made by the New York Port Authority. Within a month of becoming CEO, Munoz suffered a heart attack that forced him to take a medical leave. In early 2016 Munoz received a heart transplant which kept him out of work for several weeks. When he returned, Munoz found an airline trailing its competitors in almost every metric that matters, including earnings growth, profit margin and customer service. Things got worse in April 2017, when a major scandal erupted after security officers dragged a passenger off of a United flight that was oversold. Video of the passenger, Dr. David Dao, being pulled down the aisle was played repeatedly on news reports around the world. United was blasted not only for forcibly having a passenger kicked off a flight, but also for how poorly it handled the crisis. Munoz made things worse when his initial comments about what happened were criticized for being cold and uncaring. "This is an upsetting event to all of us here at United. I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers," Munoz said in a statement the morning after the incident. It took several days before Munoz and United changed their tone and fully apologized to Dr. Dao. By then, the damage was done. Munoz's handling of the crisis prompted the United board to drop plans to elevate him to Chairman. The CEO vowed to improve customer service, United was viewed by many as a large airline where passengers were treated with indifference. That reputation was re-enforced in early 2018 when a United flight attendant had a passenger put their dog in an overhead bin, where it died during a flight from New York to Houston. Once again, news reports portrayed United as a heartless airline. Within hours, Munoz issued a public apology and once again said his airline would do better. Adding capacity, soaring in 2019 The fact is, by early 2018 United was doing better in many areas, largely because of new initiatives spearheaded by Kirby. After years of cutting routes and service in smaller cities around the U.S., United switched gears and started aggressively increasing capacity. It added flights from secondary cities like Rochester, Minnesota, to United's hubs, especially Chicago, Denver, and Houston. The idea, boosting traffic through hubs will lead to greater efficiencies and higher profit margins. While many feared Kirby's plan would spark fare wars and dilute earnings, analyst Hunter Keay from Wolfe Research said the strategy was vintage Kirby, "Arguably, United has no choice but to either shrink drastically or to pursue this path, and Scott Kirby wasn't hired to shrink anything," Keay told clients. The strategy has paid off with United growing its net profit from $2.1 billion in 2017 to $2.5 billion last year. In 2019 United has already earned $2.3 Billion through the third quarter and raised its full-year earnings guidance in October. Kirby's CEO strategy: Improve execution After 20 years in the airline business where he has consistently boosted revenues and margins, Kirby is widely viewed as one of the best in the industry at making routes and operations more profitable. As CEO, he'll oversee the third consecutive year where United grows capacity 4% to 6%. As has been a hallmark of his growth strategies in the past, Kirby is likely to further leverage traffic through United's hubs. And while the airline's profit margins have improved, they still trail Delta. In short, Kirby still has plenty of room to grow United's profits, especially if he can further improve United's performance when it comes to customer service. "I love the fact that almost every time I get feedback from employees, 99.9% of the time it is something about how do we make this airline better for our customers," Kirby said in a video e-mailed to employees. "That is an incredible amount of energy, innovations, and creativity and that's the foundation that a great airline is built on." https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/05/oscar-munoz-to-step-down-as-ceo-of-united- airlines-ual.html Back to Top MOONEY AGAIN MAKING PARTS, AIRCRAFT TEXAS PLANT 'ACTUALLY NEVER CLOSED' Workers are again hand-driving rivets and curving sheet metal in a Kerrville, Texas, general aviation manufacturing facility at the venerable Mooney International Corp. "They actually never closed," said Don Maxwell, a respected Mooney service expert who leads owner maintenance clinics. "Mooney is in my blood," said Maxwell, who was reached by telephone at his East Texas service facility. He explained that a skeleton crew "actually never quit selling parts" for the estimated 11,000 legacy aircraft in the fleet or handling warranty claims for newer aircraft. Maxwell took the latest woes in stride. "It's just another cycle in the life of Mooney. I've been with them since 1968 and I've seen lots of ups and downs." He learned that no new parts were made for about three weeks and other facets of the operation were idled, although he was in touch with parts department employees throughout the duration. It's not the first time a few dedicated employees returned to work to keep the lights on while management struggled to find a footing for the sleek, speedy, crisp-handling aircraft that return a lot of range and value for the buck. Albert Mooney established the brand 90 years ago, and the namesake aircraft company suffered its first of many financial blows in 1930, just a year after it was born. Over the past few decades a rotation of U.S. and international ownership groups from France, Germany, and China have weathered continued financial pressure to update the model in the face of competition from industry-leading Cirrus Aircraft-adding a second entry door and a composite cabin to its flagship M20 Ovation and $800,000 Acclaim Ultra models in 2017. Mooney pilots prize their aircraft for their economy and their stoutness. The Mooney M20J 201 model was touted for coaxing 201 miles per hour from a fuel-injected 200- horsepower Lycoming four-cylinder engine-on about 10 gallons of fuel per hour. A company advertising campaign during aviation's heyday showed dozens of employees sitting and standing atop the aircraft's one-piece wing and tube reinforced roll-cage- constructed fuselage. One aircraft owner and his family walked away without a scratch after slamming a wing into a pickup truck bed during an emergency landing on a highway. The Kerrville Daily Times reported that staff were called into work December 2, nearly three weeks after the latest idling on November 12. "At this time there are negotiations with an additional investor," Mooney representative Devan Burns wrote to the newspaper in an email. Maxwell said the manufacturing plant "is in good shape" and added that future owners would benefit from recent upgrades in tooling and design. "You know it's a good airplane because it's survived all these years," said Maxwell. "We are tickled that they are back at work." https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2019/december/04/mooney-again- making-parts-aircraft Back to Top World's first ISO approved drone safety standards announced Today the world's first ISO approved drone standards have been announced by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) following a 12-month period of consultation with drone professionals, academics, businesses and the general public. The final publication of these new international safety and quality Standards for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are set to have a massive impact on the future growth of the drone industry throughout the world, and, are the product of several years of cooperation and rigorous interrogation from all sectors of society. This important first step is part of a wider deliverable by ISO which is expected to trigger rapid acceleration in the use of air drones by organisations keen to reap the rewards of this transformative technology, against a background of reassurance on safety and security within a new framework of approved regulatory compliance. Today's announcement by ISO represents enormous progress in the standardisation of the global drone industry and is of particular significance in addressing the operational requirements of the more recognised and prevalent air drones, also known as UAS. The new Standards include protocols on Quality, Safety, Security and overall 'etiquette' for the operation of commercial air drones, which will help shape future regulation and legislation. It is the first in a series of emerging standards for air drones, with others due to address General Specifications, Product Manufacture and Maintenance, Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) and Testing Procedures. The Product Manufacture standards for UAS, which are due to be published next year, will combine with the operational standards already published to establish a full-airworthiness suite of standards for UAS. Commenting on today's announcement, Robert Garbett[2], Convenor of the ISO Working Group responsible for global air drone operational Standards, Chairman of the BSI Committee for UK Drone Standards and Founder of Drone Major Group, the world's first global drone consultancy, said: "I am delighted that the operating Standards for air drones have now been approved and published. This success follows four years of collaboration involving ISO, BSI and other national standards bodies from all over the world, reinforced through expert input from a wide range of industry and public sector stakeholders. The Standards will deliver a new confidence among investors in the safety, security and compliance of commercial drone operations, which together with the Product Manufacture and Maintenance Standards, is expected in turn to facilitate a massive expansion in the availability and use of drone technology in the years to come." "Drones are a transformative global phenomenon, offering an unprecedented economic opportunity for those businesses and countries with the foresight to embrace this technology. My own conversations with Government, businesses and other stakeholders have shown that the new Standards will be enthusiastically welcomed and will empower organisations to discover how they can use drone technology to enhance their competitive position, adding value and creating growth and jobs." Air safety A key attribute of the ISO Standards announced today is their focus on air safety, which is at the forefront of public attention in connection with airports and other sensitive locations. The new Standards promotes an 'etiquette' for drone use that reinforces compliance towards no-fly zones, local regulation, flight log protocols, maintenance, training and flight planning documentation. Social responsibility is also at the heart of the Standards, which strengthens the responsible use of a technology that aims to improve and not disrupt everyday life. The effectiveness of the Standards in improving air safety will be further strengthened by the continuing rapid development of geo- fencing and counter-drone technology[3], providing frontline protection against 'rogue' drone operators. Privacy and data protection The Standards also seek to address public concerns surrounding privacy and data protection, demanding that operators must have appropriate systems to handle data alongside communications and control planning when flying. The hardware and software of all related operating equipment must also be kept up to date. Significantly, the fail- safe of human intervention is required for all drone flights, including autonomous operations, ensuring that drone operators are held accountable. The exciting future for drones Air drones are already beginning to provide solutions to some of the most pressing economic, transport, security, environmental and productivity challenges faced by governments and industry throughout the world, reducing road traffic, easing congestion, saving lives through a reduction in accidents and reducing pollution in our cities. As well as speeding up the delivery of large-scale infrastructure projects, drones are expected to reduce the need for some expensive new major transport infrastructure altogether. New exciting applications for air drones are being developed daily. Revolutionary approaches are emerging for freight and passenger transportation, with drones providing a cost-effective and environmentally responsible alternative to traditional methods, relieving the burden on our already stretched urban road networks. Further applications in the agricultural, maritime, construction and energy sectors among others, are already transforming businesses, with virtually all industries and business sectors set to benefit from the Standard-led adoption of rapidly evolving drone technology. Impact on the economy A number of recent reports have attempted to forecast the economic impact of air drones globally. For instance, in its report Drones Reporting for Work, Goldman Sachs has estimated that the size of the global drone industry will reach $100 billion by 2020. Most recently, analysts at Barclays estimate that the global commercial drone market will grow tenfold from $4bn in 2018 to $40bn in five years. They believe the use of drones will result in cost savings of some $100bn. These predictions relate solely to air drones, demonstrating that the economic benefits offered by drone technology are vast, with growth set to accelerate across surface, underwater, air & space, as well as emerging hybrid drone applications. https://www.adsadvance.co.uk/world-s-first-iso-approved-drone-safety-standards- announced.html Back to Top APiJET wins NASA license to commercialize a Waze-like app to guide airlines and pilots A screenshot shows a version of NASA's Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests software, also known as TASAR. (APiJET / NASA Graphic) APiJET, a Seattle-based aviation data analytics company, says it has landed the first commercial license for a NASA flight-optimization technology known as Traffic Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests, or TASAR. TASAR has been compared to Waze, a smartphone app that shows drivers the quickest route through tangled traffic. The NASA-developed software analyzes real-time data feeds, including air traffic, to recommend fuel-saving and time-saving flight trajectories for pilots. APiJET partnered with Alaska Airlines to try out the technology back in April, following up on earlier NASA trials. A study reviewing those trials estimated annual cost savings at nearly $15 million a year. Buoyed by the results, APiJET said it reached agreement with NASA for commercialization in November. The new offering will be marketed under the name Digital Winglets. APiJET was formed last year as a joint venture involving Aviation Partners and iJET Technologies. APiJET CEO Stephen Elop, who previously held executive roles at Nokia and Microsoft, said he was proud of the work done jointly by APiJET, NASA and Alaska Airlines over the past 15 months to bring Digital Winglets to fruition. "The journey from concept to production-ready has positioned us for successful 2020 airline deployments," Elop said in a news release. https://www.geekwire.com/2019/apijet-wins-nasa-license-commercialize-waze-like- app-guide-airlines-pilots/ Back to Top Bombardier on track to meet 2019 Global 7500 business jet delivery targets: executive FILE PHOTO: Bombardier's Global 7500, the first business jet to have a queen-sized bed and hot shower, is shown during a media tour in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, December 19, 2018. Picture taken December 19, 2018. REUTERS/Christinne Muschi/File Photo (Reuters) - Canada's Bombardier (BBDb.TO) will hit its 2019 delivery targets for its Global 7500 business jet, as the company redirects manpower from other planes to its flagship corporate aircraft program, an executive said on Wednesday. The plane and train maker has previously said it expects to deliver 15 to 20 Global 7500s in 2019 but will need to make the lion's share of those deliveries during the last three months of the year, leaving little room for error in execution. Investors and analysts are closely watching deliveries of the Global 7500 business jet, which lists for $73 million and is a key revenue driver for Bombardier. Bombardier's strategy of shifting manpower from its Global 5500 and 6500 business jets to the Global 7500 is working and will help the planemaker make guidance by year's end, Chief Operating Officer Paul Sislian said. "The strategy is that we have highly skilled people on both our product lines," Sislian told Reuters on the sidelines of an event at a Bombardier plant near Toronto. "What we're trying to do is leverage the people from one product to the other so we hit our targets for all of them." Bombardier said in October it had already delivered five of the jets and would need to deliver another 10 to 15 during the last quarter of 2019. Sislian said workers on Bombardier's Global 5500 and 6500 jets are being trained on the 7500 so the workforce can be shifted around as needed to meet deadlines on the different programs. Montreal-based Bombardier is in the middle of a broader restructuring, shedding underperforming commercial plane programs to focus on its more profitable business jet and rail units. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bombardier-jets/bombardier-on-track-to-meet- 2019-global-7500-business-jet-delivery-targets-executive-idUSKBN1Y82ML Back to Top Indonesia to Fire Garuda CEO After Harley Smuggled on Jet * Undeclared classic Harley found in cargo of brand new Airbus * Customs also found two high-end Brompton folding bicycles The chief executive officer of airline PT Garuda Indonesia is getting fired for allegedly ordering a classic Harley-Davidson motorcycle to be smuggled into the country on a brand new Airbus jet. I Gusti Ngurah Askhara Danadiputra will be dismissed after the airline's audit committee found he had ordered the purchase of the classic Harley Shovelhead, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir said. The Garuda CEO, who is also known as Ari Askhara, gave instructions in 2018 to find the motorcycle and the purchase was made in April 2019 through a transfer via a personal account of Garuda's finance manager in Amsterdam, Thohir said. "This will not stop there," Thohir told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday. "We will continue to find other individuals who might be related to this case." The manifest of the ferry flight from Toulouse to Jakarta showed the aircraft had 22 people on board and carried no cargo, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said, contradicting a statement Garuda made this week that the goods had been declared to customs. The smuggling of the goods deprived the state of 532 million rupiah ($38,000) to 1.5 billion rupiah, Indrawati said. Customs officers also found two high-end Brompton folding bikes in the cargo of the aircraft. Askhara and representatives for state-owned Garuda didn't answer calls seeking comment. Airbus declined to comment. Past Trouble The shipping of "goods into Indonesia through illegal means happens often and under various modus operandi and through many channels," Indrawati said. "I have ordered the customs and excise office to step up the supervision." Askhara took the helm of the loss-making airline in September 2018 and promised a turnaround. Garuda reported a $5 million profit for 2018, but in July this year it revised its accounts to show a $175 million net loss and scrapped a $241.9 million in-flight entertainment deal after Indonesian authorities found irregularities related to the contract. Still, Garuda's shares have rallied 66% this year and are heading for the biggest annual gain on record. The company reported a net profit of $98.6 million in the third quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. "I am very sad, at the time when we want to improve the image of the state companies and build up their performance, there are people inside who are not ready," Thohir said. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-05/indonesia-to-fire-garuda-ceo- after-smuggled-harley-found-on-jet Back to Top The Arctic Is Warming Much Faster Than the Rest of Earth Rising temperatures in the northern polar cap are driving extreme heat, drought, and sea level rise in the continental US, a study says. shot of greenland ice As climate delegates discuss the planet's future at the COP25 meeting in Madrid this week, a new study finds the Arctic is warming much faster than the rest of the planet. That's forcing polar bears and walruses to crowd onto shrinking beaches, starving reindeer and caribou, and driving extreme heat, drought, and sea level rise along the US coast. Those are some of the results of a new study published today in the journal Science Advances that reports the Arctic has warmed by 0.75 degrees Celsius (1.35 degrees Fahrenheit) in the last decade alone. By comparison, Earth as a whole has warmed by nearly the same amount, 0.8 degrees C, over the past 137 years. Under a "business as usual" scenario of industrial emissions that continue at their current rate, the report's authors say the Arctic Ocean will be ice-free in 20 years. By the end of the century, Arctic temperatures will jump a whopping 13 degrees C (23.4 degrees F) during the fall months, when sea ice is at a minimum. A warming Arctic has consequences for the entire planet, including residents of the United States, according to a panel of 15 climate, oceanography, and wildlife experts from the US, UK, and Europe who contributed to the study. Previous reports have looked at individual aspects of climate change in the polar region, but this was a collaborative effort to examine multiple scientific disciplines to give an updated look at what's happening and what lies in store in the coming decades. Kristin Laidre, an animal ecologist at the University of Washington and a coauthor, says the melting summer sea ice is causing trouble for big mammals: polar bears, walruses, and seals. She says they are struggling to survive because they can't hunt, rest, or give birth on floating sea ice. "They all rely heavily on the sea ice platform for all aspects of their life," Laidre says. "As we continue to lose ice and see the changes in the ecosystem, we are already seeing big changes and we expect it to continue. There's no way around that." With less sea ice to haul out on, seals and walruses are crowding onto beaches, leading to more trampling deaths of younger animals. Polar bears are swimming longer distances from land to the ice floes where they hunt seals. As the rest of the world's oceans warm as well, coldwater fish, crustaceans, and plankton are moving north to the Arctic. That brings new diseases, parasites, and other threats to the marine life that already lives there, she says. Climate change is also affecting land mammals like reindeer and caribou that are the main source of food for indigenous peoples of Canada, Siberia, and other Arctic nations. Reindeer are being decimated by rainfall over ice, which killed tens of thousands of animals in the past decade. In Greenland, botanists are discovering some flowering plants are emerging earlier each year, but not the pollinating insects they rely on. And then there's the weather. Michael Mann, a coauthor of the study and a climate scientist at Penn State, says the disappearing sea ice allows the Arctic Ocean to absorb even more sunlight, heating it up even more and melting more ice. "It's a vicious cycle," Mann writes in an email. The accelerated Arctic warming affects weather in the continental US and around the entire Northern Hemisphere by changing the temperature contrast between mid- and high-latitude parts of the globe. That temperature contrast is responsible for the existence of the jet stream; when the contrast shrinks, the jet stream tends to slow down. Weather systems tend to linger longer in the same location. It can also cause the undulations of the jet stream to grow in amplitude, which leads to more anomalous weather systems, Mann says. The combination gives us the sort of persistent weather extremes we've seen affecting the US and Europe in recent summers, including many of the unprecedented heat waves, floods, droughts, and wildfires. In the winter, it is associated with more frequent outbreaks of freezing Arctic air tied to the breakdown of the so-called polar vortex, something we've seen already early this winter in the Midwest and eastern US. The study finds that Antarctica, by contrast, has not been warming as rapidly as the Arctic. The problem is that when the ice sheets of that continent do begin to melt, the vast amount of meltwater they contain will wreak global havoc. "You can also think of the Arctic as responding in somewhat cumulative fashion to ongoing warming," says the study's lead author, UC Davis climate ecologist Eric Post. "While the Antarctic is more like a system with a big switch that's about to flip." Despite the dire outlook, both Mann and Laidre say they believe that some kind of climate action might be possible to reverse the danger signs. They point to treaties on the ozone hole and Arctic fishing that actually worked, and to climate activism by young people. "The window of time for us to take action is closing, and we know large-scale, international, coordinated actions are needed to quickly reduce our emissions and use the right energy sources," Laidre says. "It's possible, but we need to do it soon." On Tuesday, the multinational Global Carbon Project reported that carbon emissions rose .6 percent in 2019, which is slightly less than in the past three years. Scientists say global emissions must be cut in half by 2030 to stop dangerous levels of greenhouse warming. Delegates at the COP25 meeting hope to agree on specifics of how they plan to reach the voluntary carbon reductions they agreed to during the Paris Climate Accord, which goes into effect next year. The White House told UN officials it was withdrawing from the agreement. https://www.wired.com/story/the-arctic-is-warming-much-faster-than-the-rest-of- earth/ Back to Top Back to Top posted on December 5, 2019 12:00 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Business Aviation Safety Consortium (BASC) announces second Safety Dividend One of the initial long-term goals of BASC becomes a mainstay! BASC was designed to be a highly desired partner with world-class business flight departments that strive for excellence in Safety Management and Compliance. Coincidentally, BASC was also conceptualized to be of high value and provide for ease of budgeting. The Safety Dividend provision was implemented at the founding of BASC to return a portion of the members' annual investment when organizational performance provided that opportunity. Although a "for profit" entity, no reason could be found not to share and reward excellence, loyalty, achievement, continuous improvement and safety culture. Any current BASC full-service member, that has been with the organization for six months or greater, will receive a Safety Dividend in December 2019. Founder and President, Rick Malczynski, shared, "This is a great achievement for the BASC membership. We knew from the beginning that having a "killer" program was key, but what we also learned over the years was that treating our end users with respect, honesty, and transparency was the foundation of our previous successes. As a BASC member, we often get labelled as an "industry disrupter," and it is actually one of the highest compliments we receive. It is a pretty cool concept, when you just do your best, work with the smartest professionals in the industry, and treat everyone the way you wish to be treated...everyone grows together...and has a great time doing it! I could not be more enthused and proud regarding BASC and what the members have accomplished." Malczynski further commented, "2019 was an awesome year for us! Given current industry conditions and trends, the sustained growth was a given. However, I have to admit, the acceptance into the USAIG Performance Vector PLUS Program (which entitles flight departments to a 5% insurance premium return) was a huge accomplishment for the membership. USAIG thoroughly vetted us and approved us for this partnership. It could not have come at a more crucial time when claims and insurance costs are climbing. Additionally, the ongoing exploration of a Corporate Line Operations Safety Assessment/Audit (C-LOSA) program by actual BASC operators, is an excellent example of the forward leaning mentality and innovation the BASC program encourages, and provides a successful forum and organization in which to incubate creativity in SMS and excellence. We realized years ago that the frontline team members in corporate aviation are the most knowledgeable regarding SMS in the aviation industry. It was logical to quit beating professionals up with dated and sometimes arbitrary requirements when they had obviously mastered the concepts, processes, and execution. It is very exciting to experience first-hand progress that this new found creativity continually achieves! I guarantee 2020 will be a banner year!" ### About the Business Aviation Safety Consortium (AviationConsortium.com, LLC or BASC): Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, BASC serves as a logical partner for SMS, regulatory, and operational excellence verification for high performing business aviation organizations. BASC was founded in 2016 and accepted the first member in January of 2017. For more information, visit http://www.aviationconsortium.com USC Aviation Safety & Security Program On-Site and Custom Courses To meet the diverse needs of all elements of the aviation community, the USC Aviation Safety & Security Program offers our courses to be conducted at your facility. Whether you are a small, medium or large organization; a private company, government agency, or the military...we can work with you to bring the right training to your facility. Choose from any of our courses. All of our courses can be customized to fit the specific needs of your organization. Don't see the exact course or subject you want? We have created courses, seminars, and presentations for companies - such as Safety Performance Indicators for Korean Air and Safety Auditing for Quanta Services. To bring USC Aviation Safety & Security Education to your organization, please contact us at hinaba@usc.edu or +1 (310) 342-1352. Earn Credit for FlightSafety Master Technician- Management Program Students taking the following USC courses will earn elective credits towards FlightSafety International's Master Technician-Management Program * Human Factors in Aviation Maintenance * Human Factors in Aviation Safety * Gas Turbine Accident Investigation * Helicopter Accident Investigation * Safety Management for Aviation Maintenance * Safety Management for Ground Operations Safety * Accident/Incident Response Preparedness Earn Points Toward NBAA Certified Aviation Manager Program Students taking the following USC courses will earn two points toward completing the application for the National Business Aviation Certified Aviation Manager Exam. * Aviation Safety Management Systems * Accident/Incident Response Preparedness * Human Factors in Aviation Safety * Aircraft Accident Investigation * SeMS Aviation Security Management Systems For further details, please visit our website or use the contact information below. Email: aviation@usc.edu Telephone: +1 (310) 342-1345 Curt Lewis