January 27, 2020 - No. 006 In This Issue LOT Polish Airlines Parent to Acquire Condor. Aviation maintenance company opening at Louisiana airport Maintaining the Max: Tech Ops-Tulsa taking care of portion of grounded Boeing jets Boeing 777X Completes First Flight. FAA proposes $120,000 penalty for UPS dangerous goods violation Bombardier's Tianjin Center Receives EASA Mx Approvals FAA Tells U.S. Airlines It Could Approve MAX Return to Service Before Mid-Year Bell Revamps Nexus as Four-rotor eVTOL FAA WHISTLEBLOWER ALLEGES SOUTHWEST AIRLINES FAVORITISM Weather still a concern for SpaceX Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral. LOT Polish Airlines Parent to Acquire Condor The owner of LOT Polish Airlines has agreed to buy Condor Airlines, a move that marks a major step forward in Poland's ambition to play a larger role in the European aviation market. The deal, announced on Friday, will see Polish Aviation Group (PGL) acquire full ownership of the former Thomas Cook Group for a non-disclosed sum. "The offer to acquire Condor submitted by PGL has been selected as the most attractive for Condor, its employees, partners, suppliers, and customers," the companies said. Der Spiegel last week reported Condor was in takeover talks with LOT, U.S. investment fund Apollo Global Management, and UK private investment company Greybull Capital. According to the companies, PGL's investment will allow Condor to "fully repay" the €380 million German government-backed bridging loan it received in autumn last year following the bankruptcy of British travel group Thomas Cook. The European Commission in October green-lighted the rescue loan, reasoning the measure would help ensure the orderly continuation of flights, though Frankfurt-headquartered Condor needed to demonstrate its liquidity needs on a weekly basis. Germany committed to ensuring that, after six months, Condor will either fully repay the loan or it will carry out a comprehensive restructuring to return to viability in the long-term. Condor CEO Ralf Teckentrup told German media today the company would repay the loan on time, by April 15. "The acquisition of Condor fits perfectly into PGL's strategy. It also secures the future of Condor and offers stability and great opportunities to its employees, customers and business partners," said PGL president and LOT CEO Rafa? Milczarski. "We want to develop Condor's iconic brand in Germany and also introduce it to other markets in Europe," he added. State-owned PGL formed late last year as the country's aviation companies (LOT, LOT Aircraft Maintenance Services, LS Airport Services, and LS Technics) came under the same umbrella. It operates under a common management center and acts also as an advisor for the construction of a new mega-hub airport in Warsaw, which ultimately will have four runways and a capacity to accommodate 100 million passengers annually-approximately five times the capacity of Warsaw's Chopin airport. Condor and LOT together "will serve twice as many passengers, thus forming one of the largest aviation groups and the leading leisure airline group in Europe," asserted Teckentrup. In 2019, LOT carried more than 10 million passengers while Condor carries around 9.4 million passengers annually from eight German airports to around 90 destinations in Europe, Africa, and America. The parties expect the transaction to close by April 2020. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2020-01-24/lot-polish-airlines-parent- acquire-condor Back to Top Aviation maintenance company opening at Louisiana airport SHREVEPORT (AP) - An aviation maintenance and repair facility will open at a northwest Louisiana airport to serve commercial airline customers. Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Advanced Aero Services's plans for a new facility at the Shreveport Regional Airport. The startup company, called AAS, plans to create 60 new jobs at the site by next year, with an average annual salary of $49,600 plus benefits. Hiring is expected to begin within two months. "Aerospace represents one of Louisiana's key industries today, and an important sector for growing Louisiana's economy in the future," Edwards said in a statement. AAS plans to establish its operations in Shreveport in an existing hangar located in the Shreveport Regional Airport's Aeropark and seek financing for an expansion the governor's office said is expected to lead to as many as 1,000 jobs within the decade. "We look forward to building out the aviation services offered at Shreveport Regional and making this region our base of operations," company President Mike Anderson said. Louisiana is giving AAS workforce training assistance along with tax breaks for manufacturing facilities and companies that offer high-paying jobs. https://www.news-journal.com/news/business/aviation-maintenance-company-opening-at- louisiana-airport/article_46bb962c-3efc-11ea-bb8f-9fd1a6f5aba4.html Back to Top Maintaining the Max: Tech Ops-Tulsa taking care of portion of grounded Boeing jets Aviation authorities' grounding of nearly 400 Boeing 737 Max aircraft has had global ramifications. But a large part of the story remains local. At American Airlines' Tech Ops-Tulsa, the carrier's largest maintenance base, workers have for 10 months been babysitting more than $2 billion worth of the 737 Maxes. Two-thirds, or 16, of American's Max 8s are here; the other eight are at a storage facility in Roswell, New Mexico. "A lot of the public perception is that these airplanes have kind of been pushed back into the corner and they are just sitting there waiting," said Erik Olund, American's managing director of base maintenance. "That's not accurate. "... Think of it as maintenance on your vehicle. There are intervals in which we do things. We're preserving them as if we are flying them every single day." Not long after the crash in October 2018 in Indonesia, Boeing began updating software that investigators say was tripped by a faulty sensor and pushed the plane's nose down. A second Max crashed in March 2019 in Ethiopia, pushing the death total in the planes to 346 and leading to the jet's grounding. Boeing said this past week it doesn't expect federal regulators to approve its changes to the 737 Max until this summer. American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines, the three U.S. carriers that own Maxes, have deleted the plane from their schedules until early June. "From a responsibility aspect, this is unprecedented, the grounding of a fleet like this," Olund said. "This is really big for us. It says a lot about the character of our people. It says a lot about what we're doing here in Tulsa that this was the right place to bring these airplanes when we had such a large issue for the company." Caring for the Maxes, however, has taxed personnel at the base, which employs about 5,500, he said. "It's been a huge manpower draw on us because we have to put a lot of assets around this aircraft," Olund said. "It's expensive for us to maintain them but this is the only choice we have. We will not maintain these aircraft to anything less but A-plus standards." Once every 10 days, each grounded plane gets the once-over. Fluid levels and tire pressures are checked. Slats are lubricated. Landing gear is serviced. "It's a different type of maintenance," said Steve Harmening, a veteran aviation maintenance technician. "We're in a storage program now. A lot of it's prepping airplanes for storage. "You see a lot of the covers and the foam we put in the engines. It's not so much of a challenge this time of the year. In the spring, it was harder with the critters and nesting season, birds wanting to get in - and the insects. Closing that all off is something we don't do standard on our maintenance." To shake off inactivity, the jets also are taxied down runways, Olund said. "It's a great opportunity for us to simulate a lot of on-the-ground tasks," he said. "Most importantly, it gets the airplane as if it were in revenue service, so that we get an opportunity to find if anything isn't passing inspection." The eight Maxes in Roswell, New Mexico, will make their way to Tulsa for the same final servicing before returning to the air, Olund said. Once the aircraft is certified, American will run test flights for American team members and invited guests. It expects to gradually phase in the Max for commercial service over the course of a month. "They are going to be in really good condition to go once they return to flight," Harmening said. "We are going to have them very presentable. They are going to be clean and everything's going to be up to specs on them. "They're not just parked and sitting in a field. There's a lot of maintenance going on." https://www.tulsaworld.com/business/maintaining-the-max-tech-ops-tulsa-taking-care-of- portion/article_7170050f-9dcd-534e-89ab-d7995a784c85.html Back to Top Boeing 777X Completes First Flight The Boeing 777-9 completed its first test flight Saturday, landing at Boeing Field in Seattle at 2:01 pm local time after a three-hour, 52-minute mission over Washington state. Powered by a pair of General Electric GE9X turbofans, the big twin took off northbound at 10:09 am from Boeing's Paine Field complex in Everett, Washington, marking the start of a flight test program now expected to lead to certification in 2021. The first flight came after a weather-related postponement on Thursday and an aborted mission on Friday, when gusting tailwinds prevented a northbound takeoff planned as part of the test flight itinerary. Winds on Saturday blew at less than 10 knots, well below the limit at which program managers might have needed to call off the flight for the third time. The first of four dedicated 777-9 flight test airplanes, WH001 will now undergo checks before resuming testing. The test fleet, which began ground trials in Everett last year, will endure a comprehensive series of tests and conditions on the ground and in the air over the coming months to demonstrate the safety and reliability of the design. Boeing had originally hoped to gain FAA certification for the larger of a duo of planned 777X variants this year, but engine-related delays and promises of more intense scrutiny from regulators arising from the twin crashes and grounding of the 737 Max have created expectations of a longer wait. The largest turbofan engine ever developed for an airliner, the GE9X remained a so-called "pacing item" as the industry gathered for the Dubai Airshow in November, by which time the company had delivered three fully compliant engines following retrofit of redesigned stator vane assemblies in the engines' compressors. By the time of first flight, GE Aviation had delivered six test engines out of eight built to support the Boeing flight test program. In all, the company has built 20 GE9Xs. Speaking with AIN just ahead of the show, GE9X program head Ted Ingling explained that the process that led to the fix to the problem titanium part involved revamping its geometry to ensure a proper wear profile. Ingling conceded that the stator vane problem took him and his team by surprise and the fact that the company discovered it fairly late in the development process proved "troubling." "This particular one came at us a little late in the program," said Ingling at the time. "And the nature of it required us to go inside the engine to fix it. And that, by definition, given when we found it and where we found it, drove the schedule. I will say it's unfortunate from a schedule standpoint but fortunate from a product standpoint. I much preferred to find this in a place where we could fix it and robustly get it behind us than to have something show up in flight tests or certainly in the field." In a written statement, a GE spokesman told AIN that the company expected engine certification "later this year." https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2020-01-25/boeing-777x-completes-first- flight Back to Top FAA proposes $120,000 penalty for UPS dangerous goods violation The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Friday said it intends to fine integrated logistics giant UPS $120,000 for shipping a consignment of lithium batteries in an unsafe manner. The decision comes on the heels of airfreight interests stepping up pressure on governments to enforce violations of regulations governing dangerous goods, especially lithium ion batteries, on cargo aircraft, as FreightWaves highlighted this week. Acting as a freight agent on behalf of a customer, UPS allegedly tendered the shipment to the company's in-house airline for transport from Ontario, California, to its Worldport hub in Louisville, Kentucky. Employees at the UPS facility in Louisville examined the contents of the shipment and discovered that it contained multiple loosely packed lithium batteries that had no protection from short circuit, were damaged and several of which were in a reactive state, the FAA alleged. Lithium ion batteries that are damaged, defective and likely to generate a dangerous buildup of heat are forbidden for air transportation on cargo and passenger aircraft. The FAA alleges the shipment was not properly packaged, was not accompanied by a Shipper's Declaration for Dangerous Goods and was not properly described, marked or labeled to indicate the hazardous nature of its contents. The FAA also alleges UPS failed to include emergency response information with the shipment. "UPS disagrees with FAA's assertion. We discovered the unauthorized shipment through UPS's compliance process and immediately reported the issue to the FAA. Safety is our highest priority. In addition to complying with all federal regulations, UPS goes beyond what federal regulations require to help ensure the safety of our employees and the general public. We are reviewing the FAA's notification and will respond within the required timeframe," the company said in a statement provided to FreightWaves. UPS has 30 days after receiving the FAA's enforcement letter to respond to the agency, after which a final decision will be made. The International Air Transport Association and other freight-related trade groups have expressed increasing frustration with governments for not aggressively enforcing rules on air transport of lithium batteries, especially those that willfully disguise the shipment's content in documentation. IATA recently created a database to capture such incidents and alert authorities. In related news, the FAA proposed a $57,400 penalty against Alaska Airlines for alleged drug and alcohol testing violations. The agency alleged Alaska transferred four employees into safety- sensitive functions in January 2018 but failed to initially include them in the company's random drug and alcohol testing pool. Three of the employees performed aircraft maintenance duties and one served as a ground security coordinator. All four performed safety-sensitive duties when they were not included in the drug and alcohol testing pool, the FAA alleges. https://www.freightwaves.com/news/faa-proposes-120000-penalty-for-ups-dangerous-goods- violation Back to Top Bombardier's Tianjin Center Receives EASA Mx Approvals Less than two years after its opening, Bombardier's Tianjin Service Center in China has received European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Part 145 approval for line and base maintenance on Globals and Challengers and component approval for batteries and wheels. Equipped to perform scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, the center also provides avionics installations and AOG support for Learjets, Challengers, and Globals. "These important EASA certifications illustrate how well equipped we are to support Bombardier Business Aircraft customers across the region for their warranty, repair, and line-service needs," said Bombardier customer experience v-p and general manager Jean-Christophe Gallagher. "The Tianjin service center provides top maintenance support and service to customers in China and gives Asia-Pacific-based customers quicker access to support closer to their base operations." Bombardier and Tianjin Airport Economic Area jointly opened the 95,766-sq-ft (8,500 sq m) center in April 2017, which is located in northeastern China. It opened with Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) certification to support the Global family, Challenger 604/605, and Challenger 850 series. The CAAC certification allows the center to perform 96-month inspections for 600-series Challengers, as well as 120-month inspections for Globals. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2020-01-24/bombardiers-tianjin- center-receives-easa-mx-approvals Back to Top FAA Tells U.S. Airlines It Could Approve MAX Return to Service Before Mid-Year - Sources WASHINGTON - Federal Aviation Administrator Steve Dickson called senior U.S. airline officials on Friday and told them the agency could approve the grounded Boeing 737 MAX's return to service before mid-year - a faster time frame than the planemaker suggested this week, people briefed on the calls said. Dickson's calls came as the FAA issued a statement on Friday voicing progress on the 737 MAX, in a shifting tone that helped push the planemaker's shares higher even as concerns grew that it may cut production of another aircraft, the 787 Dreamliner. "While the FAA continues to follow a thorough, deliberate process, the agency is pleased with Boeing's progress in recent weeks toward achieving key milestones," the agency said in a statement. A person briefed on one of Dickson's calls with the airlines said he told officials the Boeing mid-year timeline is "very conservative." The FAA and Boeing Co had been at odds at the end of 2019 about the timing of the plane's return. The planemaker had forecast in November it would win FAA approval by December, which drew an unusual rebuke from the agency. Boeing's new chief executive, Dave Calhoun, told reporters this week that the FAA "had a very difficult time" with Boeing's timeline in December. Calhoun added Boeing's revised estimate included enough time so the FAA does not "feel so pressured that they explode like they did in December." Dickson's calls come days after Boeing said it was pushing back its timeline for approval of the plane's return and "currently estimating that the ungrounding of the 737 MAX will begin during mid- 2020." Dickson has also spoken to senior Boeing executives since the company issued its new timetable, one of the persons briefed on Friday's calls to airlines said. Boeing's best-selling plane has been grounded since March after two fatal crashes killed 346 people. Boeing's stock erased losses on the news first reported by Reuters to close 1.7% higher on the day at $323.05. The agency confirmed that Dickson made calls "to reiterate that the FAA has set no time frame for completion of certification work on the aircraft." In recent weeks, several new concerns have drawn attention from Boeing and the FAA, including the location of wiring bundles on the MAX and a new software issue that emerged during recent testing involving a monitor. Calhoun said Wednesday he did not see those as "serious problems." The FAA added Friday that "safety is the top priority, and the FAA continues to work with other safety regulators to ensure that Boeing has addressed all known issues with the aircraft. FAA approval before mid-year could happen only if Boeing continues to make complete and thorough submissions, an official told Reuters, and emphasized that unforeseen issues could always potentially delay approval. American Airlines Group Inc, United Airlines Holdings Inc and Southwest Airlines Co have all pushed back the resumption of MAX flights until early June and indicated this week that the return could be delayed further if FAA approval does not happen until mid-year. Airlines have said they will need at least 30 days after the FAA grants approval for pilot training, software updates and required maintenance. Calhoun said Wednesday that the mid-year timetable came after the planemaker endorsed a plan for pilots to do simulator training before they resume flying the MAX. Meanwhile, Boeing's attempt on Friday to launch the maiden flight of its 777X - the world's largest twin-engined jetliner - in Seattle was delayed because of inclement weather. The planemaker will try again on Saturday. https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/01/25/business/25reuters-boeing-737max.html Back to Top Bell Revamps Nexus as Four-rotor eVTOL When Bell introduced its full-size Nexus concept for an electric vertical takeoff and landing craft at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in early 2019, it gave the world a glimpse at where Bell technologists see a possible future for vertical-lift urban transportation. The original Nexus concept was unveiled as a fuselage mockup at CES 2018, and the 2019 version came in a full-scale, six-rotor configuration with seats for four passengers and one pilot. Plans called for a hybrid-electric propulsion system using a turbine engine to generate electricity to power six tilting ducted fans. Safran was picked for the hybrid propulsion and drive systems, Moog for flight-control actuation, and Garmin for avionics and vehicle-management computer. "We're taking the next step this year," said Bell CEO Mitch Snyder at CES 2020. That's where Bell demonstrated its Smart City concept, with Nexus models flying between scaled-down buildings, carrying out the commands of virtual passengers as expressed by show attendees interacting with tablet computers to plan their trips. The Nexus itself has evolved and now is a four-rotor design, thus called the Nexus 4EX for four fans, electric power, and experimental. The plan is to field a fully electric-powered version but offer customers the opportunity to buy a hybrid-electric-powered version if they desire. "It's propulsion- agnostic," Snyder said. "We can make hybrid work. It depends on customer needs." Planned range for the electric Nexus is 60 miles, and that would be longer for the hybrid version. The Nexus 4EX is also designed to be fully autonomous, saving the space needed for a pilot, although the earliest model will be piloted. "Once we've proven [the technology] and gained the trust of the public, they will feel more comfortable flying autonomously," Snyder said. There are about 70 people out of the 150-strong Bell innovation team working on the Nexus program. "Nexus is taking the front line of development," said Scott Drennan, v-p of innovation. Fly-by-wire (FBW) flight controls are a key feature in the Nexus. "Bell's roots are in fly-by-wire," he said, with the Bell-Boeing V-22 the company's first production aircraft with FBW and the not-yet- certified Bell 525 also featuring FBW. "We look at that as our basis to enable autonomy," he said. "Our foundations in fly-by-wire are secure." Bell hasn't identified its vendor for the Nexus electric-drive system but has finished the downselect process, according to Drennan. With long experience in aircraft manufacturing, Bell is not willing to compromise safety in the design of a passenger- or even cargo-carrying vehicle like its Autonomous Pod Transport. Bell is targeting 10-to-the-power-of-nine reliability (the number of failures in one billion operating hours), the current standard that applies to aircraft flight control systems, according to Drennan. "We can have 10-to-the-nine that can be affordable," he said. "Our vehicles will be at that level." He acknowledged that there is some discussion within the eVTOL industry that the reliability standards could be lowered. "We're hearing lots of folks say 10-to-the-power-of-seven might be sufficient," he said. "We're at a fundamental disagreement, and we're confident this should be done and we can do it. In a helicopter, you can't lose a rotor or a mast. We engineer reliability into those components to meet or exceed 10-to-the-ninth, and we will do the same on the Nexus rotor and duct system." That said, he added, "There is a deeper conversation about what other pieces of the system add to safety: the vehicle, flight operations, and maintenance." For traditional rotorcraft, he said, "the preponderance of incidents are related to flight operations and maintenance." Attention will need to be paid to these factors. "We have to bring those to the same level." In the Nexus, this translates into making the rotor system as reliable as a helicopter's. For electrical system emergencies, redundant battery packs will provide power to bring the Nexus to a safe landing. While the Nexus won't autorotate like a helicopter, its structure and the ducts provide some lift, and it could land in an airplane-like mode if some minimum amount of power were available. Ultimately, Drennan said, "Power failure is prevented by a combination of redundancy and reliable systems. But [power failure] won't happen, because we're designing in appropriate redundancy and reliability." "With any design that Bell has done," concluded Snyder, "the first requirement is safety. With [Nexus], we want to make it safe, quiet, clean, and green, and we want to make it affordable and accessible to everyone." https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/general-aviation/2020-01-26/bell-revamps-nexus-four- rotor-evtol Back to Top FAA WHISTLEBLOWER ALLEGES SOUTHWEST AIRLINES FAVORITISM A whistleblower from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has alleged that regulators cut corners and neglected safety concerns in an effort to aid Southwest Airlines. The Office of Special Counsel, which investigates whistleblower complaints from federal agencies, "Found a substantial likelihood of wrongdoing" after reviewing the complaint. It has since granted whistleblower protection status to the complainant. The whistleblower contends that FAA managers exercised "gross mismanagement and an abuse of authority" for "the financial benefit of the airline". The report has not been made public, but was reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. In the most pointed example of alleged FAA favoritism, the whistleblower alleged that the FAA fast- tracked approval of Southwest's new Hawaiian routes, neglecting the sort of rigorous testing that is required for two engine jets to travel overwater without emergency airports in the vicinity. Specifically, untrained employees were present during inspection and the whole process was labeled a charade rather than a serious safety inspection. This all comes as Southwest remains under heightened scrutiny for other violations like failing to keep detailed maintenance records or accurately compute the weight of checked bags. Motive is still an issue: time will tell if Southwest bribed officials for the expedited approval. For now, Southwest claims the approval process "was deliberate and thorough in following all applicable processes" and took 14 months, hardly a rush job. CONCLUSION While there is no link to this complaint the FAA malfeasance surrounding the 737 MAX, both paint a picture of lax regulation with undue influence from airlines or manufacturers. Whoever is to "blame" is not really the issue here. Instead, there is indeed at least circumstantial evidence of mismanagement and abuse of authority...in this case and in others. We must insist upon better. https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2020/01/24/faa-southwest-whistleblower/ Back to Top Weather still a concern for SpaceX Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral The weather forecast continues to be a concern for SpaceX's next Falcon 9 launch, a Monday mission slated to boost 60 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. If SpaceX pushes forward with the 9:49 a.m. liftoff from Launch Complex 40, the 45th Weather Squadron estimates 50% "go" conditions during the five-minute window. "The main concerns during the launch window will be disturbed weather and thick clouds," forecasters said Sunday. "Max upper-level winds will be westerly at 135 knots near 35,000 feet." Not factored into liftoff "go" percentages, however, are those upper-level winds, which can pose a serious threat to rockets and payloads. SpaceX teams will need to keep an eye on upper-level data to see if the wind speeds slow down or change direction. If the launch delays to Tuesday, conditions look much more favorable - 80% "go" on the ground with upper-level winds expected at 85 knots near 39,000 feet. This will mark the fourth mission for the company's Starlink constellation, an initiative designed to beam internet connectivity down to the ground for remote and underserved users. If successful, the next flight will boost the network's size to 240 satellites in low-Earth orbit. At Launch Complex 41, meanwhile, United Launch Alliance teams continue to prep an Atlas V rocket for its next launch. The company will now target Feb. 7 - a two-day delay - to launch Solar Orbiter, a joint mission between the European Space Agency and NASA. The spacecraft will study the heliosphere, or sun's region of influence. Launch Monday Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9 Mission: 60 Starlink satellites Launch Time: 9:49 a.m. Launch Window: Five minutes Launch Complex: 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Weather: 50% "go" Join floridatoday.com/space at 8:30 a.m. Monday for coverage, including live video and chat. https://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2020/01/26/weather-still-concern-spacex- starlink-launch-cape-canaveral-florida/4532771002/ Curt Lewis