Flight Safety Information March 5, 2020 - No. 047 In This Issue Incident: UPS B744 at Delhi on Mar 1st 2020, rejected takeoff, all main tyres deflated Incident: Fedex B752 near Bloomington on Mar 3rd 2020, engine fire indication Incident: AirAsia India A320 at Kolkata on Mar 3rd 2020, hail strike Incident: Passaredo AT72 at Ribeirao Preto on Mar 3rd 2020, tilted nose gear on landing Flight from O'Hare diverted after 'unruly passenger' tries to open plane door Etihad Airways has scolded its "hero A380 pilots" for the spectacular landing at Heathrow Virginia Beach Woman Used Strobe Lights to Distract Navy Pilots, NCIS Says AIRASIA INDIA PASSES MAJOR SAFETY AUDIT WORKPLACE WATCHDOG ORDERS QANTAS TO IMPROVE AIRCRAFT CLEANING Former American Airlines mechanic gets 3 years for trying to sabotage plane Medical screener at LAX airport tests positive for coronavirus, DHS says Flybe, a Regional British Airline, Stops Flying ATP Software Update Speeds Publishing of ADs WMU aviation program in Battle Creek soars with strong enrollment plus high demand for pilots The U.S. Air Force Is Short Thousands of Pilots (2,100 To Be Exact) Incident: UPS B744 at Delhi on Mar 1st 2020, rejected takeoff, all main tyres deflated A UPS United Parcel Service Boeing 747-400, registration N576UP performing flight 5X-15 from Delhi (India) to Cologne (Germany), was accelerating for takeoff from Delhi's runway 11 when the crew rejected takeoff at high speed (about 110 knots over ground). The aircraft slowed safely, vacated the runway and was taxiing on taxiway T when all main tyres deflated disabling the aircraft on taxiway T between taxiways T3 and CW1. http://avherald.com/h?article=4d41c790&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Fedex B752 near Bloomington on Mar 3rd 2020, engine fire indication A Fedex Federal Express Boeing 757-200, registration N960FD performing freight flight FX-3620 from Omaha,NE to Indianapolis (USA) with 2 crew, was enroute at FL370 about 5nm southeast of Bloomington,IL (USA) when the crew received an engine (RB211) fire indication, shut the engine down and discharged the fire agent. The aircraft diverted to Bloomington for a safe landing on runway 20 about 20 minutes after leaving FL370. A replacement Boeing 757-200 registration N994FD reached Indianapolis with a delay of 4 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Bloomington about 30 hours after landing. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/FDX3620/history/20200303/1440Z/KOMA/KIND http://avherald.com/h?article=4d41c523&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: AirAsia India A320 at Kolkata on Mar 3rd 2020, hail strike An AirAsia India Airbus A320-200, registration VT-IMP performing flight I5-536 from Kolkata to Bagdogra (India) with 171 people on board, was climbing out of Kolkata when the crew stopped the climb at FL100 due to a hail strike and returned to Kolkata for a safe landing on runway 19L about 20 minutes after departure. A replacement A320-200 registration VT-CCU reached Bagdogra with a delay of 3 hours. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground for about 20 hours, then returned to service. http://avherald.com/h?article=4d41c3ca&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Passaredo AT72 at Ribeirao Preto on Mar 3rd 2020, tilted nose gear on landing A Passaredo Avions de Transport Regional ATR-72-212A, registration PP-PTM performing flight P3-2367 from Rio de Janeiro Dumont,RJ to Ribeirao Preto,SP (Brazil), landed in Ribeirao Preto and came to a stop with the nose gear tilted by 90 degrees, both nose tyres were shredded and the wheels ground down. The airport was closed for about one hour until the aircraft could be towed to the apron. http://avherald.com/h?article=4d41c1f2&opt=0 Back to Top Flight from O'Hare diverted after 'unruly passenger' tries to open plane door CHICAGO - An American Airlines flight that departed from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport was diverted because of an "unruly passenger," according to an airline spokesperson. A man attempted to open the airplane's emergency exit door while it was in flight Tuesday. A group of flight attendants and passengers helped subdue the man to the ground. The plane was diverted to St. Louis International Airport where police removed him. The flight was originally headed to Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. https://wgntv.com/news/flight-from-ohare-diverted-after-unruly-passenger-tries-to- open-plane-door/ Back to Top Etihad Airways has scolded its "hero A380 pilots" for the spectacular landing at Heathrow during storm Dennis on February 16. The video posted to YouTube has been seen over 2.5 million times and broadcast by television stations across the globe. The airline's Manager of Flight Crew Training has however sent a memo to all pilots, obtained by AirlineRatings.com, saying this landing was not what the airline wants to see. "The official view from the Training Department is a simple one - THIS IS NOT WHAT WE WANT TO SEE. There is a time to give an approach away in the interest of safety," the memo said. "If you see such a thing in the sim (Simulator) it would be a grade of 1 (out of 10)...." The A380 has a crosswind capability of 40kts and a crosswind autoland capability of 30kts but pilots should never use autoland in such conditions as the response time from a pilot is far quicker than the autoland system. https://www.airlineratings.com/news/etihad-scolds-hero-a380-pilots-spectacular- landing/ Back to Top Virginia Beach Woman Used Strobe Lights to Distract Navy Pilots, NCIS Says A Virginia Beach woman has been accused of using strobe lights to distract pilots near Naval Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress in Chesapeake and charged with interfering with an aircraft, according to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Lou Ella Moore was arrested on Friday night by NCIS agents and Virginia Beach police. She was released on bail, and a preliminary hearing for her is scheduled for April 30 in Virginia Beach General District Court. NCIS said in a statement to The Virginian-Pilot that it received reports from leadership at Naval Air Station Oceana in December that someone had been flashing lights at passing planes. Oceana is the Navy's East Coast Master Jet Base and it uses the rural Fentress landing field near the Virginia Beach border so fighter pilots can simulate landing on an aircraft carrier. Flashing lights -- or lasers -- at pilots can damage their eyes and cause aviators to become disoriented, putting them in danger. "NCIS personnel observed Lou Moore using a homemade device made of multiple lights fastened to a garden rake, and pointing it at planes overhead," NCIS spokesman Jeff Houston wrote in an email. Court records list the infraction as occurring on Dec. 16. Court records do not say where the lights were shined from, but public databases show Moore lives less than three miles southeast of Fentress. If convicted, Moore faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/03/05/virginia-beach-woman-used-strobe- lights-distract-navy-pilots-ncis-says.html Back to Top AIRASIA INDIA PASSES MAJOR SAFETY AUDIT The AirAsia Group's safety strategy continues to pay off with AirAsia India following hot on the heels of AirAsia Thailand to pass a major international safety audit. The accreditation under the International Air Transport Association's Operational Safety Audit leaves just one member of the AirAsia Group, AirAsia Japan, still going through the process. It is expected to achieve accreditation soon to make the entire AirAsia Group IOSA compliant. AirAsia India follows AirAsia Thailand's announcement in February and comes after similar achievements by AirAsia X Thailand in December 2018, AirAsia Philippines in November 2018, AirAsia Malaysia in September 2018, AirAsia Indonesia in August 2018 and AirAsia X (Malaysia) in 2015. The IOSA certification audit is an internationally recognized and accepted evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline. The biennial safety audit is compulsory for IATA members and airlines that have completed the audit have a safety record almost four times better than those that have not. It covers eight key areas: corporate organization and management systems, flight operations, operational control - flight dispatch, aircraft engineering and maintenance, cabin operations, ground handling, cargo operations and operational security. AirAsia India, a joint venture between India's Tata and Sons Private Limited and AirAsia Investment Limited, began operations in 2014. It currently flies to 21 destinations and boasts a fleet of 29 A320 aircraft. "We are proud to announce that we have successfully completed the IATA operational audit,'' AirAsia India chief executive Sunil Bhaskaran said about the accreditation. "We will now strive to ensure that we always maintain the highest standards of safety and operational integrity at all times." https://www.airlineratings.com/news/airasia-india-passes-major-safety-audit/ Back to Top WORKPLACE WATCHDOG ORDERS QANTAS TO IMPROVE AIRCRAFT CLEANING Qantas has been told to improve the cleaning of its aircraft after an inspection revealed problems such as workers cleaning tray tables with the same wet cloth without disinfectant. SafeWork NSW issued the airline with an improvement notice after a February 26 inspection of the airline's cleaning practices on a Sydney aircraft. It said workers and others may have been at risk of injury or illness from "the inadequate system of work" used to clean planes transporting passengers with an infectious disease. The workplace safety watchdog told the airline it must develop and maintain a safe system to work to clean aircraft that minimize the risk of "workers and others to infectious diseases, including the novel coronavirus COVID 19". The notice, seen by AirlineRatings, said fleet presentation crew had been observed cleaning a Qantas aircraft "where they were required to handle wet and used tissues, used face masks, soiled nappies and the workers advised they occasionally have to clean blood and vomit off surfaces". "PPE (personal protective equipment) was not mandated for the majority of these tasks,'' it said. "I also observed workers wiping over multiple tray tables with the same wet cloths with no disinfectant and cleaning unknown liquids on floors and surfaces.'' Qantas said it was investigating the SafeWork NSW claim after the inspector observed an aircraft being cleaned in Sydney last week. It insisted all its aircraft were thoroughly cleaned after each international flight. "All of our fleet presentation teams are provided with personal protective equipment for cleaning the aircraft and for more hazardous items, we have additional equipment such as masks and safety suits,'' a spokesman said. The Transport Workers' Union, which is at loggerheads with the Qantas Group over other industrial issues, said the investigation followed the suspension by Qantas of a worker who raised concerns about coronavirus. It noted Qantas also sent a letter on January 31 formally directing the employee to clean planes, including those originating at the time in China. This was just prior to the travel ban on China and Qantas suspending flights. "The Safe Work NSW improvement notice reflects the concerns the worker, an elected and trained health and safety representative, raised on the day Qantas stood him down, including the lack of safety systems and the risk of contracting the virus,'' TWU NSW branch secretary Richard Olsen said. "His colleagues shared his concerns and 100 of them signed a petition calling for him to be reinstated. "Workers are worried about the risk to passengers, themselves and their families because of Qantas's refusal to provide training and protective gear since this outbreak began." The union called on Qantas to engage infection control experts and to meet the SafeWork NSW demands. It said Air China resumed flights to Australia on Wednesday and Qantas ground workers were cleaning and servicing the flights. Workers at some airports had been issued the guidelines about resumed flights while those at other facilities had not. "Workers are worried and are contacting us daily about their concerns,'' TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said. "They live in fear about contracting or spreading the virus but are terrified to speak out because of the corporate bullying attitude of Qantas. This must end so Australia can deal with this virus in a calm and responsible manner." https://www.airlineratings.com/news/workplace-watchdog-orders-qantas-improve- aircraft-cleaning/ Back to Top Former American Airlines mechanic gets 3 years for trying to sabotage plane Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani pleaded guilty to tampering with an important sensor to try to get overtime work. A former American Airlines mechanic in Miami who admitted to tampering with a plane's critical sensors to get more overtime work was sentenced to 37 months in prison Wednesday. Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani, 60, previously admitted to investigators that he had tampered with a plane at Miami International Airport before a July flight bound for Nassau, Bahamas, with 150 people aboard, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said. He was arrested in September after an investigation and later pleaded guilty. Alani told investigators he was upset with failed contract negotiations between American Airlines and the unions representing mechanics and fleet workers. To get some overtime work that night, he said he glued a piece of styrofoam inside a tube on the air data module system. The blocked sensor monitored important data for the plane and pilots, such as speed and pitch. When interviewed by investigators, Alani said "his intention was not to cause harm to the aircraft or its passengers." He said he was in financial distress because of the ongoing contract dispute and he needed overtime work for more money. When the plane was powered up for takeoff, the blocked sensor triggered an error message in the plane's air data module system and the flight was aborted. Passengers boarded another plane and continued safely to Nassau. Alani was identified by American Airlines' security footage and security officers and air marshals could tell he was the last person to work on the plane based on his unique limp or hitch in his step. When questioned, Alani admitted he glued Styrofoam to a tube connecting the air data module system. At the time, American Airlines was in the midst of a five-year contract dispute with the association representing union mechanics. American even sued the unions in federal court for intentionally slowing down work to gain bargaining power. American and the maintenance workers' unions came to a contract agreement in January worth about $4.2 billion, including raises, increased profit sharing and improvements to working conditions. Alani had worked for American Airlines from 1988 until his arrest. https://www.dallasnews.com/business/airlines/2020/03/04/former-american-airlines- mechanic-gets-3-years-for-trying-to-sabotage-plane/ Back to Top Medical screener at LAX airport tests positive for coronavirus, DHS says A contract medical screener at Los Angeles International Airport tested positive for coronavirus, the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday. The worker, whose last shift at the airport was on Feb. 21, is self-quarantined at home under medical supervision with mild symptoms, DHS said. The worker's immediate family is also quarantined, it said. The county's board of supervisors and department of health declared a local and public health emergency in response to the growing number of cases in California, including six new cases in Los Angeles County. The first Californian with coronavirus died Wednesday at a hospital in Roseville in northern California, officials said. The 71-year-old man is believed to have been exposed to the virus while on a cruise to Mexico last month. There were 153 cases of coronavirus reported nationwide as of Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University. That includes 29 cases in California, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Eleven people have died in the United States, including 10 in Washington state and the cruise ship passenger in California. LAX is one of 11 U.S. airports where inbound international travelers are screened for coronavirus. The DHS contract screeners ask travelers if they've been to affected countries, such as China, South Korea and Italy; if they have any symptoms of acute respiratory illness and check their temperature. Heather Swift, a spokeswoman for DHS, said in a statement that the contract worker at LAX began experiencing cold-like symptoms on Feb. 29, and was administered a coronavirus test, which came back positive. DHS said it is working with its contractors to communicate with the screener's co-workers. "We are told the individual wore all the correct protective equipment and took necessary protections on the job," she said. "At this time we do not know if this case is a result from community spread or through their work as a medical screener." Swift said no passengers who had been screened at LAX had tested positive for coronavirus. "This is an evolving situation," she said. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2020/03/04/screener-lax-airport-tests-positive- coronavirus-dhs-says/4907877002/ Back to Top Flybe, a Regional British Airline, Stops Flying The budget carrier was challenged by rising competition, Brexit and more recently the coronavirus, and had sought government help. Flybe had been in discussion with British government officials about a rescue. Flybe, a regional carrier that had flown to some of the more underserved corners of Britain as well as holiday destinations, has ceased operations. In a notice on its website dated Thursday, Flybe said all its flights had been grounded and that it would not be able to make other arrangements for its passengers. It said the company had been placed in administration, and it directed questions to Ernst & Young, the auditing firm. "This is a sad day for U.K. aviation and we know that Flybe's decision to stop trading will be very distressing for all of its employees and customers," said Richard Moriarty, chief executive of Britain's Civil Aviation Authority, in a separate statement from the British regulator. But the carrier faced other pressures too, including intense competition with other budget airlines. It was also hit by the uncertainty in the years leading up to Britain's departure from the European Union, which was formally completed more than a month ago. That process, known as Brexit, was widely considered to be a factor in last year's collapse of Thomas Cook, the British travel agency. Flybe had been in discussion with British government officials about a rescue. In January, concerned that Flybe's demise would reduce airline service to some corners of the country, Sajid Javid, then chancellor of the Exchequer, said the government would take new measures to support connectivity across Britain. "I welcome Flybe's confirmation that they will continue to operate as normal, safeguarding jobs in U.K. and ensuring flights continue to serve communities across the whole of the U.K.," he said in a statement at the time. Mr. Javid quit the post a month later. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/business/flybe-administration-coronavirus.html Back to Top ATP Software Update Speeds Publishing of ADs Aviation information services and software provider ATP has released an upgrade to its software that supports the publishing and distribution of maintenance manuals and airworthiness directives (ADs), the San Francisco-based firm announced yesterday. With the release of Production 2.0, maintenance manual updates and ADs can be published in real time through the company's cloud-based ATP Aviation Hub, a network for accessing technical manuals and ADs. "For decades, [ATP Aviation Hub] has greatly reduced the amount of time and effort required by maintenance technicians in finding the right information to ensure their aircraft is safe and ready for takeoff," said ATP CEO Rick Noble. "This new release will make the experience even faster and better." ATP's platform has more than 45,000 users worldwide. It offers electronic access to technical manuals from a variety of OEMs, as well as ADs from both the FAA and European Union Aviation Safety Agency. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2020-03-04/atp-software- update-speeds-publishing-ads Back to Top Kuwait Airways ready to receive Airbus A330-800 aircraft KUWAIT: Airbus has finished preparing the first A330-800 aircraft purchased by Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC), and which will be received during the third quarter of this year, KAC announced yesterday. The national carrier had signed a contract to purchase eight Airbus A330-800 aircrafts, and they are scheduled to be received in succession until 2026 as per the plan agreed upon when the contract was signed on September 30, 2018. KAC said in a press statement that the Airbus A330-800 received the airworthiness certificate from European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The A330-800 aircraft is considered among the new generation of the A330 neo family of aircrafts, KAC noted, adding that the plane has the longest range in its category of the wide bodied structures. https://news.kuwaittimes.net/website/kuwait-airways-ready-to-receive-airbus-a330- 800-aircraft/ Back to Top WMU aviation program in Battle Creek soars with strong enrollment plus high demand for pilots Against the backdrop of a runway with aircraft taking off and landing, new buildings are going up as part of a $22 million expansion of Western Michigan University's College of Aviation at the Battle Creek Executive Airport at Kellogg Field. As he watched the activity both on and off the runaway from the airport's tower, Dave Powell, Dean of the College of Aviation, says WMU officials determined that the growth in student demand over the past five years warranted the addition of a new 66,000- square-foot building. It will provide added classroom space, a computer room, and a state-of-the-art simulation center. The new location, expected to be completed in the Fall of 2020 will also include a research center, student briefing rooms, as well as faculty office space, a cafe, amenities, and upgrades in technology and laboratories. "When I first got here we had about 600 students," Powell says. "Today, we have 1,150 and right now we're forecasting to have another 150 students in the next year or so, which will bring us up to 1,300 students." Powell says this uptick is reflective of an increasing demand for pilots, mechanics, and managers nationally. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. currently has 159,000 active airline transport pilots. And there will be a need for 759,000 pilots worldwide in the next 20 years, he says. Statistically, half of the pilots from American Airlines, Delta and United -- the three major U.S. carriers -- will retire in the next 10 years at the same time that the flying public will increase by two billion people worldwide mainly due to the economic growth in third-world countries, Powell says Dave Powell, dean of Western Michigan University's College of Aviation, right, talks with William Gaffney, a graduate and instructor. In February, the leadership of the aviation school began a program with United Airlines called Aviate that offers students a direct career path to become a pilot with the air carrier. Once accepted into the program, students will complete their four-year degree, then put in a minimum of 1,000 hours of flying time, and then work two years with a United Express Aviate partner before transitioning to United as a first officer, says Captain Curtis Brunjes, United's Managing Director of Pilot Strategy, during a press conference to announce the partnership. In 2018, WMU became one of eight universities to partner with Delta Airline's Propel program, which is similar in scope to Aviate. About 60 students with the College of Aviation are in the Propel program, Powell says. The physical expansion of the College of Aviation is making it possible to support these partnerships. Prior to the expansion, the aviation school was working with 16,000 square feet of academic space which made for tight quarters for students and staff. The project comes at a time when many colleges and universities in Michigan are seeing declines in enrollment, the exceptions being Michigan State University and the University of Michigan which are stable, Powell says. The reasons for the declining numbers include decreasing birth rates and delays in having children that are leading to fewer high school graduates. Another factor in the downturn in student enrollment at Michigan colleges and universities, Powell says, is people who are moving south in search of warmer climates and greater job opportunities. If they have children, it's less likely those young people will attend a higher education institution in Michigan. "Between now and 2032, these numbers will stabilize," Powell predicts. As one of the top three aviation schools in the United States, WMU's College of Aviation has been immune to the declining enrollments being experienced elsewhere. Regardless, Powell says he and leaders at WMU don't want uncontrolled growth that doesn't deliver the quality now offered. "When a parent sends their child to us, they're giving us the most valuable thing they have, their child, and then it's their money. I want them to understand that I appreciate that," Powell says. "I tell that to all of the prospective students and parents. I make no apology for being a parent, but I'm not trying to take the parents' place, to hold their kids accountable and have them get to class. My job is to help any young person who wants to get a great education to be successful." That "any young person" has always included minorities and Powell has increasingly been putting more of a focus on the need for the College of Aviation to be more diversified. Powell says that about 7 percent of all pilots and airline mechanics in the United States are minorities. Unlike other professions where demographics such as sex or race come into play even though those making the hiring decisions may deny it, Powell says the airline industry focuses on an employee's level of experience and ability. That's been the experience of Brian Johnson, who is based out of Detroit and has been flying for a regional carrier owned by a domestic legacy airline for three years. In the airline industry, "you really are just a number," he says. While this approach may be viewed as a negative in some corporate environments, Johnson says this makes sense for pilots, many of whom came out of the military where being a number is the norm. "We all have to have a minimum level of certification to be eligible. We're all on the same level playing field," Johnson says. "Everything in aviation is seniority-based. You're just a number at the company and once your number comes up, you can choose to fly a bigger plane, but I can do this at my leisure." The plane Johnson currently pilots is a 76-seater regional jet that primarily flies domestically with occasional flights to Canada, Cuba, Mexico, and the Bahamas. The largest aircraft operated by the domestic legacy airline he works for is a Triple 7 with a 300-passenger occupancy. "There are two tracks I can take," he says. "One is to chase more money and fly bigger airplanes or to have a certain quality of life. My company has a large plane fleet and all kinds of routes. I can make a request to fly the biggest plane that pays the most. If you put yourself into that pool it will take you longer to go up that ladder. "For me, on my plane, I've got pretty much seniority which means I get the days off when I want them. A lot of people choose to chase the biggest and some people chase quality of life. I just like to fly, so I don't care what I fly." Johnson, who is African American, says if there are racist attitudes in the airline industry, he has yet to see it. He estimates that a substantial number of the pilots now flying got into the profession because they had a family member who also was a pilot and he says that this historical trend has meant the field is traditionally dominated by individuals who identify as white. "It is still definitely a white-male dominated industry," Johnson says. The son of a single mother in inner-city Detroit, Johnson says the majority of his peers opted for careers that offered more immediate gratification or an easier way out of their current circumstances. "In the minds of my peer group, a lot of people hedge their bets and don't have a backup plan," he says. "Other more stable careers like being a pilot or a doctor require more schooling and delayed gratification tends not to be as possible for some of them." At times, he says, earning the licenses and certifications required to become a pilot was an "onerous journey." The airline industry is the most highly regulated and there is no immediate payoff, he says. "I've been flying for 13 years. For the first eight years I didn't make any money at it," Johnson says. "For three years after that I worked smaller odd jobs in flight instruction and charter flying just to build up my experience." His initial exposure to flying happened when he was 11-years-old. His mother and a friend bought him a discovery flight at a local airport. While he had an interest in it, he says he doesn't remember having an "aha" moment when he knew this is how he wanted to spend the rest of his life. "I just remember from my earliest memories that I was fascinated by flight and how something that weighs several hundred thousand pounds could fly through the air at such fast speeds," Johnson says. After enrolling at the University of Michigan at Dearborn where he earned a Bachelor's degree in Hispanic Studies, Johnson says he "moseyed" out to the local airport and began taking flying lessons at the age of 19. Now 31, Johnson says he is part of a grassroots effort to expose more minority youth to careers in the airline industry. "There are a decent amount of black pilots out there, but right now it has to be a grassroots effort for those of us who are in the industry to go out into the community and be role models," he says. "There are awesome organizations that are trying to increase awareness, especially minority youth programs in Detroit where volunteer pilots will give free flights to middle and high school students to expose them." Powell says financially the College of Aviation is not able to do this. "We are a state- funded school and we don't have enough money to offer free flights," he says. Johnson says pilots are held to a much higher standard than those who are employed in the airline industry in jobs such as ticket agents or baggage handlers. "If you're going to be a pilot, visible tattoos and/or a criminal history can severely limit your options. These are things that disproportionately affect the minority community and make you ineligible from the start," Johnson says. Powell says pilots need to be well-rounded individuals who are able to engage people in conversations. He encourages his students to get involved in aviation-focused organizations and says that the focus for him beginning on their first day of school is to keep them enrolled. Among the national organizations that have local chapters for students at the College of Aviation are the National Gay Pilots Association, Black Aerospace Professionals, and Women in Aviation. "We were the second College of Aviation in the U.S. to have a National Gay Pilots Assocation," Powell says, adding that there are at least 13 aviation-related organizations for WMU students to join. "As much as I'd like to say that it's my efforts that retain the students, they're really looking to me for the big guidance, but the day- to-day 'get me through life' stuff is where support from these organizations really helps them. It helps them to be able to interact with people who look like them and share similar interests." Through donations received by the College of Aviation, Powell says he is able to give these organizations money to offset travel costs to meetings or conferences. "My job is to make them the best they can be," Powell says. "You're not only a pilot, you're a walking billboard for that airline you're flying for," he says. Powell says 33 percent of the total number of students in the College of Aviation represent different sexes, races, and ethnicities. "We recruit from all over. We have a lot of students from Michigan," Powell says. "Sixty- five percent of our incoming class this past fall were in-state and the rest were from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Korea, or just about anywhere." But, so far "anywhere" doesn't appear to include students in the Kellogg Airport's own backyard. "Battle Creek has such a diverse community, but we get very, very few students from Battle Creek in our program," Powell says. "We have struggled and struggled with this. We now have anywhere from 1,500 to 1,800 students from first grade up to middle school who visit our program in the summertime. We give tours here from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., six days a week. I have student ambassadors on standby to do this." Despite this exposure, Powell says he thinks people don't appreciate that they can get into aviation or the opportunities they can realize from enrolling. He says his students graduate on time and have the opportunity to earn more than $300,000 annually at the height of their careers. "There are over 250 aviation programs in the United States and we're the third largest," Powell says. "I'm hoping that when people see the new building they'll maybe have an interest in walking through the door and give us the opportunity to explain how they could be a part of the program." https://www.secondwavemedia.com/southwest-michigan/features/WMU-aviation- program-in-Batle-Creek-soars-with-strong-enrollment-plus-demand-for-pilots- 030520.aspx Back to Top The U.S. Air Force Is Short Thousands of Pilots (2,100 To Be Exact) The U.S. Air Force still is short thousands of pilots. All the effort the flying branch has made in recent years to fill the gap so far have failed. Air Force officials on March 3, 2020 told a House Armed Services subcommittee that the service is short 2,100 pilots. That's 10 percent of the 21,000 pilots the flying branch says it needs to fly its roughly 5,500 aircraft. The pilot shortfall limits how effectively the Air Force can train for war and how many sorties it could launch during a crisis. And it's not clear that anything but a major economic downturn can solve the problem. The pilot shortage opened up as the U.S. economy began recovering from the 2008 financial crisis. By 2017 the shortfall had grown to 10 percent of pilot billets. It's stayed there for three years. This 10-percent aircrew gap could "break the force," then-Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson warned in 2017. The flying branch increased signing bonuses and reduced pilots' administrative work, hoping these small tweaks would boost recruitment. The service also expanded its training infrastructure in order to produce as many as 1,400 new pilots annually, up from 1,200 before. It didn't work. And there's one good reason for that. Flying for airlines almost always pays better and affords a more rewarding lifestyle for pilots than does flying for the Air Force. As long as airlines are hiring, the Air Force struggles. It's been like that since the Air Force's founding in 1947. The first pilot shortage struck at the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. Tens of thousands of pilots had voluntarily left service as the United States demobilized at the end of World War II. Not coincidentally, airlines were enjoying a huge post-war boom. To fill the gap, the Air Force brought back some retired World War II combat pilots who weren't already flying airliners and grew the training infrastructure for new crews. By 1966, the Air Force actually had a pilot surplus. The active-duty force that year needed 38,000 pilots and had 40,000, according to official statistics Lt. Col. John Rhodes explained in a 1985 study of pilot shortages for the Air Force's Air University in Alabama. The Vietnam War and a second post-war airline boom changed all that. In 1967 the Air Force needed 46,000 pilots but had only 38,000. That 8,000-pilot gap is the biggest in Air Force history. The 2020 shortage is around half as bad, adjusting for today's smaller Air Force. In 1967, the Air Force solved its manpower problem in part by increasing new pilot production from 2,000 annually in 1966 to 3,500 in 1970. The service also reduced the pace of overseas deployments, easing the stress on individual pilots. A slowdown in airline hiring helped. In 1970 airlines lost money for the first time since 1962, according to statistics Paul Stephen Dempsey, then the director of the Institute of Air & Space Law at McGill University in Montreal, compiled in 2013. In 1971 the pilot gap shrank to just 300. As the United States withdrew from Vietnam in the mid-1970s, demand for aircrew abated and the pilot deficit became a 2,800-pilot surplus. The U.S. military buildup in the 1980s added thousands of warplanes to the Air Force's inventory. Demand for pilots swelled by 2,000 to 25,000 between 1980 and 1988. But by mid-decade the economy was strong and airlines were hiring. The service on average was 800 pilots short for most of the decade. Then the Cold War ended. The Air Force retired thousands of aircraft and shuttered hundreds of bases. The service in 1994 had 750 more pilots than it needed. Airlines were hiring, so pilots left the Air Force in droves. Too many, in fact. By 1998 the flying branch once again was short aircrew. Between 1996 and 2000 the Air Force offered cash bonuses to pilots and doubled new aircrew production from 500 to 1,000 per year. Meanwhile, the economic slowdown of 2000 and 2001 cut into airlines' hiring. By 2006 the active Air Force had 13,600 pilots - 200 more than it needed. The current shortage first appeared a few years later. And the military knows it has little choice but to wait out the current, healthy economy. California think-tank RAND predicted that the Air Force would suffer high levels of pilot attrition through 2020. A 2017 study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office anticipated a shortfall through 2023. The most pessimistic projection came from Air Force Lt. Gen. Gina Grosso, who in March 2017 told the House Armed Services Committee that strong airline hiring could continue "for the next 10 to 15 years." https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/us-air-force-short-thousands-pilots-2100-be- exact-129657 Curt Lewis