Flight Safety Information June 26, 2020 - No. 129 In This Issue Incident: TUIFly B738 at Brussels on Jun 25th 2020, engine problem Incident: ANZ AT72 at Wellington on Jun 25th 2020, fumes in cabin Airbus A400M Atlas - Bird Strike Damage (Spain) Pakistan to ground 150 pilots for cheating to get licenses The Kobe Bryant Helicopter Crash: Aviation Wrestles With Decades-Old Problem International Aviation Organizations IFALPA and IFATCA on Pakistan International Airlines Qatar- Health and safety measures by Gulf airlines critical to persuade wary air passengers Qantas Grounding 100 Aircraft, Retiring 747s FAA Issues Final Directive on Boeing 737 MAX Airplane Inspections Reno airport to require masks for all passengers and visitors starting on Friday, June 26 NTSB Reports Don't Always Tell the Entire Story Virgin Atlantic Struggles to Crew July Flights Following Redundancies European Union signs aviation agreement with the Republic of Korea German and Dutch governments put up billions to save airlines Major U.S. airline CEOs to hold White House meeting Friday Virgin Galactic flies second SpaceShipTwo test at New Mexico spaceport SCSI Slovenia Fall Course Series AVIATION SAFETY SURVEY GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Incident: TUIFly B738 at Brussels on Jun 25th 2020, engine problem A TUI Airlines Belgium Boeing 737-800, registration OO-TUP performing flight TB-3313 from Brussels (Belgium) to Eskisehir (Turkey), was climbing out of Brussels' runway 01 when the crew stopped the climb at FL190 reporting problems with the left hand engine (CFM56). The aircraft continued in the direction towards Turkey for about 20 minutes, then turned around and landed safely back on Brussels' runway 07L about 65 minutes after departure. A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration OO-JEF reached Eskisehir with a delay of 6.5 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground about 9 hours after landing. http://avherald.com/h?article=4d928b0b&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: ANZ AT72 at Wellington on Jun 25th 2020, fumes in cabin An ANZ Air New Zealand Avions de Transport Regional ATR-72-212A, registration ZK-MVU performing flight NZ-5330 from Christchurch to Wellington (New Zealand), was descending towards Wellington when the crew reported fumes in the cabin. The aircraft continued for a safe landing on Wellington's runway 16 with emergency services on stand by. The airport reported emergency services were put on fully standby alert due to fumes in the cabin. The aircraft landed without incident. The airline reported the pilots were alerted for fumes in the cabin and continued for a safe landing in Wellington, the passengers disembarked normally. Emergency services were on standby as precaution. The aircraft remained on the ground in Wellington for about 9 hours, then positioned to Christchurch and is now on the ground in Christchurch for about 8.5 hours. http://avherald.com/h?article=4d92606b&opt=0 Back to Top Back to Top Airbus A400M Atlas - Bird Strike Damage (Spain) Date: 25-JUN-2020 Time: Type: Airbus A400M Atlas Owner/operator: Royal Air Force Registration: ZM409 C/n / msn: 034 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Other fatalities: 0 Aircraft damage: Minor Location: near Getafe Air Base - Spain Phase: Landing Nature: Military Departure airport: Madrid/Getafe Airport (LEGT) Destination airport: Madrid/Getafe Airport (LEGT) Narrative: A Royal Air Force Airbus A400M Atlas suffered a bird strike during a flight out of Getafe Air Base, Spain. The airplane sustained a large hole under the cockpit. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/237353 Back to Top Pakistan to ground 150 pilots for cheating to get licenses ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's state-run airline said Thursday it will ground 150 pilots, accusing them of obtaining licenses by having others take exams for them, an accusation that followed a probe into last month's crash that killed 97 people in Karachi. Abdullah Hafeez, a spokesman for Pakistan International Airlines, did not give additional details about the alleged cheating but said a process to fire the pilots had been initiated. "We will make it sure that such unqualified pilots never fly aircraft again," he told The Associated Press. He said the safety of passengers was the airline's top priority. Alarmed over the situation, the International Air Transport Association said it was following reports from Pakistan "regarding fake pilot licenses, which are concerning and represent a serious lapse in the licensing and safety oversight by the aviation regulator." The global airline organization said it was seeking more information. The move by PIA to ground the pilots comes a day after the country's aviation minister, Ghulam Sarqar Khan, said 262 out of 860 Pakistani pilots had "fake" licenses. He made the revelation while presenting preliminary findings of a probe to parliament into the May 22 Airbus A320 crash. The announcement stunned lawmakers present in the National Assembly and shocked family members of passengers who died last month when Flight PK8303 went down after departing from the eastern city of Lahore, crashing in a congested residential area in Karachi. The crash killed 97 people, including all the crew members. There were only two survivors on board and a girl died on the ground. Neither Khan nor Hafeez released additional details about the alleged methods used by the pilots to wrongfully obtain licenses to fly commercial planes. Khan said only that they did not take examinations themselves to get the required certificates, which are issued by the civil aviation authority. But officials familiar with the process involved in issuing pilot's licenses said an unspecified number of people who had the skills to fly a plane but lacked technical knowledge had in the past bribed qualified persons to take exams for them. They didn't elaborate. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter, said Pakistan International Airlines learned about the scandal two years ago and fired at least four pilots at the time on accusations of falsifying exams to obtain a license from the civil aviation authority. Hafeez said notices were being issued to all those pilots who he believed had tainted licenses. Shortly after the May 22 crash, Pakistan announced it would investigate the incident and share its findings. In presenting preliminary findings of the probe to parliament Wednesday, Khan said the pilot, before making his first failed landing attempt, did not pay attention to warnings from the air control tower when he was told the plane was too high to land. However, he said the pilot and co-pilot were medically fit and qualified to fly. The crash took place when the plane attempted to land a second time. At that point, air traffic control told the pilot three times that the plane was too low to land but he refused to listen, saying he would manage, Khan said. The minister added that, for its part, air traffic control did not inform the pilots about damage caused to the engines after the plane's first failed landing attempt. "The engines of the plane were damaged when they scraped the runway but the air traffic control did not inform the pilot," he said. https://www.startribune.com/pakistan-airline-says-150-pilots-grounded-after-crash-probe/571481102/ Back to Top The Kobe Bryant Helicopter Crash: Aviation Wrestles With Decades-Old Problem The helicopter crash that killed basketball star Kobe Bryant and eight others in January has spurred action by Congress. This month, lawmakers introduced a bill long requested by regulators that would require new safety standards and equipment such as terrain-awareness systems. The pilot in that crash flew into worsening weather conditions and lost control. But the proposed legislative fixes won't solve what is a familiar problem in the aviation industry - and something it's wrestled with for decades: getting pilots to turn around or divert when the path ahead starts to look bad. Aviation is not inherently dangerous - but it is unforgiving in terms of neglect or carelessness. That's a rough quote attributed to a British captain from the 1930s. And it's true. Little mistakes can snowball into serious problems. But of all the modes of transportation, pilots undergo the most training. On a training flight in Alabama, Elizabeth White eased the throttle forward of her Cessna 172 and the plane lifted off into a clear, blue sky. She's an Auburn University student in the professional flight program and flying this day, with instructor Megan Brown, "Why don't you give me a right turn, to that lonely water tower out there." White turned the yoke and the plane banked swiftly. Later the duo would practice recovery from aerodynamic stalls, slow-flight and visual navigation. White is already a private pilot with her instrument rating and working now on becoming an instructor. It takes hundreds of hours of flight experience and ground-based training to get to this point. Most airlines won't hire a pilot with fewer than 1,500 hours. Brown said part of her challenge, as an instructor, is ensuring students remember all this training, years later. "As pilots get older, we tend to get comfortable and, kind of think, oh, yeah, it's no big deal," Brown said, "What you got to be aware of is the minute you start feeling wrong about something, you've got to stop the flight." And that, it appears, is what the pilot of the Kobe Bryant crash did not do. It's a known problem in aviation called 'get there itis' - meaning pilots focus on getting to their destination when that's not always the safest outcome. "Pilots, in general, tend to be goal-oriented people," said Richard McSpadden, executive director of the Air Safety Institute with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. • NTSB: Kobe Bryant Helicopter Engine Did Not Fail Before Crash He said pilots often feel pressure to complete a flight. "We think part of it is either consciously or subconsciously, when a pilot takes off in a desire to go fly somewhere, that goal is set in their mind in what's in their mind as I need to achieve my goal and get to my destination." The National Transportation Safety Board investigates aviation accidents including the Kobe Bryant crash - but doesn't keep statistics on how often 'get there itis' factors in accidents. NTSB reports - going back decades - are filled with instances of pilots continuing on in deteriorating weather. (Last week, the NTSB released 1,700 pages of its investigation so far. The reports indicate Ara Zobayan, the pilot, might have been disoriented in fog. A final accident report isn't expected for months.) It's a particular issue in general aviation and some on-demand charter operations. Kobe Bryant's Death Puts A Focus On Helicopter Safety The helicopter industry is working to prevent accidents like these. James Viola, president of Helicopter Association International, points to his organization's safety campaign called "Land and Live" which is designed to remind pilots to be smart and safe. "If we're flying along and something's just not going right - that we should land and reassess the situation. Airplanes can't do that. We'd like to see helicopters use that 'land and live' program a lot more." Viola said a safer option is landing in a field or a road to wait for the weather to improve or calling a taxi to get passengers to their destination. It's not clear why pilots press on and crash rather than diverting to fly another day. Aviation is the safest kind of travel - by far. But as accidents like the Kobe Bryant crash show - it's easy to make mistakes and the margin of error can be very small. And the psychological issues of flying aren't something that can be easily fixed by legislation. https://www.npr.org/2020/06/23/880589173/the-kobe-bryant-helicopter-crash-aviation-wrestles-with-decades-old-problem Back to Top International Aviation Organizations IFALPA and IFATCA on Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303 Preliminary Report MONTREAL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The aviation community grieves the tragic loss of lives aboard Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303 on 22 May 2020. Our thoughts are with the families of those lost and the survivors who may still have a long road to recovery. We are extending our support to our Pakistani colleagues for whom this is undoubtedly a traumatic experience. "The sole objective of the investigation of an accident or incident shall be the prevention of accidents and incidents. It is not the purpose of this activity to apportion blame or liability." The air transport industry is a complex system made up of people, procedures, and technology that interact to create the safest way to travel. The few accidents that occur are always a consequence of multiple factors, which combine in unprecedented ways to push a safe system over the edge towards a breakdown. In order to learn from accidents and prevent recurrence, international ogranisations the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations (IFALPA) and the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations (IFATCA) would like to emphasise that the technical safety investigation by the accident investigation authority must be conducted according to the international standards on accident investigation. As stated clearly in Annex 13 to the Chicago Convention: "The sole objective of the investigation of an accident or incident shall be the prevention of accidents and incidents. It is not the purpose of this activity to apportion blame or liability." Such investigation should not be impeded or influenced by administrative, disciplinary, or judicial proceedings that would apportion blame or criminal liability. Whilst the investigation is ongoing, there should be no disclosure of the accident evidence other than the basic factual information usually included in a Preliminary Report. None of the actual recordings should be made available for purposes other than the technical safety investigation. There should also not be premature conclusions, which are often based on incomplete, inaccurate and/or speculative information and which focus on one aspect of what happened. Premature conclusions hamper the ability to learn from these tragic events and could be unfair to one or more of the parties concerned. We urge the media, the public, and the concerned stakeholders to respect the long-established processes and procedures for analysing these events and let the accident investigation authorities perform their investigations professionally and objectively. IFALPA and IFATCA will monitor the investigation closely to ensure that it is conducted in accordance with the principles described above. We will support all efforts to prevent the recurrence of accidents. Note to Editors: IFALPA - The International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations represents more than 100,000 pilots in nearly 100 countries around the globe. The mission of IFALPA is to promote the highest level of aviation safety worldwide and to be the global advocate of the piloting profession; providing representation, services and support to both our members and the aviation industry. IFATCA - The International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations is the worldwide organization representing more than fifty thousand air traffic controllers in 134 countries. Amongst its goals are the promotion of safety, efficiency and regularity in international air navigation and the protection and safeguarding of the interests of the air traffic control profession. www.ifatca.org https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200625005466/en/International-Aviation-Organizations-IFALPA-IFATCA-Pakistan-International Back to Top Qatar- Health and safety measures by Gulf airlines critical to persuade wary air passengers: Report As air travel in the Gulf region begins to gather momentum in the coming months, airlines and airports will need to embrace appropriate safety standards and employ marketing strategies to highlight their health and safety priorities, noted a report released yesterday by a global research and consultancy firm. Oxford Business Group (OBG) in a new series on COVID-19 Economic Impact Assessment, said that higher level of health and safety measures will position the region's players to compete for a more limited number of international passengers for some time, and ensure they are ready to welcome a wider range of travellers as the skies continue to reopen. 'As countries within the Gulf begin a gradual easing of COVID-19-related movement restrictions, the revival of the region's aviation sector has come into focus. Effective recovery strategies will rely on reassuring passengers that sufficient health and the safety measures are in place, said OBG in a statement. Citing the recently released statistics by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents some 290 airlines comprising 82 percent of global air traffic, OBG said that air traffic in the Middle East and North Africa is expected to decrease by 51 percent a drop from the February estimate of 39 percent this year compared to 2019. Meanwhile, an April PwC report estimated that GCC airlines stood to lose $10bn in revenues if the crisis lasted one fiscal quarter or $23bn if it lasts for two. As a result many airlines are looking to cut costs. It also said that a leading Gulf airline recently has stated that it will not add to its fleet this year or next, delaying previous orders with Boeing and Airbus in light of lowered demand following the pandemic. This highlights the challenge ahead for the aviation industry, as activity begins to restart. Air travel is gradually beginning to re-emerge as lockdowns begin to ease and efforts to reopen economies gather pace. All the major Gulf airlines have started to operate regional flight routes as travel restrictions are slowly lifted. Reiterating the significance of safety measures in facilitating air travel, the report noted that as planes take to the skies again, passenger safety and monitoring will become a primary focus for airlines. Strict temperature monitoring and social distancing protocols will be implemented across the Gulf region. 'While price and convenience are likely to drive demand for direct flights on the side of passengers, visibly implementing government and health guidelines will also be key to persuading travellers that it is safe to resume air travel, OBG said. Since individual countries will have their own requirements for testing prior to entry, airlines are establishing protocols to ensure passenger hygiene. Occupancy levels are being reduced to 50 percent to maintain social distancing, and distancing will also be enforced for passengers queuing in airports. Some airport restrooms have also been equipped with a density monitoring system to notify those waiting when it is safe to enter. Several airports now require masks to be worn at all times, with vending machines stocked with disposable masks available at hub airports across the Gulf region. Hygiene teams are being employed to enforce the proper wearing of masks and adherence to social distancing. Airports will also include thermal screening chambers and sanitising mats. New measures introduced by airlines to reassure travellers include the provision of complimentary hygiene kits for all passengers and staggered boarding. https://menafn.com/1100387931/Qatar-Health-and-safety-measures-by-Gulf-airlines-critical-to-persuade-wary-air-passengers-Report Back to Top Qantas Grounding 100 Aircraft, Retiring 747s • Qantas is retiring its six remaining Boeing 747 widebodies early as part of a three-year plan to cut costs by just over $10 billion. Qantas has unveiled a three-year recovery plan through which it aims to cut costs by A$15 billion ($10.4 billion) by a mix of measures including 6,000 job cuts and the grounding of around 100 aircraft for at least 12 months. In a June 25 statement, the company also said it will seek to raise around $1.3 billion through a new equity issue. The airline is immediately retiring its six remaining Boeing 747s, six months ahead of schedule. Most of the 100 grounded aircraft will be part of Qantas's international fleet and some of these may be returned to lessors. Planned deliveries of new Airbus A321neos and Boeing 787-9s have been deferred. "We have to position ourselves for several years where revenue will be much lower. And that means becoming a smaller airline in the short term," said Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce. The airline, which has 29,000 employees people, will have 8,000 back at work by the end of July and 15,000 by the end of this year. By June 2022, that number should reach 21,000 as international flying resumes. The temporary surplus of 15,000 people will be "managed through a mix of stand-down, annual leave, and leave without pay," Quantas said. "What makes this even harder is that right before this crisis hit, we were actively recruiting pilots, cabin crew, and ground staff," Joyce said. "We're now facing a sudden reversal of fortune that is no one's fault but is very hard to accept. This crisis has left us no choice but we're committed to providing those affected with as much support as we can. That includes preserving as many jobs as possible through stand-downs, offering voluntary rather than compulsory redundancies where possible, and providing large severance payouts for long-serving employees in particular. As we've done throughout this crisis, our decisions are based on the facts we have now and the road we see in front of us. Our plan gives us flexibility under a range of scenarios, including a faster rebound or a slower recovery." https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2020-06-25/qantas-grounding-100-aircraft-retiring-747s Back to Top FAA Issues Final Directive on Boeing 737 MAX Airplane Inspections The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday finalized a directive requiring airlines to complete inspections of a key component of Boeing 737 MAX airplanes that, if faulty, could result in a loss of power to the engines. The FAA, in response to a service bulletin issued by Boeing in December, proposed an airworthiness directive in February to mandate inspections. The directive addressed concerns that some 737 MAX exterior panels on top of the engine may not have electrical bonding necessary to ensure adequate shielding of underlying wiring from the electromagnetic effects of high-power radio frequency transmitters and other sources. That, the FAA warned, "could potentially lead to a dual-engine power loss event and/or display of hazardously misleading" data. The agency added that the issue could result in a "forced off-airport landing." The 737 MAX, Boeing's best-selling plane, has been grounded since March 2019, after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed 346 people. Boeing said it supports "the FAA's airworthiness directive, which makes our recommended action mandatory" to address the possible impact of electrical energy on the plane. The FAA said in February the directive would also address the potential safety risks of lightning strikes, but Boeing told the agency that was not accurate. The FAA agreed in its final directive to remove the reference to lightning, saying it had conducted further analysis since February. Boeing said in December the issue affected airplanes built between February 2018 and June 2019, and as a result "the protective foil inside the composite panels may have gaps." After the inspections, airlines will replace any excessively reworked panels and modify an assembly to ensure adequate electrical bonding. Reuters reported on June 10 that Boeing is aiming to conduct a key flight certification test in late June. That test could take place as early as next week or could be set for early July, a person briefed on the matter said. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2020/06/25/573474.htm Back to Top Reno airport to require masks for all passengers and visitors starting on Friday, June 26 Anyone who enters the Reno-Tahoe International Airport will be required to wear a mask starting on midnight June 26. The airport's mandatory mask rule was confirmed by airport spokesman Brian Kulpin when reached by the Reno Gazette Journal on Thursday. The requirement is in compliance with a new directive issued by Gov. Steve Sisolak. The directive requires residents and tourists to wear masks while out in public or when visiting private businesses and other facilities as a way to reduce exposures to COVID-19. "Starting at midnight tonight, masks will be required for people entering the airport," Kulpin said. "If anybody is coming into the airport - all passengers, people coming to greet arrivals - if you enter the terminal, you need to have a mask on." The airport started handing out masks to passengers and visitors last week as part of a voluntary effort. Prior to the governor's announcement, the airport was handing out about 60 masks to 70 masks per day, Kulpin said. While people could refuse the masks before, that will no longer be an option starting on Friday. The airport, which received 270,000 masks from FEMA, will continue to hand out masks in case people forget to take one with them, Kulpin said. Reminders will also be posted at Reno-Tahoe International Airport to let people know about Nevada's new mandatory mask rule. In addition to giving people masks, the airport will also remind arriving passengers not to take their masks off after leaving the plane. "You might have people flying in from, say, Salt Lake City tomorrow and the first thing they do is take off their mask as they get off the jet bridge," Kulpin said. "We will have signs on the concourses reminding people that in the state of Nevada, you have to wear a mask." Asked about people who might get upset about being required to wear a mask, Kulpin responded that the new requirements are necessary to promote safety, especially as air travel starts to pick up from the lows of the COVID-19 crisis. "It's all about keeping people safe ... and making sure you don't pass on anything that you might not even know you have," Kulpin said. "We want to make sure that you travel safely." https://www.rgj.com/story/news/money/business/2020/06/25/reno-tahoe-international-airport-require-masks-passengers-public-starting-june-26/3260413001/ Back to Top NTSB Reports Don't Always Tell the Entire Story • Falcon 50 accident appears to have been an illegal charter flight. • The Falcon 50 broke into two parts after leaving the runway The National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause of the accident to be "The operator's decision to allow a flight in an airplane with known, unresolved maintenance discrepancies, and the flight crew's failure to properly configure the airplane in a way that would have allowed the emergency or parking brake systems to stop the airplane during landing." While NTSB reports look directly at the technical aspects of accidents, there are often compelling stories hiding just beneath the surface. In this particular accident, a Dassault Falcon 50 on an IFR flight plan-N114TD-landing on Runway 19 at Greenville Downtown Airport (GMU) in September 2018 was unable to stop on the 5,393-foot runway once it touched down. The aircraft broke in half as it rolled down an embankment and on to a service road off the end of the runway. The crash claimed the lives of the two pilots and seriously injured the two passengers in the cabin. Though there was no fire, the aircraft was destroyed. The aircraft was operated as an on-demand Part 135 flight by Air America Flight Services Inc. The NTSB investigation discovered that the accident aircraft had been in storage for four years and was in the process of being returned to a serviceable condition at the time of the accident. One of the major maintenance discrepancies focused on the Falcon's landing gear that was last overhauled in 2002. The overhaul interval for the gear was 12 years which meant that additional work should have been performed by 2014, or essentially before the aircraft flew again after storage. That gear work was never performed. This also meant that "the electrical harness for the landing gear position sensors and antiskid transducers was [last] removed and replaced," in 2002. According to the NTSB report, "A pilot, who had flown the airplane on four previous flights along with the accident pilot, identified during those flights that the airplane's normal braking system was not operating when the airplane was traveling faster than 20 knots. He remedied the situation by configuring the airplane to use the emergency, rather than normal, braking system. That pilot reported this discrepancy to the operator's director of maintenance, and it is likely that maintenance personnel from the company subsequently added an 'INOP' placard near the switch on the date of the accident. The label on the placard referenced the antiskid system, and the airplane's flight manual described that with the normal brake (or antiskid) system inoperative, the brake selector switch must be positioned to use the emergency braking system. Following the accident, the switch was found positioned with the normal braking system activated, and it is likely that the accident flight crew attempted to utilize the malfunctioning normal braking system during the landing. Additionally, the flight crew failed to properly recognize the failure and configure the airplane to utilize the emergency braking system, or utilize the parking brake, as described in the airplane's flight manual, in order to stop the airplane within the available runway." The NTSB said, "None of the available maintenance records indicated the brake system issue or showed maintenance actions that were performed to resolve the issue." A few facts that could be easily overlooked in the report were the qualifications of the two pilots. A Falcon 50 requires two appropriately rated pilots in order to be operated legally, under Part 91, let alone under Part 135. The captain would have been required to possess a type rating for the Falcon 50. The SIC would have needed at least a commercial pilot certificate with an instrument rating as well as the training required to meet currency in the aircraft. The NTSB said, "The pilot-in-command held an airline transport pilot certificate and a type rating for the Dassault Falcon 50, but with a limitation for second-in-command privileges only." The copilot, who was the flying pilot, held only a private pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single and multiengine land. He held no ratings for the Falcon 50, nor did he possess an instrument rating. The crew's lack of proper qualifications should have made this flight illegal to operate under Part 135, as would the maintenance status of the aircraft. NBAA, NATA, and ACSF are some of the industry groups focused on eliminating illegal charter operations. https://www.flyingmag.com/story/news/ntsb-reports-the-entire-story/ Back to Top Virgin Atlantic Struggles to Crew July Flights Following Redundancies Virgin Atlantic has written to its pilots asking for volunteers to operate flights in July, admitting it didn't have enough crew to cover all flights, following the announcement from the airline regarding the resumption of flights next month. An internal email seen by AirlineGeeks was sent out by the Crewing Duty Manager, saying, "We have a number of trips in open time for July that we could not cover at the rostering stage. Therefore we are asking if any of you have annual leave and you are willing to operate over your leave, please can you let us know?" Like many other airlines across Europe, Virgin is currently going through a process of job reductions, initially planned at around 3,150 across all departments. This included around 300 pilots, down from the initial number of 426 after a number of voluntary redundancies. Such communication will bring disappointment to those who have been made redundant over the past few weeks as part of Virgin's restructuring plans. This included the removal of all seven Boeing 747s from the fleet, which are currently being flown to Spain for storage and subsequent scrapping. The airline has touted its continued flights of personal protective equipment (PPE) on behalf of the U.K.'s Department of Health and National Health Service as one way for it to not only bring in supplementary revenue but also keep crew and aircraft flying. In a statement, the airline said it continues to operate these flights as necessary with the correct number of crew onboard. "Due to the impact of the COVID-19, pandemic passenger flying has been paused, but our cargo operation has continued keeping vital global supply chains open," an airline spokesperson said in a statement. "We have successfully partnered with the Department of Health and NHS on daily PPE charter flights from Shanghai and Beijing, bringing over 1,000 tonnes off essential medical equipment into the U.K. Thanks to the [Civil Aviation Authority, British aviation's main regulatory body], we received special dispensation to operate these NHS charters with two sets of crew on each flight to ensure they are able to rest in line with safety guidelines." The airline also stressed the dynamic nature of its current situation and said it believed it would be successful in properly staffing each of its flights. "We have ample crew to cover our flights, but our current flying programme is dynamic and requires flexibility in our crewing, and we're grateful to our pilots and cabin crew for fully supporting our operations. We remain confident in the steps we have taken to ensure we can safely continue to crew our flights," the spokesperson said. Virgin has also pulled out of London Gatwick airport and will operate mainly out of Heathrow and Manchester. With the 747 gone, as well as, the Airbus A340-600, Virgin will now operate twin-engine aircraft in the future, including the newly introduced A350-100, which Virgin has taken four out the seven A350s on order, joining 17 787-9s and 14 A330 aircraft in the fleet. The airline announced earlier this week the resumption of 17 destinations across this summer to destinations across the U.S., Hong Kong and Shanghai. Flights to San Fransico will resume on Aug. 4, Tel Aviv on Aug. 9, Miami on Aug. 18, Lagos on Aug. 23 and Atlanta on Aug. 25. Further routes to Washington, Seattle, Las Vegas, Mumbai, Delhi and Johannesburg will restart in September, with many of its Caribbean destinations beginning in October. The financial future of Virgin Atlantic is yet to be confirmed, with the U.K. government telling the company to go and find a private investment solution and exhaust all possible avenues before asking the taxpayer for bailout money. Richard Branson, founder and stakeholder in the airline, has already seen Virgin Australia fall into administration. Branson has offered his private Caribbean island, Necker Island, up for collateral against any financial investment to save Virgin Atlantic. https://airlinegeeks.com/2020/06/25/virgin-atlantic-struggles-to-crew-july-flights-following-redundancies/ Back to Top European Union signs aviation agreement with the Republic of Korea Today, the European Union and the Republic of Korea have signed a Horizontal Aviation Agreement. This Agreement allows any EU airline to fly to the Republic of Korea from each EU Member State, which has a bilateral air services agreement with the Republic of Korea. Twenty-two Member States have such bilateral air services agreements with the Republic of Korea. Traditionally, in these bilateral air services agreements, only airlines owned and controlled by a given Member State or its nationals may fly between that Member State and a third country. The conclusion of the Horizontal Agreement offers important opportunities to other EU airlines, and is therefore beneficial to airlines on both sides. Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean said: "At a time when international air transport - severely hit by the COVID-19 crisis - is slowly picking up, the signature of such a Horizontal Agreement provides hope for the future with more opportunities to develop long-haul services towards the Korean market. It further shows that international cooperation is an essential driver to the recovery of the aviation market." Importantly, the signature takes place just a few days before the video-conference between the leaders of the EU and the Republic of Korea on 30 June, which provides an excellent occasion to recognise the importance of this agreement at the highest level. The leaders are also expected to reiterate their joint commitment to working towards establishing a High-Level Transport Dialogue between the EU and the Republic of Korea across all modes of transport. Background The horizontal agreement between the EU and the Republic of Korea marks another key deliverable under the Commission's Aviation Strategy for Europe - designed to generate growth for European businesses, foster innovation and let passengers profit from safer, cleaner and more affordable flights. Next steps Both the European Union and the Republic of Korea will now proceed with their respective internal procedures to put the conclusion of the agreement in place. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_1151 Back to Top German and Dutch governments put up billions to save airlines The governments of Germany, the Netherlands and France have offered financial bailout packages worth billions of euros to save their flag-carrier airlines from going bust, after the coronavirus pandemic brought the aviation industry to its knees. The Dutch government has agreed to contribute €3.4bn (£3.07bn, $3.8bn) to a bailout of the Air France-KLM (AF.PA) airline alliance. The KLM rescue package will be a mixture of loans and guarantees, according to Reuters, and the Dutch government will appoint a trustee to the board. France got EU approval in May to offer a €7bn bailout to Air France, so in total the partner airlines are set to get €10.4bn in state support. In Germany, shareholders in Lufthansa (LHA.DE) approved the government bailout offer of €9bn on Thursday (25 June), after weeks of deliberation and debate while the airline rapidly ran out of money. The Lufthansa bailout is structured as €5.7bn of silent capital contribution and €3bn as a loan from state-owned development bank KfW. Berlin will also take a 20% stake in the airline, worth €300m, and get two supervisory board seats. The government buying a stake at that price was an issue for Lufthansa's biggest shareholder Heinz Hermann Thiele, who could have torpedoed the deal, but backed it at the last minute. Ryanair (RYAAY) chief executive Michael O'Leary said in May that he intends to appeal to the European Commission over the Lufthansa bailout, which he slammed as "illegal state aid, which will massively distort competition." In order to approve the Lufthansa rescue deal, the European competition regulator ordered the airline to give up some valuable landing slots at Frankfurt and Munich airports. It has also placed caps on executive salaries and been asked to waive dividends. In the UK, British Airways owner IAG in May said it had requested £300m ($372m) from the government-backed Coronavirus Corporate Finance Facility. The bailouts and loans will likely still fail to prevent massive job cuts across all airlines, including British Airways, Ryanair, Lufthansa, EasyJet, and Qantas. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/german-and-dutch-governments-put-up-billions-to-save-airlines-092234870.html Back to Top Major U.S. airline CEOs to hold White House meeting Friday WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - The CEOs of major U.S. airlines are set to hold a meeting Friday to discuss several coronavirus-related travel issues, including a push to convince the federal government to mandate temperature checks for passengers, three people briefed on the matter said. The meeting with Vice President Mike Pence and other senior U.S. officials is expected to include the chief executive officers of American Airlines , Delta Air Lines , Southwest Airlines , United Airlines and JetBlue Airways Corp , the sources said. The White House confirmed Pence would meet with airline executives Friday afternoon, but did not identify the companies. The discussions will also include potential extended European Union travel restrictions on U.S. travelers, contract tracing of passengers and the impact of COVID-19 on travel demand, among other issues, the sources said. The airlines declined to comment on the meeting. U.S. airlines are pushing the Trump administration to require temperature checks for passengers in a bid to reassure customers about the safety of travel in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Airlines for America, which represents the largest U.S. airlines, said on Thursday its members voluntarily pledged to refund tickets for passengers with high temperatures during federal screenings. Reuters reported May 9 the U.S. government has been studying imposing temperature checks at airports, but two U.S. officials said on Thursday no decision has been made - and the government still has not decided what agency would conduct tests. Many believe the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) would conduct tests, but questions remain including whether passengers with high fevers would be reported to public health authorities. "Nobody wants to be the person that tells a flying, paying customer they can't fly that day," United Executive Chairman Oscar Munoz said during a video conference Thursday. U.S. officials said temperature checks would not eliminate coronavirus risks but could deter unwell people from traveling. Earlier this month, Reuters reported the White House wants a plan in place by Sept. 1 for airlines to collect contact tracing information from U.S.-bound international passengers after convening a high-level White House meeting. The White House tasked a interagency working group with adopting an interim solution by June 30 and ahead of any potential coronavirus second wave. In February, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued an interim final rule to require airlines to collect five contact data elements from international passengers and electronically submit them to Customs and Border Protection to facilitate contact tracing. In the face of airline opposition the CDC plan has not taken effect. Airlines for America said earlier this month airlines "strongly support a contract tracing solution that will provide the most secure data to the U.S. government in a timely and efficient manner." https://www.yahoo.com/news/major-u-airline-ceos-hold-235008579.html Back to Top Virgin Galactic flies second SpaceShipTwo test at New Mexico spaceport, clearing the way for powered spaceflight Virgin Galactic has passed a key milestone in its SpaceShipTwo qualification program. The company performed a glide flight, which means that it was flying its VSS Unity spacecraft unpowered in glide configuration, after its release from its carrier aircraft, a modified Boeing 747 called VMS Eve. This flight was the second such test flight that Virgin has flown with Unity from its Spaceport America launch facility in New Mexico, but it was done at higher altitudes and at higher speeds than the earlier flight. This sets up Virgin to now move on to powered spaceflight from Spaceport America - its first at the facility, though Unity itself has flown previously in a test capacity, reaching a height of 55.9 miles above Earth at supersonic speeds in 2019 for its most impressive demonstration. Virgin Galactic returned to powered spaceflight testing at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California in 2018 - four years after it had a fatal crash during testing of Unity's predecessor, VSS Enterprise. Virgin's copilot for that flight, Michael Alsbury, was tragically killed in that incident, and pilot Peter Siebold suffered serious injuries. Unity has had no such issues, and today's unpowered glide flight seems to have gone perfectly to plan, providing Virgin with key data about flight conditions and aircraft/spacecraft behavior from the New Mexico launch site, which will ultimately also serve Virgin Galactic's paying customers as the departure and return location for their tourist trips to the edge of space. The next major step for the company as it moves toward actually getting those ticket-holders on their space tours is performing powered test flights from Spaceport America. As mentioned, Unity has done powered test flights previously, including with Virgin's Chief Astronaut Trainer Beth Moses on board, but there are still a number of intermediary steps that need to take place to get there, including reviewing the data collected during today's flight, and making any small changes to the launch and flight system that may be required to ensure the success of a powered spaceflight. Virgin had been looking to begin commercial flights as early as the middle of this year, but given that it still has some significant testing to complete, the timeline looks more like end of year as a best-case scenario for any actual tourist launches. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/virgin-galactic-flies-second-spaceshiptwo-204647074.html Back to Top Back to Top Back to Top Back to Top TO ALL PROFESSIONAL PILOTS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS, members of their Management, Regulators and related organizations (airplane, helicopter, civil or military) WE REQUEST YOUR SUPPORT FOR A JOINT AVIATION SAFETY SURVEY (JASS) ON: "AERONAUTICAL DECISION-MAKING, INCL. MONITORING & INTERVENTION IN PRACTICE" Dear aviation colleague, you are invited to participate in a research project conducted by the department of Psychology at City, University of London, which aims to elicit your views and thoughts on Aeronautical Decision-Making, including Monitoring and Intervention in normal operation,by which we mean routine line flights without any incidents or technical malfunctions. The questions deal with teamwork and decision-making issues in various Pilot-roles, e.g. the role of the Pilot Monitoring (PM), Pilot Flying (PF), Pilot in Command (PIC) and Co-Pilot, and respectively in the Air Traffic Controller (ATCO)-roles of the coordinating and radioing/radar ATCO as well as pilot's and controller's training and occupational picture. This survey is completely anonymous - no identifying information will be requested or collected - and all responses will be treated as strictly confidential. The survey is approved by City's research and ethics committee (Approval Code: ETH 1920-1414). The introductory section of the survey will provide you with further information and the informed consent. Please click here to access the survey or copy the survey-link below into your browser. https://cityunilondon.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6n7cxeunMyfy0fz By completing the questionnaire, you can - in addition to supporting aviation safety research - even do more good as we will donate a minimum of €2 for the first 1000 fully completed responses to the UNICEF COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund which helps to care for vulnerable children and communities all over the world. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via email: aviationsafety@city.ac.uk or tom.becker.1@city.ac.uk or via phone: +49 172 7178780. We thank you very much in advance. Your support is truly appreciated. Best regards, Capt. Tom Becker Prof. Peter Ayton Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Dear Participants, You are being asked to participate in a research study of your opinions and attitudes about stress and mental health. This research started almost two years ago. The purpose of this study is to examine mental health issues in aviation, specifically Part 121 airline pilots. During this study, you will be asked to complete a brief online survey about your opinions on various life circumstances, stress, and mental health topics. This study is expected to take approximately 15 minutes of your time. In order to participate, you must possess an FAA issued Airline Transport Certificate (ATP) and you must also be currently working as a pilot for a Part 121 air carrier that is headquartered within the United States. Participation in this study is voluntary and data will be collected anonymously, stored confidentially, and you may choose to opt out of the study at any time. We sincerely appreciate your consideration and time to complete our study, as it is another small but important step towards increasing safety in aviation. Please click on the link below to complete the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7ZG6M6L For more information, please contact: Tanya Gatlin - Student Researcher Gatlint1@my.erau.edu 281-924-1336 Dr. Scott Winter - Faculty Advisor winte25e@erau.edu 386-226-6491 Curt Lewis