Flight Safety Information - December 17, 2020 No. 25425 In This Issue : Accident: Canada A321 at Calgary on Dec 7th 2020, turbulence injures 3 flight attendants : Incident: Canada B788 near Mexico City on Dec 7th 2020, slat indication enroute : Incident: Nordstar B738 at St. Petersburg on Dec 16th 2020, too high on approach, malfunction of navigation equipment : Embraer EMB-500 Phenom 100 - Runway Excursion (Florida) : WHY CAPTAIN CHESLEY SULLENBERGER SHOULD REPLACE FAA ADMINISTRATOR STEVE DICKSON : Aviation Lawyer Added to 737 Max Cast of Villains : Boeing hires pilots for airlines to help relaunch 737 MAX - sources : Canada will validate Boeing 737 MAX design changes on Thursday : Russian airline designates plane seats for passengers who refuse to wear masks : The Impacts of Insurance on Ground Service : Mitsubishi Aircraft to halt U.S. test site operations : South African Airways pilots given 48-hour 'lockout' notice, administrators say : NASA's Lunar Gateway will feature Canadian Space Agency robotics : HUMAN FACTORS ANALYSIS AND CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM - Online Course : 2021 Aircraft Cabin Air Conference Accident: Canada A321 at Calgary on Dec 7th 2020, turbulence injures 3 flight attendants An Air Canada Airbus A321-200, registration C-FJNX performing flight AC-214 from Vancouver,BC to Calgary,AB (Canada) with 105 people on board, was descending towards Calgary when the aircraft encountered turbulence. All passengers were already secure, however, the flight attendants were still moving around the cabin, three flight attendants fell as result of the turbulence, received minor injuries and were able to return to their jump seats for the landing. The flight continued for a safe landing. The Canadian TSB reported the crew did not contact emergency or medical services. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ACA214/history/20201207/2115Z/CYVR/CYYC http://avherald.com/h?article=4e096f9e&opt=0 Incident: Canada B788 near Mexico City on Dec 7th 2020, slat indication enroute An Air Canada Boeing 787-8, registration C-GHQQ performing flight AC-992 from Mexico City (Mexico) to Toronto,ON (Canada) with 76 passengers and 9 crew, was enroute at initial flightlevel 330 out of Mexico when the crew received an EICAS "Slats Drive" Message. The crew worked the related checklist, consulted with dispatch and maintenance and decided to continue the flight to Toronto. On approach to Toronto the crew declared PAN PAN and performed a safe landing on runway 33R at a normal speed and taxied to the apron. The Canadian TSB reported maintenance replaced the slat #6 inboard skew sensor. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ACA992/history/20201207/2015Z/MMMX/CYYZ http://avherald.com/h?article=4e096e52&opt=0 Incident: Nordstar B738 at St. Petersburg on Dec 16th 2020, too high on approach, malfunction of navigation equipment A Nordstar Boeing 737-800, registration VQ-BDO performing flight Y7-1061 from Moscow Domodedovo to St. Petersburg (Russia) with 69 passengers, was on final approach to St. Petersburg's runway 28R descending through about 2100 feet about 2.35nm before the runway threshold when the crew initiated a go around. The aircraft climbed to 1100 meters/3600 feet, positioned for another approach to runway 28R, descended through 2100 feet about 7.2nm before the runway threshold and continued for a safe landing on runway 28R about 25 minutes after the go around. Pulkovo Airport reported the crew reported a technical malfunction of the navigation equipment. At about 2100 feet above the aerodrome level at 2.35nm out, the aircraft would have needed to descend on an about 8 degrees glidepath (asin(600 meters/4352 meters)). The correct height would have been 227 meters/744 feet. The second approach maintained an about 3 degrees degrees glideslope. Further analysis of the ADS-B data transmitted by the aircraft show, on the first approach the aircraft intercepted the localizer about 7.5nm out at 2300 feet (hence this was not an intercept from above the glideslope). http://avherald.com/h?article=4e0964f8&opt=0 Embraer EMB-500 Phenom 100 - Runway Excursion (Florida) Date: 16-DEC-2020 Time: c. 14:50 Type: Embraer EMB-500 Phenom 100 Owner/operator: Executive Aviation Investors Inc Registration: N661EP C/n / msn: 50000123 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2 Other fatalities: 0 Aircraft damage: Substantial Location: Jacksonville Executive Airport at Craig (CRG/KCRG), Jacksonville, FL - United States of America Phase: Landing Nature: Private Departure airport: Miami, FL Destination airport: Jacksonville-Craig Municipal Airport, FL (CRG/KCRG) Narrative: The aircraft experienced a loss of directional control and subsequent runway excursion upon landing to Runway 32 at Jacksonville Executive Airport at Craig (CRG/KCRG), Jacksonville, Florida. The airplane sustained unreported but apparent substantial damage subsequent to a collapsed right main landing gear and the two pilots onboard were not injured during the incident. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=245774 WHY CAPTAIN CHESLEY SULLENBERGER SHOULD REPLACE FAA ADMINISTRATOR STEVE DICKSON FSI OPINION By Roger Rapoport and Captain Shem Malmquist Dear Pete Buttigieg: Congratulations on your nomination to replace Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s wife Elaine Chao as Secretary of Transportation. We suggest the first order of business for you and President-elect Biden should be to ask FAA Administrator Steve Dickson to submit his resignation. Confirmed for a five-year appointment last year in an unusually contentious Senate debate focused on ethical and legal questions, he has been widely criticized for his handling of the 737 MAX and Covid-19 challenges. Your decision is critical to both the health and safety of the traveling public. His vital agency is at a critical juncture and will benefit from new leadership. On the day of your nomination total air travelers checking in for flights in the United States was 552,024, about a quarter of the same number last year. Two problems stand out. First the airlines and the industries that depend on them are in dire financial straits because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Big layoffs triggered by billions in losses continue. At the same time more than 1,000 of 1,600 people responding to a June National Public Radio questionnaire said they wouldn’t fly on the 737 MAX, which Chao and Dickson ungrounded last month. As a frequent flyer perhaps you share their concern. Under the White House leadership of collapsed Trump Shuttle’s former CEO, the proud American aviation industry has been badly tarnished. The FAA’s response to the Boeing 737 crisis and Covid-19 has been a disappointment. At the same time the Centers for Disease Control asks Americans to stay home to curb the pandemic, Chao and Dickson refused to take the critical steps necessary to protect passengers and airline workers. Instead they both tacitly encourage passengers to continue flying discretionary trips during the holidays, despite the risk of spreading Covid-19 on their journeys. The FAA’s lame duck decision allows our airlines to resume commercial MAX service with a Miami-LaGuardia American roundtrip December 29. We question this decision to put the troubled plane back in the air so quickly. A key concern is the fact that Dickson, the FAA and Boeing are refusing to reply to questions that should have been answered long before the MAX was ungrounded. Questions we have posed focus on lessons learned from the MAX and other aviation disasters worldwide, such as failed probability estimates, common cause anomalies, radio frequency interference, radome damage (the shell protecting the radar antenna), the parameters of horizontal stabilizer testing, unusual events where the stabilizer is dangerously stuck and emergency procedures. Any of these issues could potentially be cause for concern with the recertified MAX. Another major reason why Dickson should resign early in his term is his failed attempt to cover up employee harassment while a senior executive at Delta. Here are the details: After Barack Obama’s FAA Administrator Michael Huerta resigned in 2018, President Trump lobbied hard for appointment of his personal pilot, John Dunkin. During this year and a half White House struggle with Congress, Daniel Elwell served as acting administrator. The FAA and the DOT rushed through certification of he Boeing 737 MAX in March 2017, a move that helped this aircraft become the fastest selling passenger jet in aviation history. The public and Congress didn’t know that the aircraft was dogged by many major concerns quietly voiced by test pilots, engineers and other experts as it began taking to the skies. Concerned pilots made an unsuccessful case for simulator training. Boeing believed this necessary training would lead to delays and lost sales to competitor Airbus. The company promised Southwest a $280 million rebate ($1 million per plane) if the FAA unexpectedly mandated simulator training the manufacturer argued was unnecessary. On October 29, 2018, a MAX flown by the plane’s lead operator, Lion Air, crashed in Indonesia taking the lives of 189 people. The FAA, under Secretary Chao and Acting Administrator Elwell’s leadership, subsequently rejected requests from pilot groups to initiate MAX simulator training. On March 10, 2019, an Ethiopian Air MAX took off from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport and began climbing to cruise altitude. No one on board realized that shortly before Christmas FAA analysts reviewing the preliminary accident analysis of the first MAX crash predicted “as many as 15 future fatal crashes.” The day after that plane crashed, robbing the world of 157 people, including Ralph Nader’s grandniece Samya Stumo, 737 MAX aircraft began disappearing from the skies worldwide. The last country to ground the plane was the United States Fast forward to the summer of 2019 when President Trump finally caved on his personal choice for FAA Administrator. He nominated Delta executive Steve Dickson who had represented the airline in regulatory matters with the FAA. Reviewing the Trump/Chao nominee, Senate Commerce Science and Transportation Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) discovered a key conflict of interest missed in the vetting process at the White House and the Department of Transportation. During the previous three years Delta Senior Vice President Dickson had been at the center of an ongoing whistleblower case filed by a veteran Delta Pilot Karlene Petitt. One of her documented allegations had already prompted the FAA to revise a key safety requirement for the entire industry. Others were at the center of her whistleblower lawsuit on appeal at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). At the confirmation hearing Cantwell said: “Information brought to our committee in recent weeks calls into question the safety culture that existed under Mr. Dickson that allowed a safety whistleblower to be retaliated against. The nominee’s lack of candor about the issue was also troubling. “I recently met with a Delta Air Lines pilot, First Officer Karlene Petitt, who has been flying for 40 years. Petitt told me she had repeatedly raised concerns about the safety culture at Delta to a number of executives, including Mr. Dickson. Instead of being celebrated for her potentially life-saving diligence, Petitt was sent for a compulsory mental health examination with a company-approved psychiatrist who incorrectly diagnosed her with bipolar disorder. This... cost her 18 months of flying. “ Mr. Dickson described the decision to refer First Officer Petitt for a compulsory mental health examination as ‘sound.’ In the course of following up on First Officer Petitt’s allegations, Mr. Dickson has... repeatedly sought to minimize his role in this extremely troubling episode. However, the written record... contradicts the picture Mr. Dickson has sought to paint of minimal involvement. “Given the urgent need for stronger safety culture and transparency throughout the FAA, these incidents do not paint the picture of the type of leadership that we need. Mr. Dickson’s oversight of these matters raises serious questions about his leadership, and therefore I will not support his nomination. Petitt’s concerns about “inadequate pilot training and not enough pilot rest were things that you thought would have maybe gotten her recognized,” said Cantwell. “Instead she came under scrutiny and faced inappropriate questions from the psychiatrist brought in by Delta. “For example, the doctor cited that just because Officer Petitt had three kids, a job, and helped her husband with his career, she must be manic. The psychiatrist even had the nerve... to ask when the first officer was breast-pumping milk for her children (three decades earlier).” “According to a hearing transcript, the psychiatrist said: ‘I asked her—and she was very upset about this—I asked: ‘Did you express the milk,’ because that’s going to take more time. So, basically, she’s doing all of this—I think that’s well beyond what any woman I’ve ever met could do.’ ” Cantwell rejected Dickson’s claim that he was not a party to Petitt’s review by Delta hired Skokie, Illinois psychiatrist Dr. David Altman: “It’s very clear that Mr. Dickson … was involved with this pilot, did know what was happening and failed to disclose it to this committee. We certainly can’t have organizations threaten pilots with this kind of retaliation.” After reviewing Petitt’s case another medical expert at the Mayo Clinic, concluded: “This has been a puzzle for our group—the evidence does not support presence of a psychiatric diagnosis but does support an organizational/corporate effort to remove this pilot from the rolls.” Dickson defended his former employer’s decision to pay $74,000 to Dr. David Altman, the Illinois psychiatrist who concluded in his report that Petitt was “bipolar” and unfit to fly for Delta. “We’ve never had a partisan vote on an FAA nominee in the past, and I believe that we should have found consensus on a nominee for the FAA, given all of the concerns the public has about flying safety,” responded Senator Cantwell. Voting against Dickson, she added, “will help us create an environment where whistleblowers will be listened to.” Her view was seconded by “Miracle on The Hudson” Captain Chesley Sullenberger: “This nominee while a senior executive at Delta Air Lines either caused or allowed a whistleblower with validated safety concerns to be retaliated against. Especially now with the safety of the 737 MAX under review, it is critically important that we have an FAA Administrator who will act with integrity and independence to protect everyone who flies. I strongly oppose his nomination.” The Republican dominated committee advanced Dickson’s nomination to the Senate July 10, 2019, on a straight 14-12 party line vote. He was spared a contentious floor debate later that month thanks to cloture invoked by a Delta Political Action Committee favorite Senator Mitch McConnell. Dickson was confirmed by a party line full Senate vote of 52-40. Seven Democrats campaigning for the Presidency were absent from the roll call. After being reinstated and returning to duty as a Delta pilot, Petitt, licensed to fly nine commercial aircraft, continues working on the appeal of her OSHA whistleblower case. Petitt also filed a complaint with the Illinois State Medical Disciplinary Board against Dr. Altman who labeled her bipolar. In response to these complaints, a confidential consent decree with Dr. Altman was approved by the Disciplinary Board on August 5, 2020. According to the department’s Medical Prosecution Unit the result was a “permanent inactive license” for Dr. Altman. This “formal punitive public action” means that he no longer practices medicine in the state and his lawyer adds that the psychiatrist is considering retirement. We believe restoring confidence in the safety of air travel depends on appointing a new FAA administrator at your earliest convenience. Our nation needs a well-respected expert with international stature, someone like Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has told the truth in the face of science deniers again and again. We can think of no better choice than Chesley Sullenberger, a tireless advocate for aviation safety. In the years since his famous landing on the Hudson, he has courageously spoken out on issues critical to the future of this critical American industry. All who travel by air or earn their living serving the flying public will benefit from his honesty, passion for technical excellence and belief that a well-trained pilot is central to air safety. You and the rest of us would be lucky to have him as the nation’s FAA Administrator. Sincerely, Captain Shem Malmquist Roger Rapoport Shem Malmquist and Roger Rapoport are authors of Angle of Attack, on the Air France 447 and Grounded: How To Solve The Aviation Crisis. Malmquist, visiting professor at Florida Institute of Technology, is an accident investigator, who also captains Boeing jets worldwide. Roger Rapoport is a senior editor at Flight Safety Information and producer of the award-winning feature film Pilot Error. You can reach them at rogerdrapoport@me.com Aviation Lawyer Added to 737 Max Cast of Villains By: Christine Negroni An attorney whose work defending the environment 30-years ago was the subject of the Hollywood movie Erin Brockovich, has been cast as the latest villain in the never-ending-drama of the Boeing 737 Max. Tom Girardi, of Girardi Keese in Los Angeles, has been fined, the assets of his firm frozen and he appears to be the subject of a federal criminal investigation. The once-respected attorney is accused of stealing the money Boeing sent to him to settle several suits in the October 2018 Lion Air crash. In a lawsuit filed in Northern District of Illinois Federal Court, Chicago attorney Jay Edelson compares Girardi to the notorious embezzler Bernie Madoff and accuses Girardi of presiding over a Ponzi scheme that included his wife, television personality Erika Jayne Girardi and a company she controls, son-in-law David Lira, law partner Keith Griffin and several attorney finance companies. “The Girardi firm has been running a Ponzi scheme for at least a decade,” Edelson was quoted as telling the court in the publication Law360. “When money comes in, they use that to pay previous creditors, previous clients, and then they wait until more money comes in. And what happened is, I guess everything just caught up with them. But this is not new behavior. This is consistent. They’ve been doing it for a decade.” Because of Erika Jayne Girardi’s role on the television show, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, “Tom and Erika must project a public image of obscene wealth at all times,” Edelson wrote in the complaint. Client money, including $2-million owed to children orphaned in the crash of Lion Air 610, was diverted to personal and firm accounts and to pay debtors, Edelson claims. Edelson worked with Girardi as local counsel in Chicago in cases filed against Boeing by families of Lion Air victims. After months of unsuccessfully trying to confirm that the awards he negotiated on behalf of four children were distributed to them by Girardi, Edelson filed a lawsuit against Girardi and others earlier this month. In addition, Edelson also asked that Thomas M. Durkin, the judge in the Lion Air cases, find Girardi in contempt for his failure to pay the children which was part of a court order. On Monday, Durkin did just that, fining Girardi $2 million and freezing the assets of his firm. “No matter what your personal financial situation is, no matter what kind of pressures you are under, if you touch client money, you are going to be disbarred and quite possibly charged criminally,” the judge said, then he recommended federal law enforcement begin an investigation, which appears to already be underway. The world of aviation disaster litigation is not for the faint of heart. Lawyers have gone to extremes competing for cases that promise a big payout, hounding victims’ families, playing loose with the truth, and trashing the competition. That was especially true for the two 737 Max crashes because early on it appeared likely that Boeing would be held liable for the accidents which combined killed 346 people. A big company with deep pockets means big payouts. “The Lion Air case was the wild fucking west,” one experienced aviation lawyer told me. Now, with dozens of cases settled, quite a number of plaintiff’s lawyers are back before judges in Illinois and California and in private mediation arguing over the division of fees. Still, nothing about the all-elbows nature of today’s aviation bar prepared Edelson for what he encountered with Girardi. “Tom and his firm had excellent reputations,” Edelson said. “I’ve been practicing for a quarter-century. I’ve seen a lot of bad activity. But what I haven’t seen is reputable law firms stealing money from clients.” During the hearing on Monday, Evan Jenness, the attorney for 81-year old Girardi suggested that her client may not be mentally competent. While she declined to comment further, one has to wonder why any sane person would want to join the cast of bad actors associated with the 737 Max. Christine Negroni Author of The New York Times bestseller, The Crash Detectives, I am also a journalist, public speaker and broadcaster specializing in aviation and travel. https://christinenegroni.com/aviation-lawyer-added-to-737-max-cast-of-villains/ Boeing hires pilots for airlines to help relaunch 737 MAX - sources SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co is hiring up to 160 pilots to be embedded at airlines in its latest bid to ensure its 737 MAX has a smooth comeback after a 20-month safety ban, according to a recruitment document seen by Reuters and people familiar with the move. The new "Global Engagement Pilots" will act as instructors or cockpit observers on 35-day assignments at an equivalent annual salary that could reach $200,000, for a total potential cost of $32 million, one of the people said. The unusual hiring spree is part of a Boeing campaign to protect the re-launch of its redesigned 737 MAX from operational glitches and rebuild trust following crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed a total of 346 people. The strategy also includes 24/7 surveillance of 737 MAX flights globally and talking points for flight attendants to reassure passengers who express concern. "Duties include: consulting activities and assist in customer support, including flying opportunities," according to a summary seen by Reuters of job terms from a contracting firm carrying out the recruitment on behalf of Boeing. Pilots must have 1,000 hours of instructor experience and "no incidents, accidents, losses or violations," and be licensed on the 737 and other Boeing jetliners, it said. "We continue to work closely with global regulators and customers to safely return the 737-8 and 737-9 to service worldwide," a Boeing spokeswoman said. Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) have said the plane is among the world's safest after improvements to cockpit software and pilot training. But a smooth return to service is seen as vital for Boeing, which faces costs of $20 billion over the grounding. Boeing has already drawn up plans for a $1 billion initial investment in pilot recruitment, training, and developing a fight deck for the next generation of pilots. But safety experts said its decision to recruit pilots directly is unusual and signals Boeing's wish to jumpstart the return to service and normalize the MAX as soon as possible. EXTRA PILOTS CCL Aviation, based in Isle of Man, UK, is hiring the pilots on behalf of Boeing, according to the sources and document. The company calls itself the world's largest provider of flight training personnel and instructor pilots. CCL Aviation could not immediately be reached for comment. Extra pilots are just one way Boeing is keeping close tabs on the 737 MAX's rollout. Boeing has also set up a 24/7 war room at its Seal Beach, California facility where staff using massive LCD screens will handle "real-time fleet monitoring" for "rapid issue resolution" if emergencies arise, sources briefed on the plan told Reuters. Boeing has also deployed "onsite specialized teams" with 154 team members supporting five global regions. It has held discussions with dozens of airlines to produce documents the carriers will use to discuss the 737 MAX safety with passengers, according to a person with knowledge of the effort. That includes a one-page primer offering flight attendants short, simple responses to questions from passengers about what went wrong during the 737 MAX crashes, and how Boeing fixed the problems, the person and a second industry source said. But the inclusion of language about "shared accountability" led to delays and irked some airlines, the second person said. Indonesian investigators have said Boeing failed to grasp risks in the design of cockpit software on the MAX, sowing the seeds for a 2018 crash that also involved errors by airline workers and crew. U.S. regulators cleared the MAX last month. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/exclusive-boeing-hires-pilots-airlines-215744242.html Canada will validate Boeing 737 MAX design changes on Thursday Canadian air-safety regulator Transport Canada will announce Thursday its approval of the Boeing 737 MAX design changes that were developed after two crashes killed 346 people in Indonesia and Ethiopia. In a message Wednesday to the families of the Canadian victims of the Ethiopian crash, Nicholas Robinson, director general of Transport Canada, wrote that his agency “has now completed our independent review of the design changes and we have notified the FAA today that we have validated these changes with some unique Canadian differences.” It’s one of the final steps in the process of clearing the plane to fly again in Canada, though that won’t be complete until Transport Canada issues a formal airworthiness directive and pilot-training requirements. Robinson said that final clearance is expected in January. Robinson’s message assured the families that “our process and review to validate these changes has been comprehensive; that our decisions have been independent and driven by the analysis of our globally recognized certification experts; and that we are confident in our validation outcome.” The imminent Canadian clearance of the MAX comes despite recent criticism of Transport Canada’s oversight in the Canadian parliament. Legislators highlighted a Transport Canada document, a copy of which was obtained by The Seattle Times, that revealed the agency’s test pilots had asked for clarification of the aircraft’s stall-handling system after a MAX certification flight back in 2016. However, as revealed in a May 2017 memo, the agency deemed the issue not critical and agreed to a Boeing request to go ahead with certifying the MAX in June 2017 — though still without a response to its question — so that Boeing could meet its delivery schedule to Air Canada. After the Lion Air crash in October 2018, Boeing told airlines for the first time of the existence of a new flight control system that went awry and caused the crashes — the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). A Transport Canada memo written a month later shows the agency felt it had been misled during the original certification in that how MCAS functioned was relevant to the question raised by the 2016 flight tests. In a parliamentary committee hearing last month, David Turnbull, director of National Aircraft Certification at Transport Canada, told Canadian MPs that the agency was provided insufficient information about MCAS during certification in 2016 and 2017. “Certain aspects of how the MCAS system functioned were not particularly made available by Boeing,” he said. “In retrospect, we can look back at that and we can acknowledge that it was an aspect of the original certification that was not done properly,” he said. “We got the information that we got and we based our decision on the information that was available at the time.” “We have learned an awful lot since then; there’s no question,” Turnbull added. Turnbull has made the decision to revalidate the MAX. “Obviously we have learned some lessons here — so has the FAA,” he said. “We’re going to be applying those lessons … for the future that may result in our taking a greater depth of review.” Extra Canadian requirements The “unique differences” Robinson mentioned refers to the fact that Canada will demand further MAX design enhancements of Boeing beyond those required by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). One such difference mentioned by Turnbull in the parliamentary hearing is that Transport Canada will require that a MAX pilot be able to silence a “stick shaker” warning — a heavy and loud vibration of the control column that warns of a possible stall. The stick shaker was activated erroneously throughout both MAX flights that crashed, adding to confusion in the cockpits. To avoid such severe distraction, Transport Canada wants Boeing — before the MAX’s return to service — to include flight manual instructions and training in how to pull circuit breakers to stop the stick shaker. This will require Boeing to add collars or paint to the specific circuit breakers, which are in an overhead panel behind the pilots in the 737 cockpit, so the pilots can find them quickly in an emergency. According to two people with knowledge of the matter, the FAA doesn’t favor pilots having to reach up and back to pull circuit breakers in an emergency. In June, Annie Joannette, a spokesperson for Transport Canada, said Boeing is working on an alternative, long-term fix that could be implemented after the jet is back in service and that would allow deactivation “by means other than pulling the circuit breaker.” Though Transport Canada has not specified what other extra requirements it will stipulate, Turnbull said it will have Boeing make “a number of future modifications.” Agency spokesperson Cybelle Morin said via email that “these differences will include additional procedures on the flight deck and preflight, as well as differences in training.” https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/canada-will-validate-boeing-737-max-design-changes-on-thursday/ Russian airline designates plane seats for passengers who refuse to wear masks (CNN) — Russian airline Aeroflot has announced it will designate specific seats on board its planes for passengers who refuse to wear masks. "It is critically important for us to ensure the safety of all passengers," Yulia Spivakova, a spokeswoman for the airline, said in a statement. Aeroflot, which is Russia's largest airline and national flag carrier, has a policy that travelers must wear masks while boarding and while on the plane, unless they are eating, drinking or changing masks. However, it seems that some passengers are not obeying these guidelines. And because a plane can't just stop in midair and kick out an offending passenger, Aeroflot has designated certain seats on each flight for travelers who cannot or will not follow the mask policy. "[This] does not exclude the application of other measures of liability for violation of the rules for the use of personal protective equipment on board," Spivakova added. Mask wearing policies on planes vary throughout the world and individual carriers often make their own rules. Much of the burden on enforcing these policies is passed onto flight attendants. Russia is not the only country where mask regulations on board airplanes has become an issue. In the United States, several high-profile incidents have occurred on flights where passengers refused to wear masks. In July 2020, a Southwest Airlines flight returned to the gate at Denver International Airport when a scuffle took place between several passengers, one of whom claimed it was their "Constitutional right" not to wear one. As of August of this year, Delta Air Lines announced that it had instituted nearly 250 lifetime bans on travelers who had refused to mask up. The following month, two passengers on board two different domestic flights in Japan were removed from planes before takeoff, both for failure to wear masks. Aeroflot has not announced whether it will implement long-term bans or other punishments for passengers who refuse to keep their masks on throughout the flight. But isolating them to a specific section of the plane may somewhat reduce the likelihood that an un-masked traveler could pass the coronavirus on to one of their seatmates. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/aeroflot-russia-mask-free-airplane-seats/index.html The Impacts of Insurance on Ground Service Insurance considerations across the industry, including in the Middle East, are tightly related to the contractual arrangements between a ground handler and the airline it serves. Insurance is an important factor for ground service providers to consider. This is certainly true in the Middle East region where numerous ground handling companies are assisting national carriers, regional airlines and even smaller operators. Insurance considerations are tightly related to the contractual arrangements between an airline and a ground service provider, these arrangements are commonly established in accordance with the IATA Standard Ground Handling Agreement (SGHA). Among the several aspects considered by the IATA SGHA are provisions made for specific tasks that must be accomplished, in addition to the ways safety risk aspects should be treated. The risk considerations in the SGHA have to do mostly with physical damage. “What this wording means in practice is that only direct repair cost is covered. But depending on the individual negotiations, the parties involved can decide on what is included or excluded in case of aircraft ground damage events,” says Ivar Busk, owner of Aviation Care Consulting. “Before 1998, the IATA SGHA did somehow indemnify the ground handler for all responsibility unless it could be proven that an incident had been caused by gross negligence. After 1998, the wording was changed and the ground handler was responsible only for being "negligent." At the same time, a cap was put on the amount to be paid, i.e. $750,000 (USD) for narrow body aircraft and $1 million for wide body aircraft. Any amount above these caps is under the airline’s hull insurance program.” Ground Handling Risk Insurers are very much focused on the physical risks in the airside environment. “This is a high-risk environment with substantial assets in close proximity with each other surrounded by vehicle traffic focused on achieving efficient and quick turnarounds. Aircraft are getting more and more expensive to repair, especially the newer composite structures, not forgetting the downtime cost to the airline,” says Simon Abbott, underwriting executive at Global Aerospace. “A lot of the attritional losses incurred by the ground service providers come from these physical damage claims.” Another area of concern for insurers, which can lead to substantial settlements, are bodily injury claims on the ramp. What’s more, insurers of ground service providers (GSPs) are focused on security risks, especially in regard to passenger and baggage handling, according to Abbott. “The terrorism threat is very much part of our lives and aviation has always been a target area,” he says. “Finally, contractual language can have a massive bearing on the exposure assumed by GSPs and, as insurers, we cannot highlight enough how important it is to utilize the SGHA Article 8 language on liability and indemnity.” COVID-19’s Effect on Ground Handling Insurance When it comes to risk in ground handling, it is very much dependent on the tasks to be performed. The riskiest and most expensive task is the towing operation followed by deicing. “After the outbreak of COVID-19, the amount of ground operations has reduced significantly and consequently the cases involving insurance has been reduced by the same order of magnitude,” says Busk. The effect of COVID-19 on GSP operations has indeed been unprecedented and devastating. “Insurers are sympathetic to their clients’ predicament but must also weigh up their own issues. It may come as a surprise, but the aviation insurance business has been loss making for the last six years on the back of many years of premium reductions,” Busk adds. “Performance of the GSP book has been particularly poor by comparison to other sub classes of aviation. In the last two years, insurers have started a long-term process of rising prices to offset these losses. The pandemic in 2020 has not stopped this process. “To be a viable market for the future, aviation insurers must be able to demonstrate to their capital providers that they can write this business without making a loss.” Safety Management Improvement Measures There are safety management improvement measures that the insurance companies regard positively. “There are several areas where these measures can make a real difference. In a number of instances where a client is seeing a lot of claims in a particular area, such as ramp rash or baggage handling, we can send in consultants to observe and then educate our clients on what areas need improving,” says Abbott. “COVID-19 has seen more focus on the ramp with consultants looking at a much more congested airside and training issues as staff come back to work after a long period of furlough. “Often GSPs are working with less staff, now putting more pressure on those that remain,” he continues. “Using consultants, it is possible to help with these particular issues. Use of front and back cameras and/or parking sensors on ground service equipment greatly aids the operator, but also helps in litigation or disputes in the event of an incident.” Busk observes that during the last 10-15 years there have been several initiatives for safety management system (SMS), which have played a positive role and led to safer operations. “IATA has also put more focus on safe ground operations. We have seen the introduction of the IATA Ground Operations Manual (IGOM) which is meant to ensure a more common standard for various operations instead of having all the airlines with their own individual procedures. But in the end, the insurance premium depends on the loss rate as observed over a number of years, normally a five-year period,” he says. Another aspect that is important to measure safety is how the handling company is connected to the airline. “It is often the case that a ground handling company which is a direct part of an airline has a better motivation to safety than a pure ground handling company, which has many ‘customers’ and it can be difficult to satisfy them all,” says Busk. “Also, the competition between several independent ground handling companies can influence the prices and the quality.” The Future of Ground Handling Insurance As to the future of ground handling insurance, a prediction can be difficult. “My estimate is that considerations related to automation and training will have a major impact. In addition, better screening of new employees will probably raise the status of ramp handling personnel,” says Busk. One particular area in which the industry, as a whole, has been grappling with is that of composite materials. Abbott observes that composites are much more expensive to repair, but also less obvious to the naked eye of any damage to the aircraft having occurred. “Another important point is the increasing sophistication of terrorist groups infiltrating and targeting aviation. A third point is the rise of Nuclear Verdicts in the US. For example, in aviation we have seen one case settle at over $100 million for bodily injury to an individual at an airport,” he says. “Fourth point to highlight is the increasing automation on the ramp, autonomous tugs, electric taxiing systems on aircraft – to name a few. Aviation insurance will adapt as the demands and requirements of the GSP community changes.” https://www.aviationpros.com/ground-handling/ground-handlers-service-providers/ramp-services/article/21163823/the-impacts-of-insurance-on-ground-service .Mitsubishi Aircraft to halt U.S. test site operations Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. will halt operations at a U.S. flight test site after its parent announced a decision in October to freeze the development of a small passenger jet, informed sources said Wednesday. Operations at the Moses Lake Flight Test Center in Washington state will be limited to aircraft maintenance starting in April next year, the sources said. The parent, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., has said it will forgo flight tests of the SpaceJet, Japan’s first domestically developed small passenger jet, in fiscal 2021 to 2023. The aircraft unit has already closed two other bases in North America. Mitsubishi Heavy will reduce its budget for the SpaceJet development project to ¥20 billion for fiscal 2021-2023 from ¥370 billion for the previous three years. Mitsubishi Aircraft will focus on work to obtain a type certificate needed to put the SpaceJet into commercial use. It will reduce its global workforce to less than 200 from some 2,000 as of spring this year. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/12/17/business/mitsubishi-aircraft-us-halt/ South African Airways pilots given 48-hour 'lockout' notice, administrators say JOHANNESBURG, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Administrators at struggling South African Airways (SAA) said on Wednesday they have issued a 48-hour notice to prevent nearly 400 pilots from accessing the company’s premises until they agree to new employment terms and conditions. SAA entered a local form of bankruptcy protection in December of 2019 after roughly a decade of financial losses, and its fortunes worsened after it grounded flights because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Efforts to rescue the state airline face resistance from trade unions, who are at loggerheads with the government over wages. The administrators, who argue that pilots had “very extensive and lavish benefits” said the lockout will affect 383 pilots who are members of the SAA Pilots’ Association (SAAPA). The administrators want the pilots to accept new terms and conditions, which include new salary scales. Reuters was not able to immediately reach SAAPA for comment. The lockout blocks SAAPA members from the airline’s workplace beginning midday on Friday, until the administrator’s demands are accepted. Affected pilots will not be entitled to any remuneration or benefits for the duration of the lockout. “The proposed new terms and conditions are fair and competitive for a regional African airline,” the administrators said in a statement. “In fact, SAA has among the highest cost base in terms of pilots’ salaries, meal allowances, leave and sick pay and travel rebate benefits internationally. This cannot continue if the business rescue of SAA is to succeed,” they said. Out of SAA’s roughly 4,500 staff when it entered administration in December 2019, around 3,200 have accepted severance terms and 1,300 are still in layoff consultations. https://www.reuters.com/article/safrica-saa/south-african-airways-pilots-given-48-hour-lockout-notice-administrators-say-idUSL8N2IW51D NASA's Lunar Gateway will feature Canadian Space Agency robotics That starts with the advanced "Canadarm3" robotic arm. The Lunar Gateway, NASA’s outpost that will orbit the moon as part of its upcoming Artemis program, will be equipped with external robotics from the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), NASA announced today. The culmination of an earlier partnership around Artemis, NASA’s first major program to bring astronauts to the moon in half a century, CSA plans to build a “next-generation” robotic arm, the aptly named Canadarm3. That device will be able to reach many parts of the Gateway’s exterior, giving astronauts an easy way to make repairs. Additionally, NASA says CSA will create robotic interfaces for Gateway modules, which will help with the installation of the outpost’s first two scientific instruments. CSA aims to deliver the Candarm3 to the Gateway in 2026 via a commercial logistics supply flight. That’s likely going to be a SpaceX flight, as NASA announced in March that it would be tapped for critical cargo and supply runs. “Gateway will enable a robust, sustainable, and eventually permanent human presence on the lunar surface where we can prove out many of the skills, operations, and technologies that will be key for future human Mars missions,” Kathy Lueders, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said in a statement. https://www.engadget.com/nasa-lunar-gateway-canada-robotics-182229739.html 2021 Aircraft Cabin Air Conference Registration Now Open ** With over 500 registrants in just 10 days - the sponsors have extended the free registration to the first 1000 registrants ** 2021 Aircraft Cabin Air Conference 15 to 18 March 2021 1500 to 2000 GMT daily via Zoom (0700 to 1200 PST) Four online days of powerful talks given by industry and subject matter experts. Registration is open and FREE for the first 1000 registrants. https://www.aircraftcabinair.com/ Following on from the success of the 2017 and 2019 Aircraft Cabin Air Conferences, the 2021 conference will be an essential four-day free modular online event via Zoom. Providing an in-depth overview or update for all those seeking to understand the subject of contaminated air, the flight safety implications, the latest scientific and medical evidence investigating the contaminated air debate and the emerging solutions available to airlines and aircraft operators. The 2021 conference will be the biggest conference ever held on the issue. Who should participate? Airline Management - Aircraft Manufacturers - Safety equipment providers - Health & Safety Regulators - Maintenance Companies - Airline Safety Departments - Air Accident Investigators- Crew & Unions - Policy Makers- Press & Media - Aircraft Insurers - Leasing Companies - Scientists - Occupational Health Professionals - Academics & Researchers - Engineers Register Curt Lewis