Flight Safety Information - January 18, 2021 No. 013 In This Issue : Incident: Delta B764 at New York on Jan 12th 2021, gear problems after departure : Incident: Delta B739 at Santiago on Jan 16th 2021, engine trouble : Incident: Rossiya B738 at Moscow on Jan 16th 2021, nose gear problem : Incident: Mauritius AT72 at Mauritius on Jan 15th 2021, technical problem : EASA publishes European Plan for Aviation Safety 2021-2025 : Every single passenger on board 2 international flights to Canada informed that they were potentially exposed to COVID-19 : FAA approves first commercial drone flights with no on-site pilots : Emirates to vaccinate UAE-based pilots and crew : US NTSB team arrives in Indonesia to join the investigation of Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 crash : NATA Supports New FAA Online Tool Easing Access to Aviation Safety Guidance : Singapore urges national airline to be first to vaccinate all staff : Man found living in Chicago airport for three months 'due to fear of Covid' : Critical Test of NASA's Giant Moon Rocket Cut Short by 'Major Component Failure' : Virgin Orbit sends 10 satellites to orbit, building on Paul Allen’s air-launch legacy : RTCA Free Webinar, Jan. 21 - 1pm ET: Nancy Graham of Graham Aerospace presents – Stratospheric Operations : 2021 Aircraft Cabin Air Conference Incident: Delta B764 at New York on Jan 12th 2021, gear problems after departure A Delta Airlines Boeing 767-400, registration N831MH performing flight DL-765 from New York JFK,NY (USA) to Salt Lake City,UT (USA) with 56 passengers and 9 crew, was in the initial climb to 5000 feet out of JFK's runway 22R, when the crew requested to level off due to a gear issue. The crew subsequently indicated they were talking to maintenance regarding their gear problem and requested vectors. The crew eventually decided to return to JFK and declared emergency just in case something happens. The controller suspected they were unable to retract the landing gear, the crew however responded, they would lower their gear shortly, on the turn to base or turn to final. The crew requested runway 22L for landing, reported the landing gear had come down normally, they would be able to vacate the runway normally. The aircraft landed safely on runway 22L, vacate the runway and stopped on taxiway J between runways 22R and 22L for an inspection by emergency services. Emergency services reported brakes temperatures were normal, the crew subsequently taxied the aircraft to the apron. A replacement Boeing 767-400 registration N833MH reached Salt Lake City with a delay of about 3 hours. The occurrence aircraft returned to service about 46 hours after landing back. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL765/history/20210112/2245Z/KJFK/KSLC http://avherald.com/h?article=4e1d2f60&opt=0 Incident: Delta B739 at Santiago on Jan 16th 2021, engine trouble A Delta Airlines Boeing 737-900, registration N843DN performing flight DL-1822 from Santiago (Dominican Republic) to New York JFK,NY (USA) with 114 people on board, was climbing through FL300 out of Santiago when the crew detected a problem with the #1 engine (CFM56, left hand) and decided to stop the climb and return to Santiago. The aircraft landed safely on Santiago's runway 11 about one hour after departure. A replacement Boeing 737-900 registration N822DN positioned from Atlanta,GA (USA) to Santiago and reached New York with a delay of 10:15 hours. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL1822/history/20210116/1824Z/MDST/KJFK http://avherald.com/h?article=4e1cdecb&opt=0 Incident: Rossiya B738 at Moscow on Jan 16th 2021, nose gear problem A Rossiya Boeing 737-800, registration VQ-BPX performing flight FV-5860 from Antalya (Turkey) to Moscow Sheremetyevo (Russia) with 186 passengers and 6 crew, landed on Sheremetyevo's runway 24L, was able to vacate the runway via a high speed turn off and stopped after crossing the hold short line. The crew reported a malfunction of the nose gear which prevented them from taxiing on their own. The aircraft was subsequently towed to the apron. http://avherald.com/h?article=4e1c8695&opt=0 Incident: Mauritius AT72 at Mauritius on Jan 15th 2021, technical problem An Air Mauritius Avions de Transport Regional ATR-72-212A, flight MK-126 from Mauritius to Rodrigues Island (Mauritius) with 65 people on board, was enroute to Rodrigues Island when the crew decided to return to Mauritius due to some technical problem. The aircraft landed safely back in Mauritius about 30 minutes after departure. Passengers reported there were severe vibrations of the airframe prompting the return to Mauritius. A replacement aircraft took the passengers to Rodrigues Island. The occurrence aircraft returned to service later the day. According to pictorial evidence the aircraft involved was either 3B-NBG or 3B-NBO. http://avherald.com/h?article=4e1c6572&opt=0 EASA publishes European Plan for Aviation Safety 2021-2025 The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) published the 10th edition of the European Plan for Aviation Safety (EPAS) covering 2021 – 2025. EPAS sets out the strategic priorities and enablers, and the main risks affecting the European aviation system, while also defining actions to mitigate the risks. EPAS is a key component of the Commission’s European Aviation Safety Programme (EASP), supporting the goals and objectives of the ICAO Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) for all 55 in the ICAO EUR Region. More information: – European Plan for Aviation Safety 2021-2025 https://news.aviation-safety.net/2021/01/16/easa-publishes-european-plan-for-aviation-safety-2021-2025/ Every single passenger on board 2 international flights to Canada informed that they were potentially exposed to COVID-19 All passengers on board two Air Transat flights from Haiti to Montreal have potentially been exposed to COVID-19, the Toronto Sun reported. Passengers seated in "all rows" have been notified by the Canadian government's exposure tracking system that they need to monitor their symptoms. The Canadian government announced on January 7 that a negative coronavirus test is required to fly. Haiti, where these passengers were traveling from, is one of the two territories exempt from this rule. More than 70 other international flights to Canada have carried people infected with the coronavirus, according to the Toronto Sun. Two Air Transat flights had so many people on board infected with COVID-19 that all the passengers are now deemed to be at risk of catching the virus, the Toronto Sun reported. Flights TS663 AND TS665 - both taking passengers from Haiti to Montreal - were identified by Health Canada as flights with several confirmed coronavirus cases, the paper said. Now, passengers seated in "all rows" have been notified that they have potentially been exposed to the virus. The Canadian government's tracking system is used to notify passengers who have been potentially exposed to the virus. Usually, specific rows are identified and those seated there are advised to take the necessary precautions. On this occasion, however, passengers from "all rows" - the entirety of two planes - have been advised to self-monitor their symptoms for 14 days and to self-isolate immediately if symptoms develop. The number of people warned about the COVID-19 infection is not known. The Air Transat was flying wide-body Airbus A330s on the Haiti-Montreal route, with a capacity of up to 375 passengers, according to the Toronto Sun. Read more: Virgin Galactic just revealed a new supersonic passenger jet planned with Rolls-Royce, which used to make Concorde jet engines. According to the government guidelines, passengers are also advised to immediately contact public health authorities if they become unwell. The news of these potential exposures follows a January 7 announcement by the Canadian government that requires all those boarding flights to Canada to provide proof of a negative coronavirus test. Haiti, however, is an exception to the rule. Due to limited testing capacity, passengers flying to Canada from Haiti are not required to provide a negative result. Since the negative test requirement was introduced, over 70 international flights that have landed in Canada have carried passengers infected with COVID-19, according to the Toronto Sun. Yesterday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters that he hasn't ruled out introducing an international travel ban. The tougher restrictions would be a response to Canada's recent surge in daily cases. January has been the worst month on record for new COVID-19 cases in the country, according to Worldometer. On Saturday, Worldometer data shows that Canada recorded 6,816 new cases. https://www.yahoo.com/news/every-single-passenger-board-2-173140950.html FAA approves first commercial drone flights with no on-site pilots Farms and other agricultural operations in certain rural areas in the US can now use robotic drones to take images of or gather data on their crops. The FAA has approved Massachusetts-based American Robotics’ request to be able to deploy automated drones without human pilots and spotters on site. As The Wall Street Journal notes, commercial drone flights typically require the physical presence of licensed pilots making them a costly undertaking. AR’s machine eliminates the need for on-site personnel, though each automated flight will still need to be overseen by a remote human pilot. According to the relevant documents (via The Verge) the FAA has uploaded on its website, the pilot “who is not co-located with the aircraft” will have to conduct pre-flight safety checks to ensure the drone is in working condition. American Robotics’ drones are 20—pound machines powered by its Scout System technology, which uses predetermined paths. Scout also has a Detect-and-Avoid feature that allows the unmanned aircraft system to maintain a safe distance from other aircraft, birds and obstacles. When it’s not in the air, the UAS can stay inside a weatherproof base station for charging, data processing/analysis and data transmission The company won the FAA’s trust by testing its technology for four years across eight states — last year, it flew as many as 10 autonomous flights a day to capture agriculture imagery and other data. AR’s drones can only fly in rural areas in Kansas, Massachusetts and Nevada and at altitudes below 400 feet at the moment. The company believes, however, that this is only the beginning and that it’s ushering in “a new era of widespread automated drone operations.” American Robotics CEO Reese Mozer said in a statement: “With these approvals, American Robotics is ushering in a new era of widespread automated drone operations. Decades worth of promise and projection are finally coming to fruition. We are proud to be the first company to meet the FAA’s comprehensive safety requirements, which had previously restricted the viability of drone use in the commercial sector. We are very grateful for the FAA’s willingness to work closely with American Robotics over the past four years on this precedent-setting authorization. With this set of approvals, American Robotics can begin safely operating our automated Scout platform for the benefit of the energy, infrastructure, agriculture, and security market verticals, helping unlock the projected $100 billion commercial drone market.” https://finance.yahoo.com/news/faa-approves-first-commercial-automated-drone-flights-192554778.html Emirates to vaccinate UAE-based pilots and crew Emirates Group has launched a Covid-19 vaccination drive for its UAE-based workforce, as part of the country’s target to vaccinate over 50 per cent of its population by the end of March. The group is working in coordination with the Dubai Health Authority and the Ministry of Health and Prevention, to make both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinopharm vaccines “conveniently accessible to its employees at various company locations across the UAE”. Priority is being given to frontline aviation employees, including cabin crew, flight deck, and “other operationally focused roles”. Emirates said that vaccination appointments would be offered 12 hours a day, seven day a week, with employees also having the choice to receive the vaccination at government designated medical centres and clinics. The Gulf carrier has gradually been rebuilding its network since the onset of Covid-19, and currently serves 114 destinations across six continents, with flights to Seattle, Dallas and San Francisco set to resume in the coming weeks. Emirates began rolling out a “redesigned onboard experience” in November in the light of Covid-19, with measures including disposable bath towels in the first class showers, and the repositioning of its inflight lounge as a take-away bar. https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2021/01/18/emirates-to-vaccinate-uae-based-pilots-and-crew/ US NTSB team arrives in Indonesia to join the investigation of Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 crash JAKARTA, Indonesia — A team from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has arrived in Indonesia's capital to join the investigation into the crash of a Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500, the head of Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee said Saturday. The team also comprises representatives from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and General Electric. They joined personnel from Singapore's Transportation Safety Investigation Bureau at the search and rescue command center at Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta to see some of the plane debris. The plane lost contact with air traffic controllers minutes after taking off from Jakarta during heavy rain on Jan. 9. The jet crashed into the Java Sea, killing all 62 people on board. Divers found parts of the cockpit voice recorder on Friday as more personnel joined the search for wreckage and victims. Investigators have already downloaded information from the plane's flight data recorder, which was recovered earlier this week. "There are 330 parameters and everything is in good condition. We are learning about it now," said Soerjanto Tjahjono, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Committee. Indonesia's government granted a waiver allowing the NTSB team to enter the country during its coronavirus-related travel ban in which foreigners are barred from entering. The 26-year-old Boeing 737-500 was out of service for almost nine months last year because of flight cutbacks caused by the pandemic. The airline and Indonesian officials say it underwent inspections, including for possible engine corrosion that could have developed during the layoff, before it resumed commercial flying in December. Members of Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee and investigators with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board inspect debris found in the waters around the location where a Sriwijaya Air passenger jet crashed, at the search and rescue command center in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Jan 16, 2021. Indonesia's aviation industry grew quickly after the nation's economy was opened following the fall of dictator Suharto in the late 1990s. Safety concerns led the United States and the European Union to ban Indonesian carriers for years, but the bans have since been lifted due to better compliance with international aviation standards. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2021/01/16/boeing-crash-ntsb-investigates-indonesia-sriwijaya-air/4188460001/ NATA Supports New FAA Online Tool Easing Access to Aviation Safety Guidance National Air Transportation Association (NATA) The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) applauds the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) introduction of the Dynamic Regulatory System (DRS). Developed at the recommendation of and in collaboration with NATA and other industry stakeholders, the online tool eases access to Office of Aviation Safety guidance materials through a new, centralized portal. “When it comes to safety, both speed and reliability are imperative. NATA is pleased to participate in initiatives that greatly improve the access to and consistency of valuable safety information and guidance. The Association has always promoted continuous improvement as a key to success in safety management and the DRS will provide a means for achieving this goal throughout the industry,” stated NATA Vice President of Regulatory Affairs John McGraw. The following can be browsed or searched in minutes versus days using a basic or advanced feature within the DRS: • More than 2 million regulatory guidance documents • Over 65 document types from more than a dozen repositories • Links to Codes of Federal Regulations • Guidance material from the FAA’s Flight Standards Information System and its Regulatory Guidance System • Pending and current versions of documents, along with corresponding revision history • According to the FAA, “the DRS exceeds the requirements of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-254), to establish a centralized safety database.” The information contained in the DRS is scheduled to update every 24 hours, and the DRS will continually evolve to include more features and functionality. https://www.aviationpros.com/education-training/trade-associations-events/press-release/21206183/national-air-transportation-association-nata-nata-supports-new-faa-online-tool-easing-access-to-aviation-safety-guidance Singapore urges national airline to be first to vaccinate all staff SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore on Monday urged workers at its national airline to help make it the world's first carrier with all staff vaccinated against COVID-19, with Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Phong Choon also encouraging employees to receive shots. Vaccinating Singapore's 37,000 frontline aviation and maritime staff is seen as key to reopening borders of the island-state, which is preparing to host events such as the World Economic Forum's annual meeting and the Shangri-La Dialogue Asian security summit in a few months' time. Singapore Airlines (SIA), in which state investor Temasek is the biggest shareholder, lacks a domestic market to cushion it against the coronavirus border closures which have shattered the aviation industry globally. It said last year it had cut 4,300 jobs, or around 20% of its staff. "SIA (Singapore Airlines) can be the first vaccinated international airline of the world. Try to get that done," Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung told aviation workers at a vaccination drive at the airport on Monday. More than 5,200 SIA employees have signed up to be vaccinated since staff started being inoculated last week, according to a memo sent to staff by CEO Goh on Monday. An SIA spokesman said that represented about 50% of those eligible for the vaccine, which is being offered for free to residents by the government on a voluntary basis. "Vaccinations are widely expected to be the game-changer in facilitating the opening of borders once again," Goh said. "This will also be an important differentiator in the airline industry...I strongly urge everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated as soon as possible." Unlike other mass vaccination programmes in the United States and Britain, Singapore is administering the jabs having largely contained the disease locally. The plans have stirred rare hesitancy among some due to the low risk of infection and concern about any possible side effects from rapidly developed vaccines. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/singapore-urges-national-airline-first-102751765.html Man found living in Chicago airport for three months 'due to fear of Covid' Aditya Singh allegedly stayed in secure area of O’Hare international airport after becoming too afraid to return home to California A California man was arrested after living in a secure part of O’Hare international airport in Chicago for three months because he was scared of coronavirus. A man has been living in a secure section of Chicago’s international airport for three months, apparently telling police he was too afraid of coronavirus to return home to Los Angeles, according to multiple reports. The 36-year-old man, Californian Aditya Singh, was arrested this weekend and charged with criminal trespass to a restricted area of an airport, a felony, and theft, a misdemeanour, the Chicago Tribune reported. Prosecutors said on Sunday that, according to police, the man arrived on a flight from Los Angeles to O’Hare international airport on 19 October. Nearly three months later, on Saturday afternoon, Singh was approached by two United Airlines employees who asked to see identification. Singh allegedly showed them an airport ID badge that had been reported missing by its owner, an airport operations manager, on 26 October. Assistant state attorney Kathleen Hagerty told Cook County judge Susana Ortiz that other passengers had been giving food to Singh, who does not have a criminal background. Hagerty said Singh had found the badge in the airport and was “scared to go home due to Covid”. Ortiz reportedly told the court: “You’re telling me that an unauthorised, non-employee individual was allegedly living within a secure part of the O’Hare airport terminal from 10 October, 2020, to 16 January, 2021, and was not detected? I want to understand you correctly.” After finding Singh, the United Airlines employees called 911. Police took him into custody on Saturday morning. Singh has a master’s degree in hospitality, is unemployed and lives with roommates in Orange, Los Angeles, according to assistant public defender Courtney Smallwood. “The court finds these facts and circumstances quite shocking for the alleged period of time that this occurred,” said Ortiz. “Being in a secured part of the airport under a fake ID badge allegedly, based upon the need for airports to be absolutely secure so that people feel safe to travel, I do find those alleged actions do make him a danger to the community.” Singh’s bail was set at $1,000. Should he be able to post bail, he is barred from entering the airport. The Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) said in a statement: “CDA has no higher priority than the safety and security of our airports, which is maintained by a coordinated and multilayered law enforcement network. “While this incident remains under investigation, we have been able to determine that this gentleman did not pose a security risk to the airport or to the traveling public. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners on a thorough investigation of this matter.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/18/man-found-living-in-chicago-airport-for-three-months-due-to-fear-of-covid Critical Test of NASA's Giant Moon Rocket Cut Short by 'Major Component Failure' NASA's mega-sized moon rocket encountered an engine issue during a critical test on Saturday, and the error could further delay the agency's effort to send astronauts back to the moon. The rocket, called Space Launch System (SLS), is designed to eventually stand 365 feet (111 meters) and ferry astronauts to the moon sometime in the mid- to late-2020s. The system is an essential piece of a larger program called Artemis, a roughly $US30 billion effort to put boots back on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972. NASA has spent about US$18 billion developing the rocket. The SLS core stage - the system's largest piece and its structural backbone - was assembled and heavily strapped down at Stennis Space Centre in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, on Saturday for a critical "hot fire" test. For the first time, the rocket was ready to simultaneously fire its four powerful RS-25 engines as it would for launch. The core stage is the world's largest and most powerful rocket stage, according to NASA. It hosts five mains sections, including a 537,000-gallon (2 million-litre) tank for liquid hydrogen, a 196,000-gallon (742,000-litre) tank for liquid oxygen, four RS-25 engines, avionics computers, and other subsystems. Boeing is the lead contractor for the stage, and Aerojet Rocketdyne is responsible for its RS-25 engines, which used to help propel NASA's fleet of space shuttles. The fuel tanks were filled with 733,000 gallons of cryogenically chilled propellant on Saturday, and the engines roared to life at about 5:27 pm EST. "It was like an earthquake," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told reporters in a press conference after the test. "It was a magnificent moment. And it just brought joy that after all this time, now we've got a rocket. The only rocket on the face of the planet capable of taking humans to the moon was firing all four RS-25 engines at the same time." The engines were supposed to fire continuously for eight minutes. But about one minute into the test, the engine controller sent a command to the core-stage controller to shut them down. Controllers had seen a flash next to the thermal-protection blanket covering engine four. Shortly afterward, that engine registered an MCF, or "major component failure". It's not yet clear what happened. "At the time that they made the call we did still have four good engines up and running at 109 percent," John Honeycutt, the SLS program manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Centre, said in the press conference. The whole thing was captured on NASA's live broadcast: VIDEO "The amount of progress that we've made here today is remarkable. And no, this is not a failure. This is a test. And we tested today in a way that is meaningful, where we're going to learn and we're going to make adjustments and we're going to fly to the moon," Bridenstine said. The SLS team will spend the next few days poring over data from the test, assessing the core stage and the engines to figure out what happened and how to move forward. NASA may need to re-do the hot fire test Saturday's hot fire was supposed to be the eighth and final step in NASA's "Green Run," a program designed to thoroughly test each part of the core stage ahead of SLS's first launch, called Artemis 1 - an uncrewed test flight currently scheduled for November 2021. But that timeline may be unrealistic now. If the hot fire went well, NASA was planning to ship the rocket to Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida in February. There, workers would stack all the segments of the two boosters required for sending Artemis 1 around the moon. It's unclear how long it will take NASA to correct the engine error and get the core stage to Florida now. "It depends what the anomaly was and how challenging it's going to be to fix it. And we've got a lot to learn to figure that out," Bridenstine said. "It very well could be that it's something that's easily fixable and we could feel confident going down to the Cape and staying on schedule. It's also true that we could find a challenge that's going to take more time." The agency may have to redo the hot fire test. The SLS team wanted to get to at least 250 seconds of the engines firing together to have high confidence in the vehicle. Saturday's test lasted for just over 60 seconds. It would take at least four or five days to prepare the Stennis Space Centre facilities for another test. If NASA needs to swap the current engines for new ones, workers can do it on-site at the Stennis Space Centre. Honeycutt estimated it would take about seven to 10 days to do that. "This is why we test," Bridenstine said. "Before we put American astronauts on American rockets, that's when we need it to be perfect." https://www.sciencealert.com/critical-test-of-nasa-s-moon-rocket-abruptly-ended-due-to-an-engine-problem Virgin Orbit sends 10 satellites to orbit, building on Paul Allen’s air-launch legacy Eight months after an unsuccessful first attempt, Virgin Orbit finally lived up to its name today and used an innovative air-launch system to put 10 satellites in orbit. With backing from British billionaire Richard Branson, Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne system capitalizes on a concept that Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen funded 17 years ago. The air-launch concept won SpaceShipOne a $10 million prize back in 2004. Today, it plays an essential role not only for LauncherOne, but also for Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo system and the Stratolaunch venture that Allen founded in 2011. Virgin Orbit’s modified Boeing 747 jet, nicknamed Cosmic Girl, serves as a flying launch pad for the two-stage LauncherOne rocket. During last May’s first full-fledged flight test, the rocket’s first-stage NewtonThree engine lit up for only a few seconds before a breach in the propellant system forced a shutdown. No such glitch arose today. Cosmic Girl took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, flew out over the Pacific, and released the rocket for engine ignition at about 11:39 a.m. PT. LauncherOne fired its first-stage engine for the full duration, went through stage separation, lit up the second stage’s NewtonFour rocket engine — and achieved orbit.. “Everyone on the team who is not in mission control right now is going absolutely bonkers,” Virgin Orbit tweeted. “Even the folks on comms are trying really hard not to sound too excited.” While Cosmic Girl and its crew returned to base, LauncherOne’s second stage settled into a stable orbit for the deployment of 10 nanosatellites (including a pair of satellites for a single mission) for NASA’s ELaNa academic launch program. The satellites are designed for a wide variety of research projects, ranging from monitoring weather in Earth’s polar regions to inspecting spacecraft with a spherical camera array. Their launch follows through on a $4.7 million NASA contract awarded back in 2015. Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science, hailed Virgin Orbit’s orbital milestone while the mission proceeded. “I know there are more steps and burns today,” he tweeted. “But what an amazing achievement already today.” More than two and a half hours after launch, Virgin Orbit passed along the good news about satellite deployment in a tweet. Payloads successfully deployed into our target orbit! We are so, so proud to say that LauncherOne has now completed its first mission to space, carrying 9 CubeSat missions into Low Earth Orbit for our friends @NASA. #LaunchDemo2 Virgin Orbit’s system brings several advantages for satellite launches. The Cosmic Girl jet can use any major airport as its base of operations, and dodge threatening weather as it heads out to a launch. Theoretically, payloads can be sent to virtually any orbital inclination. Such versatility is particularly appealing for small-scale, rapid-response national security missions. The main limitation has to do with mass: The 30-ton LauncherOne rocket can put up to a half-ton (1,100 pounds, or 500 kilograms) of payload into low Earth orbit, depending on the orbital parameters. In comparison, Stratolaunch’s mammoth plane is designed to carry orbital launch vehicles and payloads with a combined weight of more than 250 tons. The Allen family’s Vulcan holding company transferred ownership of Stratolaunch to a venture capital group in 2019. Stratolaunch is currently conducting a series of ground tests in preparation for the next flight test of its twin-fuselage carrier airplane, nicknamed Roc, which ranks as the largest plane in the world. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/virgin-orbit-sends-10-satellites-220533689.html RTCA Free Webinar, Jan. 21 - 1pm ET: Nancy Graham of Graham Aerospace presents – Stratospheric Operations: New air vehicles and High Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS) are advancing current operations in the national and international airspace every day. What new skills, both from regulators and industry, may be needed to cooperatively manage this airspace? Session followed by a Tech Talk: Stephen Timm, President of Collins Aerospace presents: The Contactless Passenger Journey. Free to attend. Details & Register 2021 Aircraft Cabin Air Conference Registration Now Open ** Thanks to our generous sponsors, registration is currently free, so book today! ** 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 currently FREE, so book today! 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