Flight Safety Information - February 23, 2021 No. 039 In This Issue : Accident: British Airways B789 near Iqaluit on Feb 7th 2021, turbulence injures flight attendant : Cessna 421C Golden Eagle - Nose Gear Collapse (CT) : Covid: Airline industry travel pass ready 'within weeks' : Engine Maker Under Scrutiny After Series of Aircraft Mishaps : Two fighter pilots passed out over Nevada last year. Software saved them both. : MEXICO URGED TO REVERSE PROHIBITION ON EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT : Boeing 757 bound for Seattle makes emergency landing : United Pulls Aircraft With Engines Linked To Saturday’s Incident : Judge orders Alaska Airlines to pay $3.19 million to family of Hawaii woman after her death : Elon Musk says Starlink's satellite internet speeds will 'double' in 2021 : Former Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde Joins Virgin Galactic To Design Customer Space Travel Experience : The TSI Instructor Qualification & Excellence Course : ERAU - Research Study Accident: British Airways B789 near Iqaluit on Feb 7th 2021, turbulence injures flight attendant A British Airways Boeing 787-9, registration G-ZBKG performing flight BA-49 from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Seattle,WA (USA), was enroute at FL380 about 120nm north Iqaluit,NU (Canada) when the aircraft encountered severe clear air turbulence. The crew descended the aircraft to FL340, the turbulence ceased after the aircraft had descended below FL360. One flight attendant received minor injuries, medical advice was obtained before the crew decided to continue to destination for a landing without further incident about 4:15 hours after leaving FL380. The Canadian TSB reported paramedics assessed the flight attendant at the gate, the aircraft received no apparent damage. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/BAW49/history/20210207/1430Z/EGLL/KSEA https://avherald.com/h?article=4e36e2c8&opt=0 Cessna 421C Golden Eagle - Nose Gear Collapse (CT) Date: 22-FEB-2021 Time: 11:15 Type: Cessna 421C Golden Eagle Owner/operator: Wheels Up LLC Registration: N84HA C/n / msn: 421C-1407 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3 Other fatalities: 0 Aircraft damage: Unknown Location: St Marys Municipal Airport (OYM/KOYM), St Marys, PA - United States of America Phase: Landing Nature: Unknown Departure airport: Bridgeport-Igor I. Sikorsky Memorial Airport, CT (BDR/KBDR) Destination airport: St. Marys Airport, PA (STQ/KOYM) Narrative: The aircraft experienced a nosegear collapse upon landing at St Marys Municipal Airport (OYM/KOYM), St Marys, Pennsylvania. The airplane sustained unreported damage and one of the three occupants onboard received unspecified injuries. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=248141 Covid: Airline industry travel pass ready 'within weeks' The pass is seen by the sector as essential for reopening air travel The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says it expects its digital Covid Travel Pass will be ready "within weeks". The pass is an app that verifies a passenger has had the Covid-19 tests or vaccines required to enter a country. It also verifies they were administered by an approved authority. The industry body sees the pass as essential for reopening air travel, as many countries still have strict restrictions or quarantines in place. "The key issue is one of confidence. Passengers need to be confident that the testing they've taken is accurate and will allow them to enter the country." said Vinoop Goel, IATA’s regional director of airports and external relations. "And then governments need to have the confidence that the tests that the passengers claim to have is one which is accurate and meets their own conditions." IATA said the Travel Pass is designed in a "modular" way, so that it can work with other digital solutions that are being trialled around the world. It will be available on iOS and Android platforms, and is expected to be free to passengers. Singapore Airlines was the first airline to start trials of the travel pass in December. Etihad, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Air New Zealand are among the other airlines currently conducting trials, and IATA says it is discussing the pass with most airlines throughout the Asia Pacific region. "We are currently working with a number of airlines worldwide and learning from these pilots. And the plan is to go live in March," Mr Goel said. "So basically we expect to have a fully functional working system over the next few weeks." Paper versus app The closest paper equivalent to the app is the Yellow Card, a World Health Organization document which confirms passengers have been vaccinated. It is often used to prove that passengers have had yellow fever vaccinations required to enter some countries. IATA says the risk of fraud with paper documents is too great. Europol recently revealed that a forgery ring in France had been selling negative test results to passengers at Charles de Gaulle Airport and fraudsters had also been apprehended in the UK for selling forged results. Malaysian police also reportedly recently arrested six Pakistani men suspected of forging negative results. "This issue has come to the forefront, because there is the risk of fraud with paper certificates," said Mr Goel. However, the insistence by some governments on paper documentation has proved an obstacle to the rollout of the IATA app. "We do have a case in the Republic of Korea that does require a paper certificate, so we are working with the government there to ensure they will allow digital certificates to be accepted," Mr Goel said. Essential for quarantine free travel The airline industry is pinning its hopes on quarantine-free travel reopening this year, but expects progress to be slow, even with the app. Covid has been disastrous for the airline industry, according to IATA’s figures, with demand plummeting nearly 70% in 2020 compared to 2019. The industry is hoping for a recovery in 2021, but it’s unlikely that the vaccine rollout will solve the problem immediately, which is part of the reason IATA thinks the Travel Pass is needed. "It will take too long. It will take at a minimum between 12 and 24 months. And it’s very dependent on the availability of vaccine globally," said Conrad Clifford, the body's regional vice-president for the Asia Pacific region. "So we see a combination of testing and vaccination as being the long term solution to reopening borders," he said. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/covid-airline-industry-travel-pass-064212740.html Engine Maker Under Scrutiny After Series of Aircraft Mishaps Regulators are investigating episodes involving Pratt & Whitney equipment that rained debris from planes and forced emergency landings. A recent series of startling airplane engine failures has cast a harsh light on Pratt & Whitney, the storied Connecticut aerospace manufacturer. The company’s products were involved in two episodes over the weekend in which engines failed in flight, shedding debris over populated areas in Colorado and the Netherlands. In December, the failure of a Pratt & Whitney engine forced a Japan Airlines jetliner to turn around shortly after taking off from Okinawa. The episodes, which involved Boeing aircraft, all ended in safe landings, and it is too soon to say whether they were connected. But they prompted action by aviation authorities and airlines around the world, raising questions about what went wrong. “What’s being missed? Is it an inspection cycle? Are they doing proper types of inspections? Are there commonalities between the three failures? Those are the kinds of things that the investigators are going to be looking at now,” said John Cox, an accident investigator and the head of Safety Operating Systems, an aviation consulting firm. For nearly a century, Pratt & Whitney has occupied an important spot at the center of the U.S. aircraft industry. As well as having huge contracts with civilian airlines, it has for decades supplied engines to the military, including those used in World War II. Last year, United Technologies, of which Pratt & Whitney was a part, merged with Raytheon, to form Raytheon Technologies. By revenue, Pratt & Whitney is the second largest division at the new Raytheon, bringing in $16.8 billion of sales, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the total. Pratt & Whitney, which is based in East Hartford, Conn., issued a statement Monday saying it was working with regulators to step up inspections of the engines used to power some Boeing 777 jets. It declined to elaborate in response to queries. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the episode over Colorado on Saturday, in which the right engine on a United Airlines jet bound for Hawaii burst into flames before landing safely in Denver. Like the December flight in Japan, the United episode involved a 777 equipped with a Pratt & Whitney PW4000 series engine. The incident over the Netherlands, also on Saturday, involved a 747-400 freighter with an engine from the same Pratt & Whitney series, but the aviation authority in Europe said Monday that the specific model was different from those in the Colorado and Japan incidents. “Nothing in the failure and root analysis show any similarity at this stage,” the aviation authority, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, said in a statement. After the United flight’s engine failure, the aviation authority in Japan ordered airlines there to stop flying all similarly equipped 777s. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration said it would require increased inspection of planes with those engines. And Boeing called for the 69 planes with that engine model currently in service around the world to be grounded. In a news briefing on Monday night, Robert L. Sumwalt, the chairman of the N.T.S.B., said that two of the 22 fan blades in the United plane’s engine were found fractured. One blade was embedded in a part of the engine, while the other was found on a soccer field in Broomfield, Colo. One of the blades showed damage consistent with “metal fatigue” and was being flown to a Pratt & Whitney laboratory for inspection alongside N.T.S.B. investigators, he said. The agency is also evaluating the plane’s maintenance records and information from the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. “Our mission is to understand not only what happened, but why it happened so that we can keep it from happening again,” Mr. Sumwalt said. Last month, the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism concluded that the December engine failure was also caused by metal fatigue in the fan blades. An initial examination of the United flight found that two parts had separated from the engine and that two fan blades had also fractured, according to the N.T.S.B. “I was sad to hear that one of the fan blades failed, but really impressed with how everything worked after that,” said Robert Kielb, a professor at Duke University’s school of engineering. “If a blade does fail, the planes are designed to fly on one engine.” With the 777s flying those engines now grounded, Mr. Kielb said Pratt would need to take a closer look. “They probably need to inspect the fan blades better,” he said. Also of concern was the fact that the cowling — the circular piece on the front of the engine — fell from the sky. Broken fan blades have led to fatal accidents in the past. In 1989, a Boeing 737 crashed near Kegworth, England, killing 47 people, after a fan blade broke in one engine made by CFM International, and the pilots accidentally cut off fuel to the other engine. In February 2018, an engine fan blade fractured during a United flight over the Pacific, resulting in an engine failure and loss of the cowling. Like the flight this past weekend, that plane was a Boeing 777 equipped with a PW4077 engine. The pilots were able to land the plane safely, in Hawaii, with no injuries to the 374 passengers and crew on board. After investigating that episode, the N.T.S.B. placed blame on Pratt & Whitney, saying that one of its inspectors lacked the training needed to catch signs of a faulty blade, resulting “in a blade with a crack being returned to service where it eventually fractured.” In 2019, the F.A.A. ordered further inspections of the fan blades in those engines. More recently, the agency had inspected the fan blade fragment from the Japanese flight and had been considering whether to adjust inspections of the component, it said on Monday. When airlines buy new planes, they can typically choose which engine to use. In some cases, they may even lease engines from a bank, according to Eric Jones, the chairman of the aviation maintenance science department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “They’re very interchangeable,” Mr. Jones said. United became the first customer of the Boeing 777 in the 1990s and chose to equip the jet with Pratt & Whitney’s new PW4000 engine. All Nippon Airways, another early customer, also chose that engine. Once a major airline takes possession of a plane, it typically takes over responsibility for routine maintenance and inspections of all parts of the aircraft. Pilots circle planes before each flight, conducting visual inspections, including of the fan blades. Technicians run checks of various systems. When a part like an engine is need of deeper repair or inspection, it is often sent to a third party or the manufacturer itself for a look. “Boeing does not routinely undertake engine maintenance,” the company said in a statement on Monday. “All decisions beyond published approved manuals are the responsibility of the operator and engine manufacturer.” It isn’t yet clear what caused the engine fire over the Netherlands, but the Dutch authorities have begun an investigation into the episode there on Saturday. The plane, a Boeing 747-400 freighter loaded with pharmaceuticals and general cargo and operated by Longtail Aviation, was bound for New York from Maastricht Aachen Airport when air traffic control detected an engine fire and alerted the pilots, the airport said in a statement. The pilots landed at Liege Airport in Belgium instead of returning to Maastricht Aachen Airport because the runway offered more space to land safely. During the journey, debris fell over a residential area in the municipality of Meerssen, causing minor injuries to a woman and a child, and leaving “considerable damage to roofs, windows and cars,” said Leon Eummelen, a spokesman for the region’s safety board. Manufacturers like Pratt & Whitney do not make a lot of money when selling their engines, but the multiyear servicing contracts with airlines have fat profit margins, stock analysts said. “It’s the classic razor-and-razor-blade business,” said Burkett Huey, an analyst who covers Raytheon Technologies. The servicing business can be lucrative, and the income from servicing can increase toward the end of an engine’s life as more maintenance is needed. Mr. Huey said Pratt & Whitney and others typically did not reveal exactly how much of their overall profit comes from maintenance. Another airline incident took place on Monday afternoon, when a Boeing 757 operated by Delta Air Lines flying from Atlanta to Seattle was diverted to Salt Lake City after the pilots received an indicator warning of a possible problem with one engine, the carrier said in a statement. Out of what the airline said was an abundance of caution, Flight No. 2123, with 122 passengers and six crew members, deviated from its course over southeastern Idaho and turned south toward Salt Lake City. The flight landed safely around 4 p.m. local time, a spokeswoman for the airport said. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/22/business/boeing-pratt-whitney-engines.html Two fighter pilots passed out over Nevada last year. Software saved them both. In separate incidents, F-16 aviators were rendered unconscious, but a ground-collision avoidance system righted the aircrafts. On January 23 of last year, a pilot flying a single-seat F-16 over Nevada lost consciousness. Around 6 months later, on July 16, another pilot operating the same type of fighter jet, also in Nevada, passed out as well. Both of them would have almost certainly been killed were it not for built-in software that took over the controls before they crashed. Both pilots experienced an aviation phenomenon called G-LOC, which stands for G- induced loss of consciousness, and both were operating in the Nevada Test and Training Range. And in each case, the onboard software system saved the aviators’ lives, according to the Air Force. The software that saved them is known as Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System, or AGCAS, and in the January instance, it engaged when the jet was about 2,600 feet above ground level. In the July incident, the software activated at about 4,000 above the deck. The Air Force Safety Center explained via email to Popular Science that in both cases, “AGCAS is credited with saving the pilots’ lives.” The Safety Center added: “In both incidents, the pilots were able to regain consciousness during the AGCAS pull-up and they assisted in the recovery of the aircraft; however, their actions alone would not have been in time to prevent collision with the ground.” Referring to the altitudes above the ground at which the AGCAS engaged, the Safety Center said: “Based on the airspeed and flight paths of the aircraft, these were the altitudes where the system calculated that immediate flight control input was needed to avoid an impending crash.” Lockheed Martin, which manufactures F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, created the AGCAS software. In simple terms, the code realizes when the jet is going to fly into the ground and attempts to fix the problem. The defense behemoth, which also own Sikorsky helicopters, describes how it works this way on the AGCAS website: “the system consists of a set of complex collision avoidance and autonomous decision making algorithms that utilize precise navigation, aircraft performance and on-board digital terrain data to determine if a ground collision is imminent. If the system predicts an imminent collision, an autonomous avoidance maneuver—a roll to wings-level and +5g pull—is commanded at the last instance to prevent ground impact.” In the January 2020 event, the pilot was at an altitude of 15,800 feet when they succumbed to G-LOC. In the July event, they were at 17,000 feet. What is G-LOC? A fighter pilot experiences G-LOC if they pass out during a maneuver, but safely managing the Gs on a high-performance jet is an everyday task for any pilot at the controls. As a pilot turns the airplane sharply, for example, the G-forces they feel increase rapidly, causing their blood to want to move away from their brain. Two tools exist to help a pilot prevent themselves from passing out: one is a muscle and breathing exercise called the anti-G straining maneuver, and the other is a G-suit the aviator wears. That suit dynamically responds to what the jet is doing, and squeezes the pilot’s lower body, like a high-tech blood-pressure cuff. The two tools together should keep the blood from pooling in the lower portion of the pilot’s body. If a pilot does not cope with the Gs appropriately, they could pass out. To be sure, not all G-LOCs result in an imminent crash and the activation of the emergency software. The Air Force Safety Center reported to Popular Science that in the fiscal year 2020, there were eight G-LOC events, including the two in which the emergency software activated. The eight occurred in Texas, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, or Florida, and involved F-16Cs, T-6A trainers, a T-38C trainer, an F-15C, and an F-22A. In all eight instances, no pilot was hurt and no aircraft was damaged. That number of incidents is a decrease from fiscal year 2019, in which there were 12 G-LOC events that the Safety Center reported to Popular Science. In March of 2019, an aviator over Oregon experienced a G-LOC event that was serious enough to result in major damage to the aircraft, even if it didn’t crash. That pilot was not hurt. And in 2018, tragically, a member of the Thunderbirds demonstration team died during training as a result of G-LOC. So far, in this fiscal year, there have been two G-LOC events that the Safety Center reported to Popular Science. All told, the AGCAS software is now credited with saving 11 pilots and 10 F-16 aircraft, according to a Lockheed Martin spokesperson. The software is on F-35s and F-16s, but not all of them. Of the F-35s that the Air Force and Air National Guard have, the Safety Center said that 98 percent have the software installed. As for the F-16s, the AGCAS is on those jets from “Block 40” and newer—the “block” is like its lot number. A Safety Center spokesperson said via email that the software “is projected to begin fielding on over 300 F-16 Pre-Block 40 (Block 30s) aircraft with analog flight controls in early 2022.” The events in January and July of 2020 in which the AGCAS system activated were previously reported by Military.com, although at the time it wasn’t yet clear if the software could be credited with saving the life of the pilot in the July incident. https://www.popsci.com/story/technology/agcas-technology-saves-pilots-lives/ MEXICO URGED TO REVERSE PROHIBITION ON EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT AOPA and the Experimental Aircraft Association have asked the civil aviation authorities in Mexico to reverse a recent policy change that prevents operation of U.S.-registered amateur-built aircraft in Mexico. Van's RV-3. The Lycoming IO-320 in this RV–3 had a non-TSOed fuel injection system and dual electronic ignitions in place of traditional magnetos. Single-seat airplanes like the RV–3 also require that the buyer’s first flight be made alone—so prior experience in a similar airplane is a must. AOPA and the Experimental Aircraft Association have asked the civil aviation authorities in Mexico to allow operation of U.S.-registered amateur-built aircraft, such as the Van's Aircraft RV–3 pictured here, in Mexico. Photo by Chris Rose. In a February 15 letter to the Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC), AOPA and EAA noted that “operation of such aircraft has been common practice for several decades, but a recent change in policy by the DGAC has led to a halt in operations. Many of our members are concerned about this change and we seek an expedient solution to this problem.” Under U.S. regulations, aircraft that are issued special airworthiness certificates, including experimental aircraft, bear a limitation that the aircraft does not meet the airworthiness standards of Annex 8 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. Such aircraft may only fly over a foreign country with that country’s permission and carry a document to that effect. The document must be made available on request “to an FAA inspector or the applicable foreign authority in the country of operation.” “Both The Bahamas and Canada use ‘blanket’ authorizations that allow any FAA- registered Amateur-Built aircraft that follows certain conditions to enter those countries without additional authorizations. The operator simply prints out the authorization and carries it aboard his or her aircraft, in accordance with the above operating limitation,” the letter said, urging Mexico to adopt a similar approach. The letter also noted that under FAA regulations, the 21,000 experimental amateur-built aircraft operating in the United States “are only allowed to be flown for non-commercial purposes.” AOPA and EAA included a prior authorization issued by the DGAC to an amateur-built aircraft from the United States in the letter as an example of past practice—also noting that “the Directorate may consider a simpler means of granting the required permission.” https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2021/february/18/mexico-urged-to- reverse-prohibition-on-experimental-aircraft Boeing 757 bound for Seattle makes emergency landing A Boeing 757 operated by Delta Air Lines en route to Seattle from Atlanta made an emergency landing Monday afternoon after flight crew noticed an indicator warning of a possible problem with one of its engines. Delta flight 2123 was diverted to land in Salt Lake City “out of an abundance of caution,” the company said in a statement. The aircraft landed safely, and fire crews at the airport said the engine did not appear to be damaged. The 16-year-old jetliner was powered by Pratt & Whitney engines, the same manufacturer behind two engine failures Saturday on Boeing planes. The engine of a Boeing 777 operated by United Airlines exploded shortly after takeoff from Denver on a Hawaii-bound flight, raining debris on Denver suburbs. And in the Netherlands, the engine of a Boeing 747 freighter exploded over the Dutch down of Meerssen; the hailstorm of falling engine parts injured two people and damaged property. Both jetliners made safe emergency landings. The European aviation safety commission said Monday the engine problems experienced by those two planes appeared to be unrelated. Boeing referred questions to Delta. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/boeing-757-bound-for-seattle- makes-emergency-landing/ United Pulls Aircraft With Engines Linked To Saturday’s Incident (Undated) — United Airlines is pulling 24 Boeing 777 planes from service after one of their planes suffered an engine failure over the weekend. The aircraft that won’t be flying are powered by the same engines as the one involved in the incident Saturday in the skies over Colorado. The FAA has also ordered new inspections on those engines across the U.S. The incident Saturday happened shortly after takeoff from Denver and the plane was able to land safely. https://www.kabc.com/2021/02/22/united-pulls-aircraft-with-engines-linked-to-saturdays- incident/ Judge orders Alaska Airlines to pay $3.19 million to family of Hawaii woman after her death HONOLULU (KHON2) — A judge has ordered a Alaska Airlines to pay millions to the family of a former Hawaii woman. Bernice Kekona died after a tragic fall at a mainland airport that was caught on video In 2017, Kekona fell down an escalator while in her wheelchair at Portland International airport. She had just gotten off a plane after a month-long visit with family on Maui. The 75-year-old suffered head and chest injuries, and a leg wound which led to an infection that killed her. Woman sues Alaska Airlines for mom’s fatal fall at Portland airport Kekona’s family sued Alaska Airlines and an airport contractor alleging the companies did not properly provide gate-to-gate service that the family requested. A judge sided with the family ordering the airline to pay more than $3 million on Monday, Feb. 22. 2021. “I think the family is really happy because it validated their belief that they did everything they could for their mom and their grandmother,” said Robert Gellatly, the family’s attorney. “It was a tragic failure but it was compounded by Alaska’s insistence it was not their fault, and it really was.” Alaska Airlines issued this statement: We’re disappointed in the ruling and are evaluating next steps. There is no more important responsibility than the safety and wellbeing of our guests, whether they’re in our care or the care of a vendor. ALASKA AIRLINES https://www.khon2.com/local-news/judge-orders-alaska-airlines-to-pay-3-19-million-to- family-of-hawaii-woman-after-her-death/ Elon Musk says Starlink's satellite internet speeds will 'double' in 2021 Elon Musk said Starlink's internet speeds will double data transfer times will drop later this year. The satellite internet provider currently has over 10,000 beta users, it previously said. Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, updated followers on Twitter about the future of the company's Starlink satellite internet venture. On Monday, Musk responded to a tweet from a new user documenting the experience of receiving and setting up the beta router kit, which was made available worldwide earlier in February. Musk said the system's speeds will double and that latency will drop by the end of this year. Insider reported last week that the current expected speed for Starlink routers is between 50 and 150 Megabits per second (Mbps). But some users have seen speeds well above that level, with one reported user going up to speeds as high as 215 Mbps. Latency, a measure of the time it takes for data transfer to occur, is also expected to go down. On Starlink's website, the company writes that its aim is to create high-speed, low- latency internet that is accessible worldwide. Musk added on to that vision in a subsequent tweet about Starlink's coverage areas: "Most of Earth by end of year, all by next year, then it's about densifying coverage." "Important to note that cellular will always have the advantage in dense urban areas," he added. "Satellites are best for low to medium population density areas." Insider reported last week that Starlink has already seen success in rural areas including in the Pikangikum First Nation in Canada. The pilot program, according to further Insider reporting, has 10,000 users worldwide. And the ramp-up to global coverage is happening currently: SpaceX rockets were beaming satellites into orbit from Florida's Cape Canaveral as recently as last week. https://www.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-says-starlinks-satellite-190333686.html Former Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde Joins Virgin Galactic To Design Customer Space Travel Experience Joe Rohde, who retired from the Walt Disney Co. in January after four decades as an Imagineer, has joined Virgin Galactic as the venture’s first “experience architect.” Founded by Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic is one of a handful of companies aiming to commercialize space travel. Its sister company, Virgin Orbit, has gained attention for pledging to send the first commercial small satellite mission to Mars, a planet back in the news of late because of NASA’s successful Rover landing. Plans are under way for the first “future astronauts” to start arriving at Spaceport America in New Mexico, Virgin Galactic noted in announcing Rohde’s appointment. The company earlier this month had to cancel a test flight due to what it called “technical checks,” saying it would be rescheduled soon. Walt Disney Imagineering Veteran Joe Rohde, Whose Work Spanned Epcot To Pandora, Is Retiring Walt Disney Sets Global Marketing Chief Jill Estorino To Run International Parks; Previous Chief Heads To Outer Space Rohde oversaw major Disney park projects like Pandora — the World of Avatar; the Guardians of the Galaxy update at Disney California Adventure; and the Villages Nature Eco-Resort next to Disneyland Paris. At Virgin Galactic, he will be a strategic advisor “to help design and guide the overall experience journey for future astronauts, friends and family, and inspired fans alike,” the company said, adding that his goal will be to “stimulate curiosity, guide the imagination, and anchor the Virgin Galactic customer experience with purposefulness and meaning.” In a video recorded at Spaceport America, Rohde said his Disney Imagineering background means “I’ve come from a tradition where if you are imagining something, you are imagining that thing is going to be made real. That’s also been going on here at Virgin Galactic, and I’m delighted to be joining at this incredible moment in time when it is about to blossom into public awareness.” Space travel, he added, “is one of the most profound things that can happen to you. To go beyond the reaches of the earth, to space, and look back down at it. It’s a spectacularly unique opportunity with huge potential for transformational change in a person…What Virgin Galactic is doing, in democratizing space travel, has reached a moment where it is about to enter history. It’s happening right here in New Mexico, and it’s very rare to be a person who gets to be in the place, at the time, that history begins.’’ Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said he had long wanted Rohde to spearhead the company’s experience. “Joe has a methodology that is unique, inspired, and truly effective,” Colglazier said. “His track record for keeping authenticity central to the design and creating deeply transformative experiences aligns perfectly with our mission.” https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/former-disney-imagineer-joe-rohde-190454872.html ERAU - Research Study Dear Pilot, You are being asked to participate in a research study of your opinions on urban air mobility. This study is expected to take approximately 10 minutes of your time. In order to participate, you must be at least 18 years old, a resident of the U.S., a certified pilot, and have piloted with the last 5 year. Participation in this study is voluntary, and you may choose to opt out of the study at any time. If you choose to opt out, your data will be immediately destroyed. We appreciate your consideration and time to complete our study. Please click on or copy and paste the URL below: https://forms.gle/PMY7C4fh9LL3VWUa9 For more information, please contact: Dr. Scott R. Winter scott.winter@erau.edu We appreciate your interest and participation! Curt Lewis