Flight Safety Information - February 24, 2021 No. 040 In This Issue : Incident: Azul A20N near Salvador on Feb 17th 2021, engine problem : Incident: Total B722 near Rio de Janeiro on Feb 16th 2021, bleed air issue, then cargo fire indication : Incident: Delta B752 near Salt Lake City on Feb 22nd 2021, engine failure : Did A Cruise Missile Zip Past An American Airlines Flight Over New Mexico? : Suhkoi To Market SJ100 As A Private Jet With New VIP Edition : Jetmakers to lose orders in Norwegian restructuring: sources : The TSI Instructor Qualification & Excellence Course : ERAU - Research Study Incident: Azul A20N near Salvador on Feb 17th 2021, engine problem An Azul Linhas Aereas Airbus A320-200N, registration PR-YRR performing flight AD-4631 from Recife,PE to Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont,RJ (Brazil) with 174 passengers and 6 crew, was enroute at FL360 about 100nm northeast of Salvador,BA (Brazil) when the crew detected the left hand engine's (LEAP) oil quantity was dropping. The crew worked the related checklists and diverted to Salvador for a safe landing about 20 minutes later. Brazil's CENIPA rated the occurrence an incident. https://avherald.com/h?article=4e378d11&opt=0 Incident: Total B722 near Rio de Janeiro on Feb 16th 2021, bleed air issue, then cargo fire indication A Total Linhas Aereas Boeing 727-200, registration PR-TTP performing a freight flight from Vitoria,ES to Sao Paulo Guarulhos,SP (Brazil) with 3 crew, was climbing out of Vitoria when the crew detected a problem with the left hand engine's (JT8D) bleed air, but decided to continue the flight. The aircraft was later enroute near Rio de Janeiro,RJ (Brazil) when the crew received a cargo fire indication and diverted to Rio de Janeiro's Galeao Airport for a safe landing. Brazil's CENIPA reported that shortly after takeoff the crew detected that the #1 bleed air was not commanding to close. The crew decided to continue to destination. Later in the flight while deviating around weather in turbulence the crew received a cargo fire warning prompting the crew to divert to Galeao Airport. The occurrence was rated an incident. https://avherald.com/h?article=4e378bb9&opt=0 Incident: Delta B752 near Salt Lake City on Feb 22nd 2021, engine failure A Delta Airlines Boeing 757-200, registration N819DX performing flight DL-2123 from Atlanta,GA to Seattle,WA (USA) with 128 people on board, was enroute at FL380 about 110nm northeast of Salt Lake City,UT (USA) when the crew reported an engine (PW2037) failure and decided to divert to Salt Lake City. The aircraft landed safely on runway 16L, emergency services reported the engine looked okay. The aircraft taxied to the apron. A replacement Boeing 757-200 registration N685DA reached Seattle with a delay of about 5:45 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Salt Lake City about 13 hours after landing. The airline reported the crew diverted to Salt Lake City out of abundance of caution following an indicator warning of a possible engine problem. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/DAL2123/history/20210222/1850Z/KATL/KSEA https://avherald.com/h?article=4e375084&opt=0 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 Did A Cruise Missile Zip Past An American Airlines Flight Over New Mexico? The crew of an American Airlines flight spotted a “long cylindrical object that almost looked like a cruise missile” while the aircraft was flying over New Mexico in the US on February 21. According to reports, the American Airlines Flight 2292 (AAL 2292), an Airbus A320 narrow-body airliner, was flying between Cincinnati and Phoenix at an altitude of 36,000 feet and a speed of 400 knots when the crew witnessed the unidentified flying object (UFO). It is still unclear whether the long, cylindrical missile-like object was a man-made missile, aircraft, or something else. The incident took place over the remote northwest corner of New Mexico, to the west of the tiny town of Des Moines. An experienced radio, Steve Douglass, said that he had heard the strange transmission of the UFO encounter of the flight. Douglass, who runs ‘Deep Black Horizon’, a blogging website, said he received the transmission while he was recording from his arsenal of scanners. Work is already underway to authenticate Douglass’ recordings from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). As per the recordings, the pilot of the airlines reported, “Do you have any targets up here? We just had something go right over the top of us – I hate to say this but it looked like a long cylindrical object that almost looked like a cruise missile type of thing – moving really fast right over the top of us.” According to Flight 24, a global flight tracking service, the American Airlines 2292 was over the northeast corner of New Mexico west of Clayton, New Mexico at a flight level of nearly 370 (37k). Later, the aircraft landed in Phoenix, Arizona after completing its flight. A thorough investigation may be undertaken to clearly understand the reasons behind the airlines and their crew having such a major scare. The presence of a potential cruise missile in the same zone as the flight can have severe repercussions if things get out of control. A cruise missile is a guided missile that is used against terrestrial targets. The missile remains in the atmosphere and flies a considerably major portion of its flight path at an approximately constant speed. Designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high precision, the cruise missiles boast the ability to travel at supersonic or high subsonic speeds. The missiles can self-navigate and possess the ability to fly on a non-ballistic, extremely low-altitude trajectory. This is not the first incident to happen in the region with two aircraft already having similar encounters in the same aerial zone in 2018. At the time of the incident, a Bombardier Learjet private plane and another Airbus aircraft had consecutive close encounters with a UFO. As per reports, the purported UFO flew above the aircraft over eastern Arizona while cruising at approximately 37,000 feet. The pilot of the Learjet aircraft told local news outlets regarding the ‘strange’ nature of the encounter. The latest sighting of a ‘missile-like object’ is similar to some of the documented encounters provided by several fighter jet pilots belonging to the United States Navy. It is pertinent to mention that New Mexico houses the US military’s White Sands Missile Range (WSMR). However, the chances of a missile going off the reservation during a test are very slim, with there being a certain protocol before undertaking such tests including prior notification to airlines to avoid flying during a particular time period. https://eurasiantimes.com/did-a-cruise-missile-zip-past-an-american-airlines-flight-over-new-mexico/ 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/ Suhkoi To Market SJ100 As A Private Jet With New VIP Edition Russia’s Sukhoi is marketing it’s Superjet 100 to a new audience: VIP and corporate customers. The manufacturer plans to modify its existing SSJ100s to serve as private jets for the rich and famous willing to buy them. So what changes is the manufacturer planning for this regional jet? According to Airway, Russia’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Denis Manturov, announced plans for a corporate SSJ100 in Abu Dhabi this week. The reconfigured aircraft will see the addition of sharklets to its wings, providing more range and better aerodynamic efficiency, as well as additional fuel tanks. Discussing the timeline and demand for the SSJ-VIP version, Mr. Manturov said, “A demonstration plane will appear in the second half. I think there will be a sufficient number of people interested in this version, because the cost-benefit is very competitive.” Sukhoi Superjet SSJ100 The first test model of the SSJ-VIP could be flying by the second half of 2021. Photo: UAC Russia The decision to make a VIP version of the SSJ100 might come as a surprise since it has been marketed as a regional jet. The aircraft offers a range of 1,646 or 2,472 nautical miles depending on the variant (standard or LR). However, once the sharklets, extra fuel tanks, and other changes are made, the aircraft will have a greater range. Additionally, VIP jets usually carry a fraction of the passengers a commercial aircraft does, further reducing weight and improving range. This means the SSJ could well make a viable private jet if all goes to plan at Sukhoi. Price and competition While no price has been announced for the SSJ-VIP, officials have already alluded to the lower cost of this plane compared to the competition. A standard SSJ100 currently costs just over $50 million at list price, which means we can expect the VIP variant to be in a similar range or possibly lower. It’s unclear whether the SSJ-VIP is trying to compete with smaller private jets or converted business jets like the Airbus ACJ and Boeing BBJ series. Photo: Airbus While the current range of the SSJ-VIP is unknown, we could expect it to compete with private jets like the Embraer Praetor 500 or Legacy 500 in terms of range (roughly 3,200mn). Both of these aircraft cost much less ($16-18mn) than a standard SSJ100 but also seat far fewer passengers (depending on the configuration). However, the SSJ-VIP could also try and compete with the recently-announced larger A220ACJ. Since the SSJ100 is already an established jet, it could be looking to pry away market share from Airbus and Boeing. Market growing It’s clear that Sukhoi is trying to take advantage of the growing demand for private jets. The pandemic has pushed many of those considering flying private over commercial to take the leap due to the higher exposure. While this still only represents a tiny group of travelers, it is enough to help luxury jet operators in the last year. The coming months will provide more details about the price, range, and configuration of the SSJ-VIP. Considering the market right now, the Superjet could see demand from many customers. https://simpleflying.com/sukhoi-sj100-private-jet/ Jetmakers to lose orders in Norwegian restructuring: sources (Reuters) - Planemakers Airbus and Boeing are bracing for hefty jet order cancellations from troubled Norwegian Air amid restructuring proceedings, industry sources said. Norwegian last year won protection from bankruptcy in both Norway and Ireland, where most of its assets are registered, and is aiming to emerge with fewer aircraft and less debt. The Irish High Court this week is hearing arguments concerning the repudiation of some of Norwegian’s liabilities including aircraft leases. “There is a hearing ongoing and we can’t comment until that is over,” a Norwegian spokesman said. Airbus declined to comment. Boeing was not immediately available for comment. Norwegian has 88 A320neo-family narrow-body jets on order from Airbus, according to the manufacturer. The airline said last June it had cancelled orders for 97 Boeing jets and would claim compensation for the grounding of the 737 MAX and for 787 Dreamliner engine troubles. However, the orders for 5 Dreamliners and 92 MAX remain posted on the Boeing website, indicating the U.S. planemaker has until now asserted its rights on the contract. Boeing has received significant cancellations of the 737 MAX after the plane was grounded for almost two years in the wake of two fatal crashes. Planemakers have not so far faced sizeable cancellations directly related to the coronavirus crisis as deliveries were cushioned by deposits held on account, industry sources say. But pressure is growing on jet order books as the pandemic extends into a second year. Airbus is meanwhile locked in tough negotiations with another major budget carrier, Malaysia's AirAsia. Several sources said discussions focused on whether AirAsia, one of Airbus' largest customers with some 400 planes on order across the group, could not only delay deliveries but also obtain a partial return of deposits, seen as a rare move. Airbus and AirAsia have repeatedly declined comment on aircraft negotiations. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/airbus-boeing-face-cancellations-norwegian-123800826.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