Flight Safety Information - April 23, 2021 No. 083 In This Issue : Don't Just Be Proactive, Be Predictive : Incident: EuroAtlantic B772 at Beja on Apr 21st 2021, unreliable airspeed : ProSafeT - Creating A Paradigm Shift in the Aviation Industry : Incident: Vietnam A321 at Thanh Hoa on Apr 21st 2021, bird strike : Incident: China Airlines A359 at Ho Chi Minh City on Apr 11th 2021, bird strike : Boeing still working on fix for 106 grounded 737 MAX planes -U.S. FAA : How often do airline pilots find problems during preflight walk-arounds? : AVIATION WRITER MARTHA LUNKEN'S PILOT CERTIFICATES REVOKED : American Airlines posts $1.25 billion loss, delays new jets : Emirates may need to raise cash if air travel does not pick up : Delta plans to buy 25 Airbus planes amid expected travel rebound : SpaceX Crew Dragon, 4 astronauts lift off to space station Incident: EuroAtlantic B772 at Beja on Apr 21st 2021, unreliable airspeed An EuroAtlantic Airways Boeing 777-200, registration CS-TFM performing positioning flight YU-709 from Beja to Lisbon (Portugal) with 3 crew and more than 10 hours of fuel on board, was climbing out of Beja when the crew declared PAN PAN advising they had unreliable airspeed. The crew stopped the climb at 10,000 feet MSL, requested delay vectors to burn off fuel and descended towards Lisbon. ATC advised their radar was showing them at 3000 feet (the aircraft was cleared to 4000 feet), the crew reported they had 4000 feet indicated, ATC further reported their radar was showing 221 knots (over ground), the crew reported they were indicating 200 KIAS. The aircraft landed safely on Lisbon's runway 21 about 30 minutes after departure from Beja. The aircraft had positioned to Beja on Mar 14th 2021 obviously for maintenance. After departure from Beja on Apr 21st 2021 the aircraft is now still on the ground in Lisbon about 21 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=4e64a9d3&opt=0 Incident: Vietnam A321 at Thanh Hoa on Apr 21st 2021, bird strike A Vietnam Airlines Airbus A321-200, registration VN-A339 performing flight VN-1500 from Dalat to Thanh Hoa (Vietnam), landed on Thanh Hoa's Tho Xuan Airport's runway 31 but received a bird strike damaging the aft brakes hydraulic line at the right main landing gear. The aircraft slowed safely and taxied to the apron. The aircraft was unable to perform the return flight. A replacement A321-200 registration VN-A327 positioned to Thanh Hoa and reached Dalat as flight VN-1501 with a delay of 4 hours. The occurrence aircraft needed to remain on the ground for repairs and departed for the next flight about 7.5 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=4e64a3f5&opt=0 Incident: China Airlines A359 at Ho Chi Minh City on Apr 11th 2021, bird strike A China Airlines Airbus A350-900, registration B-18903 performing flight CI-783 from Taipei (Taiwan) to Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) with no passengers and just crew, had departed Taipei's runway 23R and landed on Ho Chi Minh City's runway 25R about 3 hours after departure. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 20 hours, then departed for the return flight CI-782 and took the passengers waiting for the return flight to Taipei. The airline reported the aircraft was operating their weekly scheduled flight into Ho Chi Minh City without passengers due to the ongoing Pandemic and the associated travel restrictions. The aircraft however was bound to take several dozens of passengers from Ho Chi Minh City back to Taipei. After landing in Ho Chi Minh City damage was found to the left hand wing and fuselage, a hole with about 30cm (11 inches) diameter was found, the aircraft needed to be repaired before it could perform the return flight. It remained unclear when and where the bird strike had occurred. https://avherald.com/h?article=4e64a140&opt=0 Boeing still working on fix for 106 grounded 737 MAX planes -U.S. FAA WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Thursday said 106 Boeing 737 MAX airplanes have been grounded worldwide by an electrical issue and said the U.S. planemaker is still working on a fix. Boeing disclosed an electrical power system issue on April 7 and recommended operators temporarily remove these airplanes from service. The problem involved the electrical grounding - or connections designed to maintain safety in the event of a surge of voltage - inside a backup power control system. The FAA said Thursday "subsequent analysis and testing showed the issue could involve additional systems." The FAA said in a formal notice to international air regulators that 106 airplanes are covered, including 71 registered in the United States. "All of these airplanes remain on the ground while Boeing continues to develop a proposed fix," the agency added. The FAA said Boeing's investigation showed the issue could impact the standby power control unit, a circuit breaker panel and main instrument panel. The notice said the "FAA expects to issue an airworthiness directive mandating corrective action before further flight for all affected airplanes." Boeing spokeswoman Jessica Kowal said "we concur with the FAA notice and continue to work closely with the regulator and our customers to address the issue." The top three U.S. 737 MAX operators - Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines - removed more than 60 jets from service following the notice from Boeing. U.S. carriers said they expect the issue will be resolved soon, potentially in the next week or two. American Airlines President Robert Isom said "we have a pretty good idea of exactly what the issue is and the remedies that need to be attended to." The FAA said other carriers impacted include Cayman Airways, Copa Airlines, GOL Linhas Aereas, Iceland Air, Minsheng Leasing, Neos Air, Shanding Airlines, SilkAir, Spice Jet, Sunwing Airlines, TUI, Turkish Airlines, Valla Jets Limited, WestJet Airlines and Xiamen Airlines. The FAA said it "verified all operators with affected airplanes have voluntarily taken those aircraft out of service." The FAA said the production issue "is not related to recertification of the flight control system on the 737 MAX, ungrounding of the aircraft, or its return to service." Boeing has delivered more than 450 MAX airplanes. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/faa-says-boeing-still-working-144348650.html How often do airline pilots find problems during preflight walk-arounds? by: John Cox When the pilots do their pre-flight exterior walk-around, how often do they find anything, considering it a is a cursory look? – Dan Hill, Las Vegas It is actually much more than a cursory look. And yes, pilots do find discrepancies. It is not frequent, but it does happen. Usually, the finding is a tire that has become worn, a brake that is near its limit or a hydraulic actuator that move a flight control (such as the flaps on the wings) that is leaking. Once the discrepancy is found, a call to maintenance results in a licensed maintenance technician inspecting the component and determining if it is within limits or if maintenance must be performed. Airplanes are designed for some maintenance to be done at the gate. An example is a tire that is worn to the limit. A crew of technicians can change that tire quickly, usually within half an hour while the airplane is at the gate. Oftentimes, passengers are not even aware this is taking place unless it results in a takeoff delay. The maintenance process is very thorough, and works well to keep the fleet safe. It depends on maintenance technicians and pilot being vigilant during their visual inspections. There is not an “average” time for airplanes between heavy maintenance due to the vastly different usage of airplanes. Some fly many cycles (takeoffs and landings) per day while others fly only a few. Some fly many hours on international routes while others fly a few hours at night and sit during the day. My friends in maintenance tell me that they expect to see an airplane in heavy maintenance around every two years. The time planes spend in heavy maintenance can vary but they're usually out of service for several weeks. As for who performs that heavy maintenance, the work is usually outsourced to a company that specializes in this type of work. They are located around the world, resulting in airplanes from many different countries being overhauled in many different locations. In fact, it is very common for U.S. airplanes to be sent overseas for heavy maintenance. There are heavy maintenance facilities in Mexico and I have seen several U.S. airplanes in Hong Kong. There are a few heavy maintenance facilities in the U.S., such as in Tampa, Florida. But most airliners' planes are sent overseas for maintenance. A few airlines have their own heavy maintenance facilities such as San Francisco or Tulsa, Oklahoma, but the number has decreased over the years. John Cox is a retired airline captain with US Airways and runs his own aviation safety consulting company, Safety Operating Systems. The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/cox/2021/04/22/how-often-do-pilots-find-problems-during-preflight-walk-arounds/7316905002/ AVIATION WRITER MARTHA LUNKEN'S PILOT CERTIFICATES REVOKED 'KNEW IT WAS WRONG' TO FLY UNDER OHIO BRIDGE The FAA has revoked author and Flying magazine Contributing Editor Martha Lunken’s pilot certificates because she flew under a bridge in Ohio in 2020. Lunken told AOPA on April 21 that “the FAA deserved to discipline me—and severely” for flying under the 239-foot-tall Jeremiah Morrow Bridge, which carries Interstate 71 over the Little Miami River in southwestern Ohio and has main spans of 440 feet. The outspoken 98-pound aviator who has delivered hundreds of checkrides to pilots of Douglas DC–3s, Lockheed Model 18 Lodestars, and Fairchild Swearingen Metroliners said the enforcement action hit her hard. She disagreed with the administration’s action that revoked all of her pilot certificates, including her airline transport pilot certificate. The certificate revocation letter contained a phrase that said Lunken could not be trusted to conform with aviation regulations, and it mandated that she reapply for flying privileges as a student, which she plans to do. Lunken, who flies from a public airport that bears her last name, said that she was “out boring holes in the sky in my [Cessna] 180 and made a couple of landings” at the Lumberton grass strip northeast of Cincinnati in March 2020. She was on her way home to Cincinnati Municipal Airport/Lunken Field when “I looked over my shoulder and saw the bridge and I said out loud, ‘God, before I get too old, I have to fly under that bridge one time.’” Lunken said that “it provided no danger to anyone, but of course I knew it was illegal. But I did it anyway.” A six-year, $88 million construction project recently shored up the heavily traveled interstate bridge. AOPA Legal Services Plan attorney Ian Arendt recently wrote about FAR 91.119, the regulation that mandates pilots maintain a safe distance from any person, place, or structure, in “congested” or “uncongested areas.” “She wouldn’t be the first person I’ve talked to that had the thought to fly under a bridge,” Arendt said. In a congested area, pilots must fly “1,000 feet above the highest obstacle within a horizontal radius of 2,000 feet of the aircraft” other than when taking off or landing. In an “other than congested area” the clearances are less, but Arendt reminded pilots that FAA regulations say an aircraft may not be operated at less than 500 feet above the surface; and that “over ‘open water’ or a ’sparsely populated area,’ an aircraft may not be operated closer than 500 feet from any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure.” Moreover, he reiterated that pilots must “always maintain a sufficient altitude to avoid undue hazard to persons or property on the surface in the event of an emergency landing.” The FAA describes careless or reckless operation in FAR 91.13. “If a pilot is doing something potentially hazardous like flying under an active bridge, the FAA may allege that you are endangering people driving on the bridge, or people under the bridge doing recreational activities. The FAA also may allege you are in danger of damaging the bridge itself,” Arendt said. “Potential endangerment of persons or property is sufficient to invoke a certificate action.” The area under the bridge attracts the public to hiking and biking trails, and the river and nearby streams are popular fishing locations. Lunken said she is familiar with the area because she participates in outdoor activities there. The Cessna 180’s transponder intermittently stopped squawking a code to Cincinnati approach during the flight, and Lunken, a longtime FAA safety official, said she believes that landings earlier in the day at the Lumberton grass strip may have shaken her transponder loose. An Ohio Department of Transportation surveillance camera on the bridge captured an image of Lunken’s aircraft flying under it. Lunken didn’t think much else about it until the FAA contacted her weeks later. By then she was in touch with an aviation lawyer but didn’t hear anything further “whatsoever” for many months. “I know that after about six months that’s sort of a drop-dead date from the FAA regarding suspensions,” she said. “Every day, I’d look in the mailbox and think, ‘Is it here?’ In March [2021], a year and a week after the event, there’s a big box on my porch with radar tracks,” other evidence, and “an FAA letter with an emergency revocation of all my pilot certificates” inside. “As soon as Martha knew about it, she let us know,” said Flying magazine Editor-in-Chief Julie Boatman. “She’s been up front with us about it since day one.” The magazine posted a note on its Facebook site that acknowledged Lunken made a “mistake in judgment” and will “be working towards the return of her flying status in the future.” “It makes you feel like you’re nothing,” Lunken said. “I can’t describe to you the hole inside me. It’s my life.” https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2021/april/22/aviation-writer-martha-lunkens-pilot-certificates-revoked American Airlines posts $1.25 billion loss, delays new jets FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — American Airlines said Thursday that it lost $1.25 billion in the first quarter and continued to slash costs, including delaying delivery of new jets as it waits for air travel to recover from the pandemic. Chairman and CEO Doug Parker said the airline continues to see signs that demand for tickets is improving. American said it burned through $27 million in cash each day in the quarter, down from $30 million a day in the fourth quarter of 2020. The airline said it reduced 2021 costs by more than $1.3 billion, including a new round of voluntary buyouts that will result in 1,600 employees leaving the company. Leisure travel within the U.S. has picked up recently, with about 1.4 million travelers going through airports each day this month. Still, that remains about 40% below the pre-pandemic pace of 2019. With less traffic, American reached a deal with Boeing to delay delivery of 23 737 Max jets until 2023 and 2024 and convert five of those to a larger version of the plane. American expects to take 14 Max jets over the next 12 months. The first-quarter loss was roughly in line with Wall Street expectations. Excluding federal payroll aid and other temporary items, American said it lost $4.32 per share. The average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by FactSet was a loss of $4.30 per share. A year ago, when the pandemic was just starting to hit the U.S., American lost $2.24 billion. Revenue was $4.01 billion, just shy of the $4.04 billion forecast by analysts and down 53% from $8.52 billion a year ago. Shares of Texas-based American Airlines Group Inc. rose 2% in trading before the opening bell. https://www.yahoo.com/news/american-airlines-posts-1-25-114937161.html Emirates may need to raise cash if air travel does not pick up DUBAI (Reuters) - Emirates may need to raise more cash this year, possibly through another equity injection from the Dubai government, if demand for air travel does not pick up soon, its president said on Wednesday. The state carrier had hoped the global vaccine rollout would renew confidence in air travel but demand remains at very low levels, leaving many airlines to ground planes or fly them near-empty. "We are good for another six, seven or eight months in terms of cash. We have sufficient cash coming in to be able to keep the day-to-day operation at a neutral basis," Tim Clark told the online World Aviation Festival. "But like everybody else, if in six months global demand is where it is today then we are all going to face difficulties. Not just Emirates" Emirates, which lost 12.6 billion dirhams ($ 3.4 billion) in the first half of the year, got $2 billion in equity in 2020 from the Dubai government, its sole shareholder. The airline would make a recommendation to the government on raising cash, Clark said without saying exactly when that would be done. The recommendation could be for equity injection, or for the airline to raise debt or to take other measures, he said without specifying. "The balance sheet is pretty strong regardless of what has happened." The cash situation, however, could be turned around by September-October as long as demand picks up, Clark said, adding that he hoped the airline would not have to seek cash. Emirates has resumed flights with all of its 151 Boeing 777 jets which are mainly carrying cargo, with about 20,000 to 30,000 passengers a day. Clark said the airline could retain some of its older 777 passenger jets that are due to retire and instead convert them into cargo-only planes as freight demand remains high. He said that he expected there would be demand for business class travel post-pandemic even if corporate travel does diminish through executives opting to hold meetings online instead of travelling. Demand would likely be supported by cheaper fares to fill business class seats if corporate travel does not rebound, he said. Clark, who was due to retire last year, said he wanted to set the airline on its future course before he retires, but added he no longer knew when that would be. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/emirates-may-raise-cash-air-155328377.html Delta plans to buy 25 Airbus planes amid expected travel rebound Delta Air Lines announced Thursday it was exercising options to buy 25 Airbus A321neo aircraft and accelerating deliveries of three other planes as it banks on a rebound in travel demand as Covid-19 ebbs. The US carrier also announced an additional 25 purchase rights for the A321neo, the latest model in Airbus's A320 narrowbody series, the most-ordered series in commercial aviation history ahead of the Boeing 737. "With our customers ready to reclaim the joy of travel, this agreement positions Delta for growth while accounting for the planned retirements of older narrowbody aircraft in our fleet," Delta Senior Vice President Mahendra Nair said in a statement. Nair added that the addition "addresses our carbon footprint, increases efficiency and elevates the customer experience." The new planes would be delivered in the first half of 2022. Delta also said it would take deliveries of two A350-900s and one A330-900neo by the second half of next year, earlier than initially planned. "We have managed the challenges of the last year together with our customers, and it is gratifying to be taking steps like this one towards the regrowth of our industry with our longstanding partner, Delta," Airbus Chief Commercial Officer Christian Scherer said. Airlines worldwide have been slammed by a drop in travel demand caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, but as vaccinations become widespread in the United States, carriers have announced plans to bring back staff and restart shuttered routes. Delta last week reported a quarterly loss, but pointed to an expected return to profitability later in 2021 amid quickly rising travel demand. The big US carrier was cashflow positive in March for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic hit a year earlier as more newly vaccinated Americans booked vacations. https://www.yahoo.com/news/delta-plans-buy-25-airbus-222851009.htm SpaceX Crew Dragon, 4 astronauts lift off to space station After a one-day delay, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Friday to boost a Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts into orbit for a one-day trip to the International Space Station. Liftoff from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center occurred right on time at 5:49 a.m. EDT, setting up an automated rendezvous and docking at the space station early Saturday. The SpaceX "Crew-2" flight will mark only the third launch of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil since the space shuttle's retirement 10 years ago. It is the second operational flight under NASA's Commercial Crew Program and the first to use a previously-flown first stage booster and a refurbished Crew Dragon capsule making its second flight. "We went through a pretty exhaustive process with SpaceX to look at what we needed to refurbish on those systems, and go through (the) engineering reviews to make sure they're safe to fly. And I think the team did an awesome job." Commander Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Japanese flier Akihiko Hoshide had planned to take off Thursday, but predicted high winds and rough seas along the Crew Dragon's northeasterly flight path prompted mission managers Wednesday to order a 24-hour delay. The weather was, in fact, no-go Thursday, but the forecast for Friday called for a 90% chance of good conditions at the launch site and moderate winds and waves off shore along a track from Florida's east coast to the north Atlantic Ocean where the crew could be forced to ditch in a launch emergency. But if all goes well as expected, the Crew Dragon capsule, which carried McArthur's husband, astronaut Bob Behnken, into orbit last May, will be released into orbit to fly on its own about 12 minutes after liftoff. Kimbrough and company, all space veterans, will configure the ship for orbital flight and monitor the initial thruster firings in a computer-controlled rendezvous sequence before calling it a day at 2 p.m. Docking at the space station's forward port is expected at 5:10 a.m. Saturday. Standing by to welcome the Crew-2 astronauts aboard will be Soyuz MS-18/64S commander Oleg Novitskiy, Pyotr Dubrov and NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, launched to the outpost April 9, and Crew-1 astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi. They were launched last November in the first operational flight of a Crew Dragon. The arrival of the Crew-2 astronauts will briefly boost the lab's crew from seven to 11, two shy of a record set during two shuttle visits during the station's assembly. The outpost has seven sleeping compartments, two in the Russian segment and five used by NASA and partner-agency astronauts. That will force the Crew-2 astronauts to "camp out" around the station until Hopkins, Glover, Walker and Noguchi undock and return to Earth on April 28 to close out a 164-day mission. "Some of them will be in bunks in the Dragons, we'll have actually two Dragons docked for the first time," Jurczyk said, "and some of them will be camping out in some of the modules. So there will be a little bit of camping going on." Before departing, space station commander Walker plans to turn the lab over to Hoshide, who will be the astronaut in command during the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. All seven crew members face a particularly busy six months in space with multiple U.S. and Russian spacewalks planned, the arrival of four cargo ships loaded with science gear, crew supplies, spare parts and new roll-out solar array blankets needed to boost the lab's power. Four NASA-planned spacewalks will be needed to install two sets of IROSA solar blankets and two cosmonaut outings are planned to make connections between the station and a new Russian laboratory module that's scheduled for launch in mid July atop a powerful Proton rocket. To make way for the new laboratory compartment, the cosmonaut crew plans to jettison the station's Pirs docking and airlock compartment, using an attached Progress supply ship to drive it back into the atmosphere. After the lab module is docked in place of Pirs, Novitskiy, Dubrov and Vande Hei will strap into their Soyuz and fly it to docking at a port on the newly-arrived lab. The Crew-2 astronauts and the Soyuz MS-18/64S crew will return to Earth in late September and mid October respectively. https://www.yahoo.com/news/spacex-crew-dragon-4-astronauts-175835301.html Manager, Internal Evaluation Program 1. Minimum Qualifications a. At least 3 years of auditing experience with a Part 121 airline, in either maintenance or flight operations b. At least 2 years of supervisory/managerial experience c. US citizen or have the legal right to accept employment in the United States d. Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite e. Possess strong leadership, written, verbal and interpersonal skills f. Must be able to work with a variety of personalities and conduct professional interviews g. Ability to organize own work, while working under pressure to meet tight deadlines h. Must be detail oriented i. Ability to maintain professional conduct at all times j. Ability to maintain confidentiality k. Must be a self-starter 2. Preferred Qualifications a. Bachelor’s degree or higher in aviation or safety-related field b. FAA license, such as a Commercial Pilot’s License, an Airframe and Powerplant License (A&P), or Dispatcher license c. IOSA familiarity d. Safety Management System (SMS) familiarity e. Technical writing experience f. Knowledge and/or experience with Q-Pulse 3. Authorities a. Develop and maintain processes for the Internal Evaluation Program, approved by the Director of Safety, to include authoring procedures in airline manuals b. Develop and maintain an IEP auditor training curriculum, approved by the Director of Safety, ensuring auditors are trained and qualified to conduct IEP audits as assigned 4. Duties and Responsibilities a. Coordinate with the Director of Safety to establish and maintain an auditing schedule and required checklists b. Assign IEP audits to trained and qualified IEP auditors to ensure completion of all audits in a timely and accurate manner c. Supplement the conduct of scheduled audits d. Conduct Special Audits as assigned by the Director of Safety e. Ensure the IEP Auditor position is staffed by an appropriately qualified individual f. Conduct initial and recurrent auditor training g. Develop and manage audit and finding processes within the Q-Pulse system h. Assist operational departments regarding responses to audit outputs in Q-Pulse i. Assist in the development of processes for IEP-related SMS activity j. Facilitate completion of the Swift Air IOSA Conformance Report according to IOSA requirements k. Participate in FAA, IOSA, and DoD audits as requested by the Director of Safety l. Attend industry meetings as appropriate to maintain currency with industry best practices related to the Internal Evaluation Program 5. Reporting Chain a. The Manager, IEP reports directly to the Director of Safety APPLY to Safety Director at: ecates@flyiaero.com Curt Lewis