Flight Safety Information - July 9, 2021 No. 137 In This Issue : Accident: Aliansa DC3 at Villavicencio on Jul 8th 2021, aircraft missing, contact lost : Incident: Brussels A319 at Brussels on Jul 8th 2021, bird strike : Incident: Baltic BCS3 at Manchester on Jul 7th 2021, bird strike : Incident: France B773 at Mexico City on Jul 4th 2021, hard landing : Incident: European Charter MD82 near Sofia on Jul 7th 2021, engine shut down in flight : Nine found dead in Swedish airplane crash -police : Man who refused to wear mask on flight fined $10,500 : Sarasota woman allegedly spits on passengers, dragged off flight for refusing to wear mask : Plane crash emphasises Russian poor safety record, regional woes : Air Methods’ Safety Management System Recognized by the FAA : 1,000 gallons of jet fuel spill at Topeka Regional Airport : FAA imposes new ‘cumbersome’ rules for some pilot training, citing improved safety : American Airlines Joins White House to Distribute COVID-19 Vaccine Globally : IATA airlines head sees transatlantic re-opening in weeks : Air Taxi Manufacturers Need to Start Thinking About Pilot Training Now : How Qantas’ A380 Pilots Are Coping With Not Flying : Airbus jet deliveries rose 52% in first half of 2021 : FAA begins use of system to reduce impact of launches on airspace : FDM / FOQA Training : Position Available: Specialist - Flight Safety Investigations : ISASI 2021 Accident: Aliansa DC3 at Villavicencio on Jul 8th 2021, aircraft missing, contact lost An Aliansa Douglas DC-3, registration HK-2820 performing a test flight from Villavicencio to Villavicencio (Colombia) with 3 crew, was climbing out of Villavicencio about 5 minutes after the departure when radar and radio contact was lost. The aircraft has not landed at any airport. A search for the missing aircraft is underway. Colombia's Aerocivil reported the DC-3 HK-2820 is missing since 07:05L (12:05Z), when radar and radio contact was lost, after departure from Villavicencio at 07:00L (12:00Z). Local media report the crew declared emergency shortly after departure, the search is currently focussing on the Guatiquia river canyon east of the aerodrome. Colombia's Civil Defense reported the aircraft was on a training mission, it has not yet been found. Colombian Authorities reported the aircraft had been repaired and performed a test flight. The aircraft is suspected in the Guatiquia river canyon northwest of the aerodrome between the villages of Restrepo and El Cavario at an altitude of about 1600-1700 meters. No Metars are available for SKVV, the local weather station reported at 08:00L light drizzle, temperature at 22 degrees C, dew point 21 degrees C, humidity 94%, winds from westnorthwest at 7kph (4 knots), Pressure 966 hPa. At 11:00L there were thunderstorms reported. https://avherald.com/h?article=4ea0278b&opt=0 Incident: Brussels A319 at Brussels on Jul 8th 2021, bird strike A Brussels Airlines Airbus A319-100, registration OO-SSN performing flight SN-3215 from Brussels (Belgium) to Milan Malpensa (Italy) with 141 people on board, was in the initial climb out of Brussels' runway 25R when the crew declared PAN PAN reporting a right hand engine (CFM56) problem due to bird strike. The crew stopped the climb at 3000 feet, positioned for an approach to runway 25R and landed safely about 15 minutes after departure. A replacement A319-100 registration OO-SSV reached Milan with a delay of 190 minutes. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground about 10 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=4ea04885&opt=0 Incident: Baltic BCS3 at Manchester on Jul 7th 2021, bird strike An Air Baltic Bombardier C-Series CS-300, registration YL-CSL performing flight BT-671 from Riga (Latvia) to Manchester,EN (UK), departed Riga's runway 18, climbed to FL400 enroute and landed safely on Manchester's runway 23R. A post flight inspection revealed a bird had impacted the leading edge of the left hand wing. The aircraft was unable to perform the return flight BT-672, which needed to be cancelled. The aircraft remained on the ground in Manchester for about 15 hours, then positioned to Riga and is still on the ground in Riga 8 hours after landing in Riga and about 26 hours after landing in Manchester. https://avherald.com/h?article=4ea0353a&opt=0 Incident: France B773 at Mexico City on Jul 4th 2021, hard landing An Air France Boeing 777-300, registration F-GSQI performing flight AF-178 from Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) to Mexico City (Mexico), landed hard on Mexico City's runway 23L at 21:50Z and taxied to the apron, the crew maintained routine communication. A United Airbus A319-100 registration N890UA performing flight UA-1090 from Houston Intercontinental,TX (USA) to Mexico City, landed on runway 23L just after the Air France Boeing 777 and reported a large chunk of unknown substance, possibly a tyre, on the runway in the touchdown zone, the foreign object debris was not from them. The Boeing 777 remained on the ground in Mexico for 3 days, then positioned as flight AF-6700 to Paris and resumed service on Jul 8th 2021. https://avherald.com/h?article=4ea0317d&opt=0 Incident: European Charter MD82 near Sofia on Jul 7th 2021, engine shut down in flight A European Air Charter McDonnell Douglas MD-82, registration LZ-LDJ performing flight 1T-8339 from Heraklion (Greece) to Linz (Austria) with 103 passengers and 6 crew, was enroute at FL340 about 180nm southwest of Sofia (Bulgaria) in Albanian Airspace when the crew needed to shut the right hand engine (JT8D) down. The crew decided to divert to Sofia, drifted down and landed safely on Sofia's runway 09 about 45 minutes after leaving FL340. A replacement A320-200 registration LZ-LAA reached Linz with a delay of about 3 hours. Austrianwings reported European Air Charter set up a temporary home base at Linz Airport. https://avherald.com/h?article=4ea01dbb&opt=0 Nine found dead in Swedish airplane crash -police STOCKHOLM, July 8 (Reuters) - All nine people onboard were found dead in the crash of an airplane outside Orebro, Sweden, on Thursday, Swedish police said. "It's a very severe accident," Swedish police said on their website. "Everyone on board the crashed plane has died." Police said the plane, a DHC-2 Turbo Beaver, was carrying eight skydivers and one pilot. It crashed close to the runway at Orebro airport shortly after takeoff and caught fire at impact. "It is with great sadness and sorrow that I have received the tragic information about the plane crash in Orebro," Prime Minister Stefan Lofven wrote on Twitter. "My thoughts are with the victims, their families and loved ones in this very difficult time." In a similar accident, nine people died in northern Sweden in 2019 when a plane carrying skydivers crashed shortly after takeoff. The crash investigation showed the plane had been improperly loaded. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/airplane-carrying-nine-people-crashes-sweden-tt-news-agency-2021-07-08/ Man who refused to wear mask on flight fined $10,500 SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A man who refused to wear a mask on an Allegiant flight departing from Utah has been fined $10,500. The passenger refused to wear a mask over his mouth and nose on the Feb. 27 flight from Provo, Utah, to Mesa, Arizona, the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday. Flight attendants said they instructed the man to wear his mask properly seven times, but he removed it each time they walked away. The FAA said when the passenger was asked to cooperate, he argued with the flight attendant, refused to provide identification and said he would continue pulling his mask down. The passenger approached a flight attendant after the flight landed and touched her, the agency said. The FAA said he then got close to her and complained to her about her enforcement of the policy, which intimidated the flight attendant and made her cry. The passenger’s name and place of residence have not been released. The FAA has imposed eight other civil penalties, ranging from $7,500 to $21,500, this week on passengers who refused to wear masks. The FAA has received at least 3,200 reports of unruly passenger behavior since January, including about 2,475 reports of passengers refusing to comply with the federal mask mandate. The FAA has identified potential violations in 540 cases and has begun enforcement action — including more than $682,000 in fines — in 83 cases. https://apnews.com/article/health-az-state-wire-00fd295f5ee846d2cc5ad01a97d31a2f Sarasota woman allegedly spits on passengers, dragged off flight for refusing to wear mask TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A Sarasota woman was forcibly removed from a plane by police after refusing to wear a mask on Wednesday morning, according to a report. NBC 6 reports Adelaide Schrowang, 23, was aboard a flight leaving Fort Myers, and was violating the plane’s mask rules and acting unruly, according to witnesses. Federal law requires all passengers wear a face covering while on board planes. Flight attendants say Schrowang became irate after being ordered off the plane and spit on other passengers. The captain asked police officers to remove her from the flight. Schrowang was arrested on several charges including interfering with aircraft operations, resisting officers and trespass, then booked into the Lee County Jail, where she is being held in lieu of $20,000 bond, according to online jail records. https://www.wfla.com/news/local-news/sarasota-woman-allegedly-spit-on-passengers-dragged-off-flight-for-refusing-to-wear-mask/ Plane crash emphasises Russian poor safety record, regional woes Plane crashes are not uncommon in Russia, and Tuesday’s tragedy in a remote region has spurred calls for solutions. A plane crash in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula emblematises the nation’s deteriorating aviation safety record and a much bigger problem of its gigantic Far East region that faces depopulation despite its mineral riches, according to experts. All 22 passengers and six crew on board the An-28 aircraft, including two children, died after the aircraft crashed into a rock that towers over the Sea of Okhotsk in northwestern Kamchatka, Russia’s volcano-studded Pacific peninsula, on a foggy, cloudy Tuesday afternoon. Rescue workers continue to comb through the area of some 20 square kilometres (about 8 sq miles) in search of debris and the plane’s flight recorder, the Emergency Ministry said. There is no official conclusion into what triggered Tuesday’s crash, but Russian prosecutors say that possible causes may include a pilot’s error, bad weather or a technical glitch. The incident indicates a larger problem of small Russian airlines operating decades-old planes that need better equipment, such as instrument landing systems, that ensure the precision of flights, experts told Al Jazeera. Newer equipment would increase the usability of each airport in bad weather – something known in aviation as a “meteorological minima”. “This will give a chance to increase the meteorological minima, when safe takeoffs and landings are possible,” Oleg Panteleyev, a Moscow-based expert with the Infomost Consulting agency, told Al Jazeera. Russia also has one of the world’s worst safety records. According to a 2018 report by the Interstate Aviation Committee, a group that oversees air safety standards in the post-Soviet Union states, pilots’ errors cause 75 percent of plane crashes and other accidents in Russia and other ex-USSR states. Some of the most recent deadliest crashes in Russia include the December 2016 tragedy, which saw a military plane crash into the Black Sea after taking off from Sochi International Airport, killing 92 people – including 64 members of the army choir on their way to Syria to perform for Russian troops. In November 2013, a Boeing-737 owned by Russian company Tatarstan crashed in the Volga region city of Kazan, killing 50 passengers and crew. In April 2010, all 96 people on board a Tupolev-154 Polish air force plane carrying Poland’s president and top Polish officials died in a crash near the western Russian city of Smolensk. “There is reliably one big crash with corpses per year,” Mikhail Barabanov, an analyst with the Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, a Moscow-based think tank, said in a Facebook post in 2019, shortly after an emergency landing of an Aeroflot SSJ-100 plane in Moscow killed 41. A dying region In Kamchatka, planes are the only reliable way of moving around the region, a United Kingdom-sized peninsula with a population of mere 320,000. Kamchatka’s mountainous terrain, numerous rivers and Siberian climate make the construction of asphalt roads impossible. “There are no roads and land [transport] infrastructure as such, they’re minimal only in the coastal areas,” Moscow-based air safety expert Roman Gusarov told Al Jazeera. “That’s why they operate small regional planes, mostly with turboprop engines, that are capable of landing on small airports with sort airstrips,” he said. These airlines are vital to Russia, the world’s largest nation by landmass, where permafrost and huge distances make roads unreliable and impassable. Kamchatka exemplifies these typically Russian conditions – and the reason why the eastern part of the nation of 143 million facing a catastrophic depopulation. “There are no roads in principle” in the peninsula’s north, said Kamchatka native Natalia Sushko. She was born on the peninsula’s south 62 years ago, but left it for the “continent”, as mainland Russia is called there, in 2013. “Kamchatka is unimaginably beautiful, but that’s it. The summer lasts two or three months, but the rest of the year is rains, humidity, cold, winds and blizzards,” said Sushko, who now lives in a Moscow suburb. Her departure is part of a mass exodus from Kamchatka and the rest of Russia’s Far East, a gargantuan chunk of Northeastern Asia that borders Alaska, China, North Korea and Japan and comprises two-fifths of Russia’s territory. That is a bit more than all of Australia, but the region’s population is just 8.2 million. And that is 20 percent down from before the Soviet collapse. Despite promises of free land and other perks, people still leave the region in droves, and by 2050, there could be fewer than four million people living there, demographers predict. Planes and helicopters of all kinds played a key role in the Soviet Union’s effort to develop the resource-rich region. Communist Moscow developed an aviation network that would transport people, food, drugs, medical equipment and even hay. “We used to fly hay to the Far North so that children could drink milk,” Vitali Shelkovnikov, who heads the Moscow-based Flight Safety consulting agency, told Al Jazeera. The cows that ate the hay were blind because of months-long Arctic nights, but their milk was still good for the kids, he said. Official response Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the bereaved families, and the regional governor pledged financial compensations of up to $5,000. “We will do everything to help [you] survive this tragedy,” Vladimir Solodov told families of the victims in the town of Palana. Some locals, however, believe that the tragedy could have been prevented – because a similar plane crashed into the same rock nine years ago. In 2012, another An-28 with 14 people on board collided with the Pyatibratka (Of Five Brothers) rock. Only four passengers survived, and a wooden Orthodox cross with the names of the dead marks the collision site. Locals pledged to have the rock blown up or change the route of planes landing in Palana. Aviation officials supported the idea, the local Kamchatka Info publication reported. But authorities did not respond. “They didn’t even care to reply,” a local resident told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/8/plane-crash-emphasises-russian-poor-safety-record-regional-woes Air Methods’ Safety Management System Recognized by the FAA Estimated one percent of Part 135 operators to officially have achieved the FAA’s letter of acceptance DENVER, CO., July 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Tuesday, January 6th, Air Methods (AMC), the leading air medical service in the country, received its letter of acknowledgement from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) accepting AMC’s Safety Management System (SMS). In the United States there are 1,977 Part 135 operators, and Air Methods is one of 21 to receive this recognition. “At Air Methods, safety is our number one priority and the recognition by the FAA regarding our SMS program is a significant accomplishment. When you think about the complexity of our operations and what happens during a patient transport, the process of SMS is vital to bringing all those pieces together that make up a safe air medical transport mission,” says JaeLynn Williams, CEO of Air Methods. “This is not a requirement of a Part-135 operator but to be among the 1% of organizations to have achieved this level of SMS accreditation is outstanding. This is a testament to our level of commitment and innovation in the air medical safety environment.” In line with the prevention of incidents and injuries, each Air Methods teammate is accountable for the performance of our Safety Management System (SMS). SMS defines teammate responsibilities and standards to manage and control the risks inherent in our operations – be it in flight, the workplace, occupational health, or environmental protection. “We are proud of all that we have accomplished in our safety measures. Today we have joined an elite group of part 135 operators to have progressed to this level of maturity,” says Joe Resnik, SVP of Safety with Air Methods. “Building a safety culture isn’t just building a department, it is the creation of a core attribute of every teammate that each of us embody safety. By maintaining the safety of each and every teammate, we not only increase and enhance our productivity, but we become the destination employer for the best in the industry.” Air Methods is dedicated to continuous improvement of its safety programs and culture, believing that our SMS Program is essential to continuous improvement and unparalleled protections for our crews and patients. This recognition is an accumulation of many years of effort and cooperation by Air Methods teammates and FAA employees. About Air Methods Air Methods (www.airmethods.com) is the leading air medical service, delivering lifesaving care to more than 70,000 people every year. With nearly 40 years of air medical experience, Air Methods is the preferred partner for hospitals and one of the largest community-based providers of air medical services. United Rotorcraft is the Company’s products division specializing in the design and manufacture of aeromedical and aerospace technology. Air Methods’ fleet of owned, leased or maintained aircraft features more than 450 helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/07/08/2260166/0/en/Air-Methods-Safety-Management-System-Recognized-by-the-FAA.html 1,000 gallons of jet fuel spill at Topeka Regional Airport TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) – Emergency crews are trying to contain hundreds of gallons of jet fuel that spilled Thursday evening at the Topeka Regional Airport, according to airport police. Around 1,000 gallons spilled around 5 p.m. at the Freeman Holdings Fuel Farm at the airport, also known as Forbes Field. The Metropolitan Topeka Aiport Authority, which oversees the Topeka Regional and Billard Airports, said Evergy’s Lawrence Plant and a hazmat team came in to assist. Firefighters from Shawnee Heights, the 190th Air Refueling Wing and Topeka all came to help as well. Emergency crews could be seen around 6:15 p.m. working to contain the spill on the tarmac near the Topeka Regional Airport’s air traffic control tower. All air traffic to the airport was temporarily shut down while crews worked to clean up the spill. https://www.ksn.com/news/kansas/1000-gallons-of-jet-fuel-spill-at-topeka-regional-airport/ FAA imposes new ‘cumbersome’ rules for some pilot training, citing improved safety In what one general aviation (GA) lobby group calls “a stunning turnabout”, the Federal Aviation Administration has ruled that owners of certain types of aircraft and flight instructors who teach in those aircraft must obtain additional documentation for flight lessons. The policy, to be published in the federal register on 12 July, is being criticised by flight-training industry as throwing more regulatory burden onto a sector that already faces a raft of rules. The FAA will now require instructors who teach in “experimental-”, “primary-” and “limited-” category aircraft to obtain an exemption called a “letter of deviation authority” – or “LODA” – to conduct those instructional flights, according to an FAA “Notification of Policy”. “Tens of thousands of rule-abiding warbird, homebuilt, vintage and other pilots and instructors are instantly out of compliance with the federal aviation regulations,” general aviation lobby group Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) says of the regulatory shift. The guidance described in the document departs from long-standing interpretations of aviation regulations, which held that explicit written permission and documentation was not required for instruction in such aircraft. The FAA calls the new requirement “an increased safety measure for pilots who regularly fly these aircraft”. But the change angers some pilots and general aviation interest groups, who describe the move as another time-consuming and burdensome obstacle in an already over-regulated and expensive industry. “This LODA/exemption process is not a permanent solution. It is cumbersome, can easily be taken away and is a solution to a non-existent problem,” says Jack Pelton, chief executive of EAA. “Under no circumstances is a private individual who receives training in their own aircraft detrimental to safety,” he adds. “EAA will continue seeking a rule change or legislation to permanently restore the longstanding and common sense ‘facts on the ground’ for the GA community.” The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) adds that the new policy “raises more questions than it answers”. “Worst of all, it does not further safety,” the organisation’s general counsel Justine Harrison says. “It creates unnecessary new hurdles for pilots seeking training, even in their own airplanes, where none existed before and makes teaching in certain aircraft more complicated for instructors.” “This entire episode is a scary example of how new interpretations of the regulations can up-end the entire community,” EAA’s Pelton adds. “It never should have come to this point.” EAA estimates the policy will create “more than 30,000 new LODAs and exemptions”, calling it “a paperwork exercise that does nothing to advance safety”. NEW REQUIREMENTS The FAA’s new policy says, “Owners of experimental aircraft and flight instructors who have operated experimental aircraft for the purpose of compensated flight training without obtaining a LODA (as allowed by FAA guidance) will be required to obtain a LODA to remain compliant with the regulations”. “That means, beginning on Monday it will be illegal to fly any instruction in experimental [aircraft]” without such an exemption, says David St George, executive director of the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE). The FAA will accept LODA requests electronically. The letters will “define the scope of the flight-training activity so that owners of experimental aircraft may receive and provide compensation for flight training in their aircraft, as well as permit flight instructors to receive compensation for flight training in an experimental aircraft”. “Experimental aircraft” include kit-built aircraft and those intended for testing new aerospace technologies and designs. Similarly, instruction in “limited-category” aircraft – such as World War II-era vintage aircraft – and “primary-category” aircraft would also only be permitted with a LODA. The FAA defines “primary-category aircraft” as having a “simple design” and being intended “exclusively for pleasure and personal use”. They must be unpressurised, seat no more than four people and can include aircraft, gliders, rotorcraft and manned balloons up to 1,225kg (2,700lb). SAFE’s St George estimates only about 400 ”limited-category” and 100 ”primary-category” aircraft are flying in the USA. Experimental aircraft will be most impacted, says St George, who estimates some 27,000 of those are in operation. Aircraft most-commonly used for flight training, like Cessna 172s, are certified as “normal-” or “utility-” category aircraft and therefore are not subject to the policy. The FAA adds it will ”consider adopting a fast-track exemption process for owners of limited-category and primary-category aircraft seeking to conduct flight training for compensation in these aircraft”. Still, SAFE’s St George expects red tape. He has been fielding calls from part-time instructors who plan to quit because they are afraid of running afoul of FAA rules. ”That’s a very bad trend. You don’t want to be encouraging that. We need these people,” he adds. WARBIRD ADVENTURES VS FAA The FAA’s policy stems from a case this year involving a Florida flight school called Warbird Adventures that was cited for offering training for compensation in vintage World-War-II era aircraft without having received specific FAA permission. After months of back-and-forth, a court sided with the FAA. But in its 2 April order, the court used what aviation industry trade organisations have called “overly broad language”. That created confusion and uncertainty among flight instructors who regularly teach in these kinds of aircraft, and the aircraft owners. On 4 June, the FAA confirmed it would align with the court’s April ruling, telling general aviation groups its current regulations prohibit instructors from providing training in these categories of aircraft without exemptions. The general aviation industry slammed that stance. AOPA, EAA and other lobby organisations said in a letter to FAA administration Steve Dickson on 8 June that the determination could have “serious, negative implications on the broader flight training community”. The court and FAA created “enormous confusion”, the letter read. The groups urged the FAA to issue a statement saying it “will not take legal enforcement action related to the proposed new policies to pilots and flight instructors until a satisfactory resolution has been reached”. The FAA declined to do so, just as commercial aviation begins to again experience the effects of a pilot shortage, expected to become more severe in the coming years. https://www.flightglobal.com/business-aviation/faa-imposes-new-cumbersome-rules-for-some-pilot-training-citing-improved-safety/144519.article American Airlines Joins White House to Distribute COVID-19 Vaccine Globally FORT WORTH, Texas — As part of the White House initiative to share at least 80 million U.S. vaccine doses globally this summer, American Airlines moved 1.5 million coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine doses from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to La Aurora International Airport (GUA) in Guatemala City on a Boeing 777-200 aircraft. The shipment departed ORD this morning. Airline donates cargo flight to deliver vaccines to Guatemala FORT WORTH, Texas — As part of the White House initiative to share at least 80 million U.S. vaccine doses globally this summer, American Airlines moved 1.5 million coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine doses from Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to La Aurora International Airport (GUA) in Guatemala City on a Boeing 777-200 aircraft. The shipment departed ORD this morning. In close consultation with the White House COVID-19 task force, American’s Cargo team worked with pharmaceutical partners and trucking logistics specialists to move the shipment of vaccinations from a distribution site in Kentucky to American’s cargo terminal at ORD. The shipments were loaded onto the 777-200 and flew on a special donated cargo-only nonstop flight to GUA. “We commend President Biden and the White House for their commitment to distribute life-saving vaccines to people around the world to bring an end to the COVID-19 pandemic, and our team is proud to have a hand in the effort and deliver vaccines to Guatemala,” said American Airlines President Robert Isom. “We are grateful to our team for the work they’ve done throughout the pandemic to keep the country moving and deliver critical supplies.” American moved its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines in December 2020. Since the beginning of the pandemic, American has leveraged its internationally recognized climate-controlled shipping solutions to fly more than 9,400 cargo only flights moving everything from vaccines and pharmaceuticals to perishable and agricultural goods. With specialized facilities and its team of certified life-sciences experts, American handles temperature-critical shipments in more than 150 cities in 46 countries, and also operates the largest temperature-controlled pharmaceutical shipping facility for airlines in the United States. This level of expert care has earned American the International Air Transport Association’s prestigious Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics (CEIV Pharma) certification — the premier distinction for airlines that have established the tools, procedures and staffing to ensure life sciences products are properly handled and arrive at their destination fully effective. American’s purpose is to care for people on life’s journey. Shares of American Airlines Group Inc. trade on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol AAL and the company’s stock is included in the S&P 500. Learn more about what’s happening at American by visiting news.aa.com and connect with American on Twitter @AmericanAir and at Facebook.com/AmericanAirlines. About American Airlines Cargo American Airlines Cargo provides one of the largest cargo networks in the world with cargo terminals and interline connections across the globe. Every day, American transports cargo between major cities in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia. https://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2021/American-Airlines-Joins-White-House-to-Distribute-Covid-19-Vaccine-Globally-OPS-CGO-07/default.aspx IATA airlines head sees transatlantic re-opening in weeks LONDON, July 7 (Reuters) - The head of global airline body IATA said he was cautiously optimistic about demand for travel in the second half of the year, adding that he expects transatlantic flying between Britain and the United States to re-open in the coming weeks. Schedules are expanding as airlines sense consumer demand for travel rising and progress with COVID-19 vaccinations means shuttered routes could resume, International Air Transport Association Director General Willie Walsh told reporters. "I think we have to be optimistic that we will see a relaxation in relation to transatlantic flying during the coming weeks," Walsh said on Wednesday. Major airlines including American Airlines (AAL.O), IAG (ICAG.L) unit British Airways, Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) and United Airlines (UAL.O) have for some months been pushing the U.S. and UK governments to re-open travel between the two countries citing the pair's advanced vaccination programmes. read more Walsh said there had been no announcement on the matter at the G7 leaders meeting in June due to a lack of data about the vaccine's efficacy against the Delta variant of the virus, but that had changed now. A transatlantic re-opening would be a huge boost for the airlines. Walsh's optimism came after IATA published figures for May showing that passenger air travel demand remains subdued globally, 63% lower in May 2021 compared to the same month two years ago before the pandemic struck. Walsh blamed ongoing restrictions and a lack of co-ordination between governments for creating consumer confusion and hindering the speed at which aviation can recover. He said data showed that the risk of re-opening borders was very, very low where people were fully vaccinated or where sensible testing regimes were used to facilitate travel. Governments would come under increasing pressure to allow travel, he forecast, as growing numbers of vaccinated consumers, who were reluctant to holiday at the height of the pandemic, demand their freedom again. "What we're seeing is a shift in the consumer attitudes over time and I think that's going to accelerate now, as people become more frustrated at the pace at which governments are moving," he said. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/iata-airlines-head-sees-transatlantic-re-opening-weeks-2021-07-07/ Air Taxi Manufacturers Need to Start Thinking About Pilot Training Now Experts in the industry are warning that air taxi manufacturers need to start creating pilot training programs now in order to meet planned commercial launches in the next three or four years. (CAE) There is a consensus in the electric air taxi industry that the first aircraft to emerge in the commercial world will not be autonomous. This begs the question, who will fly them, and what kind of training will these pilots need to fly these new aircraft? Experts in the industry are warning that air taxi manufacturers need to start creating pilot training programs now in order to meet planned commercial launches in the next three to four years. “It's really, really important, if the OEMs, want to get their aircraft into service on time, that they're thinking about this training piece, two to three years out is what we're suggesting right now,” Christopher Courtney, director of advanced air mobility at CAE, said during a call with reporters on July 7. “We have been doing this for a very long time, so we know what it takes to get there and the last thing you want is a cool we're getting closer and closer and now we've got to figure out how to develop a simulator training program…and it's going to cause delays.” CAE and Volocopter announced a new partnership to develop a pilot training program for Volocopter’s electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft on July 8. Volocopter is planning to launch its VoloCity eVTOL at the Olympics in Paris in 2024, according to the release. As part of the agreement, CAE will invest $40 million to meet Volocopter’s projected global pilot demand. "As we scale our UAM services in cities around the world, specific pilot training and qualification for our Volocopters will be an important element. We are proud to be partnering with CAE, who have a track record in developing best-in-class, innovative pilot training solutions for new aircraft programs. It will greatly benefit Volocopter's entry-into-service timeline and scale," Florian Reuter, CEO of Volocopter, said in a statement. "We are excited about CAE's endorsement and look forward to collaborate as partners focused on combining future-oriented technologies to ensure aviation safety." Air taxi missions will present unique operating environments for pilots, Timothy Schoenauer, director of global training solutions BAT/HAT at CAE said during the July 7 call. The missions will generally be shorter and in more congested air space within urban environments. These factors will contribute to training challenges such as the currently undefined regulatory requirements for eVTOL pilots and single-pilot operations. Schoenauer said CAE is focusing on training pilots around pilot competencies rather than prescriptive models with a Competency Based Training Assessment (CBTA) approach. Air taxi missions will present unique operating environments for pilots, Timothy Schoenauer, director of global training solutions BAT/HAT at CAE said during the July 7 call. (CAE) “CBTA is the process that we plan to follow for eVTOL training program development and the main reason why is that it's an internationally recognized process that allows us to write a training program once instead of several times for different entities around the world,” Schoenauer said. This approach is international and will provide companies with the benefit of not having to create training programs for each civil aviation authorities’ rules, Schoenauer said. CBTA is based on nine pilot competencies including problem-solving, decision making, situational awareness, workload management, and teamwork, Schoenauer said. This program also places a large focus on gathering pilot data and analyzing it to determine the effectiveness of the training and revise the program if necessary. CAE is building a pathway to regulatory compliance with a seven-step model to determine which devices need to be used during training and the structure of the program. The steps include: data and science, leveraging a standard and determining what applies, documenting the difference, determining the best way to train tasks, a risk assessment, developing industry consensus standards, and then continuous improvement. According to CAE, they have already completed step one of this pathway with vehicle partners. “I think what we recognize is foundational training needs analysis needs to be done first and that's the foundational piece that will build the entire training program,” Courtney said. To add to these challenges, eVTOL companies will need an influx of approximately 60,000 pilots by 2028, according to research from CAE, in an industry that is already headed towards a pilot shortage, Schoenauer said. Courtney said he estimates that every aircraft will need about three pilots to operate. “To support that level of operation, and just knowing how many hours and how many days a pilot can work, the math would lead you to believe that you need about three pilots for every aircraft, for the most part, to fly at the rates that a lot of the OEMs are publicly talking about,” Courtney said. “So, between two and three pilots, you plan for that, and just based on an aircraft number that's coming out, you can start to do the math and you could start to see where the numbers start to become exponential. As the production rates increase, as we all know with these novel aircraft…is that they're partnering up with automobile manufacturers and folks that can \ really accelerate the production aircraft and so you can see as I produce a lot of aircraft, you're going to need more pilots.” CAE is also currently working with Jaunt Air Mobility to develop a simulation lab for Jaunt's eVTOL aircraft. https://www.aviationtoday.com/2021/07/08/air-taxi-manufacturers-need-start-thinking-pilot-training-now/ How Qantas’ A380 Pilots Are Coping With Not Flying Long-haul Qantas A380 pilots are speaking up about the pressures of being out of the cockpit. According to media reports, the airline’s online communication system on Yammer is filled with stories of A380 pilots feeling the pressure of not flying, not having a secure future, and for many, constant worries about money. A report by Matt O’Sullivan in The Sydney Morning Herald broke the story on Thursday. Qantas executive John Gissing started a chat on Yammer in June as part of Men’s Health Week. Qantas grounded its fleet of A380 in March 2020. It is a topic we’ve followed on Simple Flying. Most of the A380 pilots have been grounded as well. On one level, the impact is financial. A fully-fledged Qantas A380 Captain earns about US$327,000 annually. Stood down A380 Captains are now picking up about US$370 per week via a government subsidy program that runs out in a few months time. In addition, The Sydney Morning Herald reports a further 200 Qantas pilots are also on leave without pay. “Every waking thought goes not just to figuring out ways to get money coming in so I can keep my apartment and food in the fridge, but also thinking about what could happen in the future,” one out-of-work pilot said on Yammer. Australian and International Pilots Association president weighs in “I’m fed up,” A380 Captain Murray Butt told The Australian newspaper. “Qantas needs to make a decision about our future, whether we’re going to retrain on another aircraft. We can’t sit around till November 2023.” Captain Butt, also the Australian and International Pilots Association president, now drives a bus while waiting for Qantas to reboot its A380s, currently scheduled sometime in 2023. “My last flight was March 23, 2020, when I arrived back from London,” Captain Butt told Steve Price on Australia Today on Friday. “We were told in London that we would be stood down.” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce remains committed to resuming A380 services. He is one of the few CEOs of airlines operating the A380 who’ve done so. “We think we will reactivate all of the A380s. We spent a lot of money on them. Once demand is there, they’re going to be good aircraft,” Mr Joyce said in April. The following month, while further trimming the airline’s workforce, Alan Joyce emphasized the need to retain certified A380 flight crews. Captain Butts notes the “positive noise” from Qantas but says pilots want something more concrete. Many Qantas’ A330 and 787 Dreamliner pilots who fly international routes are being redeployed onto domestic and repatriation flights. But A380 pilots would need extensive retraining to switch to flying smaller aircraft, especially if eyeing flying the Boeing 737-800 workhorse of Qantas’ domestic fleet. “The tie-up is usually to the aircraft. You are only endorsed to one aircraft at a time,” Captain Butts says. “Pilots who have many people’s lives in their hands as they fly them around the world are sitting out on harvesters working for farmers now. It’s great for the farmers that they’ve got people with such technical experience, sitting on a harvester pulling off a wheat or barley crop, but it’s not what you were trained for.” Captain Butts highlights the resourcefulness and resilience of pilots. He says those skills are part of the job that stands out-of-work pilots in good stead. But he says welfare checks from both Qantas and AIPA will never uncover the true extent of financial and mental stresses out-of-work pilots face. “The mental health of many stood down pilots is at breaking point,” one pilot said on Yammer. “Dealing with no income for a few months, let alone 12 months and potentially more than two years, is a significant challenge for people to deal with. Qantas Airways has a significant part to play in how their employees progress through this journey and how they come out the other s https://simpleflying.com/qantas-international-pilots-domestic-resumption/ Airbus jet deliveries rose 52% in first half of 2021 PARIS, July 8 (Reuters) - Airbus (AIR.PA) delivered 297 airplanes in the first half of the year after a surge of handover activity in June, the European planemaker said on Thursday. Deliveries, which have been recovering from a pandemic-related slump, rose 52% in the first six months from 196 at the mid-way point of 2020, and compare with a total of 389 in the first half of 2019 before the health crisis crippled air travel. The world's largest planemaker ahead of U.S. rival Boeing (BA.N) also said it had won 165 gross orders in the first half, dropping to a net total of 38 orders after cancellations. Thursday's monthly update confirmed a strong pickup in June after Reuters reported earlier this week that Airbus had delivered more than 70 airplanes that month to leave first-half deliveries in touching distance of the 300 mark read more . The deliveries put Airbus on course to meet a 2021 goal of at least matching last year's deliveries, analysts said. "In terms of overall deliveries, Airbus looks to be comfortably on track to at least match guidance of around the 566 aircraft (reported) in 2020, and likely come in closer to 600," Agency Partners analysts Sash Tusa said in a note. In an unusual move, an order for five A350 jets previously attributed to IAG (ICAG.L) unit Aer Lingus was removed from the order column for that airline and appeared to have been placed in a column for airlines whose names have not been disclosed. One industry source said such a move could create flexibility to adjust part of the order, though Airbus monthly data showed that the order has not so far been cancelled. IAG, which had previously transferred A350 orders from the Irish carrier to other parts of the European airlines group, was not immediately available for comment. Airbus declined comment. Separately, Macquarie Airfinance, a unit of Australia’s Macquarie Group, which has been gradually reducing orders for the A220 jet, cancelled another two of the aircraft in June. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/airbus-says-delivered-297-airplanes-h1-2021-07-08/ FAA begins use of system to reduce impact of launches on airspace WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration has started to use a new tool intended to better integrate commercial launches and reentries into the National Airspace System, reducing the disruptions those events have on aviation. The FAA announced July 8 that it formally started use of the Space Data Integrator (SDI) with the June 30 launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral on the Transporter-2 rideshare mission. It will be used again when the CRS-22 cargo Dragon spacecraft splashes down off the Florida cost late July 9. SDI, under development by the FAA for several years, automates the transfer of data about launches and reentries to air traffic controllers so they have up-to-date information on the progress of those activities, including any anomalies that might create debris or other aviation hazards. That can allow controllers to more efficiently manage air traffic around those closures. “The overall impact and the benefit is reducing the amount of time it takes to close or reopen airspace,” Tim Arel, deputy chief operating officer of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization, said of the SDI in a call with reporters. The intent is to allow quicker reopening of airspace once a launch or reentry has safely transited airspace. “We’re able to more dynamically adjust those closures,” he said. “What it means is that those flights moved out of the way to accommodate a safe operation of that space mission will be able to more quickly get back on to their normal flight path, or maybe even get some shortcuts.” Arel said that other measures it had been taking for airspace closures already reduced the average length from more than four hours to more than two hours. “We know SDI will help us open the airspace even quicker,” he said, but didn’t offer an estimate of how much of an improvement it will provide. The growing cadence of commercial launches in recent years — there have been 33 licensed launches so far in 2021, compared to 11 in all of 2016 — prompted pushback from the aviation industry given the conventional approach to closing large amounts of airspace for each launch. A breaking point was the first Falcon Heavy launch in February 2018 that closed airspace off the Florida coast for hours on a weekday afternoon, affecting hundreds of flights in a busy corridor. The aviation and commercial spaceflight industries have been working together more closely together since then, including pushing for tools like SDI that have the potential to reduce the size and duration of airspace closures. However, the long development cycle for SDI prompted congressional criticism at a June 16 hearing of the House Transportation Committee’s aviation subcommittee. At the hearing, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), chair of the full committee, pressed the FAA on the slow progress on SDI, stating he was opposed to delaying airline flights “because some millionaire or billionaire is going to experience 15 minutes of weightlessness.” At the hearing, Wayne Monteith, associate administrator for commercial space transportation at the FAA, said operational tests of SDI would begin soon, although there wasn’t a timeline for full integration of SDI. Work on it has accelerated, he said, since the project was handed over to Teri Bristol, chief operating officer of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization (ATO). “We have seen tremendous, tremendous progress in just the last two years as Teri Bristol and the ATO has taken this responsibility on with our technical help,” he said in the call with reporters. Currently, participation in the SDI is voluntary. Besides SpaceX, which started cooperating with the FAA on the SDI in 2016, others include Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace and Alaska Aerospace Corporation, which operates the launch site on Kodiak Island, Alaska. Monteith didn’t give a schedule for bringing other companies into the system, but emphasized the importance of having an automated system like SDI to improve safety. There are limits, though, to what tools like SDI can do to improve management of launches in the National Airspace System. On June 29, the first Transporter-2 launch attempt was scrubbed shortly after a helicopter entered restricted airspace near the pad, halting the countdown seconds before liftoff. “Unfortunately, launch is called off for today, as an aircraft entered the ‘keep out zone’, which is unreasonably gigantic,” Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX, tweeted shortly after the scrub. “There is simply no way that humanity can become a spacefaring civilization without major regulatory reform. The current regulatory system is broken.” Arel said that SDI did not play a factor in the Transporter-2 scrub, since the airspace violation took place before launch. “It was ready to be used for the first attempt and was not needed,” he said. https://spacenews.com/faa-begins-use-of-system-to-reduce-impact-of-launches-on-airspace/ Specialist - Flight Safety Investigations UNITED STATES, GEORGIA, ATLANTA CORP. SAFETY, SECURITY & COMPLIANCE 28-JUN-2021 REF #: 7579 HOW YOU'LL HELP US KEEP CLIMBING (OVERVIEW & KEY RESPONSIBILITIES) The Specialist - Flight Safety Investigations reports to the Manager - Safety Investigations and functions as a member of the Flight Safety Accident/Incident Investigation Team. In that capacity, the Specialist will be the primary safety investigator on-call for Delta Air Lines with an on-call rotation every three to four weeks. As the investigator on-call, the Specialist will generally lead all Flight Safety investigations and NTSB coordination efforts during their on-call period. In addition to acting as an investigator, the Specialist will be a primary point of contact in Flight Safety for safety-related issues. The Specialist practices safety-conscious behaviors in all operational processes and procedures. Job Responsibilities: • Acts as a primary investigator for operational accidents, incidents, irregularities, and trends. • Acts as investigator or assisting investigator, on an as-needed basis, for other operational accidents, incidents, irregularities, and trends. • Acts as ICAO Annex 13 airline representative, or assisting representative, for accident, incident, and irregularity investigations. • Develops and publishes Flight Safety investigation reports. • Regularly reviews operational reports and data to identify incidents and irregularities for follow-up investigation. • Develops safety recommendations in conjunction with all operational divisions. • Interfaces with Line Safety Coordinators during applicable safety investigations. • Reviews, develops, and coordinates the publication of safety articles. • Reviews and evaluates applicable research material and results of industry seminars of interest to Flight Safety and Corporate Safety, Security, and Compliance. • Acts as an alternate Investigation Team Coordinator and assists the Manager - Safety Investigations with coordinating Investigation Team activities. • Provides assistance to the NTSB during non-Delta Air Lines local or national investigations. • Provides technical assistance to Delta Air Lines partners and personnel regarding investigation procedures and techniques. • Practices safety-conscious behaviors in all operational processes and procedures. • Develops both strategic & tactical plans that create a safety-conscious environment resulting in employee safety & well-being. WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED (MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS) • Must possess a Bachelor’s degree, or higher, or have compatible work experience. • Should have a general understanding of the operational divisions of a Part 121 major air carrier, including Flight Operations, Technical Operations, In-Flight Service, Airport Customer Service, and Cargo Operations. • Should have an understanding of the role of a Flight Safety department at a Part 121 major air carrier. • Must have a detailed understanding of NTSB accident/incident investigation procedures and techniques. • Must be able to efficiently and effectively investigate major air carrier accidents and incidents. • Should be able to write clear, concise, technical reports, and articles. • Should be able to speak effectively to diverse audiences. • Should be able to work effectively with fellow employees as well as outside agencies and organizations. • Should have PC-based computer skills, including the use of common database and Microsoft Office software. • Must be able to travel worldwide at short notice. • (If applying Internally) Must be performing satisfactorily in present position. • Where permitted by applicable law, must have received or be willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by date of hire to be considered for U.S.-based job, if not currently employed by Delta Air Lines, Inc. WHAT WILL GIVE YOU A COMPETITIVE EDGE (PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS) • Should have successfully completed an accredited training course in safety, or compatible work experience, that includes accident investigation procedures and techniques. • Hands-on experience during NTSB, ICAO Annex 13, or military accident investigations is desired. • FAA pilot certificate, maintenance certifications, or equivalent military experience are desired. APPLY HERE August 31 – September 2, 2021 The agenda and speakers list for ISASI 2021 are now posted on the ISASI website. To access, simply log on at www.isasi.org Hover over Events> Annual Seminar >2021 Annual seminar. This will take you to the Presenters List and Preliminary Agenda. It should be noted that all times are posted in Pacific Daylight Time [GMT -7] For those who may not be able to attend on the actual dates/times of the seminar, the presentations will be taped and made available up to 90 days past the seminar closing date. Whether you plan to attend on the actual dates or later, it will be necessary to register online. We are also including a selection of Working Group Meetings and National Society meetings to the agenda. We look forward to your participation. Curt Lewis