Flight Safety Information - August 3, 2021 No. 153 In This Issue : Incident: ASL France B734 near London on Aug 2nd 2021, leaking cargo door : Accident: Condor A320 at Kavala on Jul 11th 2021, could not retract landing gear : Incident: Volaris A20N at Tijuana on Aug 2nd 2021, smoke indication : Incident: Royal Jordanian A320 at Amman on Aug 2nd 2021, emergency landing : FAA demands that Boeing flight manuals give more detail on pilot emergency procedures : Passenger on flight to Miami arrested after allegedly attacking flight attendants, groping their breasts : Position: Apply Now! - Manager – Quality Control Incident: ASL France B734 near London on Aug 2nd 2021, leaking cargo door An ASL Airlines France Boeing 737-400 freighter, registration F-GIXN performing freight flight 5O-23F from Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) to Edinburgh,SC (UK), was enroute at FL360 about 50nm southeast of London,EN (UK) when the crew descended the aircraft to initially FL100, later FL070 reporting they had a problem with the cargo door leaking and couldn't maintain their cabin pressure. The aircraft returned to Paris Charles de Gaulle for a safe landing about 65 minutes after departure. The aircraft is still on the ground in Paris about 6 hours after landing back. https://avherald.com/h?article=4eb39edc&opt=0 Accident: Condor A320 at Kavala on Jul 11th 2021, could not retract landing gear A Condor Airbus A320-200, registration D-AICP performing flight DE-1763 from Kavala (Greece) to Dusseldorf (Germany), departed Kavala's runway 23 when the crew stopped the climb at FL100 due to being unable to retract the landing gear. The aircraft entered a hold to burn off fuel and troubleshoot the issue, then returned to Kavala for a safe landing on runway 23 about 50 minutes after departure. A passenger reported the crew indicated the landing gear could not be retracted. A ground observer reported the crew told ATC they could not retract the landing gear. The Aviation Herald had received information the aircraft was in Kavala since Jul 11th 2021 and has received structural damage, the source however could not tell anything about the circumstandes of how the damage came together. Another source confirmed the aircraft received substantial damage to its fuselage. Another source pointed out the aircraft had suffered a rejected takeoff in Heraklion the previous day (at low speed according to Mode-S data), reason unknown, and remained on the ground in Heraklion for 22.5 hours before flying the return flight to Dusseldorf and subsequently performing flight DE-1762 to Kavala. The source however could not establish a causal link to the events, that keep the aircraft on the ground now in Kavala. A fourth source suggested the aircraft may have landed hard in Kavala on flight DE-1762, however, there are no corroborating reports so far. On Jul 21st 2021 Germany's BFU reported they have received information about the occurrence and are currently investigating how to rate the occurrence as well as to the sequence of events. Greece's Accident Investigation has asked the BFU to conduct the investigation. The airline subsequently reported the crew could not retract the nose gear, the aircraft returned safely to Kavala and is currently ground with some damage. On Aug 2nd 2021 The Aviation Herald learned the aircraft had received structural damage to the nose consistent with overloading the structure at frame 20 (which is slightly aft of the nose gear trunion) and the nose landing gear had completely deflated (which was why the nose landing gear could not be retracted). The aircraft is still in Kavala 23 days later. https://avherald.com/h?article=4ea8d79b&opt=0 Incident: Volaris A20N at Tijuana on Aug 2nd 2021, smoke indication A Volaris Airbus A320-200N, registration N529VL performing flight Y4-5501 from Tijuana to Chihuahua (Mexico), was climbing through FL270 out of Tijuana when the crew reported they had received a smoke/fire indication and decided to return to Tijuana. The aircraft landed safely on Tijuana's runway 27 about 30 minutes after departure and vacated the runway. Emergency services did not find any evidence of fire, heat or smoke. https://avherald.com/h?article=4eb37166&opt=0 Incident: Royal Jordanian A320 at Amman on Aug 2nd 2021, emergency landing A Royal Jordanian Airbus A320-200, registration JY-AYU performing flight RJ-508 from Cairo (Egypt) to Amman (Jordan) with 133 passengers and 6 crew, landed on Jordan's runway 26R, vacated the runway about 2450 meters down the runway and stopped past the hold short line. The passenger disembarked via mobile stairs onto the taxiway. There were no injuries. The airline reported the aircraft performed an emergency landing 10 minutes ahead of schedule and was "evacuated" via stairs onto the "supporting runway" without injuries. The causes of the emergency are being investigated. https://avherald.com/h?article=4eb36c54&opt=0 FAA demands that Boeing flight manuals give more detail on pilot emergency procedures Boeing, under intensifying regulatory scrutiny after the fatal MAX crashes, has been directed by the Federal Aviation Administration to rework its flight manuals for both the 777X and MAX 10 to include detailed emergency pilot procedures. The FAA has told Boeing to incorporate into the Airplane Flight Manuals, formal documents that are required for certification of both jets, precise details of the procedures and checklists the crew must follow to handle the kind of emergencies that killed 346 people in the MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. Those procedures had previously been detailed in other documents customized by individual airlines to train pilots. However, those airline documents are not overseen by regulators during the initial airplane certification process and may vary at airlines around the world. The FAA is tightening control to ensure that for Boeing’s two current airplane development programs — the latest and largest version of the narrowbody MAX, which had its first flight in June; and the giant new derivative of Boeing’s widebody 777, which first flew in January 2020 — this information goes out in a certification document provided to all airlines worldwide. Boeing doesn’t see this new requirement adding further delay because certification of both jets has already been pushed far out until late 2023. In May, the FAA cited a serious flight test incident and lack of design maturity for slowing certification of the 777X. And certification of the MAX 10 is similarly delayed as Boeing works to develop further safety updates for flight control and crew alerting systems required by the European air safety regulator. Procedures critical to safety In the latest development, spelled out in a July 12 FAA letter to Tom Galantowicz, head of the internal Boeing organization that handles certification of new jets, the FAA requires Boeing to rework the airplane flight manuals for both jets to include more detail in checklist format on the emergency pilot procedures. The letter also demands that the pilot manual explicitly refer to how these emergency pilot procedures relate to two other key certification documents for each of the jets — the Functional Hazard Analysis and the System Safety Assessment — that analyze potential failures in the airplane systems design. These analyses take account of flight crew reactions to an emergency and presume that the pilots will correctly implement recovery procedures. The FAA wants Boeing to explicitly state in its flight manuals that these formal risk assessments depend upon pilots correctly and smoothly executing the emergency pilot procedures. This will underline for airline pilots across the globe that these procedures are central to the certified safety of the airplane. “They are making sure the pilots understand the criticality of the procedures,” said an FAA safety engineer, who cannot be named because he spoke without authorization from the federal agency. “That makes perfect sense.” Asked about the new FAA requirements, Boeing said in a brief statement that “we are committed to continue to work with the FAA to meet all certification requirements.” The FAA declined to discuss details of its decision, saying only that it “will not approve any aircraft unless it meets our safety and certification standards.” Justifying its position to Boeing in an earlier letter in May, the FAA cited safety recommendations from the final investigation report by the Indonesian air safety authority following the 2018 Lion Air crash and from a damning 2019 report compiled by an international panel of air-safety regulators, as well as the requirements of the Aircraft Certification, Safety and Accountability Act passed by Congress at the end of 2020. That legislation requires the FAA to “ensure that an airplane flight manual … contains … flight crew procedures for responding to a failure” of flight control systems. Boeing’s original certification plan proposed that the FAA should delegate to Boeing all the decisions on what details will be in the airplane flight manual. The FAA rejected that proposal. In its letter to Galantowicz, the FAA cites the 2019 report by the panel of international air-safety regulators — the Joint Authorities Technical Review — in noting that Boeing and other airplane manufacturers along with their airline customers have developed separate flight crew operating manuals for onboard use, that can include additional information, such as succinct cockpit checklists, systems descriptions, and detailed procedures. However, different airlines may develop variations of these flight crew operating manuals for their own pilots. Only the information in the certified Airplane Flight Manual is mandatory. And though U.S. airlines would have to have any such operating manuals approved by the FAA, foreign airlines would not. Given these alternative sources of information for flight crews, the FAA issued regulatory guidance in 2012 stipulating that the content in the Airplane Flight Manual for initial certification could be reduced and “should be limited to the smallest practicable amount of material … that which is uniquely related to airplane safety or airworthiness.” The JATR report called this guidance “contradictory” and said it “has allowed Boeing Airplane Flight Manuals to minimize the content of operating procedures that are subject to FAA scrutiny and approval.” In light of the MAX crashes, that’s no longer acceptable to the FAA. The FAA letter instructs Boeing to modify its certification plan for the pilot manuals and resubmit it. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/faa-demands-that-boeing-flight-manuals-give-more-detail-on-pilot-emergency-procedures/ Passenger on flight to Miami arrested after allegedly attacking flight attendants, groping their breasts MIAMI – A belligerent passenger was arrested after causing chaos during a flight to South Florida, authorities said. The situation got so bad that flight attendants had to duct tape the man to his seat. That man, 22-year-old Maxwell Berry, was arrested on three counts of battery. It happened on a Frontier Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Miami on Saturday. Alfredo Rivera was a passenger on that flight and whipped out his cellphone to record what happened. “He started to get aggressive and basically attack the male flight attendant,” Rivera said. According to Berry’s arrest report, he allegedly groped the breasts of two female flight attendants. The report also said Berry had several drinks while on the flight. Local 10 News reached out to Frontier Airlines, which sent the following statement: “During a flight from Philadelphia to Miami on July 31, a passenger made inappropriate physical contact with a flight attendant and subsequently physically assaulted another flight attendant. As a result, the passenger needed to be restrained until the flight landed in Miami and law enforcement arrived. The flight attendants will be, as required in such circumstances, relieved of flying pending completion of investigation of the events.” https://www.local10.com/news/local/2021/08/02/passenger-on-flight-to-miami-arrested-after-allegedly-attacking-flight-attendants-groping-their-breasts/ Apply Now! - Manager – Quality Control mba is seeking an experienced mid-career individual to manage its Quality Control function with respect to IOSA* (IATA Operational Safety Audit). The candidate must meet the following requirements, be a self-starter and a leader within the organization. • Must have aviation/airline quality control, operational and/or safety experience and be familiar with the IOSA Program. • Be familiar with Quality Control processes and methodology. • Manage and lead a team of experienced individuals in the performance of aviation safety focused audits. Duties and Responsibilities: Become familiar with IOSA Standards and Recommended Best Practices by discipline Interface with IOSA Auditors, as necessary, through the Quality Control process Together with Director of Audit Programs, responsible for IOSA Audit Report (IAR) production and Program Quality requirements, including: . • Structuring the QC process for IOSA reports; • Ensuring that a complete QC review of all IOSA Audit Reports is carried out in accordance with the IOM Quality Control procedures; and • Ensuring that published deadlines for report delivery and QC processes Maintain QC procedures and documentation support structures for auditors Monitor and administer the QC and continual improvement processes Review outputs from all phases of audit and administrative processes, measuring results, and suggesting improved processes, when appropriate Monitoring of AO and Auditor quality performance and provide feedback to Auditors by means of: • Performing analysis of the gaps in the internal QC process and Auditor QC performance; • Performing analysis of IATA AO monthly performance report biannual AO QC performance summary (Statistical analysis and performance results); • Identifying weaknesses in internal processes, repetitive errors, and auditor behavior or techniques; and • Identifying and recommend any training needs, provision of internal QC training, or any other action necessary to ensure IAR quality to VP of Technical and Quality APPLY NOW! *IOSA is a registered trademark of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Curt Lewis