Flight Safety Information - October 5, 2021 No. 200 In This Issue : Incident: Jazz DH8D at Grande Prairie on Sep 25th 2021, flaps problem on departure : Incident: American A321 at Philadelphia on Oct 1st 2021, bird strike : Accident: United B752 at Denver on Sep 27th 2021, tailstrike on takeoff : Incident: Cairo A320 near Zagreb on Sep 30th 2021, engine shut down in flight : Incident: S7 B738 near Rostov on Don on Oct 3rd 2021, engine shut down in flight : Southwest Airlines to require all employees get vaccinated against COVID-19 to "ensure job security" : Ohio man caught with loaded handgun at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport : All major U.S. airlines but Delta now have employee vaccine mandate : General Dynamics unveils two Gulfstream business jets : COVID vaccine mandates: The key question challenging United Airlines’ policy : Blue Origin's exodus of top staffers followed its CEO's demand for all staff to return to the office, reports say : PhD - Graduate Research Survey Request (1) Incident: Jazz DH8D at Grande Prairie on Sep 25th 2021, flaps problem on departure A Jazz de Havilland Dash 8-400, registration C-GJZF performing flight QK-8476 from Grande Prairie,AB to Calgary,AB (Canada) with 27 people on board, was climbing out of Grande Prairie when upon retracting the flaps the crew received a Flaps Power Caution indication. The crew worked the related checklists and decided to continue to Calgary, where the crew declared emergency and performed a flaps up landing at a higher speed than normal. The Canadian TSB reported maintenance replaced the left hand flaps position transducer, cleaned the connector and performed a successful functional test. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/JZA8476/history/20210925/1335Z/CYQU/CYYC http://avherald.com/h?article=4ee38828&opt=0 Incident: American A321 at Philadelphia on Oct 1st 2021, bird strike An American Airlines Airbus A321-200, registration N917UY performing flight AA-2531 from Philadelphia,PA to Orlando,FL (USA) with 195 passengers and 6 crew, was in the initial climb out of Philadelphia's runway 27L when the left hand engine (V2533) ingested a bird prompting the crew to stop the climb at 5000 feet and return to Philadelphia for a safe landing on runway 27L about 25 minutes after departure. A runway inspection found bird debris on the runway. A replacement A321-200 registration N987AM reached Orlando with a delay of 7.5 hours. The occurrence aircraft returned to service about 63 hours after landing back. The FAA reported: "AIRCRAFT STRUCK A BIRD DAMAGING #1 ENGINE, PHILADELPHIA, PA." and stated the damage was minor. http://avherald.com/h?article=4ee3660a&opt=0 Accident: United B752 at Denver on Sep 27th 2021, tailstrike on takeoff By Simon Hradecky, created Monday, Oct 4th 2021 16:53Z, last updated Monday, Oct 4th 2021 16:53Z A United Boeing 757-200, registration N12125 performing flight UA-1117 from Denver,CO to Newark,NJ (USA), departed Denver's runway 08 and completed a seemingly uneventful flight with a landing on Newark's runway 22L about 3:10 hours later. The FAA reported however that a postflight inspection revealed substantial damage as result of a tailstrike on takeoff from Denver. The occurrence was rated an accident. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/UAL1117/history/20210927/2215Z/KDEN/KEWR http://avherald.com/h?article=4ee363b3&opt=0 Incident: Cairo A320 near Zagreb on Sep 30th 2021, engine shut down in flight An Air Cairo Airbus A320-200, registration SU-BPV performing flight SM-2980 from Hurghada (Egypt) to Dusseldorf (Germany) with 125 people on board, was enroute at FL360 about 100nm southeast of Zagreb (Croatia) when the crew reported the left hand engine (CFM56) had failed. The crew shut the engine down and diverted to Zagreb for a safe landing about 25 minutes later. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Zagreb (standing Oct 4th 2021). http://avherald.com/h?article=4ee35f26&opt=0 Incident: S7 B738 near Rostov on Don on Oct 3rd 2021, engine shut down in flight A S7 Sibir Airlines Boeing 737-800, registration VP-BND performing flight S7-2007 from Moscow Domodedovo (Russia) to Simferopol (Ukraine) with 171 passengers and 6 crew, was enroute at FL370 about 260nm north of Rostov on Don (Russia) when the crew reported a left engine (CFM56) failure, shut the engine down, drifted down to FL230 and diverted to Rostov on Don for a safe landing about 50 minutes later. A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration VP-BUL reached Simferopol with a delay of about 5.5 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Rostov about 32 hours after landing. The status of Crimea and Simferopol is disputed. According to international law and United Nations the Crimea belong to the Ukraine although Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. http://avherald.com/h?article=4ee35da4&opt=0 Southwest Airlines to require all employees get vaccinated against COVID-19 to "ensure job security" Southwest Airlines will require all employees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to meet the U.S. government mandate, the carrier announced Monday. The Dallas-based airline said that “to continue employment,” its workforce must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 8, or be approved for a religious, medical or disability accommodation. Southwest has a workforce of more than 54,000 employees. “Southwest Airlines must join our industry peers in complying with the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccination directive,” said Southwest Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly in a prepared statement. “I encourage all Southwest employees to meet the federal directive, as quickly as possible, since we value every individual and want to ensure job security for all.” The carrier updated its policy after a government announcement clarified that federal contractors and subcontractors must comply with President Joe Biden’s vaccine-mandating executive order. Southwest maintains several contracts with the U.S. government, including the City Pair Program. Last Friday, Fort Worth-based American Airlines announced that its U.S.-based employees would be required to get vaccinated. American is also classified as a government contractor through several agreements, including the City Pair Program, the Civil Air Fleet program and cargo contracts with the Department of Defense. Southwest and American had both previously encouraged vaccines and offered incentives through bonus pay and extra vacation days, but both companies held back on requiring vaccines until the federal government’s announcement. Chicago-based United Airlines implemented a COVID-19 vaccine mandate nearly two months ago. As of last Thursday, more than 99.5% of the company's U.S.-based employees had uploaded proof of vaccination. Atlanta-based Delta Airlines hasn’t announced a company-wide vaccine mandate, though in May it enacted a requirement for new hires to be vaccinated. https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2021/10/04/southwest-vaccine-mandate.html?ana=yahoo Ohio man caught with loaded handgun at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) – An Ohio man was caught with a loaded .380 caliber handgun at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport on Friday, Oct. 1. According to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials, the gun was found in the man’s carry-on bag. The gun was loaded with six bullets. TSA immediately alerted airport police, and the firearm was confiscated. The man stated that he carries the gun for protection but forgot that it was in his possession. Chesapeake man caught with loaded handgun at ORF To travel with a firearm, passengers are required to: • Declare the firearm at the airline ticket counter. • Unload the firearm. • Pack and lock the firearm in a hard-sided case. • Pack the firearm separately from ammunition. According to officials, the man could face civic penalties that can stretch into thousands of dollars, depending on mitigating circumstances. Last year alone, TSA officers found passengers with over 3,000 firearms and approximately 83 percent were loaded. For a complete list of prohibited items, civic penalties, and travel tips, visit TSA’s website. https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/newport-news/ohio-man-caught-with-loaded-handgun-at-newport-news-williamsburg-international-airport/ All major U.S. airlines but Delta now have employee vaccine mandate In August, United Airlines became the first major U.S. carrier to require that employees get vaccinated against COVID-19. Other major U.S. airlines, including American and Southwest, announced over the weekend and on Monday that they also are requiring employees to get shots. The moves came after Reuters reported Friday that the White House has pushed carriers to do so. That leaves Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines as the only big U.S. carrier without a broad employee vaccine mandate. Earlier this year, Delta stood out for a different reason as the only major airline still blocking middle seats. It maintained that policy through April 2021, saying it gained more customers because it made travelers feel safer during the pandemic. Delta is requiring new hires to be vaccinated. But for existing employees it is instead penalizing unvaccinated workers with a monthly $200 health insurance surcharge starting in November, along with requiring them to take weekly COVID-19 tests and wear masks. Delta to levy $200/mth health care surcharge on unvaccinated employees On Monday afternoon, Delta said its “approach to encourage a high rate of employee vaccinations continues to work,” adding that 84% of its workforce has been vaccinated so far, and that rate is “climbing daily.” At an International Air Transport Association conference in Boston, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said Sunday, “I’m really pleased with the success that we’re having,” according to a transcript of the remarks. Chicago-based United said on Monday that 99.5% of its employees had been vaccinated against COVID-19. At the same time, some employees have sued United, which said 320 workers were in the process of being terminated from a workforce of 67,000. Some industry watchers say Delta may have no choice but to adopt a similar policy, pointing to the Biden administration’s vaccine requirement for federal contractors by Dec. 8. In a statement Monday, Delta said “we continue to examine the Administration’s executive order.” Bastian said Sunday he expects Delta’s employee vaccination rate to get to “well over 90%” but that the company “will certainly follow any executive order requirements.” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp threatened last month to go to court to block President Joe Biden’s federal vaccine requirements. Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, the second-largest carrier at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport behind Delta, issued a statement Monday afternoon announcing its employee vaccination mandate. It added that it “determined that the carrier’s contracts with the U.S. government require full compliance with the federal vaccination directive.” Delta also is a federal government contractor. It is one of the U.S. airlines contracted to provide discounted flights to federal government travelers. It is a maintenance contractor for U.S. military aircraft. As part of the Department of Defense’s Civil Reserve Air Fleet, it recently helped transport evacuees from Afghanistan. https://www.ajc.com/news/business/all-major-us-airlines-but-delta-now-have-employee-vaccine-mandate/ENKL62TMLRBHZJCBCFHBVSLC3I/ General Dynamics unveils two Gulfstream business jets Oct 5 (Reuters) - Aerospace and defense firm General Dynamics Corp (GD.N) has launched two new Gulfstream aircraft, as it looks to tap a rebound in demand for business jets after the pandemic shrunk orders. The company, which introduced the jets on Monday, described the Gulfstream G800 as the longest-range aircraft in the Gulfstream fleet and the Gulfstream G400 as the first new entrant to the large-cabin class in over a decade. "The G400 and G800 announced last night flesh out Gulfstream's upper-end product line ... Risks and R&D look moderate as both are derivatives," Cowen analyst Cai von Rumohr said on Tuesday. He said the G400 is positioned to beat Bombardier Inc's (BBDb.TO) Challenger 650, and given it is at a price point where Gulfstream has no products, it should not cannibalize demand for existing Gulfstream models. The pandemic has fueled demand for private jet travel in the United States, with a shortage of pre-owned business jets and demand from wealthy travelers to fly with fewer people underpinning prices and filling order books for new corporate aircraft. Gulfstream, which engages in business jet services, however, continues to be hit by pandemic-related shutdowns and shortages. In the second quarter this year, the company delivered only 21 jets, compared with 32 a year earlier. General Dynamics said it expects to start customer deliveries of the G800 in 2023, while deliveries of the G400 are estimated to begin in 2025. Business jet maker Bombardier last week announced an order worth $534 million for 20 units of an upgraded variant of its Challenger 350 aircraft. The jet is expected to enter service in the second half of 2022. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/gulfstream-introduces-two-new-business-aircraft-2021-10-05/ COVID vaccine mandates: The key question challenging United Airlines’ policy United Airlines (UAL) began firing some unvaccinated U.S.-based workers on Tuesday. However, the airline agreed to postpone plans to put another group of unvaccinated workers on mostly unpaid leave after they'd applied for medical or religious exemptions to its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. Six of those exempted workers are challenging United's policy in a federal lawsuit in Texas, which employment lawyers say is likely to turn on the nature of the alternatives that United offered to employees who sought exemptions. "You can have a mandatory vaccination policy; however, employees may be entitled to a reasonable accommodation based on either a sincerely held religious belief and or a disability, if it doesn't cause an undue burden on the employer," LaKeisha Caton, an attorney with Pryor Cashman, told Yahoo Finance. An 'impossible choice' under United's COVID vaccine policy The lawsuit, a purported class action that the plaintiffs estimate to include more than 2,000 workers, is being brought by two captains, a flight attendant, a customer service representative, a station operations representative, and an aircraft technician. The group seeks a preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction that would stop United from carrying out plans to place them on indefinite periods of paid or unpaid leave. “United’s actions have left plaintiffs with the impossible choice of either taking the COVID-19 vaccine, at the expense of their religious beliefs and their health, or losing their livelihoods," the suit states. The employees claim United failed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by failing to engage in legally required communications with employees who are granted medical or religious exemptions. The suit also claims United violated federal law by enforcing its policy against unvaccinated workers who have antibodies against COVID-19, and by defaulting exempted workers into unspecified terms of paid or unpaid leave. “Nothing in the policy suggests that employees will be terminated for requesting or receiving an exemption,” the complaint states, arguing that the unspecified terms, accompanied by a loss of health insurance and other benefits, is tantamount to being fired. United says workers granted a medical exemption could use paid sick leave, and workers granted a religious exemption would receive unpaid leave. The complaint alleges that at least one medically exempted worker was instead offered unpaid leave, and that additional employees were prevented from submitting for both medical and religious exemptions. Since the lawsuit was filed, United halted its plan to start placing workers who submitted applications for accommodations on leave. In response to the complaint, a United spokesperson said the company would "continue to vigorously defend" its policy. "Vaccine requirements have been around for decades and have served to keep airline employees and customers safe," the spokesperson added. In arguing against the request for an injunction, United said the ADA doesn't allow such an extraordinary solution and that the workers could instead get money damages if they proved intentional discrimination. Plaintiffs, for their part, say their loss of income would lead to serious consequences, including for one plaintiff, homelessness. Are United's vaccine accommodations reasonable? For now, University of Pennsylvania law professor Jasmine Harris said the judge is faced with deciding whether to grant the exempt workers' more immediate request to stop United from cutting off their income and benefits. Whatever the judge's decision, she said, the legal analysis will offer a preview of the case's core legal questions. Those questions include whether under the ADA or Title VII the accommodations would impose an "undue hardship" on United, and whether whether the accommodations are considered reasonable. Syracuse University law school professor Doron Dorfman told Yahoo Finance that the indefinite nature of United's offer to keep exempt workers on leave could pose a challenge for its "reasonableness" defense. "If I were to advise United, I would just do it year by year, or for six months," Dorfman said, explaining that a judge might find longer terms unreasonable. Caton made a similar conclusion, explaining that a blanket default to unpaid leave could potentially indicate the company didn't meet its legal burden to engage in more robust communications with exempt workers. "I'm not surprised that they took a pause on that," Caton said, "because practically speaking for these employees...automatically put on unpaid leave, that raises the question: Is that really a reasonable accommodation? If you're put on indefinite unpaid leave that's, for all practical purposes, akin to a termination." United's obligations are minimal Experts stress that religious and medical exceptions pose hurdles for the workers too because of legal limitations that protect employers from undue hardship. Religious-based accommodations, Dorfman explains, impose the most minimal requirements on employers, where the standard the employer must meet is even lower than under the ADA. Under the standard, courts have upheld employers' rights to avoid accommodations such as those that compromise workplace safety, are too costly, and decrease workplace efficiency. "Basically what it means is that an employer does not need to do anything except the minimum to accommodate a person for religious accommodation," Dorfman said. However, Harris notes that employers rarely find a winning argument if they rely solely on the position that an accommodation is too costly. Medical accommodations, meanwhile, are additionally limited to workers with a qualifying condition — meaning one that directly impairs their ability to comply with the policy. "The definition of disability is actually fairly broad under the ADA," Caton said, explaining that it can include a variety of medical conditions. "That being said, you have to show that you're disabled and that that disability entitles you to reasonable accommodation from being vaccinated. So it's going to be problematic for these employees if they can't show that, because that burden is on them." United will likely argue that there's no reasonable accommodation at all that would allow the workers to perform their essential job functions, according to Harris. An unvaccinated worker with no proven immunity, and who needs to interact with other workers or the public, for example, could threaten a safe work environment. United announced its policy to U.S.-based workers on Aug. 6, and later confirmed that proof of full vaccination would be required by Oct. 31. On Thursday, United said that 99% of its U.S.-based employees chose to become vaccinated, excluding those who submitted for an accommodation. Multiple news reports on Thursday also said the company's number of unvaccinated U.S.-based workers facing termination under its policy had dropped from 593 to 320. A hearing on the preliminary injunction is scheduled for Oct. 8. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/united-airlines-mandatory-vaccination-lawsuit-125700161.html PhD - Graduate Research Survey Request (1) Calling All Pilots (and Non-Pilots) My name is Kurt Reesman and I am an Adult Education Ph.D. candidate teaching in the Department of Aviation at Auburn University. I invite you to participate in my research study entitled Training the Emerging Pilot Workforce: Does Generation and Gender Influence Curriculum Development? With your help, I will learn more about the following three questions: 1. Do non-pilots and pilots have different learning styles or preferences? 2. Do pilots in the Baby Boomer, Generation X, Generation Y (Millennials), and Generation Z generations have learning styles or preferences that differ from each other? 3. Do male pilots and female pilots have different learning styles or preferences? You may participate if you are 18 years or older. I am asking that you take 5-10 minutes of your time to complete an anonymous, on-line survey that asks you to provide basic demographic information and then answer 44 questions that only have 2 possible answers each. These questions are from the Felder and Solomon Index of Learning Styles questionnaire. If you are interested and eligible to participate, click the link below to begin the survey. If you would like to know more information, or have any questions about this study, you can send an email to Kurt Reesman at klr0051@auburn.edu or my advisor, Dr. James Witte at witteje@auburn.edu. Thank you for your consideration, Kurt Reesman, Lt Col, USAF (retired) Ph.D. Candidate / Lecturer Department of Aviation Auburn University Survey Link: https://auburn.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_88HSBAVREFUHLE1 Curt Lewis