Flight Safety Information - April 13, 2022 No.073 In This Issue : Incident: EAT A333 near Brussels on Apr 12th 2022, hydraulic problems : India's aviation regulator bars 90 SpiceJet pilots from flying Boeing MAX planes : Southwest pilots' union says fatigue is a safety problem : How Connected Cockpits are Helping UPS Increase Aircraft Efficiency : Geopolitics leads Boeing to downgrade dozens of jet orders : Call for Nominations For 2022 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award : Safeskies Australia - 2022: Call for papers Incident: EAT A333 near Brussels on Apr 12th 2022, hydraulic problems An EAT Leipzig Airbus A330-300 freighter, registration D-ACVG performing flight QY-372 from Milan Malpensa (Italy) to Cincinnati,KY (USA), was enroute at FL340 about 100nm south of Brussels (Belgium) when the crew reported hydraulic problems and decided to divert to Brussels for a safe landing on runway 25R about 30 minutes later. The aircraft stopped on the runway, the crew shut the left hand engine (Trent 772) down and requested emergency services to check the left hand side of the aircraft for possible leaks. Emergency services reported they could not see any leaks. Belgium's Flightlevel reported the aircraft was towed to the apron. https://www.avherald.com/h?article=4f7570b4&opt=0 India's aviation regulator bars 90 SpiceJet pilots from flying Boeing MAX planes BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian budget carrier SpiceJet Ltd said on Wednesday the country's aviation regulator has asked 90 pilots belonging to the airline to restrain from flying Boeing 737 MAX planes. SpiceJet, which currently operates 11 MAX aircraft and has 144 pilots to fly them, said the pilots have been restricted from operating MAX jets until they undergo retraining to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) satisfaction. These pilots continue to remain available for other Boeing 737 aircraft and the restriction does not impact the operations of MAX aircraft whatsoever, a SpiceJet spokesperson said. The airline is Boeing's biggest customer in the South Asian nation for MAX planes. The planemaker did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The pilots need to retrain successfully and we will take strict action against those found responsible for the lapse, Arun Kumar, the directorate general at India's air safety watchdog DGCA, said. The regulator had cleared in August the 737 MAX aircraft to fly after a near two-and-a-half-year regulatory grounding following two fatal crashes in 2019. Boeing's 737 MAX was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after two crashes in five months killed 346 people, plunging the planemaker into a financial crisis, since compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/indias-aviation-regulator-bars-90-091251502.html Southwest pilots' union says fatigue is a safety problem Pilots at Southwest Airlines say fatigue from poor scheduling is a growing problem and is raising safety concerns DALLAS -- Union officials say pilots of Southwest Airlines pilots are suffering through an epidemic of fatigue due to poor scheduling practices by the airline, and that it is raising safety concerns. Union leaders said in an open letter Tuesday to Southwest CEO Robert Jordan and other executives that problems started last summer when the number of travelers returned nearly to normal pre-pandemic levels, and have gotten worse. The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, which is currently negotiating with the airline for a new contract, said the number of pilots asking to be relieved from a flight assignment because of fatigue jumped 330% in March compared with the same month in pre-pandemic years. “April is already setting fatigue records,” they said. “Fatigue, both acute and cumulative, has become Southwest Airlines’ number-one safety threat.” Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King said the airline saw “a significant and steady decline” in pilots calling in fatigued after the airline made schedule changes in November. She said the March increase was expected, as weather-related flight cancellations disrupted schedules. King said the rise in fatigue calls in March shows that the system works and that the airline lets pilots determine if they are too tired to fly. Last summer, Dallas-based Southwest, the nation’s fourth-largest airline, was plagued by flight cancellations due partly to staffing shortages. The airline responded by hiring several thousand workers, executives have said. Airlines persuaded thousands of employees to quit during the worst of the pandemic after air travel plummeted and airline revenue collapsed. Since then, travel has picked up — the number of people flying in the U.S. topped 2 million a day in March, nearly 90% of pre-pandemic numbers. Unions at Southwest and other airlines have called on their companies to hire more pilots. In recent days, JetBlue Airways said it would trim some flights this summer because of staffing issues, and Alaska Airlines has blamed a pilot shortage for a surge in cancellations and delays. https://abcnews.go.com/Travel/wireStory/southwest-pilots-union-fatigue-safety-problem-84045085 How Connected Cockpits are Helping UPS Increase Aircraft Efficiency During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Americans were mostly sequestered in their homes and relying on delivery services for access to everything from dinner to health and beauty products, global delivery giants like UPS were an essential and near-constant presence in our lives. But many of us only know UPS from what we can see – their fleet of brown trucks and friendly delivery people. We don’t see the 1,200 flights that the company’s almost 300 owned and operated aircraft take daily to ensure that our your eCommerce and life-saving healthcare packages, arrive on the doorsteps when promised. Getting a package from “Point A” to “Point B” by a select date and time is a promise that UPS makes to its customers. This makes finding ways to increase the efficiency of flights and finding the most effective flight paths fundamental to the company’s business. This also makes aircraft connectivity and innovative and new aviation technologies essential for the company’s continued growth and success. To learn more about how UPS is ushering in a new era of connected aircraft and aviation, we sat down with Kevin Swiatek, the airlines Flight Operations Manager. During our discussion, we spoke about how UPS defines the connected cockpit, how connectivity could empower the flight crew to make better flight path decisions, and what the future of the connected aircraft looks like. Connected Aviation Today (CAT): How does UPS define the connected cockpit? Kevin Swiatek: The concept of the connected cockpit involves making everything that’s available to the flight crew in their ready room available in the cockpit, itself, throughout the flight. “WE SEE THE CONNECTED COCKPIT AS AN ENABLER – GETTING THAT DATA TO CREW MEMBERS, MAINTENANCE PERSONNEL, OR DISPATCHERS IN REAL-TIME.” – KEVIN SWIATEK But there is a larger, potentially more disruptive definition that includes much more than simply utilizing data. That definition involves turning that data into information and finding ways to utilize that information to assist our pilots, dispatchers, and mechanics. Essentially, using that information to improve aircraft reliability. That’s the larger definition – or the “big promise” – of the connected cockpit. There’s so much data on airplanes. And, while we see a lot of that data, much of it is not being properly utilized. At UPS, we’re constantly thinking about how we can tap into that data and provide real-time access to the data that’s on the airplane. And, once we can access that data in the cockpit and on the ground, we’re thinking about how we can leverage it for information to improve safety and reliability. We see the connected cockpit as an enabler – getting that data to crew members, maintenance personnel, or dispatchers in real-time so that it be used to make their jobs more efficient, and safer, and provide a better delivery experience for our customers. CAT: What are the major benefits you see airlines and delivery companies receiving from a connected aviation ecosystem? Kevin Swiatek: Ultimately, the benefit is more data and better data. It’s more actionable data and more timely data. If you take that data and translate it into information, that’s better information, more actionable information, and more timely information. That’s really the benefit. “BY PROVIDING PILOTS AND DISPATCHERS WITH A HIGH-LEVEL VIEW OF THE WEATHER, WE CAN ENABLE THEM TO MAKE DECISIONS THAT CAN INCREASE EFFICIENCY AND SAFETY.” – KEVIN SWIATEK For example, think about the iPad or smart device that the pilot has with them in the cockpit. What if we can share efficiency opportunities that can shave time off their route of flight or a more optimal flight level or fuel-saving possibilities? What if we can provide them with real-time weather and weather effect data and maps on that device? What if we could give them a satellite view of what’s going on from a weather perspective between where they are and their destination? If you speak with pilots, they’ll tell you that weather deviations and unexpected weather effects can happen much more frequently than people realize. Especially in the summer, or when flying near the Equator. If the pilot can see that information right there in the cockpit, and that same view can be shared by the dispatchers on the ground, they can collaborate in real-time to determine more efficient flight paths with minor offsets that allow them to avoid that weather effect. Compare that to the past, when pilots wouldn’t be aware of weather effects until coming upon them, and then needing to conduct significant flight path offsets to move around that weather. This is just one example of how the connected cockpit could be beneficial. By providing pilots and dispatchers with a high-level view of the weather, we can enable them to make decisions that can increase efficiency and safety. CAT: How is UPS utilizing electronic flight bag (EFB) connectivity, and what benefits is it delivering? Kevin Swiatek: The EFB has become the platform that enables us to extend the applications and data that the flight crews can access in the crew ready rooms and get it out to the cockpit. And those weather feeds, data sets, and applications that are used in the cockpit are also used by the dispatcher. This ensures that both the pilot and the dispatcher are seeing the same information, which is extremely important. With connected EFB we can, for example, provide a platform for displaying weather information. We can overlay the flight path on that weather map so that the pilot and dispatcher can better anticipate weather events and take proactive steps to avoid them, or to utilize tailwinds to optimize their flight – saving time and fuel. For a business like UPS, which operates 1,200 flights per day, saving time on those flights and cutting fuel costs can have a massive impact on packages getting to where they need to go on time, and improving operational efficiency. CAT: How do you see this connectivity trend playing out over the course of the next few years? Kevin Swiatek: Many operators are trying to leverage traffic data or ADS-B data to give them better situational awareness. And there’s a good reason for that. When you talk to pilots, they want more transparency into what the pilot in front of them is flying through and what they’re going to experience. They want visibility into the flow of the airplanes into their destination airport and they want to know what weather events or conditions are ahead on the flight path. There is a large safety and reliability benefit to being able to share that information and having that data displayed for the flight crew. In the future, I believe that we could see the EFB interrogating, or getting information from the flight management computer, to have the capacity to pull information and different data sets together to start massaging the route to avoid traffic jams or weather patterns. It could almost operate like the GPS solutions that we use on roads to help navigate us around traffic or arrive sooner – even if we have to travel a further distance. Then, there’s also a movement towards using that data for predictive analytics and becoming more proactive in the maintenance and operations of aircraft. To learn more about the benefits of increasing connected aircraft, click HERE to download a complimentary copy of the white paper, “Understanding the Impact of Data From New Generation Aircraft on the ACARS Network.” https://connectedaviationtoday.com/how-connected-cockpits-are-helping-ups-increase-aircraft-efficiency/ Geopolitics leads Boeing to downgrade dozens of jet orders Boeing has removed 141 airplanes from its backlog of pending orders, many of them because of what it termed geopolitical considerations including restrictions on sales because of sanctions like those imposed on Russia for its war against Ukraine. The big aircraft manufacturer said Tuesday it took 38 net new orders for planes in March, most of them single-aisle 737 Max jets. Air Lease Corp. placed an order for 32 Maxes. Boeing removed 141 previously ordered planes from its backlog of more than 4,000 planes because accounting rules make it unclear whether the sale will be completed. Sometimes planes are removed from the backlog because of an order cancellation, other times because the buyer's financial problems place the deal in jeopardy. This time, however, Boeing said that about two-thirds of the planes removed from the backlog resulted from geopolitical reasons including sanctions. It declined to identify the customers whose orders were, in effect, downgraded to questionable. Boeing previously indicated that it had undelivered orders for 34 planes with Russian carriers Utair and Volga-Dnepr and seven with SkyUp Airlines of Ukraine. In the past 10 years, Boeing has taken orders for 86 planes from Russian companies including 30 from Utair, 22 from Sberbank Leasing and six from Aeroflot, the nation's flag carrier. The United States and its allies have been imposing steadily escalating sanctions on Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February. Sberbank is among the targets. Boeing Co. said it delivered 41 planes in March, including 37 737s, most of them Max models. The Chicago-based company has delivered 95 planes so far this year, providing crucial cash because airlines typically pay a large part of the purchase price on delivery. https://www.knkx.org/business/2022-04-12/geopolitics-leads-boeing-to-downgrade-dozens-of-jet-orders FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | March 28, 2022 CONTACT: Philip Barbour, 205-939-1700, 205-617-9007 Call for Nominations For 2022 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation is now accepting nominations for the 2022 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award, honoring a leader in global aviation safety. The Award is scheduled to be presented during Flight Safety Foundation’s annual International Air Safety Summit this fall. Presented annually since 1956, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award recognizes notable achievement in the field of civil or military aviation safety in method, design, invention, study, or other improvement. The Award's recipient is selected for a "significant individual or group effort contributing to improving aviation safety, with emphasis on original contributions," and a "significant individual or group effort performed above and beyond normal responsibilities." Mechanics, engineers, and others outside of top administrative or research positions should be especially considered. The contribution need not be recent, especially if the nominee has not received adequate recognition. Nominations that were not selected as past winners may be resubmitted for consideration in subsequent years. Please note that self-nominations will not be considered. The Award Committee, composed of leaders in the field of aviation, meets each year to conduct a final review of nominees and selection of the current year's recipient. Please help us identify and honor this year's most deserving recipient. Nominations, including a 1-to-2-page narrative, can be submitted via the Laura Taber Barbour Foundation website at http://ltbaward.org/the-award/nomination-form/. Nominations will be accepted through June 3, 2022. For more information, including a complete history of Award recipients, see www.ltbaward.org. About the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation and Award The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award's story dates back more than 75 years. On April 14, 1945, after visiting family in Pittsburgh, Laura Taber Barbour was aboard a Pennsylvania Central Airlines DC-3 when it crashed into the rugged terrain of Cheat Mountain near Morgantown, West Virginia. All passengers and crew were killed. In 1956 her husband, Dr. Clifford E. Barbour and son, Clifford E. Barbour, Jr., in close association with The Flight Safety Foundation, established the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award in her honor. For the past 65 years, this distinguished award recognizing outstanding achievements in aviation safety worldwide has been presented at Flight Safety Foundation’s International Aviation Safety Seminar. In 2013, The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation was formed as an independent non-profit charitable organization composed of members of the Award Board, the aviation community, and the Barbour family. In addition to the annual presentation of the award, in 2019 the Foundation initiated a scholarship program that supports worthy students pursuing professional aviation studies. As the Foundation broadens its scope, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award will continue to recognize those who significantly contributed to aviation safety. For more information on the Foundation, the award, and past winners, visit http://LTBAward.org Curt Lewis