Flight Safety Information - May 3, 2022 No.087 In This Issue : Incident: Dana MD83 at Port Harcourt on May 2nd 2022, rejected takeoff causes brakes fire : Incident: Brussels A320 near Bilbao on May 1st 2022, black boxes inoperative : SpiceJet India: 'The plane began bouncing up and down like a ball' : Analysis-Foreign pilots rush in as U.S. carriers struggle to staff up : Safety Professionals: Learn from the Experts in New Embry-Riddle Course on Disaster Assistance and Response : Cape Air Signs Deal For 75 Electric Alice Commuter Aircraft Incident: Dana MD83 at Port Harcourt on May 2nd 2022, rejected takeoff causes brakes fire A Dana Air McDonnell Douglas MD-83, registration 5N-JOY performing flight 9J-344 from Port Harcourt to Lagos (Nigeria) with 50 passengers, was accelerating for takeoff at about 21:00L (20:00Z) when the crew rejected takeoff. The aircraft taxied back to the apron, already on the apron brakes were observed on fire. The aircraft stopped on the apron, the passengers disembarked via stairs while the brake fire was being extinguished by ground staff. The airline stated: "Our aircraft with registration number 5N-JOY operating flight 9J 344 from Port Harcourt to Lagos on 2nd of May 2022, was set to take off when the pilot in command noticed an anomaly which he queried with Air Traffic Control before embarking on a ramp return in line with our strict safety operating procedures. However, the impact on the brakes as result of the aborted take off affected the aircraft tyres which sparked off while the aircraft was taxiing back to base." https://www.avherald.com/h?article=4f842856&opt=0 Incident: Brussels A320 near Bilbao on May 1st 2022, black boxes inoperative A Brussles Airlines Airbus A320-200, registration OO-TCH performing flight SN-3841 from Brussels (Belgium) to Marrakech (Morocco), was enroute at FL370 about 40nm southeast of Bilbao,SP (Spain) when the crew descended the aircraft to FL360 and returned to Brussels, where the aircraft landed safely about 3 hours after departure. The airline reported the crew received indication that both cockpit voice and flight data recorders had become inoperative. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 90 minutes, then departed again and reached Marrakech with a delay of about 4.5 hours. https://www.avherald.com/h?article=4f83a4ce&opt=0 SpiceJet India: 'The plane began bouncing up and down like a ball' At least 17 people were injured on board a SpiceJet flight in India after the plane hit severe turbulence before landing on Sunday evening. The Boeing 737, carrying about 200 passengers and crew, was travelling from Mumbai to Durgapur. Amit Baul, who was on the flight, recounts the ordeal. This article contains an image some readers may find distressing It was a warm Sunday evening in Mumbai when we took off at 5.13 pm for a two-hour-flight to the eastern city of Durgapur, where I live and work as a businessman. There was nothing out of the ordinary during the flight: the plane was packed to capacity, food was served on time and passengers were either dozing or glued to their mobile phones. I had flown between Mumbai and Durgapur half-a-dozen times in the last four months, and preferred SpiceJet because it offers a non-stop flight. SpiceJet is one of India's leading private airlines Thirty five minutes before the scheduled landing I felt some light turbulence. Again, nothing unusual about that. I was seated in an aisle seat in the last row, and fastened my seat belt. But as we began descending things got worse. The next 15-17 minutes were the worst moments of my life. I don't know whether we flew into a storm but the plane began bouncing up and down and sideways. The Boeing 737 was going up and down like a rubber ball. It felt like being dropped from a 100-storey building and then being kicked up to those heights in a matter of seconds. I tightened my seat belt and held on tightly to the seat handle. I saw passengers, who had possibly forgotten to fasten their belts, being bounced up and down from their seats and hitting the overhead baggage bins. They were getting severely hurt. Two men sitting next to me also got a little hurt because they possibly hadn't tightened their belts. Sitting in front of me was a woman with her 11-year-old daughter. They were flung up from their seats a number of times, with their heads hitting the luggage bin. The final time, the woman came down and landed on my feet, which were sticking out into the aisle. She was so badly hurt that she stayed on the floor, clinging on to the seat handles. Passengers were crying and shouting. Some began praying. I tried to look out of the window and noticed it was dark. The pilot kept announcing that passengers should put on their seat belts. It was complete mayhem. The food waste from the galley was flying out - leftovers and beverage cups and cans choked the isles. A few food trays and seat handles had come off. The oxygen panels had opened and the masks had dropped down. So many people got hurt, I saw blood stains on the ceiling. Passengers frantically asked for ice to reduce pain and swelling from their wounds. "Do something fast, ma'am," a passenger asked a harried air-hostess as she sprinted down the aisle to help a passenger. "Just pray, keep praying," another passenger said. There was a time when I felt I wouldn't make it home. When the plane finally landed at 7.15pm, I felt like I had returned from the jaws of death. We thanked the pilots profusely and stepped out into a hot summer evening in Durgapur. But the worst was to yet come. It took an hour for the ambulances to arrive and take away the injured passengers to the hospital. There were no doctors in sight. A paramedic of sorts was giving out painkillers and putting on bandages. There weren't enough wheelchairs. Many passengers limped to the arrival hall. It was clear that the airport in Durgapur had no basic medical facilities. When I went to the hospital later in the evening to get an X-ray of a swelling in my foot, I saw many of my fellow passengers getting treated for wounds and getting scans. I found out that the woman in the front seat had suffered very severe injuries in her stomach and shoulders. (India's civil aviation regulator has ordered an investigation into the incident. In a statement it said that the plane had experienced "severe turbulence" during descent, and the "auto-pilot got disengaged for two minutes and the crew manually flew the aircraft".) https://www.yahoo.com/news/spicejet-plane-began-bouncing-down-083104015.html Analysis-Foreign pilots rush in as U.S. carriers struggle to staff up (Reuters) – Pilots are back in demand in the United States. But carriers cannot find enough of them, so foreign pilots are rushing to fill the empty cockpits. U.S. immigration lawyers report a surge in inquiries and visa applications from pilots based in countries where traffic is still recovering from pandemic lows. That could bring some relief to an industry struggling to rebuild capacity after a two-year slump, but the trend is stirring a backlash from domestic unions. It also reflects an uneven global recovery from COVID- 19. Coronavirus infections are still rising in many countries although pandemic curbs have been easing in some places. While booming travel demand is projected to help major U.S. carriers surpass their pre-pandemic revenue this quarter, airline traffic in some parts of the world remains depressed. “While the U.S. has a major shortage, in the rest of the world pilots are out of jobs,” said Ana Barbara Schaffert, an attorney at California-based AG Immigration Group. She has received more than 8,000 requests for consultation in recent months, and is screening over 2,000 resumes from pilots seeking to immigrate to the United States – up more than 90% from before COVID-19. According to United Airlines, pilots are expected to remain in short supply for years. Whereas the United States can produce a maximum of only 7,000 pilots a year, carriers need 13,000 pilots this year and even more next year, United Airlines said. Limited training capacity, among other issues, remains a barrier to producing pilots. Staffing woes have marred operations in recent weeks at carriers such as Alaska Air Group Inc and JetBlue Airways Corp, resulting in mass flight cancellations. To prevent further disruption, airlines have cut summer schedules. Shortages are even more acute at regional airlines, which are facing a soaring attrition rate because of poaching by higher-paying national carriers. American Airlines Group Inc last month told investors the pilot attrition rate at its regional carriers was outpacing the hiring rate. That is drawing interest from pilots in Canada, Europe, Africa and Asia where traffic is still recovering, said Carmen Arce, an attorney at Florida-based Arce Immigration Law. Arce and Jean-Francois Harvey, global managing partner at Harvey Law Group, said they are also getting inquiries from pilots in Russia, where airlines have been hit hard by Western sanctions. Three Canadian pilots said they are considering moving to the United States because of Canada’s previous strict COVID-19 restrictions, which grounded planes earlier during the pandemic and forced some aviators to seek employment as drivers for Uber Technologies Inc. ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ OPPORTUNITY Many foreign pilots have hesitated to apply since immigration in the United States can take up to 26 months and cost as much as $20,000, with no guarantee of success. “It’s like if you wanted to go to Colorado for the (19th century) gold rush, but you were stopped in Michigan,” said a Montreal-based pilot for Transat AT Inc’s Air Transat. “If the green card process changed in the U.S., there would be a lot more pilots leaving (Canada).” Even so, Schaffert said a widening demand-supply gap has created an “unprecedented” opportunity for experienced foreign pilots. First, they must convince U.S. immigration officials that permanent residency would be in the country’s interest. Under the so-called national interest waiver clause, non-U.S. citizens are allowed to apply for permanent residency without a job offer, making it easier to immigrate. Schaffert said more than 90% of the applications submitted by her firm for experienced pilots have been approved. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) did not supply data on applications from pilots. But a spokesperson said the agency determines requests on “a case-by-case basis.” The Federal Aviation Administration says the number of foreign-licensed pilots seeking U.S. certificates required to fly large jets increased to 718 in 2021, up about 24% from 2019. BARRIERS TO FLIGHT Foreign pilots are also facing opposition from local unions. They want airlines to do more to address barriers to becoming a pilot like the high cost of training, instead of recruiting foreigners. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the world’s largest pilot union, with more than 62,000 members, said there is an “adequate” domestic supply of qualified pilots. “ALPA opposes any efforts to use the visa process to undermine pay and benefits for a profession so critical to the U.S. economy and global travel,” it said. Regional and ultra-low-cost carriers like ExpressJet Airlines, CommutAir, Breeze and Frontier Airlines are recruiting Australian pilots, who can use a special visa. Faye Malarkey Black, head of the Regional Airline Association, said giving other foreign pilots a similar kind of visa would ease the staffing problem. SkyWest Inc, which operates flights for Delta Air Lines, American and United, recently dropped 29 government-subsidized routes, blaming insufficient pilots. While the routes were later restored, regional carrier Mesa Air Group called SkyWest’s move the “tip of the iceberg” and warned the problem could hit mainline carriers. Already, pilots from Delta Air Lines have been picketing at the carrier’s hubs, demanding an improvement in “fatiguing” schedules. Southwest Airlines pilots are also complaining of rising rates of fatigue. United has grounded 150 planes because of insufficient pilots. Black said carriers have cut one of every three flights they operated before the pandemic. “It’s the classic game of musical chairs,” Black said. “When you don’t have enough chairs for everybody, something gets cut.” https://wtvbam.com/2022/05/03/analysis-foreign-pilots-rush-in-as-u-s-carriers-struggle-to-staff-up/ Safety Professionals: Learn from the Experts in New Embry-Riddle Course on Disaster Assistance and Response Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will host a professional education course to prepare transportation industry leaders for disaster asssistance and response this fall. Registration is open now. DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., May 3, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In order to help guide managers and leaders through the preparation for and response to a transportation disaster involving the loss of a life, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety will host its inaugural course — "Disaster Assistance and Response" — later this year. Set to run from Sept. 13-15, the course was developed by National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) veterans Sharon Bryson and Paul Sledzik, who between them have managed the NTSB response to every major transportation accident in the United States since 1997. Participants will gain valuable insight on laws that require aviation operators to ensure that victims or crashes are provided support as part of a coordinated response. Focusing specifically on the Aviation Disaster Family Assistance Act of 1996 and associated legislation, the course will be relevant to workers throughout the transportation industry, including rail, pipeline, highway and marine workers. "Setting this course apart is the true expertise that the instructors bring to the classroom," said the Honorable Robert L. Sumwalt III, former NTSB chair who now serves as distinguished fellow in aviation safety and executive director of Embry-Riddle's Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety. "No one has more combined experience in this field than Sharon and Paul, and Embry-Riddle is pleased to have them share their vast experience and expertise." After serving 40 years in federal service, Bryson recently retired from the NTSB where, in 2019, she was selected as the first female managing director and oversaw hundreds of accident investigations. In addition, she is credited with managing decisions that kept the agency personnel safe and working during the early phases of the pandemic. Prior to joining the NTSB, she served more than 12 years as a civilian with the U.S. Air Force. In her role as the director at Dover Air Force Base, she was responsible for providing critical support to the Dover Port Mortuary. While Bryson has had many accomplishments and received numerous awards including the Distinguished Presidential Rank Award, she will be the first to tell you that "the single greatest honor of my career has been building the family assistance program at the NTSB and watching it grow." "This course will help participants plan prior to a crisis, know what to do during the response and equally as important, know how to recover and return to organizational functionality," she said. "Doing the right things for the right reasons supports your overall emergency response/preparedness plan. It is important for your organization, but for those directly impacted, it means everything!" Sledzik served 35 years in federal government and, for the past 17 years, has held positions of increasing responsibility at the NTSB. His office directed the media communications, government affairs, safety advocacy and family assistance activities of several major accidents, including the sinking of the cargo ship El Faro in the Caribbean, an engine failure while airborne involving a Southwest Airlines flight, an attempted wrong runway landing in San Francisco, a New Jersey Transit commuter train derailment, school bus accidents in Baltimore and Chattanooga, and a gas explosion at an apartment complex in Silver Spring, Maryland. He also led the public communications efforts related to high-profile agency studies on motorcycle safety, pedestrian safety and speeding, which combined resulted in the issuance of 90 recommendations to federal agencies, safety organizations and states. Trained as a forensic anthropologist, Sledzik has served as a consultant and advisor to several federal, international and non-governmental agencies on issues of human identification and disaster response. He has written extensively on the topic of mass fatality management for professional journals and textbooks. He participated in the victim identification and recovery efforts in over 30 mass fatality events and transportation accidents. "Effective disaster response for transportation operators is the furthest extension of customer service. This course will help operators understand the often overlooked complexities of a mass casualty/fatality event," Sledzik said. Learn more or register online: https://www.enrole.com/erau/jsp/course.jsp?categoryId=557914E8&courseId=TDAR. Media Contact Mike Cavaliere, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, 3863385104, fortissima3@gmail.com SOURCE Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University https://finance.yahoo.com/news/safety-professionals-learn-experts-embry-120000598.html Cape Air Signs Deal For 75 Electric Alice Commuter Aircraft Massachusetts-based commuter airline Cape Air has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Eviation for the purchase of 75 all-electric Alice aircraft. The terms of the agreement have not been made public. As previously reported by AVweb, Eviation announced in June 2019 that Cape Air would be its first commercial customer for the aircraft, which is still in development. “Truly sustainable aviation not only reduces the impact of air travel on the environment but also makes business sense,” said Jessica Pruss, Eviation vice president of sales. “We are proud to support Cape Air, a recognized leader in regional air travel, to chart a new path in delivering innovative solutions that benefit airline operators, passengers, communities and society.” Cape Air currently flies more than 400 flights a day to locations in the Northeast, Midwest, Montana and the Caribbean. According to Eviation, the Alice will have a top cruise speed of 250 knots, maximum payload of 2,500 pounds and single-charge range of 440 NM. The aircraft will seat nine passengers and two crew members and is powered by the magniX magni650 electric propulsion unit. Eviation noted last February amidst a leadership change that it was expecting to fly the Alice for the first time “in the upcoming weeks.” https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/cape-air-signs-deal-for-75-electric-alice-commuter-aircraft/ Curt Lewis