Flight Safety Information - June 9, 2022 No.110 In This Issue : Incident: Jazz CRJ2 near Toronto on Jun 3rd 2022, thrust reverser unlocked in flight : Incident: Westjet B738 enroute on Jun 2nd 2022, stabilizer out of trim : Incident: Fedex MD10 near Tulsa on Jun 7th 2022, fire on cargo deck : Military aircraft carrying five Marines crashes in California : Backlash After Wizz Air CEO Calls Out Pilots Reporting Fatigue : Delta Pilots ‘Need to Know’ Judge Says : Australia and Canada accuse China of ‘dangerous’ air intercepts; Beijing pushes back : FAA’s Transportation Worker Exception Covers Airline Ramp Agents, U.S. Supreme Court Holds : Japan Airlines Buys 26.5 Million Gallons Of SAF In oneworld Pact : The Fleet Of Panamanian Flag Carrier Copa Airlines In 2022 : Over $100,000 worth of narcotics seized at Juneau airport for 2nd time in 3 days : Airlines cancel hundreds of flights before summer travel season because of pilot shortage : WHY ARE LENDERS SO CONCERNED WITH AGE ON JET AIRCRAFT WHILE BEING MORE FLEXIBLE WITH PISTONS? : Position Available: Heavy Maintenance Vendor Inspector : GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Incident: Jazz CRJ2 near Toronto on Jun 3rd 2022, thrust reverser unlocked in flight A Jazz Canadair CRJ-200, registration C-FDJA performing flight QK-8837 from Raleigh/Durham,NC (USA) to Toronto,ON (Canada), was enroute about 150nm from Toronto when the crew received a right hand engine (CF34) thrust reverser unlocked caution indication. The crew worked the related checklist and shut the engine down. The crew declared PAN PAN and continued to Toronto for a safe landing. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/JZA8837/history/20220603/1555Z/KRDU/CYYZ https://www.avherald.com/h?article=4f9fb6ac&opt=0 Incident: Westjet B738 enroute on Jun 2nd 2022, stabilizer out of trim A Westjet Boeing 737-800, registration C-GWSZ performing flight WS-1401 from Las Vegas,NV (USA) to Calgary,AB (Canada) with 145 passengers and 6 crew, was enroute at FL370 about one hour into the flight when the crew received an indication that the horizontal stabilizer was out of trim. The crew worked the related checklists, descended the aircraft to FL280 out of RVSM airspace and continued to Calgary declaring PAN PAN with approach. The aircraft landed safely on Calgary's runway 17L. The Canadian TSB reported maintenance reset the horizontal stabilizer trim logic with no faults found. A BITE test returned maintenance message 22-11177. A SPD/STB trim test was performed and was passed. https://www.avherald.com/h?article=4f9fb1eb&opt=0 Incident: Fedex MD10 near Tulsa on Jun 7th 2022, fire on cargo deck A Fedex Federal Express McDonnell Douglas MD-10, registration N306FE performing flight FX-463 from Sacramento,CA to Memphis,TN (USA) with 3 crew, was enroute at FL310 about 40nm northwest of Tulsa,OK (USA) when the crew decided to divert to Tulsa due to a fire indication in the cargo bay. On approach the crew reported they now got an additional cargo fire alert in the aft cargo area. The crew requested runway 18L and landed safely about 18 minutes after leaving FL310. Tower reported seeing no smoke from the aircraft. Emergency services reported a heat signature prompting the crew to evacuate the aircraft. Both runways at Tulsa were closed for about 30 minutes while emergency services put the fire out. Tower advised other aircraft on approach that the airport was closed to an evacuation on the runway, the Fedex aircraft was actually on fire. Tulsa Fire Department reported the crew evacuated safely, both runways were closed for about 30 minutes. The aircraft was towed to the cargo apron soon after the fire was put out. A number of aircraft decided to divert as result. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground about 19 hours after landing. https://www.avherald.com/h?article=4f9f94f7&opt=0 Military aircraft carrying five Marines crashes in California An Osprey aircraft carrying five Marines crashed near Glamis, Calif., located just north of the Mexican border, at about 12:25 p.m. local time on Wednesday. A spokesman for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, the California-based unit that was responsible for the MV-22B Osprey, declined to comment on potential fatalities. Military and civilian first responders are at the crash site, he said. “We ask for the public’s patience as we work diligently with first responders and the unit to identify what occurred this afternoon,” the Marines said in an emailed statement. The Marines denied posts circulating on social media asserting that the aircraft may have been carrying nuclear material. “There was no nuclear material on board the aircraft,” the Marines said. Officials in Imperial County, where Glamis is located, could not immediately be reached for comment, but county officials wrote on social media that they were aware of a downed aircraft and were providing assistance. Glamis, east of San Diego, is a desert area known for its sand dunes. Osprey aircraft, used by the U.S. and Japanese militaries, take off and land vertically like helicopters but fly like airplanes. The MV-22B — which combines the flexibility of a chopper that can operate in diverse environments with the speed and range of a fixed-wing aircraft — is primarily used to transport troops and equipment in support of amphibious assaults. But the aircraft’s safety record has come under scrutiny. More than 40 people have died while flying on Ospreys since 1991. In March, an Osprey crashed during NATO exercises in Norway, killing four American service members. In 2017, a Marine Osprey crashed in Syria, injuring two. That year, a crash in Australia also left three Marines dead. In 2014, an Osprey briefly lost power while flying over the Persian Gulf, resulting in one Marine fatality. One of the deadliest crashes came in April 2000, when all 19 Marines aboard a V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft were killed. A spokesman for Bell, which manufactures the Osprey in partnership with Boeing, said the company was awaiting details of the incident but was ready to assist the Marine Corps. The Osprey was also involved in five “Class B” mishaps in the last fiscal year, according to the Naval Safety Center, which it defines as incidents causing between $600,000 and $2.5 million worth of property damage and leading to permanent partial disability or three hospitalizations. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/06/08/osprey-military-plane-crash-california/ Backlash After Wizz Air CEO Calls Out Pilots Reporting Fatigue Unions and safety regulators have criticized József Váradi's recent comments. WizzAir co-founder and CEO József Váradi has come under fire from numerous industry stakeholders regarding comments he made in a recent internal video regarding employee fatigue rates. The head of the Hungarian carrier has suggested that fatigued crew should 'go the extra mile' rather than reporting their tiredness. A serious matter Fatigue among airline employees is, unsurprisingly for such a safety-driven industry, taken very seriously. For example, USA Today reports that, after the crash of a Colgan Air flight in 2009 was partially attributed to pilot fatigue, numerous rule changes came into place in the US in 2014. One of these mandated 10 hours of rest between shifts, with eight hours of this time comprising uninterrupted sleep. 2014 also saw it become mandatory for pilots to have at least 30 consecutive hours of rest per week, a 25% increase compared to before the change. Over in Europe, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is similarly strict on matters of crew rest. Despite this, Váradi has urged flight crew to put their fatigue to one side, according to The Independent, stating in a recent internal video: "Now that everyone is getting back into work, I understand that fatigue is a potential outcome of the issues. But once we are starting stabilizing the rosters, we also need to take down the fatigue rate. We cannot run this business when every fifth person of a base reports sickness because the person is fatigued." In a startling turn of events, Wizz Air's CEO has called out flight crew for reporting fatigue. Alarming comments Reporting fatigue is a responsible action that ensures that flight crew don't operate flights if they're not fit to do so. In a sense, the procedure is similar to calling in sick to prevent transmitting illness to passengers and crew, something that has become increasingly important in recent years amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, Váradi has taken a rather different approach, stating that: "We are all fatigued. But sometimes it is required to go the extra mile. The damage is huge when we cancel a flight. It’s reputational damage to the brand, and it is [also] financial, transactional damage, because we have to pay compensation for that." The Wizz Air CEO's comments seem to imply a prioritization of profits over safety. While the airline's losses have recently increased despite a recovery in terms of passenger numbers, to show such disregard for well-meaning safety procedures for the sake of saving money is not necessarily what employees will want to hear from their boss. Simple Flying has contacted Wizz Air for comment. Wizz Air is finding fatigue to be more of an issue as it ramps up its schedules. The airline industry is always full of new developments! What aviation news will you check out next? Understandable criticism What reaction Váradi was expecting his comments to get is unclear; needless to say, they haven't gone down well. For example, the European Cockpit Association, a key union for thousands of pilots in the region, took to Twitter to state that encouraging fatigued pilots to fly is "like handing the car keys to a drunk driver." Meanwhile, Daniel Liebhart from Austrian transport union Vida, tweeted that "It's an absolute no-go that crews at [Wizz] are encouraged to fly fatigued. [Wizz's] staff are dedicated to their job, and passengers' safety; they deserve more respect [from] their CEO! I encourage EASA to have a closer look at the practices envisaged by the CEO of Wizz Air." It will certainly be interesting to see what happens next. https://simpleflying.com/wizz-air-pilot-fatigue-backlash/ Delta Pilots ‘Need to Know’ Judge Says In the next 30 days, Delta Air Lines must notify 13-thousand pilots of its misbehavior, in the case of the whistleblower pilot it punished for reporting safety violations. A psychiatrist hired by Delta declared first officer Karlene Petitt, bipolar in a diagnosis that left her grounded until it was disputed by two other psychiatrists. Without further delay, the details of the case should be emailed and posted at flight stations for 60 days, under the ruling by Administrative Law Judge Scott Morris. Several years earlier Judge Morris had warned Delta to settle with Petitt. You must decide if “you want all this laundry out there,” Judge Scott Morris told the parties on the last day of the trial in the case in 2019. The judge had been hearing evidence in the case for years, so we will spare him the moniker of being an I-told-you-so. That said, Delta did indeed lose the case in December 2020. The airline “engaged in an adverse employment action with discriminatory intent”, when it sent Petitt to a psychiatrist after complaining about safety issues at the airline. The ruling made headlines, none of them favorable to Delta. But for Delta, there were more than news stories to be concerned about. The ruling also included an order that Delta report its misdeeds to its pilots in emails and in postings at company worksites. For 18 months now, Delta has resisted. Since pieces of the long-running dispute are still being appealed by the airline, it claims there is “legitimate public interest in “allowing the appellate process to play out.” Based on yesterday’s decision, the public interest lies elsewhere. There is an “even greater public interest” in holding accountable “those entities that retaliate against an employee for reporting safety issues,” Morris wrote. Not only is there an interest to the flying public, but there is the interest of informing those that work within the aviation community of the consequences of retaliatory conduct by an air carrier.” Publicizing Delta’s egregious behavior in the Petitt case is not supposed to be about vindication for the whistleblower. As Judge Morris describes it, the goal is to provide reassurance to future whistleblowers that the government has their backs. That said, aspects of the Petitt case prove the opposite. A pilot with four decades of experience is sent on a descending spiral into a Kafkaesque world of scheming bosses, bad doctors and character assassination. Even the legal system at time seemed more foe than friend as the case dragged on for nearly half a decade. This ruling to publicize her win has already been delayed by a year and a half. Who knows whether Delta will continue to delay compliance. Petitt fought with strength and tenacity for what may be personally pyrrhic but when more people know her story, it should benefit her fellow pilots, her airline and the flying public. Christine Negroni Author of The New York Times bestseller, The Crash Detectives, I am also a journalist, public speaker and broadcaster specializing in aviation and travel. https://christinenegroni.com/delta-pilots-need-to-know-judge-says/ Australia and Canada accuse China of ‘dangerous’ air intercepts; Beijing pushes back MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia and Canada have accused China of conducting dangerous intercepts of maritime patrol aircraft performing routine surveillance and sanctions-monitoring missions over the East and South China seas. Australia said Sunday that a Royal Australian Air Force P-8A Poseidon was intercepted by a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force Shenyang J-16 fighter over the South China Sea while the former was conducting a “routine maritime surveillance” mission on May 26. The intercept subsequently led to a “dangerous manoeuvre,” according a news release from the Australian Defence Department. Defence Minister Richard Marles later said the Chinese jet release chaff while flying just ahead of the Australian aircraft, leading to the chaff’s aluminum strips, which are designed to confuse radars, to enter the P-8′s engine. Data from flight-tracking website Plane Finder showed the P-8A was most likely one of two operating from Clark Air Base in the Philippines, with the aircraft returning three hours after taking off and circling the airfield for an hour before landing. The incident came to light days after Canadian news portal Global News reported Chinese jets are regularly flying as close as 20-100 feet from a Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Aurora while monitoring activity around North Korea. The CP-140 is monitoring illegal ship-to-ship transfers of material making its way into and out of North Korea in defiance of United Nations sanctions set up in response to the country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. The Canadian aircraft operates from Kadena Air Base on the Japanese island of Okinawa as part of Operation Neon. It is one of several international assets performing similar missions, which take place mainly over the East China Sea and Yellow Sea. These include another Australian P-8 operating from Kadena under Operation Argos. The Australian Defence Department did not respond to Defense News about whether its aircraft were intercepted during sanctions-monitoring flights. Global News, citing anonymous sources, reported there have been about 60 intercepts of the CP-140, which is the Canadian designation of the P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft, over international waters by Chinese fighter jets since December 2021. More than two dozen of these were deemed dangerous by Canada, with the CP-140 crews reporting the Chinese jets sometimes get close enough that crew members can “make eye contact with the Chinese pilots, and sometimes see them raising their middle fingers,” according to the news report. A Royal Canadian Air Force CP-140 Aurora arrives at 5 Wing Goose Bay in Newfoundland and Labrador on its way to Thule Air Base, Greenland, in 2021. (Master Cpl. Krista Blizzard/Canadian NORAD Region) A Canadian Armed Forces statement released after the report confirmed that People’s Liberation Army Air Force aircraft did not adhere to international air safety norms. The military added that the interactions were “unprofessional and/or put the safety of our RCAF personnel at risk,” and that in some instances, crew members “felt sufficiently at risk that they had to quickly modify their own flight path in order to increase separation and avoid a potential collision with the intercepting aircraft.” The statement said that “the occurrences have also been addressed through diplomatic channels.” China has hit out at both the Australian and Canadian accusations, with Defense Ministry spokesman Senior Col. Tan Kefei accusing the Australian P-8 of entering airspace “near China’s Xisha Islands for close-in reconnaissance and continuously approached China’s territorial airspace over the Xisha Islands in disregard of repeated warnings from the Chinese side” Xisha is China’s name for the Paracel group of islands, several of which are occupied by China, with one, Woody Island, featuring Chinese military infrastructure including a harbor and air base. Kefei added that the People’s Liberation Army dispatched naval and air forces in response, whose actions were “professional, safe, reasonable and legitimate.” Another spokesman, Senior Col. Wu Qian, accused Canadian military aircraft of increasing “close-up reconnaissance and provocations against China under the pretext of implementing the United Nations Security Council Resolutions,” adding that China’s responses were “reasonable, effective, safe and professional.” Neither spokesman provided evidence of their claims against the Australian and Canadian planes. Collin Koh, a research fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, questioned China’s assertion about Canadian surveillance near the Chinese coast, suggesting instead that the aircraft is performing sanctions-busting missions, in particular illicit ship-to-ship transfers that take place off the Asian nation’s coast. China has been accused in the past of turning a blind eye to these activities, despite its powerful Coast Guard and maritime law enforcement agencies. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2022/06/08/australia-and-canada-accuse-china-of-dangerous-air-intercepts-beijing-pushes-back/ FAA’s Transportation Worker Exception Covers Airline Ramp Agents, U.S. Supreme Court Holds Individuals employed as ramp workers who frequently handle cargo for an airline are “transportation workers” exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), the U.S. Supreme Court has held. Southwest Airlines Co. v. Saxon, No. 21-309 (June 6, 2022). Therefore, the employees are not required to arbitrate their wage-hour claims under the FAA, but may still be subject to arbitration under state law. The FAA’s transportation worker exception excludes from FAA coverage “contracts of employment of seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce.” 9 U.S.C. § 1. In recent years, the scope of the exception — particularly its “any other class of workers” catchall provision — has emerged as a significant issue in class action litigation. In this case, the narrow question the Supreme Court addressed to resolve a circuit split was “[w]hether workers who load or unload goods from vehicles that travel in interstate commerce, but do not physically transport such goods themselves, are interstate ‘transportation workers’ exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act.” In the decision below, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that, even though the employee did not personally transport goods or people in interstate commerce, she was an essential link in the interstate commerce chain and, therefore, exempt from the FAA. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reached the opposite conclusion in Eastus v. ISS Facility Servs., Inc., a 2020 case involving similar facts. The Suit Latrice Saxon, a Southwest Airlines cargo ramp supervisor at Chicago’s Midway airport, brought a putative collective action wage suit against her employer. Despite her supervisory role, she alleged that she frequently performed the work of physically loading and unloading cargo on and off airplanes (which Southwest disputed). She filed a putative collective action under the Fair Labor Standards Act alleging she and her fellow ramp supervisors were entitled to overtime pay. When the airline sought to compel arbitration of her claims under the parties’ arbitration agreement, Saxon contended she cannot be forced to arbitrate because she is a “transportation worker” exempt from FAA coverage and, therefore, the arbitration agreement was not enforceable. The district court found the transportation worker exception did not apply and compelled arbitration. The Seventh Circuit reversed, finding the transportation worker exception applied. The Court’s Reasoning The Supreme Court, in a unanimous 8-0 opinion authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, affirmed the judgment of the court of appeals. (Justice Amy Coney Barrett was recused from this case and did not participate.) First, the Court held that, in deciding whether a “class of workers” is engaged in interstate commerce for purposes of the transportation worker exception, the analysis turns on the duties of the workers in question and not the company or industry in which the workers are engaged. The justices rejected an industrywide or companywide approach urged by the plaintiffs, which would broadly exempt “virtually all employees of major transportation providers.” Instead, the Court said the key inquiry is the “actual work that the members of the class, as a whole, typically carry out.” Second, the Court examined what it means to be “engaged in foreign or interstate commerce.” It held that the workers must be “directly involved in transporting goods across state or international borders falls within §1’s exception.” The Court determined that airplane cargo loaders are engaged in foreign or interstate commerce because “one who loads cargo on a plane bound for interstate transit is intimately involved with the commerce (e.g., transportation) of that cargo.” The Court rejected the airline’s argument that the exception applied only to employees who physically move goods across states while on board a plane or other vehicle. Takeaway The Supreme Court’s decision makes clear that, when determining whether workers qualify for the FAA’s transportation worker exception, what the employer (or contracting entity) does has no bearing on the analysis. Rather, the analysis turns on the specific duties those workers perform and whether those duties directly involve interstate commerce. In this case, the ramp supervisor who claimed to frequently load and unload cargo qualified for the exception. The Court, however, said airline employees whose duties are more removed from the interstate flow of transit (such as an airline’s shift schedulers and website designers) likely would not qualify for the exception. In a footnote, the Court likewise suggested that last-mile delivery drivers and food delivery drivers are “further removed” from the channels of interstate commerce and the answer would not be as clear in such case. Similarly, the Court clarified that its opinion did not apply to employees who only perform supervision of transportation workers and are not themselves directly involved in transportation of the goods; it reserved that question for another day. Therefore, the contours of the transportation worker exception will continue to be litigated. Yet, the opinion suggests that many workers in the transportation industry, and workers in other industries that generally engage in interstate commerce, likely will be unable to invoke the exception to evade arbitration under the FAA if their role is merely tangential to the interstate flow of goods. Notwithstanding the Court’s decision, while the transportation worker exception may mean an arbitration agreement is not enforceable under the FAA, an arbitration agreement with transportation workers nonetheless may be enforceable under an applicable state law. https://www.natlawreview.com/article/faa-s-transportation-worker-exception-covers-airline-ramp-agents-us-supreme-court Japan Airlines Buys 26.5 Million Gallons Of SAF In oneworld Pact The airline will begin receiving the SAF from 2027, with other oneworld members expected to follow. Japan Airlines will purchase 26.5 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as part of a commitment made by oneworld Alliance members. The airline will buy over five million gallons of SAF each year over five years from US-based company Gevo, with deliveries expected to start from 2027. JAL strikes SAF deal Japan Airlines (JAL) has reached an agreement to bring in 5.3 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel annually over a five-year period. This comes after the oneworld Alliance, of which JAL is a member airline, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SAF producer Gevo in March 2022. Dr. Patrick R. Gruber, Gevo’s Chief Executive Officer, said, "JAL sees the value in reducing its dependence on fossil fuels while still being able to continue to use its existing aircraft. Our agreement will empower the company to achieve carbon-emissions reductions now as it explores other technologies to manage its energy transition." Gevo’s fuel will be produced using field corn products processed into ethanol, which is then converted into SAF. The company uses the Argonne GREET model, considered the gold standard model of life cycle emissions. Japan Airlines widebody aircraft against blue sky one world Alliance members will purchase up to 200 million gallons of SAF each year from 2027. Paul D. Bloom, Ph.D., Gevo’s Chief Carbon Officer and Chief Innovation Officer, went into more detail on Gevo's process, saying, "Net-Zero Fuels are made by using low-carbon feedstocks produced with climate-smart agricultural practices and by eliminating fossil-based energy from the business system as much as possible." Gruber added, "Our sustainable aviation fuel is a drop-in fuel that delivers renewable energy where it’s needed. Our process is a model of efficiency, designed to allow the same acre of farmland to produce SAF from corn using atmospheric carbon while simultaneously adding high-value nutritional products to the food chain." Deliveries of SAF are expected to begin in 2027 and will help JAL meet its target of replacing 10% of conventional fuel with SAF by 2030. The oneworld commitment Earlier in the year, Simple Flying reported that oneworld member airlines will commit to buying 200 million gallons of SAF each year after striking an agreement with Colorado-based renewable fuel producer Gevo. According to Gevo, "[Our model] can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to net-zero over the entire lifecycle of each gallon of advanced renewable fuel, like SAF, and that includes the emissions resulting from burning the fuel in engines to power transportation." Gevo also has a deal with Delta Air Lines for 75 million gallons of sustainable aviation fuel each year for seven years. Delta upgraded an earlier agreement with Gevo for 10 million gallons per year. The oneworld Alliance is ultimately striving to reach carbon net-zero by 2050 and has set an intermediate target of replacing 10% of jet fuel with SAF by 2030. Discover more aviation news with Simple Flying. About Gevo Renewable fuel company Gevo was founded in 2005 by Dr. Peter Meinhold and Dr. Frances Arnold and is based in Colorado, US. Gevo claims that its "mission is to transform renewable energy and carbon into energy-dense liquid hydrocarbons. These liquid hydrocarbons can be used for drop-in transportation fuels such as gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel, that when burned have the potential to yield net-zero greenhouse gas emissions when measured across the full life cycle of the products." The company currently has facilities in development in the Midwest of the United States to produce SAF. https://simpleflying.com/japan-airlines-saf-purchase/ The Fleet Of Panamanian Flag Carrier Copa Airlines In 2022 The airline is a big fan of the Boeing 737 family. This year, Panamanian flag carrier Copa Airlines will mark 75 years of service, having commenced operations in August 1947. An all-Boeing 737-operator, Copa presently has more than 80 aircraft at its disposal. Let's take a look at the different models that it flies. Two Boeing 737NG variants According to data from ATDB.aero, there are presently 82 aircraft in Copa Airlines' fleet. The extensive database also notes that an 83rd, a Boeing 737-800 registered as HP-1715CMP, is presently out on lease to Colombian low-cost carrier Wingo. Despite this jet's absence, the 737-800 is still the dominant variant at Copa Airlines, with 59 examples present, of which all are presently listed as being active. They are 8.9 years old on average, and account for more than 70% of the Panamanian flag carrier's total fleet. The 737-800 is one of two variants from the 737NG ('Next Generation') family that Copa flies, with the other being the 737-700. This version of Boeing's popular narrowbody family is far less numerous, with just six examples present. These twinjets have an older average age of 17.1 years. Despite their age, Copa has committed to upgrades for its 737NG aircraft. These consist of new wheels and carbon brakes, as Simple Flying reported last year. The 737 MAX at Copa In recent years, Copa has also begun modernizing its fleet with the addition of aircraft from the next-generation Boeing 737 MAX family. It will eventually operate three of the four variants of this next-generation narrowbody. However, it currently only flies one: the MAX 9, of which, there are presently 17 examples in Copa's fleet. All of these aircraft are currently listed as being active, and they have a much younger average age of just 1.8 years old. Going forward, the Panamanian flag carrier will receive a further 9 MAX 9s, bringing its total to 26. Simple Flying reported in November 2021 that Copa was aiming to accelerate its remaining deliveries for Boeing's new 737 MAX series. Its other orders for the type consist of 22 examples of the MAX 8, and 8 examples of the stretched-fuselage MAX 10. This leaves the MAX 7 as the only variant it hasn't ordered. Copa will eventually operate three 737 MAX variants. The airline industry is always full of new developments! What aviation news will you check out next? A single converted freighter Copa also previously operated a single cargo aircraft, namely another 737-800. ATDB.aero shows that it converted this jet, which bears the registration HP-1522CMP, from one of its own passenger-carrying examples between August and December last year. This took place at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN). According to data from RadarBox.com, the aircraft flew from its Tocumen hub to Guangzhou via Los Angeles, Anchorage, and Tokyo. Meanwhile, its return journey took it via Seoul, before repeating its stops (albeit in reverse order, of course) in Alaska and California. The 18-year-old jet now flies for Wingo. https://simpleflying.com/copa-airlines-fleet-2022/ Over $100,000 worth of narcotics seized at Juneau airport for 2nd time in 3 days During the investigation, officers seized around 3,050 counterfeit oxycodone pills — believed to contain fentanyl — and 68.78 grams of methamphetamine. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Juneau police made another large drug bust at Juneau International Airport on Tuesday, according to a news release. Ryan Timothy Lee, 26, and Cole Jacob Ripley, 21, both of Juneau, are charged with second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance and third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance. Around 3 p.m. Tuesday, members of the Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs task force made contact with Lee and Ripley as they got off a flight from Seattle to Juneau. The two were believed to be carrying narcotics, police said. During the investigation, officers seized around 3,050 counterfeit oxycodone pills — believed to contain fentanyl — and 68.78 grams of methamphetamine. Juneau police said the drugs have an estimated street value of around $103,000. Lee and Ripley were confined in the Lemon Creek Correctional Center. This bust comes just three days after police seized more than $100,000 worth of drugs from a woman coming into Juneau on a flight from Seattle. https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2022/06/08/over-100000-worth-narcotics-seized-juneau-airport-2nd-time-3-days/ Airlines cancel hundreds of flights before summer travel season because of pilot shortage “Most airlines are simply not going to be able to realize their capacity plans," United Airlines' CEO said in April. Faced with staffing shortages, airlines are canceling thousands of flights heading into the busy summer travel season. Leading the trend has been Southwest Airlines, which has cut nearly 20,000 flights, according to a report from The Dallas Morning News. Its goal is to hire 10,000 new workers this year. “I go through the Whataburger drive-thru and I pay and get my bag, and stapled to the bag is a job application,” Southwest CEO Robert Jordan joked this year. “That’s what it’s come to.” Especially acute has been the shortage of pilots. According to one flight consultancy, U.S. airlines are trying to hire at least 12,000 pilots combined this year. “The pilot shortage for the industry is real, and most airlines are simply not going to be able to realize their capacity plans because there simply aren’t enough pilots, at least not for the next five-plus years,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said on a quarterly earnings call in April. Delta, meanwhile, said it was canceling 100 daily flights from July 1 through Aug. 7 in the U.S. and Latin America. Pilots unions like the Air Line Pilots Association dispute that there is a shortage, pointing to data showing that nearly 8,000 new commercial pilots have received certificates in the last 12 months. They claim the service cuts are instead being used as a pretext to boost profit margins by cutting training and safety requirements. But most pilots with commercial licenses are not able to fly for mainstream carriers, said Kit Darby, the president of KitDarby.com Aviation Consulting. It can take up to five years and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to train people to fly jets for even regional carriers, Darby said in an interview. Is remote or in-person work more conducive to creativity? Here's what studies show. And smaller airlines and routes, Darby said, are bearing the brunt of the shortage. He pointed to SkyWest Airlines, a Utah-based carrier with a hub at Los Angeles International Airport, which said in April that it had lost 5 percent of its pilots to larger carriers. SkyWest did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "We have a very serious problem," Darby said. "Delta, United, American — they're parking regional jets and picking the most profitable routes. Everyone else is getting smaller or no service." Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group, which flies for American, United and the shipping logistics company DHL, lost millions of dollars in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022 amid flight cuts, the company said in its earnings report in February. “We never fathomed attrition levels like this,” Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein told CNBC's Leslie Josephs last month. “If we don’t fly our airplanes we lose money. You saw our quarterly numbers.” He said it would take Mesa as long as four months to replace a single pilot. “We could use 200 pilots right now,” he said. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/airlines-pilot-shortage-flight-cancellations-summer-travel-rcna32613 WHY ARE LENDERS SO CONCERNED WITH AGE ON JET AIRCRAFT WHILE BEING MORE FLEXIBLE WITH PISTONS? The used turbine market is extremely tight right now making options limited. So, prospective buyers are casting their sights on older jets, some of which may be two and a half to three decades since manufacture. Lenders, however, tend to have an aversion to such “vintage” aircraft. Why the dichotomy? To a prospective owner/operator, the older jet fits the mission perfectly. To a lender, the jet is an old, complex, pressurized piece of turbine equipment, the systems of which may be one or more generations obsolete. Whereas the buyer may see an eclectic mix of older and “classic” avionics and be up for the challenge to use them, the lender sees an avionics suite requiring a complete replacement upgrade just to be marketable. To them, the added expense of more maintenance associated with the older systems, along with the avionics upgrade, increases risk that in the event of default they may need to spend money in order to sell an asset. Meanwhile the jet will only continue to decrease in value over the life of the loan. Hence why older jets tend not to get financed. Not to say deals involving 25 or 30-year old jets cannot be done. If the jet is rated for single-pilot operations, and if it’s still in production, lenders are more inclined. Also, finance companies will seriously consider jets that are no longer in production if the manufacturer is still in business and is also offering a continuing support program for that particular airframe. Respective examples include the Embraer Phenom 100 and the Cessna CJ line. Our perennial advice is to find the jet for your mission rather than find a jet for its own sake. A Falcon 900 might be admirable, but a slightly smaller, newer jet that performs the same mission profile may make more sense. A newer aircraft almost always broadens financing options, both in terms of the cost of money and its resale value. https://finance.aopa.org/resources/2022/june/08/why-are-lenders-so-concerned-with-age-on-jet-aircraft-while-being-more-flexible-with-pistons Position Available: Heavy Maintenance Vendor Inspector Job Description At Republic Airways, our vision is to be America’s regional airline of choice, and our 6,000 associates work together each day to achieve that by providing a safe, clean and reliable flying experience. Whether the role is on the aircraft or in the office, every person at Republic contributes to our success and our family-oriented work environment. Since our founding in 1974, we’ve grown to become the world’s largest operator of the Embraer 170/175 jet, flying more than 1000 flights daily for our partners, American Airline, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. Beyond our operations, we’re focused on sharing our time, talents and treasures with our community—both locally and globally. Join Republic Airways where you will find opportunities, reach new heights and be part of something bigger than yourself. Republic Airways, opportunity elevated. #WhyRepublic POSITION PURPOSE Provides oversight of outsourced Essential Maintenance Providers (EMP) in completing heavy maintenance/C-Check and structural maintenance on company owned aircraft. ESSENTIAL DUTIES To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. · Oversees heavy maintenance operations of outsourced C-Check and structural maintenance. · Provides accurate and timely status of maintenance check, emphasizing critical path items. · Reviews non-routine service generated by the Essential Maintenance Provider (EMP) to approve or decline estimates when required by contractual agreement. · Continuously reviews active EMP processes and ensures the EMP is adhering to all policies and procedures for the heavy maintenance program. · Ensures upon delivery that the aircraft meets the standards set by the Company. · Attends daily maintenance conference calls and all necessary meetings to communicate changes and updates to EMP. · Coordinates engineering requests and subsequent responses between engineering and the EMP. · Coordinates Operation Check Flight (OCF) requirements with applicable Company departments. · Ensures the aircraft meets the Republic Airways appearance standards. · Reviews and completely understands the Company GMM, Vendor’s RSM and Ops Spec D091. Reviews and applies the Airworthiness Agreement document generated with the EMP. · Provides technical leadership to team and department members. Leads through example; monitors, influences and trains others, including on the job training. · Performs other duties as assigned or required. REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability necessary to perform this job. EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE. · High school diploma or equivalent with an FAA Airframe and Powerplant license with at least 3 years of related experience. · Experience using a computer to look up information and input data. · RII certificate. PREFERRED EDUCATION and/or EXPERIENCE · Previous experience as an A&P mechanic or airline experience. · Associate’s degree preferred. · Previous supervisory experience. · Non-Destructive Testing license. · Quality assurance experience. OTHER REQUIREMENTS · Possess a stable employment history. · Must have and maintain a valid Driver’s License and a clean driving record. · Must possess the required tools. · Able to work both in a team setting and individually. REGULATORY Able to pass an FAA required 10-year work history review and pass criminal background and fingerprint checks. Willing to submit to and pass FAA and Company mandated random drug and alcohol tests. LANGUAGE SKILLS Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. Ability to write routine reports and correspondence. Ability to speak effectively and be understood before groups of associates of the organization. REASONING/PROBLEM SOLVING ABILITY Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, or diagram form. Ability to deal with problems involving several variables in standardized situations. DECISION MAKING Possess decision making skills. Makes limited decisions and determines best methods to solve problems by referring to established precedents and policies. Impact of decisions is moderately low. PHYSICAL DEMANDS The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. · Able to stand, walk, use hands to finger, handle and feel, reach with hands and arms at least 90% of the time. · Able to climb or balance, stoop, kneel, crouch and crawl up to 60% of the time. · Able to lift up to 50 pounds at least 35% of the time. · Able to lift or move 75 pounds over 70% of the time. · Must be able to see to perform work and to see approaching vehicles, aircraft and machinery. WORK ENVIRONMENT The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. · Work near moving mechanical parts, work with fumes or airborne particles over 90% of the time. · Work in high, precarious places up to 50% of the time. · Work around toxic or caustic chemicals up to 30% of the time. · Withstand risk of electric shock and work with explosives up to 10% of the time. · Work in outdoor weather conditions inside and outside an open-air hangar as well as the airport terminal up to 100% of the time. · The work environment can be very loud. · Able to wear a respirator and protective equipment for testing and regular duties. This includes minimal facial hair in order to ensure proper fit in of respirator in accordance with OSHA regulations. · Able to work nights, evenings, weekends and holidays to support 24-hour operations. TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS Able to travel up to 100% of the time, including overnight stays. APPLY HERE GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Dear Participant, When you know that, during a conference on cybersecurity organized by the US Air Force, hackers succeeded, at the invitation of the Pentagon, in infiltrating the control system of an F-15, you understand the importance of cybersecurity issues, particularly in the aviation industry. As today's world becomes more and more digital, the contemporary aircraft is equipped with semi-autonomous computer systems which make aviation one of the first sectors potentially vulnerable to cyberattacks. You are being asked to participate in a research study on cybersecurity threats in aviation. This study is expected to take approximately 10 minutes of your time. In order to complete this study, you must be at least a student pilot and at least 18 years old. You may choose to opt-out of the study at any time. Please click on or copy and paste the URL below. We appreciate your time in completing the study. Link : https://forms.gle/VpADSAhXuoeY6hNP7 Curt Lewis