Flight Safety Information - July 8, 2022 No.131 In This Issue : Incident: Tindi DHC7 at Yellowknife on Jul 4th 2022, engine rolled back : Cessna 560XL Citation XLS+ - Loss of engine cowling (Iowa) : Man stole over $10,000 during an American Airlines flight destined to Miami, feds say : Boeing CEO says planemaker could be forced to cancel 737 MAX 10 : IndiGo Pilots Get An 8% Pay Raise : Rolls-Royce Sees Widebody Demand Recovering Faster Than Expected : Test Aims To Advance Hybrid Rocket-Jet Engine Incident: Tindi DHC7 at Yellowknife on Jul 4th 2022, engine rolled back An Air Tindi de Havilland Dash 7-100, registration C-FPBJ performing flight DA-806 from Bathurst Inlet,NU to Yellowknife,NT (Canada) with 3 crew, was enroute about 50nm from Yellowknife when the #3 engine (PT6A, inboard right hand) rolled back to idle uncommandedly. The crew shut the engine down and continued to Yellowknife for a safe landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=4fb579ef&opt=0 Cessna 560XL Citation XLS+ - Loss of engine cowling (Iowa) Date: 07-JUL-2022 Time: 13:25 UTC Type: Cessna 560XL Citation XLS+ Owner/operator: Bandyco LLC Registration: N476JC MSN: 560-6095 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Other fatalities: 0 Aircraft damage: Minor Location: S of Fort Dodge - United States of America Phase: En route Nature: Unknown Departure airport: Danville-Stuart Powell Field, KY (KDVK) Destination airport: Lincoln Municipal Airport, NE (LNK/KLNK) Narrative: A Cessna 560XL Citation XLS+, N476JC, suffered the loss of parts of the no.2 engine cowling while en route. The flight diverted to Fort Dodge (FOD). https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/280102 Man stole over $10,000 during an American Airlines flight destined to Miami, feds say A man is accused of stealing more than $10,000 from other passengers during an American Airlines flight from Argentina to Miami this week — and authorities say he was caught thanks to the keen eyes of the crew. Diego Sebastian Radio was arrested Tuesday on one count of theft of personal property valued at greater than $1,000 within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, federal court records show. The 29-year-old man is being held on a $250,000 bond at the Federal Detention Center in Miami as of Thursday evening. The arrest was first reported by WPLG Local 10 News. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers responded to Miami International Airport on Tuesday about a man aboard American Airlines flight 900 from Buenos Aires, Argentina, who was believed to have stolen cash and credit cards from two passengers in international waters, Homeland Security Investigations special agent Alexander Sorokin said in Radio’s criminal complaint filed Wednesday. A flight attendant had observed Radio repeatedly walking up and down the airplane aisle, and sitting near the victims in a seat that wasn’t assigned to him, Sorokin said. After the attendant told one of the passengers to check her belongings, she noticed that about $10,022 and a small amount of Argentine pesos were missing from her wallet, he said. When another passenger overheard their conversation, she also inspected her belongings, discovering that her wallet had been unzipped. The woman told CBP agents that she was missing two credit cards, less than $1,000 and some Argentine pesos, Sorokin stated. The women’s names weren’t released by authorities. After disembarking, Sorokin said, the CBP officers patted down Radio and inspected his belongings, finding $10,732 and a few Argentine pesos, which approximately matched the amounts that were reported missing by the passengers. CBP officers also found two credit cards belonging to one of the passengers in his jacket pocket, he added. In a recorded interview, Radio confessed to have stolen the cash and the credit cards, according to Sorokin. Attorney information for Radio wasn’t immediately available. His arraignment is set for 10 a.m. July 20 in Miami, court records show. https://www.yahoo.com/news/man-stole-over-10-000-003149510.html Boeing CEO says planemaker could be forced to cancel 737 MAX 10 WASHINGTON, July 7 (Reuters) - Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun told Aviation Week in an interview that the planemaker could be forced to cancel the 737 Max 10 over potential regulatory issues. Boeing has a December deadline to win approval for the 737 MAX 10 - the largest member of its best-selling single-aisle airplane family. Otherwise, it must meet new cockpit alerting requirements under a 2020 law, unless Congress waives it. Calhoun's comments could put more pressure on Congress. "If you go through the things we’ve been through, the debts that we’ve had to accumulate, our ability to respond, or willingness to see things through even a world without the -10 is not that threatening," Calhoun told Aviation Week, adding that he does not expect to cancel the 737 MAX 10 but said "it’s just a risk." A Boeing spokeswoman confirmed the accuracy of Calhoun's quotes and reiterated the planemaker is "working transparently with the (Federal Aviation Administration) to provide the information they need, and are committed to meeting their expectations and those of our customers to certify and deliver the 737-10." The 2022 deadline was mandated by Congress as part of broader regulatory reforms at the FAA after fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 people. Boeing has more than 640 orders for MAX 10 planes from 17 airlines, Aviation Week said. In June 2021, United Airlines said it would order another 150 MAX 10s. In March, the FAA warned Boeing it may not win certification of the MAX 10 by the end of the year and asked the company to provide a "mature certification schedule." Boeing declined to comment on its current certification schedule. Unlike other Boeing aircraft, the 737 lacks the Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System known as EICAS. Missing the deadline could require Boeing to revamp the jet's crew alerting system and mean separate pilot training. Calhoun told Aviation Week: "I think our case is persuasive enough. ... This is a risk I’m willing to take. If I lose the fight, I lose the fight." https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/1-boeing-ceo-says-planemaker-155341767.html IndiGo Pilots Get An 8% Pay Raise The airline needs a steady workforce for the busy months ahead. India’s largest airline IndiGo has increased the salaries of its pilots and cabin crew members as it plans to go full steam ahead with increased operations. The pay hike comes within a week of several of the carrier’s cabin crew members calling in sick, affecting flight operations on a massive scale. Pay hike IndiGo’s pilots and cabin crew are set to receive an 8% pay hike as the carrier makes changes to its human resource (HR) policies ahead of the busy festival season. The second half of the year is the busiest in India for air travel, with passengers crisscrossing the country to celebrate popular festivals spread across a few months. IndiGo plans to expand its capacity by 60% compared to last year and cannot afford to be understaffed as it looks to recover in a post-COVID world. According to Business Standard, the airline has made changes to its HR policies to reinstate the work pattern of the crew under which they will earn more, but there will be fewer leaves. IndiGo Chief Executive Officer Ronojoy Dutta commented, “We are in an inflationary environment. We have gone through a very difficult period — pay cuts and partial restoration of pay. We have to address the same.” The report also states that some cabin crew will have an opportunity to move to the Airbus A320 aircraft from the ATR fleet as part of a career progression policy. Difficult times The turmoil of the last two years has had a significant impact on the working culture of airlines across the world. While IndiGo is not alone in pilots and cabin crew feeling undervalued and overworked, it hits the headlines more for being the largest carrier in India. The budget carrier has partially restored the salaries of its crew members, but its workload has also increased tremendously as the industry bounces back after COVID. During the peak of the pandemic, many IndiGo pilots were shifted to a one-week off/one-week on per-month pattern, and their allowances were reduced as well. Follow Simple Flying for all the latest aviation news. In April, some IndiGo pilots were also investigated for unprofessional behavior after using the emergency radio frequency for personal conversations expressing displeasure over their salaries. Salaries and allowances are again making a comeback, so hopefully, this will help reduce the discontentment to some degree. Recruitment drive The pay hike has come just days after IndiGo hit the headlines when several of its cabin crew members called in sick, affecting its flights throughout the country. It is widely assumed that they had gone for Air India’s recruitment drive. Several aviation experts are warning of a shortage of skilled workforce in the coming months, with new airlines joining the market and existing carriers expanding. IndiGo itself is said to be hiring aggressively for replacement and expansion, with around 1,500 cabin crew under training and slated to join operations in the next few weeks. With how things are progressing, the next few months could witness several airline employees jumping ship in search of better pay packages and working conditions. https://simpleflying.com/indigo-pilots-get-an-8-pay-raise/ Rolls-Royce Sees Widebody Demand Recovering Faster Than Expected British jet-engine maker Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc sees the widebody aircraft market rebounding faster than expected. The long-haul market that Rolls-Royce services was hardest hit by the pandemic but recently there have been some signs of a pick-up in sales talks. Chief Executive Officer Warren East said the company is discussing future production planning and rates with aircraft manufacturer Airbus SE. “We’re seeing a definite tick up in widebody activity,” he said at a media event. “We see demand coming the other side of 2025 but airlines are starting to think about it now.” The pandemic dealt a harsh blow to Rolls-Royce’s business selling and maintaining long-haul jet engines. Despite a recent rebound, international travel continues to lag behind the short-haul market, though there have been reports of airlines eyeing new orders for large jets in recent weeks. Rolls-Royce is the sole engine supplier for Airbus A350s and has a 35% market share on the Boeing 787. Civil Aerospace President Chris Cholerton said he sees scope for A350 production rates to go higher faster, with some “potentially quite big” widebody campaigns set to be decided. Airbus currently plans to raise its A350 production rate to six a month in early 2023 from five. The UK company also hopes to gain market share on the 787, after problems with its Trent 1000 engines led to a loss of customer confidence. Rolls-Royce is still making the final two fixes on the Trent 1000, Cholerton said, with one set to be certified by the end of the year but the other, a tweak to the high-pressure turbine blade, delayed into next year on certification hurdles. Even if long-haul travel recovers faster than expected, Rolls-Royce faces challenges in returning to profitability. The company is set to be cash-positive this year, though that will involve a figure in the “small, single-digit hundreds of millions,” said East, who’s set to leave at the end of the year. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-07/rolls-royce-sees-widebody-demand-recovering-faster-than-expected Test Aims To Advance Hybrid Rocket-Jet Engine U.K.-based Reaction Engines has a DoD contract to further validate technology for a hybrid jet-rocket high-Mach engine. The testing campaign, which is also supported by the Air Force Research Laboratory, seeks to build upon previous evaluations of the company's thermal management technology. [Courtesy: Reaction Engines] Reaction Engines, developer of the air-breathing SABRE rocket engine, has launched a new phase of testing of its high-Mach propulsion technology under a Pentagon contract, the U.K.-based company announced Thursday. The testing campaign, which is also supported by the Air Force Research Laboratory, seeks to build upon previous evaluations of the company’s thermal management technology that cools extreme temperatures by using oxygen from ambient air in order to reach speeds up to Mach 5 before shifting to rocket mode. “The exciting outcome that I am looking forward to over the coming weeks is the validation that our technology could enable current jet engines to operate from takeoff up through Mach 4 and beyond,” Andrew Piotti, the engineering manager for Reaction Engines U.S., said in a statement. Thursday’s announcement is the latest development for the company that aims to revolutionize access to space travel and high-speed flight. In 2019, Reaction Engines reported that it reached a significant milestone in the development of its Synergetic Air Breathing Rocket Engine—known as SABRE—after it validated its precooler technology that manages extreme hypersonic heat conditions that occur during travel at Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. The heat exchanger is key in managing the high temperature airflows of the SABRE engine that is described as a hybrid between a rocket and jet engine. The company’s precooler was found to be capable of cooling air from 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit in 1/20th of a second, the company said following a test in October of that year. The technology could also have application in existing jet engines and other commercial applications, the company said. The new round of testing seeks to “expand the performance envelope,” by increasing the delivered air mass flow rate, “which will result in a three-fold increase in the total energy transfer through the engine heat exchanger,” the company said Thursday. Earlier this year, the company announced it was adding additional ground support equipment at its High Temperature Airflow test facility located at the Colorado Air and Space Port near Denver to accommodate a planned tripling of heat load. The upgrades are expected to create high-Mach propulsion test conditions on the ground. The testing campaign was launched through the U.S. Department of Defense Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) Program, which seeks to discover and assess foreign technology that could potentially meet the needs of U.S. defense requirements. “FCT demonstrates U.S. commitment to a ‘two-way street’ for defense procurements with both allied and friendly nations,” Air Force FCT manager William Reed said in a statement. “Reaction Engines technology is world-class and is a great fit for the FCT program.” Early designs of the SABRE engine core have passed muster with The European Space Agency (ESA), which has invested at least GBP 10 million in its development, in addition to a GBP 50 million investment from the UK Space Agency. “SABRE is uniquely designed to scoop up atmospheric air during the initial part of its ascent to space at up to five times the speed of sound. At about 25 km it would then switch to pure rocket mode for its final climb to orbit,” ESA said following a round of testing in 2019. “In [the] future SABRE could serve as the basis of a reusable launch vehicle that operates like an aircraft. Because it would carry much less bulky onboard oxygen supplies, such a vehicle could deliver the same payload to orbit of a half the vehicle mass of current launchers, as well as potentially offering a large reduction in cost and higher launch rate.” https://www.flyingmag.com/test-aims-to-advance-hybrid-rocket-jet-engine/ Curt Lewis