Flight Safety Information - August 15, 2022 No.157 In This Issue : Incident: Avianca A320 at Barranquila on Aug 13th 2022, rejected takeoff due to bird strike : Incident: Transavia B738 at Paris on Aug 11th 2022, yaw damper failure : Incident: Delta B763 at New York on Aug 10th 2022, odour on the aircraft : Hawker Hurricane Mk IV - Fatal Accident (Czech Republic) : United Airlines Diverts Newark Bound Flight to Iceland For a Crew Change After Pilots and Flight Attendants ‘Time Out’ : LOT Polish Flight Diverts To Iceland After Rowdy Passenger Tries To Open Door : Metro Aviation responds to claims the company forced a pilot to resign : Thai A350 sank far below glideslope after shortened approach stressed pilots : Private Jet Operator, Thrive Aviation Earns Prestigious ARG/US Platinum Safety Rating : Families of tourists killed in 2021 floatplane crash near Ketchikan sue Holland America and Southeast Aviation : Malaysia Airlines signs provisional deal for 20 Airb us A330neos : Boom Supersonic’s jet testing at Centennial Airport worries atmospheric scientists : Wide-body jet demand humming again as Boeing 787 rejoins the fray : Saudi Arabia Targets $100bn Investment In Aviation Sector : GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY - 1 : GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY - 2 : Today's Photo Incident: Avianca A320 at Barranquila on Aug 13th 2022, rejected takeoff due to bird strike An Avianca Airbus A320-200, registration N951AV performing flight AV-8525 from Barranquila to Bogota (Colombia) with 170 people on board, was accelerating for takeoff from Barranquila's runway 05 when a bird impacted the aircraft. The crew rejected takeoff at high speed, slowed safely, vacated the runway about 2080 meters/6850 feet down the runway and returned to the apron. The flight was cancelled, the passengers were rebooked onto other flights. The airline reported the aircraft had to be admitted to maintenance due to impact with a bird. The airport reported due to heavy rains earlier wild birds made unusual crossings over the runway. https://avherald.com/h?article=4fcedd57&opt=0 Incident: Transavia B738 at Paris on Aug 11th 2022, yaw damper failure A Transavia France Boeing 737-800, registration F-GZHA performing flight TO-7280 from Paris Orly (France) to Oran (Algeria), was climbing out of Orly's runway 07 when the crew stopped the climb at about FL130 reporting their yaw damper had failed. The crew decided to return to Orly, entered a hold at FL080 and landed safely back on Orly's runway 06 about 40 minutes after departure. A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration F-HTVH reached Oran with a delay of about 5 hours. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground in Paris for about 3 hours before returning to service. https://avherald.com/h?article=4fcd9a44&opt=0 Incident: Delta B763 at New York on Aug 10th 2022, odour on the aircraft A Delta Airlines Boeing 767-300, registration N175DN performing flight DL-563 from New York JFK,NY (USA) to Los Angeles,CA (USA), was climbing out of New York's runway 22R when the crew requested to level off at 4000 feet due to an issue, upon query by ATC whether they could climb any further affirmed and were cleared to climb to 17,000 feet, but then advised they'd stop the climb around 6000 feet due to a smoke indication in the cabin, shortly afterwards correcting to report an odour on board of the aircraft. The crew decided to return to New York's JFK Airport for a landing on runway 22L without further incident about 20 minutes after departure. A number of passengers reported feeling dizzy and were checked by paramedics with no further consequences known. Passengers reported they boarded the aircraft but then had to wait for about 2.5 hours with doors closed while two different mechanical issues were being resolved. After takeoff they almost instantly felt dizzy, a passenger overheard a flight attendant reporting "fumes in the cabin" to the cockpit and then they were advised they'd be returning to JFK. Touch down was very hard, a tyre blew on touch down. After they arrived at the gate flight attendants told the passengers showing symptoms they'd be checked out by paramedics. Ultimately the flight was cancelled and they were rebooked onto the following day. Other passengers reported they were not aware of any odour on board, they only heard the flight crew tell the flight attendants to take their seats as they were landing soon. https://avherald.com/h?article=4fcd972f&opt=0 Hawker Hurricane Mk IV - Fatal Accident (Czech Republic) Date: 14-AUG-2022 Time: 15:30 Type: Hawker Hurricane Mk IV Owner/operator: Classic trainers Registration: OO-HUR MSN: KZ321 Fatalities: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 Other fatalities: 0 Aircraft damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Category: Accident Location: Cheb, Podhrad - Czech Republic Phase: Manoeuvring (airshow, firefighting, ag.ops.) Nature: Demo/Airshow/Display Departure airport: Cheb Airport (LKCB) Destination airport: Cheb Airport (LKCB) Confidence Rating: Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources Narrative: A Hawker Hurricane Mk IV, OO-HUR, crashed during an international aviation day in Cheb, Czech Republic. The pilot was flying a display when the aircraft crashed outside the airport on the border of a field and a house in the city of Cheb - Podhrady. The pilot died in the accident. One woman on the ground was injured. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/281539 United Airlines Diverts Newark Bound Flight to Iceland For a Crew Change After Pilots and Flight Attendants ‘Time Out’ United Airlines was forced to divert a Newark-bound flight from Athens, Greece to Iceland because the pilots and flight attendants ‘timed out’ after a lengthy delay in Greece Once on the ground in the Icelandic capital Reykjavík, a new crew of pilots and flight attendants took over and after a further three-hour delay, the flight eventually took off for Newark again. The unexpected diversion occurred on Sunday after United Airlines flight UA125 from Athens to Newark was delayed on the ground in Greece by around five hours for an unrelated issue which meant that the crew didn’t have enough hours to fly all the way to Newark. The maximum number of hours that pilots and flight attendants are allowed to work is managed by a system called ‘flight time limitations’ which is designed to prevent aircrew from working when fatigued. With the normal flight time from Athens to Newark stretching to nearly 10 hours, the long delay on the ground pushed the pilots and flight attendants beyond the maximum FTL threshold. United had limited options – either send the crew to a hotel for rest and try again the next day or despatch the flight but with a stopover for a crew change. United opted for the latter option, positioning a completely new set of crew from the United States to meet the plane in Iceland. Not everyone on the flight was particularly happy with United’s decision, however. On Twitter, one passenger said “one stupid decision after another got us from Athens to a small airport in Reykjavik with no infrastructure to support this flight”. Another described the delay in Iceland as a “total mess” after United had initially said the diversion would result in just a “quick stop”. Although the diversion made for a very long journey for the passengers aboard UA125, the only other option would have been an even longer delay in Athens so that the original crew could get some much-needed rest. https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2022/08/15/united-airlines-diverts-newark-bound-flight-to-iceland-for-a-crew-change-after-pilots-and-flight-attendants-time-out/ LOT Polish Flight Diverts To Iceland After Rowdy Passenger Tries To Open Door The Canadian man became aggressive toward the cabin crew and passengers, forcing the flight to divert. A LOT Polish Airlines flight from Warsaw to Toronto was forced to divert mid-flight after a passenger onboard became aggressive and tried to open the aircraft door. Several passengers teamed up to subdue the man before the aircraft landed in Reykjavík. Hostile passenger tries to force aircraft door open On Thursday, LOT Polish Airlines Flight 41 made an unscheduled stop in Iceland after a passenger caused a series of disturbances onboard. The unnamed male passenger, a Canadian national, became increasingly aggressive towards the cabin crew and eventually attempted to open the aircraft door mid-flight. The flight departed Warsaw Airport (WAW) at 15:03 local time en route to Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ). It was a few hours into the approximately nine-hour journey when the passenger began creating trouble. The unruly passenger was eventually arrested by police in Iceland. After he was refused alcohol service, the passenger confronted members of the crew in the aft galley. He was reportedly about to strike one of the crew when several passengers intervened and tackled the man. At one point, the passenger went for the aircraft doors and tried to open them mid-flight. He is also alleged to have spat at fellow passengers and thrown water bottles at flight attendants. LOT Polish Airlines Press Officer Krzysztof Moczulski told CTV News Toronto, "The man then went to aft galley and shouted at crew members. The passenger was about to hit a cabin crew member, but fellow passengers ran to the galley and tried to calm him down. He managed to get away and at one point the passenger ran to the plane doors and tried to open them midair." At least five passengers intervened According to LOT, at least five passengers were involved in tackling and restraining the passenger as his behavior became increasingly hostile. Despite this, the individual managed to escape their grasp and tried to force open the aircraft door. An unnamed passenger told CTV News Toronto, "He was in the back of the plane fighting with the flight attendants. It was just non-stop. People were restraining him because he was throwing water bottles at flight attendants. He was also spitting on other passengers. At one point he was yanking on the plane door." Due to the disturbance, the captain decided to land the plane and the aggressive passenger was taken back to his seat for landing. Data from FlightRadar24.com shows the aircraft, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, turning around above the coast of Greenland before landing at Reykjavík Airport. Arrested in Iceland Upon landing in Reykjavík, several police officers boarded the plane and arrested the man, who was escorted away in handcuffs. Due to crew restrictions, the aircraft had to fly back to Warsaw and passengers were put up in hotels before boarding another flight the next day. Passengers had to fly back to Warsaw before catching another flight to Toronto. It is not yet known whether charges have been pressed against the individual. LOT Polish Airlines stated that while no passengers or crew were physically injured, crew members were "extremely stressed by the situation." https://simpleflying.com/lot-polish-flight-diversion-keflavik/ Metro Aviation responds to claims the company forced a pilot to resign Based on a complaint from a former pilot, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) claims Metro Aviation forced a pilot to resign; Metro Aviation released a statement refuting the claim A federal whistleblower investigation has found Metro Aviation ‘retaliated’ against a pilot in Utah who refused to fly twice in 2021 amid concerns about limited visibility. OSHA examined the pilot’s complaint after the employer forced them to resign, retire or be involuntarily separated from the company. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted a separate investigation and found no substantiated violation by Metro Aviation of any FAA regulation or standard. The FAA investigation included reviewing Metro’s policies and procedures along with pilot interviews and found that we are operating safely in compliance with all applicable FAA regulations and standards. In a statement, Metro Aviation said: “Though we cannot speak at this time about this particular former employee's pending complaint, we respectfully disagree with OSHA's administrative determination and intend to seek a hearing before an administrative law judge who will consider all relevant evidence, including the FAA's determination that a violation of an FAA regulation or standard by Metro Aviation had not been substantiated. “We can also speak to our commitment to safety since our inception 40 years ago. Metro Aviation prides itself on being an industry leader, staying focused on operating as safely as we possibly can, as anyone who is familiar with us knows very well. We will stay focused on what we do best: operating and maintaining aircraft safely with the best employees in the industry, for the best customers in the industry.” https://www.airmedandrescue.com/latest/news/metro-aviation-responds-claims-company-forced-pilot-resign Thai A350 sank far below glideslope after shortened approach stressed pilots German investigators believe a shortened approach route given to a Thai Airways Airbus A350-900 crew generated increased time stress, resulting in a botched high-speed descent to Frankfurt that took the twinjet far below the glideslope. The aircraft, arriving at night, was just 668ft above ground, while still 6.43nm from the threshold of runway 07R, before it climbed away during a go-around. German investigation authority BFU states that four pilots – the captain, first officer, and two cruise pilots – were in the cockpit. The cruise pilots were supposed to act as safety observers, and intervene if necessary, but neither pointed out to the operating pilots that the approach was too low. The crew had been expecting to follow a preceding aircraft to 07R, and the approach route had been entered into the flight-management system. But a passenger medical situation had developed earlier in the flight and, as a result, the controller feeding traffic into the ILS path gave it priority and issued the crew with instructions which shortened the approach, putting the A350 ahead of the preceding aircraft. None of the four pilots in the cockpit responded as the A350 descended below the glidepath The inquiry believes the medical event was not an emergency and did not justify the shortened route. “This instruction exposed the flight crew to time stress,” says BFU, and the crew’s actions were subsequently “unco-ordinated” and resulted in “loss of situational awareness”. It adds that the orders of the first officer, who was flying, were “no longer clear” and “partially formulated as questions”. While the approach path had to be adjusted in the flight-management system, to allow the vertical guidance to provide the correct path indication, the inquiry believes the crew incorrectly programmed the system, with a remaining distance “significantly longer” than the actual one. “It is very likely that the indication on the [primary flight display] of the calculated vertical flightpath did not correspond with the mental image of the pilots,” it states. BFU believes the crew thought the aircraft was far too high above the required approach path, and the first officer flew an open descent, extending the landing-gear, flaps and speedbrakes to lose altitude. At about 3,000ft above ground the A350 passed through the glideslope from above, with a descent rate of around 3,000ft/min. The aircraft pitched increasingly nose-down, from 3° to 8°, and its airspeed rose. Having previously overshot the localiser, with the approach mode not activated, the aircraft subsequently captured it at 1,820ft above ground with the descent rate increasing to more than 4,000ft/min. Sink-rate and glideslope warnings were triggered at 1,340ft – the aircraft was far below the glideslope and still descending at nearly 3,400ft/min – but a go-around was not initiated until the aircraft was just 936ft above ground. It sank a further 184ft and was 688ft above terrain, 4.1 dots below the glideslope, before it started gaining altitude. The aircraft conducted a second approach to 07R and landed without further incident. Cockpit-voice recorder information shows no discussion of the aborted first approach took place before the second attempt to land. None of the 306 passengers and 18 crew members was injured and the jet (HS-THF) was undamaged during the 1 January 2020 occurrence. All four cockpit crew members were experienced, and the captain and first officer respectively had 400h and 1,500h on the A350. BFU says that, during interviews, the two pilots “did not give a statement” after being asked to explain the low approach. The two cruise pilots were also interviewed, the inquiry adds: “They were asked whether they had realised that the aircraft had been too low during the approach, and had they given guidance to the two pilots. Both questions were answered in the negative.” Investigators point out that, along with the incorrect programming of the flight-management system, the first officer changed modes on the flight-control unit several times, resulting in operating errors. BFU also indicates that the captain had difficulty understanding and communicating in English, with problems comprehending the Frankfurt controller’s queries about the medical situation, and with following the conversation during investigators’ interviews. https://www.flightglobal.com/safety/thai-a350-sank-far-below-glideslope-after-shortened-approach-stressed-pilots/149845.article Private Jet Operator, Thrive Aviation Earns Prestigious ARG/US Platinum Safety Rating LAS VEGAS, Aug. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Thrive Aviation was awarded the coveted Platinum safety rating in an upgrade to their longtime Gold status, after completing an on-site audit with ARG/US' standards team. The review is an in-depth, historical safety-analysis of planes, pilots, and procedures, as well as a validation of enhanced standards in the operation's SMS and Emergency Response Plans. The new designations place Thrive Aviation among an elite population of the Nation's top rated charter operators. Thrive Aviation is a Las Vegas based operator with a worldwide operational footprint Known as the industry's most respected, unbiased, and detailed third-party safety analysis, the ARG/US Platinum designation is another impressive milestone in Thrive's emergence as one of the country's premier, luxury jet operators. Thrive's Director of Safety, Brian Harlan, has led the company's pursuit of elevating its safety-first culture and operating procedures over the past two years. Brian comments on the achievement: "ARG/US Platinum has become the standard by which other standards are set. This is not just a stamp of approval in process, but a reflection of our team's hard work and commitment to a superior culture of safety before anything else!" Co-Founder and Thrive's acting Director of Operations, Stuart Edenfield adds: "We've always been a safety-first organization, but with our rapid growth over the past few years, we knew that we needed to invest heavily in scaling that culture. The recent audit by ARG/US and resulting Platinum designation was a great validation in our team's ability to meet and maintain the highest safety standards in the industry!" As they prepare to expand their operational footprint globally with the addition of a new Gulfstream G600, Thrive also achieved IS-BAO Stage 1 certification through a simultaneous audit of international operating standards. The new designations place Thrive Aviation among an elite population of the Nation's top rated charter operators. About Thrive Aviation Thrive Aviation is a private aviation company dedicated to providing proactive service and elevated flight experiences for its guests and partners across North America. With corporate headquarters at Henderson Executive Airport, Thrive Aviation's main operational footprint in Las Vegas includes a large-scale expansion of over 30,000 square feet which includes a private hangar along with a separate dedicated maintenance facility; all at Harry Reid International Airport. Thrive Aviation doubled its owned/operated fleet of light, mid, super-mid and large cabin aircraft during 2021 with additional super-mid and long-range acquisitions scheduled through 2023. Learn more at: www.flythrive.com Contact: News@flythrive.com About ARGUS International Inc. ARGUS International (ARGUS), a member of the SGS Group, is the leader in Aviation Data, Software, Audits, and Certification Services. ARGUS Market Intelligence is the premier Aviation Forecasting service worldwide and have emerged as a leader among market intelligence service providers. ARGUS PROS is one of the 1st accredited audit organizations in the United States and involved in the development of the IOSA Auditing Program. We continue to be the leading provider of on-site safety audits nationwide. ARGUS PRISM is the worldwide leader in safety management systems and a pioneer in FAA Accreditation Consulting for UAS service providers. ARGUS was founded in 1995 and headquartered in Colorado. To learn more about ARGUS international, please visit www.ARGUS.aero SOURCE Thrive Aviation https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/private-jet-operator-thrive-aviation-earns-prestigious-argus-platinum-safety-rating-301604745.html Families of tourists killed in 2021 floatplane crash near Ketchikan sue Holland America and Southeast Aviation The families of four cruise passengers killed in a floatplane crash near Ketchikan last year are suing Holland America Line in federal court. They’re also suing the floatplane operator and the estate of the pilot. The families of Andrea McArthur, Rachel McArthur, Jacquelyn Komplin and Janet Kroll accuse the cruise line of pressuring floatplane companies to operate unsafely and failing to warn passengers of the risks. Their suit was filed Aug. 1 in the Western District of Washington in Seattle. The lawsuit comes just over a year after a bright yellow-and-blue DeHavilland Beaver floatplane crashed into treetops on a steep slope in Misty Fjords National Monument Wilderness, about 12 miles northeast of Ketchikan. The crash killed the pilot and all five passengers aboard, who had arrived in the region on the Holland America ship Nieuw Amsterdam. An attorney for the families, Heather Cover, said the cruise line was required to inform passengers that floatplane tours could be hazardous. “Under maritime law, Holland America has a duty to warn its passengers of known dangers,” Cover said in a phone interview. “And here, where the seaplane accident occurred, actually has a pretty prolific history of seaplane crashes and deaths.” She’s referring to the fact that at least 21 people have died in plane crashes in the area in the past seven years. That includes a 2015 crash that killed eight people. “In that case, the NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board, had actually written a letter to the cruise ship industry, including Holland America, warning that the schedules of the cruise ships could actually be contributing to this dangerous condition whereby you are having so many crashes and fatalities,” she said. The NTSB found the operator in the 2015 case, Promech Air, had a culture that encouraged pilots to fly in hazardous weather — in part because of scheduling pressures from cruise lines. But unlike that crash, Holland America says the 2021 floatplane tour wasn’t sold or advertised by the cruise line. “We were incredibly saddened by this tragedy and our hearts go out to the families of those who died. This floatplane excursion was independently operated and purchased separately by the impacted guests and not sold through or advertised by Holland America Line. Safety is of utmost importance to us, and our contracts with tour operators emphasize it as a top priority,” the company said in a statement. What caused last year’s crash isn’t clear. The NTSB’s Clint Johnson said the agency is reviewing its final report and expects to release it soon. But search and rescue aircraft and other nearby pilots reported poor visibility and low clouds around the time of the crash. The families are also suing Southeast Aviation, the small, family-run carrier that operated the fatal flight. Cover, the attorney, said the company didn’t do enough to make sure the pilot was good to go after a prior accident. “Just a couple of weeks before this incident, the pilot was taking off and actually ran into a buoy and flipped his plane,” Cover said. “He was taken out of rotation for a couple of weeks, and then came back — no additional training, no nothing. It was just kind of a matter of if he felt that he was able to come back to work, and he was permitted to do so.” Southeast Aviation did not return a call for comment. The pilot, Rolf Lanzendorfer, had worked for Southeast Aviation seasonally since 2015 and had logged about 8,000 hours flying similar aircraft. His estate is also named in the lawsuit. The plaintiffs accuse him of failing to account for poor weather conditions. The families are seeking unspecified monetary damages in the wrongful death lawsuit. Holland America, Southeast Aviation and the pilot’s estate are due to file their responses in court later this month. https://alaskapublic.org/2022/08/12/families-of-tourists-killed-in-2021-floatplane-crash-near-ketchikan-sue-holland-america-and-southeast-aviation/ Malaysia Airlines signs provisional deal for 20 Airbus A330neos Aug 15 (Reuters) - Malaysia Airlines has signed a provisional agreement to acquire 20 Airbus (AIR.PA) A330neos to replace its ageing fleet of A330 widebody jets in a deal that also involves aircraft leasing company Avolon. The airline will buy 10 of the planes from Airbus and then execute a sale-and-leaseback deal with Avolon, with the other 10 leased directly from Avolon, the carrier said on Monday. Industry sources last week told Reuters a deal was expected on Monday. The planes, which will have Rolls-Royce (RR.L) engines, are scheduled to be delivered from the third quarter of 2024 through 2028, the airline said. The fleet upgrade, which includes purchase rights for another 20 A330neos, comes amid signs of a pick-up in demand for widebody jets after a lengthy downturn. From East Asia to the Gulf, several airlines are renewing widebody fleets as international air traffic recovers from its pandemic lows. read more "The A330neo will not only provide modernisation to our fleet and enhanced operational efficiency, but also meet environmental targets through reduced fuel-burn per seat while keeping passenger safety and comfort at its core," Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive Izham Ismail said in a statement. The airline said it was also working with Airbus on a wider collaboration in Malaysia in areas including sustainable aviation fuel, training, maintenance and airspace management. Malaysia Airlines, which cut its debt burden by more than half as part of a restructuring agreed with creditors last year, has said it aims to return to profit in 2023 as demand improves. read more The A330neos, all of which are the larger A330-900 model, will have 300 seats and operate on the airline's existing network throughout Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/malaysia-airlines-signs-provisional-deal-20-airbus-a330neos-2022-08-15/ Boom Supersonic’s jet testing at Centennial Airport worries atmospheric scientists Boom Supersonic’s Overture would fly at 60,000 feet at Mach 1.7, twice the speed of conventional jetliners. It may be the most innovative, exciting airplane in the world — and it isn’t being designed at Boeing in Seattle, or Lockheed’s Skunk Works, or at Airbus in Toulouse, but rather at Centennial Airport, 15 miles south of Denver. Overture, the sleek aircraft under design by Colorado’s Boom Supersonic, is being hailed by company founder and CEO Blake Scholl as “revolutionary” and set to “fundamentally change how we think about distance.” Last month, Overture was the talk of the Farnborough International Airshow near London, where Boom representatives showed crowds the latest mockup of the faster-than-sound jetliner — a four-engine version that the company says emerged from 26 million hours of software tests and repeated wind tunnel trials. Here in Colorado a few blocks from Centennial’s control tower, a “Baby Boom” supersonic, one-third the scale of a full-sized 65-passenger airliner, is complete and is undergoing ground engine tests. Boom has told The Denver Gazette that the prototype will take to the air before the end of this year, from California’s Mojave Desert. Boom says it’s also ready to begin outfitting a 70,000-square-foot testbed for a full-scale Overture, a mile from its Centennial facility. There it will create what designers call an “iron bird” test airplane to allow engineers and pilots to put the jet through all its paces — the moving parts, the electronics and avionics, everything just short of what the craft actually would need to take off. Boom said it was premature to estimate the testbed’s cost, but that it will hire up to 30 additional full-time employees to staff it. The craft to emerge from that would be a 21st century version of the Concorde, the Anglo/French supersonic transport that whisked passengers across the Atlantic in three-and-a-half hours between 1976 and 2003. Overture would be a tad slower (still twice as fast as conventional jetliners), cruising at Mach 1.7, 1,300 miles per hour, compared to Concorde’s Mach 2. It’s a tad smaller (65 to 80 passengers, while Concorde carried 92 to 128); and at 201 feet long, just a foot shorter. But it would benefit from the advances from 50 years of intervening aviation progress — lighter composites, newer electronics and controls. At a moment when aircraft makers are at work designing low-carbon versions of their regular airliners, Boom promises Overture will fly carbon-neutral — no new CO2 added to Earth’s atmosphere, thanks to “sustainable aviation fuel” made with hydrogen and using solar energy and carbon dioxide harvested from the atmosphere. Boom’s vision isn’t the only supersonic on the drawing board, but it appears more ambitious that any similar concepts. Several competitors have been at work on smaller, corporate jet supersonics, including Las Vegas-based Aerian Supersonic, which had received an investment from Boeing for a 12-passenger jet. The company shut down operations earlier this year. But Boom’s own visions have gathered financial momentum. With a reported price tag of $200 million per airliner, United Airlines has ordered 15 aircraft with options for more. And Japan Airlines, an early investor, has options on another 20. Scholl has reportedly claimed $600 million in investments, including a $60 million grant from the military. During the airshow, Boom joined Northrup Grumman to announce a partnership on special-mission variants of the plane. “Using equity fundraising, airline prepayments, supplier commitments, and other sources, we expect to deploy $6-8 billion to bring Overture to market,” a Boom spokesperson told The Denver Gazette. “We’re seeing strong interest from investors who recognize that Boom has demonstrated measurable progress and a clear path forward to making supersonic travel safe, sustainable, and economically viable.” For now, Boom is pushing the vision forward with plans for a “super factory” in Greensboro, North Carolina, where it would begin production building. Flight tests of a full-sized Overture would start in 2026 to put passengers in the air by 2029. (Iron-bird tests and other engineering would remain here in Colorado.) With that kind of momentum, what could possibly go wrong? But critics are questioning whether Overture will really get off the ground — worrying about its potential environmental impacts, the availability of the clean-burning jet fuel and the aircraft’s ultimate marketability. And worry No. 1 is that Overture doesn’t yet appear to have the engines to push the plane to supersonic speed. “There is no airplane without an engine,” Jon Ostrower, editor-and-chief of the aviation journal The Air Current, said in a phone interview with The Denver Gazette. “Go back to the Wright Brothers, and they also figured out how to create an engine. This has been the ticket true of Boeing and Airbus, and a challenge Boom has to solve.” On its website and BoomSupersonic.com, Boom lists Rolls-Royce, one of the world’s three big engine manufacturers, as a collaborator. But Ostrower, who interviewed both Scholl and Rolls-Royce CEO Warren East during the airshow, found no concrete relationship expressed that’s likely to deliver a new engine anytime soon. “What I heard from Rolls is that they’re not willing to commit their own dollars,” Ostrower told The Denver Gazette. That, Ostrower adds, puts Boom in a position of conjuring up a business model where Rolls or another maker would be paid to develop an engine. Aerian Supersonic, he adds, had that sort of arrangement with GE, the world’s largest jet engine maker, when the would-be airplane manufacturer closed down operations. “They had to pay for GE to do that,” Ostrower said. “The day Aerian said they were out of money, engineers at GE put their pencils down.” In a written reply to queries about the engines and other concerns, Boom told The Denver Gazette that they continue to have a relationship with the British engine maker. “We have matured the Overture configuration significantly, and we’re working with Rolls-Royce and others behind the scenes to develop multiple design options for an engine that is optimized for 100% sustainable aviation fuel,” the Boom spokesperson said. “Rolls-Royce has completed the contracted work package it had with Boom on the development of the current Overture program,” the spokesperson continued. “Boom is now evaluating the results, as well as assessing market requirements and design alternatives. Our relationship remains active and we continue to discuss the future of supersonic commercial flight and further technical support from Rolls-Royce.” But regardless of the power plant, scientists also harbor doubts about the consequences of the exhaust load that Overture would put on the thin reaches of the upper atmosphere, where Overture would fly. “Getting a sustainable source of fuel doesn’t negate the effect that you are creating water vapor and nitrous oxides,” adds David W. Fahey, director of the Chemical Sciences Laboratory at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder. The lab advises government on consequences of atmospheric releases, including impacts on Earth’s protective ozone layer that have been a worldwide focus since the 1987 Montreal Protocol, eventually signed by 197 nations. In 1995, Fahey and his colleagues carried out a study that sampled Concorde’s exhaust plume in flight in the stratosphere near New Zealand. They concluded based on the measured emissions of small particles that a new larger fleet of supersonics could be a threat to the ozone layer. Now, 27 years later, Fahey harbors many of the same doubts. “Basic answer,” Fahey told The Denver Gazette, “the nature of the environmental effects of supersonic aircraft are unchanged from the 1990s when they were last a major focus of the stratospheric science community. “The issue now is the scale and specifications of a new fleet,” Fahey added, “i.e., the more aircraft, the greater the effects will be. Sustainability (of the fuel) doesn’t obviate the chemical impacts.” “I’m definitely concerned about the ozone,” Dan Rutherford, program director for aviation and marine programs at the California-based International Council on Clean Transportation, said in a phone interview with The Denver Gazette. ICCT is a research nonprofit that consults with governmental bodies on reducing carbon emissions from the transportation sector. It gained wide attention after exposing the 2013 Dieselgate scandal at Volkswagen. In a January paper conducted in partnership with MIT, Rutherford and colleagues studied climate impacts of SSTs — one version assuming that there were constraints on noise and climate, and another with no constraints. “The SSTs investigated are expected to burn seven-to-nine times more fuel per seat-kilometer flown than the subsonic (conventional fleet), creating substantial environmental impacts and poor economics,” they concluded. Any environmental advantages of burning a carbon-neutral fuel as opposed to regular jet fuel are overcome by that much higher volume of fuel burned, the study notes. The faster flight times of SSTs would do nothing to overcome that gallon-per-seat metric, which doesn’t depend on the time it takes to fly. “But even a regulated SST will be louder, and emit more air and climate pollution per passenger, than new subsonic planes,” Rutherford reiterated in a follow-up article earlier this year. “Flying faster than the speed of sound is inherently energy-intensive, in part because supersonics use powerful, thirsty engines to produce the high thrust needed to break the sound barrier.” Supersonic airplanes drag a shock wave behind them that creates a sonic boom on the ground below. And in Concorde’s case, that left airlines limited only to flying transoceanic routes, chiefly London to New York and Paris to New York. The ticket price on those flights, adjusted for inflation, ranged from around $4,000 to $6,000, one way. Boom is betting that its computer-modeled design will yield a sonic boom much softer and more tolerable, and that the economics of a new fuel would bring ticket prices down. How many supersonics would be in the air? Boom’s market model says the company has identified 600 worldwide routes that it claims that it could fly without changes to the existing air regulations. “Concorde was basically two routes,” said ICCT’s Rutherford. “If you can imagine 600 routes, that’s a crazy high number.” Critics are also focusing on Boom’s message about its sustainability, prominently mentioned in its promotions of Overture. “Sustainability is integral to Boom company values, and Overture will be the first airliner optimized to fly on 100% SAF (sustainable aviation fuel),” the spokesperson said in a reply to The Denver Gazette’s queries. “While Overture can technically fly on (conventional jet fuel), our airline partners have been passionate about partnering with us on sustainability and the future of net-carbon zero flight. Airlines are excited that they can fly faster and support their efforts to decrease their carbon footprint at the same time.” Boom maintains it has already achieved zero-carbon as a company, but its goal of zero-carbon in the air appears to ride in part on the prospects of a similar startup company, Prometheus Fuels. Boom shows Prometheus’s logo on its Overture website and credits the startup with “enabling net-zero carbon supersonic flight with fuels made from atmospheric carbon dioxide.” Prometheus and Boom each were funded early on by Y Combinator, based in Mountain View, California, which describes itself as a "startup accelerator." Y Combinator lists a large number of startups it has helped launch, choosing its recipients in part by way of “Demo Day” presentation events. On its website, Y Combinator lists the innovative firms it has kickstarted, ranking them by their estimated valuation or market cap. The site ranks Boom Supersonic as No. 70, Prometheus as 47. Prometheus, which has attracted impressive investors including German carmaker BMW and Danish shipping leviathan Maersk, reportedly has a valuation of some $1.5 billion. But like Boom, Prometheus is gathering its share of skeptics within the environmental community, for its processes for making SAF fuel in volume, and more so for estimates of what SAF will actually cost. “There is little available evidence it can actually live up to its lofty claims,” senior editor James Temple, who covers energy for MIT Technology Review, wrote in an April 2022 review. “If these fuels could be produced at the costs and on the scales claimed, Prometheus might well overhaul the global energy marketplace,” Temple went on. “But Prometheus’s assertions have raised eyebrows among researchers, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists.” Temple continued that experts who reviewed an investor presentation were dubious the fuel company can achieve the numbers. Asked whether Boom is focused on possible atmospheric consequences of its operation, the spokesperson responded, “Yes, Boom continues to review the latest research on atmospheric effects and identify mitigations. “Most relevant,” the spokesperson added, “we are pursuing a next generation of 100% SAF with zero aromatics, which is expected to reduce particulate emissions and contrail impacts.” SAF, the representative said, could produce fewer ice crystal contrails during cruise, reducing the impact. For now, neither Boom nor its critics are that doubtful about the potential market for a supersonic airliner like Overture, if it meets its operating goals. “They’re trying to do a pretty difficult job, yet (you) look at market and it is kind of a big need,” Don J. Wuebbles, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Illinois, said in a phone conversation with The Denver Gazette. Wuebbles noted that he had met Boom’s sustainability officer at a recent conference, in the course of conducting studies for FAA on aircraft and their emissions. “I don’t want to be down on what they’re trying to do,” Wuebbles continued. He added that environmental impacts are difficult to assess with so little known about how many airplanes would fly, and what the particulars of their emissions of water vapor, nitrous oxide and carbon particles will be at Overture’s cruising altitude of 60,000 feet. He said he doesn't expect Overture to produce a working airliner in the near term. “I’d be shocked if that occurs,” Wuebbles said. “I have done a lot of work with Boeing, and I know how hard it is.” “A best guess,” added ICCT’s Dan Rutherford, “is they fly their demonstrator, probably generate additional funds, and three or four years down the road won’t build the aircraft.” “The higher you fly, the more vulnerable the atmosphere is,” NOAA’s Fahey added. “The bottom line, in a world that wants to become sustainable, society is best served by the best performance per unit of fuel. “The world is wise to be skeptical, but you want to encourage that out-of-the-box thinking.” https://denvergazette.com/premium/boom-supersonic-s-jet-testing-at-centennial-airport-worries-atmospheric-scientists/article_7f232bfc-1829-11ed-a24b-7fa33a449162.html Wide-body jet demand humming again as Boeing 787 rejoins the fray PARIS/WASHINGTON, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Boeing Co's (BA.N) 787 Dreamliner has returned to the world market for newly delivered aircraft at a time when demand for wide-body jetliners is finally stirring to life after a prolonged slump. The U.S. planemaker delivered its first Dreamliner since May 2021 on Wednesday, in a significant milestone for the manufacturer after production problems with its wide-body jet. read more Boeing must now wade through painstaking regulatory checks to get further 787s delivered while chipping away at a backlog of about 120 stored planes outside its plants. But analysts say there is increasingly talk of demand for such jets after years of a market glut. From East Asia to the Gulf, several airlines are renewing wide-body fleets. Saudi Arabia is discussing a potentially significant order for wide-body jets, three industry sources said, though talks have fluctuated over several years without a deal being announced and the timing of a decision may be some way off. But with Riyadh investing in tourism and aviation as part of its Vision 2030 blueprint to diversify the economy, one person following the matter predicted a decision "sooner rather than later," with Boeing 787 and 777X seen potentially among the mix. Taiwan's government-backed China Airlines (2610.TW) is weighing options to renew a fleet of 22 Airbus A330 jets in a competition between the 787 and Airbus A330neo. read more Malaysia Airlines is poised to announce on Monday a deal to acquire 20 A330neo wide-body jets, roughly half of which would be bought directly from Airbus (AIR.PA). read more "I firmly believe that as borders fully reopen, we will see the same rebound in international travel that we saw in the domestic markets," Aengus Kelly, chief executive of AerCap (AER.N), the world's largest leasing firm, said on Thursday. "Given the level of inquiry and demand we are seeing for wide-body aircraft, it is clear that the airlines are also convinced of this." International traffic has accelerated since the start of the year, though the International Air Transport Association says it has a long way to run before regaining pre-pandemic levels. "What we're seeing right now is definitely a recovery that's taking hold in certain international markets," Ihssane Mounir, Boeing's senior vice-president of commercial sales and marketing, said after last month's Farnborough Airshow. DEMAND REBOUND "The transatlantic is live and doing well," Mounir told reporters. "You're seeing very robust demand between Europe and the U.S. and ... between the Middle East and Europe and U.S. So folks are sticking their heads above water again and ... making plans." Part of the surge of interest stems from delays caused by manufacturers themselves as well as increased regulatory scrutiny following the recent Boeing 737 MAX safety crisis. read more Boeing's large twin-engined 777X has been pushed back to 2025, five years later than originally planned, and the 787 has had a one-year pause in deliveries. "There is a real rebound in demand for wide-bodies, but availability is short because of manufacturing and development delays. Therefore it is not yet back to pre-COVID levels," said independent aviation adviser Bertrand Grabowski. "The 777X is late and the programme has its own problems and the 787 availability has been patchy," he added. Adding to the squeeze, Airbus faces supply-chain problems. "The jury is out on whether Airbus will manage to reach their delivery target for the A350," Grabowski added. Still keeping markets guessing, and perhaps the biggest part of the demand puzzle, is China, industry executives said. Many had seen the door as being left ajar to a significant Boeing wide-body order after the last big Chinese order in July, which focused purely on smaller narrow-body models, went to Airbus. In September, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the Chinese government was preventing its domestic airlines from buying "tens of billions of dollars" of Boeing airplanes. China tends to balance jet purchases over time but has effectively been off the market for five years, with demand hampered first by trade tensions and then by the pandemic, analysts said. Now, potential trade with emblematic U.S. companies has been thrust into the furore surrounding U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan as well as Chinese military exercises around the China-claimed self-ruled island. Reduced air traffic as millions remain under lockdown are also a drag on demand, Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor of FlightGlobal, said last week. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/wide-body-jet-demand-humming-again-boeing-787-rejoins-fray-2022-08-12/ Saudi Arabia Targets $100bn Investment In Aviation Sector The Kingdom plans to host at least 300 million passengers, and 5 million tons of freight by 2030. Even for oil-rich countries such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the significance of air transport is still vital for socio-economic growth. Recognizing its vast importance and in an effort to divert from oil, the Kingdom has laid out a unique transformative socio-economic reform blueprint known as Vision 2030. Part of the blueprint includes a commitment to invest $100 billion into its aviation sector by 2030. What's being invested? Air Traffic Management The $100 billion investment is expected to come through a combination of private and public funding and will be used to upgrade the Kingdom's air traffic infrastructure. Currently, air traffic services within the Kingdom's airspace are provided across more than 25 existing airports by the Saudi Air Navigation Services (SANS). With a big airspace, the Kingdom is looking to join the global air traffic management movement by incorporating modern technologies. This is why an upgrade includes SANS' partnership with Indra to introduce the Middle East's first virtual air traffic control tower, which will remotely manage arrivals and departures on the runways of Al Ula International Airport. Javier Ruano, Indra’s Director of Air Traffic Management Operations, emphasized: "We’re redoubling our efforts to make the Saudi service provider one of the world leaders in air traffic management and equip the country with the most advanced infrastructure. Indra and SANS have again demonstrated their commitment to ongoing innovation and incorporating the next-generation digital technologies that will shape the sector's future." New national carrier Part of the $100 billion investment will also go into launching a new national carrier, though not as a direct competition to the Kingdom's current national carrier, Saudia. While Saudia is based in Jeddah, the gateway for religion, the new airline is planned to operate out of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the business hub of the Kingdom. This means two different products, both of which still represent Saudi Arabia as it implements a dual-hub strategy. To ensure that both national carriers will rank highly among the world's best airlines, the investment will also go into upgrading all facilities and infrastructure within the airports in Jeddah and Riyadh to make them the leading hubs within the Middle East. It remains unclear when the new national carrier will be unveiled, though the wait could soon be over. During the Farnborough International Airshow this year, Mohammed Alkhuraisi, Vice President of strategy and business intelligence at Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation, confirmed this by saying: "The final touches are being made to plans to unveil the carrier. I know it's going to fly very soon." Saudia has been the Kingdom's national carrier since it was established in September 1945 as Saudi Arabian Airlines. New airspace entrants Last year, German-based Volocopter partnered with Saudi Arabia to develop electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) flight operations for a planned smart city known as Neom. With the first phase scheduled for completion by 2025, Neom will be located on the Red Sea in the northwestern corner of Saudi Arabia and is set to be an utterly emission-free city focused on sustainability. However, this idea cannot rely solely on eVTOLs. Thus, the final aspect of the significant investment includes the Kingdom's attempt to provide a better path for new airspace entrants such as unmanned vehicles like drones and more electric aircraft. The Kingdom is looking to invest more into sustainable aviation, such as the possibility of hydrogen-electric powered Cessna Caravan seaplanes to shuttle passengers across Saudi Arabia. What would the Kingdom's aviation look like down the road? With the $100 billion investment and as Vision 2030 progresses, the Kingdom will likely emerge as the Middle East's leading aviation hub within the next 10 years, possibly overtaking the current leaders such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. The launch of the new national carrier should make it to becoming one of the world's leading, as planned out within the informative blueprint, and Saudia would prosper alongside the rest of the Kingdom's other carriers. And as its aviation industry becomes more of the centerpiece of its economy over oil, the Kingdom expects its airlines to collectively carry more than 330 million passengers and at least 5 million tons of freight by 2030. This would mean the airlines would have to establish connections to more than 250 destinations worldwide. Still, the Kingdom's Minister of Transport, Saleh Al-Jasser, is confident of such an achievement. Besides having opened its airspace to all international flights last month, the Kingdom has also been offering the incentivized prospect for airlines to open unpopular routes, amongst other initiatives as emphasized by Al-Jasser: "Recently, we have reduced airport charges for all airlines coming to the Kingdom by between 10 and 35%. We've also approved hundreds of aircraft orders and started opening new routes to many countries and nations worldwide." How would the significance of the Kingdom's aviation industry change? Prior to the pandemic and before Vision 2030 was established in 2016, the aviation industry contributed to approximately 5.6% of the Kingdom's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which was valued at an estimated $36.5 billion as it provided slightly over 590,000 jobs. Amongst the top five international flight arrivals, India and Pakistan were the only non-Middle Eastern countries, with the remaining four including the UAE, Egypt, and Turkey. The Middle East was the biggest market for passenger flows inbound and outbound from Saudi Arabia, with approximately 26.7 million passengers representing about 60.3% of the total. In stark contrast, Asia-Pacific followed quite far behind with only 9.8 million passengers, representing about 22.2%, and only about 5 million passengers came from Africa, representing 11.3%. Most of the flights come from Saudia, which has the most extensive domestic route network within the Kingdom. With investments being injected into Vision 2030 and as opportunities are created, the Kingdom's aviation industry could open up as many as 1.2 million jobs across multiple sectors. The employment increase would then allow the Kingdom's aviation industry to contribute at least $80 million to GDP. The revamped aviation industry could also see Saudi Arabia having more passengers arriving in more significant numbers from other regions such as North and South America, Europe, and Oceania. https://simpleflying.com/saudi-arabia-100bn-aviation-investment/ GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY - 1 Hello! As part of an MIT survey, we are looking for experienced pilots to help evaluate past aviation convective weather interactions. Participants will be asked to evaluate flight segments which may (or may not) have deviated due to the tactical weather situation. Participation is entirely remote via email, and will take about 15-30 minutes, depending on the number of cases you wish to label. If you are interested in participating, please use the link at the bottom to read more about the study and let us know that you are interested! Link: https://forms.gle/kzQLLUi26JkR2sap9 Rachel Price MIT - Aeronautics and Astronautics GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY - 2 Greetings, My name is Nurettin Dinler, Research Scholar and PhD student at Department of Aviation Science, Saint Louis University working with Nithil Bollock Kumar, PhD Candidate, Gajapriya Tamilselvan, PhD, and Stephen Belt, PhD. We are working on a research project titled “Low-Cost Airline Pilots on Exercising Fuel-Loading Policies during Flight: A Phenomenological Exploration Study.” I am writing this e-mail to invite you to participate in a research study that we are conducting at Saint Louis University. Your participation in this study will involve taking a semi-structured interview that lasts for about 30 minutes. During the interview, you will be questioned about your experiences with Low-Cost Airlines’ fuel-loading policies developed to minimize pilot discretionary (extra) fuel. There is no compensation provided for your participation in the study. However, your participation will be a valuable addition to our research and your findings could lead to greater understanding of risk management for pilots and the sources of stressors in commercial aviation. Participation is completely voluntary, and your participation will remain confidential throughout the process of research. If you are interested in participating in this research, please take a moment to complete the survey at the following link: https://slu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0l9Awl5UkXDiKRo If you have any questions, please contact me at 321-245-8628 or nurettin.dinler@slu.edu. Thank you for your time and consideration. Regards, Nurettin Dinler, M.S. Research Scholar Oliver L. Parks Department of Aviation Science School of Science and Engineering McDonnell Douglas Hall, Lab 1046 3450 Lindell Blvd., St Louis, MO 63103 nurettin.dinler@slu.edu (321) 245-8628 Curt Lewis