Flight Safety Information - February 8, 2023 No. 027 In This Issue : Incident: LOT B788 at Warsaw on Feb 4th 2023, backup ADI failed : Incident: Southwest B738 at Saint Louis on Feb 5th 2023, bird strike : Accident: United B38M at San Diego on Feb 7th 2023, battery fire in cabin : New Zealand pilot held hostage by separatist fighters in Indonesia : BAE Systems delivers 1000th fuselage for F-35 fighter jet : Delta’s hidden profit center is repairing jet engines : Open Source Flight Tracking Called Threat to Military Aircraft : Proposal Launched For Single-Pilot Airline Ops During Cruise Flight Phase : RESEARCH SURVEY Incident: LOT B788 at Warsaw on Feb 4th 2023, backup ADI failed A LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 787-8, registration SP-LRB performing flight LO-26 from Warsaw (Poland) to New York JFK,NY (USA), was enroute at FL380 about 270nm northwest of Warsaw when the crew decided to turn around and return to Warsaw. The aircraft descended to FL330 for the return and landed safely back on Warsaw's runway 33 about 2 hours after leaving FL380. The flight was cancelled. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground for about 16.5 hours before returning to service to Miami,FL (USA). The airline reported the failure of the backup articial horizon (ADI) caused the return to Warsaw. After installing a new component the aircraft would depart again for the flight. Passengers reported the aircraft/flight did not continue, they were re-booked onto other flights not operated by LOT. https://avherald.com/h?article=504c8d14&opt=0 Incident: Southwest B738 at Saint Louis on Feb 5th 2023, bird strike A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-800, registration N8678E performing flight WN-1260 from Saint Louis,MO to Pittsburgh,PA (USA), was climbing out of Saint Louis' runway 30L when the crew upon contacting departure reported they had hit a bird and needed to return, subsequently declaring emergency. The aircraft levelled off at 3000 feet. The airport initiated a runway inspection and closed runway 30L, the 737 was reassigned runway 29 for landing. The aircraft landed safely on runway 29 about 14 minutes after departure. A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration N8523W reached Pittsburgh with a delay of 3:20 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Saint Louis about 44 hours after landing back. https://avherald.com/h?article=504da353&opt=0 Accident: United B38M at San Diego on Feb 7th 2023, battery fire in cabin A United Boeing 737-8 MAX, registration N77259 performing flight UA-2664 from San Diego,CA to Newark,NJ (USA), was climbing out of San Diego's runway 27 when the crew stopped the climb at about 7000 feet due to a passenger's battery pack overheating and igniting. While cabin crew were extinguishing the fire using extinguishers, the flight crew returned the aircraft to San Diego for a safe landing on runway 27 about 10 minutes after departure. 6 people received injuries, 4 of them were taken to a hospital. San Diego Fire Services reported an external battery pack caught fire, the crew extinguished the fire and placed the item into a special bag. https://avherald.com/h?article=504d93ae&opt=0 New Zealand pilot held hostage by separatist fighters in Indonesia Separatist fighters in Indonesia’s restive Papua region have captured a pilot from New Zealand and are holding him hostage after setting fire to his plane, the group said in a statement. The pilot, identified by local police as Philip Merthens, was captured after landing a commercial charter flight at Paro Airport in the remote highlands of the Nduga regency on Tuesday. Five passengers including a baby were on the Susi Air flight, but it remains unclear what has happened to them, Papua Police Chief Inspector Mathius Fakhiri told reporters on Tuesday. A search team made up of police and military personnel has been sent to the area. On Tuesday, the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) said it had burned the plane in an airfield and “arrested” the pilot before taking him hostage. “He is our second hostage,” TPNPB commander spokesperson Eganus Kogeya said in a statement seen by CNN, in what appeared to be a reference to an incident in 1996 when the Free Papua Movement held captive 26 members of a wildlife research mission in the neighboring district of Mapenduma. Some hostages were held for more than four months, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). In the statement, Eganus also demanded that all incoming flights to Paro Airport be stopped and said the pilot would not be released until the Indonesian government acknowledged Papuan independence. The Indonesian government designates the TPNPB as a terrorist group. New Zealand government officials told CNN they were “aware of the situation involving a New Zealand pilot in Papua” and that the New Zealand embassy in Jakarta was providing consular support to the family. Susi Air founder Susi Pudjiastuti said on Twitter that she was praying for the safety of the pilot and the passengers. Separatist fighters in Indonesia’s easternmost region of Papua have been demanding independence since the region was brought under Indonesian control following a controversial 1969 vote overseen by the United Nations. However, fighting in the impoverished but resource-rich region, where the Indonesian military maintains a heavy presence, has escalated in recent years. ‘Repetition of violence in Papua’ Rights groups in the region condemned the attack. “We urge that the pilot and people being held hostage be released safely immediately. We also call on parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian law,” said Usman Hamid, the director of Amnesty International Indonesia. He said the incident showed civilians were the victims of the “repetition of violence in the Papua region.” “All parties must prioritize non-violence in order to save civilians,” he added. Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher for Human Rights Watch, said seizing hostages was a crime. “The National Liberation Army for West Papua should immediately and unconditionally release all hostages in Nduga,” Harsono said. https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/08/asia/susi-air-new-zealand-pilot-hostage-indonesia-intl-hnk/index.html BAE Systems delivers 1000th fuselage for F-35 fighter jet The fuselage production work is carried out by BAE Systems’ machining facility in Samlesbury, Lancashire. BAE Systems has successfully completed the delivery of the 1,000th F-35 Lightning II fuselage to Lockheed Martin, marking a major milestone in the global F-35 programme. The company also organised a ceremony to mark this delivery milestone. The event was attended by various senior officials and representatives from BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin. BAE Systems Air group managing director Cliff Robson said: “This is a significant moment for everyone involved in the programme and a testament to the highly skilled workforce we have in the north-west of England.” The company has been supporting the global F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme since its inception by delivering a wide range of development, manufacturing and sustainment services for the global fleet. Production work on the rear fuselage is carried out by BAE Systems at its machining facility in Samlesbury, Lancashire, UK, which was opened in 2010. This site currently supports more than 1,500 employees. The first F-35 fuselage was handed over to Lockheed Martin in 2005 while the first 200th rear fuselage delivery milestone was recorded in 2015. In 2019, BAE Systems completed the delivery of the 500th aft fuselage to Lockheed Martin under the same programme. The company’s advanced Samlesbury manufacturing hub will continue to support the F-35 programme for several coming years. The F-35s global programme of record currently includes more than 3,000 F-35 aircraft delivered to nearly 17 international allied and partner nations. Lockheed Martin F-35 programme vice-president and general manager Bridget Lauderdale said: “The F-35 programme powers economic growth and prosperity for the UK injecting approximately £41bn (figures for estimated UK economic benefits of F-35 programme) into the UK economy and supporting more than 20,000 jobs in the UK supply chain, many of those based in the north-west.” https://www.airforce-technology.com/news/bae-systems-1000th-fuselage-f35/ Delta’s hidden profit center is repairing jet engines Research report available Delta Airlines (DAL), the world’s largest airline by revenue and market cap, makes most of its money by shuffling a high number of passengers across the globe. However a growing part of the business is its Delta TechOps unit, which is an MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul) provider that does everything from routine maintenance to large jet-engine overhaul and even complex cabin interior upgrades. Stay ahead of the market In Delta’s 2022 annual results released last month, Delta’s “ancillary businesses” revenue line item (which includes TechOps) hit $846 million, with the vast majority of that revenue coming from TechOps. While that is slightly lower than pre-pandemic levels, Delta is anticipating more growth in 2023 in its operations and doubling down on its TechOps business, opening a new jet engine repair facility in Atlanta with partner Pratt & Whitney. Delta says the facility will be dedicated to performing maintenance on Pratt & Whitney GTF engines, which power Delta’s new fleet of advanced Airbus A321neo and A220 planes. “It's a great day at Delta TechOps as we open this new engine shop,” said John Laughter, Delta’s chief of operations, in an interview with Yahoo Finance. “This is the continuation of our TechOps team’s advancement into the next generation engine platforms, [and] it matches well with our fleet.” The new engine shop will not only service GTF engines belonging to Delta aircraft, but also customer engines that Delta maintains through its TechOps MRO business. It’s another way Delta can pad its bottom line, with revenues coming directly from its competitors to boot. “This is another revenue stream for Delta,” Laughter says, adding that TechOps is an offering Delta’s “been investing in for more than 20 years; growing our third party capability.” While Laughter declined to mention margins, he did note the MRO business is particularly good because it involves high-tech repairs being worked on by specialized technicians, and services work at this level requires time and investment. Which all translates into Delta charging hefty fees for work done. Laughter says the new facility will do more than 10% of Delta TechOps’ GTF engine overhauls in the first year, and will expand to 400 GTF engine overhauls annually when it gets to full capacity. And that is just the beginning. Soon TechOps will not only be able to service Pratt & Whitney’s GTF engines, but also Rolls-Royce (RR.L) Trent and CFM LEAP (GE) jet engines as well - leaving Delta’s TechOps in an enviable position. “These are the new, efficient, quiet, fuel savings next step in sustainability engines, and Delta is going to be the only shop in North America that can handle all three of those platforms,” Laughter said. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/deltas-hidden-profit-center-is-repairing-jet-engines-235526792.html Open Source Flight Tracking Called Threat to Military Aircraft Publicly available flight tracking data is a growing problem for the U.S. military, a senior Pentagon official recently said. Websites such as ADSBExchange.com, FlightRadar24.com and FlightAware.com aggregate flight data in the United States and abroad using a mix of commercial and citizen-owned sensors that capture the movements of commercial, civilian and military aircraft in real time, 24 hours a day. “The Department of Defense considers open source flight tracking and data aggregation on our aircraft a direct threat to our ability to conduct military air operations around the world,” the Air Force said in a statement responding to National Defense’s questions. It cited a “senior Defense Department aviation policy expert,” who it declined to name. Thousands of aircraft in flight are visible on the websites, displayed as silhouettes overlaid on digital maps that cover the globe. Click on a silhouette and users see aircraft type, identity and ownership, altitude, speed and heading/track as well as origin and destination information. Capturing the data is possible because of international regulations that require aircraft to broadcast position information via radio-based transmitters known as transponders. Transponders allow air traffic controllers to coordinate the movement of aircraft and enable aircraft equipped with avionics and software that receive transponder signals to see other aircraft around them on cockpit display screens as they fly. The transponder signals can also be captured by inexpensive, ground-based receivers that hobbyists, aviation enthusiasts and others can build themselves for less than $100 using widely available hardware and software, some of which can be obtained from the flight tracking websites. In the United States, almost every type of plane — from airliners and small privately owned aircraft to military fighters, helicopters, bombers, tankers, intelligence-gathering aircraft, transports, special operations planes, drones, and even the VIP aircraft that carry the president and members of Congress — are required to transpond in controlled airspace. Most are now equipped with Federal Aviation Administration-mandated Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast transponders, known as ADS-B. The Pentagon has agreements in place with the FAA and other international air navigation service providers to turn off ADS-B when it is deemed necessary. But to help facilitate the safe and efficient movement of air traffic, U.S. military aircraft routinely transmit via ADS-B and other transponder types. That makes information on the movements of U.S. military aircraft available to anyone with an Internet connection. Aggregated by the websites and relayed on social media accounts, the data can be a no-cost source of intelligence for nation states, terrorist groups or individuals, revealing everything from operational movements of aircraft, aviation units and troops to training patterns, developmental test flights and the movements of government officials, experts have said. Robert Spalding, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and a retired Air Force brigadier general who commanded the 509th Bomb Wing flying the B-2, said he thinks open source information and “corruptible” social media are “more dangerous than the B-21.” “That’s why I quit the military,” he said, “because we don’t protect data. I think that’s the most dangerous thing that we can do as a nation.” Operational security is often neglected, he said. There are “pockets of awareness” about the risks of open source flight tracking data depending on what type of mission military personnel perform, he explained. But “there’s a general lack of awareness and it exists at the highest levels of the military and where the rubber meets the road,” he added. “People aren’t technologically aware,” Spalding noted. “It really takes somebody showing them what they can do with the information they can collect to shock them into seeing how the things they’re doing are contributing to the potential to get your troops killed. Until they’re confronted with that information, it’s really hard to get them to pay attention.” Retired Air Force Gen. David Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, said he would be “surprised in the extreme” if those leading the military’s combatant commands are not aware of the risks and are not taking action to negate open source flight tracking services. “No one’s going to make a big deal out of it because it draws attention to the subject,” he said. “If you’re executing an ongoing operation that’s the last thing you want to have happen.” U.S. military aircraft can opt to turn their transponders off, he said, adding that because the United States and other free countries have taken the approach that data should be open to everyone, “there’s not a whole lot you can do about it.” The Pentagon aviation policy expert said operational security is always a top priority. “DoD carefully monitors” open source flight tracking, “taking it into account when planning and exercising military operations. This topic is a top priority during frequent discussions across military and civilian aviation organizations on a daily basis.” However, the Defense Department has never contacted ADSBExchange.com, said the site’s president and founder Dan Streufert. The U.S.-based outlet has been in operation since 2016 and reveals as much live data on U.S. military aircraft globally as any flight tracking website. “Nope. I’ve had absolutely zero contact from them,” Streufert said. “People always bring this up and I tell them that if there was an issue, I assume I would be contacted. I mean, we put Air Force One up there to track.” Not only are live tracks of the VC-25s that serve as “Air Force One” when the president is aboard and other 89th Airlift Wing special mission aircraft shown on ADSBExchange.com, the site’s tracks of these and other U.S. military aircraft have been live-Tweeted on the Twitter accounts @USAirForceVIP and @AirForceTrack. That is until Dec. 14, when Elon Musk, who recently acquired the social media giant, banned accounts that post flight data. Streufert said he had heard rumblings “secondhand” that the Pentagon expressed “some surprise about how much movement information was available on Twitter.” “I don’t know who made the comment but there is also apparently some talk about using this data to improve operational security, because if movements are showing up on our site, we’re obviously not the only ones that can see it,” Streufert added. “That’s a good flag that maybe OPSEC isn’t as tight as it needs to be.” A pilot, aviation enthusiast and information technology professional, Streufert said he created ADSBExchange.com simply to help those who look into the sky, see an aircraft and wonder what it is or where it’s going figure those things out. Unlike FlightRadar24.com or FlightAware.com — which rely on streams of flight tracking data provided by the FAA and other international aviation authorities or taken from Aireon’s ADS-B global air traffic surveillance and tracking satellite network as well as ground-based ADS-B receivers — ADSBExchange.com relies on thousands of independently owned ground-based ADS-B receivers and multilateration, or MLAT, devices. MLAT receivers in groups of three or four in a small geographical area use triangulation to track aircraft. In other words, if an airplane is not using ADS-B to transpond as military aircraft sometimes do, MLAT receivers can still pick up their Mode-S transponder signals and establish a position and track for an aircraft as well as altitude and speed data. Streufert said his website’s network of receivers includes 10,000 MLAT devices around the world. Because ADSBExchange.com doesn’t take flight tracking data from government or commercial sources, it can offer “unfiltered” flight tracking. But he doesn’t think his site poses any more risk than other open sources of data on military activities. “I would hope there’s more than just a handful of $50 parts standing between military security and the enemy,” he said. “I think with their security posture they need to be aware that when you broadcast unencrypted from 30,000 feet, all of your information is going to be able to be picked up by people.” The Pentagon’s aviation policy expert stated, “You will see that the only data that is available to the internet flight tracking websites is the independent and uncorroborated data that they collect on their own through persistent monitoring of air traffic control radio frequencies, which includes transponder emissions, data links and radio communications. Unfortunately, existing technologies do not allow for these open transmissions to be protected or encrypted and are necessary to navigate through the complex aviation ecosystem.” Jake Harrington, a senior intelligence fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said open source flight tracking is part of the shift to what some call the “post-secrecy world,” wherein it’s much harder to conceal physical movements. Meanwhile, using or manipulating flight tracking data to its own advantage could be a viable strategy for the U.S. military, he added. “If adversaries are going to leverage these open source platforms to augment their own collection capabilities, they’re fair game in the intelligence space for denial, deception or other types of misdirection. It seems to make sense to send signals to potentially disrupt adversaries,” he said. Streufert said he was “100 percent” certain the Pentagon has advertised the movements of its aircraft on occasion, citing the example of the war in Ukraine. “If you go to our website and look at the news section there’s animation that shows a few days after Ukraine heated up, there was an orbiting refueling plane,” he said. “And you could see an F-35 on ADS-B showing up, taking fuel, patrolling near the border then leaving the area. That clearly was a signal to tell the world, ‘We’re here.’” Deptula said he thinks the military has “some pretty savvy information warfare operators who I would believe and hope would use these capabilities to deceive and otherwise distract potential adversaries.” The Pentagon’s aviation policy expert said, “The DoD maintains that the many advantages that modern technology offers to the aviation community cannot disrupt or undermine military operations, and we are committed to finding solutions that balance the needs of all the stakeholders involved.” The Navy, Marine Corps and Army were contacted to comment on this story but declined. https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2023/2/6/open-source-flight-tracking-called-threat-to-military-aircraft Proposal Launched For Single-Pilot Airline Ops During Cruise Flight Phase Flights involving large jets launching with just one pilot in the pointy end are not in the foreseeable future, but there may be some room for compromise. As reported today (Feb. 7) by Reuters, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) will not accede to some industry pressure for launching an effort to reduce two-pilot crews to single-pilot operations by 2030 but is considering limited single-pilot operations as early as 2027. According to the news agency, Airbus and Dassault Aviation, makers of the Falcon line of business jets, are advocating for single-pilot operations, but only during the cruise phase—and that the solo pilots would have to meet higher experience and health standards. The effort is said to address the growing pilot shortage and would enable a second pilot to snooze more comfortably in a rest area rather than catnapping in the cockpit. Such a rule change would enable operators to dispatch some longer missions with two pilots rather than requiring three or four. Reuters reports the proposal is sparking some “backlash” among pilot groups. EASA manager Andrea Boiardi told Reuters an earlier proposal from the industry to allow totally single-pilot flying by 2030 was “absolutely not realistic.” Any change in crewing requirements would first have to be approved by individual airlines, their pilot unions and the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which is said to be preparing to study the topic early this year. Reuters reports that Boiardi said EASA would consider such operations only on more modern aircraft such as the Airbus A350 and Boeing’s 787s and 777Xs. https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/proposal-launched-for-single-pilot-airline-ops-during-cruise-flight-phase/ RESEARCH SURVEY 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