Flight Safety Information - March 3, 2023 No. 043 In This Issue : Accident: Spirit A320 near Jacksonville on Mar 1st 2023, passenger's battery on fire : Incident: American B738 at Tampa on Mar 1st 2023, bird strike : Accident: Condor A339 near Mauritius on Mar 2nd 2023, turbulence injures 20 : Terrifying video of Russian plane losing cabin pressure mid-flight shows how dangerous it's gotten to fly in Russia : Close call, turbulent flight add to aviation safety concerns : Hong Kong's Greater Bay Airlines announces order for 15 Boeing 737-9 airplanes : Hydrogen-powered airplane aces its first experimental flight in central Washington : Lufthansa orders 10 Airbus A350-1000 and 5 more A350-900 aircraft : Vistara Receives 50th Airbus A320 Family Aircraft : UND offers ‘lift’ for prospective helicopter pilots : Will the F-35 ever become the primary fighter jet it was supposed to be? : Graduate Research Survey Accident: Spirit A320 near Jacksonville on Mar 1st 2023, passenger's battery on fire A Spirit Airlines Airbus A320-200, registration N695NK performing flight NK-259 from Dallas Ft. Worth,TX to Orlando,FL (USA), was enroute at FL350 about 90nm westnorthwest of Jacksonville,FL (USA) when the crew decided to divert to Jacksonville due to passenger's battery stored in an overhead locker, that caught fire and emitted smoke. While cabin crew extinguished the fire and secured the battery, the flight crew performed a safe landing on Jacksonville's runway 26 about 25 minutes later. Ten people were taken to hospitals. The Jacksonville Fire department reported ten people were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. The fire originated from a battery in a passenger's carry on luggage. https://avherald.com/h?article=505db98b&opt=0 Incident: American B738 at Tampa on Mar 1st 2023, bird strike An American Airlines Boeing 737-800, registration N309PC performing flight AA-2401 from Dallas Ft. Worth,TX to Tampa,FL (USA), was on approach to Tampa's runway 19R when birds impacted the aircraft. The aircraft continued for a safe landing a few minutes later. The FAA reported: "AIRCRAFT STRUCK BIRDS AND POST FLIGHT INSPECTION REVEALED DAMAGE TO LEFT STABILIZER, TAMPA, FL.", the damage was rated minor. The damage occurred during the approach phase. The aircraft is still on the ground in Tampa about 14.5 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=505da802&opt=0 Accident: Condor A339 near Mauritius on Mar 2nd 2023, turbulence injures 20 A Condor Airbus A330-900N, registration D-ANRA performing flight DE-2314 (dep Mar 1st) from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Mauritius (Mauritius) with 272 passengers and 13 crew, was enroute at FL390 about two hours before estimated landing in Mauritius when the aircraft encountered turbulence causing injuries to a number of occupants. The aircraft continued to Mauritius for a landing on runway 14 without further incident. The airline reported the aircraft encountered turbulence about 2 hours prior to landing, 20 passengers received injuries, the aircraft cabin received some damage to be further assessed. The aircraft is still on the ground in Mauritius about 14 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=505da1e6&opt=0 Terrifying video of Russian plane losing cabin pressure mid-flight shows how dangerous it's gotten to fly in Russia A Russian Boeing-737 had to make an emergency landing last week after cabin depressurization. A video of the incident shows panicked passengers with oxygen masks on their faces. An expert told Insider that Western jets are deteriorating due to a lack of servicing and parts. Passengers on a flight from Sochi to Krasnoyarsk in Russia scramble to pull on their oxygen masks as the plane is forced to make an emergency landing. The lights are dimmed, a baby can be heard screaming, and a woman is seen holding her ears. All of the 167 passengers and eight crew members on the Boeing-737 flight last week made it safely on the ground, state-owned news outlet RIA Novosti reported. The flight was operated by state-owned Rossiya Airlines, which is part of the Aeroflot group — Russia's largest airline. But for many passengers, the experience was incredibly scary. One woman, identified only as Yulia, said she was writing a goodbye message to her husband as the plane rapidly descended, MailOnline reported. "The plane seemed to be falling, and we flew down at incredible speed toward the ground. It was scary," she said, according to MailOnline. "I buckled up, and after that, I put on an oxygen mask. There was not enough oxygen. I was already starting to suffocate." Musician Andrey Saltanov, who was also on the flight and verified the video to Insider, said: "The plane turned out to be ancient. The masks of the passengers next to me didn't even fall down ... Thank God we landed." The main federal investigating authority in Russia told RIA Novosti that the flight was forced to land "due to depressurization of the aircraft cabin," adding that an investigation is ongoing. Flying in Russia is becoming more dangerous The emergency landing in Krasnoyarsk is just the latest of a string of alarming incidents happening on Russian flights. In January alone, there have already been at least seven incidents with Russian airlines, according to a report by the independent Russian news outlet Arbat. One flight had to make an emergency landing due to a faulty toilet system, while another was forced to land due to an air conditioning malfunction, the outlet reported. One expert told Insider that flying in Russia could become increasingly dangerous. After Russia launched its attack on Ukraine last year, the country's aviation industry was hit by a slew of Western sanctions. In response, Russia illegally seized hundreds of leased aircrafts owned by international companies but operated by Russian airlines. Because of the sanctions, Russia is not able to service these aircrafts or get spare parts delivered, leading to a decline in airline safety. "Access to spare parts, which are sanctioned, is very limited," Denis Brailsford, the head of asset management at the UK's leading aviation consultancy group IBA, told Insider. "And the ability for Russian Airlines to perform repairs on those parts ... is very limited." "Therefore, the ability for Russian airlines to maintain and repair their aircrafts will become more and more difficult over time. That could result in more of these events occurring," he added. The lack of access even prompted the Kremlin to legalize "cannibalization" earlier this year, which means Russian engineers can now remove serviceable parts from one plane to keep others flying. Russia has denied there are any problems with its aviation industry, with the head of Russia's aviation agency, Alexander Neradko, telling state media in January: "I am confident that it has not become more dangerous to fly." https://www.yahoo.com/news/terrifying-video-shows-russian-plane-123828842.html Close call, turbulent flight add to aviation safety concerns Federal officials have begun investigating a close call between planes in Boston, and they provided new details Thursday about a harrowing incident at an airport in Texas. The National Transportation Safety Board said it has not determined exactly how close a FedEx cargo plane passed over the top of a Southwest Airlines jet last month in Austin, Texas, but there was little margin. “We still believe the planes were within 100 feet of each other,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said in an interview. An air traffic controller had cleared both planes to use the same runway, the NTSB said in a preliminary report. With visibility down to a quarter-mile because of freezing fog, the FedEx pilots didn’t see the Southwest jet until the last seconds. The NTSB is also investigating an incident Monday night at Boston’s Logan International Airport in which a Learjet pilot who was told by an air traffic controller to wait instead began to take off as a JetBlue plane approached to land on an intersecting runway. The JetBlue pilots pulled up, avoiding a collision. Those and similar incidents in New York, California and Hawaii led the head of the Federal Aviation Administration to call for a “safety summit” and ignited a debate about whether air safety is declining or the events are just an unusual cluster of serious close calls. “I don’t know that I can say that it’s a trend, but these are disturbing because it just takes one,” Homendy said. “That is why we investigate incidents — so that we can identify problems, especially when we see trends, and address them before they become a full-blown accident.” Among the other recent incidents now being investigated: — Last week pilots of a small airliner aborted their landing in Burbank, California, after a controller cleared another plane to take off from the same runway; the NTSB is investigating. — A United Airlines jet crossed a runway at Honolulu International Airport in front of a Cessna cargo plane that was landing on the same runway on Jan. 23. — The NTSB took the rare step of issuing subpoenas for pilots of an American Airlines plane that crossed a runway that a Delta Air Lines jet was using to take off Jan. 13 at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. The American pilots initially refused to sit for recorded interviews, but they complied after getting subpoenas, Homendy said. — Federal officials are taking another look at an incident in which a United Airlines jet taking off from Hawaii dove to within 800 feet of the ocean before recovering. United says pilots of the December flight are getting additional training. Except for the United plane that descended sharply after takeoff, the other incidents were “runway incursions” in which a plane wound up on a runway when it was not supposed to be there. A 2017 forum convened by the NTSB found that the most common causes of runway incursions were pilots ignoring orders from air traffic controllers, or miscommunication between pilots and controllers. “Runway incursions have always been an area of concern, but it looks worse because the system is so safe,” said John Hansman, an aeronautics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “We fortunately don’t have many accidents, so we focus on these risk precursors.” Pilots are the last line of defense in aviation safety. In some of the recent incidents — notably the one in Austin — pilots spotted something wrong and reacted quickly. The incidents may put an end to any possibility of easing experience requirements for newly hired pilots, which is something that smaller, regional airlines have requested to help them cope with a pilot shortage. President Joe Biden’s nominee for the top job at the FAA, Phillip Washington, said Wednesday that he opposes easing the pilot-qualification standards. The close calls could also lead to demands for improved technology at airports and on board planes. Kennedy airport has ground-surveillance radar designed to prevent runway incursions. It alerted controllers that the American Airlines plane was crossing an active runway. Only 35 U.S. airports have that technology. Investigators won’t be able to hear what pilots were doing before most of the recent incidents because the cockpit voice recordings were erased after two hours of flying. Since 2018, the NTSB has asked FAA to require 25 hours of recording capability, which would improve the odds of saving valuable information. Besides the close calls, there have also been several recent incidents involving severe turbulence causing injuries on planes. In the most recent case, a Lufthansa plane flying from Austin to Germany diverted to Washington Dulles International Airport on Wednesday night; seven people on board were hurt badly enough to go to hospitals. The FAA said it is investigating. The close calls have attracted the attention of lawmakers, who questioned the acting FAA administrator about them. The official, Billy Nolen, defended the safety of the nation’s air-travel system last month while acknowledging the need for vigilance. “We are experiencing the safest period in aviation history, but we do not take that for granted,” Nolen told a Senate committee. “Recent events remind us that we cannot become complacent.” Nolen, like executives of the airline industry, point out that there has not been a fatal crash involving a U.S. airline plane since 2009, an unprecedented stretch. Still, he said at the hearing and in an internal memo, he was forming a “safety review team” to examine the aviation system, starting with a meeting in March “to examine what additional actions the aviation community needs to take to maintain our safety record.” Nolen said aviation leaders will look into which steps are working “and why others appear to be not as effective as they once were.” The FAA said Thursday that the summit will be March 15 and include representatives from commercial aviation, airports, labor and aviation experts. https://apnews.com/article/airlines-planes-close-calls-ntsb-faa-98cb8deca4c5eb6fdfefc48ccb63e7ab Hong Kong's Greater Bay Airlines announces order for 15 Boeing 737-9 airplanes March 3 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's Greater Bay Airlines (GBA) announced on Friday an order for 15 Boeing (BA.N) 737-9 airplanes, according to a company statement, with these planes to be gradually added to GBA's fleet between 2024 and 2027. The statement was issued ahead of a signing ceremony in Hong Kong attended by Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and Bill Wong Cho Bau, the chairman of Greater Bay Airlines. The agreement includes a "commitment" for five 787 Dreamliners from Boeing to support GBA's plans for international long-haul services, the statement added. No price was given for the deal at the ceremony, but Wong said he expected the new Boeing aircraft to be added to GBA's fleet between 2024 and 2027. GBA, which launched last year, operates a fleet of three 737-800 jets, with flights to four destinations, including Bangkok, Taipei, Tokyo and Seoul. "The airline also plans to bring in a number of additional 737-800s to meet its expansion needs before the arrival of the 737-9," the statement added. The fledgling airline's CEO, Stanley Hui, had said this year that he planned to boost its fleet of planes as travel ramps up after years of COVID-19 restrictions. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/hong-kongs-greater-bay-airlines-announces-order-15-boeing-737-9-airplanes-2023-03-03/ Hydrogen-powered airplane aces its first experimental flight in central Washington A prototype aircraft with a hydrogen-fueled powertrain successfully completed an initial 15-minute flight today at Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Wash., marking a significant step for zero-emission aviation. Los Angeles-based Universal Hydrogen had the 40-passenger De Havilland Dash 8-300 turboprop converted to use hydrogen to power an electric propulsion system mounted on the plane’s right wing. The system incorporates a fuel cell built by Plug Power and a megawatt-class motor built by Everett, Wash.-based MagniX. Seattle-based AeroTEC assisted with the engineering for the conversion. The engine on the left side was left unconverted to serve as a backup in case the hydrogen-based system encountered problems during flight. Universal Hydrogen and its partners worked in Moses Lake for months to get the plane — nicknamed Lightning McClean — ready for today’s first aerial tryout, conducted under the conditions of an experimental airworthiness certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration. The flight began at 8:41 a.m. PT and reached a maximum altitude of 3,500 feet. “We were able to throttle back the fossil-fuel turbine engine to demonstrate cruise principally on hydrogen power,” test pilot Alex Kroll said afterward in a news release. “The airplane handled beautifully, and the noise and vibrations from the fuel cell powertrain are significantly lower than from the conventional turbine engine.” Universal Hydrogen is among a growing number of aviation companies aiming to use cleaner fuel technologies — including green hydrogen as well as all-electric and hybrid-electric propulsion systems — to reduce carbon emissions. Although a Dash 8 is being used for flight tests, Universal Hydrogen’s initial goal is to convert a different type of regional aircraft, the ATR 72-600, to use hydrogen fuel. The current schedule calls for deliveries to begin in 2025. Universal Hydrogen says it has made deals with 16 customers for 247 aircraft conversions, resulting in an order book valued at $1 billion for conversions and more than $2 billion in fuel services over the first 10 years of operation. Representatives from Connect Airlines and Amelia — the North American and European launch customers for the conversions, respectively — were on hand for today’s flight. “Today will go down in the history books as the true start to the decarbonization of the global airline industry, and we at Connect Airlines are extremely proud of the role that we, as the first U.S. operator, will play in leading the way with Universal Hydrogen,” said John Thomas, CEO of Connect Airlines. Universal Hydrogen numbers GE Aviation, Airbus Ventures, Toyota Ventures, JetBlue Ventures and American Airlines as its backers. Its longer-term vision is to extend its modular hydrogen fueling system to single-aisle passenger planes like the Airbus 320 and the Boeing 737. “More than half of aviation CO2 emissions today come from the A320 and 737 family of aircraft,” Universal Hydrogen co-founder and CEO Paul Eremenko said. “Both Airbus and Boeing will need to replace these venerable airplanes with a new design starting development in the late 2020s and entering passenger service in the mid-2030s. Making their successors hydrogen airplanes is a golden opportunity — perhaps the only opportunity — for aviation to get anywhere near meeting Paris Agreement emissions targets without having to curb aviation traffic volumes.” https://www.geekwire.com/2023/universal-hydrogen-airplane-first-flight/ Lufthansa orders 10 Airbus A350-1000 and 5 more A350-900 aircraft Toulouse, 02 March 2023 – Lufthansa Group has signed an agreement with Airbus to expand its fleet by 10 Airbus A350-1000s and 5 Airbus A350-900s. With this firm order for the latest generation widebody aircraft, the airline will continue its decarbonisation trajectory. Compared to the previous generation of aircraft, the A350 consumes significantly less fuel, with a corresponding reduction in emissions. Passengers will benefit from the latest state-of-the-art cabin amenities and comfort on board. In addition to the agreement on the purchase of the new aircraft, Airbus and Lufthansa have also signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) to further strengthen their cooperation in the field of sustainability and future technologies. This includes the intensified use of sustainable aviation fuels, the further optimisation of operations through a more efficient flight management and exploration into the use of hydrogen. "We are honoured to see Lufthansa topping up its A350 order book to a total of 60 aircraft, joining the increasing number of A350-1000 customers around the world. With economic and sustainability pressures becoming a measurable reality as international flying increases again, so do the massive advantages of the A350 as the only clean sheet design and therefore the most efficient solution," said Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer and Head of International. “By adding the largest A350 family member to its fleet, Lufthansa will benefit from Airbus’ full fleet commonality, offering unmatched operational flexibility and vast economic benefits.” With its latest order Lufthansa reinforces its long standing relationship with Airbus. Since the A300 in the 1970’s, Lufthansa Group has operated all members of the Airbus product family, from the A220, A320-Family, A330 / A340, A350 and the A380. The A350 is the world’s most modern and efficient widebody aircraft and the long range leader in the 300-410 seater category. The A350’s clean sheet design includes state-of-the-art technologies and aerodynamics delivering unmatched standards of efficiency and comfort. Its new generation engines and use of lightweight materials make it the most fuel efficient large widebody aircraft. The A350 is the quietest aircraft in its class with 50 percent noise footprint reduction vs the previous generation aircraft, making it a good airport neighbour wherever it flies. The A350’s Airspace cabin is the quietest of any twin-aisle and offers passengers and crews the most modern in-flight products for the most comfortable flying experience. At the end of January 2023, the A350 Family had won 925 firm orders from 54 customers worldwide, making it one of the most successful wide-body aircraft ever. https://www.airbus.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-03-lufthansa-orders-10-airbus-a350-1000-and-5-more-a350-900-aircraft Vistara Receives 50th Airbus A320 Family Aircraft Vistara's newest aircraft flew in on February 28th. Vistara celebrated another milestone recently by welcoming its 50th aircraft from the Airbus A320 family. The airline's operations rely heavily on Airbus narrowbodies, which have steadily joined the airline over the years. While Vistara will not order any new aircraft, it will still accept airframes from its existing order, of which the latest plane is a part. 50th Airbus A320 family aircraft Vistara inducted its 50th Airbus A320 family aircraft last month. The Airbus A321neo (registered VT-TVF) flew into Delhi from Hamburg on February 28th after flying for more than eight hours. Vistara's fleet of A320 family planes serves its extensive network spread all across the country and also for medium-haul international flights to the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The airline also recently acquired India's first Airbus A321LR, which can fly as far as 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 kilometers) and can accommodate 206 passengers by utilizing extra fuel in three Additional Centre Tanks. The airline has announced Mauritius as the first confirmed destination for the long-range A321. Get the latest aviation news straight to your inbox: Sign up for our newsletters today. Fleet The latest aircraft has taken Vistara's fleet to a total of 55 aircraft. Over the last few years, Vistara has phased out all of its older-generation A320s, making way for the latest-generation neo family of aircraft. A breakup of its fleet structure, per ch-aviation, looks like the following: Airbus A320neo – 43 Airbus A321neo – 6 Airbus A321LR – 1 Boeing 737-800 – 2 Boeing 787-9 – 3 Vistara Airbus A320 Photo: Airbus Vistara kick-started its major expansion plans in 2018 by ordering 50 Airbus A320neo family aircraft and six Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners. Until then, it was already operating 21 Airbus narrowbodies for its domestic operations. The 50 aircraft deal included a letter of Intent (LoI) for 13 A320neos and an additional 37 A320neo family aircraft from lessors. In 2019, it picked up nine Boeing 737-800s, which previously flew for Jet Airways to provide the capacity it needed while it was awaiting its new planes. Only two of these remain in its fleet, and those are also on their way out. No more new orders In January, Vistara announced that it would not be ordering any new aircraft ahead of its proposed merger with Air India. The airline did clarify that it will continue to honor its existing aircraft orders, the bulk of which will be put towards further international expansion. The airline still has close to 10 Airbus A320s to be delivered and four more Boeing 787-9 airplanes, the deliveries of which should be completed by the end of 2024. By then, however, Vistara's brand will most likely cease to exist following its merger with Air India, and all the new aircraft will contribute to the merged entity's business operations. https://simpleflying.com/vistara-receives-50-airbus-a320-family-aircraft/ UND offers ‘lift’ for prospective helicopter pilots North Dakota Rotor Pathway Program will introduce high school students to helicopter careers The University of North Dakota, in association with Helicopter Association International, is launching the North Dakota Rotor Pathway Program. The program will introduce helicopter flight to high school students in aviation classes, according to the University and HAI. Wesley Van Dell, chief flight instructor for rotorcraft at UND Flight Operations, sees UND as positioned to both help inspire young North Dakotans to consider aviation careers as well as train those who choose UND Aerospace for their advanced education. “Our school is committed to providing the highest-quality training for our students,” Van Dell said. “We are excited to extend the opportunities in the helicopter industry to more students and show them that the future is very bright.” North Dakota’s program is modeled after HAI’s inaugural Rotor Pathway Program in Utah, which brought together aviation industry stakeholders to prepare students for the aviation career field. The combination created opportunities for mentorship, internships and job interviews for students as they progressed from high school, through college and beyond. Both UND and HAI are currently working to create professional pathways with regional aviation companies, as part of the program. One confirmed partnership is with Black Hills Aerial Adventures, a helicopter touring company operating in and around national parks of South Dakota’s Black Hills region. “We’re hoping to use our industry and alumni connections across the region to further develop pathway opportunities for helicopter pilots,” Van Dell said. “Ideally, students will come to UND and have a career-level position lined up for them after graduation.” Providing a path This workforce development initiative comes on the heels of similar efforts involving UND, including a $500,000 grant from the FAA in 2022 to provide North Dakota teachers with the tools and know-how to teach aviation topics and provide hands-on experiences to students, promoting aviation-based careers. Since 2014, UND Associate Professor Leslie Martin has taught “Introduction to Aviation” at Red River High School, in Grand Forks. Just this past year, the course officially became UND’s first to be offered for dual credit. This existing class will be the first to introduce more rotorcraft-specific content, as part of the North Dakota Rotor Pathway Program. The new partnership with HAI will add another layer to the myriad opportunities already available to students through Martin’s class, as well as help other such classes emerge in the region and state. “Interacting with these passionate students is inspiring,” Martin said. “They’re eager to learn about how they can participate and succeed in aviation. Their passion is genuine, and I have no doubts about their success as they reap the benefits of this program.” Van Dell said that with help from stakeholders such as the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission, a similar curriculum can be developed and disseminated to reach more North Dakota classrooms. As UND Aerospace draws students from around the globe every year, his hope is to have more home state representation in the helicopter program especially. “There are likely many students in the state who aren’t aware of what UND offers for flight training, or that the career is viable,” Van Dell said. “We have a dire pilot shortage in the helicopter industry, and our goal for this program is to step up to that challenge, spur interest and provide people with a career path.” Next generation of pilots Mike McHugh, education coordinator for the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission, said he’s looking forward to working with UND and other organizations that have a vested interest in producing the next generation of helicopter pilots. “Our state relies on aviation, especially for agricultural and emergency services,” McHugh said. “I’m excited that North Dakota can stand up this program for the next generation of pilots as well as for growing the numbers of those pilots.” “The rollout of the North Dakota Rotor Pathway Program is a testament to the dedication, professionalism and love of aviation found among aviation leaders in North Dakota,” said Cade Clark, vice president of government affairs for HAI. “UND is well-known for the caliber of pilots it produces.” “UND has consistently brought innovative solutions forward and is once again stepping up to tackle the issue of workforce development,” Clark said. About Helicopter Association International HAI is the professional trade association for the global vertical aviation industry and represents more than 1,100 companies and over 16,000 industry professionals in more than 65 countries. Each year, HAI members safely operate more than 3,700 aircraft approximately 2.9 million hours. HAI is dedicated to the promotion of rotorcraft as a safe, effective business tool that provides unique advantages to society and the advancement of the international vertical aviation community. https://blogs.und.edu/und-today/2023/03/und-offers-lift-for-prospective-helicopter-pilots/ Will the F-35 ever become the primary fighter jet it was supposed to be? The costliest, most advanced U.S. fighter jet in history is flying less than a plane developed during the Reagan administration. There’s little dispute that the F-35 Lightning II, which is flown with modifications by the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy, can be a devastatingly effective weapon when it’s available. But five years after joining the fleet on a regular basis, the Air Force F-35A is flying fewer hours per month than the F-15E Strike Eagle, which was first introduced in 1986, a recent report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found. At its five-year mark, the F-15E was available at double the rate of the stealthy, cutting-edge F-35A. The lack of availability is why some analysts say the F-35 may end up filling a niche in national defense instead of becoming the day-to-day workhorse first envisioned, despite a program cost of $1.7 trillion to buy, operate and sustain a planned 2,500 planes, according to 2022 government figures. Ballooning F-35 costs have the Air Force, Marines and Navy reexamining their planned purchases, said Bryan Clark, director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Defense Concepts and Technology. The $1.7 trillion tab could challenge the Defense Department’s ability to fund other wants, such as the Next Generation Air Dominance fighter and the B-21 Raider, a sixth-generation bomber, Clark said. The F-35 is beset by engines that wear out faster than expected, a shortage of replacement parts and maintenance delays, among other problems, the CBO report found. “The services are all looking for alternatives that allow them to reduce their flight hour costs and then husband their F-35s for … high-end missions that are less frequent than the day-to-day flying,” Clark said. The CBO report noted that the F-35’s availability, or mission capable rate, has fallen sharply as the fighter ages, with the plane requiring more frequent maintenance and part replacement. The jet also fared poorly on availability when compared with the F-22 Raptor, according to the report, which was released in February. However, some analysts say the comparisons between the F-35 and older aircraft don’t take several factors into consideration. There are just 450 fifth-generation F-35s in use across the services, said Heather Penney of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, a think tank based in Arlington, Va. The lack of additional F-35s means the first to join the fleet are being flown harder and aren’t being replaced with newer versions, Penney said. “If you don’t have a chance to divest the very, very early (F-35) models because you don’t buy enough or you don’t buy them fast enough, you’re going to see that reflected in availability rates,” said Penney, a senior resident fellow. Part of the reason the F-35’s availability compares poorly with other planes in their early years is a shortage of thousands of maintainers in the Air Force, she said. The F-15 and F-22, for example, benefited from greater staffing, she said. Penney advocates that the Air Force buy as many F-35s and spare parts as quickly as it can, given modernization efforts, upcoming financial obligations and the global security environment. “When we hit the late 2020s and the early 2030s, we will have a significant demand on the Air Force to replace legacy platforms that really have already served longer than they should have,” Penney said. However, there are indications that the services are prioritizing upgraded versions of earlier platforms, along with new programs. For example, the Air Force is buying as many as 200 F-15EX Eagle II jets, which will be the backbone fighter of the force, manufacturer Boeing says on its website. And the Pentagon proposed buying fewer F-35s this year than expected. Congress approved funding for as many as 11 more than the 33 planes requested for the Air Force, Air and Space Forces magazine reported in December. Under the current DOD plan, the Air Force would get 1,763 of the F-35A variant; the Marine Corps would take 353 of the F-35B and 67 F-35C variants; and the Navy would receive 273 of the F-35C, according to manufacturer Lockheed Martin’s website. Those numbers no longer appear to be realistic, forcing the services to consider other ways to fill out their fleets, Clark said. Possibilities include relying on new purchases of older planes and using manned-aircraft collaborations with drones or drones alone to keep air wings full. “So unmanned will increasingly take on some of the capacity requirements that previously manned aircraft would have met,” he said. The CBO report also showed that the availability rate for the Air Force’s F-35 fleet fell 11% between 2021 and 2022. It dropped by 7% for the F-35B used by the Marines, while the Navy’s F-35C saw a gain of 5% over the same time period. In 2022, availability of all three variations ranged from 54% to 58%, the CBO said. Those trends are “problematic” but could improve as more planes are delivered and upgraded, said Daniel Norton, a senior management systems analyst at the Rand Corp., a California-based think tank. “But there are no guarantees,” he said. https://www.stripes.com/branches/air_force/2023-03-01/stealth-fighter-navy-9286473.html Graduate Research Survey Greetings, Aviation Professionals! If you are seeing this message, you are being asked to participate in an anonymous questionnaire about safety culture. This is for my Master’s thesis, and your participation would be greatly appreciated. Participation is voluntary, and you can opt out at any time. It should take less than 15 minutes of your time. Please complete the survey in one sitting, as there is a limited period to have your responses recorded. Click the link https://fit.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eEU2rcyJN3MzxH0 ,which will take you to an online survey platform. Please share this announcement with other aviation professionals you know; every response helps! Sincerely, Brandon Judy Master’s Student College of Aeronautics Florida Institute of Technology Curt Lewis