Flight Safety Information - March 28, 2023 No. 059 In This Issue : Incident: JAL B738 near Tokyo on Mar 26th 2023, overheating wind shield heater : Incident: Swiss A343 at Zurich on Mar 27th 2023, hydraulic failure : Incident: TAROM B738 near Bucharest on Mar 25th 2023, captain incapacitated : US lawmakers make new push to bar convicted violent passengers from flights : ALPA Shares Safety Alert After FAA Call To Action Summit : How Are Aircraft Tire Skid Marks Removed From Runways? : Pilot Associations Team Up Calling Single Pilot Ops "A Threat To Safety" : SA undergoes aviation safety audit by UN’s ICAO (South Africa) : Airbus achieves autonomous control of drone from tanker aircraft : Military Quietly Stops Buying Ospreys as Aircraft Faces an Uncertain Future : airBaltic blames P&W engine problems for having to wet lease more aircraft : Military Pilots Avoid Health Care to Keep Flying, New Study Suggests Incident: JAL B738 near Tokyo on Mar 26th 2023, overheating wind shield heater A JAL Japan Airlines Boeing 737-800, registration JA329J performing flight JL-439 from Tokyo Haneda to Matsuyama (Japan) with 131 people on board, was climbing out of Tokyo Haneda when the crew stopped the climb at FL300 reporting sparks from the windshield heater, the cables were turning red hot and the window was turning "foggy". The crew decided to return to Tokyo Haneda for a safe landing on runway 34R about 40 minutes after departure. The airline reported the cables to the windshield heating became hotter than normal and turned red. The company is investigating the issue. A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration JA335J reached Matsuyama with a delay of about 3.5 hours. https://www.avherald.com/h?article=50706285&opt=0 Incident: Swiss A343 at Zurich on Mar 27th 2023, hydraulic failure A Swiss International Airlines Airbus A340-300, registration HB-JMI performing flight LX-8 from Zurich (Switzerland) to Chicago O'Hare,IL (USA), was climbing out of Zurich's runway 34 when the crew stopped the climb at FL120 to troubleshoot a problem, subsequently indicated they needed to dump fuel and return to Zurich. The aircraft climbed to FL170, the crew advised they had a hydraulic problem and needed to stop on the runway after landing due to no nosewheel steering available. The aircraft dumped fuel at FL170 and positioned for an approach to runway 34, where the aircraft landed without further incident. The aircraft stopped on the runway. Emergency services reported seeing no leaks. The aircraft was towed off the runway. According to information The Aviation Herald received the aircraft suffered a leak on the green hydraulic system resulting in dropping green hydraulic fluid quantity indications followed by a low hydraulic fluid level warning and a low pressure indication for the green hydraulic system. Apart from the loss of nose wheel steering thrust reversers #1 and #4 (outboard left and outboard right) suffered a fault on landing, too. https://www.avherald.com/h?article=50703ab1&opt=0 Incident: TAROM B738 near Bucharest on Mar 25th 2023, captain incapacitated A TAROM Boeing 737-800, registration YR-BGK performing flight RO-7673 from Timisoara (Romania) to Hurghada (Egypt) with 184 passengers on board, was enroute at FL370 about 150nm south of Bucharest in Bulgarian Airspace when the first officer reported the captain had become incapacitated and they needed to turn around and divert to Bucharest. The aircraft landed safely on Bucharest's runway 26R about 80 minutes after departure. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 90 minutes, then departed again. The airline reported the "medical emergency of one of the members of the command crew" prompted the crew to divert to Bucharest. According to media reports in Bulgaria the captain (30 years of age) complained about chest pain and increased heart rate, then fell unconscious. The captain is on his way to recovery. On Mar 27th 2023 Romania's AIAS announced: "On 25.03.2023, around 17:21 local time, AIAS was notified about the occurrence of a civil aviation event at Henri Coandă Airport, Otopeni, in which the Boeing B738 aircraft, registered YR-BGK, was involved, which carried out an emergency landing. There are no victims. The event is being investigated by AIAS." https://www.avherald.com/h?article=50702006&opt=0 US lawmakers make new push to bar convicted violent passengers from flights WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Wednesday will make a new push for legislation to bar passengers fined or convicted of serious physical violence from commercial flights after a series of recent high-profile incidents. Three lawmakers said on Monday they plan to reintroduce the "Protection from Abusive Passengers Act," saying the enhanced penalty is a strong deterrent and needed to improve aviation worker and passenger safety and "minimize disruptions to the national aviation system and restore confidence in air travel." Senator Jack Reed and Representative Eric Swalwell, both Democrats, and Republican Representative Brian Fitzpatrick are introducing the bill after a series of incidents aboard airplanes. Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union opposed creating a no-fly list for unruly passengers, saying the U.S. government "has a terrible record of treating people fairly with regard to the existing no-fly list and other watch lists that are aimed at alleged terrorists." During the early stages of the pandemic, much of the passenger anger was sparked by the federal government mask mandate. Despite the end of the airplane mask mandate in April 2022, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigated 831 unruly passenger incidents in 2022, up from 146 in 2019, but down from 1,099 in 2021, the lawmakers noted. The total number of incidents reported onboard has fallen sharply and returned to pre-COVID levels. The FAA received 2,456 unruly passenger reports in 2022 and proposed $8.4 million in fines, down from 5,981 reports in 2021, which included 4,290 mask-related incidents. The FAA proposed $5 million in fines in 2021. At a planned news conference on Wednesday, the lawmakers will be joined by flight attendants from Southwest Airlines Co, Frontier Airlines and American Airlines, as well as unions including the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA and the Air Line Pilots Association. The bill would direct the Transportation Security Administration to create and manage the no-fly list, create guidelines for appeal and removal from the list and grant TSA flexibility in determining how long individuals may be barred from flying depending on the severity of the incident. Earlier this month, a man was arrested after prosecutors said he tried to open an emergency exit door on a Boston-bound United Airlines flight and attempted to stab a flight attendant in the neck with a broken metal spoon. In February 2022, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian urged the U.S. government to place passengers convicted of on-board disruptions on a national no-fly list that would bar them from future travel on any commercial airline. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2021 directed federal prosecutors to prioritize investigations of airline passengers committing assaults and other crimes aboard aircraft after a sharp rise in onboard incidents. https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-lawmakers-push-bar-convicted-190810548.html ALPA Shares Safety Alert After FAA Call To Action Summit An Air Line Pilots Association e-mail safety alert to its members about recent runway incursions and more concerns a pilot turned whistleblower. The United States’ based Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) has issued an e-mail safety alert to its members about recent runway incursions and more. The alert called for increased vigilance, preventing complacency and submitting voluntary safety reports. However, it did not go into specifics, which raised the concern of a medically retired commercial pilot turned whistleblower and published author with a doctorate in aviation safety. Alert arising from FAA safety summit The ALPA alert was a direct product from the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Call to Action Safety Summit, an event intended to address six serious incidents. At the summit, acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen explained that, "One of the hallmarks of aviation and the people who pursue a life in this industry is a willingness to question conventional wisdom. And to always be looking for ways to advance safety. "As I mentioned in my call to action, the biggest mistake we can make as an industry is to become complacent. As a safety professional, if you are comfortable it means you’re probably missing something." After the summit, the FAA issued a Safety Alert for Operations or SAFO. In the SAFO, the FAA made a series of recommendations. These included reviewing safety near runways with several hyperlinks to specific documents. Furthermore, the SAFO recommended ensuring compliance with and comprehension of checklists, Air Traffic Control instructions, and individual airline and aircraft procedures. ALPA Safety Alert 2023-03 ALPA’s one-page Safety Alert 2023-03 builds on the FAA SAFO calling on pilots to “increase vigilance, prevent complacency and submit voluntary safety reports.” The alert does make clear at the end in bold print, There is no better safety feature on the flight deck than at least two well-trained and rested pilots—continue doing your part contributing to the safest air transportation system in the world. The new President of ALPA, Jason Ambrosi, even tweeted the below urging more safety and “to be vigilant”: An aviation whistleblower’s perspective Karlene Pettit, Ph.D. – a retired commercial pilot with type ratings on the Airbus A350 and A330 plus the Boeing 777, 747-400, 747-200, 757, 767, 737 and 727 plus a doctorate in aviation safety from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University – shared her concerns both on her blog “Flight to Success” and with Simple Flying. Pettit was unhappy with the absence of discussing mental health issues. In recent blogs, Pettit has received permission from the next of kin to share information about a pilot’s suicide and also wrote about the FAA Safety Summit, criticizing the lack of discussion about pilot mental health and fatigue. In Pettit’s blog about the summit, she wrote poignantly; "Years ago the FAA approved airlines to reduce pilot training, with the new requirement of "train to proficiency". But is "proficiency" enough to avoid hitting another aircraft or nearly impacting the ground when the pilot heads are down? Is proficiency enough to counteract the lack of understanding or fatigue? When the mind is task saturated due to new or novel information and lacks understanding to the condition, situation awareness reduces. Add a dose of fatigue, and all attention is taken from the external environment to focus on the task at hand." One should note that in the past year, Simple Flying has covered many pilot fatigue issues, including an analysis of how Delta Air Lines is addressing pilot fatigue where overscheduling was a problem. Simple Flying also did another analysis on pilot mental health issues. Additionally, in a recent guide, Simple Flying addressed how fatigue affects airline pilots. Pettit also voiced concern about the lack of specifics in both alerts, but especially the ALPA alert. In a follow-up conversation with Simple Flying, Pettit said; Telling people to be better, doesn't make doesn't improve anything. … It doesn't improve vigilance. You have to either provide them skills to improve their vigilance. Or you have to give them the environment … If you're trying to figure out what to do, because you just don't have that knowledge and understanding… something else is going to be missing. https://simpleflying.com/alpa-safety-alert-faa-summit/ How Are Aircraft Tire Skid Marks Removed From Runways? Every time an airliner lands, each tire leaves behind a pound to a pound and a half of rubber on the runway. Have you ever wondered how they remove rubber from airport runways? Several methods are used to tackle the problem, but before we get into that, how does the rubber end on the runway in the first place? If you have watched airliners landing, you would have noticed that there is a puff of smoke as soon as the wheels make contact with the runway. This occurs because the wheels are static, unlike the aircraft moving through the air. Friction and heat cause rubber to adhere to the runway The sudden contact with the ground causes friction and heat, creating a chain reaction that allows rubber from the tires to polymerize and adhere to the runway's surface. The polymerization continues until the wheels' speed matches the aircraft's speed. Every time a commercial airliner lands, it is estimated that each tire leaves behind between one and one and a half pounds of rubber. As most aircraft try and land on the same spot, the rubber builds up and needs to be removed for the following reasons: It can cover runway markings and confuse pilots It could reduce breaking and ground handling performance It may become slippery when wet, causing runway overruns or lateral slides. For these reasons, airports must remove rubber from the runways; they use several techniques to achieve positive results. A guideline airports can use is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the United States. They say airports with 210 or more daily landings should check for rubber deposit build-ups once a week. Methods for removing rubber from runways Chemical solvents The chemicals used depend on whether the runway is concrete or asphalt. The area where the rubber has stuck to the runways is sprayed with the chemicals and left until they have broken down the rubber. What is left is then removed using low-pressure water. Because nearly all chemicals used need special handling and are harmful to the environment, airports prefer to use other methods for runway rubber removal. Like sandblasting, abrasive particles are propelled through a machine and then targeted on the rubber. While this is an environmentally safe method, it can also damage the runway's surface and leave debris that can damage aircraft. Hot compressed air A mixture of air and gas is fed into a combustion chamber and emitted onto the runway at a very high temperature. The hot air and gases cause the rubber particles to break up and sheer off, leaving behind small carbon deposits that can be brushed off the runway. Mechanical removal The mechanical removal of rubber from runways can include grinding, wire brushing, scraping with blades, and milling. Every mechanical form of runway rubber removal also takes a thin 1⁄8–3⁄16 inch (3–5 mm) layer off the runway's surface. However, this also removes the grooves intentionally cut into the runway's surface to prevent planes from hydroplaning after heavy rainfall. Because runway surfaces are grooved to allow water to drain from the surface, this is the least preferred method. https://simpleflying.com/aircraft-tire-skid-mark-runway-rubber-removal-guide/ Pilot Associations Team Up Calling Single Pilot Ops "A Threat To Safety" Some of the world's largest pilot organizations have joined forces in the fight against single pilot operations. Leaders of some of the world's largest pilot organizations have united to call on airlines and manufacturers to rethink plans for single pilot operations, claiming that profit is being prioritized over safety. The group plans to take collective action with regulators around the world, including the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). According to the pilot representatives from the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA), the European Cockpit Association (ECA), and Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), single pilot operations would lead to a significant increase in workload for the one pilot. The group claims that "technology, no matter how sophisticated, is not a replacement for pilots on the flight deck," adding that a pilot is able to adapt in real-time to unexpected situations and acts as a critical backup in the case of system failure. In a joint statement, the presidents of IFALPA, ECA, and ALPA said, “Whether you depart from New York, San Francisco, or Atlanta bound for London, Paris, or Tokyo, a crew of at least two qualified, experienced, trained, and rested airline pilots is at the controls on the flight deck of your plane. Every aspect of your flight - the aircraft, its systems, the regulations, and standards that apply to the flight, and the procedures that pilots follow - is deliberately designed for a team working together on the flight deck." IFALPA represents more than 150,000 pilots in nearly 100 countries. The organization's mission is "to promote the highest level of aviation safety worldwide, and to be the global advocate of the piloting profession." ECA has similar aims, promoting safety among its 40,000 members across Europe. Across the Atlantic, ALPA is the largest pilot union in the world, with over 67,000 members at 39 airlines across the US and Canada. The proposed objection to single pilot operations is also supported by other groups within the international pilot community, including those aligned with airline alliances, such as the Associations of Star Alliance Pilots, the oneworld Cockpit Crew Coalition, and the SkyTeam Pilots Association. Single pilot flying as early as 2030 Over 40 countries, including the UK and Germany, have asked ICAO to help make single pilot operations a safe reality. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is also working with manufacturers to study the regulatory changes required for such procedures and has said that single-pilot flying may begin as early as 2030. The proposal was not well-received by the pilot community. The president of the Australian & International Pilots Association, Tony Lucas, expressed concerns that a single pilot could quickly be overwhelmed by an emergency situation before anyone has time to reach the flight deck. He went on to say, "the people going down this route aren’t the people who fly jets every day. When things go awry, they go awry fairly quickly." Opponents of single pilot flying will likely cite real-life examples of such situations, including Air France flight AF447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris in 2009. Problems were detected while the Captain of the Airbus A330 was resting in the cabin, and by the time he got to the flight deck 90 seconds later, the aircraft had already entered an unrecoverable aerodynamic stall. The potential benefits of single-pilot operations That said, single-pilot operations do bring some benefits. Aside from the obvious cost savings linked to recruitment, training, and pilot salaries, being able to spread pilots more thinly across their aircraft would allow airlines to avoid problems caused by recent staff shortages. Technology is also constantly advancing, with greater remote support from teams on the ground becoming an increasingly likely possibility in the future. In the past, aircraft flew with a flight engineer and navigator also onboard, but as technology advanced, these roles became redundant. Aviation's unparalleled safety Thanks to its robust safety management systems, air travel has today become the safest form of transport. Any change to procedures, such as the introduction of single pilot operations, would require significant technological and regulatory changes. On the one hand, there are those who claim that human error is often found to be a causal factor in aviation accidents, while others will argue that what cannot be quantified are the countless times an accident has been prevented or averted by the pilots' actions. So is removing a pilot from the flight deck logical progress in the face of changing technology, or a step too far that may lead to safety issues? For now, at least, the debate continues. https://simpleflying.com/pilot-accociations-single-pilot-ops-threat-to-safety/?newsletter_popup=1 SA undergoes aviation safety audit by UN’s ICAO (South Africa) Cape Town - The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is conducting a 12-day Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) Continuous Monitoring Approach (CMA) audit of SA’s civil aviation safety system and oversight capabilities, with the audit concluding on 3 April 2023. ICAO, a specialised agency of the United Nations, was created in 1944 to promote the safe and orderly development of civil aviation across the world. The South African Civil Aviation Authority Communications Manager, Sisa Majola, says the Authority is mandated by the State to coordinate and lead this process and ensure that the state performs well in the audit. “In essence, the audit will put to test the efficiency of the oversight responsibility of the SACAA on the industry.” “As a result, ICAO will also conduct physical visits to selected industry operators to assess the efficiency by which the Regulator, on behalf of the State, discharges its obligations,” Majola said. Majola added that SA, as a signatory to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation and, therefore, a Member State, is obligated to continuously comply with prescribed international civil aviation Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs). “Through this programme, ICAO monitors the fulfilment of the obligations of the safety oversight system by its Member States in their respective jurisdictions.” “What is also significant about this audit on South African soil is that it will be number 1000 audit activity to be performed by ICAO under the USOAP-CMA programme, with this being a huge milestone for ICAO and the global community,” Majola said. ICAO Council President Salvatore Sciacchitano said this year they would be reaching a rather incredible USOAP milestone with the planned audit that is currently taking place in South Africa. “I wish to take this opportunity to specifically congratulate South Africa for its strong commitment to the USOAP programme and to ICAO compliance." “More generally, to reiterate ICAO’s untiring willingness to engage with serve its Member States as we work together now towards the global safety target of zero fatalities by the year 2030,” Sciacchitano added. The ICAO last audited South Africa in 2017, when the State achieved an Effective Implementation (EI) rating of 87.39% against the current global average of 67,50% E.I. This means that our country’s level of E.I. is currently significantly higher than the world’s average. “This audit comes hot at the heels of the United States safety audit, which saw South Africa retaining its Category 1 Status from the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States, which found that South Africa complies with the applicable ICAO standards for civil aviation safety oversight," Majola further added. Meanwhile, the Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga, said the significance of this Category 1 Status is that South African operators can continue to fly or operate directly into the United States without restrictions, bringing a huge economic benefit for the two countries. “SA has in June 2022 received permanent recognition of our cargo aviation security system by the United States Transport Security Administration,” Chikunga added. The Director of Civil Aviation, Poppy Khoza, said A’s aviation cargo system is also recognised by the SACAA’s European Union (EU) counterpart in terms of their ACC3 programme after having undergone several of these assessments with the EU. “SA airlines transporting cargo to EU States do not apply individually, at cost, to the EU for recognition because of the recognition given to the South African oversight system. “The continuous scrutiny of our civil aviation safety and security oversight is what should give the South African public confidence that the Regulator will not be distracted in its commitment to keep our skies safe. It is not by luck that the airline sector still boasts a zero fatal accident rate in scheduled operations. “The current reduction of fatal accidents in the general aviation sector is also evidence that the Regulator will stop at nothing in promoting and enforcing civil aviation regulations with our operators,” Khoza added. https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/sa-undergoes-aviation-safety-audit-by-uns-icao-266bc59b-3857-4657-9c21-b153640333a9 Airbus achieves autonomous control of drone from tanker aircraft Airbus completed the first test flight of its Auto’Mate technology demonstrator, showcasing in-flight autonomous guidance and control of a drone using an A310 MRTT tanker. The flight took place over the waters of the Gulf of Cadiz in Spain on March 21, 2023. It involved an A310 MRTT flying testbed along with several DT-25 target drones acting as receiver aircraft. “During almost six hours of flight test, the four successively launched receivers were sequentially controlled and commanded thanks to artificial intelligence and cooperative control algorithms, without human interaction,” Airbus explained in a press release. “The different receivers were controlled and guided until a minimum distance of 150 feet (around 45 meters) from the A310 MRTT.” Through its innovation subsidiary Airbus UpNext, the manufacturer focuses on automating the tasks of the receiver aircraft. The Autonomous Formation Flight and Autonomous Air-to-Air refueling (A4R) aims to change the role of the air refueling operator (ARO) to monitor the operation rather than carry it out, reducing crew fatigue and the potential for human error. Eventually, these technologies will be necessary to operate unmanned combat systems for longer missions. “The success of this first flight-test campaign paves the way for developing autonomous and unmanned air-to-air refueling technologies,” said Jean Brice Dumont, Head of Military Air Systems at Airbus Defence and Space. “Even though we are at an early stage, we have achieved this within just one year and are on the right track for manned-unmanned teaming and future air force operations where fighters and mission aircraft will fly jointly with drone swarms.” In April 2020, Airbus completed the world’s first automated in-flight aircraft refueling, with an A330 MRTT tanker test aircraft equipped with the Airbus Automatic Air-to-Air Refueling (A3R) system servicing a Portuguese F-16 in flight using a fully automated procedure. Two years later, the A330 MRTT was certified for automatic aerial refueling in daylight by the Spanish National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA). https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/airbus-achieves-autonomous-control-of-drone-from-tanker-aircraft Military Quietly Stops Buying Ospreys as Aircraft Faces an Uncertain Future New budget documents for the three military branches that fly the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft show that none has plans to buy any additional airframes, a sign that the Pentagon isn't prioritizing growing the fleet. While the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force all say that they don't need any new aircraft and that the end of the buy is simply the end of the contract for the services, the news comes at a time when the Osprey is under intense scrutiny over major issues with its gearbox that have caused at least 15 incidents over the life of the aircraft. Concerns over the Osprey led to groundings and now threaten to cost millions in repairs and maintenance. The office that oversees the Osprey program confirmed to Military.com that there are no plans for new purchases, saying that the office "will complete the MV-22 and CMV-22 programs of record, with deliveries through 2025." Liz Mildenstein, a spokeswoman for the office, went on to add in an email Friday that the military expects the Ospreys to continue to serve "through the 2050s" and the program office will continue to support the aircraft "for decades to come." Additionally, Ann Stefanek, a spokeswoman for the Department of the Air Force, told Military.com the last purchase was congressionally mandated in fiscal 2021 and that there are no plans to purchase more. "We aren't buying more CV-22s because we are at our program of record (54 aircraft) and are meeting requirements," Stefanek told Military.com. The latest budget documents, released in March by the Navy, say that the military services ultimately want 464 aircraft -- 360 for the Marines, 48 for the Navy, and 56 for Special Operations Command and the Air Force. Plans to fly the aircraft for another few decades mean that the services will have to solve the "hard clutch engagement" problem -- a situation where a failure by the aircraft's complicated system of gearboxes and clutches to balance the power produced by its twin engines causes dramatic and dangerous issues. Thus far, military officials have indicated the problem seems to be tied to flight hours and wear and tear. The issue has impacted Marine Corps and Air Force aircraft. The two services officially started flying the Osprey in 2007 and 2009, respectively. The Navy got its first operational aircraft more recently, in 2021, according to fact sheets from all the services. In February, a defense official, who spoke with reporters on the condition of anonymity, revealed that the military now suspects the "input quill assembly" -- a part that connects the aircraft engines to its gearbox -- wears out more quickly than previously thought, and the current solution is replacing the part while a complete redesign is underway. More worryingly, the same official noted that this fix came after "a progressive increase in hard clutch engagement events." The military has not gone into how much money the repairs or new fixes to the gearbox would cost, but Military.com reported on a 2017 incident involving an Air Force Osprey when the failure occurred mid-flight over Arizona and the aircraft had to make an emergency landing in Flagstaff on one engine. That incident, which damaged both engines and five gearboxes, as well as nearly a dozen other components, took a team of six, working 12-hour days, 45 days to repair the aircraft and cost more than $5 million, according to an incident report reviewed by Military.com. To date, no crashes or fatalities have been attributed to the problem, although the cause of a deadly crash that claimed the lives of five Marines in June near Glamis, California, is still under investigation. Last August, the V-22 Joint Program Office announced more than 24 different initiatives the services were undertaking to remedy and identify the hard clutch engagement issues. Those efforts included data mining, laboratory testing and hardware redesign, according to a Department of Defense spokesperson. Earlier this month, the Pentagon also announced it had awarded Bell-Boeing a $53.6 million contract to come up with a gearbox vibration monitoring safety system that would help in "providing earlier detection of degrading gearbox components to allow proactive maintenance and potential mitigation of drive system failure modes across all V-22 Osprey variants." A spokesman for Bell did not return a request for comment on the future of the V-22 program in time for publication. Despite the safety concerns a clutch issues can cause, Navy and Special Operations Command officials said they're still confident in the aircraft. "USSOCOM is supporting and closely monitoring the V-22 Joint Program Office efforts as they work to mitigate and develop a solution for the Hard Clutch Engagement problem," Lt. Cassandra Thompson, a spokeswoman with Special Operations Command, told Military.com. "We are confident that the risk mitigation controls and aircrew training programs will continue to keep our crews safe" Meanwhile, the Navy's budget boss, Rear Adm. John Gumbleton, told reporters earlier this month that "there's no connection" between the end of the contract buy and the gearbox issues. Jeremiah Gertler, a senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, D.C., who specializes in aviation, told Military.com in an interview Friday that he believes the lack of new purchases for the V-22 program in the near future is not tied to the safety issue but is a case where the military likely believes it has all the aircraft it wants and needs. "Congress tends to keep programs going longer than the department necessarily asks for," Gertler said. And while there are plans to maintain the fleet of V-22s through the 2050s, Gertler said the services are eyeing what developments in future technology might be around the corner. "They're not prioritizing V-22," Gertler said. "The Army is the leader on developing new rotorcraft, and they've got this whole program of Future Vertical Lift. The Navy and Marine Corps are basically saying, 'We've got enough of today's technology, and we know how to keep it running long enough that we'll see what the Army comes up with [and] what Future Vertical Lift technologies might offer us in the future to replace these.'" The Air Force's fleet of CV-22s is primarily used for special operations missions and covers very different needs than the modern fighter jets and bombers the service is looking to bring on amid rising tensions with China. While the Department of the Air Force said it is not searching for a replacement, Special Operations Command told Military.com in an emailed statement it is not planning on buying any more variants of the Osprey through 2028, but it's open to bringing on new technology. "USSOCOM is actively assessing capabilities for next-generation mobility in support of the National Defense Strategy but is not planning a direct replacement of the CV-22," Thompson told Military.com. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/03/24/military-quietly-stops-buying-ospreys-aircraft-faces-uncertain-future.html airBaltic blames P&W engine problems for having to wet lease more aircraft airBaltic said it will lease four additional aircraft from four different airlines for the upcoming summer season, citing engine turnaround delays at Pratt & Whitney. The Riga Airport (RIX)-based airline previously announced that it would add four Airbus A320s from Avion Express to bolster its capacity for the three summer months in 2023. Now, the airline has contracted Estonia-based Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, and Insurance (ACMI) operators XFly, Denmark’s Danish Air Transport (DAT), and Romanian Carpatair, as well as Cyprus Airways, which operates regularly scheduled flights, to lease four additional aircraft. airBaltic will lease XFly’s Mitsubishi CRJ900, DAT’s and Cyprus Airways Airbus A320s, and Carpatair’s A319 on a short-time basis. “We are strongly committed to our contractual obligations to passengers and partners. However, the extended turnaround times for Pratt & Whitney servicing the engines are causing operational disruption for airBaltic,” commented Martin Gauss, the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of airBaltic. While Gauss noted that P&W is a “long-term partner of airBaltic,” he said that it could not meet its “promise on the improved turnaround times” and, as such, the Latvian airline scrambled to wet lease capacity from other carriers and ACMI operators. FAA addressed a condition on the P&W 1500G engines equipped on the A220 that would lead to a dual-engine shutdown FAA addresses dual-engine shutdown of A220 P&W engines Still, Gauss remains “optimistic”, as even some of the wet leased aircraft will offer more capacity to customers flying with airBaltic during the summer. “In the meantime, we are taking all the necessary measures to ensure that the majority of our passengers continue to be transported by the backbone of our operations – the Airbus A220-300 aircraft,” Gauss added. At the same time, airBaltic has committed 14 of its own Airbus A220-300 for other airlines to wet lease during the same summer 2023 period. The Latvian carrier ended 2022 with a net loss of €54.2 million ($58.3 million), a significant improvement over the loss of €135.7 million ($146.2 million) in 2021. Overall, airBaltic has 39 Airbus A220-300 aircraft in its fleet, with all 39 being powered by the Pratt & Whitney 1500G engine. According to ch-aviation.com data, 10 are currently inactive, five are in maintenance, and the remaining quintuple are stored at RIX. https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/airbaltic-blames-pw-engine-problems-for-having-to-wet-lease-more-aircraft Military Pilots Avoid Health Care to Keep Flying, New Study Suggests U.S. military pilots avoid health care or misrepresent and withhold health information from their flight surgeon at greater rates than civilian pilots out of fear they might lose their flying status, according to a new study conducted by Air Force and civilian medical experts. Though the population size of 264 military pilots surveyed was relatively small, the study marks one of the first attempts to scientifically analyze the widely-held belief that military pilots avoid health care, particularly mental health care, out of fear that certain medical conditions will take them off flight status. “To our knowledge, the current effort appears among the largest studying U.S. military pilot health care avoidance behavior because of fear for loss of flying status,” the authors of the study, a mix of Air Force and civilian doctors, wrote. The study, funded by the Air Force, was first published in October and was included in the March-April 2023 issue of the journal Military Medicine. The study found that out of 264 military pilots, 190 (72 percent) reported a history of health care avoidance, 111 (42.5 percent) misrepresented or withheld information on a written health care questionnaire, 89 (33.7 percent) flew despite experiencing a new physical or psychological symptom that they felt probably should be evaluated by a physician, and 30 (11.4 percent) reported a history of undisclosed prescription medical use. Continuing to fly without reporting concerning medical symptoms “is overtly against regulations for U.S. military pilots because of aviation safety concerns and increased health risks to the pilot,” the study authors noted. “These data speak to the risk (both aviation safety and individual health-related) certain military pilots may willingly tolerate to avoid health care because of fear of losing their flying status.” Military pilots in particular appear to fear losing their flight status more than their civilian counterparts. More than 4,000 civilian pilots were also surveyed as part of the study—66 percent of paid civilian pilots reported at least one type of health care avoidance behavior, and that figure dropped to just 44 percent for non-paid civilian pilots, who might fly only recreationally. About 15 percent of civilian pilots reported flying despite experiencing a new physical or psychological symptom they felt should be evaluated by a doctor, about half the rate at which military pilots reported such behavior. The study authors suggested the difference in reported behaviors between military and civilian pilots could be due to factors unique to the military aeromedical system or military aviation, or because of a higher representation of younger pilots in the military who are just starting their careers. The study builds on previous academic work suggesting that pilots avoid health care. A 2019 study of 613 U.S. airline, recreational and military pilots found 78.6 percent of participants were worried about seeking medical care because of how it would impact their ability to fly. Another study in the same year of 173 Active Duty and Reserve Air Force pilots showed only 44.1 percent of pilots felt comfortable discussing a major medical concern with a flight surgeon, and 74 percent felt the need to withhold major, potentially disqualifying, medical information from flight surgeons. Withholding medical information is not exclusive to military or civilian pilots. A 2019 study of 843 adults found that participants avoided disclosing personal health risk information significantly more “when they believed that a powerful audience (an employer or insurance company) might learn their results from a health risk test than when they believed a non-powerful audience (health researchers) might learn their results,” the authors wrote. And service members in general may also avoid seeking health care, and mental health care in particular, out of fear it might impact their career, studies have found. In response to this most recent study, Army medical provider Albert Lee wrote an essay calling for greater trust between military pilots and flight surgeons. “Being grounded impacts one’s career progression, unit and personal morale, and possibly one’s financial situation,” Lee wrote. “For such reasons, the anxiety associated with annual physicals is somewhat understandable.” To bridge the gap, Lee suggested that flight surgeons should fly with pilots more or spend more time in general with them in order to build trusting relationships. “When you fly regularly with the pilots, they will start recognizing you as part of the flying team, not an adversary who is looking to medically ground them,” he said. “You can have some shared occupational identity with them, which can enhance the trust relationship.” Flight surgeons can urge pilots to treat their bodies the same way they would an aircraft, Lee suggested: If there is a serious issue that could put lives at risk or end the mission, don’t fly with it. Providing more information about the necessity of the medical process and the nature and treatment timeline of a possible medical condition could also help lower pilots’ stress and anxiety. Though the new study marks one of the broadest efforts yet to understand the issue, the authors wrote that more data could lead to more fine-grained analyses of the problem. The authors also noted the survey responses were collected anonymously online, and thus are unverifiable, and the survey did not ask participants to disclose their branch of service or whether they have sought informal medical care outside the military health care system. There may also be differences in the rate of health care avoidance based on age, gender, or type of aircraft, but the sample size may have been too small to study those differences, the authors noted, and the study also did not include pilots of unmanned aerial vehicles or other flight crew such as navigators. https://www.airandspaceforces.com/military-pilots-medical-exam/ Curt Lewis