Flight Safety Information - April 14, 2023 No. 072 In This Issue : Incident: Lingus A333 at Dublin on Apr 13th 2023, bird strike : Malta B38M at Malta on Apr 13th 2023, suspected tailstrike on departure : After tragedy, US Air Force probes English training for foreign pilots : FAA PILOT RECORDS DATABASE ENFORCEMENT CAMPAIGN COMING CERTAIN PART 91 OPERATORS MUST COMPLY : Commercial aircraft with 48 passengers makes emergency landing at Pierre Regional Airport : Groups Ask For SMS Overhaul : FAA Proposes New Airworthiness Directive For Boeing 747-8 Aircraft : FAA says it has sent more than 250 cases of unruly passengers to the FBI since late 2021 : Volcano eruption in Russia causes flight cancellations in northwestern B.C. : Volga-Dnepr Group Ordered To Pay Over $400 Million To BOC Aviation : Panama's Copa Airlines to add 64 aircraft to its fleet by 2028 : Boeing shares tumble as parts issue halts deliveries of some 737 MAXs : Why Retired Planes Are Still Worth Millions After Decades in the Sky : Call for Nominations For 2023 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award Incident: Lingus A333 at Dublin on Apr 13th 2023, bird strike An Aer Lingus Airbus A330-300, registration EI-EIK performing flight EI-123 from Dublin (Ireland) to Chicago O'Hare,IL (USA) with 237 people on board, was climbing out of Dublin's runway 28R when the aircraft flew through a flock of birds and ingested a number of birds into the right hand engine (CF6) causing severe engine vibrations. The crew stopped the climb at about 3000 feet and returned to Dublin for a safe landing on runway 28L about 20 minutes after departure. Passengers reported the captain announced it was a flock of pigeons. A replacement Airbus A330-300 registration EI-EIM reached Chicago with a delay of about 7.5 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Dublin about 12 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=507c3180&opt=0 Malta B38M at Malta on Apr 13th 2023, suspected tailstrike on departure An Malta Air Boeing 737-8 MAX, registration 9H-VVH performing flight FR-96757 from Malta (Malta) to Riga (Latvia) with 191 people on board, was climbing out of Malta's runway 31 when the crew stopped the climb at 6000 feet advising they suspected a tail strike. The crew advised, no assistance was needed, they wanted to run checklists and hold to burn off fuel and return to Malta. While holding the crew requested a runway inspection. Following the runway inspection services reported nothing had been found. The crew subsequently reported they did have a suspected tail strike on departure and now needed to hold for about 90 minutes to burn fuel. The aircraft landed safely back on runway 31 about 100 minutes after departure. The aircraft is still on the ground about 3 hours after landing back. https://avherald.com/h?article=507c1154&opt=0 After tragedy, US Air Force probes English training for foreign pilots JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas — Two years after a Japanese air force pilot and his American instructor died in a military jet crash in Alabama, officials are mulling whether a U.S.-run program that teaches English to foreign aviators is partly to blame. The incident has prompted U.S. Air Force leaders to take a closer look at the quality of the instruction they provide, and consider how to better accommodate foreign students. It has opened fresh discussion of how much time and money the program needs to succeed. It has also highlighted a breakdown in communication between the Air Force-led Defense Language Institute’s English Language Center here, the organizations that oversee it, pilot training units across the service, and the nations that send their students to Texas. “The Japanese are nervous because of what happened,” said Terry Harsh, an instructor at the center, in a recent interview here. “They come through here, asking, ‘I don’t want the same thing to happen to me — why did he die? Why did a professional American instructor pilot die with him?’ These are language issues, and they’re very concerning.” The fatal T-38C Talon training sortie on Feb. 19, 2021, killed 24-year-old 1st Lt. Scot Ames, an instructor pilot at Mississippi’s Columbus Air Force Base, and his 25-year-old Japanese trainee, Capt. Renshi Uesaki. An official accident investigation concluded that Ames and Uesaki made errors in judgment that caused the crash. Investigators noted that Uesaki struggled with the language barrier despite completing six months of English training in 2019. That “directly impacted his ability to receive and process instruction as well as listen and talk on the radios,” the report said. “This challenge was exacerbated while flying instrument sorties, which required more frequent communications” with air traffic control. Uesaki passed his English comprehension test upon arriving at Lackland but needed more time to improve in conversation. He finished the course as an “‘average’ to ‘slightly above average’” student, according to the accident report. But he continued having difficulty speaking and understanding technical aviation vocabulary, which affected his ability to comprehend instructions and make radio calls while flying. Those communication challenges often overwhelmed Uesaki and caused him to lose focus in the cockpit, the report said. “The cause of the mishap was [Ames’s] loss of situational awareness on final approach and failure to take timely and necessary actions as a dangerous situation developed,” the Air Force wrote in its accident report. “[Uesaki] substantially contributed to the mishap after becoming task-saturated in the traffic pattern and placing and leaving the throttles in idle.” Foreign pilot deaths in U.S.-led military training are infrequent, but they do occur. At least four foreign airmen have died in the U.S. in the past decade: Uesaki; two Iraqi pilots, Brig. Gen. Rasid Mohammed Sadiq and Capt. Noor Faleh Rassan Al-Khazali; and a Taiwanese airman, Maj. Kao Ting-cheng. All but Uesaki were flying F-16 Fighting Falcon jets over Arizona when they crashed in separate incidents in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Foreign deaths account for around 6% of the 80 people who have died in U.S. Air Force-affiliated aircraft mishaps since 2013, according to the Air Force Safety Center. But losing an American instructor pilot brought scrutiny of the program to a new level, Harsh said. The crash sparked meetings across the U.S. Air Force’s training enterprise and with Japanese military officials to discuss what went wrong — and how to stop it from happening again. “The Air Force command structure went into a different gear,” said Harsh, a former scout helicopter pilot who has taught at the center for over a decade. “They were like, ‘What do you teach? What’s going on at DLI?’” Teaching the world to fly The English Language Center has been the first step on the path to a military air career for thousands of people around the world. Its college-level aviation program is one piece of the center’s broader security cooperation mission that reaches around 6,000 students from more than 100 countries each year. The school offers a general English curriculum and remedial classes ahead of more difficult courses that prepare troops for military jobs. Each country picks the airmen it wants to send to the U.S., where they receive a more in-depth education in English — the official language of the skies — than they may otherwise get at home. To join, people must pass a series of proficiency tests that judge their speaking and listening abilities. They have to score at least a two — meaning they could shop for groceries or rent a car — on a scale where three is fluent, Harsh said. The nine-week aviation course prepares airmen to hold conversations with pilots in flight, crew members in the back of an aircraft, and air traffic control towers. Anyone from air traffic controllers to flight nurses can attend the course, which offers fixed-wing and rotary-wing specialties. Around 350 foreigners from about 50 countries go through the aviation program each year, Harsh said. NATO airmen don’t often attend because they tend to be more fluent in English than people from other parts of the world. Students are drilled on NATO’s “alpha-zulu” phonetic alphabet and the niche vocabulary, acronyms and scenarios that crackle across U.S. military radios — no accents allowed. “These little differences have led to accidents in the past, and we really want to emphasize the importance of being clear on the radio,” Harsh said. They take lessons on subjects like crew management and leadership, with occasional time in simulators, while learning from American airmen and their foreign classmates. The center also tries to work through the cultural differences that can lead to safety issues, like deference to older or higher-ranking airmen. Teachers urge the international students to get comfortable asking questions. “It’s not really a rank thing when you get in the cockpit,” Harsh said. “If you don’t ask, the instructor pilot is going to assume you know.” If something seems amiss, he added, “Don’t assume that the IP is not making a mistake.” “You have the right — it’s your life — to challenge that instructor pilot respectfully,” he said. The goal is to get students up to speed so they can enter the next phase of training, like undergraduate pilot school, without a significant language barrier. But Harsh said there’s a big difference between how fluent they need to be to finish the program and how fluent they should be to fly safely. He estimates that airmen need at least another six months of class time to be comfortably proficient, for which the United States or the partner countries would need to foot the bill. “We’ve tried to emphasize to the military departments, this does not succeed without you,” he said. “You’ve determined the language prerequisites. DLI wildly succeeds in meeting that mark. But that’s not what the students need.” Nearly everyone who arrives at the center passes, Harsh said. But when they reach their next stop, like undergraduate pilot training, that completion rate falls to around 78%. “That training gap is a safety issue,” he said. “[The solution is] time and money. And nobody wants to pay that.” Changes needed The Defense Language Institute is updating the aviation English program, a process that will take another few years to come to fruition. One of the biggest changes the English Language Center could make is forging closer ties between military experts, the follow-on training units and the curriculum team, Harsh said. The curriculum is largely written by civilians without expertise in real-world military aviation, he said. That creates an artificial standard that makes students feel prepared until they reach their training unit. He argues the solution is to embed military experts in the curriculum department who can act as a liaison between the training unit and the English program. That way, the expert could keep the English program apprised of what instructor pilots need and vice versa. Harsh wishes the school had a better system in place to collect feedback from its students, like interviews, but acknowledges that it would add time and effort for already busy staffers and stressed students. Once a year, center staff visits the follow-on training units that take its students to see how well the foreigners do within the first month. That still doesn’t paint the full picture, Harsh said. He wants more qualitative and quantitative data on how students are faring: Why did someone need to log extra hours in the cockpit? What have their instructors said in post-flight reports? “That is gold to us. I’ve never seen it,” Harsh said. “Without that feedback loop, we’re shooting arrows in the dark.” And he wants the instructors that receive the students down the line to be more aware of who they’re getting. Airmen need to establish “safe words” before they fly, he said. If an international student gets overwhelmed in the air, they can use the safe word to let their instructor know they need to pause to discuss what they’re doing. Those simple steps can protect the instructor pilots, too. “Be somewhat accommodating,” he said. “This is incredibly difficult. Imagine going to Japan or Korea or an Arab community to try to learn how to fly.” Now the Air Force is trying to make clearer how proficient a student will be when they leave the language program, and what should be expected of students who finish it. In February, Air Force international affairs staffers, flight instructors, and members of the Defense Language Institute, Air Education and Training Command and 19th Air Force — a subunit that manages pilot training — met to review the English language course’s curriculum and how it is delivered, said Air Force spokesperson Marilyn Holliday. The English Language Center has worked on a rubric for instructor pilots to gauge how well their international students communicate, she said. Instructor pilots are helping the center make videos to familiarize international students with pre- and post-flight briefings, and pilot training bases have also provided the center with scripts so that students can rehearse conversations about take-off, flight patterns and landing. “The visit … served as a forum to identify and bridge training and academic gaps between English language curriculum and instruction as it applies to international students,” Holliday said. “The working group will reconvene in mid-April to re-engage and assess progress on all tasks.” The Japanese Self-Defense Forces did not respond to a request for comment on their discussions with American air training officials. Business as normal Business has continued as usual after the 2021 crash, said Col. Joe Schaefer, commandant of the English Language Center. The U.S. Air Force still graduates around 50 foreign pilots each year; Schaefer said the program has maintained its relationship with Japan, a key ally in the Pacific. It retains a Japanese liaison officer who looks out for the country’s students while in the U.S. On the first anniversary of Uesaki’s death, Schaefer said the Japanese liaison delivered a letter to Lt. Gen. Brad Webb, then the head of Air Education and Training Command. It was a note from the pilot’s mother: Thank you for caring. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2023/04/13/after-tragedy-us-air-force-probes-english-training-for-foreign-pilots/ FAA PILOT RECORDS DATABASE ENFORCEMENT CAMPAIGN COMING CERTAIN PART 91 OPERATORS MUST COMPLY The FAA said it would soon begin an enforcement campaign for operators not in compliance with the agency’s new Pilot Records Database (PRD) requirements, including Part 91 operators who are now required to comply. The PRD was proposed in 2020 and became a rule in 2021 to replace the Pilot Records Improvement Act of 1996 (PRIA) with an electronic database to enable air carriers and other operators to see an applicant’s flight qualifications and past safety records provided by the FAA and the applicant’s previous employers. Of the more than 600,000 certificated pilots in the United States, only a small group of pilots and operators were subject to PRIA. With the introduction of the PRD, air carriers and operators would be able to verify the information, certification, training, and currency of commercial, airline transport pilot, (and Part 107 certificated pilots they employ. In addition, the PRD will expand required reporting and accessing of information beyond that of existing PRIA requirements resulting in an increased number of pilots and operators required to comply, including several small, sole-practitioner operations, and pilots with no plans to work for an air carrier. AOPA pushed back against requiring these Part 91 operations to comply in its 2020 letter to the FAA arguing that it “casts a much wider non-mandated net of applicability than PRIA and will unnecessarily create additional requirements that will negatively impact thousands of small and sole-practitioner part 91 operators.” However, the FAA responded, saying certain Part 91 operations are “gateway operators” to larger Part 121 air carriers that should require reporting to and review of PRD records. Although the PRD will not be fully implemented until September 2024, some deadlines and requirements are already in effect. This is a reason for the FAA’s recent announcement in its Notice 8900.655 Pilots Records Database Compliance Oversight. There, the FAA listed several compliance requirements and deadlines as well as potential findings of noncompliance by operators who did not apply for database access by the September 8, 2021, deadline; did not report new pilot records; and may have hired pilots without reviewing the FAA records in the PRD. The FAA added that according to their access records, some Part 121 operators have not accessed any pilot records since December 7, 2021. If you are an operator who must comply with the requirements of the PRD (such as those conducting commercial air tours under FAR 91.147), don’t delay. Affected pilots and operators can learn more about the PRD on the FAA’s Pilot Records Database FAQ document. To register and access the PRD visit the FAA website. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2023/april/13/faa-pilot-records-database-enforcement-campaign-coming Commercial aircraft with 48 passengers makes emergency landing at Pierre Regional Airport A United Airlines flight operated by SkyWest Airlines made an emergency landing at the Pierre Regional Airport yesterday evening (April 12, 2023) after experiencing a reported engine failure. Information from the Pierre Police Department says a call came in to the Central South Dakota Communications dispatch center at 6pm CT alerting them to the emergency and that the aircraft would be landing in Pierre. The Pierre Airport Rescue Fire Fighters initiated their emergency operations plan and stood by as the plane landed safely at 6:15pm. The 48 passengers were offloaded at the Pierre terminal. The Flight tracking website “FlightAware” shows the plane that landed is a twin-engine, CRJ-200 (Canadair Regional Jet) that was going from Fargo to Denver when the incident occurred. Passengers were delayed in Pierre about four hours, when another SkyWest regional jet flew in to take the travelers to Denver. A United Airlines flight operated by SkyWest Airlines made an emergency landing at the Pierre Regional Airport this evening (April 12, 2023) after experiencing a reported engine failure. The aircraft was en-route to Denver from Fargo when the incident occurred. Information from the Pierre Police Department says a call was received by Central South Dakota Communications at 6pm informing of the emergency and that the aircraft would be landing in Pierre. The Pierre Airport Rescue Fire Fighters initiated their emergency operations plan and stood by as the plane landed safely at 6:15pm and passengers were offloaded at the Pierre Regional Airport terminal. https://drgnews.com/2023/04/13/commercial-aircraft-makes-emergency-landing-at-pierre-regional-airport/ Groups Ask For SMS Overhaul Aviation groups are asking the FAA to overhaul a proposed rule requiring safety management systems for charters and tour operators. NBAA and the National Air Transportation Association have filed comments on the proposed rule, saying the one-size-fits-all approach by the agency unfairly burdens smaller, less complex operations. “For any SMS to be truly effective, it must be tailored to the size and complexity of each operation,” said NBAA President Ed Bolen. NBAA says the FAA has also not given operators enough time to get their SMS plans together, calling the 24-month deadline “unrealistic.” It said a three- to five-year implementation is recommended by safety auditors. The group also doubts the FAA can meet that timeline. “The FAA has limited resources to meet existing SMS oversight requirements, much less to oversee new programs,” NBAA said. It’s recommending the agency go back to the drawing board and involve stakeholders in developing an effective plan for SMS implementation. Bolen also stressed that the industry is on board with the SMS requirement, but it needs to “better serve the wide diversity of operational types within business aviation.” https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/groups-ask-for-sms-overhaul/ FAA Proposes New Airworthiness Directive For Boeing 747-8 Aircraft The proposal relate to cracks in stringers. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Boeing 747-8 models. According to a notice issued on April 6th, the matter relates to both 747-8i and 747–8F series aircraft. Cracks reported As per the Federal Register, the FAA has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) following the reporting of “cracks in stringers, common to the end fittings, forward and aft of the pressure bulkhead at station (STA) 2360 at multiple stringer locations.” The FAA added: “This proposed AD would require repetitive inspections of stringer sidewalls and certain stringer assemblies, common to the end fittings, forward and aft of the pressure bulkhead at STA 2360 for any crack, and applicable on-condition actions.” Stringers are often mistakenly referred to as their structural counterparts, longerons. They run longitudinally across the fuselage or spanwise of an aircraft wing. They are structural parts that shift loads and stresses from the plane’s skin to its formers. The agency summarized that it proposes addressing what it calls an unsafe condition. It has asked for comments on the matter but May 22nd. A word from Boeing Simple Flying reached out to Boeing for comment on the situation. The company replied with the following statement: “We support the proposed rule, which would align with guidance we shared with our customers in 2021 and 2022.” Additional factors The FAA added that following an investigation, it has been determined that during assembly, un-shimmed or incorrectly shimmed gaps larger than what is required caused "excessive and sustained internal tensile stresses and resulted in stress corrosion cracking in the stringers." If unaddressed, the situation could end in an undetected crack in the stringers that could cause difficulties for the structural element to sustain limit load, which could "adversely affect the structural integrity of the airplane." System-wide inspection of Boeing's 787 shimming also contributed to the delay of Dreamliner deliveries in 2021. These initial shimming problems and a lack of flatness in structural joints then led to flaws being found in the aircraft's tail. Still, this 747-8 shimming issue is unrelated to issues on other Boeing aircraft models. Notably, it did not have an impact on production. Across the industry This move by the FAA followed a series of AD proposals last year. In November, the group published a document concerning the inspection of skin lap splices across 737 Next Generation (NG) aircraft. The FAA shares that there were reports hinting at fuselage skin cracking on some units. Moreover, in December, the FAA proposed an AD regarding 787 Dreamliner water leaks. The proposal was issued following reports of a loss of water pressure during operations and water leaks impacting electronic equipment. It has now been 13 years since the 747-8 first flew. It was manufactured to be more efficient and environmentally friendly than the aging 747-400. The cargo 747-8F was the first to fly, hitting the skies on February 8th, 2010, before entering service with Cargolux on October 12th, 2011. The passenger 747-8i performed its maiden flight on March 20th, 2011, before being introduced with Lufthansa on June 1st, 2012. In total, 155 units of the 747-8 have been built. The final production rolled off the line on January 31st this year, bringing the 747 program to a close. In the passenger space, the likes of Air China, Korean Air, and Lufthansa remain prominent operators of the 747-8i. Meanwhile, the 747-F is spotted on numerous crucial cargo routes across the globe. https://simpleflying.com/faa-airworthiness-directive-boeing-747-8/ FAA says it has sent more than 250 cases of unruly passengers to the FBI since late 2021 One of the cases was referred to the FBI as recently as last month after a man tried to stab a flight attendant with a broken metal spoon. The FAA can levy civil fines but lacks authority to file criminal charges, so it asks the FBI to step in for the most serious cases. Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images Federal officials said Thursday they have referred more than 250 unruly airline passengers to the FBI for possible criminal prosecution since late 2021, including one as recently as last month, when a man tried to stab a flight attendant with a broken-off spoon. The pace of the criminal referrals is slowing, however. The Federal Aviation Administration identified 17 cases it has sent to the FBI in the first three months of this year — mostly for incidents that happened last year but took time to investigate. Airlines have reported fewer cases of unruly passengers since last April, when a federal judge struck down a requirement that people wear masks on planes and public transportation. Before that ruling, about two-thirds of all incidents on planes involved disputes over masks. The FAA can levy civil fines but lacks authority to file criminal charges, so it asks the FBI to step in for the most serious cases. “If you act out on a plane, you should just stay at home because we will come after you with serious consequences,” acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen said in a statement. “We have zero tolerance for unruly behavior.” The FBI did not say how often it acts on the FAA referrals. Assistant Director Luis Quesada said the bureau is “committed to investigating all incidents that fall within FBI jurisdiction aboard commercial flights,” but did not provide numbers. The FAA announcement about came as lawmakers push legislation to create a new no-fly list for people convicted or fined for interfering with flight crews. A similar proposal backed by airline unions failed to gain ground last year in the face of opposition from conservatives and civil libertarians. The current FBI no-fly list is aimed at people suspected of terrorism ties. The 17 cases that the FAA has referred this year include allegations of assaults against flight attendants and fellow passengers, attempts to open airplane exits during flights, and trying to break into the cockpit. In the most recent case, passengers helped subdue a man who, prosecutors say, tried to open an emergency door and attempted to stab a flight attendant with a broken metal spoon during a flight from Los Angeles to Boston. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/faa-says-sent-250-cases-unruly-passengers-fbi-late-2021-rcna79687 Volcano eruption in Russia causes flight cancellations in northwestern B.C. Shiveluch volcano spews ash cloud 10 kilometres into the air Some flights out of northwestern British Columbia are cancelled due to ash from a Russian volcano that erupted thousands of kilometres away. Air Canada says it is monitoring the ash cloud from the Shiveluch volcano, which caused the cancellation of some of its regional flights to and from Prince Rupert and Terrace on Thursday. It says in an email that more schedule adjustments could occur depending on the direction of the ash cloud. The volcano on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, about 4,300 kilometres west of Terrace, erupted Tuesday and sent up an ash cloud 10 kilometres high. A volcano on the Kamchatka peninsula erupted early Tuesday, spewing dust into the sky and across communities in eastern Russia. Alaska Airlines also cancelled more than two dozen flights in the state, citing safety concerns as volcanic ash can cause a jet engine to shut down. Carman Hendry, manager of Northwest Regional Airport in Terrace-Kitimat, said WestJet has also cancelled flights into the airport because the planes would have to fly through the ash. Researchers call on British Columbians to share what they know about the risk from volcanoes "Better down here wishing you were up there than up there wishing they were down here," he said in an interview Thursday. Hendry said he is unsure how many flights will be affected, but the airport is not expecting any more incoming flights for the rest of the day. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ash-volcano-russia-flight-cancellations-1.6810074 Volga-Dnepr Group Ordered To Pay Over $400 Million To BOC Aviation Volga's subsidiary, AirBridgeCargo, operates three Boeing 747-8 owned by BOC Aviation. US District Judge Lewis Liman in Manhattan ordered Volga-Dnepr Logistics to pay $406.2 million to aircraft lessor BOC Aviation. The Russian cargo airline was found liable after being declared in default on leases for three Boeing 747-8 freighters operated by one of its subsidiaries, AirBridgeCargo, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. A millionaire payment On Wednesday, Reuters reported that a US judge found AirBridgeCargo Airlines and its parent Volga-Dnepr Logistics liable after BOC Aviation was unable to reclaim its three widebody aircraft. According to BOC Aviation, AirBridgeCargo went into default after being unable to maintain the required reinsurance coverage. Lessors had hundreds of aircraft stuck in Russia since the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine last year. Judge Lewis Liman said BOC Aviation had proven that the Russian government had “effected a seizure” of the planes and engines by keeping them from being flown and operated outside Russia. Additionally, he rejected AirBridgeCargo’s defenses that neither side could have foreseen a default. It was impossible to ground the planes outside Russia because the country had ordered them to be flown back. According to data from ch-aviation, AirBridgeCargo has a fleet of 16 Boeing widebody aircraft. It has three 747-400ERFs, 12 B747-8Fs, and one 777-200F. Per ch-aviation, one of BOC Aviation’s 747 stuck with AirBridgeCargo has the registration number VQ-BFU. This plane is nearly eight years old. It was delivered in November 2015. Over 400 aircraft stuck in Russia This week, it was reported that more than 400 aircraft worth almost $10 billion continue to be stuck in Russia. Leasing companies are suing insurers over jets stranded. AerCap, the world’s largest leasing company, is suing insurers such as AIG and Lloyd’s Insurance Company for $3.5 billion over the loss of 116 aircraft and 23 engines. Additionally, it is claiming $1.2 billion under its war-risks policy, reported Reuters. But insurers are looking to avoid paying. They allege that there has not been a physical loss of the planes yet, that the jets and engines are no longer subject to a lease agreement, and that Western sanctions prevent them from providing cover. On Monday, AerCap’s lawyer, Mark Howard, said it was inconceivable that they could not recover some losses from insurers. Other lessors suing insurers include Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE), Merx Aviation, KDAC Aviation Finance, and Falcon. For instance, DAE and Falcon lost over 21 aircraft and equipment valued at $900 million. Merx Aviation is claiming over $255 million over the loss of six aircraft and their engines, and KDAC is suing for $21.5 million over the loss of one jet. AirBridgeCargo is set to restart operations shortly As reported earlier today, AirBridgeCargo is looking to resume operations shortly. The company halted all flights in March 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. Nonetheless, AirBridgeCargo will not employ its former fleet. Instead, the airline will use an Ilyushin Il-96 registration RA-96103. Before the invasion, AirBridgeCargo accounted for more than 40% of the air cargo market in Russia. https://simpleflying.com/volga-dnepr-group-ordered-pay-400-million-boc-aviation/ Panama's Copa Airlines to add 64 aircraft to its fleet by 2028 PANAMA CITY, April 13 (Reuters) - Panamanian airline Copa Airlines will add 64 new aircraft to its fleet by 2028 as part of its expansion plans, its Chief Executive Pedro Heilbron said during an annual performance presentation on Thursday. The firm will add 12 aircraft annually over the next three years at a cost of $1.7 billion per year, Heilbron said, without giving details of the pace or future capital expenditure. The new aircraft are part of an order Copa Airlines signed with U.S. planemaker Boeing Co BA.N in 2015, according to a company statement. The deal, originally for 61 aircraft, was later expanded to 86 and 22 of these have been delivered. Heilbron said the aim is to speed up the company's growth. The airline plans to add two new routes in the United States and one in Ecuador this year, bringing it a total of 80 destinations across 33 countries in the Americas. The company plans to transport 16.1 million passengers by the end of 2023 through 328 daily flights, recovering past its pre-pandemic levels. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/panamas-copa-airlines-to-add-64-aircraft-to-its-fleet-by-2028 Boeing shares tumble as parts issue halts deliveries of some 737 MAXs April 14 (Reuters) - Boeing Co's (BA.N) shares fell 4.5% in premarket trading on Friday after the U.S. planemaker halted deliveries of some 737 MAXs due to a new supplier quality problem by Spirit AeroSystems (SPR.N). Spirit, which manufactures fuselage, thrust reversers, engine pylons and wing components for the 737 MAX airplanes, slumped more than 11.7%. The latest quality issue pertains to aft fuselage fittings supplied by Spirit and is believed to date back to 2019, Boeing disclosed on Thursday. "We see more negative financial exposure to this news at Spirit than at Boeing," said J.P. Morgan analyst Seth Seifman. Boeing warned that the issue will likely affect a "significant" number of undelivered 737 MAX airplanes both in production and in storage, and could result in lowered 737 MAX deliveries in the near term. The development comes as the industry grapples with a shortage of jets. "Boeing's plans to boost production may need to wait, though we think management prioritizes supply chain momentum over inventory management," Seifman said. Melius Research analyst Scott Mikus said it was not entirely clear if the pause in deliveries will have an impact on the aerospace giant's cash flow. "It depends how many aircraft are impacted, how long it'll take to do any inspections and rework," Mikus added. The problem, which affects a portion of the 737 MAX family of airplanes, including the MAX 7, MAX 8 and MAX 8200 airplanes as well as the P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft based on the 737 NG, is not a safety of flight issue and in-service planes can continue to operate, Boeing said. In February, the planemaker had to temporarily halt deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner jets to conduct additional analysis on a fuselage component. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/boeing-shares-tumble-parts-issue-halts-deliveries-some-737-maxs-2023-04-14/ Why Retired Planes Are Still Worth Millions After Decades in the Sky The utilitarian design and the rivets holding everything together can make it feel like airliners are built to last forever. Despite this illusion of longevity, a commercial airliner can expect to last around 27 years in service. But once they leave an airline’s fleet, there are still millions of dollars worth of components hidden in their fuselage. Now, a new report from CNBC has broken down what makes the remains of an airplane so expensive. When an airline is in the market for a new craft, they’re likely to spend somewhere between $90 million and $300 million for a brand-new plane from Airbus or Boeing. So, they look to their old crafts to recoup some of the costs needed to upgrade and replace aging fleets. Once an airline is finished with one of its planes, it might try to find a buyer that has a use for older airliners, like cargo fleets and fire-fighting companies. But, if this isn’t possible, it’s sent to the Arizona desert where it joins hundreds of other aircraft that are waiting to be broken down. As it stands, the boneyards of Arizona currently hold more than 4,400 aircraft in varying stages of disrepair. Engines can be repaired and sold again. According to a CNBC report, the first stage in extracting as much value as possible from an old aircraft is to strip out the big money parts, such as engines and landing gear. The pieces can be overhauled, rebuilt and sold for use in service once again. Others can be used to train budding mechanics on the workings of an aircraft engine. This side of the industry, CNBC says, is booming thanks to delays in deliveries from new aircraft from both Airbus and Boeing, and an increasing number of flights to meet growing demand for travel around the world. Because of this, more parts are being salvaged from old planes to keep newer models running for longer. But how many parts can be salvaged from a 30-year-old plane? Well, according to CNBC, there can be a huge range. On a traditional narrow body plane you might only find 200 parts that can be repaired and reused. In contrast, a widebody airliner might have up to 2,000 parts that can be salvaged and sold on. Controls can be used to train new pilots. Sure, engines and landing gear are the big-money parts, but CNBC says that almost every airplane part is expensive, so everything from wing flaps to drink carts can also be fixed up and flogged to other operators. But it’s not just airlines that buy up parts from aging airliners. Some components, such as chairs, can be repurposed and resold as seating for people’s offices and homes. Controls from the cockpits of some planes can also be stripped out and used to train the next generation of pilots. Parts that can’t be salvaged and repaired for use on other planes are up-cycled, scrapped and recycled. In fact, as much as 95 percent of a retired aircraft can be recycled — either as whole parts or as scrap metal and other materials. After this, the only thing left to do is rip the remnants to shreds. Once dismantled, metals and non-metallic parts are separated out for recycling, and the crushed hull is sold to a smelter to melt down and turn into something brand new. Why Airplanes Are Still Worth Millions After They Stop Flying It’s a fascinating process and the need to carry it all out comes down to the aging airline fleets around the world. Supply chain shortages mean that the number of aircraft in need of maintenance is rising, while the number of new parts required for such maintenance is dwindling. As such, used parts are now much more valuable than they were a few years ago. The whole film is a great watch, and if you have a spare ten minutes on your hands I highly recommend heading here to check it out. https://www.yahoo.com/autos/why-retired-planes-still-worth-000000418.html Call for Nominations For 2023 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation is now accepting nominations for the 2023 Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award, honoring a leader in global aviation safety. The Award will be presented during the 76th Annual International Air Safety Summit, taking place November 6-8 in Paris, France. Presented annually since 1956, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award recognizes notable achievement in the field of civil or military aviation safety in method, design, invention, study, or other improvement. The Award's recipient is selected for a "significant individual or group effort contributing to improving aviation safety, with emphasis on original contributions," and a "significant individual or group effort performed above and beyond normal responsibilities." Mechanics, engineers, and others outside of top administrative or research positions should be especially considered. The contribution need not be recent, especially if the nominee has not received adequate recognition. Nominations that were not selected as past winners may be resubmitted for consideration in subsequent years. Please note that self-nominations will not be considered. The Award Committee, composed of leaders in the field of aviation, meets each year to conduct a final review of nominees and selection of the current year's recipient. Please help us identify and honor this year's most deserving recipient. Nominations, including a 1-to-2-page narrative, can be submitted via the Laura Taber Barbour Foundation website at http://ltbaward.org/the-award/nomination-form/. Nominations will be accepted through June 2, 2023. For more information, including a complete history of Award recipients, see www.ltbaward.org. About the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation and Award The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award's story dates back more than 75 years. On April 14, 1945, after visiting family in Pittsburgh, Laura Taber Barbour was aboard a Pennsylvania Central Airlines DC-3 when it crashed into the rugged terrain of Cheat Mountain near Morgantown, West Virginia. All passengers and crew were killed. In 1956 her husband, Dr. Clifford E. Barbour and son, Clifford E. Barbour, Jr., in close association with The Flight Safety Foundation, established the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award in her honor. For the past 65 years, this distinguished award recognizing outstanding achievements in aviation safety worldwide has been presented at Flight Safety Foundation’s International Aviation Safety Summit. In 2013, The Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation was formed as an independent non-profit charitable organization composed of members of the Award Board, the aviation community, and the Barbour family. In addition to the annual presentation of the award, in 2019 the Foundation initiated a scholarship program that supports worthy students pursuing professional aviation studies. As the Foundation broadens its scope, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award will continue to recognize those who significantly contributed to aviation safety. For more information on the Foundation, the award, and past winners, visit http://LTBAward.org Curt Lewis