Flight Safety Information - June 5, 2023 No. 107 In This Issue : Incident: Jet2 B752 at Manchester on Jun 3rd 2023, unforeseen operational reasons/technical indication : Incident: Indigo A20N at Guwahati on Jun 4th 2023, engine problem : Incident: Jetblue A320 at New York on Jun 1st 2023, engine shut down in flight : Incident: LATAM Chile B763 near Salina Cruz on Jun 2nd 2023, engine failure : Incident: Aeromexico B738 at Merida on Jun 1st 2023, engine shut down in flight : 04-JUN-2023 - Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc Cessna 560 Citation V accident: 4 dead : Flight from Paris to the US diverted to Canada due to an unruly passenger, police say : Jetstar pilot stood down after traces of drugs allegedly found on luggage : New US Rules Force Chinese Airlines to Avoid Russian Airspace : 650 aircraft orders made : Air India to have 70 new aircraft by March: CEO : Angry United Pilot Calls Out SFO ATC Over Go Arounds : How Do Pilots Retain Their Type Ratings? : Airbus frontrunner to sell 500 aircraft to India's IndiGo: Report : Eve advances eVTOL aircraft test program : Singapore Airlines to offer free Wi-Fi for all flights : Will a ‘national patient safety board,’ modeled after the NTSB, actually fly? Incident: Jet2 B752 at Manchester on Jun 3rd 2023, unforeseen operational reasons/technical indication A Jet2.com Boeing 757-200, registration G-LSAI performing flight LS-781 from Manchester,EN (UK) to Las Palmas,CI (Spain), was climbing out of Manchester when the crew stopped the climb at FL200 and entered a hold to burn off fuel. The aircraft returned to Manchester for a safe landing on runway 05L about 2:15 hours after departure. The airline tweeted the aircraft returned to Manchester due to "unforeseen operational reasons" and subsequently commented that the aircraft returned due to a technical indication. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 11 hours, then departed for a test flight of about 2.5 hours and is still on the ground in Manchester about 5 hours after the test flight landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=50a0a41e&opt=0 Incident: Indigo A20N at Guwahati on Jun 4th 2023, engine problem An Indigo Airbus A320-200N, registration VT-IZF performing flight 6E-2652 from Guwahati to Dibrugarh (India) with about 150 people on board, was climbing out of Guwahati when the crew stopped the climb at about 10,000 feet due to a problem with one of the engines (PW1127G). The aircraft returned to Guwahati for a safe landing. Passengers reported the captain announced there was a technical snag with one of the engines, they were returning to Guwahati. After landing they were told to remain seated while engineers were trying to fix the snag, after about two hours it was announced the aircraft could not depart. The flight was cancelled. https://avherald.com/h?article=50a0a11c&opt=0 Incident: Jetblue A320 at New York on Jun 1st 2023, engine shut down in flight A Jetblue Airbus A320-200, registration N657JB performing flight B6-1219 from New York JFK,NY to Atlanta,GA (USA) with 128 people on board, was climbing out of JFK's runway 31L when the crew stopped the climb at about 11000 feet reporting an engine problem and requested to return to JFK. The crew subsequently advised they were "engine out", the left engine was out. The crew performed an ILS approach to runway 22R and landed safely about 17 minutes after departure. A replacement Airbus A321-200 registration N988JT reached Atlanta with a delay of about 3 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in New York about 54 hours after landing back. https://avherald.com/h?article=50a019e1&opt=0 Incident: LATAM Chile B763 near Salina Cruz on Jun 2nd 2023, engine failure A LATAM Chile Boeing 767-300 on behalf of LATAM Peru, registration CC-CWV performing flight LP-9959 from Los Angeles,CA (USA) to Lima (Peru), was enroute at FL410 about 100nm south of Salina Cruz (Mexico) when an engine (CF6) failed prompting the crew to divert to Mexico City. The aircraft landed safely on Mexico City's runway 05R about 20 minutes after leaving FL410. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Mexico City about 13 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=50a0044b&opt=0 Incident: Aeromexico B738 at Merida on Jun 1st 2023, engine shut down in flight An Aeromexico Boeing 737-800, registration XA-PPP performing flight AM-837 from Merida to Mexico City (Mexico), was climbing out of Merida's runway 36 when the crew stopped the climb at about FL330 due to problems with an engine (CFM56). The crew decided to return to Merida, shut the engine down and landed safely back on runway 10 about 55 minutes after departure. A replacement Boeing 737-9 MAX registration XA-JSO reached Mexico City with a delay of about 6:15 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Merida about 7 hours after landing back. https://avherald.com/h?article=509f26ae&opt=0 04-JUN-2023 - Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc Cessna 560 Citation V accident: 4 dead Type: Cessna 560 Citation V Operator: Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc Registration: N611VG MSN: 560-0091 First flight: 1990 Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D-5 Crew: Fatalities: / Occupants: Passengers: Fatalities: / Occupants: Total: Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 4 Aircraft damage: Destroyed Aircraft fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: near Staunton, VA ( United States of America) Phase: En route (ENR) Nature: Private Departure airport: Elizabethton Municipal Airport, TN, United States of America Destination airport: Islip-Long Island MacArthur Airport, NY (ISP/KISP), United States of America Narrative: A Cessna 560 Citation V disappeared from radar screens and crashed near Staunton, Virginia. The four occupants died and the aircraft was destroyed. ADS-B data show that the airplane conducted a course reversal about 1h15m into the flight, the airplane flew past the reported destination of Long Island MacArthur Airport (KISP), New York, and continued on a straight path for about 50m. As it was crossing Washington, DC, without radio contact, F-16 fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the aircraft. The pilot of the Cessna was unresponsive as the F-16 pilot attempted to make contact until the airplane began a rapid descending right spiral from 34000 feet, followed by another spiral at 20000 feet, the last ADS-B return showed an average rate of -28864 ft/min. http://www.aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20230604-0 Flight from Paris to the US diverted to Canada due to an unruly passenger, police say A disruptive passenger on a Friday flight from Paris, France, to Detroit, Michigan, is facing criminal charges after his behavior caused the plane to be diverted to Canada, police said. The 34-year-old man was acting in an “unruly manner” and was believed to be under the influence of alcohol, according to Royal Canadian Mounted Police spokesperson Cpl. Jolene Garland. Officials have not named the passenger. The man was arrested by Royal Canadian Mounted Police when the plane landed at the Stephenville Dymond International Airport in Newfoundland, Canada, Garland said. Passenger cited after hitting Frontier Airlines flight attendant with intercom phone The passenger is facing charges of endangering an aircraft and is expected to appear in Stephenville Municipal Court on Monday, according to Garland. The flight, operated by Delta Air Lines, left Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris Friday morning and was in the air for about six hours before landing in Canada, according to flight tracker FlightAware. After about 90 minutes at the Canadian airport, it took off and headed to Detroit. “Delta has zero tolerance for unruly behavior, especially when it potentially compromises the safety of our customers and flight crew,” a Delta spokesperson said in a statement regarding the incident. Last year there were more than 2,300 reports of unruly passenger behavior, according to US Federal Aviation Administration statistics. Since late 2021, the FAA has referred more than 250 cases to the FBI for criminal review, the agency said. The FAA has received reports of at least 740 unruly airline passengers in 2023 as of May 28, the transportation agency’s statistics showed. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/flight-diverted-unruly-passenger-canada-paris-detroit/index.html New US Rules Force Chinese Airlines to Avoid Russian Airspace The United States and the European Union closed their airspace to Russian aircraft in 2022 as part of sanctions imposed on Russia. On May 18, 2023, the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) approved four new weekly Air China and China Eastern flights between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, bringing the total number of weekly US-China flights to twelve. According to the flight tracking website FlightAware, unlike already established US-bound Chinese carriers’ flights, newly approved Air China and China Eastern flights are apparently avoiding Russian airspace altogether and are not overflying Russian Federation. Earlier this year, Biden administration was urged to ban US-bound Chinese airlines from passing over Russia, since it gave them unfair advantage against US carriers that are banned from overflying the country. The proposed ban was the result of lobbying by US air carriers, who are losing up to $2 billion annually in market share to US-bound foreign competitors, since Chinese and Indian airlines have enjoyed a boom in business, as they can fly the shortest route without the need to circumvent Russia’s vast territory. The United States and the European Union closed their airspace to Russian aircraft in 2022 as part of sanctions imposed on Russia after it’s brutal and unprovoked full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine. In return, Russia retaliated by barring US and European airlines from flying over its territory. Chinese airlines were not affected by the restrictions and continued to use Russian airspace. US carriers are now forced to fly longer distances with dozens of empty seats, to make their planes light enough to avoid refueling. Over a dozen planned new air routes from the United States to Mumbai, Tokyo, Seoul and other cities were reportedly put on hold and are being taken up by competitors. https://eturbonews.com/new-us-rules-force-chinese-airlines-to-avoid-russian-airspace/ Jetstar pilot stood down after traces of drugs allegedly found on luggage A Jetstar pilot has been stood down after border authorities allegedly detected traces of drugs on his luggage and found drug-related content on his phone after a flight from Bali to Melbourne last week. The first officer was suspended, despite no actual drugs being found on him or his belongings, under a zero-tolerance policy enforced by the aviation industry due to the serious safety risks associated with air travel. Trace amounts of drugs were found on the pilot’s luggage during a random search of arriving airline staff at Melbourne Airport by the Australian Border Force (ABF) officers. The incident was reported to the Australian Federal Police (AFP). An AFP spokesperson said the agency investigated a report relating to alleged drug possession at Melbourne Airport in May. “No criminal offences were identified and the AFP considers the matter closed,” the spokesperson said. But a source familiar with the incident, who cannot be identified as they are not approved to discuss security operations, said a search of the pilot’s phone had also discovered drug-related material. It is unclear what the exact content was. An ABF spokesperson referred questions to Jetstar. The airline declined to comment for privacy reasons. “We have zero-tolerance towards pilots operating under the influence of alcohol or other drugs and always undertake testing in accordance with aviation regulations,” a Jetstar spokesperson said. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority said it does not comment on allegations or individual cases involving possible breaches of safety rules. “Regulations prohibit the use of drugs or alcohol by people carrying out (or available to carry out) safety-sensitive aviation activities,” it said. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau recommended that aviation personnel be subjected to random drug and alcohol testing after a report into a small aircraft crash in 2002 that killed six people on Queensland’s Hamilton Island found a pilot’s alcohol and drug use may have contributed to the crash. The 2004 report found the pilot had consumed alcohol and Panadeine the evening before the crash and still had cannabis in his system. https://www.smh.com.au/national/jetstar-pilot-stood-down-after-traces-of-drugs-allegedly-found-on-luggage-20230605-p5de3t.html 650 aircraft orders made About 650 orders of Boeing aircraft have been made by airlines in the Asia Pacific region, says Boeing Commercial Marketing managing director Asia Pacific Dave Schulte. “Our forecast shows across the region, about 650 new deliveries of airplanes and the majority of those will be for replacement of the older aircrafts,” he said. “If we look at the market dynamics today about 90 to 95 per cent of the existing fleet is in Australia and New Zealand. “So if we extrapolate that math to the South Pacific allocations we will see maybe five or 10 per cent of those airplanes being dedicated to the region.” The company revealed that in the South Pacific region, nearly 700 airplanes would be needed to replace older ones and to serve growth by 2041 due to the mature market and plans to reduce carbon emissions. “With the reopening of this regional market, we forecast the South Pacific traffic from North America to grow by 300 per cent,” said Mr Schulte. “The positive long-term drives like the world economy passenger traffic, cargo traffic and fleet growth reaffirm that the industry is well positioned as travel continues to recover.” Association of South Pacific Airlines general secretary David Tohi said they were impressed by the presentations made by the Boeing marketing team. “I think they are taking the opportunity to meet with the entire airline members to talk about some of the services that they provide,” he said. “After the pandemic and the issues with the 737 Max 8s which has been taken care of now, I think they are now pushing to come back and starting to promote their Boeing products.” https://www.fijitimes.com/650-aircraft-orders-made/ Air India to have 70 new aircraft by March: CEO NEW DELHI: From being a state-owned airline that saw no fleet or personnel augmentation for many years, Air India —now back with founder Tata Group — has been put on the fast track to rapid expansion. The airline will induct 19 wide-body and 50 narrow-body aircraft by next March. To fuel this growth, AI is hiring 550 cabin crew and 50 pilots every month. Inducting new planes will help the airline resolve one of the biggest grouse of customers — dilapidated cabin of the old fleet — and spread its international network with North America and Europe being the priority areas. The airline had recently ordered 470 aircraft, including 70 wide-bodies. “We will be inducting 19 new wide-body aircraft by the end of next March. (Once that happens) from mid-2024, we will start sending our 40 existing wide-body (27 Boeing 787s and 13 B777s) aircraft for complete refurbishment. Their interiors will be completely scrapped and these planes will get everything brand new from seats to inflight entertainment and onboard Wifi as part of our $400-million upgrade project. By mid-2025, all our twin-aisles will have absolutely new cabin product,” AI MD & CEO Campbell Wilson told TOI. The new wide-bodies being inducted this fiscal, starting with the Airbus A350s,will have onboard WiFi. While 17 of the 19 twin-aisles will be used for augmenting fleet, AI has recently started talks for inducting two more B777s so that it can retire two wide-bodies. The narrow-body fleet makeover will be faster with a majority of AI group’s full service single-aisles getting facelift by next September. “We are going to induct 50 single-aisles this fiscal. By September 2024, 75-80% of our full-service single-aisles will be brand new,” he said. The remaining 20-25% will be refurbished for being used by the low-cost arm, AI Express. Which means in two years, AI full-service arm planes would have completely new interiors. AI had been facing crew shortage due to which this March it had to suspend six of the 47 weekly non-stops to the US. A few of its Airbus A320neo aircraft were also not being used for the same reason. Now with 600 crew joining every month and almost 200 Go First pilots onboard, the crew shortage seems to have been sorted out. “We are reinstating three of those (suspended US) flights this month and the remaining three next month. We are now hiring 5 and 10 times more pilots and cabin crew per month, respectively, than AI used to hire in a year earlier,” Wilson said. Armed with more A320 pilots, AI has asked Airbus to give it more planes quickly. The reason: Go First, which suspended flights since May 3, had over 80 Airbus A320neo family planes still on order that were yet to delivered butgot no planes in the past several months due to its financial condition. Sources say Go First was to get 8-10 A320neos in the past few months and those delivery slots are available with Airbus. Apart from foreign carriers, both IndiGo and AI have put in requests to get these planes. “We have spoken to Airbus, seeking faster deliveries and they are yet to decide. We will want to take these planes with CFM engines (Go First used Pratt & Whitney). Airbus can deliver that combination with the required lead time,” he said. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/air-india-to-have-70-new-aircraft-by-march-ceo/articleshow/100752912.cms?from=mdr Angry United Pilot Calls Out SFO ATC Over Go Arounds As an aviation geek, I spend way too much of my free time tracking flights on Flightradar24, and listening to air traffic control audio. Along those lines, here’s an interesting exchange between a United Airlines pilot and an air traffic controller. We sometimes hear audio of air traffic controllers losing their patience with pilots, but in this case it’s the other way around… This incident occurred on May 12, 2023, and involves United Airlines flight UA1390 from Seattle (SEA) to San Francisco (SFO). The flight was operated by a roughly 14-year-old Boeing 737-900 with the registration code N75428. The aircraft was cleared to land on runway 28L. Shortly thereafter, while the 737 was on a four mile final, the air traffic controller cleared another United aircraft to line up on the runway and wait. That aircraft had to wait for another jet to clear the runway before it could take off, and at this point the 737 was on a final of less than two miles. Unfortunately there didn’t end up being enough spacing, so the 737 had to go around. Okay, fair enough, sometimes that happens. Air traffic controllers have hard jobs and there’s quite a bit of variability, so spacing isn’t always going to work out exactly right. The United 737 then initiated its second approach to runway 28L, and basically the same thing happened. The jet received landing clearance, then another plane was told to line up on the runway and wait, and then another aircraft had to clear the runway. There didn’t end up being enough spacing, so the 737 had to go around… again. United pilot lets air traffic controllers have it After having to go around for a second time for the same reason, the United pilot called out the tower controller, saying “you guys gotta do better than than this, that’s twice.” The tower controller responds with ” alright, talk to NorCal about that.” In other words, the tower controller is blaming this on the approach frequency, even though the tower controller is clearing the departing aircraft to taxi onto the runway. When the pilot then talks to NorCal departure, here’s how that goes: Pilot: “What’s going on, that’s twice?” Controller: “I’m not sure.” Pilot: “This is unacceptable, come on, well, let’s not do this again.” Controller: “We don’t work in the tower, sir.” Pilot: They told me to talk to you.” Then when the pilot switches to NorCal approach, here’s how that goes: Pilot: “Can we make sure we don’t put anyone on the runway anymore?” Controller: “We’re wondering the same thing, we’ve got a few over here, and we’ll make sure you land this time.” Pilot: “Yeah, definitely file a report for this, this is just unacceptable.” Controller: “We are 100% in agreeance with you, sorry for it.” Pilot: “Thanks. I know it’s not your fault, but unfortunately you’re the only one I’ve got to vent to. He told me to talk to you guys, that’s the funny part.” Controller: “That’s great. Apparently aircraft on the ground have priority over aircraft in the air. Again, just for your information, we’ve had issues with the tower here for a while as far as some of these go arounds, things like that, but I think it’s more fit for an official report because we’re hearing now that they’re trying to blame us for our speeds, but I don’t know what’s wrong with what we did.” Pilot: “Yeah, I’ll fill one out for sure. I mean, it’s just unacceptable, two go arounds for the same issue, something’s gotta happen with that.” Controller: “I agree with you 100%.” On the third attempt, the United 737 finally landed, after a roughly 30 minute delay from the two go arounds. Bottom line There’s some interesting air traffic control audio of a United 737 being subjected to two go arounds at San Francisco Airport. Both go arounds were due to lack of spacing, and in both cases it was because an aircraft was cleared to taxi onto the runway for takeoff, but there wasn’t enough separation. I of course understand that air traffic controllers are overworked and under a lot of pressure to avoid delays, and they also can’t perfectly predict how long it will take aircraft to clear the runway, start their takeoff roll, etc. At the same time, from the pilot’s perspective, I can also appreciate the frustration of having two unnecessary go arounds in a row for the same exact reason. It’s interesting that the tower controller then blames NorCal, but the NorCal controller is 100% in agreement with the pilot. https://onemileatatime.com/news/angry-united-pilot-sfo-atc/ How Do Pilots Retain Their Type Ratings? An explanation of type ratings and how pilots maintain them. Multiple widebody jets parked at Tokyo Narita Int'l Airport.Photo: icasha I Shutterstock Type ratings legally allow professional pilots to operate large planes. Every airline pilot is type rated on the aircraft they fly, and maintaining a type rating requires annual training. Let's talk about what type ratings are and how pilots retain them. Type ratings and training A type rating is an addition to a pilot's license that certifies them to fly a specific type of transport category or heavy aircraft. Type ratings are needed to fly everything from Cessna Citations to Boeing 737s. In addition to jet aircraft, many turboprops, such as the De Havilland Dash 8, require type ratings. To earn a type rating, a pilot needs to pass written theory exams about the systems and limitations of their aircraft. They also need to pass a simulator training course. The culmination of this training program is a "type ride" where the pilot is assessed on maneuvers and normal and emergency operations. Retaining a type rating requires annual training and is widely referred to throughout the flying community as "annual recurrent" training. Airline training departments develop and renew week-long training courses that integrate self-training modules, ground instruction, and simulator sessions. The FAA (or other governing body) monitors and approves these airline training courses, and the successful completion of annual recurrent allows an airline pilot to continue operating under their type rating(s). Pilots must complete "long-term" training if they take an extended leave from flying. Long-term is nearly identical to an initial type rating course and implicitly takes a few extra weeks to complete due to heightened complexity and thoroughness. Multiple type ratings Though airlines only allow pilots to exercise one type rating at a time, holding multiple type ratings simultaneously is possible. It's common for ferry pilots (who fly planes to and from lease agreements or transport planes to storage) to have many type ratings. This allows these pilots to market themselves to airlines worldwide that fly diversified fleets. When a pilot receives a new type rating after passing the required course, the rating is added to their pilot certificate. Even if a pilot has not flown a plane they are type rated on in years, they need only pass a recurrent training to reactivate their "recency and currency" to fly that type legally. Some planes use common type ratings. Aviation authorities allow for common type ratings between aircraft variants when the systems and handling characteristics of the planes are similar enough that no additional check rides are needed. However, virtually every operator provides "differences training" when their pilots operate multiple variants using a common type rating. Boeing 737 pilots can fly a wide range of variants, including the -800, -900, and MAXs, on the common 737-NG (next generation) type rating. Airbus pilots can fly the A318, 319, 320, 321, and neos on a common type rating. Boeing 757 and Boeing 767s use a common type rating as well. Though airlines may still choose to have their pilots fly one specific sub-variant of a fleet, pilots can legally fly any type they are rated for so long as they are current (3 landings in the preceding 90 days). Additional points An additional requirement for airline captains is an annual "line observation" check. Separate from annual recurrent training in simulators, a line observation is conducted by a check pilot who observes the captain from the right seat or the flight deck jump seat. The flight is usually a random revenue sector meant to ensure that the captain follows company procedures during normal operations. There are a few pilots who have worked at the airlines for their entire lives and accumulated 10+ type ratings. With so many ratings, the type rating listings don't even fit on a single certificate (about the size of a driver's license), so these long-tenured pilots must carry two certificates. It's also possible to fly a career using a single type rating. The amount of type ratings a pilot gets over their career depends on what their airline flies, personal preferences, and career longevity. Maintaining a type rating is an annual cycle. https://simpleflying.com/how-pilots-retain-type-ratings/ Airbus frontrunner to sell 500 aircraft to India's IndiGo: Report In a bid to dominate global skies, India's IndiGo airline is all set to purchase 500 narrow-body A320 jets from Airbus. In a bid to dominate global skies, India's IndiGo airline is all set to purchase 500 narrow-body A320 jets from Airbus. The latest development is nothing short of a bonanza for the European planemaker, which earlier in the year had sealed another record deal with Air India. According to media reports, Airbus is now close to sealing this massive deal with the Indian low-cost carrier. If the deal goes through, it will be the biggest aviation deal in recent history, even dwarfing the 250-aircraft deal struck with the Tata-owned Air India. The deal could be valued at $50 billion. But would typically be worth less than half this after widespread airline industry discounts for bulk deals, according to aircraft analysts. The European planemaker is also in talks to sell 25 A330neo to Indigo, reports added. IndiGo's commercial ties with Airbus go a long way back in history. IndiGo, which has a 56 percent market share in the Indian aviation sector, has been one of the biggest customers of Airbus. The Indian low-cost airline has ordered 830 Airbus a320-family jets so far, media reports said. The expansion drive by IndiGo comes amid a strong rebound in travel post-covid, with passenger numbers surging despite high ticket rates. India is the world's third-largest aviation market. IndiGo aims to take advantage of that by doubling its capacity by the end of the decade and expanding its network in international markets. As part of its international expansion, the airline already has a codeshare partnership with seven carriers including Turkish Airlines, American Airlines and KLM. The alliance with Turkish Airlines has seen Indigo make a major push into Europe, a favourite holiday destination among Indians, with the budget carrier now offering flights to 33 European airports. https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/airbus-frontrunner-to-sell-500-aircraft-to-indias-indigo-report-600789 Eve advances eVTOL aircraft test program Embraer subsidiary Eve Air Mobility achieved two significant milestones in the development and testing of its eVTOL last month, completing wind tunnel testing and the first phase of ground testing the aircraft’s propellers. Eve’s eVTOL aircraft features a lift+cruise configuration, using dedicated rotors for vertical flight and fixed wings to fly on cruise. Able to carry four passengers plus a pilot, the range of the aircraft is around 100km (60 miles). The company plans to start building its first full-size eVTOL prototype later this year, to commence a flight test campaign next year, and to have the production aircraft certified and in service during 2026. Alice Altissimo, vice president of program management and operation of Eve said, “We are very pleased with our program development activities to date and making very good progress as we move toward the selection of primary suppliers and finalize the definition of our aircraft systems architecture. “We continue to invest and our team is working hard with the goal of developing a mature aircraft for certification and entry into service in 2026.” Propeller and truck-testing Ground testing of the eVTOL’s propellers was conducted in Brazil to measure the propeller’s aerodynamic performance and sound properties. The company said that the data gathered is being used for modeling and development. The testing involved testing multiple models on a rig to improve efficiency and reduce sound footprint and operating costs. The company also recently began truck testing its vertical lift rotors to evaluate the performance of rotors during the transition phase of flight. Truck testing – traveling up and down a runway with the test rig – enables engineers to replicate environmental conditions during take-off and landing so they can test full-size parts or aircraft structures outside of space-restricted wind tunnels. According to Eve engineers have already begun gathering data on the aerodynamic characteristics of rotors in forward flight using truck testing. Wind tunnel testing Eve has recently completed wind-tunnel testing, at a wind tunnel near Lucerne, Switzerland using a scale model. The main objective of the test was to investigate and validate how components including the fuselage, rotors, wing, tail, and other surfaces would perform in flight. The data will be used to validate production solutions, development tools, and models which also include other test articles such as fixed and moving rigs, flying vehicles, and other wind tunnel tests. “The completion of wind tunnel testing is an important engineering milestone as we continue the development of our eVTOL,” said Luiz Valentini, chief technology officer at Eve Air Mobility. “The information we obtained during this phase of development has helped us further refine the technical solutions of our eVTOL before committing to production tooling and conforming prototypes. Our goal is to design, produce and certify an aerodynamic and efficient eVTOL that will be used for a variety of urban air mobility missions.” Eve Air Mobility eVTOL aircraft digital model CFD modelling is being used to analyse the transition phase of flight for the lift+cruise eVTOL aircraft (Image: Eve Air Mobility) Eve’s said its engineering team would also use the data gathered through wind tunnel testing to continue to develop the eVTOL’s control laws leading to optimize performance and passenger comfort. Data from the wind tunnel tests, the propeller, and truck-testing are being combined to increase the fidelity of Eve’s flight simulator and fly-by-wire system. Meanwhile, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are ongoing in an effort to mature the analysis of the transition between the hover and cruise phases of the flight. https://www.aerospacetestinginternational.com/news/drones-air-taxis/eve-advances-evtol-aircraft-testing.html Singapore Airlines to offer free Wi-Fi for all flights Passengers flying with Singapore Airlines will soon be able to browse the internet at no additional cost. Starting July 1, the carrier plans to offer complimentary inflight Wi-Fi to passengers on routes throughout its network. Singapore’s move comes as global airlines are increasingly looking to expand free Wi-Fi offerings. Once Singapore's complimentary Wi-Fi rolls out, it will join a small number of airlines that provide free Wi-Fi for all cabin classes. In the U.S., JetBlue has long offered free Wi-Fi for all passengers. Earlier this year, Delta joined the movement and made Wi-Fi free for all passengers on domestic flights. More may be on the way. Hawaiian Airlines announced plans for free Starlink Wi-Fi on transpacific routes in April 2022. And Delta said in March that it plans to expand free Wi-Fi to its international flights by the end of 2024. I would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See PRIVACY POLICY. To use Singapore’s free Wi-Fi-, passengers will have to enter the details of their KrisFlyer accounts when booking their flights or at check-in to access the inflight Wi-Fi. Travelers who don’t have KrisFlyer accounts can sign up for a free membership online or through Singapore’s digital content portal on board their flights to use the free Wi-Fi. Yeoh Phee Teik, Singapore’s senior vice president of customer experience, said high-speed, inflight Wi-Fi is essential to the travel experience. “Giving [customers] access to free unlimited Wi-Fi is yet another milestone in SIA’s continuous effort to offer an exceptional end-to-end travel experience,” he said in a statement. https://thepointsguy.com/news/singapore-airlines-free-wi-fi/ Will a ‘national patient safety board,’ modeled after the NTSB, actually fly? People concerned about the safety of patients often compare health care to aviation. Why, they ask, can't hospitals learn from medical errors the way airlines learn from plane crashes? That's the rationale behind calls to create a "National Patient Safety Board," an independent federal agency that would be loosely modeled after the National Transportation Safety Board, which is credited with increasing the safety of skies, railways, and highways by investigating why accidents occur and recommending steps to avoid future mishaps. But as worker shortages strain the U.S. health care system, heightening concerns about unsafe care, one proposal to create such a board has some patient safety advocates fearing that it wouldn’t provide the transparency and accountability they believe is necessary to drive improvement. One major reason: the power of the hospital industry. Two measures are underway to create a safety board: A bill filed in the U.S. House in December by Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.), which is expected to be refiled this session, calls for the creation of a board to help federal agencies monitor safety events, identify conditions under which problems occur, and suggest preventive measures. However, the board would need permission from health care organizations to probe safety events and could not identify any health care provider or setting in its reports. That differs from the NTSB, which can subpoena both witnesses and evidence, and publish detailed accident reports that list locations and companies. A related measure under review by a presidential advisory council would create such a board by executive order. Its details have not been made public. The push comes as many patients continue to get hurt, according to recent reviews of medical records. The Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general found that 13% of hospitalized Medicare patients experienced a preventable harm during a hospital stay in October 2018. A New England Journal of Medicine study of patients hospitalized in Massachusetts in 2018 showed that 7% had a preventable adverse event with 1% suffering a preventable injury that was serious, life-threatening, or fatal. Learning about safety concerns at specific facilities remains difficult. While transportation crashes are public spectacles that make news, creating demand for public accountability, medical errors often remain confidential, sometimes even ordered into silence by court settlements. Meaningful and timely information for consumers can be challenging to find. However, patient advocates said, unsafe providers should not be shielded from reputational consequences. "People pay vast amounts of money for health care," said Helen Haskell, president of South Carolina-based Mothers Against Medical Error, an advocacy group she founded because her 15-year-old son died from septic shock following elective surgery in 2000. "Providers shouldn't be able to sweep things under the rug." Barragán’s bill follows a 2014 effort to create a national patient safety board to investigate incidents and make more providers' safety records publicly available. It stemmed from the Institute of Medicine's landmark 1999 report that called medical error in hospitals a leading cause of death and recommended a nationwide mandatory reporting system for serious adverse events. That campaign never got enough traction to become a congressional bill. Patients and their families would still like to know the rate of harm in every hospital, said Lisa McGiffert, president of the Patient Safety Action Network, a group discontented with some aspects of the current bill. "We are so far away from that now," she added. But Karen Wolk Feinstein, president and CEO of the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, a Pittsburgh-based philanthropy that leads more than 70 groups pushing the latest safety board campaign, said during an online forum in January that public reporting would compromise data integrity by leading hospitals to scrub records to hide bad events. "You're going to have to protect data for a while — de-identify it," she said, "so that we can do what needs to be done." She said that a patient safety board "will not happen" without broad support, including from hospitals and medical societies. Those groups have long opposed measures to publicly identify facilities where errors occur. That industry influence is "the elephant in the room," said McGiffert. Hospitals, nursing homes, and medical professionals pour hundreds of millions of dollars into federal political campaigns each election cycle and spent $220 million lobbying Congress last year, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks money in U.S. politics. Moreover, health care is the dominant employer in at least 47 states, according to Health Affairs, which means that, when legislation is in play, the industry "can always drum up local people to talk about how it affects them," McGiffert added. Feinstein agreed that legislators always ask about the position of their local health systems. "That is the first question," she said during the January forum. Although patient safety groups represent the interests of millions of people, they don't have the same financial firepower on hand as the health care industry does. McGiffert said her own organization's bank balance is $6,000. Feinstein said her foundation is using its endowment — created with proceeds from the sale of a tax-exempt hospital — to fund the patient safety board campaign, among other initiatives. The foundation reported assets of nearly $186 million in 2021. The American Hospital Association declined to comment about the patient safety board proposal because it was still reviewing it, said spokesperson Colin Milligan. He provided a statement from the association's senior director of quality and patient safety policy, Akin Demehin, saying hospitals are "deeply committed" to safety and have urged that "publicly reported measures assess hospitals accurately and fairly while giving patients meaningful information." The safety board campaign initially declared the NTSB as its model. However, Feinstein said, it now envisions it as "something of a hybrid" of the NTSB and the Commercial Aviation Safety Team, a lesser-known government-industry partnership that analyzes a massive amount of data to detect emerging risks. Christopher Hart, a former NTSB chairperson who serves on the board of the Joint Commission, a health care accrediting body, likened the proposed patient safety board to the voluntary reporting of aviation errors and near misses, which are statutorily protected from public disclosure. Protecting such tips about non-public events has "enabled a flood of voluntarily provided information" that is "foundational to improving airline safety," Hart said. But some consumer advocates argue that in health care, secrecy and voluntarism have fallen short. They point to the 2005 Patient Safety Act, which lets health care providers submit data confidentially to research groups called patient safety organizations. As of 2018, about 40% of hospitals reimbursed by Medicare didn't report to such organizations despite liability and public disclosure protections, and most of the organizations didn't submit data to national research databases, according to the HHS inspector general. With safety indicators worsening during the pandemic, supporters of a patient safety board argue the current proposal would be a step forward. It could hasten adoption of surveillance technology, launch a national portal for anyone to report events, and coordinate efforts of states, federal agencies, and accrediting bodies. Barragán will reintroduce the bill in the current term but declined to give a date, said spokesperson Kevin McGuire. "From our understanding, the stakeholders we are working with are discussing the concerns" raised by advocates, McGuire said. Sue Sheridan, a co-founder of Patients For Patient Safety US, became a patient safety advocate after untreated jaundice left her son brain-damaged and her husband died of cancer that went untreated for months because a pathology result was not properly communicated. She now is a member of a working group for the presidential advisory council and said she expects consumer-friendly tweaks to the proposal, including putting patient representatives on the board itself — a step she said she would support. And she backs the overall effort, despite saying the plan needs to be somewhat refined. "We will be safer with it than without it," Sheridan said. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230605/Will-a-e28098national-patient-safety-boarde28099-modeled-after-the-NTSB-actually-fly.aspx Curt Lewis