Flight Safety Information - June 21, 2023 No. 119 In This Issue : Incident: Sunwing B738 at Belfast on Jun 15th 2023, tail scrape on departure : Incident: United B739 at Chicago on Jun 19th 2023, loss of cabin pressure : IATA Launches Program to Improve Aviation Safety in Africa : A man poured soda on a traveler who he said kept sticking her 'smelly feet' under his airplane seat : Cabin crew restrain 19-year-old passenger with ‘lasso rope and tie wraps’ after he tries to open plane door : Archer plots a data-driven approach to flight safety, from the C-suite to the cockpit : WestJet To Shut Down Recent Acquisition Sunwing Airlines, Operate Single Brand : Jet engine maker announces big Georgia expansion at Paris Air Show Incident: Sunwing B738 at Belfast on Jun 15th 2023, tail scrape on departure A Sunwing Airlines Boeing 737-800 on behalf of TUI Airways, registration C-GNCH performing flight BY-1472 from Belfast Aldergrove,NI (UK) to Lanzarote,CI (Spain) with 195 people on board, departed Belfast's runway 07 when the tail contacted the runway surface upon takeoff rotation. The crew stopped the climb at 5000 feet and entered a hold while the crew was working the checklists and communicating with dispatch and maintenance. Subsequently the crew decided to return to Belfast, climbed to 6000 feet while burning fuel off and returned to Aldergrove for a safe landing on runway 07 about 35 minutes after departure. The aircraft returned to service after about 14.5 hours on the ground. The Canadian TSB reported: "During rotation for take-off, the tail of the aircraft made contact with the runway. The flight crew put the aircraft in holding while they ran the appropriate checklists and contacted the company. The flight was subsequently instructed to return to EGAA where it landed overweight. There were no reported injuries." https://avherald.com/h?article=50ab593b&opt=0 Incident: United B739 at Chicago on Jun 19th 2023, loss of cabin pressure A United Boeing 737-900, registration N37422 performing flight UA-1341 from Chicago O'Hare,IL to Houston Intercontinental,TX (USA), was climbing out of Chicago when the crew stopped the climb at about FL200 and initiated a descent to 10,000 feet levelling off at 10,000 feet about 5 minutes later. The passenger oxygen masks deployed. The aircraft returned to Chicago for a safe landing on runway 10C about 33 minutes after stopping the climb. A passenger reported the oxygen masks came down after the cabin depressurized. A replacement Boeing 737-900 reached Houston with a delay of about 3 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Chicago about 22 hours after landing back. https://avherald.com/h?article=50ab577e&opt=0 IATA Launches Program to Improve Aviation Safety in Africa Addis Ababa – The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is launching the Collaborative Aviation Safety Improvement Program (CASIP) to reduce the accident and serious incident rate across Africa as part of the Focus Africa initiative. Launch partners in the program are: The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), The African Civil Aviation Commission (AFCAC), The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Boeing, The Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA). Together, the CASIP partners will prioritize the most pressing safety concerns on the continent and rally the resources needed to address them. The benefits of improving aviation safety in Africa will be spread across the economies and societies of the continent. “Improving aviation safety will play an important role in Africa’s overall development. Safe, efficient and reliable air connectivity is a major driving contribution to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In that sense, CASIP will make it clear to governments across the continent that aviation must be prioritized as an integral part of national development strategies. With such broad benefits at stake, we hope that other parties will be encouraged to join the CASIP effort,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General. The starting point for safety improvement is the effective use of global standards for safety. At government level, a key indicator is effective implementation of ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS). Data for the year 2022 reveals considerable room for improvement with only 28 of 54 African states reaching an effective implementation rate for ICAO SARPS of 60% or higher. In parallel, the CASIP partners will Identify deficiencies in operational safety and implement corrective action plans Provide safety training and workshops continent wide Promote a data-driven approach to safety performance with emphasis on making safety data available to decision-makers and ensuring efficient accident/incident reporting "Improving safety performance is a priority for Africa. And we don’t need to reinvent the wheel to deliver the needed results. Collaborative safety teams in Latin America have demonstrated that safety improves when government and industry work together to implement global standards. By working together, the partners will pool resources to have a greater impact on areas where risk can be reduced, leading to measurable improvements in safety,” said Walsh. https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/2023-releases/2023-06-20-02/ A man poured soda on a traveler who he said kept sticking her 'smelly feet' under his airplane seat A traveler got revenge on a passenger who stuck their "smelly feet" right under his plane seat. The man filmed himself pouring soda over the sock-covered foot, which then wiggled away. A TikTok video of the incident has been watched more than 300,000 times. A traveler appeared to take matters into his own hands when a fellow passenger kept sticking their "smelly feet" right under his airplane seat. TikToker @danielgreen2426 posted a video that purportedly showed him pouring some soda over a sock-covered foot under his seat. "Woman on the plane behind me kept putting her smelly feet under me… she then stopped," he wrote in the TikTok, which has racked up more than 300,000 views since it was posted on June 14. The clip shows the sock-covered foot wiggling around underneath a seat. A soda can is held over the foot for a few seconds, staining the top of the sock with a small drop. When the foot continues to wiggle underneath the seat, the TikTok user pours another small drop. This prompts the foot to finally disappear. Comments have been turned off on the video, which has received more than 9,000 likes as of Tuesday. Mid-flight incidents between passengers have increasingly made headlines over the last year as travel returned following the pandemic. Research published by the Federal Aviation Administration shows that air-rage incidents are 49% higher than pre-COVID levels in the US, with 783 incidents occurring this year as of June 2023. In the UK, instances in 2022 nearly tripled from 2019 to 1,028, according to Sky News. Witnesses say a United Airlines passenger (left) punched a crew member and tried to jump from the plane in May.ABC 7; United Airlines In May, a passenger was banned from traveling with United Airlines after he punched a crew member and tried to jump out of the plane during boarding. And back in April, a viral TikTok captured a man throwing a temper tantrum over a baby that was crying during a Southwest flight. Screenshots of the passenger yelling, and then being escorted off of the plane. A Southwest passenger was escorted off the plane after throwing a tantrum over a crying baby.tiktok.com/@mjgrabowski In today's social-media age, many of these incidents are caught on camera and posted online, igniting debate over everything from switching seats for families to parents leaving their kids in economy while enjoying first or business class. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/man-poured-soda-traveler-said-171730542.html Cabin crew restrain 19-year-old passenger with ‘lasso rope and tie wraps’ after he tries to open plane door A South Korean teenager was restrained by cabin crew using ‘lasso rope and tie wraps’ after he allegedly tried to open the emergency door of a plane mid-flight in the second such incident in less than a month. The 19-year-old was arrested on Monday after he attempted to open the door of a Seoul-bound Jeju Air flight with nearly 180 passengers on board. The Boeing 737's door did not open due to air pressure difference and the passengers remained unhurt, according to Yonhap news agency. At the Incheon airport, the teen, whose identity has been withheld, was charged with breaching the Aviation Security Act. According to officials, the suspect began “acting strange” about an hour into the flight from Cebu in the Philippines. He complained of feeling pressure on his chest. The airline crew reportedly offered to move the teen to another seat near the jump seats, but that did not appease him. He then allegedly ran towards one of the exit doors at around 5.30am local time and tried to force it open. He was restrained by crew members using “lasso ropes and tie wraps” before being handed over to the police after arrival at the Incheon airport. The suspect had dropped out of high school and was staying in Cebu alone for about a month, police said. During the investigation, the accused did not state his motive but reportedly asked questions such as, “how many life vests are there on an airplane?” and “whether all flight attendants would be fired if the emergency door is opened”. The suspect later tested positive for drugs; a full analysis of the type of drug is expected in two weeks. Earlier in May, a 33-year-old man was arrested for opening an emergency exit door minutes before it landed in the southern city of Daegu in South Korea. Twelve people were slightly injured after he opened the door of the Asiana Airlines Airbus A321-200, causing air to blast inside the cabin. Daegu police said the man, surnamed Lee, told them that he was under stress after a recent job loss and that he wanted to get out of the plane because he was feeling suffocated just before landing. The plane was carrying 200 people, 194 of whom were passengers, including teenage athletes on their way to a track and field competition. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/lifestyle/travel/police-in-south-korea-arrest-teenager-who-tries-to-open-door-of-airplane-mid-flight/ar-AA1cPZDb Archer plots a data-driven approach to flight safety, from the C-suite to the cockpit In an aviation career that spans more than three decades, Billy Nolen has piloted Bell UH-1 Huey and OH-58 Kiowa helicopters for the U.S. Army, flown Boeing 727, 757 and 767 airliners for American Airlines, and spent 11 years as a captain on the since-retired MD-80. That’s only a slice of Nolen’s resume, which opened a new chapter on June 12, 2023, when he became chief safety officer at eVTOL aircraft developer Archer Aviation. But after many years as an administrator, instructor and safety manager, Nolen still has a pilot’s sensibility. “We’ve come a long way from those early days with a manual throttle and a six-pack of instruments,” he told Vertical. “This [flying eVTOLs] is really state-of-the-art stuff.” Archer hopes to see its Midnight aircraft certified by the FAA by the end of 2024. The company’s goal is to deploy 6,000 aircraft by 2030, eventually ramping up to manufacture about 2,000 aircraft a year. Archer Photo Aviation’s next frontier Nolen joins Archer after a one-year term as acting administrator of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), where he launched an updated airspace blueprint for “air taxis” that will shape the advanced air mobility (AAM) operations of all domestic eVTOL operations. That role allowed him to take the controls of six unique eVTOL models in a simulator, including Archer’s — visceral pilot experience that may inform Archer’s safety regime as it works toward launching service in 2025. “There were a few things I had to unlearn as a helicopter pilot when I went through the [Archer eVTOL] sim,” he said. “Some of the architecture is slightly different … but it’s a stable platform. You’ve got 12 rotors, you’ve got envelope protection. We’ve come so far.” Data-driven approach to safety In his new role, Nolen is tasked with developing an operationally-pristine safety management system (SMS) for the Archer Midnight aircraft, and also with building public trust in a space where the logistics of AAM may still seem like science fiction to some travelers. “We recognize the public will absolutely require that it is safe,” Nolen said. “If that case has not been made, then we’re lost before we even get off the ground. There’s already a very strong safety culture at Archer. My goal is to continue to take that — and [see], are there new levels that we can take that to?” It’s a process that will leverage massive quantities of data, and — potentially — artificial intelligence and machine learning, to continuously improve flight operations. Pilot training, vertiport design and collaboration with other eVTOL firms to develop best practices are all key priorities. “We’re awash in data,” Nolen said. “We recognize the beauty of taking all of that data and understanding what it’s telling us. It’s all about de-risking, making sure our risk modeling is correct, and then forever tap into systems to be on the lookout for any vulnerabilities.” In his new role at Archer, Billy Nolen is tasked with developing an operationally-pristine safety management system (SMS) for the Archer Midnight aircraft, as well as building public trust. Archer hopes to see its Midnight aircraft certified by the FAA by the end of 2024, launching operations at retrofitted heliports and regional airports. The company’s goal is to deploy 6,000 aircraft by 2030, eventually ramping up to manufacture about 2,000 aircraft a year. Launch customer United Airlines has committed to buying 100 Archer aircraft, with the intent to use them on high-volume “trunk” routes between airports and city centers. Archer’s vision is to provide 10-minute flights between Newark Airport and New York City, with similar offerings in other urban centres. “We’ve got roughly 5,000 airports across the country, so there’s a lot of real estate,” Nolen said. “But we will be absolutely working across the industry, with cities, etc., to make sure what is the most efficient in terms of how we move Archer guests in an urban environment.” Archer will cast a wide net when recruiting its initial pilots, Nolen said, though he wouldn’t specify if the company is targeting helicopter, airline or military pilots for its new platform — which takes off vertically like a helicopter and flies forward like a jet. “This is a novel opportunity for us not only to have folks who are already currently pilots, but people are just getting through university,” he said. “They may be part of a pilot training program … and we want to be as diverse as we can be as well.” Rigorous pilot training Though Nolen said he found the Archer aircraft “fairly easy” to fly in a simulator, he noted the company will have rigorous pilot training. “We’ll put pilots through their paces,” he said. “We want to make sure they know they can be adept at handling any sort of emergency that might arise, the ability to deal with environmental conditions, etc. All of that will be part of our training process.” In the month leading up to joining Archer, Nolen spoke often — and effusively — on social media about the potential for a revolution in aviation, where eVTOLs might change the way people move. That enthusiasm is tempered with the sombre expertise of a long-time aviator who has made safety the focus of his career. “Safety is always a journey,” he said. “And vigilance never takes a day off. Those are the things I will say over and over again, ad nauseam, during my time here.” https://verticalmag.com/news/archer-plots-a-data-driven-approach-to-flight-safety-from-the-c-suite-to-the-cockpit/ WestJet To Shut Down Recent Acquisition Sunwing Airlines, Operate Single Brand Canada’s WestJet Group will shut down recently acquired Sunwing Airlines and incorporate its 18 Boeing 737s into WestJet mainline operations next year. Earlier this month, a new labor contract approved by WestJet pilots similarly cemented folding ULCC subsidiary Swoop into mainline operations. "We are confident that the future integration of Sunwing Airlines into the WestJet Group, following that of our ultra-low-cost carrier Swoop, will significantly enhance our ability to provide affordability and choice to our guests," WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech says in a statement. "The integration of all jets from Sunwing Airlines, Swoop and WestJet into one fleet will provide us with the scale to enhance our collective operational resilience, while offering more affordable fares and vacation opportunities across our entire network," von Hoensbroech says. The WestJet Group’s combined fleet of 180 aircraft serves more than 110 destinations in 24 countries. Calgary-based WestJet’s deal to acquire Toronto-based Sunwing was approved by the Canadian government in March, and the transaction closed on May 1. Under the terms of the federal approval, WestJet agreed to extend Sunwing vacation package offerings to five new Canadian cities, increase regional connectivity and maintain capacity on routes most affected by the merger. The integration of Swoop is planned to be completed by the end of October 2023. Sunwing Airlines will begin to be integrated into WestJet mainline operations in 2024. It “remains business as usual at this time” for Sunwing, WestJet says. While all airline operations will be brought under one brand umbrella, tour businesses Sunwing Vacations and WestJet Vacations “will continue to operate independently under their existing and respective brands, as integral parts of the WestJet Group,” WestJet states. “As a result, both Sunwing Vacations and WestJet Vacations will significantly expand vacation offerings to even more communities across [an] extensive network.” WestJet says the integrated carrier will offer “ultra-affordable fares.” Von Hoensbroech recently told Aviation Week Network that “conceptually I think it is wrong to believe that you have to have different airline brands to segment your customers.” In the statement confirming the plan to shut down Sunwing, von Hoensbroech says competition in the Canadian airline market “has never been healthier and, after a challenging three years, aviation is back, with passenger traffic doubling in Canada since March 2022.” https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/airports-networks/westjet-shut-down-recent-acquisition-sunwing-airlines-operate Jet engine maker announces big Georgia expansion at Paris Air Show Pratt & Whitney promises 400 additional jobs in Columbus area An aircraft and helicopter engine manufacturer is taking its Georgia operations to new heights. On Tuesday, at the 2023 Paris Air Show in France, Pratt & Whitney announced a $206 million expansion to its Columbus campus, promising an additional 400 jobs. Since the mid-1980s, the Connecticut-based company has made Georgia’s second-largest city, which hugs the Alabama border, its home base for manufacturing critical components for its military and commercial engines. Among Pratt & Whitney’s major aerospace customers is Airbus, a supplier of passenger jets for Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines and carriers around the world. The expansion is not uncharted skies for Georgia, which boasts one of the largest aerospace industries in the country. Gov. Brian Kemp, who attended the Paris Air Show where multiple Georgia-related announcements were made, touted Pratt & Whitney’s new investment in a news release as a sign that the state’s sky-high business ambitions are being rewarded. “From the flights that go through the world’s most utilized airport to the engines in the very airplanes, the Peach State is crucial to the movement of goods and products,” Kemp said. “Pratt & Whitney’s decision to expand will only further that reputation.” Georgia is home to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world’s busiest airport, and more than 800 aerospace facilities, including several operated by Lockheed Martin and private jet-maker Gulfstream. Last year, Georgia factories shipped $9.2 billion of aerospace products across the globe, making the Peach State as the fifth-largest exporter in the United States, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development. Pratt & Whitney has an existing employee base of roughly 2,000 in Columbus, where workers maintain hundreds of engines and produce compressor airfoils — the metal blades seen whirring in a jet turbine that produce thrust. The expansion is expected to be completed by 2028 and will include 81,000 square feet of new engine maintenance space and new machinery, which will allow the company to annually overhaul 400 Geared Turbofan (GTF) engines. “Our Columbus business has grown from a small manufacturing facility to a large, state-of-the-art manufacturing and overhaul center,” Shane Eddy, president of Pratt & Whitney, said in the release. “This investment will help ensure that we have the infrastructure, machinery and equipment upgrades in place to provide the best products and services to our customers worldwide.” Pratt & Whitney will likely qualify for job creation tax credits and worker training through Georgia Quick Start, and a Georgia Department of Economic Development spokesperson said negotiations involving discretionary incentives, such as grants, remain active. The expansion comes on the heels of a new engine repair shop by Delta TechOps, which services Pratt & Whitney’s GTF engines. The 155,000-square-foot facility houses more than 100 mechanics, who repair engines used across about 150 airlines. Archer Aviation, an electric aircraft developer, also announced Tuesday in Paris that progress is being made on its forthcoming 100-acre campus in Covington, east of Atlanta, where the California-based company plans to build its first mass production facility for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for taxi service. The factory, which is a partnership with European auto brand Stallantis, is on track to open in mid-2024. “High-volume manufacturing is critical to ensuring we can meet this goal and joining forces with one of the leading mobility companies in the world is helping us realize the once-in-a-generation opportunity we have to redefine urban transportation,” Archer’s founder and CEO, Adam Goldstein, said in a news release. https://www.ajc.com/news/jet-engine-manufacturer-announces-206m-expansion-in-georgia/5GQXPGRQ4NEKHJNYDAPNQGXJWU/ Curt Lewis