Flight Safety Information - July 3, 2023 No. 128 In This Issue :At least 1 person is dead after a plane crashed at a South Carolina resort : Delta flight from Michigan to Florida diverted to Atlanta after 'unruly passenger' : Cabin Pressure Incident Spotlights SpiceJet Safety Lapses : Private jet carrying comedian Gabriel Iglesias skid off the runway in North Carolina : ...sucked out of an airplane in 1971 after it was struck by a bolt of lightning. She fell 10,000 feet to the ground, strapped to her seat, and SURVIVED : Air Force investigating in-flight mechanical issue on Luke F-35 : Qantas Flight Return to Sydney After the Cockpit Smoke At least 1 person is dead after a plane crashed at a South Carolina resort By Mitchell McCluskey, CNN Updated 6:35 PM EDT, Sun July 2, 2023 Crews responded to a small plane crash in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Sunday. CNN — At least one person is dead Sunday after a single-engine plane crashed at a resort in the coastal city of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, authorities say. Police and fire crews responded to the crash about 11 a.m. local time, North Myrtle Beach Police officer Pat Wilkinson said in a statement to CNN. View this interactive content on CNN.comOne person on the plane died and another, a female, was taken to a hospital in critical condition, Wilkinson said. Crews found the plane engulfed in flames after it crashed in a wooded area near a road in Myrtle Beach Barefoot Resort, North Myrtle Beach Fire Rescue said in a post on Facebook. Crews quickly extinguished the blaze. Four people were on board the plane, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. The Piper PA-32R-300 aircraft had left the Grand Strand Airport before crashing two miles northwest of the airport, the NTSB said. An NTSB investigator is expected arrive at the crash later Sunday to start documenting the scene. Delta flight from Michigan to Florida diverted to Atlanta after 'unruly passenger' Emily DeLetter USA TODAY A Delta Air Lines flight was diverted to Atlanta after an incident with what the airline described as an "unruly passenger." Delta flight 1378 was traveling from Detroit Metro Airport to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Wednesday when it was diverted to Atlanta. According to Delta, the flight was met at the gate in Atlanta by law enforcement, then continued on to its destination with a new crew. Delta did not provide details about the incident, but said in a statement the airline does not "tolerate threats and abuse of any kind towards our people." The airline added that it is in contact with the flight attendant to provide support and is cooperating with authorities in their investigation. "At Delta, the safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is, and will always be, our number one priority," a spokesperson said in a statement. Unruly passengers on the rise Reports of unruly passengers has sharply risen over the past few years, according to data collected by the Federal Aviation Administration. 2021 saw the highest increase in incident reports, with 5,973 reported that year, or a 492% increase from the previous year. As of the last data collected on June 18, there have been 857 unruly passenger reports to the FAA in 2023. Cabin Pressure Incident Spotlights SpiceJet Safety Lapses Sean Broderick June 29, 2023 The flight crew’s failure to adhere to published procedures, a lack of adequate crew resource management, and deficiencies in the airline’s flight and maintenance operations combined to cause a serious cabin pressurization incident on a SpiceJet Boeing 737-800 in November 2021, an Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) of India investigation found. SpiceJet Flight SG391 was en route from Ahmedabad, India, to Patna, India, the aircraft’s second leg of the day. Early in the descent into Patma, the pilots received a master caution and a pressurization system “auto fail” indication, the AAIB said. Selection of the automatic backup system (ALTN), as the auto fail/unscheduled pressurization change non-normal checklist (NNC) calls for, did not solve the issue. The pilots moved to the next NNC step, switching to manual cabin pressure control mode. Here, the pilots control cabin pressure primarily through an outflow valve (OFV), which can be set to open or closed. Boeing’s guidance cautions pilots to be conservative when adjusting the OFV in manual mode. “A small movement of the outflow valve can cause a large change in cabin rate of climb or descent,” Boeing’s pilot manual checklist guidance said. “Manual actuation of the outflow valve can produce large, rapid changes in cabin pressure which could result in passenger and crew discomfort and/or injury.” But the pilots did not understand how to operate the system manually. The first officer (FO) moved the valve switch to “open.” The pilot in command (PIC) pressed and held the switch for 20 sec., opening the valve completely and leading to complete loss of cabin pressure. With the aircraft flying at flight level 35,000 ft. (FL350), cabin pressure began to climb “rapidly” and triggered the Cabin Altitude Warning, AAIB said. The co-pilot immediately deployed passenger oxygen masks, put on her oxygen mask and advised the PIC to do the same, which is protocol for a pressurization issue at or above FL100. Instead, the PIC declared an emergency and—abandoning both the cabin altitude warning and rapid depressurization checklists—asked the co-pilot to read the emergency descent checklist. The PIC directed the aircraft down to FL100 in about 8 min. “and did not carry out memory actions of emergency descent as per procedure,” AAIB said. The PIC did not don his emergency oxygen mask until 3-4 min into the descent. As a result, he “probably” experienced “momentary incapacitation due to hypoxia,” AAIB said. The pilots did not alert cabin crew about the pressurization issue, “which lead to chaos in passenger cabin and lack of situational awareness among the crew members,” AAIB said. Adding to the confusion, cabin attendants were told to stay seated during the descent. “The cabin crew were not at all allowed by the PIC to review the health condition of the passengers till the flight landed which was required as per safety emergency procedure,” the AAIB found. The crew declared a “mayday” to air traffic controllers, but later canceled the emergency declaration once the aircraft was below FL100. The flight landed safely at Patna. None of the 184 passengers and six crew members reported any injuries. Investigators concluded the “direct cause” of the serious incident was the PIC’s lack of adherence to “standard operating procedure to maintain cabin pressure during AUTO/ALT FAIL condition due to inadequate knowledge in handling of pressurization system in manual mode,” the report said. Poor crew resource management and inadequate training were flagged as “latent causes.” Deeper Issues Seen Details in the report underscore deeper problems within SpiceJet. In April 2020, Boeing issued an operators’ bulletin emphasizing the importance of ensuring flight crews understand how to manually control cabin pressure. The bulletin was prompted by in-service reports of “flight crew confusion” during depressurization events. SpiceJet distributed the bulletin to all pilots “through electronic media,” but did not include it in any “operational document,” AAIB found. SpiceJet’s training on the pressurization system was done once annually, per regulatory requirements. However, investigators found that instruction on manual mode specifically “was not elaborate ... as this was the second back-up system,” the report found. Investigators could not determine why the pressurization system failed on flight SG391. Maintenance personnel did not run basic built-in test equipment troubleshooting procedures on the component post-flight, and therefore did not have an error code. Instead, they replaced the flow valve. SpiceJet maintenance records show seven similar cases of pressurization system auto fail warnings in the previous eight months were handled the same way: swapping out the part without diagnosing the issue’s root cause. During an 18-month stretch through August 2022, SpiceJet handled more than 660 faults on its 42-aircraft Boeing 737-800 sub-fleet related to the air conditioning or pressurization systems, suggesting the issues are not being solved. “This reflects poor maintenance standards being followed by the operator,” AAIB said. “Further, [investigators] observed that frequent swapping of components is being resorted to by the operator to undertake defect rectification, which is not a healthy maintenance practice.” AAIB recommended SpiceJet update pilot training to reiterate how to properly identify and manage a pressurization system failure. It also needs to improve CRM training for “all crew,” including steps to ensure adequate coordination between pilots and cabin attendants. The airline also needs to “evaluate” its maintenance practices, with an emphasis on following prescribed troubleshooting procedures. “The practice of swapping of components between airplanes for the purpose of trouble shooting should be strictly avoided,” AAIB said. SpiceJet has made changes to its pilot training and issued two bulletins on aircraft pressurization fault troubleshooting, the report said. Private jet carrying comedian Gabriel Iglesias skid off the runway in North Carolina By Jamiel Lynch, CNN Published 10:44 PM EDT, Fri June 30, 2023 A private jet carrying comedian Gabriel Iglesias slid 600 feet off a North Carolina runway after landing on Friday. From Gabriel Iglesias/Twitter CNN — A private jet carrying comedian and actor Gabriel Iglesias skid off a runway in a small town in western North Carolina, he said on social media Friday. No injuries were reported when the airplane had difficulty stopping for an “undetermined reason” and slid about 600 feet off the end of the runway in Andrews, North Carolina, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. “Emergency landing!!! Our private jet skid off the runway and wound up in a field in Andrew’s, N. Carolina,” the comedian, also known as “Fluffy,” said in a tweet. “Everyone is ok but shaken up. Happy to be alive. I love u all,” he continued. The incident at Western Carolina Regional Airport was reported to emergency responders around 1 p.m. ET Friday, the sheriff’s office said, adding the area saw “heavy rain” that morning. The comedian was scheduled to perform at Harrah’s Cherokee Hotel & Casino Resort on Friday night, according to his website. CNN has reached out to representatives for Iglesias for additional comment. Weird History Facts 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke was sucked out of an airplane in 1971 after it was struck by a bolt of lightning. She fell 10,000 feet to the ground, strapped to her seat, and SURVIVED after she endured 10 days in the Amazon Jungle. After 10 days, she found a boat moored near a shelter and found the boat's fuel tank still partly full. Juliane poured the gasoline on her wounds, successfully removing the maggots from her arm. Out of 93 passengers and crew, Juliane was the only survivor of the LANSA Flight 508 crash that took place on December 24th, 1971. More: 50 Rare Historical Photos That You Probably Haven’t Seen Before Air Force investigating in-flight mechanical issue on Luke F-35 By Rachel S. Cohen Jun 30, 12:51 PM Air Force 62nd Aircraft Maintenance Unit crew chiefs refuel an F-35 Lightning II on Nov. 3, 2022, at Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field, Arizona. (Airman Mason Hargrove/Air Force) The Air Force is investigating what caused a mechanical problem aboard an F-35A fighter in flight earlier this month, a spokesperson confirmed to Air Force Times. The pilot opted to return to Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, while they tried to figure out what was causing the issue, 56th Fighter Wing spokesperson Sean Clements said Wednesday. The pilot radioed a code 7700, which flags an airborne emergency to air traffic control, around 1:10 p.m. local time on June 15, according to the flight tracking site FlightRadar24. The site showed the jet circling counterclockwise over northwest Phoenix as it prepared to land at Luke. “When the malfunction didn’t remedy itself, the pilot returned the aircraft safely to the ground where the issue can be investigated more in-depth,” Clements said. It’s unclear what the specific nature of the problem was, how it affected the aircraft or what caused it. The Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Program Office did not immediately respond to a request for more further details. The jet has flown several times since then, according to FlightRadar24, including an appearance Thursday at Fort Worth, Texas, where F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin builds the airframe. The 56th Fighter Wing trains more than 100 F-35 pilots each year and graduates three-quarters of the world’s Joint Strike Fighter pilots, according to its website. The Air Force currently owns more than 400 F-35As and plans to purchase over 1,700 in total. Qantas Flight Return to Sydney After the Cockpit Smoke, BY BHAVYA VELANI June 30, 2023 in Airline News, SYDNEY- Australian flag carrier Qantas link (QF) flight from Sydney (SYD) to Canberra (CBR) returned back to SYD after experiencing smoke in the cockpit. Further, flight QF1501 is operated by Boeing 717. Qantas operates dozens of daily flights between Sydney and Canberra with its regional subsidiary Qantas Link. The airline deploys Boeing 717 and De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 aircraft on this route. Qantas Link Cockpit Smoke in Sydney to Canberra Flight According to FlightRadar24, the Qantas link flight QF1501 on Jun 27 took off from Sydney (SYD) at 8:16 PM UTC. Shortly after takeoff, the pilot noticed the smoke inside the cockpit; following this, they decided to turn back at SYD. QF1501 landed safely back at SYD at 8:36 PM UTC, 20 minutes later. Further, it is a daily scheduled flight and takes less than an hour to connect SYD with CBR. According to a Qantas spokeswoman, one of their Sydney to Canberra flights had to return to Sydney due to an unusual smell reported by the crew. As a standard procedure, fire services were called to attend the priority landing. The passengers were unaffected by the smell and were accommodated on flights the following morning. Subsequently, the airline’s engineers are currently checking the aircraft. Curt Lewis