Flight Safety Information - July 26, 2023 No. 143 In This Issue : Accident: Jazz DH8D enroute on Jul 15th 2023, turbulence dislodges both pilots : Incident: Canadian North AT42 at Hay River on Jul 19th 2023, ADI and HSI went blank, then smoke in cockpit : Incident: Star Peru B733 at Tarapoto on Jul 24th 2023, engine failure : Hail The Size Of Tennis Balls Rips Through Wing, Nose Of New York-Bound Flight : DGCA suspends IndiGo pilots’ licences for tail strike during landing at Ahmedabad : EU regulators in talks with Pakistan over PIA ban : Study offers objective insights to near-miss collisions between drones, airplanes : Flight delays, cancellations across US could continue for next decade due to staffing shortages: report : Ex-US Marine accused of training Chinese military pilots fights extradition to the US : Hundreds Of RTX-Made Jet Engines Recalled Over Metal Contamination—Sending Stock Tumbling Accident: Jazz DH8D enroute on Jul 15th 2023, turbulence dislodges both pilots A Jazz de Havilland Dash 8-400, registration C-GJZN performing flight QK-8357 from Toronto,ON to Windsor,ON (Canada) with 50 passengers and 4 crew, was enroute at 12,000 feet when the aircraft encountered severe turbulence dislodging both pilots from their seats and accelerating a cart towards a flight attendant. The aircraft continued to destination for a landing without further incident. The Canadian TSB reported the first officer hit his head, the flight attendant was hit on her leg by the cart, resulting in two minor injuries. Following landing in Windsor the crew performed the return flight, then first officer and the injured flight attendant ended their work days early due to their minor injuries. A severe/extreme turbulence inspection of the aircraft did not reveal any damage/faults. https://avherald.com/h?article=50c39104&opt=0 Incident: Canadian North AT42 at Hay River on Jul 19th 2023, ADI and HSI went blank, then smoke in cockpit A Canadian North Avions de Transport Regional ATR-42-500, registration C-FTIZ performing flight 5T-609 from Hay River,NT to Yellowknife,NT (Canada) with 8 people on board, was in the initial climb out of Hay River when the first officer's EHSI and EADI went blank, a short time later smoke appeared in the cockpit. The crew declared emergency and returned to Hay River for a safe landing. The Canadian TSB stated maintenance reported the #2 symbol generator burnt out causing the circuit breaker to trip. Maintenance replaced the symbol generator. https://avherald.com/h?article=50c38fdd&opt=0 Incident: Star Peru B733 at Tarapoto on Jul 24th 2023, engine failure A Star Peru Boeing 737-300, registration OB-2167-P performing flight 2I-3143 from Lima to Tarapoto (Peru) with 144 people on board, was descending towards Tarapoto when the crew declared emergency reporting the failure of one of their engines (CFM56). The passenger were instructed to assume their brace positions for landing. The aircraft continued for a safe landing on Tarapoto's runway 35. The aircraft vacated the runway and was subsequently towed to the apron. The aircraft remained on the ground in Tarapoto for about 9 hours, then performed the return flight 2I-3144 with a delay of about 8 hours. The aircraft is still on the ground in Lima about 9 hours after landing in Lima. https://avherald.com/h?article=50c361ee&opt=0 Hail The Size Of Tennis Balls Rips Through Wing, Nose Of New York-Bound Flight The Delta Boeing 767 was flying from Milan to New York. We’ve all suffered on flights that were hit by bad weather, right? Whether it’s delays to takeoff because of excessive rain or high winds leading to a bumpy landing, it can be an awkward experience for everyone involved. But as the climate gets crazier, so too does the interaction between planes and freak weather, as one flight from Milan to New York found when it was hit by a mad hailstorm. According to AP News, Delta Airlines flight DL185 took off from Milan’s Malpensa airport on Monday. Shortly after takeoff, the “packed passenger plane” passed through severe storms, which were caused by cold air from the Alps hitting “exceptionally warm air” that covered most of Southern Europe. While the Boeing 767 jet was climbing through the storm, the plane was struck by ‘tennis ball-sized’ hail that damaged its nose, wings and parts of the engine. As a result of the damage, the plane was forced into an emergency landing at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci International Airport. Nobody was injured during the ordeal. In a statement shared by Delta, the airline said: “The flight landed safely and passengers deplaned normally. The aircraft sustained some damage during the bad weather which is being reviewed by our local maintenance team.” Delta has so far not confirmed how many passengers were onboard the flight, or when they were able to take an alternative flight out to New York. https://www.yahoo.com/autos/hail-size-tennis-balls-rips-190000461.html DGCA suspends IndiGo pilots’ licences for tail strike during landing at Ahmedabad NEW DELHI: After examining the tail strike of an IndiGo Airbus A321 (VT-IMW) during landing at Ahmedabad on June 15, 2023, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended the licence of this flight’s pilot-in-comand (PIC) for three month and the co-pilot’s for a month. The regulator had issued show cause to the pilots on this incident and has found “violation of the provisions of the relevant (rules)” by the crew that had led to the same. “On June 15, 2023, an Airbus 321 aircraft was involved in a tail strike while landing at Ahmedabad. DGCA investigation revealed the crew carried out the landing in deviation of established SOPs (standard operating procedures). Accordingly, both the crew members were issued a show cause notice by DGCA,” a senior DGCA official said. A tail strike occurs when the aft fuselage (tail) of an aeroplane comes in contact with the runway during either takeoff or landing. According to aviation website Skybrary, statistically the majority of tail strikes occur on landing. “Tail strikes most often occur as a result of human error although environmental factors, such as strong gusty winds, can increase the potential for an event,” Skybrary says. recommended by The DGCA official said: “After examination of their replies and relevant facts of the matter, the license of the PIC has been suspended for a period of three months and co-pilot has been suspended for a period of one month for violation of the provisions of the relevant Civil Aviation Requirements and SOPs,” the official added. Since last April, IndiGo has seen at least eight tail strikes. DGCA chief Vikram Dev Dutt has earlier this month issued a show-cause notice to IndiGo on this air safety issue. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/dgca-suspends-indigo-pilots-licences-for-tail-strike-during-landing-at-ahmedabad/articleshow/102131707.cms?from=mdr EU regulators in talks with Pakistan over PIA ban European regulators have confirmed they are in "constructive dialogue" with the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) over PIA - Pakistan International Airlines (PK, Islamabad International) resuming flights to the European Union after it was banned from the bloc in 2020 following a scandal over fake pilot licenses. A spokeswoman for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency informed ch-aviation: "EASA and the European Commission are in constructive dialogue with the Pakistan CAA. A visit to Pakistan by an EASA team will depend on the progress of those discussions". This followed numerous media reports that a remote audit of PIA by EASA a few months ago would be followed by an on-site audit of the airline and the PCAA in September 2023. EASA banned the Pakistani flag carrier from EU airspace on July 1, 2020, over a fake pilot license scam at the airline. UK and US aviation regulators followed suit. The scandal was revealed following a parliament inquiry into the crash of a PIA A320-200 at Karachi International on May 22, 2020, which questioned the legality of the credentials of almost a third of all pilots trained in Pakistan. This resulted in 262 of Pakistan's 860 pilots being grounded, including 141 of PIA's 434. Meanwhile, Pakistan Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique has suggested that PIA may resume flights to the UK in the next three months after the country's National Assembly on July 20, 2023, unanimously passed two new bills - the Pakistan Civil Aviation Bill (2022) and the Pakistan Airports Authority Bill (2022). They bifurcate the role of the CAA - one for regulating civil aviation activities and the other for providing civil aviation services and developing aviation infrastructure. They also facilitate the outsourcing of three national airports for a specified period to lift standards to international levels. These include Islamabad International, Lahore International, and Karachi International. Speaking in the National Assembly, Rafique said the bills marked an important step towards ensuring compliance with international civil aviation standards and revitalising the national carrier by enabling its return to the US, UK, and Europe. He said the flight bans cost PIA PKR70 billion rupees (USD242.7 million) monthly in lost revenue. "Yesterday's legislation also removed the last hurdle to PIA starting flights to the UK and other countries," he announced on Twitter afterwards. According to Reuters, he earlier told Parliament: "God willing, the PIA flights will resume at least to the UK in three months, and, later, flights to Europe and America will resume". "The time has come to make hard, true and right decisions," Rafique tweeted. "If there is to be progress, the best practices of the world have to be adopted. If PIA is not restructured, it may shut down in one and a half years," he warned. Citing examples such as South African Airways (SA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) and Air India (AI, Mumbai International), he said PIA should be semi-privatised. "We also have to hand over the operation of PIA to the private sector to make it a top-class airline," he said. "I was against privatisation. But even a person like me has now realised that if PIA [which is] facing a loss of PKR80 billion (USD277 million) this year remains as it is, its loss will balloon to PKR259 billion (USD898 million) by the year 2030," he was cited by Pakistan's Dawn newspaper. "Can Pakistan afford this? No, it can't. So what should be done? What South African Airways and Air India have done," he said, referring to the Tata Group in India having recently ordered 450 aircraft for Air India. For its part, PIA only had 27 or 28 operational aircraft making it uncompetitive against the powerful Gulf carriers, he remarked. Rafique also disclosed a plan to convert PIA into a holding company. He said a PKR742 billion (USD2.5 billion) loan liability and all the properties owned by PIA would be transferred to this company. Regarding the outsourcing of airports, the minister clarified that it is not tantamount to privatisation. He assured that no employees would be retrenched and that all employment benefits would remain available. He said outsourcing aimed to improve airport operations by engaging specialist operators. https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/130080-eu-regulators-in-talks-with-pakistan-over-pia-ban Study offers objective insights to near-miss collisions between drones, airplanes Researchers have developed a new way to accurately count and objectively analyze close encounters between drones and airplanes — without depending solely on pilot sightings. In a peer-reviewed study published by the Society of Automotive Engineers in the “SAE International Journal of Aerospace,” researchers looked at more than 1.8 million piloted aircraft operations and nearly 460,000 flights by small-uncrewed aerial systems (sUAS) around Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, a major hub. Between August 2018 and July 2021, researchers with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Unmanned Robotic Systems Analysis (URSA) identified 24 near-midair collisions (NMACs) in which sUAS or “drones” came within 500 feet of piloted aircraft. Given that most air carrier close calls happened within 1.5 miles of a runway approach or departure zone, researchers recommended extending the runway exclusion zone for drones at the ends of high-risk runways, from about 1 mile to 3.5 miles. “That modification would provide enhanced protection for piloted aircraft operating at less than 500 feet above ground level during approach or departure,” said Ryan Wallace, associate professor of Aeronautical Science. “Typically, small uncrewed aircraft don’t fly above 400 feet.” Gathering Objective Evidence Up to this point, information about narrow escapes between sUAS and airplanes has been based on subjective reports from pilots who must simultaneously identify and evade drones in the air. Existing information does not include sUAS not spotted by pilots. Yet, the FAA received an alarming 2,596 pilot reports in 2021 — more than double the 1,210 reports during the first full calendar year of tracking in 2015. Now, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University researchers have devised an objective way to gather detailed information about NMACs between drones and airplanes. They analyzed sUAS and aircraft telemetry data collected using an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) detection device connected to an antenna atop Dallas-Fort Worth Airport’s busy Terminal C concourse. For each sUAS within a 30-mile radius, the device captured telemetry, altitude, launch location and other details. Researchers combined that information with ADS-B (automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast), as well as Mode S messages transmitted by airplanes and tracked by the OpenSky Network. To better understand and visualize the resulting data, all information was fed into URSA’s Airspace Awareness Platform, or AAP-NMAC — a proprietary data analytics software. “We hope that our findings will help improve aviation safety by reducing the risk of collisions between unmanned aircraft systems and piloted aircraft operating in the National Airspace System,” Wallace said. Understanding Near-Miss Events Over the nearly three-year study period, researchers detected 24 close-call events, including two in 2018, one in 2019, 14 in 2020 and seven in 2021. Across all of the NMACs, the mean lateral distance between the drone and the airplane was only about 215 feet. Commercial air carriers were involved in 11 NMACs, while seven incidents involved helicopters and six involved general aviation aircraft. All of the helicopter encounters happened within 1.25 miles of a heliport. Similarly, in 10 of the 11 air carrier encounters, the aircraft was within 1.5 miles of approach or departure and lower than 500 feet above the ground. “Operations within the vicinity of an airport are critical flight phases for pilots with high workload levels. It is within these areas where aircraft have added susceptibly of a collision with sUAS,” said Scott Winter, associate professor of Graduate Studies and associate dean for research, who was a co-author of the research article. “The findings from this study provide objective data for operators, government agencies and airlines to understand sUAS operations better and prevent possible conflicts.” As of 2020, an estimated 1.46 million sUAS were operating in the National Airspace System, the FAA has reported. By 2025, the FAA predicts the small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS) fleet will include nearly 2.4 million units. “The proliferation of drones, particularly ones available to the general public, poses obvious risks,” said research collaborator and professor of Human Factors Dr. Stephen Rice. “Unfortunately, not all drone operators are responsible, knowledgeable or safety-minded. Many of them are not even aware of the rules they must follow.” Of the 24 NMACs identified by Embry-Riddle researchers, Rice noted, the same three sUAS were responsible for more than half (13) of the encounters. Further, in 96% of the cases (23), the drone was operating in excess of the maximum permissible altitude for that area. Though rare, NMACs between drones and piloted aircraft have happened. On Sept. 18, 2020, a Los Angeles police helicopter hit a drone, requiring an emergency landing. A second helicopter-sUAS collision over Los Angeles had been reported nine months earlier. This fall, the FAA will implement a new requirement so that all drone operators will need a remote identification or RID signal to enhance safety and security. For those drone operators who comply with the requirement, Wallace noted, “RID signals should further enhance objective information about near-miss encounters between drones and airplanes.” The journal article describing these findings is entitled “Three Case Studies on Small Uncrewed Aerial Systems Near Midair Collisions with Aircraft: An Evidence-Based Approach for Using Objective Uncrewed Aerial Systems Detection Technology” (DOI: 10.4271/01-16-03-0023), in the SAE [Society of Automotive Engineers] International Journal of Aerospace. In addition to Wallace, Winter and Rice, co-authors include graduate student Sang-A Lee and David C. Kovar of Unmanned Robotics Systems Analysis, USA. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/996582 Flight delays, cancellations across US could continue for next decade due to staffing shortages: report The recent spate of flight delays and cancellations may persist for as much as a decade – due to a shortage of some 32,000 pilots, mechanics and air-traffic controllers, as well as “unrealistic scheduling” by airlines, according to an investigative report. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CBS News his office is investigating several airlines for what a rep called “unrealistic scheduling,” which leads to a carrier’s inability to provide the expected service to the flying public. Experts said the trend in staffing issues suggests that the problem could get a lot worse before it gets better — and could affect travelers for another decade. “Some of the predictions I’m hearing is that the pilot shortage won’t be resolved until 2032 or something like that,” Dean Headley, one of the data and industry experts, told CBS News. Buttigieg’s office confirmed to CBS News that Southwest Airlines is among the companies under investigation but declined to name the others or provide a timeline for the process. Flight delays and cancellations plaguing the airline industry amid “unrealistic scheduling” and staffing shortages may last for another decade, according to a report. From Dec. 24 to Dec. 31, software and staffing issues forced Southwest to cancel 14,042 flights, which was 72.3% of all canceled flights nationwide, the outlet reported, citing Department of Transportation (DOT) data. Summer air travel issues likely to continue, experts warn The airline, which apologized for the rash of cancellations after a massive storm, did not respond to a request for comment by CBS News. The scheduling issues come amid an expanding lack of personnel, including about 32,000 pilots, mechanics and air-traffic controllers, according to a CBS News analysis of data from the Federal Aviation Administration, DOT and Department of Labor. “There’s definitely gaps in places. The system is just uneven right now,” said Buttigieg, who acknowledged that the staffing woes have contributed to the surge in cancellations and delays. Industry experts have recently warned that the summer season will be rough for travelers in part because of lingering air traffic-controller staffing issues and over-scheduling by airlines. The FAA said it has been working to fix staffing problems in New York City and other parts of the country — and even asked airlines to cut down on their summer schedules. “If an airline is knowingly flying an unrealistic schedule, there are going to be consequences,” Buttigieg told CBS News when asked whether he’d hold airlines accountable for not considering staffing levels. “We have active investigations underway right now with regard to that,” he said. “We take that very seriously because when you sell a ticket to a paying customer and you make a profit off of that, you better be ready to do everything in your power to service that ticket. “And we’re also going to hold you responsible for what happens if you can’t,” the secretary said. Air travel chaos leaves hundreds more flights canceled nationwide as travelers take aim at Buttigieg “If you look at the delays, for example, that America experienced through last year in the summer 2022, a lot of that was driven by these companies not having the staff that they needed,” Buttigieg continued. “This is not something that’s going to be worked out overnight. It took years to get this way,” he added. Buttigieg faced the wrath of travelers during the recent holiday weekend, which was marred by chaos that hit New York metro airports the hardest due to foul weather, technical glitches and staffing shortages. He said the bad weather – which airlines often blame for delays — was the main culprit for the snafus. But the number of delays caused by issues within airlines’ control has spiked from 5.2% in 2018 to 7.6% in 2023 – translating to thousands of delayed flights, according to a CBS News analysis of data from FlightAware. During the four-day stretch from June 24 to 27, 31,850 flights — a third of all flights in the US — were delayed, an increase of 25% from the same period last year, and 6,346 scheduled flights were canceled, or one in every 17, according to the news outlet’s analysis. When compared to the same stretch in 2019, prior to the pandemic, the number of cancellations was up a whopping 374%, CBS News reported. On Dec. 16, a bipartisan group of 34 state attorneys general wrote a letter to Buttigieg, saying his department “has yet to develop the ability to respond quickly enough to or coordinate effectively with our offices.” They wrote that “USDOT should require airlines to advertise and sell only flights that they have adequate personnel to fly and support, and perform regular audits of airlines to ensure compliance and impose fines on airlines that do not comply,” according to CBS News. In June 2022, Democratic Sens. Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut wrote letters to the CEOs of 10 airlines to demand action. “While the industry has blamed these disruptions on unexpected weather and air traffic control issues, the data suggests the airlines themselves are at fault for many flight delays and cancellations,” they wrote. “Airlines should have significant notice that they lack the crew to meet a certain flight schedule and, therefore, any shortages should not result in last-minute flight cancellations,” the senators added. Airlines-4-America, the association representing seven of the country’s largest carriers, told CBS News that the airlines have “reduced their schedules to reflect current operating realities” and are “hiring aggressively to make sure they have the right people in the right place at the right time. “US airlines recognize the importance of securing a pipeline of new employees — pilots, flight attendants, mechanics and others — and have established new pilot training programs, enhanced recruitment efforts and implemented programs to address financial hurdles,” the spokesperson added. The aviation industry is short about 17,000 pilots, 12,800 certified mechanics and about 3,000 air-traffic controllers, according to CBS News. There’s no doubt the staffing shortage “affects us now,” Wichita State University emeritus associate professor Headley told the outlet. “They are leaving planes on the ground because they don’t have enough people to fly them for ground crews or anything like that,” said Headley, who conducted marketing analyses on US airlines for decades at the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State. “The airlines are doing about as much as they can [to improve staffing levels]. They can train about 1,500 to 1,800 pilots a year,” he said, adding that the industry “can’t catch up that quick.” Meanwhile, the DOT’s Inspector General said in a recent report that in 20 of the 26 critical control towers across the US, staffing fell well below the FAA’s own 85% minimum threshold. New York Terminal Radar Approach Control, or TRACON, Miami Tower and New York Center the staffing is critically low, according to the IG, who took the FAA to task for making “limited efforts to ensure adequate controller staffing.” Capt. Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the American Airlines pilots’ union, expressed concerns about the lack of air-traffic controllers. “What I’m seeing is the system is under super pressure,” Tajer told CBS News, adding that right now, “we are sustaining that margin of safety … but eventually it’s like anything and something’s going to give.” https://nypost.com/2023/07/26/flight-chaos-across-us-could-continue-for-a-decade-report/ Ex-US Marine accused of training Chinese military pilots fights extradition to the US Former Marine Daniel Duggan once flew Harrier jets for the United States, taking off and landing on Navy carriers during international missions as part of Marine Attack Squadron 214, based in Yuma, Arizona. That was over 20 years ago, but his activity since leaving the service is now the subject of a US indictment that alleges he used his specialist skills to teach Chinese pilots how to land planes on aircraft carriers, claims he denies. Since last October, Duggan, 54, has been held in a maximum-security prison in regional Australia as his lawyers fight an extradition order, approved by Australia’s attorney general, to return him to the US to face trial on charges including money laundering and conspiracy to export US defense services. On Tuesday, Duggan’s lawyers argued for a stay of extradition while Australia’s Office of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) investigates claims of improper action by Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), including that Duggan was “lured” from China, where he was living, to Australia, where the US had legal reach to arrest him. The case comes as the US and its allies seek to unite against China in the Indo-Pacific, where Beijing has been fortifying islands with military installations that they fear may one day be used in a regional conflict. From Lithgow Correctional Centre, where he’s being held, Duggan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that he was “living a nightmare.” “I strenuously reject the indictment in its entirety,” he said. Duggan’s wife Saffrine wants Australian officials to block his extradition, and on Tuesday she and some of their six children stood outside court, holding signs calling for him to be freed. “We’re horrified that something like this could happen, not only to us, but to anyone,” Saffrine Duggan told her supporters. “I would never have thought this could ever happen in Australia, let alone to our family. My family is brave and strong and so are our friends, and so is my husband, but we are all terribly torn apart.” The allegations After completing his final mission as a Major with the US Marines, Duggan moved to Australia in 2002. He met Saffrine in 2011, and a year later he became an Australian citizen, renounced his US citizenship, and the family moved to China. Saffrine and the children moved back to Australia in 2018, and Duggan joined them in September 2022, after receiving Australian security clearance for an aviation licence, his supporters say. But within weeks, that clearance was revoked and he was taken into custody. The charges relate to a period between November 2009 and November 2012, when Duggan – then a US citizen – was alleged to have trained Chinese military pilots in China, according to a 2017 indictment that was unsealed last December. The indictment said that “as early as 2008,” Duggan received an email from the US State Department telling him he was required to register with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls and apply for permission to train a foreign air force. Instead, it claims he conspired with others – including the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA) – to export defense services in violation of an arms embargo on China. In a statement to CNN, TFASA said it complies with the laws of every jurisdiction in which it operates. The statement said Duggan undertook one test pilot contract for the company in South Africa between November and December 2012, and “never worked for TFASA on any of its training mandates in China.” The indictment alleges Duggan negotiated directly with a Chinese firm to provide other defense services for a fee, including “the evaluation of pilot trainees, testing of naval aviation related equipment, instruction on tactics, techniques, and procedures for launching planes from, and landing on, a naval aircraft carrier.” Duggan told the ABC that none of the training involved the disclosure of secret or proprietary information. “It’s all public domain, open-source information that anybody, if they’re interested in, could Google it or look it up on Wikipedia,” he said. The training offered by TFASA allegedly involved the use of a T-2 Buckeye, a twin-engine, straight-wing airplane, purchased in the US and exported to South Africa, without authorization from the US. In its statement to CNN, TFASA said it only leased the plane from a business associate in South Africa, and never attempted to purchase it. Duggan flew the T-2, among other planes, during his contract, but the company ceased using the aircraft when approached by officials from the US Embassy in South Africa, TFASA added. Former US fighter pilot Daniel Duggan is in custody in Australia pending extradition to the US on charges including that he trained Chinese military pilots. Training Chinese pilots Duggan doesn’t deny training Chinese pilots, but he maintains they were civilians – plane enthusiasts seeking to improve their skills or prospective members of China’s then rapidly expanding aviation industry. Glenn Kolomeitz, a former member of the Australian Defence Force and lawyer, who is advocating for the family, told CNN that it is “very, very common for people to leave the military and go work overseas.” “Dan was just an instructor, just a pilot trainer. That’s it,” he told CNN. “He wasn’t a part of the company (TFASA), he wasn’t in any way involved in any of the administration, the management, and how could he possibly have thought, or have even considered that there would be any illegality in this, when there are so many people, including high levels from the RAF, the British air force, involved in this training.” On October 18, three days before Duggan was arrested in Australia, the UK Defence Ministry issued a statement warning that it was taking “decisive steps to stop Chinese recruitment schemes attempting to headhunt serving and former UK Armed Forces pilots.” The next day, Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles said he had asked his department to investigate reports that former Australian military pilots had also been recruited by TFASA to work in China. And a spokesperson for New Zealand’s Defence Force confirmed to Reuters that four of its former military pilots had been recruited by the company. Two days after that, Duggan was taken into custody near his home in rural New South Wales, and only learned of the allegations against him 62 days later, Saffrine said. He faces up to 65 years in prison if found guilty. “It has been devastating. The kids and I distraught. It’s just a struggle. It’s a daily struggle. The kids have lots of questions. Constant tears. I mean, it’s horrific,” she told CNN. Since Duggan’s arrest, the UK and Australia have moved to tighten laws for former service members who train foreign forces. “The new legislation being developed will remove any doubts about the application of these laws to the full breadth of our defence secrets,” said a spokesperson for Marles. In a speech in February, Mike Burgess, Australia’s director-general of security and the head of ASIO, said a “small but concerning” number of Australian veterans were willing to put “cash before country.” “These individuals are lackeys, more ‘top tools’ than ‘top guns.’ Selling our warfighting skills is no different to selling our secrets – especially when the training and tactics are being transferred to countries that will use them to close capability gaps, and could use them against us or our allies at some time in the future,” he said. The T-2 Buckeye News of Duggan’s arrest has spread through the ranks of former US Marines, says Ben Hancock, a retired colonel who served a rank above Duggan in the late ’90s when he was forward deployed on missions that took him to the Persian Gulf and around Asia, with a final stop in Townsville, Australia. “He was what we called a weapons and tactics instructor, which is the highest instructor qualification you can get in the Marine Corps,” he said. “It’s a very expensive course, you have to be hand-picked to be sent to it. And then once you return, you become the training guru for everybody else in the squadron,” he said. “He was top-notch. I trusted him with my life.” Hancock said Duggan left the service as an “honorable Marine,” and while he hadn’t spoken to him since his arrest, they had kept in touch by email sporadically over the years. Hancock said the T-2 Buckeye was used for many generations by US Navy and Marine Corps pilots to learn maneuvers on a ship – how to catapult off and trap aircraft as well as make arrested landings. He said it was “unusual” to see a T-2 Buckeye at a civilian flight school, because most of them had been “mothballed,” but described it as a great introductory aircraft for military training. “It’s great aerobatic airplane if you want to teach a guy to fly a twin-engine jet, how to handle jets, the speed of jet over propeller airplanes, and then do aerobatics and stall series … It’s a great airplane to train anybody in extreme flying environments that allow you to recover the airplane safely,” he said. He said he hasn’t seen the evidence against Duggan, but questions why no one else has been charged and says the vast majority of Duggan’s experience was piloting Harriers that take off and land vertically, which requires a different approach. “As Harrier pilots, all our time at sea, we did short takeoffs using the Harrier’s capability, not a catapult. We’d pick up under own power and then we did every landing was a vertical landing. And the Chinese don’t have in those kinds of jets,” he said. “So Dan didn’t have the expertise, in my opinion, to be training guys for that. It’s the wrong type of approach and landing.” In its statement to CNN, TFASA denied teaching aircraft carrier approach and landing techniques to Chinese military pilots. “TFASA provides training to test pilots, flight test engineers, and basic operational instructor pilots under closely controlled security conditions. All training aspects and material are strictly unclassified, and provided either from open source or the clients themselves. No training involves classified tactics or other information, nor any frontline activities,” the statement said. Duggan’s supporters believe he’s been caught up in a hardened approach by Western allies towards China under leader Xi Jinping, who in recent years has expanded the military and expressed his intention to “reunify” the democratic island of Taiwan with the mainland, despite never having controlled it. At the time Duggan was alleged to have been training Chinese military pilots, Xi was stepping out onto the international stage, visiting the US to meet then Vice President Joe Biden and proposing to strengthen their cooperation. Several years later, under former President Donald Trump, relations deteriorated as both countries engaged in a trade war and ties remain deeply strained to this day. Duggan’s arrest in 2022 came as the US, UK and Australia formed a stronger security bond under AUKUS, the deal they signed in 2021 to join forces in the Pacific to counter an increasingly assertive China. Kolomeitz, the family’s supporter, says Duggan is being used to send a message to Beijing to back off from hiring its former military personnel. “Don’t be recruiting Western former military people – that’s what it’s all about. Right?” he said. “It’s sending a message to China, and it’s helping to push through the legislative agendas of these agencies.” The court was adjourned Tuesday with a date set of November 24 for Duggan’s extradition hearing. By then, pending any bail application, the former US pilot will have be detained for more than 12 months. https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/24/australia/australia-us-fighter-pilot-extradition-hearing-intl-hnk/index.html Hundreds Of RTX-Made Jet Engines Recalled Over Metal Contamination—Sending Stock Tumbling Hundreds of Airbus jets are being recalled for an inspection after an issue was discovered in the engines, which are made by Pratt & Whitney, a third party subsidiary of RTX (formerly called Raytheon Technologies), according to multiple reports—the latest in a series of reliability issues with Pratt & Whitney’s flagship engine. RTX reportedly said it recently discovered contamination in the metals used to make some engine parts on its geared turbofan engine, or GTF, from 2015 to 2020, requiring the planes to be grounded for inspection. RTX will be inspecting about 1,200 engines over the next year. RTX said this isn’t a flight safety issue, and that it won’t impact new shipments of planes as those were built after a change in the production process. The engines are used in about 40% of Airbus’ A320neo single-aisle jets, which make up a large portion of the global airplane fleet and was the fastest selling airplane in history after its launch in 2014, according to Bloomberg. Spirit Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Germany’s Lufthansa and India’s IndiGo all reportedly use Airbus jets with the GTF engine. CRUCIAL QUOTE “It’s going to be expensive,” RTX CEO Greg Hayes said Tuesday on an earnings call, adding that it’s too early to know the final cost, but said it will likely cost around $500 million in 2023 alone. TANGENT Raytheon Technologies’ stock price plummeted over 15% after the news, but slightly recovered later in the trading day Tuesday. The share price sat at $85.77 at 2:55 p.m. Eastern Time—still down nearly 12% from Monday’s close. KEY BACKGROUND The GTF engine has had reliability issues since it hit the market in 2015, with airlines complaining about the engine’s durability issues virtually from the start. Hawaiian Airlines was recently forced to ground five of its 18 Airbus A321neos due to engine issues, Aviation Week reported. Spirit Airlines CFO Scott Haralson recently said in an earnings call that the company has been forced to remove many of the engines, and that while it’s hopeful these issues improve, “it will likely remain a drag on utilization for the rest of the year.” Go Airlines India has gone so far as to blame the engines for its bankruptcy in May, citing that the engines “suffered from a multitude of defects and a high rate of failure effectively from day one.” (Pratt & Whitney deny responsibility for Go Airlines India’s bankruptcy.) Bloomberg reported that in May, about one in eight A320neos and related aircraft with the GTF spent 30 days or more in storage. While that number includes airplanes that were taken out of service for any reason, only 4% of airplanes using the rival Leap engine from CFM were sidelined for 30 days or more. https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/2023/07/25/hundreds-of-rtx-made-jet-engines-recalled-over-metal-contamination-sending-stock-tumbling/?sh=5d25a8932749 Curt Lewis