Flight Safety Information - September 14, 2023 No. 178 In This Issue : Incident: Azul AT72 at Sao Paulo on Sep 11th 2023, tail scrape on landing : Incident: Volotea A319 near Paris on Sep 12th 2023, hydraulic leak, smoke in cabin : Incident: Delta B738 at Atlanta on Sep 11th 2023, locked flaps : Detecting Fatigue: IndiGo Pilots To Use Wrist Device To Assess Alertness Levels : US FAA gives drone pilots six more months to install remote ID module : FAA Revises UAS Safety Risk Management Policy : Air Force Says It Remains Confident in Osprey Aircraft Despite Recent Deadly Mishaps : Revamped PW1100G Inspection Timing Could Ground 650 A320neos In Early 2024 : Australia toughens ban on training 'certain foreign militaries' after pilot case : Boeing is letting top executives work in small offices near their homes and commute by private jet rather than relocate to its new headquarters : Dubai Aerospace flags corrosion in plane leased to India's bankrupt Go First : General David Allvin tells Tommy Tuberville that aging aircraft is hurting military readiness : Drunken sisters throw a tantrum after being told they couldn’t board Aer Lingus flight to eland: video : United Airlines flight UA510 New York – Rome - Air Return : GRADUATE RESEARCH REQUEST Incident: Azul AT72 at Sao Paulo on Sep 11th 2023, tail scrape on landing An Azul Linhas Aereas Avions de Transport Regional ATR-72-212A, registration PR-YXA performing flight AD-2717 from Sao Jose de Rio Preto,SP to Sao Paulo Viracopos,SP (Brazil), landed on Viracopos' runway 15, however, the tail contacted the runway surface. The aircraft rolled out without further incident and taxied to the apron. Brazil's CENIPA reported: "During the landing phase, the aircraft's tail touched the runway surface. The aircraft was handed over to the maintenance team." The damage to the aircraft was minor. The aircraft remained on the ground in Viracopos for about 3 hours, then departed for its next sector. https://www.avherald.com/h?article=50e56ce7&opt=0 Incident: Volotea A319 near Paris on Sep 12th 2023, hydraulic leak, smoke in cabin A Volotea Airbus A319-100, registration EC-MTD performing flight V7-2823 from Lille to Ajaccio (France), was climbing through FL350 out of Lille when the crew decided to divert to Paris Orly (France) reporting a hydraulic problem and smoke in the cabin. The aircraft landed safely on Orly's runway 25 about 18 minutes later. A passenger reported there was smoke in a toilet obviously due to an issue with the landing gear. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground for about 15 hours, then positioned to Lille and returned to service. https://www.avherald.com/h?article=50e55753&opt=0 Incident: Delta B738 at Atlanta on Sep 11th 2023, locked flaps A Delta Airlines Boeing 737-800, registration N398DA performing flight DL-1700 from Grand Cayman Islands (Grand Cayman) to Atlanta,GA (USA), was on approach to Atlanta's runway 27L when the crew initiated a go around at about 1800 feet MSL due to the flaps becoming locked. The aircraft climbed to 3000 feet while the crew worked the related checklists and landed safely on runway 27R about 25 minutes after the go around. The aircraft returned to service about 19 hours after landing. https://www.avherald.com/h?article=50e55216&opt=0 Detecting Fatigue: IndiGo Pilots To Use Wrist Device To Assess Alertness Levels The airline has collaborated with the French company Thales Group for this technology. SUMMARY • IndiGo is partnering with Thales Group to test a Fatigue Analysis Tool to assess pilot alertness levels. • The technology will use real-time data, historical information, and predictive analytics to develop a fatigue detection model. • IndiGo plans to implement ground-based devices at major airports as part of the latest tech and eventually formulate tailored strategies to combat fatigue issues among its pilots. The absence of consistency in a commercial pilot’s schedule is one of the key reasons for fatigue development over a period of time. The industry is well aware of the dangers of pilot fatigue, with airlines and regulators following specific duty-time rules to minimize the impact of irregular schedules. But, as recent incidents of pilot deaths in India and abroad point out, there could be gaps in the current system. To address this issue, India’s largest airline, IndiGo, is conducting a trial run of a technology comprising wrist and ground-based devices that could help detect the alertness levels of pilots. Measuring fatigue levels IndiGo is leading the way in combating the issue of pilot fatigue and has partnered with French multinational company Thales Group for its Fatigue Analysis Tool. The airline will test the product over the next few months and analyze the data to see how this issue can be tackled. Various reports say that a wrist device is part of this tech that will check the alertness levels of pilots before and after a flight. Simple Flying reached out to IndiGo for a comment, and the airline replied, “IndiGo has partnered with the Thales Group as an 'early adopter' of their Fatigue Analysis Tool. The airline will conduct a proof-of-concept trial for its technology-driven interface to assess pilot alertness levels over the next few months. This initiative is to develop a fatigue detection model that offers detailed insights into demographic data, including routes, pairings, crew profiles, and more, going beyond traditional scheduling-focused biomathematical models. “The program will use real-time data, historical information, and predictive analytics, with all data collected being de-identified. We remain committed to our pilots' well-being, ensuring their health and mental well-being, ultimately enhancing passenger safety.” Starting with major bases IndiGo will reportedly start implementing ground-based devices at major airports, such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Bengaluru. These are some of IndiGo’s busiest bases, and pilots operating flights from these airports will go through a small five-minute test. IndiGo’s Senior Vice-President of Flight Operations, Ashim Mitra, sent an email to the airline’s employees that said that external consultants are also being brought in to work on the airline’s fatigue management system. IndiGo’s bigger plan is to eventually formulate tailored strategies to combat fatigue issues among its pilots. Rising fatigue levels This development comes after a series of incidents of pilot deaths in quick succession. One of the pilots who died worked for IndiGo and collapsed at the boarding gate of Nagpur Airport shortly before his flight to Pune. IndiGo Airbus A320 aircraft parked at Hyderabad Airport. Photo: Abdul Munaff | Shutterstock Since then, the conversations around pilot fatigue have picked up steam, with pilots and industry experts voicing their concerns over the rise of pilot stress levels due to unforgiving schedules. Hopefully, the use of technology can help find solutions to this problem. https://simpleflying.com/indigo-pilots-wrist-device-measure-alertness-levels/ US FAA gives drone pilots six more months to install remote ID module Sept 13 (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday gave U.S. operators of drones a six month extension to March 16, 2024 to equip their aircraft with remote identification modules. After that date, operators could face fines and suspension or revocation of pilot certificates, the FAA said in a statement. The modules broadcast identification and location information about the drone. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/us-faa-gives-drone-pilots-six-more-months-install-remote-id-module-2023-09-13/ FAA Revises UAS Safety Risk Management Policy Agency is trying to stay ahead of drone technology Future unmanned aerial systems, such as Boeing's 500-pound-capacity cargo drone, may represent a large part of the envisioned future aviation industry. The FAA has revised its national policy order that manages applicants’ requests to operate unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and how safety risk management (SRM) assessments are performed. It also defines the roles of agency personnel responsible for UAS safety management and includes an outline for documenting the steps in the SRM program. Additionally, the order describes the duties of the FAA’s air traffic organization (ATO) when handling waivers. In explaining the need for an SRM, the order notes that the UAS industry has “experienced exponential growth” as demonstrated by the number of drone registrations, airspace authorizations, waivers, and remote pilot certificates. “The regulatory system is striving to keep up with the pace of UAS technology. Thus, this order establishes the SRM process for UAS requests and provides a generalized list of common hazards and possible mitigations that should be considered with each assessment.” Specific updates include the cancellation of the previous national policy order published in October 2019. The revision also adds and clarifies general terms and definitions; updates recommended training required before an FAA official is permitted to be on a UAS safety panel; modifies descriptions for the severity level of UAS safety occurrences; adds a safety matrix focused on quantitative assessments; clarifies safety action triggers, governance, and triage steps; and updated roles and responsibilities between the FAA’s aviation safety office and ATO. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2023-09-11/faa-revises-uas-safety-risk-managment-policy Air Force Says It Remains Confident in Osprey Aircraft Despite Recent Deadly Mishaps NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland -- Air Force officials told Military.com that they remain confident in the CV-22 Osprey amid recent deadly crashes, some of which have been attributed to an elusive ongoing mechanical issue. A Marine Corps Osprey crashed in Australia last month, killing three Marines; the cause is still being investigated. Additionally, another Marine Corps Osprey went down last year in Southern California, claiming the lives of five Marines. Findings revealed in July showed the cause of that crash was a hard clutch engagement, a mechanical issue that has plagued the military for more than a decade. But the Air Force, which uses the aircraft for special operations missions, remains dedicated, committed and confident in the aircraft, officials said. "These are fellow crew members that we've trained with in the past, so it always hits home. Our condolences remain with them," Brig. Gen. Michael Conley, the Air Force Special Operations Command director of operations, told Military.com in an exclusive interview last week. "We remain confident in the aircraft." Likewise, Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, the commander of AFSOC, told reporters during a media roundtable Tuesday that the command is following mitigation steps issued over the last year. "We're very confident in the mitigation steps that we've done," Bauernfeind said. "With respect to the CV-22 at large, it is answering a long-held requirement and that no other capability can answer in the special operations community as we go forward." Their remarks also echo votes of confidence from elsewhere in the Defense Department. Two weeks ago, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters at a press briefing that "we do certainty have confidence in the Osprey." Singh also stressed that "each incident undergoes its own investigation" and she didn't want to "apply a sweeping broad stroke across every incident linking them together." "They're all very unfortunate," she said. An ongoing persistent mechanical issue -- a hard clutch engagement, often referred to as HCE -- is capable of shredding the components responsible for powering the Osprey's propellers and enabling it, in the event of a single engine failure, to keep flying. The issue became public only after the Air Force abruptly grounded its Osprey fleet last August over a cluster of such incidents. Yet the Marine Corps, which operates the lion's share of the military's Osprey fleet, said the very next day that it didn't need to ground its aircraft. Officials who spoke with reporters at the time stressed that the issue largely occurred "within seconds after takeoff" and that "in every incident, the aircraft landed safely." Months later, though, Military.com would exclusively report on a 2017 clutch incident with an Air Force Osprey that happened mid-flight and forced the aircraft to perform an emergency landing with a single engine. In June 2022, a Marine Corps Osprey -- call sign Swift 11 -- crashed in southern California, claiming the lives of five Marines. In March, the Marine Corps investigation found that they were the first deaths stemming from the problem. The branch didn't tell the victim's families or the public until July. In February, when the military announced that replacing the input quills would be a mitigation measure put in place to stop the issue from happening, officials wouldn't say how often the replacement would need to take place or how many Ospreys would be down as a result. When the Swift 11 investigation was released, it became known that the quills were being replaced every 800 flight hours. However, that investigation also revealed that the Marine Corps does not know the definitive cause of the issue. The document reviewed by Military.com says that the entire "in-reporting" Osprey fleet has now been retrofitted. Despite the absence of an understanding of what causes the issue, the Marine Corps says replacing the quills is a near-perfect, 99% fix. A widow of a Marine killed in the Swift 11 incident, as well as aviation experts, told Military.com they were skeptical of this claim. But AFSOC officials claim that Air Force pilots and their families have not raised concerns about the CV-22 regarding the latest findings of the Swift 11 or the recent Australia crash. Following the Swift 11 findings that a hard clutch engagement was to blame for the June 2022 deaths, AFSOC held a town hall to address the report. But Bauernfeind said he has not heard worries from pilots or their families. "I have not heard from any family members who are expressing any safety concerns," Bauernfeind said. "I have had a widow that contacted me, based on recent events, based upon an accident we had back in 2010. I've had conversations with the widow and just giving her updates on where we're at and that was a private conversation." The Marine Corps and Air Force officially started flying the Osprey in 2007 and 2009, respectively. The Navy got its first operational aircraft more recently, in 2021, according to fact sheets from all the services. Fast-forward to when the fiscal 2024 budget documents came out for all the services earlier this year, and something becomes clear: The military is done buying the aircraft. The latest budget documents, released in March by the Navy, say that the military services ultimately want 464 aircraft -- 360 for the Marines, 48 for the Navy, and 56 for U.S. Special Operations Command and the Air Force. "We've had the CV-22 for coming up on two decades," Bauernfeind said. "So, we're pivoting to the future of what will be replacing the CV-22." https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/09/12/air-force-says-it-remains-confident-osprey-aircraft-despite-recent-deadly-mishaps.html Revamped PW1100G Inspection Timing Could Ground 650 A320neos In Early 2024 Clogged engine overhaul shops and a fast-tracking of necessary inspections on higher-time PW1100G geared turbofans will drive turnaround times up to as many as 300 days and could ground 650 Airbus A320neos at one time early next year, Pratt & Whitney parent RTX disclosed Sept. 11. The details were revealed as RTX, formerly Raytheon Technologies, laid out the specifics in Pratt’s fleet management plan related to parts with contaminated powder metal (PM). Some 3,000 engines, including PW1000Gs of all types and IAE V2500s, built from mid-2015-mid-2021, may have parts with the defect. Cracking from PM contamination has been found in high pressure turbine (HPT) stage 1 and stage 2 disks, or hubs, installed in the motors. Pratt is also inspecting some high pressure compressor (HPC) disks built at the same time, RTX revealed. Most of the affected engines are PW1100Gs found on A320neo-family aircraft. Pratt, on its second quarter earnings call in July, announced that previous PW1100G parts inspection intervals, developed after the problem was first uncovered in 2020, were not aggressive enough to flag cracks that the contamination can cause. It said as many as 1,200 engines would need to be pulled in the next year, including up to 200 by Oct. 1. Some of the checks would overlap with scheduled shop visits, reducing unplanned disruptions and costs. The revised figures lower the number of engines that need immediate attention but narrow the removal window. The result is higher costs for Pratt and its PW1000G partners as its already full overhaul network faces a wave of engines that require extensive work scopes. “Since our call in July, we’ve now developed a holistic fleet management plan that ensures the continued safe operation of the fleet while balancing the impact to our customers,” RTX president and COO Chris Calio said. Under the plan, Pratt will pull 600-700 engines in the next two years in addition to 500 or so already scheduled for overhauls. Most of the accelerated removals will come by “early 2024,” Calio said. This includes 137 that must be pulled by the end of September. Problem parts in this batch have never undergone a more extensive inspection Pratt developed to help flag PM “inclusions,” now used on both new parts and those coming in for inspections, Calio said. Pratt is developing service bulletins that outline the plan. Its most recent bulletin, calling for the highest-risk engines to be pulled from service in September, was mandated by the FAA and other regulators. Some engines will undergo more extensive overhauls than normally called for, including replacement of both HPT and HPC disks. This will contribute to extended turnaround times, Calio said. “It makes sense to replace the compressor disk at the same time,” Calio said. “This is why the work scopes are heavier. It will ultimately give the engine a longer run and be the least disruptive to the operators in the long term.” Part availability will determine how many engines get new disks. Calio said the entire process will “take between roughly 250 and 300 days on average from when these engines are removed from wing until they are returned to an operator,” Calio said. The accelerated engine removals on top of work to address long-running PW1000G durability issues will mean as many as 650 A320neos could be out of service during the problem’s peak in the first half of 2024, Calio said. Fleet groundings will “average” 350 at any given time through 2026, he added. Both the HPT and HPC disks are now being inspected every 2,800-3,800 cycles, depending on engine thrust ratings. The parts under scrutiny have a new, reduced life limit of 5,000-7,000 cycles. Pratt has no plans to divert spare engines from its pool of planned deliveries to Airbus, which is ramping up A320neo production, Calio said. If more spare engines come, it will be from an overall boost in PW1100G output, he suggested. “The best thing that we can do to help operators is, yes, continue to produce the spare engines that are in the plan and try to ramp that to the extent that we can, but [also] driving the industrial ramp needed for MRO output,” Calio said. While the PM inclusion issues pose enough risk to ground aircraft for inspections, they have not been linked to any A320neo in-service incidents. An Air China A320neo built in 2018 made an emergency landing in Singapore Sept. 10 with an apparent engine problem. Calio said Pratt is supporting the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore-led investigation to determine the issue’s root cause, but “the current assessment is that we don’t believe it’s related to powdered metal.” Pratt was working to add PW1000 overhaul capacity to help address the engine’s durability issues before the severity of the HPT disk problem became clear. It said in April it had 12 shops globally that could handle PW1000 work and planned to add seven more by 2025. Timelines for opening these new shops are being accelerated where possible to help offset the ramifications of the PM issue. Monetary Hit The fleet management program will cost Pratt and its PW1000G program’s partners $6 billion-$7 billion, RTX estimates. The charges, which will cover labor for inspection and customer compensation, include $3 billion-$3.5 billion for RTX, which plans to take a $3 billion charge this quarter to help reflect the costs. Customer compensation will account for 80% of the costs, with the rest covering shop-visit labor and materials. RTX took a $500 million charge last quarter related to the issue, but executives cautioned then that they were still evaluating the problem’s scope and ramifications. MTU Aero Engines, an 18% risk-sharing partner in the PW1000G program, said the expenses could reduce 2023 full-year revenue by €1 billion ($1.1 billion). “It is not possible at this stage to make a precise assessment of the impact on MTU’s forecast for the current financial year,” the company said. Estimates from other partners were not immediately available. Pratt’s detailed plan and financial ramifications do not cover the rest of the PW1000G family affected by the PM problem. Executives are confident, however, that any disruption to the affected Airbus A220 and Embraer E2 fleets will be minimal compared to what A320neo operators will face. “We’ll have [a plan] in place for the PW1500 and PW1900 soon,” RTX CEO Greg Hayes said. The Aviation Week Network Fleet Discovery database shows about 260 PW1500G-powered A220s and PW1900-powered E2s were built when PM-contaminated disks were produced. About 980 PW1100G-powered A320neos were built, as well as 450 V2500-powered A320ceo-family aircraft. Pratt has a plan in place for the V2500-powered fleet and is confident it is sufficient to detect any issues. https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/aircraft-propulsion/revamped-pw1100g-inspection-timing-could-ground-650-a320neos Australia toughens ban on training 'certain foreign militaries' after pilot case SYDNEY, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Australia will toughen laws stopping former defence staff from training "certain foreign militaries", introducing a penalty of 20 years prison and widening the ban to stop any Australians offering military training to countries seen as a national security risk. A series of cases where former military pilots living in Australia had worked for a South African flight school training Chinese pilots, which the United States alleges are Chinese military pilots, has prompted the crackdown. Australia's "Five Eyes" intelligence partners of Britain, United States, New Zealand and Canada will be exempt from the new law, officials said. Exemptions will also be provided if the defence minister authorises the training, or it relates to humanitarian relief or United Nations duties. Penalties of up to 20 years prison will apply for providing military training or tactics to a foreign military or government body, including hybrid civilian and military organisations, or state-owned companies, without authorisation from the defence minister. Defence Minister Richard Marles introduced the amendment to Australia's parliament on Thursday, saying the bill was partly modelled on U.S. laws, and will strengthen criminal laws in Australia that already ban the provision of military training to a foreign government by former Australian defence staff. The new law goes further, stopping any Australian citizen or permanent resident from providing such training without the minister's authorisation. The intention was to "prevent individuals with knowledge of sensitive defence information from training or working for certain foreign militaries or governments where that activity would put Australia's national security at risk", he said. A former U.S. Marines Corp pilot who had recenty returned from working in China was arrested in Australia last year and faces extradition to the United States on charges of training Chinese military pilots at a South African flying school. The pilot, Daniel Duggan, an Australian citizen, remains in custody and denies any wrongdoing. The Test Flying Academy of South Africa was placed on a U.S. trade blacklist on national security grounds in June for "providing training to Chinese military pilots using Western and NATO sources". The flight training division of AVIC, a Chinese state-owned aviation and defence company that was in partnership with TFASA, is also on the blacklist. The Australian home of TFASA chief operating officer Keith Hartley was raided by Australian Federal Police in November. A court was told Hartley, a former British military pilot, was suspected of organising the training of Chinese military pilots delivered by the flight school. Hartley has not been charged, and denies any wrongdoing. Under the new law, working for companies where a foreign government holds 50% of shares or the directors are expected to act in accordance with the wishes of the foreign government is also banned. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-toughens-ban-training-certain-foreign-militaries-after-pilot-case-2023-09-14/ Boeing is letting top executives work in small offices near their homes and commute by private jet rather than relocate to its new headquarters As the COVID pandemic gradually subsided, Boeing, like many workplaces worldwide, encouraged its employees to return to the office. But while the aerospace giant has tried to limit working outside of the office—30% of its job ads today allow for remote or hybrid working—several of Boeing's top executives have not relocated closer to the company’s new Virginia headquarters and reportedly rarely show their faces in the office. Take CEO David Calhoun, who took the helm shortly before the pandemic. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, over the last three years, a private jet has been chartered around 400 times near his two homes—a waterfront estate on Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire and a house in a gated resort community in Buffalo, South Carolina. Calhoun is required to use Boeing-supplied private jets for all of his travel, both for business and personal reasons, due to security concerns. While flight logs do not specify whether these trips were for business or leisure, some flights did include visits to Boeing's Arlington location. Some top execs don't even bother with that. The aircraft manufacturer’s Chief Finance Officer, Brian West, also hasn't relocated to be near the company's Arlington base. Instead, Boeing opened a small office five minutes away from his home in Connecticut. Boeing told the WSJ that its Canaan premise, where West occasionally works from, was necessary to recruit the company’s new treasurer, David Whitehouse who lives around 30 minutes away. When a WSJ reporter visited the New Canaan, Conn. office that opened this spring, West, who is Boeing’s second-highest-ranking executive, was reportedly casually dressed in a polo shirt, shorts and slip-on shoes. Human resources chief Michael D’Ambrose, who joined Boeing in mid-2020, operates from a company facility near Orlando. Leadership team rules A spokesperson told Fortune that the firm’s top executives do enjoy more perquisites than lower-ranking personnel, like private jets, but that there is no company-wide mandate to come in and that any RTO requests have been made on a team-by-team basis. However, they wouldn't expand on how many team members have been asked to go in. “We have been transforming our leadership culture to encourage our management team to engage more frequently with employees, customers and other stakeholders," a Boeing spokesperson said in a statement while adding that it's why the leadership team is empowered to spend less time sitting at a desk. "As with many companies, we have introduced more flexibility across multiple levels to enable people to work in ways that are most productive and supportive of our global business, and we’re pleased that this approach has allowed us to attract top talent across disciplines as we continue to execute our recovery plans.” Still, the leadership team's decision to work remotely after taking measures to entice its workforce back to the office—including happy hours and visiting alpacas—hasn’t washed down well with everyone. "What's he doing? Is he like at Lake Sunapee or something in New Hampshire?" Jim Cramer called out the CEO's apparent absence on CNBC in 2021. Since then, several Boeing employees have begun displaying ironic "Lake Sunapee" signs in their cubicles, as well as souvenir mugs like one that read, "Love Lake Life”, according to the WSJ. Boeing’s bosses represent a wider trend Boeing’s remote-working bosses are a familiar story for workers across the globe who are being encouraged to return to the office while their superiors conspicuously remain absent: McKinsey research revealed that high-earning mid-to-senior-level employees worldwide are digging in their heels when it comes to letting go of the pandemic-induced shift to working from home. McKinsey surveyed 13,000 office workers in six countries and found that the largest share of employees who strongly prefer to work from home were those who earn more than $150,000. In fact, 33% of employees who earn over $150,000 said they would quit their high-paying job altogether if their boss demanded them to come into the office five days a week. What’s more, this cohort of seasoned professionals would even take a 20% pay cut to be able to have a say in where and when they work. “Their seniority and high incomes suggest that they are probably decision makers who can protect remote work at the team or company level,” the researchers concluded. However, Peter Cappelli, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and author of a recent book about remote work, The Future of the Office, warned the WSJ that leaders who defy their own return to work policies risk looking out of step. “If you want people to come back and you’re not doing it, that really undermines the message,” Cappelli cautioned. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boeing-letting-top-executives-small-152138350.html Dubai Aerospace flags corrosion in plane leased to India's bankrupt Go First NEW DELHI, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) Capital has told an Indian court it detected corrosion of some parts and "a greenish deposit" on a plane leased to bankrupt airline Go First, after another lessor complained about "robbed" parts. Foreign lessors have been engaged in a legal tussle to repossess their aircraft after the Indian airline was granted bankruptcy protection in May, imposing an asset freeze that blocked the recovery of 50 plus grounded Airbus planes. The lessors currently are only allowed an occasional inspection of the grounded Go First planes, which DAE and others claim are not being properly maintained. In a Sept. 6 filing seeking to ensure the airline carries out maintenance, DAE submitted pictures to the Delhi High Court showing corroding plane parts and said the aircraft will "continue to deteriorate, resulting in a sharp decline in the value of the asset." Go First did not respond to a request for comment. Earlier this month, lessor ACG Aircraft Leasing, asked a court to direct the airline to replace "robbed" parts from its leased jets and allow it to appoint around the clock security to guard grounded aircraft, after it found many parts were missing. DAE court documents show it was worried about a lack of covers on cabin and cockpit seats "which would eventually lead to fungus formation", according to an internal e-mail contained in the filing. The filing also stated DAE found a "greenish deposit" on the plane's body. Indian media outlet Mint reported on Thursday that another lessor, BOC Aviation, also told the Delhi court about algae formation as the planes were not covered. Go First lessor SMBC Aviation Capital Aviation in May told an Indian court that Indian bankruptcy law, which blocks plane repossession, will jolt the market and spark a confidence crisis. Go First has previously said it aims to resume operations and raise investor funds, but the operations remain grounded. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/dubai-aerospace-flags-corrosion-plane-leased-indias-bankrupt-go-first-2023-09-14/ General David Allvin tells Tommy Tuberville that aging aircraft is hurting military readiness Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. David W. Allvin testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill for his nomination to be the next Air Force chief of staff, in Washington, D.C., Sept. 12, 2023. On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) questioned Air Force Vice Chief of Staff General David Allvin during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Armed Services. Allvin said that the increasing age of airplanes means they are down for repairs and maintenance for longer periods, so the Air Force has fewer aircraft available to fly at any given time. “One thing that has concerned me since I’ve been here for three years and even before that, we decided to build a new tanker, and we still are not in rapid deployment of that,” Sen. Tuberville said. “And it kind of concerns me that we just can’t overcome problems like that within this committee. But that being said, politics continues to take over. One thing I wanna talk about is I’ve had several calls over the last six, seven months from generals in the Air Force. In recent years, our sorties have decreased to one point five a month, and the Chinese have increased theirs to around four a month. Now, being from a coaching background, I know practice makes perfect. What’s your thoughts about that? We’ve got to be ready to fight, and one point five sorties a month doesn’t sound like a whole lot to me. And you’d know more than me.” General Allvin responded: “Well, Senator, reps and sets. That is important. And so, ensuring our readiness be able to meet the challenges certainly one of our priorities. One of the challenges that we have along with that is with our flying hours program, which is you don’t have flying hours, you can’t put the pilots in the cockpits. The challenge is we continue to have these legacy systems, so we only have so many dollars to spread across. And when you have reduced aircraft availability rates because they’re old, and they’re finding new and interesting ways to break, and they break for longer periods of time, and they stay in depots for longer periods of time. That removes them from the ability to be able to be flown. So that’s one of the challenges that we have. Also, with some of the maintainers that we want to maintain these new aircraft, we need those Wiley KG maintainers to keep fixing the old ones. So, some of that skill set that we’re looking for seasoned maintainers to transition to some of these fifth-generation platforms have not been available to us. And as they say, you want a ten-year maintainer; it takes ten years to build that. So if we can’t have access to those because they’re still maintaining the legacy platforms, and also those legacy platforms have supply chain issues, all those sorts of things that make it just less efficient. Which is another reason, as we are looking to manage the readiness of today and the readiness of tomorrow, that we have that challenge to be able to meet….meet the needs while still being able to advance to the modernization that we need.” “So you’re saying this is not a policy, this is a cost problem, an airplane problem, maintenance problem?” Tuberville asked. “This is not a policy that we have to cut back to one point five sorties a month. Are you saying that?’ “Senator, what I would say is where policy could help is as we try and pursue our modernization strategy, if we could have less restrictive language that will allow us to…..to move that along, we will continue to try and manage best the risk of maintaining the current legacy platforms and moving into the new platforms,” Gen. Allvin said. “So you being in the Air Force and….and being around it for a long time, how many sorties do we need a month to really be prepared to fight somebody like China?” Tuberville asked. General Allvin answered, “Senator, there’s a great phrase in the weapons school that says, “It depends.” And I know that’s not a satisfying answer, but if I could maybe talk about what it may depend on. We have revalidated throughout our Air Force over the past eighteen months. We have revalidated what we call our mission-essential tasks. Moving from twenty, thirty years of counter-VEO fights, understanding the nature of the environment in which we’re gonna need to fight in the future. We’ve revalidated those tasks. Understanding how what we do on those tasks tells us how many sorties we’re gonna need. We’re also moving into a world where – when I was flying, if you’re in a simulator, you weren’t getting that much training. You need to actually be flying. The advancement of the synthetic environment and the ability to work in some of the key mission areas without actually being in the cockpit changes that equation as well. So I would say – I do believe we could fly more and be better. But to give you a precise amount, I think, would be probably folly because there are other elements with respect to mixing with the live virtual construction environment that will help offset the need for pure airborne flying.” General Allvin is currently the Vice Chief of Staff for the Air Force. He is awaiting confirmation to become Chief of Staff for the Air Force. Gen. Allvin is one of the nominees affected by Sen. Tuberville’s holds on promotions in his feud with President Joe Biden over the department’s policy of funding travel and additional paid time off for service members and their dependents seeking an abortion. “Thank you for what you do,” Tuberville told Allvin. “I wish they’d bring you to the floor today. I’d vote for you to be confirmed. Hopefully, that happens in the near future. Thank you very much.” Tuberville is refusing to give unanimous consent on hundreds of senior-level military promotions. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) could bring the promotions to the floor one at a time to get this matter resolved. He has chosen not to do that, arguing confirming the promotions one at a time could take weeks. The Congressional Research Service released a memo stating it would take the Senate approximately 700 hours of floor time to process and vote on the promotions individually. The memo stated, “This total represents approximately 30 days and 17 hours to process all 273 military nominations, assuming the Senate worked 24 hours a day without break or interruption by other business. Alternatively, based on the above assumptions, if the Senate exclusively processed these nominations during eight-hour session days, it would take approximately 89 days to confirm all 273 nominees.” Tuberville was elected to the Senate in 2020 and faces reelection in 2026. https://altoday.com/archives/53869-general-david-allvin-tells-tommy-tuberville-that-aging-aircraft-is-hurting-military-readiness Drunken sisters throw a tantrum after being told they couldn’t board Aer Lingus flight to Ireland: video Two drunken sisters were forcibly arrested at Newark Airport Saturday after throwing a tantrum when they were told they weren’t allowed to board their flight to Ireland. Witness video showed the distressed adult women sweep through a range of emotions before getting dragged out of the airport by cops — who they allegedly threatened during the chaotic scene. “Can anybody help us? Please somebody help me. Please!” one of the women screamed as she jumped up and down beside the gate attendants. The pair began acting “erratically” around 8 p.m. when they were told they weren’t permitted to board their flight to Dublin, according to a TikTok that has racked up over 680,000 views. A blonde woman burst into tears at the realization, and her brunette sister tried to comfort her by promising that they could still make their trip to the Emerald Isle. “I’m not going to let you down. We’re going to Dublin!” the supportive sister said. The blonde woman identified herself as a lawyer and initially “warned the cops” that there would be consequences for not allowing them on their flight, but ultimately decided it would be best to just leave the airport. The brunette woman screamed at the gate for help after the crew didn’t allow her to board. Her sister, however, wasn’t prepared to give up without a fight. She charged toward the gate attendants and demanded they be let on the flight “right now.” After realizing the crew wasn’t going to relent, the woman turned to the crowd of airport travelers for help. Her embarrassed sister tried to put her hand over the unhinged woman’s mouth to stop her from screaming after a police officer came over to calm the duo down, but neither of their efforts seemed to help. The two women being dragged by officers. The pair were told they couldn’t board their flight to Dublin. Both women were then dragged away from the gate by police officers. The brunette tried to resist the escort and fell to the ground, and the officer seized the opportunity to put her in handcuffs. A spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed that its officers responded to a “disturbance” of “two intoxicated women who were denied boarding on an Air Lingus plane.” “Officers made attempts to de-escalate the situation, but the women disregarded their instructions,” the spokesperson told the Daily Dot. Both women were arrested and charged for the disturbance. The blonde woman was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, while her loud-mouthed sister was given a criminal summons for disorderly conduct. It’s not clear whether the pair made it to Ireland. https://nypost.com/2023/09/13/tiktok-shows-two-women-having-meltdown-at-newark-airport-gate/ United Airlines flight UA510 New York – Rome United Airlines flight UA510, a Boeing 777-200ER operating a transatlantic service from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport (FCO) in Rome made a precautionary return less than an hour after departure. It is understood the Boeing 777 experienced an issue with the cabin pressurization system, and flight data shows the aircraft initiated a rapid descent from cruising level FL370 (37,000 feet) as it passed outbound over Nova Scotia. https://aviationsourcenews.com/incident/united-airlines-777-to-rome-makes-return-to-new-york-newark/ GRADUATE RESEARCH REQUEST I started my academic career with a BSc. in Aviation Management at Florida Institute of Technology and graduated in 2005. After relocating to Europe and completing the ATPL training, I started flying the B737NG for a scheduled low-cost carrier for four years. Afterwards, relocating to Dubai to fly for a major long-haul airline on the B777 for 8.5 years. In 2020 relocated to the UK to fly for a British long-haul airline. During Covid while there wasn't any flying, I started the MSc. in Aviation Safety, Risk Management and Regulation studies with Cranfield University and I am currently working on my thesis to complete the master's program. My thesis looks at Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) and the overall effectiveness that FRMS has achieved so far. It intends to focus on organisational factors within the operators and regulators to identify those factors that contribute to implementing an effective FRMS. The survey is targeted for pilots that are actively flying (either long or short-haul) and would like to share their experiences with the FRMS within their organisation. It is a short survey and should take no longer than two to three minutes of your time. I will hugely appreciate everyone's feedback. Survey Link: https://cranfielduniversity.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4UdHcIxHD4Wweb4 Kind regards, Erdem Serifoglu Curt Lewis