Flight Safety Information - November 7, 2023 No. 216 In This Issue : Incident: Easyjet A320 at Manchester on Nov 2nd 2023, gear problem on departure : Incident: Enter B738 near Athens on Nov 5th 2023, cracked windshield : Raytheon Hawker 800XP - Landed Short Accident (Nigeria) : Austin's airport safety is under scrutiny after a string of near misses : No injuries after JetBlue aircraft collides with moving vehicle on SFO tarmac : Plane with missing windows takes off and reaches nearly 15,000 feet before turning around : FAA Schedules More Runway Meetings : UPS reduces pilot head count by nearly 200 with buyouts : Airbus delivered 71 aircraft in October - sources : CALENDAR OF EVENTS Incident: Easyjet A320 at Manchester on Nov 2nd 2023, gear problem on departure An Easyjet Airbus A320-200, registration G-EZOK performing flight U2-2103 from Manchester,EN (UK) to Nice (France), was climbing out of Manchester's runway 05L when the crew stopped the climb at FL090 due to a problem with retracting the landing gear. The aircraft returned to Manchester for a safe landing on runway 05R about 30 minutes after departure. The airline reported a technical issue as reason for the return. A replacement A320-200 registration G-EZWS reached Nice with a delay of about 4:15 hours. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 45 hours before returning to service. https://avherald.com/h?article=510c27cb&opt=0 Incident: Enter B738 near Athens on Nov 5th 2023, cracked windshield An Enter Air Boeing 737-800, registration SP-ESH performing flight E4-4236 from Marsa Alam (Egypt) to Katowice (Poland), was enroute at FL360 about 110nm east of Athens (Greece) when the crew decided to divert to Athens reporting a cracked windshield. The aircraft landed safely on Athens' runway 21R about 26 minutes after leaving FL360. A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration SP-ESE reached Katowice with a delay of about 7.5 hours. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground for about 19 hours, then positioned to Warsaw (Poland). https://avherald.com/h?article=510c1be5&opt=0 Raytheon Hawker 800XP - Landed Short Accident (Nigeria) Date: Friday 3 November 2023 Time: 20:21 Type: Raytheon Hawker 800XP Owner/operator: Flint Aero Registration: 5N-AMM MSN: 258286 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 10 Aircraft damage: Unknown Category: Serious incident Location: Ibadan Airport (IBA/DNIB), Oyo State - Nigeria Phase: Landing Nature: Passenger - Non-Scheduled/charter/Air Taxi Departure airport: Abuja-Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (ABV/DNAA) Destination airport: Ibadan Airport (IBA/DNIB) Investigating agency: AIB Nigeria Confidence Rating: Information verified through data from accident investigation authorities Narrative: A Raytheon Hawker 800XP landed short while on final approach to runway 22 at Ibadan Airport (IBA/DNIB). The aircraft was carrying the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, and his entourage. All three crew members and seven passengers were rescued. https://www.aviation-safety.net/wikibase/347578 Austin's airport safety is under scrutiny after a string of near misses Airport industry professionals running the city-owned airport insist they're doing all they can after a string of near-misses and two tarmac deaths, but current and former officials say the city should step up safety efforts. A disturbing string of dangerous incidents at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport — including near-misses and two tarmac deaths this year — has elected officials clashing with city staff over safety at an airport where passenger volumes have more than doubled in the last decade. Now, some of those frustrations are boiling into public view. Austin City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, whose district includes the city-owned airport, wants city staff to let council members know immediately when something serious happens. "They certainly can be and should be doing a job of notifying council," Fuentes told KUT. "There have been times with the near misses between the planes where I found out through the media versus from our own airport staff. That's not OK." Austin City Council Member Vanessa Fuentes is bringing a resolution up for a city council vote on Thursday that would direct staff on a range of safety measures at ABIA. Fuentes is spearheading a new effort to require immediate notification. The resolution already has the backing of at least five city council members. The proposal also calls on city staff to engage with the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) air traffic controllers at ABIA to discuss and mitigate safety risks. In the more immediate future, Fuentes' resolution directs the city manager to speed up the rollout of a ramp control program at ABIA. That's a system to direct airplanes on the ground how to move and where to park. Right now, it's up to individual airlines. Having a centralized ramp control system would make an on-the-ground crash between planes less likely and might even reduce some flight delays. The airport industry professionals who work for the city insist safety is engrained in their culture. The ramp control system has been in the works since last year. Aviation staff recently hired a firm to pick up debris on the tarmac around the terminal. Airports are filled with dangerous things and staff say considering how to protect people is an inescapable part of the job. But ABIA officials say they're powerless to improve air safety. Air traffic control is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the FAA, the same agency that regulates the airport. "While travelers might look to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport as a single monolith or entity, the truth is that this airport, and all airports, are little ecosystems with different agencies and entities that oversee very specific areas of the complex operation of air travel," airport spokesperson Sam Haynes said in an email. This view of airport operations has frustrated officials like Fuentes, who said airport staff are "hesitant to fully take ownership over what's going on at the airport" while still acknowledging "a lot of it is governed and regulated by our federal government." The city of Austin expects 22 million passengers to travel through ABIA this year. "I get that, but ultimately if something were to happen, it would be on our watch in our community. We have to do more. We cannot have this hands-off approach," Fuentes said. Concerns about air safety have popped up at the Airport Advisory Commission, an 11-member panel appointed by city council members to oversee airport spending and the customer experience. The commission's chair, Wendy Todd, will ask colleagues on Wednesday to recommend city staff work with their federal counterparts to find more areas to cooperate on safety. In an interview with KUT, Todd urged the public to call and write letters to the commission and their city council members. Former commission chair Eugene Sepulveda, whose term on the board ended in the spring, said he raised concerns publicly and privately to airport staff and city leadership. "There has been zero response," Sepulveda told KUT in late October. He said the responsibility lies with interim airport director Jim Smith, interim city manager Jesús Garza and Mayor Kirk Watson. "Jim, Jesús and Kirk, the buck stops there," Sepulveda said. "Even though the way this system works, FAA has responsibility, this is the city of Austin's airport. We must bring outside resources to tell us how significant the risk and is there anything that we locally can do to reduce that risk." Mayor Watson responded in a statement that he takes safety at the airport very seriously. "The City is coordinating with federal officials and the airlines to ensure the well-being of everyone who travels through AUS as well as those who work at the airport," Watson's statement said. On Monday, Garza announced steps the city is taking. The city manager said in a memo that he's asked ABIA director Smith to review the airport's safety programs, what is currently being done to support safety and how the city could "influence safety measures outside of the City’s direct control." A string of dangerous incidents The bureaucratic skirmish follows a series of close calls in the sky amid reports of exhausted and short-staffed air traffic controllers. On the ground, two airport workers have been killed in apparent accidents this year. One of the most serious near-misses happened in February. A Boeing 767 was granted permission by air traffic control to land on the same runway where a Southwest Airlines jet with 128 people on board was preparing to depart for Cancún. A FedEx pilot realized at the last moment the Southwest plane was still on the runway and aborted the landing, according to a preliminary reportby the National Transportation Safety Board. The FedEx plane came within 100 feet of the Southwest Airlines jet, the National Transportation Board chair Jennifer Homendy said in a round of interviews this year. In September, an air traffic controller at ABIA gave the pilot of an F/A-18 fighter jet permission to perform a maneuver called a brake. That's a sharp turn to slow down before landing. The pilot of a Cessna Citation business jet had to swerve to avoid crashing into the fighter jet, the FAA said. The F/A-18 then flew close to a runway where a small propeller-powered plane was waiting for takeoff. In June, an Allegiant Air flight on its way to land at ABIA had to climb sharply to avoid a smaller plane. KXAN first reported the story based on a tip from a passenger. The traveler said the shift in cabin pressure was so intense, their "head felt like it was being squished really hard." At least two other incidents happened in the last year, according to an investigative reportby the New York Times examining air traffic control issues in Austin. In November, Southwest and American Airlines planes came dangerously close, the Times reported. And in April, a SkyWest jet was routed to fly into the path of a Southwest plane. The mistake was made by an exhausted air traffic controller, the newspaper reported, citing internal FAA safety reports. Meanwhile, two employees have died on the tarmac this year in Austin. Last week, a city employee working where planes park was hit by a refueling truck. In April, an American Airlines employee died after the vehicle he was driving crashed into a jet bridge. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating last week's death. An OSHA probe into the April fatality was closed last week. OSHA spokesperson Chauntra Rideaux said the companies involved, American Airlines and Menzies Aviation, would not be cited. "We need more to assure safety." At ABIA, controllers routinely work 6-day weeks. More than 70% of shifts fall below FAA guidelines for appropriate staffing, according to Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin. After the New York Times report was published in October, Doggett fired off a letter to the FAA's then-acting administrator Polly Trottenberg. (Mike Whitaker has since been confirmed to serve as head of the FAA.) Doggett demanded in his letter "swift and forceful actions" to beef up air traffic controller staffing. The nation's air traffic control system has been plagued by a chronic shortage of workers. The U.S. Transportation Department's inspector general blasted the FAA this summer for understaffing critical facilities and not having a good plan to fix the problem. Air traffic controller shortages have been a nationwide problem for years. In a statement, the FAA said the tower at ABIA was authorized to have 42 controllers. If you include eight professionally certified controllers in training, they have 43. Doggett said those staffing levels are outdated for an airport that's grown as much as Austin's has. "I'm not satisfied at all with the FAA's public response to my letter, because I think we need more to assure safety," Doggett told KUT. "Relying on trainees is an acknowledgment that we don't have adequate staffing." Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, is teaming up with Doggett on the issue. His district includes ABIA. Casar, who used to sit on the city council, said he was also working with Fuentes on her resolution. In a letter sent to the FAA administrator this morning, Casar asks a series of questions about the underlying causes of the air traffic controller shortage. He wants to know, for example, what the FAA will do to improve the completion rate for controller trainees. But Casar says the best path forward for Austin is to have Congress pass a bill reauthorizing funding for the FAA. The House approved the bill in July. The Senate has yet to vote. "The Austin airport has been growing at an incredible rate, but that growth requires us to make sure we're growing right, make sure we're growing in a way that's safe," Casar said. Record-breaking airport growth Airport officials expect 22 million passengers to depart from or arrive at ABIA this year. A decade ago, the number was just 10 million. Nine of the 10 busiest days in the airport's history were this year. The growing pains have shown. On the busiest days, TSA screening lines can stretch out the front door onto the curb. That happened again Monday morning. The city's Aviation Department has already begun a $4 billion airport expansion, paid for with money generated by airport operations. But the slow pace of highly logistical work may not be fast enough for angry travelers stuck in the security line or waiting on the tarmac for a gate to open. While airlines keep adding flights, including Delta's new nonstop service to Las Vegas and Orlando, there are some early signs of weaknesses in the city's aviation market. Virgin Atlantic announced it would suspend nonstop service to London Heathrow in January. American Airlines plans to trim almost half its Austin flights starting next year. But the airport's business trajectory remains strong, overall. November and December will have more tickets for sale out of Austin than ever. And while the airport is expected to see a slight decline in seat capacity in January, February and March are forecast to build on last year's historic gains. "Our airport is rapidly expanding. It is way overdue for this expansion. We're trying to catch up and we are busting at our seams," Council Member Fuentes said. "Do I think more can be done? Absolutely." https://www.kut.org/transportation/2023-11-07/austins-airport-safety-is-under-scrutiny-after-a-string-of-near-misses No injuries after JetBlue aircraft collides with moving vehicle on SFO tarmac SFO -- Officials at San Francisco International Airport confirmed on Monday that a JetBlue flight was delayed after the aircraft collided with a moving vehicle on the tarmac, but there were no injuries reported. The SFO duty manager told KPIX the accident happened Monday afternoon just after 4 p.m., saying that the JetBlue aircraft bound for Boston taxied back to the gate and the passengers were unloaded. A traveler posted video on social media purporting to be the aftermath of the incident. The duty manager said there was no word on what kind of damage was sustained by the jet. SFO said all the JetBlue passengers on the plane have gotten their luggage and were being rebooked on other flights. JetBlue released a statement about the incident Monday evening. "On Monday, November 6, JetBlue flight 534 was involved in an incident with a pushback tractor just after pushing back from the gate. All customers have deplaned and are being offered alternate flight options," the statement read. "No injuries were reported. Safety is JetBlue's first priority; we are reviewing this incident, and the aircraft has been taken out of service for inspection." https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/no-injuries-after-moving-vehicle-collides-with-jetblue-aircraft-on-sfo-tarmac/ Plane with missing windows takes off and reaches nearly 15,000 feet before turning around Issue could have had ‘serious consequences’, report warns A plane took off from Stansted Airport with missing windows due to damage caused by high-powered lights during a filming event. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the Airbus A321 jet, previously used by the Government, returned to the Essex airport after a crew member discovered the issue early in the flight last month. It warned the incident could have resulted in “more serious consequences”. An inspection revealed two cabin windowpanes were missing and two others were out of position. For the missing windowpanes, the only object filling the space was the scratch pane, which is a cosmetic piece of plastic designed to prevent passengers touching the outer panes. The aircraft was operated by Titan Airways and used by TCS World Travel, a US-based luxury holiday company. The incident happened a day after it was used for filming on the ground, when powerful lights were set up close to the plane to “give the illusion of a sunrise”, the AAIB said in a preliminary report. They shone on the right side of the aircraft for around five-and-a-half hours, before being moved to the left side for four hours. The AAIB said the lights were designed to be deployed no closer than 10 metres from the object being illuminated, but they were between six metres and nine metres from the damaged windows. It did not disclose what the filming event was for. The plane took off for the positioning flight to Orlando, Florida, on 4 October with 11 crew and nine passengers, who were all employees of the tour or aircraft operator, the report said. The passengers sat together in the middle of the plane. After take-off and the seatbelt signs being switched off, a crew member walked towards the back of the aircraft and spotted that the seal around one of the windows was “flapping”, the AAIB said. He reported this to the crew who decided the plane should return to Stansted, where it landed safely. It reached an altitude of 14,500 feet during the flight. The AAIB said “the cabin had remained pressurised normally”. An examination of the area around the missing or damaged windows found foam used to hold them in place had either melted due to high temperatures or was missing. The damaged windowpanes were “deformed and shrunk[en]”, the AAIB said. In conclusion, the report said: “Whereas in this case the damage became apparent at around FL100 (10,000 feet) and the flight was concluded uneventfully, a different level of damage by the same means might have resulted in more serious consequences, especially if window integrity was lost at higher differential pressure.” Titan Airways and TCS World Travel have been approached for comment. https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/plane-stansted-airport-missing-windows-accident-takeoff-b2443042.html FAA Schedules More Runway Meetings The FAA announced Monday it will hold runway safety meetings at 16 more airports in an attempt to quell what may be an unusual concentration of incursions. The call came a week after two business jets, one landing and one taking off, made contact at the intersection of two runways at Houston Hobby Airport. There were no injuries and the incident was quickly blamed on the departing pilot doing so without clearance. The agency held meetings at 90 airports over the summer on the topic. Those meetings included controllers, pilots, airlines and airport vehicle drivers. The Monday announcement also came in advance of a Senate Commerce subcommittee meeting hearing on at least seven runway incidents that have occurred since January. Witnesses at the hearing include FAA Air Traffic Organization head Tim Arel, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy, National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) President Rich Santa, Air Line Pilots Association President Jason Ambrosi and former FAA administrator Randy Babbitt, according to Reuters. https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/faa-schedules-more-runway-meetings/ UPS reduces pilot head count by nearly 200 with buyouts Nearly 200 senior pilots at UPS have accepted the company’s voluntary severance package, and regional passenger airline PSA Airlines is trying to recruit them to close a crew shortage. The head count reduction at UPS Airlines is much more limited than one envisioned at rival FedEx Express, where management has acknowledged it has more than 700 excess pilots and on Friday urged flight crews to quit for the same type of offer at PSA Airlines, an American Airlines subsidiary that operates in the Eastern half of the United States. UPS (NYSE: UPS) in late August offered early retirement to veteran pilots as part of an effort to reduce costs in the face of shrinking parcel volumes. Brian Gaudet, a spokesman for the Independent Pilots Association (IPA), said 193 pilots at UPS took the buyout package. That’s about 25 more than UPS originally intended, according to reporting at the time that the company was looking to eliminate 167 positions. PSA Airlines is offering UPS pilots a $250,000 signing bonus, years of credit for flying large aircraft in commercial service and a direct pathway to eventually fly for American Airlines. It is unclear how long the offer is good for. The same program for FedEx (NYSE: FDX) pilots is available through Dec. 1, according to a memo from FedEx’s head of flight operations telling pilots to seriously consider the job alternative. Former UPS pilots who go to PSA Airlines would fly Bombardier CRJ 700 and CRJ 900 jets that carry about 65 to 75 people, depending on the configuration. The PSA Airlines offer at UPS is only being made to pilots who accepted the severance deal and are exiting the company, not the entire cockpit workforce, said Gaudet. “They basically reached out to UPS and said, ‘Hey, we know you got pilots coming out. Would you mind just letting them know we are hiring?’ So UPS is just providing that information to the pilots who have chosen to separate. It’s nothing they are pushing to the active pilot group,” he said. The IPA represents about 3,200 pilots, after the recent departures, in collective bargaining with UPS. FedEx has about 5,800 pilots on its payroll. UPS pilots are at the top of the industry pay scale. A captain who works 30 years at UPS has a career value of nearly $17 million compared to $14.4 million at FedEx and more than $14 million at American and United airlines, according to Kit Darby, a Peachtree City, Georgia, consultant who estimates the earnings potential of pilots. A 40-year captain at UPS can make $24 million in pay, benefits and retirement. A UPS captain flying a Boeing 747-8, the largest jet in the fleet, receives nearly $34,000 per month in pay, while a FedEx pilot flying a similar large aircraft makes $30,500. Trimming capacity UPS is adjusting its network and flight capacity in line with deteriorating market conditions. During the third quarter, average daily air volume was down 15.8% year over year, executives said on a conference call with analysts. The integrated parcel logistics provider said direct-to-consumer daily volume declined 13.4% compared to last year, while B2B volume was down 9%, and customers continued to shift volumes out of air to lower-priced ground transport. UPS said total international volume was down 6.6% versus the prior year, with export volumes declining 4.1% y/y. Asia export daily volume was down 8% and export volume on the China-U.S. trade lane, the company’s most profitable international market, was down 10.3%. International revenue fell 11% to $4.3 billion due to the decline in volume. FedEx and UPS domestic flight utilization underperformed against seasonal comparisons for September, according to research by Morgan Stanley transportation analyst Ravi Shanker. FedEx’s flight count tumbled 9% month over month versus minus 7% on average and is down 11% year over year. UPS domestic flight activity fell 12%, double the normal September dip from August, and remains down 19% against 2022. UPS, like FedEx, is in the process of retiring its fleet of aging MD-11 freighters and reducing main-deck capacity flown by its brown tails. The lower parcel volumes at UPS are influenced by consumers spending more dollars on services and experiences than goods, as well as retailers pushing customers to return to stores rather than simply ordering products online, CEO Carol Tomé said on the third-quarter briefing. “You see retailers offering buy online, pick up in store, where they hadn’t offered that before,” she said. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ups-reduces-pilot-head-count-215119142.html Airbus delivered 71 aircraft in October - sources PARIS, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Airbus (AIR.PA) delivered 71 aircraft in October, industry sources said on Monday, up 18% from the same month last year. Airbus declined to comment ahead of the publication of delivery numbers on Tuesday and quarterly results on Wednesday. The October tally, which also accelerated from 55 aircraft in September, brings total deliveries so far this year to 559 units compared with a full-year target of 720. It is in line with a forecast of 71 aircraft by analysts at Jefferies, which said the higher pace of deliveries had "further de-risked" the 2023 delivery target after Airbus downgraded and eventually abandoned delivery goals last year amid supply woes. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/airbus-delivered-71-aircraft-october-sources-2023-11-06/ CALENDAR OF EVENTS • CHC Safety & Quality Summit 2023: November 14 – 16, 2023 • 2024 Women in Aviation International Conference - March 21-23 (Orlando) • 2024 ACSF Safety Symposium – Air Charter Safety Foundation - April 1-3, 2024 • 2024 ISASI - Lisbon, Portugal - September 30 to October 4, 2024 • 2024 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition - Oct. 22-24 (Vegas) Curt Lewis