Flight Safety Information - February 1, 2024 No. 024 In This Issue : Incident: United B738 near Atlanta on Jan 31st 2024, engine shut down in flight : Laser strikes against pilots reach record high in 2023 : Drunken groom ruins honeymoon, gets kicked off plane after vaping and telling captain to ‘f–k off’ : NTSB: Pilot error caused 2022 Carteret County plane crash that killed 8 people : GPS Spoofing Is Now Affecting Airplanes in Parts of Europe : ANA planes in minor collision at Osaka airport, no one hurt : Boeing shelves annual financial guidance to emphasize company’s focus on safety : US FAA says Boeing 737 audit will review Spirit fuselage production : THE COCKPIT VOICE RECORDER CONTROVERSY : Asia Pacific Airlines Bounce Back In 2023 With 161% Passenger Growth : Vistara Honored with ‘ch-aviation Youngest Aircraft Fleet Awards 2024’ : Three Moldovan companies sold US$15 million worth of aircraft parts to Russia : NOAA welcomes third Beechcraft King Air to its specialized aircraft fleet : ACSF Annual Safety Symposium : CALENDAR OF EVENTS Incident: United B738 near Atlanta on Jan 31st 2024, engine shut down in flight A United Boeing 737-800, registration N76528 performing flight UA-575 from Charlotte,NC to Houston Intercontinental,TX (USA) with 138 people on board, was enroute at FL300 about 50nm east of Atlanta,GA (USA) when the crew reported they had lost their left hand engine (CFM56). The aircraft diverted to Atlanta for a safe landing on runway 27R about 30 minutes after leaving FL300. After landing the crew requested emergency services to look after the left hand engine. The FAA reported: "United Airlines Flight 575 landed safely at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport around 8 a.m. local time on Wednesday, Jan. 31 after the crew reported a possible engine issue." and opened an investigation. According to information The Aviation Herald received the loss of engine oil prompted the shut down of the left hand engine in flight. https://avherald.com/h?article=5145dfea&opt=0 Laser strikes against pilots reach record high in 2023 FLORIDA – In 2023, there were more than 13,000 reports of laser strikes on pilots across the United States, including 916 reports of laser incidents in Florida, according to the latest report from the Federal Aviation Administration. Last year’s report marked a record high with a 41% increase from the previous year. FAA said 94% of the strikes happened in the early morning, and 34 pilots reportedly suffered an eye injury because of the strikes. In Northeast Florida, the bulk of recorded laser strike incidents occurred in Hillard, which is home to one of the nation’s busiest air traffic control centers. According to aviation experts, helicopter pilots are more susceptible to laser injuries because the helicopters have more windows for a laser to penetrate. “Most helicopters only travel about 500 to 1000 feet up. It’s a lot slower of a target, and some people will hit that versus an airline,” Sky-4 pilot Clifford Summers said. Aviation expert Ed Booth is also an aviation attorney with decades of experience as a fixed-wing pilot. “I have testified as an aviation expert in federal court on a couple of occasions at the sentencing hearing of people arrested for pointing laser pointers primarily at police helicopters,” Booth said. Although laser strikes happen against airplane pilots, Booth said, there has never been a documented airplane crash caused by a laser. “There are reports or claims of laser interrogations of airplanes cruising eight miles up at 41,000 feet, going 500 mph, being illuminated by a handheld laser on the ground,” Booth said. “I don’t think that’s possible or credible. There might be a brief green flash in the cockpit but it’s not hurting anything.” Booth and Summer said airplane pilots are likely to get a laser strike directly in the eye during take-off or landing or while flying at a lower altitude compared to when they are at high cruise altitude. “I’ve been lasered three times. It’s very jolting when it happens because you go from darkness to really bright to really dark again,” Summers said. Even if someone is using a laser at night, that won’t prevent them from being caught because police helicopters are equipped with forward-looking infrared technology cameras. So, no matter how dark it is, that person’s body heat will be detected on screen. Summers believes that some people intentionally point lasers at aircraft not realizing the dangers behind it. Anyone arrested for pointing a laser into the cockpit of an aircraft in flight can face fines that start at $11,000 and increase to $30,000. https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2024/02/01/laser-strikes-against-pilots-reach-record-high-in-2023/ Drunken groom ruins honeymoon, gets kicked off plane after vaping and telling captain to ‘f–k off’ A British newlywed couple’s honeymoon went up in smoke when the groom was arrested after he refused to stop vaping on the plane and told the captain to “f–k off.” Christopher Thomson, 43, and his new wife had boarded a flight to the Greek island of Santorini from Manchester when crew members spotted smoke coming from his seat on Sept. 16, the Manchester Evening News reported Tuesday. Thomson ignored orders to stop and was deemed a “safety risk” when he continued puffing away and vulgarly cursed the captain when confronted, according to the report. Thomson told the plane’s captain to “f–k off” when asked to stop vaping. Christopher Thomson in trouble after vaping on honeymoon jet. Thomson was deemed a “safety risk” by the crew. The Jet2 budget airline flight was canceled due to the delay and Thomson was arrested and led to a police van in handcuffs, while shouting to his wife to film the encounter and “get a lawyer.” The Warrington, England, man later blamed his bad behavior on booze and pleaded guilty to entering an aircraft when drunk, according to the article. “The flight had already been delayed and so Thomson and his wife spent ‘some time’ consuming alcohol,” Thomson’s legal rep Alistair Reid reportedly said. Thomson’s outburst caused the flight to be canceled. Thomson pleaded guilty to entering an aircraft when drunk. “They were in good spirits and he has instinctively reached for his vape,” Reid continued. “That was poor judgement on his part, due to the alcohol. He is mortified by what he did and how he spoke to the captain. Also seeing his wife’s face and the disappointment and anguish he was causing her.” Recorder Jennifer Cleeve said his behavior posed a “serious danger and health issues” to other people aboard the plane and led to large financial losses for the airline. Thomson was given a ten week jail sentence, which was suspended for a year, and ordered to complete 180 hours of community service. “I have no doubt you and your wife were upset after having ruined the honeymoon,” Cleeve said. “You do appear to be remorseful and have said you do not intend to drink alcohol at an airport and nor vape on a plane again.” https://nypost.com/2024/01/31/news/christopher-thomson-busted-for-vaping-on-plane-cursing-pilot/ NTSB: Pilot error caused 2022 Carteret County plane crash that killed 8 people WASHINGTON, D.C. (WITN) - Federal investigators point to pilot error as the cause of a plane crash nearly two years ago that killed eight people off the Crystal Coast. The National Transportation Safety Board released today its report on the February 13, 2022 crash that killed all of those on board the Pilatus PC-12/47 plane, headed for the Beaufort airport. Eight people, including four East Carteret High School students, died in the crash as the group was returning from a duck hunting trip in Hyde County. The NTSB says pilot Ernest “Teen” Rawls, of Greenville, didn’t adequately conduct preflight planning, had inadequate inflight monitoring of the airplane’s flight parameters, and failed to regain control of the airplane following entry into an inadvertent aerodynamic stall brought about the accident. The NTSB says the pilot’s likely disorientation in the cockpit following the aerodynamic stall also contributed to the crash. The report also says Rawls was unsure how to spell the “fix”, or the next point on his flight plan, so that he could begin instrument approach to the airport. Rawls “expressed frustration and confusion while attempting to program the integrated flight management system,” the NTSB said. The report said the pilot became so fixated with those problems that the aircraft’s pitch increased, while its airspeed dropped. This caused the stall warning system to activate and the autopilot disconnect. “For the final 2 and 1/2 minutes of the flight, the pilot was provided with stall warnings, stick shaker activations, autopilot disconnect warnings, and terrain avoidance warning system alerts,” the report says. The resulting sudden deactivation of the autopilot, combined with his inattention to the airplane’s flight attitude and speed, likely surprised the pilot. Ultimately, the pilot failed to regain control of the airplane following the aerodynamic stall, likely due to spatial disorientation. A year ago, five families of those killed settled wrongful death lawsuits for $15 million against the owner of the plane and the companies that employed Rawls. https://www.witn.com/2024/01/31/ntsb-pilot-error-caused-carteret-county-plane-crash-that-killed-8-people/ GPS Spoofing Is Now Affecting Airplanes in Parts of Europe Incidents of GPS spoofing leading aircraft off-course in the Middle East now have company in Europe. Russia is the source. According to public aircraft tracking databases, aircraft flying in the Baltic region of Europe have been experiencing varying degrees of interference with GPS signals for the last month. The problem was particularly notable during the Holidays. Breaking Defense reported that a spike in GPS jamming on Christmas and the following day affected a large area of northern Poland and southern Sweden. On New Year’s Eve, aircraft across southeastern Finland reported disruptions. Areas in Poland again experienced GPS disruption in mid-January. As the month wound-down, southern Sweden, northern Poland, Estonia and Latvia were impacted. Analysis of the jamming and spoofing by the University of Texas Radionavigation Laboratory (UTRL) detected the sources much in the same way spoofing sources near Tehran were located using satellites in low earth orbit. Zach Clements, a graduate student at UTRL, told Dana Goward (president of the Resilient Navigation and Timing Foundation) that researchers there were confident that Russia is the source of the spoofing. A number of transmitters across a large area jammed GPS to deny service and at least one was actively spoofing aircraft in such a fashion that their instruments would indicate they were flying in a circle far from their actual location. Goward noted that this kind of “circle spoofing” has been frequently observed with ships. The Holiday incidents were the first time it was reported in aviation. According to Clements, “the location the aircraft were spoofed to is a field about a kilometer from Russia’s decommissioned Smolensk military airbase.” The scale of the spoofing and the fact that some aircraft avionics suites appear to have been “captured” (GPS, INS, autopilot and other systems led astray) suggests the trend seen in the Middle East since the fall of 2023 is now present in Europe. Dana Goward who is also a member of the President’s National Space-Based Positioning Navigation and Timing National Advisory Board. Goward says pilots with several major air carriers have told him that they have begun disabling their GPS navigation systems when flying through the regions of northern and Baltic Europe mentioned above to prevent spoofed data from contaminating their other nav systems (inertial navigation, LORAN, etc.). The spread of the sources emitting GPS jamming and their mobile nature indicates they are likely coming from ships of the Russian Navy. Goward cited Russian-language media and other reports calling attention to the migration of jamming. Ukrainian media he says reported that since Mid-December 2023, units of the Russian Baltic Fleet have undertaken electronic warfare exercises in the Kaliningrad area. Russia’s motivation for conducting GPS spoofing and jamming around the Holidays could be simple harassment or linked to issues including the expansion of NATO with Sweden and Finland’s ascension to the Alliance. A U.S.-supplied Aegis anti-missile system recently deployed to northern Poland may also be a target for the jamming which adds a challenge to the system’s largely radar-based interception. Interestingly, GPS jamming and spoofing are phenomena within Russia itself. “There’s all kinds of jamming going on within Moscow and St. Petersburg and areas northeast of the Donbas,” Goward affirms. “That almost certainly has to do with the Russians being concerned about defending against Ukrainian drones.” GPS spoofing popped up in Russia well before its war with Ukraine. Goward mentions a 2016 Moscow Times article which quipped that “the Kremlin eats GPS for breakfast”. The jamming disrupted Uber and other terrestrial GPS-dependent services as well as any threatening drones in the vicinity. Goward says Russia has employed GPS spoofing to throw drones off the locations of the dacha-holidaying dignitaries in the country’s Black Sea resort areas. Spoofing of GPS within its own territory imposes less burden than might be expected for Russia since the country long ago developed its GLONASS satellite navigation system. It is possible to jam or spoof GPS without affecting GLONASS (or China’s Beidou satnav system) Goward says though challenging. “We’ve seen Russia do that in northern Norway. The Norwegians actually took pictures of an oscilloscope and said, ‘Look at this neat, square [jamming] wave. It just hits the GPS frequency but doesn’t touch GLONASS frequencies right next door.” Russia could also pivot to a terrestrial navigation system called “Chaika” which is similar to Loran. It also has a lesser-known system - possibly a mobile, military navigation and timing system for space-denied battle - called “Scorpio”. It must be remembered as well that Russian air transports are not overflying Europe these days, as such GPS disruptions in the region are not a concern. But western airliners and private aircraft overflying Europe almost all rely on GPS though some also use Europe’s Galileo satellites for navigation. As in the Middle East, spoofing and jamming puts lives and property at risk. Thus far however, Russia has suffered no consequences for its actions. Goward points out that intentional GPS interference violates an international law and a regulation agreed upon by member nations in the U.N.’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU). While it may be a “gray zone” tactic, GPS jamming is tantamount to warfare Goward asserts. He suggests a proportional response to Russian GPS spoofing could be denying it new frequency allocations for satellites. These are granted by the ITU and withholding them could have significant economic and strategic consequences for Russia. With half a dozen or more Russian GPS jamming or spoofing exploits targeting northern and Baltic Europe in the last month or so, the time to act on such responses is now. https://www.forbes.com/sites/erictegler/2024/01/31/gps-spoofing-is-now-affecting-airplanes-in-parts-of-europe/?sh=3152c8c5c550 ANA planes in minor collision at Osaka airport, no one hurt Two All Nippon Airways airplanes experienced a minor collision on Thursday at an airport straddling Osaka and Hyogo prefectures in western Japan, but none of the passengers or crew was injured, the airport operator said. The incident involving the two planes, both Bombardier DHC8-400s, happened at around 10:10 a.m. on the tarmac of the domestic terminal at Itami airport, according to Kansai Airports. There were no reports of fire or fuel leaks, and authorities said they were looking into the cause. According to ANA Holdings, Flight 422 from Fukuoka, with 69 passengers and crew onboard, was about to enter the tarmac after landing when its right wing grazed the right wing of Flight 1637, carrying 73 passengers and personnel, which was on standby bound for Matsuyama in the tarmac area. While Flight 1637 eventually departed by switching aircraft, the incident caused the cancellation of 10 ANA flights to and from the airport, the airline said. The incident comes after a Korean Air jet came into contact with a Cathay Pacific Airways plane at an airport in Hokkaido in northern Japan last month. There were no injuries reported. In the same month, a collision took place between a Japan Airlines jetliner and a Japan Coast Guard aircraft at Tokyo's Haneda airport, killing five on the latter aircraft. https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/02/3cd470cae90b-urgent-ana-planes-collide-at-osaka-airport-no-one-hurt.html Boeing shelves annual financial guidance to emphasize company’s focus on safety Boeing has published its fourth quarter and year-end 2023 results, but without including any of the “financial and operational objectives” that would normally be expected to feature. Boeing CEO, President and CEO Dave Calhoun, made the decision to shelve the annual financial guidance to reflect the company’s determination to focus squarely on safety. Addressing staff in a letter accompanying the latest financial results on January 31, 2024, Calhoun explained his reasoning. “While we often use this time of year to share or update our financial and operational objectives, now is not the time for that. We will simply focus on every next airplane while doing everything possible to support our customers, follow the lead of our regulator and ensure the highest standard of safety and quality in all that we do. Ultimately – that is what will drive our performance,” the Boeing boss wrote. Calhoun added: “As we go about that work, I want to be clear that we still have every confidence in our recovery. I have confidence in you, and I have confidence in Boeing. We have a serious challenge in front of us – but I know this team is up to the task.” Boeing and its quality processes are currently under intense scrutiny after a plug door separated from an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 midflight on January 5, 2024. The National transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is yet to reach any final conclusions about the cause of the incident, but the Boeing CEO has himself admitted that “mistakes” were made. Four bolts designed to hold the plug door in place were missing when investigators from the NTSB first investigated the Alaska 737-9 aircraft. A whistleblower who claims to be an employee at Boeing has alleged that the bolts were likely not to have been in place. Among the financial results that were published on January 31, 2024, was news that revenue at Boeing had increased in 2023 from $62 billion in 2022 to $77 billion this year (17% rise). The fourth quarter results were also more positive than had been expected, with a net loss recorded of $30 million, compared to $663 million over the same three months last year. In the fourth quarter, the 737 MAX production rate was at 38 per month and the 787 rate at five per month. Boeing also claims to have delivered 157 commercial airplanes in the last three months of 2023 and recorded 611 net orders. In total, Boeing delivered 528 commercial planes and recorded 1,576 net orders during 2023, with the entire company backlog growing to $520 billion, including over 5,600 commercial planes. https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/boeing-financial-results-guidance-objectives-aircraft US FAA says Boeing 737 audit will review Spirit fuselage production WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday that its previously announced audit of Boeing 737 MAX manufacturing will look at all elements of production at Boeing and fuselage production at Spirit AeroSystems'. The FAA said a team of two dozen aviation safety inspectors will conduct the audit at the Boeing 737 facility in Renton, Washington, and at Spirit in Wichita, Kansas. The audit will also examine how Boeing transfers unfinished work from suppliers to its production lines. The FAA announced the audit on Jan. 13 after the agency grounded 171 MAX 9 planes due to a mid-air cabin panel blowout on a new Alaska Airlines MAX 9. The FAA last week allowed the planes to fly again. The FAA said it is conducting enhanced oversight of Boeing and "will regularly assess trends, corrective actions and the effects of any changes to the quality system." The FAA did not say how long the greater scrutiny would last. FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker told Reuters this month the Boeing production audit would begin with the 737 MAX and extend to other planes as warranted by data. Whitaker said the FAA audit "is to look at the system, look at how the inspections are done, where they're done, how the interaction is with the suppliers, how the handoff happens, just the whole process to really understand how it works and where the faults might be." Spirit AeroSystems, which did not immediately comment Wednesday, said previously it is "committed to supporting the FAA’s audit of production and manufacturing processes." Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said Wednesday the planemaker is "taking immediate and comprehensive action to strengthen quality at Boeing and within our supply chain." The National Transportation Safety Board is looking at whether the bolts attaching the cabin panel in the Jan. 5 incident were missing. The FAA has opened a separate formal investigation into the MAX 9. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/faa-says-comprehensive-boeing-737-220620858.html THE COCKPIT VOICE RECORDER CONTROVERSY Every time there’s a plane crash or other aviation safety incident, we often hear talk of the famous “black box”. Of course, anyone these days will tell you that they’re not black, but orange, for visibility’s sake. Plus, there’s often not one black box, but two! There’s a Flight Data Recorder (FDR), charged with recording aircraft telemetry, and a Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), designed to record what’s going on in the cabin. It sounds straightforward enough, but the cockpit voice recorder has actually become the subject of some controversy in recent times. Let’s talk about the basics of these important safety devices, and why they’re the subject of some debate at the present time. THAT’S A HOT MIC When it comes to figuring out what happened in an air disaster, context is everything. Flight data recorders can tell investigators all about what the plane’s various systems are doing, while more advanced maintenance recorders developed by airline manufacturers can deliver even more granular data. Knowing the control inputs from the pilots, the positions of control surfaces, and system statuses is all relevant to piecing together what happened. However, there’s also a lot that can be learned from the pilots themselves. Past research has found pilot error to be a factor in over a third of major airline crashes. Knowing what pilots are thinking at a given moment isn’t quite possible, but having a recording of their conversation can provide good insight. The cockpit voice recorder plays a pivotal role in this regard. It’s also useful for capturing other sounds, too, like rattles, thuds, explosions, or alarms going off in the cockpit. This information can prove crucial in the event of an incident or accident. It aids investigators who must try and piece together a sequence of events and contributing factors. An instructional example is the case of Air France Flight 447. Flight data indicated that the plane was likely subject to icing on the pitot tubes, leading to unreliable airspeed measurements. The crew’s response was incorrect for the given situation, with the voice recording clearly laying out how the errors made led to the tragic loss of the aircraft and the lives of all on board. Without the voice recording, there would have been a far greater mystery around how the plane came to enter its deadly stall before plummeting into the water. So, cockpit voice recorders are super useful. With today’s modern storage technologies, we must be recording and storing what goes on in every flight, right? No? Well… surely we’re recording for the full length of every flight, at least. Again, not quite. As it stands today, there are notable differences in regulations around the world regarding the length of recording time required for a CVR. Once upon a time, recording durations were as short as 30 minutes, but this was often found to be insufficient to gain a good understanding of a safety-related incident. Today, in the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration mandates that planes fitted with cockpit voice recorders have a recording duration for a minimum of two hours. Recording is done on a loop, such that as the recording continues, older audio is overwritten, preserving just the last two hours of sound recorded from the cabin. Obviously, modern technology has made storage incredibly cheap. While early units often used magnetic recording on wire or tape, more recent designs have relied on solid state digital recordings. There’s no real technical reason for CVRs to only record two hours of audio, but airlines and aircraft manufacturers build to the regulation. There’s also great expense required to get a new piece of equipment designed and approved for safety-critical use in an aircraft. Without a regulation mandating longer recording times, US airlines have little reason to invest in upgrades to their fleets. In Europe, however, there’s a rather different picture. Under the regulations set by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight exceeding 59,500 pounds must have cockpit voice recorders that store at least 25 hours of audio. This regulation applies to aircraft manufactured after Jan 1, 2021, and doesn’t explicitly require that earlier aircraft be retrofitted. The European move has led to calls for the FAA to adopt similar minimum standards. Most recently, the chair of the National Transport Safety Board has called for the 25-hour recording period to apply not just to newly built aircraft, but existing planes as well. This was in part due to the case of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, in which a Boeing 737 MAX 9 had a door plug blow out at altitude. Unfortunately, after the plane landed safely, neither the crew nor other technicians switched off the breaker for the cockpit voice recorder. Thus, it kept recording while on the ground, and overwrote the relevant period in short order. A 25-hour recording would have provided a much longer period for somebody to realize and shut off the CVR, even if it’s an imperfect solution. The 25-hour limit is also of use to provide full coverage of longer international flights. The FAA continues to accept comment on the matter until February 2, 2024. PRIVACY IN THE COCKPIT There are other limits on cockpit voice recorders, too. Privacy has been a major concern for pilots and aviation unions over the years, primarily regarding the potential misuse of recordings. While many of us are recorded by surveillance cameras on a daily basis in our places of work, they seldom capture the intimate details of conversations between colleagues. Pilots, on the other hand, have every word they speak recorded by multiple microphones in the cabin. On long flights, pilots will typically have all sorts of personal conversations, just like anyone else at work. There’s naturally some apprehension about having one’s conversations stored, and possibly listened to, in such a manner. By and large, recordings from cockpit voice recorders are not released publicly, even in the event of a major crash investigation. Instead, when the NTSB investigates an incident, it forms a committee to listen to a recording. This committee usually consists representatives from the NTSB and FAA, the aircraft manufacturer, and members of the pilots union. The committee then produces a transcript for further use in the investigation and public distribution, where necessary. While transparency can aid public understanding and trust in aviation safety processes, there are concerns about sensationalism and misinterpretation of the technical conversations by the general public. These matters are treated with the highest sensitivity; Congress mandates that CVR audio is not released to the public, in whole or in part. Even the written transcript can only be released on a set timetable, typically at a public hearing or when a report is issued for public consumption. While there are strict rules in place, pilot unions and individuals have come out against CVR reforms on the table in the US. Prime concerns remain around privacy, and fears that airlines might begin to use cockpit recordings to pursue disciplinary actions or surveil pilots, rather than sticking to using the systems for safety investigations. Others contend that, in some cases, pilots have even worked around existing 2-hour recording limits to cover their tracks in cases of potential misconduct. Ultimately, controversy continues to hold back cockpit voice recorders from being as good as they possibly could be. It’s likely that crash investigators in future will have to make do with what they can get as opposition to more capable recorders remains potent in the US. Meanwhile, European regulators seem happy to charge ahead and enforce a greater standard. We may yet learn from this folly, but hopefully not through the loss of some critical information that could solve a future airline tragedy. https://hackaday.com/2024/01/31/the-cockpit-voice-recorder-controversy/ Asia Pacific Airlines Bounce Back In 2023 With 161% Passenger Growth • The Year of the Dragon bodes well for the airlines of Asia-Pacific, and with travel restrictions gone and capacity back, full recovery is on its way. SUMMARY • Asia-Pacific airlines experienced strong growth in 2023 as travel restrictions were lifted, with a 161% increase in passengers compared to 2022. • Demand for travel was fueled by the removal of pandemic-related restrictions, resulting in a passenger load factor of 80.9%, the same as pre-pandemic levels in 2019. • The end of travel restrictions in Northeast Asia and the return of major Chinese airlines contributed to the region's recovery, and further growth is expected in 2024. Despite suffering a long tail of COVID-19-induced lockdowns and setbacks, the airlines of Asia-Pacific are now back in full force and looking forward to a prosperous Year of the Dragon in 2024. The region's recovery has lagged most of the world by twelve months, but with travel restrictions a thing of the past, there seems little doubt that the gap will soon be erased and Asia will once again be leading the commercial aviation industry. No restrictions lead to a strong result Yesterday, the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) released its preliminary traffic figures for 2023, which showed that international passenger markets had recorded solid growth that accelerated as the year progressed and that cargo markets also rebounded towards the end of 2023. AAPA attributed the significant improvement throughout the year to the strong appetite for travel that followed the removal of the region's remaining pandemic-related travel restrictions. In 2023, Asia-Pacific airlines carried 278.5 million international passengers, a 161% increase on the 106.7 million carried in 2022. Demand, as measured by revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs), rose by 131%, which reflected the strength of short-haul international markets, while capacity by available seat kilometers (ASKs) rose by 106.2% as airlines across the region added more flights to the schedules. That equation between demand and capacity pushed the 2023 passenger load factor up to 80.9% compared to 72.2% in 2022 and was exactly the same as in pre-pandemic 2019. In 2019, AAPA reported that the region's airlines carried 375.5 million international passengers, which highlights that while 2023 was a good year-on-year result, it is still only 74% recovered against pre-pandemic levels, so there is plenty of upside still to follow in 2024. The AAPA traffic numbers are collated from 40 Asia-Pacific based carriers, including legacy, low-cost and hybrid airlines of all shapes and sizes, including AirAsia, China Southern, Singapore Airlines, Japan Airlines, Air Astana, Korean Air, Royal Brunei, Jetstar, Qantas and Air New Zealand. AAPA Director General Subhas Menon said it had been a good year for the region's carriers as passenger numbers grew unabated and air cargo markets ended the year on a high note. "The gradual restoration of flight frequencies and city-pair connections over the course of the year provided more options for travelers, further stimulating demand. However as operations were progressively restored, airlines faced capacity constraints in addition to increased cost pressures driven by volatile fuel prices, a strong US Dollar and inflationary impacts on operations." All the Asia-Pacific regions are contributing The significant gains in the second half of 2023 came from the end of travel restrictions across Northeast Asia and the gradual return of the major Chinese airlines, as well as more services to and from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. International traffic to and from Australia also rapidly picked up pace, led by Singapore Airlines, which was a first-mover in adding services between Singapore and Australia, and the aggressive expansion by low-cost carrier Vietjet which now offers flights to five Australian capital cities from Ho Chi Minh City. Menon believes 2024 will be another good year and that international traffic will return to pre-pandemic levels "in the coming months." The pandemic has once again proven that nothing is ever 100% certain in aviation, and the industry faces headwinds it must navigate, such as the rising impacts of geopolitical risks and fuel prices, however the resilience it has shown in 2023 bodes well for a successful year in Asia-Pacific. https://simpleflying.com/asia-pacific-airlines-bounce-2023-pax-growth/ Vistara Honored with ‘ch-aviation Youngest Aircraft Fleet Awards 2024’ Vistara Honored with ‘ch-aviation Youngest Aircraft Fleet Awards 2024’ Vistara, India’s finest full-service carrier and a joint venture of the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, has won two recognitions at the coveted ‘ch-aviation Youngest Aircraft Fleet Awards 2024’, including “ch-aviation World’s 4th Youngest Aircraft Fleet Award 2024” and “ch-aviation Asia’s 2nd Youngest Aircraft Fleet Award 2024”. Notably, Vistara had also been recognised for having the third youngest aircraft fleet in Asia, consecutively for the past two years. Switzerland-based airline intelligence provider and research company, ch-aviation, maintains comprehensive databases of aircraft, along with their operators and owners, from across the globe to determine these awards. Mr. Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara, said, “We are delighted to receive these accolades at the ch-aviation Youngest Aircraft Fleet Awards 2024 – securing a position in the World’s Top Five for the first time and advancing to the second position in Asia. They are an acknowledgement of our continued investment in maintaining a young and modern fleet with the objective of keeping our CO2 emissions at their lowest. We thank ch-aviation for recognizing our efforts. Mr. Thomas Jaeger, CEO, ch-aviation, said “ch-aviation established the Youngest Aircraft Fleet Award to revere airlines worldwide who understand the value and necessity of investing in their fleets, introducing new-generation aircraft that considerably reduce CO2 emissions in the aviation industry and improve fuel economy. Sustainability represents a significant challenge and will continue to require giant leaps forward for the aviation industry. Hence, ch-aviation has decided to honour them with this award that celebrates their effort. It is essential to say that this Award is entirely based on non-manipulable fleet data. There is no jury or any other subjective parameter involved.” Vistara’s current fleet, with an average age of 2.94 years, consists of A320NEO, A321NEO, and B787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, all powered by cutting-edge technologies and advanced systems that result in reduction in engine noise as well as nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide emissions. In March 2023, Vistara achieved an important milestone of operating a wide-body aircraft for a long-haul international flight using a 30% SAF blend, reducing 150,000 pounds of CO2 emissions. Extending this success, Vistara also operated a commercial domestic flight on a wide-body aircraft using SAF, another industry-first initiative. This flight, utilizing a blend of 17% SAF and 83% conventional jet fuel, resulted in a reduction of approximately 10,000 pounds of CO₂ emissions. Vistara also became the first airline in India to implement Aerowash, an automated aircraft exterior washing and cleaning solution. Furthermore, Vistara deployed SITA eWAS and SITA OptiClimb® solutions for optimising flight planning and operations, aiming for a yearly reduction of 15,000 tons of carbon emissions. Vistara is India’s highest-rated airline on Skytrax and TripAdvisor, and it has been the winner of several ‘Best Airline’ awards, besides being lauded for world-class cabin cleanliness and upholding high safety standards. The only Indian carrier to feature amongst World’s Top 20 Airlines, Vistara has been named ‘16th Best Airline’ globally, while also being recognised as the ‘Best Airline in India and South Asia’ for the third time in a row, ‘Best Airline Staff in India and South Asia’ for the fifth consecutive year, ‘Best Cabin Crew in India and South Asia’ for the third time in a row and ‘Best Business Class Airline in India and South Asia’ for the second time in a row at the coveted World Airline Awards 2023 by Skytrax. https://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/vistara-honored-with-ch-aviation-youngest-aircraft-fleet-awards-2024/ Three Moldovan companies sold US$15 million worth of aircraft parts to Russia Investigative journalists have discovered that three Moldovan companies sold spare aircraft parts to Russia for a total of about US$15 million during 2022-2023. Source: European Pravda, citing an investigation by the Moldovan service of Radio Liberty Details: The supply of aircraft parts to Russia via Moldova began a few months into the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Parts from Western countries were delivered to major Russian airlines such as Pobeda and S7 Engineering. Three Moldovan companies were involved in the scheme – Airrock Solutions, Aerostage Services and Maxjet Service. The first two, founded in November 2021 and April 2022, are owned by Ivan Melnikov, a former senior official at Air Moldova, while the third company has existed since 2011 and is owned by Sergei Ranga. All three companies acted as intermediaries, placing orders for spare parts and then helping to transport them to Russia, sometimes directly to Russian airports. The deliveries were not made through Moldovan territory. Both Melnikov and Ranga told Radio Liberty that they did not know that the parts purchased by their companies were being shipped to Russia – the contracts stated that they were to be delivered to other CIS countries. According to the investigation, this may have been because Moldova did not join some EU sanctions against Russia relating to the supply of aircraft parts. Radio Liberty sources in the Moldovan president’s office said that they were aware of these cases and that the "competent authorities" were already dealing with them, and that Chisinau is discussing the possibility of joining other EU sanctions. In October 2022, journalists discovered that at least four Moldovan companies are linked to Russian state military corporations that are subject to EU sanctions because of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. https://news.yahoo.com/three-moldovan-companies-sold-us-214738738.html NOAA welcomes third Beechcraft King Air to its specialized aircraft fleet New turboprop will assist with coastal mapping and emergency response missions NOAA’s newest aircraft, a Beechcraft King Air 360 CER turboprop, has arrived at the NOAA Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland, Florida. The new aircraft, designated N65RF, is configured to support NOAA coastal mapping missions and aerial surveys of damage in communities after events like hurricane landfall, tornadoes or flooding. With a camera bay in the aircraft belly and work stations for sensor operators, the aircraft will be able to obtain and process vital aerial imagery in-flight, giving emergency managers rapid understanding of conditions on the ground. The twin-engine aircraft was built at Textron Aviation’s factory in Wichita, Kansas, and modified by Avcon Industries (Newton, Kansas), as part of a $13.9 million contract to Textron Aviation, Inc. “This new, high-performance aircraft will greatly enhance NOAA’s ability to collect data vital to forecasters, researchers and emergency managers,” said NOAA Corps Rear Adm. Nancy Hann, director of NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations and the NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps. “The NOAA King Air aircraft contains cutting-edge technology that is helping unlock new capabilities for weather forecasting and data collection,” said Kansas Senator Jerry Moran. “I worked to secure funding for this aircraft to expand the great work being done at Textron’s Wichita location to aid in NOAA’s mission of forecasting extreme weather and responding to flooding, drought and more.” “We are honored the King Air 360CER aircraft continues to be the aircraft of choice to fill a variety of critical mission needs for NOAA,” said Ron Draper, president and CEO, Textron Aviation. “The aircraft’s ability to carry a wide range of special missions equipment, combined with its extended range performance, makes it a powerful and reliable platform to carry out the agency’s unique missions during aerial surveys of damage in communities after events like hurricane landfall, tornadoes or flooding.” The aircraft joins two existing King Air 350 CERs in NOAA’s fleet of specialized environmental data-gathering aircraft, fulfilling a portion of the NOAA Aircraft Plan. A fleet of three King Airs enables the team to train aviators, maintain airframes and meet data requirements for NOAA missions conducting: High resolution coastal mapping to ensure safe navigation and management of coastal resources. Snow and soil moisture surveys to aid water resource management and flood forecasting. Arctic monitoring and remote marine mammal population surveys. Weather and air chemistry research. NOAA’s aircraft fleet is operated, managed and maintained by NOAA Corps officers and civilians. The NOAA Corps is one of the nation’s eight uniformed services. https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/noaa-welcomes-third-beechcraft-king-air-to-its-specialized-aircraft-fleet CALENDAR OF EVENTS • SINGAPORE AIRSHOW 2024 - February 20 - 25 • HAI Heli-Expo 2024 - February 26 - 29 - Anaheim, CA • 2024 Women in Aviation International Conference - March 21-23 (Orlando) • SMU Air Law Symposium - March 21-22, 2024 ( Dallas, TX) • 2024 ACSF Safety Symposium – Air Charter Safety Foundation - April 1-3, 2024 • Airborne Public Safety Association, Inc. (APSCON 2024) - July 29 - August 3; Houston TX • Asia Pacific Airline Training Symposium - APATS 2024, 0-11 September, 2024, Singapore • • 2024 ISASI - Lisbon, Portugal - September 30 to October 4, 2024 • 2024 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition - Oct. 22-24 (Vegas) Curt Lewis