Flight Safety Information - March 13, 2024 No. 053 In This Issue : Incident: Iberia A333 near Madrid on Mar 12th 2024, hydraulic problem : Incident: Lingus A320 at Dublin on Mar 10th 2024, fumes on board : Aircraft Cabin Air International Conference - 17 & 18 September - London : Incident: Omni B763 near Bangor on Mar 11th 2024, engine problem : US airlines warn of more Boeing delivery delays due to safety crisis : Student Pilot Tried Bum-Rushing Plane’s Cockpit Mid-Flight: Complaint : Alaska Airlines Flight Was Scheduled for Safety Check on Day Panel Blew Off : United Airlines and commercial air travel are safe, aviation experts say moneywatch : Two Florida Men Plead Guilty to Selling Fake Aircraft Parts to Canadian Airlines and U.S. Defense Contractor For Eight Years : U.S. airport nasal swabbing expanding to Chicago and Miami : CALENDAR OF EVENTS Incident: Iberia A333 near Madrid on Mar 12th 2024, hydraulic problem An Iberia Airbus A330-300, registration EC-LZX performing flight IB-6123 from Madrid,SP (Spain) to Miami,FL (USA), was climbing through FL330 out of Madrid when the crew stopped the climb and decided to return to Madrid reporting a hydraulic problem. The aircraft entered a hold to burn off fuel and landed safely back on Madrid's runway 32L about 2.5 hours after departure. https://avherald.com/h?article=5160f006&opt=0 Incident: Lingus A320 at Dublin on Mar 10th 2024, fumes on board An Aer Lingus Airbus A320-200, registration EI-DEM performing flight EI-166 from Dublin (Ireland) to London Heathrow,EN (UK), was climbing out of Dublin when the crew stopped the climb at about FL280 reporting fumes on board of the aircraft - the crew did not don their oxygen masks. The aircraft returned to Dublin, the crew advised while still working the checklists the source of the fumes appeared to be the air conditioning system. The aircraft landed safely on Dublin's runway 10R about 40 minutes after departure, vacated the runway and taxied to the apron. The crew subsequently went to a hospital for checks. The airline confirmed fumes in the cabin and stated, that no one required medical assistance after landing. The aircraft returned to service about 45.5 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=5160d877&opt=0 Incident: Omni B763 near Bangor on Mar 11th 2024, engine problem An Omni Air Boeing 767-300, registration N468AX performing flight OY-1911 from Baltimore,MD (USA) to Ramstein Air Base (Germany), was enroute at FL370 about 280nm east of Bangor,ME (USA) when the crew initiated a drift down to FL260 and a diversion to Bangor reporting they had reduced their left hand engine to idle thrust. The aircraft landed safely on runway 33 about 75 minutes after leaving FL370 and taxied to the apron. https://avherald.com/h?article=51603d88&opt=0 US airlines warn of more Boeing delivery delays due to safety crisis (Reuters) -U.S. air carriers warned on Tuesday that their plans to increase capacity were in doubt due to more jet delivery delays from Boeing, as the hit to the airline industry from the planemaker's safety crisis worsens. The airline industry has cut expectations for deliveries this year due to Boeing's problems, complicating efforts to meet record travel demand. Boeing has been under heavy regulatory scrutiny following a harrowing Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines mid-air panel blowout that led to probes into the company's safety and quality standards in its production process. "Boeing deliveries are going to be way behind this year," United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said at a conference adding that it was "impossible to say when MAX 10 is going to get certified." United's shares closed 1.7% lower, while Southwest Airlines shares plunged nearly 15% after it cut its Boeing delivery forecast for the year. Boeing shares closed 4.3% lower, having fallen 29% since the start of the year. The National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday that it would hold a public investigative hearing into the Alaska Airlines incident on Aug. 6-7. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told Reuters last week the hearing would include testimony from employees at Boeing and fuselage manufacturer Spirit AeroSystems and others like Alaska Airlines. The carrier confirmed a New York Times report on Tuesday that the MAX 9 involved in the incident had been scheduled for maintenance later on Jan. 5 after pressurization warning lights had come on during three prior flights, leading it to refrain from long trips over water on the aircraft. "It was not deferred or overdue maintenance. It was simply scheduled for the 5th," Alaska Airlines said. FLEET PLANS After the Alaska Airlines incident, the Federal Aviation Administration curbed Boeing's plans to expand 737 production, and the certification of the MAX 7 and 10 models has been further delayed by design changes. Earlier this year, United said it was going to build a fleet plan excluding the MAX 10, the largest model. Rival Southwest, the biggest customer for the smaller MAX 7, said on Tuesday it expects 42% fewer MAX deliveries this year from Boeing than previously estimated, and that will likely result in a cut in its 2024 capacity. It is the second time Southwest cut its delivery forecast this year. Boeing has advised Southwest to expect 46 jets in 2024, all of which will be the MAX 8 variant, down from the previous expectation of 79 jets, which included the MAX 7 version, the airline said in a filing on Tuesday. The deliveries will not include MAX 7, which is delayed and still waiting for a FAA certification. Southwest had previously expected 21 MAX 7 jets this year. Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said he "would not be surprised" if the latest forecast changed again, even as the company highlighted the need to reduce capacity and "re-optimize schedules" for the second half of 2024, which it expects to result in a full-year capacity cut by one full point. United has approached Airbus about buying more A321neo jets to fill the potential void left by delays for the MAX 10, expected to be certified after the MAX 7, Kirby said. If the price of A321neo does not work for the carrier, it will rely more on MAX 9 that has 179 seats, and would be ready to convert its orders back to MAX 10 once the jet that has 185 seats in its current configuration gets certified, he said. Heavy backlogs make it hard for airlines to shift orders to Airbus, the only other large commercial aircraft manufacturer globally. Alaska Airlines also said its 2024 capacity plans were still in flux due to the Boeing crisis. The airline does not expect to get all of the 47 planned aircraft deliveries from Boeing over the next two years, CEO Ben Minicucci said. Boeing said on Tuesday it is adding weekly compliance checks for every 737 work area and additional audits of equipment to reduce quality problems. "We will not hesitate in stopping a production line or keeping an airplane in position," Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal said in a memo to employees. Boeing said it had delivered 27 airplanes in February, down one unit from the same month a year earlier. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/southwest-airlines-cuts-jet-delivery-104600944.html Student Pilot Tried Bum-Rushing Plane’s Cockpit Mid-Flight: Complaint Nathan Jones told flight attendants that he “was testing them,” according to a criminal complaint obtained A student pilot on an Alaska Airlines flight from San Diego, California to Washington, D.C. is facing charges after allegedly trying to rush the aircraft’s flight deck multiple times during the five-hour flight. Nathan Jones told flight attendants that he “was testing them,” according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Daily Beast. It was filed in Virginia federal court March 4, the day after Jones was arrested for interference with flight crew members, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. On March 3, Jones took his assigned seat—6A—aboard Alaska flight 322, the complaint states. He then proceeded to make “three separate attempts to go to the front of the plane and open the aircraft’s cockpit door before flight attendants requested the assistance of off-duty law enforcement officers, who restrained Jones in flexcuffs and sat on either side of him for the remainder of the flight,” according to the document. The cockpit was “locked down for the remainder of the flight.” “One of the flight attendants had to move from his assigned area in the back of the plane to the front of the plane to help assist other flight attendants because of Jones actions,” the complaint continues. “The flight attendants also had to put the beverage cart out as a barrier to block the cockpit, and one of the flight attendants remained with the beverage cart.” When flight attendants asked Jones why he had tried to get into the cockpit, “Jones replied that he ‘was testing them,’” according to the complaint. After the plane landed at Washington Dulles International Airport, officers with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department contacted the FBI about Jones, who gave them permission to search his carry-on bags and checked luggage, the complaint says. “Agents found multiple notebooks with writings describing how to operate an aircraft, including take-off, in-air, and landing techniques,” it states. “Jones’ wallet contained his student pilot’s license.” DOJ Opens Criminal Probe Into Alaska Airlines Blowout National Transportation Safety Board Investigator-in-Charge John Lovell examines the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX on January 7, 2024 in Portland, Oregon It’s not the first incident to strike fear into the hearts of Alaska Airlines passengers in recent months. In October, an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot riding in the cockpit jumpseat of a flight from Everett, Washington to San Francisco tried to shut down the aircraft’s engines mid-flight, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon. The aviator, identified as 44-year-old Mark Joseph Emerson, said he was tripping on psychedelic mushrooms when he attempted to cut power to the engines. He pleaded not guilty to one count of endangering aircraft in the first degree and 83 counts of recklessly endangering another person. Last month, an American Airlines passenger also had to be duct-taped to his seat after he reportedly tried to open an exit door while en route from Albuquerque to Chicago. In addition to those incidents, a Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing when part of the fuselage panel ripped off mid-flight. The Federal Aviation Administration has received 336 reports of unruly passengers aboard commercial aircraft so far in 2024. In 2023, the FAA handled 2,075 unruly passenger cases, down from 2,455 in 2022, and a high of 5,973 in 2021. Jones’ attorney, Robert Lee Jenkins, Jr., did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday evening. Jones remains detained pending a mental health evaluation, and is scheduled to appear in court on March 18. A representative for Alaska Airlines said the company “can confirm that the guest is prohibited from flying with Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/student-pilot-tried-bum-rushing-planes-cockpit-mid-flight-complaint Alaska Airlines Flight Was Scheduled for Safety Check on Day Panel Blew Off The 737 Max remained in service for a day after the airline’s engineers, concerned about warning lights, scheduled it to come in for maintenance. During that period, a door plug came off in flight. A day before the door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines flight on Jan. 5, engineers and technicians for the airline were so concerned about the mounting evidence of a problem that they wanted the plane to come out of service the next evening and undergo maintenance, interviews and documents show. But the airline chose to keep the plane, a Boeing 737 Max 9, in service on Jan. 5 with some restrictions, carrying passengers until it completed three flights that were scheduled to end that night in Portland, Ore., the site of one of the airline’s maintenance facilities. Before the plane could complete that scheduled sequence of flights and go in for the maintenance check, the door plug blew out at 16,000 feet, minutes after embarking on the second flight of the day, from Portland to Ontario International Airport in California. The plane landed safely and no one was seriously injured, but the incident focused new attention on Boeing’s manufacturing processes and the safety procedures followed by airlines. The scheduling of the maintenance check on the plane has not previously been reported. It demonstrates that the airline chose to keep the plane in service while it made its way toward the maintenance facility rather than flying it to Portland without passengers. Alaska Airlines confirmed the sequence of events. But the airline said the warnings it had on the plane did not meet its standards for immediately taking it out of service. Donald Wright, the vice president for maintenance and engineering for Alaska Airlines, said the warning signals — a light indicating problems with the plane’s pressurization system — had come on twice in the previous 10 days instead of the three times the airline considers the trigger to take more aggressive action. Alaska Airlines has repeatedly asserted that there is no evidence that the warning lights, which could also be caused by electronic or other problems, were related to the impending plug blowout. “From my perspective as the safety guy, looking at all the data, all the leading indicators, there was nothing that would drive me to make a different decision,” Max Tidwell, the vice president for safety and security for Alaska Airlines, said in an interview. The airline’s engineers had called for the plane to undergo a rigorous maintenance check on Jan. 5 to determine why the warning lights were triggering based on their use of “a predictive tool” rather than on the number of times the warning lights had gone off, the airline said. While it kept the plane in service, the airline did put restrictions on it following the recommendation of the engineers. It restricted the plane from flying long-haul routes over water, like to Hawaii, or remote continental areas in case of the need for an emergency landing. Extensive evidence of a potential problem with the plane had been accumulating for days and possibly weeks, according to interviews with the airline and records of the investigation into the blowout. In addition to the flashing lights, investigators say the door plug had been gradually sliding upward, a potentially crucial link in the accumulating string of evidence. The airline said its visual inspection in the days leading up to the blowout did not reveal any movement of the door plug. A door plug is a panel that goes where an emergency exit would be located on a plane with the option of expanding the number of passenger seats. A preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board last month said that four bolts meant to secure the door plug in place were missing before the panel came off the plane. It outlined a series of events that occurred at Boeing’s factory in Renton, Wash., that may have led to the plane being delivered without those bolts being in place. Mark Lindquist, a lawyer representing passengers on the Jan. 5 flight, said the series of mishaps involving the Alaska Airlines jet were alarming, adding that both the carrier and Boeing, the 737 Max 9’s manufacturer, would struggle to explain the events in court. “When jurors find out they’d actually been cautioned by engineers to ground the plane and they put it into commercial rotation instead, jurors will be more than mystified — they’ll be angry,” Mr. Lindquist said. In his court filing, Mr. Lindquist said that passengers on a previous flight heard a “whistling sound” coming from the area of the door plug. The documents say passengers brought the noise to the attention of the flight attendant, who then reported it to the pilots. When asked about the report, Alaska Airlines said it could not find any record of a report of whistling coming from the plane. Almost a week before the blowout, the 737 had been taken out of service on Dec. 31 because of an issue with the front passenger entry and exit door. Records show the plane resumed service on Jan. 2. However, on Jan. 3, a pressurization warning light was triggered during at least one of the plane’s flights. Alaska Airlines officials said the plane was inspected by engineers and the carrier determined it was safe enough for the plane to continue flying. The next day, the same light was again triggered. A spokeswoman for Alaska Airlines said it was then that engineers and technicians scheduled the deeper inspection of the plane for the night of Jan. 5 in Portland. But the airline chose to keep the plane flying with passengers as it made its way across the country that day. The revelations about the warning signs of a potential problem have raised questions about whether routine inspections should have been able to weave together various indications of an issue and avert the incident. Jennifer Homendy, the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told reporters last week that over the 154 flights the plane had flown since entering service in the fall, small upward movements of the door plug had left visible marks, and possibly created a gap between the panel and the fuselage. Alaska Airlines officials said they did not notice any unusual gaps between the door plug and the plane’s fuselage during inspections on the days leading up to the door plug coming off. Additional evidence includes the pressurization system lights on previous flights and the unconfirmed reports of a whistling noise. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/12/us/politics/alaska-airlines-flight-door.html United Airlines and commercial air travel are safe, aviation experts say moneywatch A recent string of inflight safety emergencies has thrust United Airlines into the spotlight, leading some travelers to worry that the airline, and even commercial air travel in general, has perhaps become less safe. Last week, a United flight lost a rear tire during takeoff in San Francisco and made an emergency landing in Los Angeles, marking the airline's fourth mishap in one week. But aviation experts insist that air travel remains among the safest modes of transportation, and it's just coincidental that the safety incidents occurred in such close proximity to one another, and were concentrated at United. For its part, United said the events were "distinct and unrelated to one another." What happened? The most recent incident, concerning United Flight 821 from San Francisco International Airport to Mexico City International Airport, was diverted to Los Angeles due to an issue with the aircraft's hydraulic system. The airline said the aircraft has three hydraulic systems for "redundancy purposes," and "preliminary information shows there was only an issue with one system on this aircraft." The aircraft made a safe landing and nobody was injured. That incident came on the heels of another on United Flight 2477, departing from Memphis, Tennessee, which skidded off the runway into a grassy area after landing at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Previously, a Japan-bound United flight out of San Francisco lost one of its tires on takeoff — and made a safe emergency landing. A United Airlines spokesperson said the aircraft had extra tires and is designed to land safely "with missing or damaged tires." The first incident was even more of a fluke: A Florida-bound United flight's engine caught fire after it had sucked in littered bubble wrap. Incidents aren't evenly spaced out Given how many flights airlines operate every year and how technical aircraft operations are, some hitches are expected. "We see these kinds of events happen, and not all of them were preventable from United's perspective," Mark Millam, director of technical programs at the Flight Safety Foundation, told CBS MoneyWatch. "These incidents aren't enough to come to some determination on one airline's performance versus another's. There are not any clear signals that United has any different performance than another airline," Millam added. The consecutive timing of the incidents is slightly unusual, he conceded. "This doesn't usually happen this frequently within a one-week period, but United has grown in size so some of these events just don't come in a steady and regularly spaced interval," Millam said, who conceded nonetheless that it's not a good look for the airline. "They don't want to lose the confidence of the people in the back," he said. Fluke in timing Airline industry analyst Kit Darby also chalked up the string of incidents happening back-to-back up to a fluke in timing. "Overall, nothing stands out to me, other than a large coincidence," he told CBS MoneyWatch. "Looking at each separately, some of them are extremely rare, like losing the tire." And even then, the aircraft has spares and is designed to function without one, meaning it's not a particularly threatening event, according to Darby. "It's way too early to have any idea why it came off," he added. Still the safest means of travel Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg addressed consumer concerns around flying at a recent press conference. He said flight safety has improved, according to federal data, and added that "American aviation is the safest means of travel in the world." And it's getting safer, according to International Air Transport Association's (IATA) 2023 safety report. In 2023, there were no fatal accidents for jet aircraft, leading to a record-low fatality risk rate, according to the report. More specifically, a person would have to travel by air every day for 103,239 years to experience a fatal accident, based on statistics. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/united-airlines-is-flying-safe/ Two Florida Men Plead Guilty to Selling Fake Aircraft Parts to Canadian Airlines and U.S. Defense Contractor For Eight Years Two Florida men have pleaded guilty to selling fake airplane parts to several Canadian airlines as well as a U.S. Department of Defense contractor for around eight years beginning in 2012. 50-year-old Daniel Navarro of Miami Lakes, Florida, was the vice president of Sofly Aviation Services, a spare parts distribution company for the airline industry, which stripped parts from old aircraft and then redistributed them to unsuspecting airlines by using faking airworthiness certificates. Navarro pleaded guilty last week to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States along with Sofly’s procurement and asset management specialist Jorge Guerrero, 71, of Hialeah, Florida. Both men face a potential maximum sentence of up to five years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. Navarro and Guerrero will also likely have to pay a large sum in restitution which will be determined at a sentencing hearing on May 23. Court documents describe how Navarro and Guerrero would purchase “as removed” aircraft parts and then resell them to unsuspecting airlines by claiming they were airworthy as per standards drawn up by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), as well as Europe’s Air Standards Authority (EASA). The spare parts would need to have been overhauled, tested and inspected to get the necessary approval tags to prove they were actually airworthy but there is no evidence that Navarro and Guerrero ever did this. Instead, prosecutors claim the two men would fraudulently use an FAA approved repair station’s certificate number to falsely certify that the parts they were selling had been overhauled and inspected. “The guilty pleas in this investigation should send a clear signal that nefarious schemes that comprise the integrity of the aviation industry’s supply chain for commercial and military aircraft will not be tolerated,” commented Joseph Harris, Special Agent-in-Charge, U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (DOT OIG) on Tuesday. “We will continue working with our federal, law enforcement, and prosecutorial partners to disrupt fraudulent activities that adversely impact aviation safety.” Late last year, British investigators from the Serious Fraud Office arrested a suspect involved in selling fake airline spare parts that have led to the grounding of planes worldwide. The investigation is linked to London-based AOG Technics Ltd, which specialized in selling spare parts for the CFM56 engine – one of the most popular aircraft engines in the world which powers many single-aisle Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 aircraft. AOG is understood to have used falsely certified parts with forged documents to convince airlines and third-party suppliers of their legitimacy. The parts may have been older than advertised, second hand, or even fake. As a result of the scandal, aircraft have been grounded worldwide in order to identify the fraudulent parts and swap them out for genuine parts. https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2024/03/13/two-florida-men-plead-guilty-to-selling-fake-aircraft-parts-to-canadian-airlines-and-u-s-defense-contractor-for-eight-years/ U.S. airport nasal swabbing expanding to Chicago and Miami NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s top public health agency is expanding a program that tests international travelers for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program asks arriving international passengers to volunteer to have their noses swabbed and answer questions about their travel. The program operates at six airports and on Tuesday, the CDC said it was adding two more — Chicago’s O’Hare and Miami. Those locations should provide more information about respiratory infections coming out of South America, Africa and Asia, particularly, CDC officials said. “Miami and Chicago enable us to collect samples coming from areas of the world where global surveillance is not as strong as it used to be,” said the CDC’s Allison Taylor Walker. “What we really need is a good view of what’s happening in the world so we’re prepared for the next thing.” The program began in 2021, and has been credited with detecting coronavirus variants faster than other systems. The genomic testing of traveler’s nasal swabs has mainly been focused on COVID-19, but testing also is being done for two other respiratory viruses — flu and RSV. Chicago’s top cop says police are getting training to manage protests during the DNC Participants are not notified of their results. But they are given a COVID-19 home test kit to take with them, CDC officials say. Samples have come from more than 475,000 air travelers coming off flights from more than 135 countries, officials said. Health officials also have been sampling wastewater that comes off international flights at a few airports. That testing is for COVID-19, but CDC officials are evaluating the possibility of monitoring wastewater for other things, Walker said. The CDC program has a current budget of about $37 million. The agency pays two companies, Ginkgo Bioworks and XWell, to do sample collection and testing. The companies are working with CDC to grow the program to check for more than 30 different disease-causing germs. https://apnews.com/article/cdc-airport-surveillance-chicago-miami-bd2eff1faf297003fc408a732c1db546 CALENDAR OF EVENTS • 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 • Blazetech - Aircraft Fire Hazards, Protection, and Investigation Course June 4 - 7, 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 • Aircraft Cabin Air International Conference - 17 & 18 September - London • 2024 ISASI - Lisbon, Portugal - September 30 to October 4, 2024 • 2024 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition - Oct. 22-24 (Vegas) Curt Lewis