Flight Safety Information December 3, 2012 - No. 241 In This Issue Iljushin crash kills crew and scores on ground Saudi F-15 jet crashes on training mission, pilot missing PIA awarded Basic Aviation Risk Standard certification EGYPT AIR 777 FIRE PROBE INCONCLUSIVE BUT SHORT-CIRCUIT SUSPECTED OSHA To Take On Role in Air Quality on Planes Airline grounded after pilots fail test (Australia) PROS IOSA Audit Experts 'Superjumbo' A380 marks five years in the sky Dassault Falcon Jet Celebrates 40 Years EASA Report Paves Way for iPad Approval in Europe Drones change 'Top Gun' culture of Air Force Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association to Host February 2013 Conference in Orlando PhD Study Request Iljushin crash kills crew and scores on ground (eTN) - Information is emerging from Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, that an Iljushin 76 cargo plane, owned by Aero Services, while attempting to land at Brazzaville's international airport, crashed into a housing estate, killing the crew on board and scores of people on the ground as the plane hit, disintegrated, and the wreckage caught fire. Reports indicate the crew of 6 perished with others on board, along with those on the ground. So far, 32 bodies have been recovered from the crash site. Fourteen people that were on the ground were taken to hospitals. Weather conditions were poor at the time of landing and may have played a major role in the crash, similar to when a B727 of Hewa Bora crashed in Kisangani last year. It appears the plane was attempting to land during a thunderstorm and overran the runway. The plane then broke through the airport perimeter fence, crossed a road, and crashed into houses before falling into a ravine. The registration of the plane was provisionally given as EK76300. The aircraft reportedly came from Pointe Noire. Accidents with Soviet era planes, in particular Antonovs and Iljushins, have been commonplace in particular in Congo DR and the Sudan, mostly attributed to poor maintenance and equally poor and often absent crew training on suitable simulators where they could be prepared how to manage weather conditions and technical incidents. The use of such aged planes has been prohibited in a number of countries already and ICAO is working with civil aviation authorities in Africa to improve safety oversight and enforcement of relevant airworthiness directives and training requirements. Africa presently has the worst aviation safety record in the world, largely due to some countries still letting such stone age planes fly, and this latest accident will only serve to renew international calls to finally ban these flying coffins once and for all from the skies, not only above Africa, but around the globe. http://www.eturbonews.com/32544/iljushin-crash-kills-crew-and-scores-ground *********** Status: Preliminary Date: 30 NOV 2012 Time: ca 18:00 Type: Ilyushin 76T Operating for: Aéro-Service Leased from: Air Highnesses Registration: EK-76300 C/n / msn: 083410300 First flight: 1978 Crew: Fatalities: 6 / Occupants: 6 Passengers: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 Total: Fatalities: 7 / Occupants: 7 Ground casualties: Fatalities: 25 Airplane damage: Written off Airplane fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: 1 km (0.6 mls) SW of Brazzaville-Maya Maya Airport (BZV) (Congo) Phase: Landing (LDG) Nature: Cargo Departure airport: Pointe Noire Airport (PNR) (PNR/FCPP), Congo Destination airport: Brazzaville-Maya Maya Airport (BZV) (BZV/FCBB), Congo Narrative: An Ilyushin 76T transport plane was destroyed in an accident near Brazzaville-Maya Maya Airport (BZV), Congo. AFP reports the airplane overshot runway 23R on landing crushing several dwellings before crashing into a ravine and catching fire. The airplane came to rest at the southwestern end of the runway. All six crew members and as many as 26 people on the ground have reportedly died in the accident. Other reported indicate that the airplane crashed while on final approach to runway 05L. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top Saudi F-15 jet crashes on training mission, pilot missing A Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 jet crashed in the Gulf during a routine training exercise late on Sunday. (REUTERS) A Royal Saudi Air Force F-15 jet crashed in the Gulf during a routine training exercise late on Sunday and the search for the pilot is still continuing, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted the defense ministry as saying on Monday. Pilot Officer Fahad Bin Faleh Al-Msarir was on a routine training mission late Sunday in King Abdulaziz Air Base located in the Eastern Region, the defense ministry said "The plane suffered an accident leading to its fall in the territorial waters of Saudi Arabia and investigation is undergoing," SPA added. Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and main Arab ally of the United States, also has Tornadoes and Typhoons in its air force. Last year Washington announced a $29.4 billion deal to sell the new F-15, made by Boeing, to the Saudi air force. Industry sources have said the Saudis will buy 84 of the jets. Back to Top PIA awarded Basic Aviation Risk Standard certification Flight Safety Foundation, a renowned International body for promotion of Aviation Safety, has awarded Pakistan International Airline the Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) Certification for maintaining safety standards. An announcement to this effect was made in a PIA statement issued here on Saturday. Managing Director of PIA, Muhammad Junaid Yunus, has resolved that the National Flag Carrier would give top priority to Safety Standards and Training of its Pilots, Cabin Crew and Employees to manage the aircraft and the passengers safely in abnormal situations. `We are committed to excellence in service', he further pointed out. Flight Safety Foundation in its communication said, `We feel that it is important to keep updated on the progress with reference to PIA's initiatives for continual improvement in Safety and Quality'. The certification -Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS), support Safety Management System (SMS) philosophy and recognised around the world as major international airlines are subscribing it. The airline was audited for BARS Certification in August 2012. PIA successfully cleared this without any audit nonconformity. Clearing an Operation Safety Audit with Zero finding shows that our systems comply with the requirements of international safety standards. http://www.brecorder.com/business-a-economy/189/1263360/ Back to Top EGYPT AIR 777 FIRE PROBE INCONCLUSIVE BUT SHORT-CIRCUIT SUSPECTED Egyptian investigators have failed to pinpoint the cause of the fire which destroyed an EgyptAir Boeing 777-200 at Cairo. But the inquiry suggests a possible short-circuit or other fault resulted in electrical heating of the first officer's oxygen system hose, stored beneath the right-hand cockpit window. This oxygen-rich environment contributed to the intensity and speed of the blaze which occurred as the twinjet was preparing to operate a service to Jeddah. "The cause of the fire could not be conclusively determined," admits the Egyptian civil aviation ministry's central aircraft accident investigation directorate. "It is not yet known whether the oxygen system breach occurred first, providing a flammable environment, or whether the oxygen system breach occurred as a result of the fire." A short-circuit might have resulted from contact between oxygen system components and aircraft wiring, if multiple wiring clamps were missing, or fractured, or if wires were incorrectly installed. Routine checks by the crew, in preparation for the 29 July 2011 flight, revealed the oxygen system pressure was normal. But while the pilots waited for the last few passengers to board, the first officer said there was a "bang" from the right side of his seat and he saw a 10cm "crack" appear in the side-wall adjacent to the oxygen mask. The cockpit-voice recorder captured a "pop" followed by a hissing noise, similar to the escape of ressurized gas, says the inquiry. "I unfastened the seat-belt immediately and stood up very quickly," the first officer told investigators. "At the same time the captain left his seat quickly. The smoke and fire were spreading very quickly. After that, the captain ordered me to get out of the cockpit." The captain attempted to extinguish the fire but said: "The fire bottle was completely depleted without any influence on the fire intensity." Investigators say the aircraft was immediately evacuated through two forward left-hand doors and fire-fighting personnel arrived after 3min. The fire was extinguished and aircraft cooling was completed around 90min after the blaze broke out. "The aircraft experienced major damage resulting from the fire and smoke," says the inquiry. But there were no fatalities among the 317 occupants, although seven individuals suffered mild smoke inhalation. Three years earlier an ABX Air Boeing 767-200 preparing to depart San Francisco suffered a fire in the supernumerary compartment behind the cockpit. The crew had similarly mentioned hearing popping and hissing sounds at the time. US investigators attributed the fire to a "lack of positive separation" between electrical wiring and conductive oxygen system components. This allowed a short-circuit to breach a combustible oxygen hose which fed a rapid fire. The National Transportation Safety Board pointed out, in its inquiry into the ABX event, that the US FAA had failed to require installation of non-conductive oxygen hoses. In the wake of the EgyptAir fire the FAA has ordered the replacement of hoses on 777s with non-conductive versions to reduce the risk of combustion. http://www.flightglobal.com/ Back to Top OSHA To Take On Role in Air Quality on Planes By ANDY PASZTOR (WSJ) After years of complaints by flight attendants about the air inside some airliner cabins, the Federal Aviation Administration has taken the first step toward allowing government occupational-health and safety officials to begin looking into such allegations. A draft policy statement released Friday by the FAA opens the door to eventual investigations of air-quality inside aircraft by the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, according to the union representing 60,000 flight attendants. "For the first time, it allows OSHA to proactively follow-up on reports" from cabin crew members alleging possible airborne exposure to pollutants or diseases, a union spokeswoman said. The FAA had long balked at outside review of workplace concerns aboard aircraft. Stretching back nearly four decades, the agency retained sole authority to enact rules covering safety and health issues affecting all airline crews. Friday's tentative agreement with OSHA was prompted partly by a congressional mandate earlier this year to give OSHA authority to oversee some working conditions affecting attendants while they are on aircraft. In the proposed agreement, which is subject to public comment, FAA officials said OSHA would gain responsibility for cabin noise standards and other "occupational safety or health standards" not currently covered by FAA rules. The agreement doesn't explicitly mention air quality, but that has been one of the most important concerns raised over many years by labor leaders representing cabin crews. An FAA spokeswoman didn't have any comment Sunday. In a news release Friday, the FAA said its safety regulations generally still would continue to "take precedence," and it plans to develop "procedures to ensure that OSHA does not apply any requirements that could affect aviation safety." But in the same release, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said flight attendants could start "to report workplace injury and illness complaints to OSHA for response and investigation." In the same release, Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis said the proposed policy shift "will not only enhance the health and safety of flight attendants by connecting them directly with OSHA, but will by extension improve the flying experience of millions of airline passengers." Velda Shook, union president of the Association of Flight Attendants, said the agreement seeks to "close this long overdue loophole" blocking occupational-health and safety laws and regulations from protecting cabin crews. "It's not going to have an immediate impact" on cabin-air quality, said Corey Caldwell, the union spokeswoman. But as part of the agreement, OSHA officials now will have explicit authority to compare workplace complaints by attendants to their health histories and medical records. More than 20 years ago, the union urged the agency to adopt selected OSHA regulations, with the goal of tracking flight attendants' injuries, controlling the handling of hazardous materials and reducing exposure to toxic and hazardous substances. The FAA rejected that request in 1997, but three years later the leaders of the FAA and OSHA agreed to work toward coordinating enforcement efforts. When that fizzled, the union unsuccessfully sought judicial intervention. The stalemate continued until early 2012, when Congress ordered the FAA to develop a policy extending some of OSHA's health and worker-safety protections to flight attendants on the job. The draft memorandum of understanding released Friday emphasizes that as future details are worked out between the agencies, the FAA will "retain its authority to preempt application of OSHA requirements" if they ultimately turn out to interfere with air-safety rules and procedures. Back to Top Airline grounded after pilots fail test (Australia) A Northern Territory airline has been banned from operating passenger flights because its pilots failed a qualifications test. Fly Tiwi, which is owned by Hardy Aviation, has grounded its regular passenger planes that fly to the Tiwi Islands and other communities. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority suspended Fly Tiwi's licence because two senior pilots did not pass a safety test. The company's managing director John Hardy says the pilots will re-sit the test this week. "I'm very hopeful that we will overcome this glitch soon by the end of the week or even sooner if we're lucky," Mr Hardy said. "But if people want to travel and they want to go by air, they can charter a plane. "We can offer that sort of service or they can try somebody else." http://www.abc.net.au/news/ Back to Top Back to Top 'Superjumbo' A380 marks five years in the sky * The Airbus A380 has just celebrated its fifth anniversary as a commercial aircraft * It's 15 meters wider than a Boeing 747 "Jumbo Jet" * There are now 89 A380s in service around the world, operated by nine airlines (CNN) -- It was conceived in secret in the 1980s but it's difficult to miss the Airbus A380 these days. The giant aircraft is a true leviathan of the sky and has just marked its fifth year of commercial service. In October 2007 Singapore Airlines became the first airline to fly the A380, the world's longest commercial airline at the time. That title is now claimed by the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, but the A380 is still wider and carries more passengers. Since first taking to the skies to great fanfare, 89 A380s have come into service around the world, with Thai Airways recently becoming the ninth airline to operate the "Superjumbo." In total, 257 orders for new A380s are booked in, with Airbus aiming to ramp up production to as many as three aircraft per month in the coming years. Cultivating this demand is essential if the plane is to be profitable. The A380 initially arrived three years overdue and billions of dollars over budget. Other setbacks during its first five years of service -- including cracks in the wing components discovered in January this year -- have also slowed production as checks and repairs were made on the worldwide fleet. Despite these challenges, Airbus says it expects to break even on the A380 by 2015. Key to this expansion is securing large orders in emerging markets such as Brazil, China and Mexico, the company says. Stiff challenges will undoubtedly come from Boeing's 747-8i, but with a few years' head start, Airbus hopes the A380 will see off the competition. Back to Top Dassault Falcon Jet Celebrates 40 Years Teterboro, New Jersey, - Forty years ago, on December 1, 1972, executives from Pan American Airways and Dassault Aviation signed an agreement to form, what is today, Dassault Falcon Jet Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Dassault Aviation. The partnership was formed to help accelerate expansion of the United States market, the world's largest, with Pan American, the launch customer for the Falcon 20. 'The history of Dassault Falcon Jet is quite remarkable. Some of the most recognized names in aviation have their history intertwined with ours,' said John Rosanvallon, President and CEO of Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. and Executive Vice President, Civil Aircraft, of Dassault Aviation. 'Charles Lindbergh and Juan Trippe launched Pan American Business Jets with the Falcon 20. Fred Smith launched FedEx with a fleet of Falcons. The United States Coast Guard ushered in the age of jet powered search-and-rescue airplanes with the Falcon HU25.' Today, over 2,200 Falcons have been delivered with over 1,100 based in the United States. Started with just a handful of employees, Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. now has about 3,000 employees in the United States and is responsible for selling and servicing all Falcons in the Americas, Pacific Rim and China. 'The success of the company is built upon the hard work, dedication and ingenuity of all Dassault employees worldwide, many of which have been with the company their entire career,' continued Rosanvallon whose first job was with Dassault Falcon Jet in 1975. Today, Dassault Falcon Jet also oversees the main completion center for Falcon business jets worldwide in Little Rock, Arkansas, four company-owned service centers in Little Rock; Wilmington, Delaware; Reno, Nevada and Sorocaba, Brazil and support capacity throughout Asia and the Pacific Rim. The company has its headquarters at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport which houses customer service, marketing, sales, executive and back office functions, as well as a significant inventory of spare parts. In May 2013, Dassault Falcon will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first flight of the Falcon 20. Over 500 Falcon 20s were built before production ceased in 1988. http://www.equities.com/news/headline-story?dt=2012-12- 03&val=781164&cat=industrial Back to Top EASA Report Paves Way for iPad Approval in Europe The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has released a software evaluation report covering the use of Jeppesen apps running on Apple iPad tablet computers and used as electronic flight bags (EFBs). The report outlines a clear path for EASA-based operators to seek approval from their local regulators for use of iPad EFBs with Jeppesen Mobile TC Pro and FliteDeck Pro apps. The review was conducted by an EASA operations evaluation board (OEB). According to Jeppesen, "This evaluation report is the first that the EASA has ever granted for a mobile electronic flight bag (EFB) with navigation charting." The review noted that the OEB "sees no technical objections to the grant by national authorities of an operational approval for the use of TC Pro iOS and FliteDeck Pro iOS software applications, taking the recommendations in this report into account." The OEB report doesn't cover hardware issues and suggests that hardware compliance is the responsibility of the operator. The evaluators found that the iPad touchscreen behavior was satisfactory during ground trials and recommended that "Operators and their competent authorities should evaluate on a case-by-case basis that flight deck reasonably expected environmental factors (particularly turbulence) do not affect the usability of the touchscreen." Own-ship Position Displays Like the FAA, the EASA continues to caution against use of own-ship position displays, which Mobile FD offers on the en route display (and which pilots are highly unlikely to switch off). EASA considers Mobile TC and Flight Deck Type B applications, and own-ship display as a Type C function, "thus requiring an EASA airworthiness approval." The OEB report added, "The evaluation has found that in order to be acceptable, the enabling of own-ship position must be controlled and restricted by the operator. This can be realized via the EFB administrator by locking down the location services of the devices and using the iOS passcode protection for the settings page, or specific to Flight Deck Pro by disabling the own-ship position indicators in the application settings. This should be the default setting when deploying the software to crewmembers, and the flight crew operations manual shall reference the Flight Deck Pro warning message in case own-ship depiction is enabled." The EASA also noted that the en route display is "considered useable only in Rnav- equipped aircraft." This is because Mobile Flight Deck doesn't replicate actual charts but dynamically displays en route elements such as airways, navaids, intersections, terrain, airports and so on but not items specified in ICAO Annex 4 such as changeover points, distance between VORs, signal gaps and waypoint formations. The OEB report also included suggestions for pilot training and simulator Loft sessions to prepare for the switchover from paper to iPad EFBs. Training should include emphasis on intended use of the apps, verification of applicability of information, proper use of en route charts, dealing with app failure and restrictions on using the iPad for own-ship display and using non-EFB apps. http://www.ainonline.com/ Back to Top Drones change 'Top Gun' culture of Air Force The rise of drone warfare has meant a dramatic cultural shift for the Air Force, whose leadership for decades has been dominated by officers who made their mark flying combat aircraft. * Drone operators share space with fighter pilots at Nellis AFB * Drones were initially dismissed by many pilots as nothing more than video games * Air Force pins more wings on new drone pilots than on fighter and bomber pilots NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nevada - Inside a plain beige trailer, a pair of aviators stare intently at a bank of computer screens. Air conditioners hum loudly in the background. The sensor operator zooms in on an object on the ground more than 14,000 feet below. The pilot moves a joystick, turning a drone that's miles away and flying at a sluggish 120 mph over the Nevada desert as part of an exercise to find a downed pilot. "It's an odd shape, but I don't see any movement," the drone pilot says before pushing the joystick and moving on. Air Force policy prohibits identifying drone pilots by name. It's not like strapping into an F-16 and exceeding the speed of sound, but drones like these are overshadowing fighters and bombers that for decades have been the mainstay of America's unchallenged air superiority. The rise of drone warfare has meant a dramatic cultural shift for the Air Force, whose leadership has for decades been dominated by officers who made their mark flying combat aircraft. Nellis Air Force Base is the home of the Air Force's elite Top Gun school for fighter pilots. Drone pilots share space here and have their own tactics course. The drones fly from small trailers not far from a flight line where fighter jets regularly roar down the runway and climb sharply over mountains surrounding the base. Drones were initially dismissed by many pilots as nothing more than video games, and it took prodding from the Pentagon before the Air Force embraced the aircraft. Today, the Air Force pins more wings on new drone pilots than fighter and bomber pilots. The smallish aircraft, fitted with powerful cameras for surveillance and sometimes missiles for airstrikes, play a critical role in Afghanistan. They provide 24/7 surveillance of the battlefield and have the ability to hit precise targets. The Air Force has embraced drone pilots without reservations. The drone pilots get nicknames, or call signs, and stride the halls of the Air Force Weapons School in flight suits like any other pilots. It's important symbolism, officers say. "They're 100% accepted and integrated," says Air Force Lt. Col. Cedric Stark, a helicopter pilot and squadron commander at Nellis. Air Force officers blanch at using the word drone, which they say suggests it is a dumb aircraft that flies itself. The accepted term is remotely piloted aircraft, or RPA. The message is that pilots control the aircraft, even if from a remote location. "We don't just give call signs to any guy who walks in the door," says Lt. Col. Joseph Campo, head of the RPA program at the Weapons School. Some pilots say the Air Force embraces the drones at the expense of manned aircraft. "I guarantee you there is not a fighter pilot around who wants to fly a drone," says Dan Hampton, a former Air Force officer who has written a memoir about his exploits as a fighter pilot. "I don't want to orbit over a point for 12 hours and take pictures." J.D. Wyneken, director of the American Fighter Aces Association, says the older generation of pilots view drone operators as less than true pilots. In the view of many aces, "just the very idea of a pilotless aircraft is dishonorable," Wyneken says. To be an ace, a pilot has to shoot down five or more aircraft during an aerial duel. There are about 300 surviving aces in the USA. They could be the last. "We may be on verge of building our last manned fighter," said Charles Wald, a retired Air Force general and former fighter pilot who is director of Deloitte, a consulting firm. Few officers deny that drones are essential to the wars the United States fights. Drone strikes against al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and elsewhere have killed scores of terrorists, according to the Obama administration, which has ramped up drone operations. Drones were used extensively in Iraq and in Afghanistan. They can loiter for hours over a target, transmitting vital video surveillance to troops on the ground. "There is a demand for ISR that is almost insatiable," Stark says, referring to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance supplied by drones. Because of increased drone usage, the Air Force has boosted the number of drone pilots. They make up 8.5% of Air Force pilots, up from 3.3% in 2008, according to the Air Force. An MQ-9 Reaper, armed with laser-guided munitions and Hellfire missiles, flies a combat mission over southern Afghanistan. Drones were initially required to be operated by fighter, bomber and other pilots, but two years ago the service created a separate training pipeline designed specifically for training drone pilots. They get only limited training in manned aircraft before learning how to pilot an RPA. The younger generation of officers is attracted to drones, seeing them as the future. Last year, drones flew more combat hours than manned aircraft. "The truth of the matter is remotely piloted aircraft are carrying the vast majority of the workloads in terms of kinetic operations," says Lt. Col. John McCurdy, director of the RPA program at the Air Force Academy. He said he has seen a steady increase in the number of students interested in the program. Even some pilots of manned aircraft are having second thoughts. About 25% of the 244 pilots who were ordered to fly drones after basic flight training have indicated they want to stay with the remotely piloted aircraft instead of returning to manned aircraft, the Air Force says. "I've talked to people who transferred over who said they like the RPA platform because they are finally getting a chance to engage the enemy," says Air Force Col. Kent McDonald, a flight surgeon who has studied the effects of stress on drone pilots. Officers say the drone pilots have the drive and aggressiveness of fighter jocks but not the swagger. Col. Robert Garland, commander of the Air Force Weapons School, which teaches pilots from a number of aircraft, including RPAs, says he emphasizes being "humble and approachable." Many officers don't miss the old swagger. "You shouldn't necessarily associate brash and cockiness with courage or ... performance," Wald says. "It was kind of fun to be that way, but that doesn't necessarily mean you were the best at anything." The pilots coming into the drone program have grown up with computers and video games. Drone pilots sit in ground stations that resemble a cross between a cockpit and a video game. There are computer monitors, video screens and joysticks for controlling the aircraft and camera. The pilots often communicate through texting. "This cockpit is built for this generation of multitaskers," says Col. Bill Tart, director of the Air Force's RPA Task Force. The demand for surveillance from ground forces has placed a lot of pressure on RPA pilots, sensor operators and analysts. "The RPA platform can be much more stressful ... in terms of just the amount of information that they have to consistently be aware of," says Wayne Chappelle at the Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Pilots say it can't be compared to the stress they feel when a missile heads toward their aircraft or when they are making violent turns in a dogfight. Fighter pilots can be killed in action, or taken prisoner if they have to bail out of a damaged aircraft. Not so drone pilots. "It's as stressful as any tedious job," says John Hope, executive director of the Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association. "When you tell a guy who flew an F-105 over Vietnam that this guy is stressed out, he doesn't see it." A U.S. Predator drone flies over Kandahar Air Field in southern Afghanistan on Jan. 31, 2010. The Air Force does not award valor medals for flying drones, but the service is considering issuing special awards for RPA missions. Officers insist that flying RPAs is real combat - not a video game. RPA pilots say they face a unique stress because they see the enemy in a more personal way than a pilot flying at 500 mph. Drone pilots may watch a target for days, seeing him interact with his family and go about the routine of his daily life, before launching a missile to kill him. Afterward, an RPA pilot may watch the funeral for the target, Tart says. "This is not a video game at all," he says. Some analysts worry that the Air Force's rush to incorporate drones may leave the country vulnerable in the future if the United States squares off against an enemy with a sophisticated air defense system. Slow-moving drones cannot defend themselves against missiles and other attacks. That hasn't been a problem in Iraq or Afghanistan, where the United States enjoys nearly unrivaled air superiority. But if the United States has to penetrate sophisticated air defenses, it will need fighter pilots in manned aircraft. "How would a drone handle a dogfight?" Hampton says. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2012/11/30/drone-wars/1737991/ Back to Top Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association to Host February 2013 Conference in Orlando The Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association will host its Winter 2013 conference from February 20- 24, 2013, at Orlando's gorgeous Villas of Grand Cypress resort, located right outside the entrance to Disney World and convenient to all of the many other Orlando area attractions. LPBA's biannual meetings are a key LPBA feature, different from any other bar association meeting or continuing legal education (CLE) program. Besides the opportunity to network with peers and participate in educational and entertaining morning-only CLE sessions, LPBA members will enjoy lunch and a spot landing demonstration at the nearby Fantasy of Flight attraction (www.fantasyofflight.com) on Friday, February 22, and other planned activities for members and for their spouses and families throughout the conference. The Winter 2013 meeting will also feature a fun and beneficial silent auction, which has previously included aircraft refinishing, discounts on avionics upgrades, aviation artifacts, artwork, and unique vacation opportunities. The Conference is open to both LPBA members and non-members, and LPBA membership is open to both lawyers and non-lawyers, as well as pilots and non-pilots. Conference registration information is currently available at www.lpba.org. Discounted Grand Cypress room reservations may be made right now by calling 800-835-7377. The LPBA room rate is reduced to just $225.00/night and all rooms are Club Suites, which will have been freshly renovated this fall. Ranger Jet Center (www.rangerjetcenter.com) at Kissimmee Gateway Airport will be serving as the host FBO for attendees flying to the conference. Ranger will be providing fuel, ramp and hangar discounts for conference attendees and can arrange ground transportation. LPBA is a unique international, non-profit association with members in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia which fills a special niche in the multitude of bar associations and affiliation groups of lawyers, pilots and aviation aficionados. The LPBA has been in existence since 1959, and facilitates its members' involvement in many aviation and legally-related activities. Membership benefits include a superb website and Facebook page describing LPBA and its meetings; an online membership directory; the LPBA Journal, which is a valuable aviation law and information resource; and fun-filled, entertaining, and rewarding Summer and Winter continuing legal education meetings. The LPBA is dedicated to aviation safety, the just administration of the law and continuing legal education. Lawyer-Pilots Bar Association P.O. Box 1510 Edgewater, MD 21037 Tel: 410-571-1750 Fax: 410-571-1780 Email: karen@lpba.org Back to Top PhD Study Request Subject: Study Participant Recruitment Solicitation People who have skills in project management and project cost analysis are needed to be a part of a research study that will be conducted at Northcentral University. In addition, these people need to be familiar with aviation safety management programs. If you know of anyone with these skills, please contact ninaduncan@ymail.com or call 832-215-7037. Curt Lewis