Flight Safety Information July 30, 2015 - No. 149 In This Issue Debris Found On Island Appears To Be Same Kind Of Plane As Missing MH370 MH370 Hunt: Debris Consistent With Design of Missing Malaysia Airlines Jet Cathay Pacific flight to LA diverts to Alaska after aircraft fills with smoke This Remote Island Is the Last Place Pilots Want to Land a Plane Two Die After Small Plane Crashes at Milwaukee Airport NASA crashes planes to save lives Final seconds before deadly S.C. crash CA county offers $75,000 reward to catch drone pilots who botched firefighting PROS 2015 TRAINING A First: China Turns Back Commercial Flight For Violating East China Sea ADIZ Rules Bomb threat forces BA flight from Las Vegas to London to land in Montreal American Airlines to ferry banged-up Boeing 787 from China to DFW next week Why The Airplane Boarding Pass Could Soon Be A Thing of The Past Airline Testing Biometrics to Replace Boarding Tickets THE TALK OF OSHKOSH:...MALAYSIA AIR 370 Singapore Airlines releases seven A350 jet orders back to Airbus Rolls-Royce profits cut in half as jet engine demand plummets ISASI 2015, Germany, August 24 - 27, 2015 Upcoming Events JOBS AVAILABLE (New Positions) Debris Found On Island Appears To Be Same Kind Of Plane As Missing MH370 No debris from Flight MH370 has previously been found. A piece of plane wreckage was found on an island near Madagascar. French officials are investigating plane wreckage that on Wednesday washed ashore on the island of Reunion, near Madagascar, for possible links to a Malaysian airplane that vanished without a trace in March 2014. American air safety investigators say the debris found on Reunion appears to be from the same type of plane as the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 aircraft. An unnamed U.S. official told the Associated Press that investigators have a "high degree of confidence" that a photo of the wreckage found in Reunion shows a wing component unique to the Boeing 777. The investigators identified the component as a "flaperon" from the trailing edge of a 777 wing. "Police in Reunion examining the wreckage say that it looks like it's been in the water for around a year, which again would fit with MH370. We can't say for certainty, but we do think there is a chance that this is it," Xavier Tytelman, a French expert in aviation security told The Telegraph earlier on Wednesday. He added, "But if the flaperon does indeed belong to MH370, it's clear that the reference will be swiftly identified. In a few days we will have a definitive answer." In a press conference on Thursday, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said the discovery of the airplane fragment was being viewed as a "major lead" in the search for MH370. "It's the first real evidence that there is a possibility that a part of the aircraft may have been found," Truss said. The piece of debris had a number stamped on it that could help speed verification. "This kind of work is obviously going to take some time although the number may help to identify the aircraft parts, assuming that's what they are, much more quickly than might otherwise be the case," Truss said. On March 8, 2014, 239 people boarded the flight in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, destined for Beijing. About an hour and a half after takeoff, Flight MH370 vanished from radar screens. A multi-nation search scoured a large expanse of the southern Indian Ocean off Australia. No plane wreckage has ever been found, and in January, Malaysian authorities officially declared that all on board were presumed dead. Malaysia said on Wednesday a team was on its way to Reunion. "I have sent a team to verify the wreckage ... we hope that it can identify (the wreckage) as soon as possible," Malaysia's Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said during a visit to the United Nations in New York. "Whatever wreckage found needs to be further verified before we can ever confirm that it is belonged to MH370," he added. Malaysia Airlines said it was too early to speculate on the origin of the debris. France's Air crash Investigations Agency (BEA) cautioned on Wednesday it was not possibly yet to specify the origins of the debris. "The part has not yet been identified and it is not possible at this hour to ascertain whether the part is from a B777 and/or from MH370," a spokesperson for the agency said, according to Reuters. "It is entirely possible that something could have drifted from our current search area to that island."However, the location of the debris on Reunion would be consistent with the theory that the plane crashed within the 46,000 square mile search area, Australian Transport Safety Bureau Chief Commissioner Martin Dolan told the Associated Press. "It doesn't rule out our current search area if this were associated with MH370," Dolan said. Boeing said in a Wednesday statement to Agence France-Presse that it remains "committed to supporting the MH370 investigation and the search for the airplane. We continue to share our technical expertise and analysis. Our goal, along with the entire global aviation industry, continues to be not only to find the airplane, but also to determine what happened -- and why." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/missing-malaysian-plane-wreckage_55b923c1e4b0a13f9d1b4eb7? Back to Top MH370 Hunt: Debris Consistent With Design of Missing Malaysia Airlines Jet Officials caution it is too soon to determine whether piece is linked to missing jetliner Experts say debris found on a remote island is likely a wing part from a Boeing 777. By MATTHEW DALTON, JON OSTROWER and ROBERT WALL French investigators were trying to determine the provenance of a piece of airplane debris-said by aviation experts to be consistent with the design of the Malaysia Airlines jet that went missing more than a year ago-that washed ashore on an island near Madagascar on Wednesday. Photos of the debris quickly spread through Boeing's offices as engineers and mechanics who design and build the company's widebody jets sought to examine the new clues. Several Boeing employees who reviewed the images separate from the official probe said the debris was consistent with the curved shape of the flaperon, a control function on the wing of the 777. "This concave shape is indeed common to the 777 flap design," one longtime Boeing engineer said. Officials involved in the investigation cautioned it was too soon to say whether the piece was linked to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean after veering sharply off its intended flight path from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. French accident investigation agency BEA said it is studying the information in coordination with Malaysian and Australian authorities. "It is not possible at this time to ascertain whether the part is from a [Boeing 777] or from MH370." The Australian agency leading the search for the missing plane said Thursday the piece that washed ashore could have traveled thousands of miles from the suspected crash site, based on its analysis of ocean currents. Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said French investigators would examine the debris, with input from Australia, Malaysia and manufacturers, including Boeing Co. "We've done quite a bit of drift modeling about where floating debris would drift to. It's not a precise science but certainly this is not inconsistent with the drift modeling we've done," Mr. Dolan said. Boeing Co. declined to comment on the finding in Réunion but said "we continue to share our technical expertise and analysis" in the Flight 370 investigation. On Thursday morning, Malaysia Airlines said "with regards to the reports of the discovery of an aircraft flaperon at Reunion Island, Malaysia Airlines is working with the relevant authorities to confirm the matter." The discovery prompted an uproar of speculation on social media that the piece was linked to the Boeing 777 that disappeared on March 8, 2014. Search teams have failed to find any trace of the aircraft in a 23,200-square-mile zone where the plane carrying 239 people is believed to have gone down. The debris, which measures roughly 10 feet by 5 feet, also couldn't be definitively linked to other recent aviation incidents, officials said. It was found on the French island of Réunion, thousands of miles from any of the official search areas for Flight 370. "It looks like the wreckage of a 777," said Xavier Tytelman, an aviation consultant who previously worked on maritime patrol planes for the French navy. French officials didn't immediately spell out how they planned to further examine the part. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which typically becomes involved in safety probes involving Boeing jetliners, said that at this point it wasn't part of the probe into the newly discovered wreckage. Damage sustained by even small parts of a plane can offer investigators clues about how an airliner crashed. When Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 on its way to Paris from Rio de Janeiro, damage to items on the plane gave investigators an early clue about how it hit the water. An official looking at pictures from the debris found in Réunion said it was unclear whether the part would have any telltale signs. Mr. Tytelman said it was unclear at this point whether the part belonged to Flight 370. Pictures of the debris appear to show some markings that may aid in identifying the provenance of the part, Mr. Tytelman said. Finding the debris in a location in the Indian Ocean, even if miles from the search zone, made a connection with the Malaysia Airlines plane a strong possibility, though, he said. Others were skeptical the part would have drifted that far. If the part is linked to Flight 370, investigators could also draw on experts on ocean currents to try to determine where the item originated. The duration since the crash likely limits the scope for significant revelations about the crash zone, one industry official said. The debris was found in the early morning on a beach near Saint-André, a town on the northeast coast of the island, near a sugar factory, a receptionist at the nearby Hotel Pharest said. http://www.wsj.com/articles/officials-probe-plane-debris-from-indian-ocean-1438194628 Back to Top Cathay Pacific flight to LA diverts to Alaska after aircraft fills with smoke Passengers and crew are all safe, airline says, and it rescheduled another aircraft to pick them up from Anchorage and continue their flight A Boeing 777-300ER A Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles with nearly 300 people on board diverted to a remote US military airport in Alaska's Aleutian islands on Wednesday owing to smoke in the aircraft, airline officials said. All 276 passengers and 18 crew members on board flight CX884, a Boeing 777-300ER, were safe, the airline said. A US Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, Ian Gregor, said the emergency landing had gone without incident before dawn at Eareckson air station in Shemya, Alaska. Remote and often frigid, Shemya is one of the westernmost islands in the Aleutians, more than 1,400 miles (2,300km) from Alaska's largest city, Anchorage. The aircraft was inspected and deemed safe to fly again, and the passengers were taken to Anchorage, according Jennifer Pearson, a spokeswoman for Cathay Pacific. The airline dispatched another aircraft from Hong Kong to pick up the passengers in Anchorage and fly them to Los Angeles, airline officials said. A Boeing representative declined to comment, referring questions to the airline. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/30/cathay-pacific-flight-to-la-diverts-to-alaska-after- aircraft-fills-with-smoke Back to Top This Remote Island Is the Last Place Pilots Want to Land a Plane The Air Force calls Shemya Island "a place to land in the middle of nowhere" Eareckson Air Station, Shemya Island Every commercial airline flight has a plan for diverting if necessary. But few pilots ever consider Shemya Island, a remote U.S. Air Force outpost 1,500 miles southwest of Anchorage, because there's so little infrastructure. The rocky island, about two miles by four miles, has a 10,000-foot landing strip-large enough for the biggest military cargo jets-and pretty much nothing else. Today, the island's population roughly tripled when a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles made an emergency landing at Eareckson Air Station on Shemya after the crew detected smoke. All 276 passengers and 18 crew on the Boeing 777-300ER were safe, the airline said. The island was last used as a diversion point in July 2010, when an American Airlines 777 en route to Tokyo landed with a suspected cargo fire. (No fire was found.) After a six-hour stop, the Cathay flight departed later Wednesday morning for a three-hour flight to Anchorage, according to Flightaware.com, a flight-tracking site. "We understand that this action resulted in a long and arduous journey for those onboard the diverted flight and we apologise for the inconvenience caused," James Ginns, a Cathay Pacific executive, said in a statement. Many of the abandoned buildings around the station have become untenable against the saltwater air and the harsh, blowing winds. (Air Force file photo) Given the sparseness of the island, the Cathay Pacific passengers weren't likely to stay long. Shemya- which is closer to Moscow than to Washington, D.C.-is inhabited only by support contractors who report to the 611th Air Support Group at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage. The island's location "makes it a convenient and potentially life-saving stop in an area of the world where there are no other options for aircraft with in-flight emergencies," the Air Force said in a 2009 article about upgrades planned at Eareckson. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-29/this-remote-island-is-the-last-place-pilots-want-to- land-a-plane Back to Top Two Die After Small Plane Crashes at Milwaukee Airport Two people were killed when the small airplane they were in crashed while trying to land at a Milwaukee airport Wednesday, officials said. First responders were called to the scene of the crash at Timmerman Airport at 7:11 p.m. They discovered two people dead inside the aircraft, Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Fran McLaughlin said. The identities of those killed in the crash were not released, pending family notification. It is unclear if anyone else was aboard the plane. Rob VanKammen, 35, a graphic designer who works near the airfield, said he he was walking to his car when he saw the small plane coming in very low before it disappeared out of his view and crashed. "It was coming in at a 45-degree angle, sideways," VanKammen said. "The plane goes below my vantage point, and then all I see was the explosion and the smoke and the flames going up in the air," he said. A team from the National Transportation Safety Board is expected to arrive Thursday, McLaughlin said. Timmerman Airport is a smaller, general and private aviation airfield in the northwest part of the city. General Mitchell International Airport is Milwaukee's main airport. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/two-die-after-small-plane-crashes-milwaukee-airport-n400811 **************** Date: 29-JUL-2015 Time: 18:11 Type: Socata TBM700 Owner/operator: Trustey Management Corp Registration: N425KJ C/n / msn: 518 Fatalities: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2 Other fatalities: 0 Airplane damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Lawrence J Timmerman Airport (KMWC), Milwaukee, Wi - United States of America Phase: Landing Nature: Unknown Departure airport: Destination airport: Timmerman (KMWC) Narrative: The aircraft impacted airport terrain during an attempted go-around at Lawrence J Timmerman Airport (KMWC), Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The airplane was destroyed by the impact and post-impact fire. The two occupants onboard the aircraft received fatal injuries. www.aviation-safety.net Back to Top NASA crashes planes to save lives NASA is on a dramatic mission to improve the high-tech devices designed to alert satellites within seconds of a general aviation accident. On-board emergency locator transmitters, or ELTs, will help rescuers locate the wreckage quickly as they're supposed to activate within 50 seconds of a crash and send coordinates of their position to a satellite. But first, reports CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave, engineers have to get them to work better. Chad Stimson is overseeing a series of three crash tests as researchers look to build a better ELTs. Stimson said his team is looking at questions including "what kind of forces is it going to be exposed to? Where it should be installed? How to install the other pieces of equipment it is connected to so that the complete system functions optimally?" To do that, researchers will use sensors that gather crash data, as well as multiple cameras on the ground and inside the planes, to study how well five ELTs positioned throughout the aircraft hold up. NASA says its Langley Landing and Impact Research Facility outside Norfolk, Virginia, is the only place in the world they can do these types of crash tests in such a controlled environment. Originally it was built to train astronauts to land on the moon, but since 1972 it's been used to crash test spacecraft, helicopters and planes. They hope what comes crashing down will keep others flying high -- or least get them help if they need it, says Lisa Mazzuca, an astrophysicist and NASA's Search and Rescue Mission manager. "The importance is your life. So if these work, and you are in dire straits, we want to make sure that we can get the rescue forces there to you as quickly as possible," she said. The final crash test is in August and the team expects to have a series of recommendations for the FAA to improve the beacons by the end of the year. The big-picture goal is not only to build more crash-resistant beacons, but to build a device that's smart enough to alert rescuers before the plane actually crashes. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-tests-emergency-locator-transmitters-small-plane-crashes/ Back to Top Final seconds before deadly S.C. crash Air Force Times Final Seconds Before Deadly South Carolina Crash between an F-16 Falcon and a Cessna 150 July 7, 2015. John Bretschneider A preliminary report on the midair collision between an F-16 and a Cessna on July 7 in South Carolina details air-traffic control's instructions to the fighter pilot in the moments before the aircraft smashed into each other but does not assign fault. According to a preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board, the controller warned the F-16 pilot of "traffic" ahead moments before the crash but the report does not conclude whether the ATC's instructions during the event were correct. The pilot and passenger in the Cessna were killed. The damaged F-16 continued to fly for three minutes before the pilot, Air Force Maj. Aaron Johnson, ejected safely, the report said. The F-16 was destroyed when it crashed to the ground about 25 miles north of Charleston. The report said the F-16 was flying from Myrtle Beach International Airport to Charleston Air Force Base/International Airport. Several minutes before the crash, the pilot asked air traffic control to practice an instrument approach to the airport. Minutes later, what turned out to be the Cessna flashed on air traffic radar. Seconds after 11 a.m., the controller advised the pilot of the F-16, "traffic 12 o'clock, 2 miles, opposite direction, 1,200 [feet altitude] indicated, type unknown." The F-16 pilot said he was looking for the traffic. Eight seconds later, the controller advised the F-16 pilot, "Turn left heading 180 if you don't have that traffic in sight." The pilot responded by asking, "Confirm 2 miles?" Eight seconds later, the controller stated, "if you don't have that traffic in sight turn left heading 180 immediately." That turn, with the Cessna in a climbing turn, put the two aircraft on a deadly collision course. The F-16 did begin to turn, the report said. Seconds later, the controller advised the F-16 pilot, "traffic passing below you 1,400 feet." Less than a minute later, the F-16 pilot transmitted a distress call "and no subsequent transmissions were received." The NTSB said its investigation was continuing. The final report will focus on what caused the crash. Johnson's F-16 "Fighting Falcon" was from the 55th Fighter Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina. Col. Stephen Jost, commander of the 20th Fighter Wing, said Johnson had been participating in a standard instrument training. He called Johnson a "highly experienced" pilot. Johnson has returned to flying status, according to Shaw public affairs. The pilot of the Cessna, Joseph Johnson, 30, and his passenger father, Michael Johnson, 68, both of Moncks Corner, South Carolina, died of accidental, blunt force and body trauma, a coroner found. http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/2015/07/29/final-seconds-before-deadly-sc-crash/30843467/ Back to Top CA county offers $75,000 reward to catch drone pilots who botched firefighting After drones prevented planes from dumping fire retardant, city officials are mad. In a unanimous vote on Tuesday, supervisors for San Bernardino County, California agreed to offer $75,000 worth of rewards (PDF) in exchange for help in tracking down the drone pilots who flew their drones over wildfires in recent weeks. The drone interference has forced firefighters to ground aircraft, and has caused fires to "spread faster and further," according to Board of Supervisors Chairman James Ramos. A DC-10 and two smaller planes failed to drop flame retardant over threatened area. The first incident occurred in late June, when interference from a hobbyist drone flying over the Lake Fire in San Bernardino County forced the US Forest Service (USFS) to divert three planes carrying flame retardant, costing USFS $10,000. The drone was reportedly flying higher than the legally-allowed 400 feet above the ground, and USFS had issued a temporary flight restriction over the wildfire, as it does commonly during wildfires. The drone operator was not found. Two weeks later, during the Mill 2 fire (which was also in San Bernardino County), the Los Angeles Times reports that "officials had to briefly suspend a tanker after a drone was spotted flying over Mill Creek Canyon near California 38." Just a few days later, firefighting helicopters were grounded due to the proximity of as many as five amateur drones during the North Fire. The fire engulfed brush near I-15 north of Los Angeles and quickly jumped onto the highway, sending drivers fleeing from their cars, 20 of which were destroyed. Now, San Bernardino County officials are trying to send the message that they're serious. $25,000 has been set aside for each fire, and will go to any person or group that helps the county arrest and convict the drone operators. "We want to know who was flying the drones, and we want them punished," Chairman Ramos said in a statement, adding that the San Bernardino County Sheriff's department will now "actively pursue drone operators," flying in the vicinity of firefighting efforts. "District Attorney Mike Ramos warned drone operators that they could and would be prosecuted for murder if their drones led to the death of fire-fighting flight crew or anyone on the ground," the press release from the county added. The District Attorney will be responsible for deciding who will receive the rewards and how much they will receive. San Bernardino County also set up a tip hotline that people can use to share information on these drone operators-anonymously if they choose. The strong rhetoric is the result of growing concern from public officials as incidents continue to occur. When Ars first reported on the drone incident during the Lake Fire, USFS officials said another drone had also been spotted in the vicinity of the fire, but that drone operator has been caught. However, the drone hadn't interfered with firefighting air support, so the drone operator wasn't charged with anything. "We were just trying to educate them," a USFS spokesperson said. The US Forest Service initiated an informational campaign to tell people about the risks of flying drones around wildfires, posting signs saying "If You Fly, We Can't." Just weeks later, officials got more serious. State legislators Mike Gatto (D-Glendale) and Ted Gaines (R-El Dorado) introduced a bill to permit a $5,000 fine and up to six months in jail for "intentional and reckless" drone operation during a fire. Gizmodo points out that a variety of videos over wildfires taken from drones can be found on YouTube. The one below was recently edited to remind others not to attempt the same shot without permission from authorities. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/07/ca-county-offers-75000-reward-to-catch-drone-pilots-who- botched-firefighting/ Back to Top Back to Top A First: China Turns Back Commercial Flight For Violating East China Sea ADIZ Rules China's enforcement of its East China Sea air defense identification zone (ADIZ) is starting to work out. In late-2013, Asia-Pacific security watchers wrangled with what China's then newly declared unilateral air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea would mean in practice for civil aviation in the region. Two powerful status quo states - the United States and Japan - immediately refused to recognize the ADIZ and reacted accordingly: The United States flew unarmed bombers through the airspace and Japan instructed its civilian aviators not to comply with the new Chinese requirements. Of course, the ADIZ was never going to immediately hurt the material interests of Japanese and American aviation - for these states, the Chinese ADIZ was more a signal of Beijing's growing intent to revise the status quo in its near seas than anything. The states that would suffer, as is almost always the case in international affairs, would be the smaller and weaker ones. A little-noticed report published earlier this week in Air Transport World showcases one such case. According to that report, a Lao Airlines flight flying from South Korea's Gimehae International Airport to Laos was asked to turn back by Chinese air traffic controllers and complied. The report notes that the Chinese air traffic controllers told the aircraft that it did not have adequate approval to pass through China's East China Sea ADIZ. According to the report, the flight (No. QV916), an Airbus A320, was an hour into its scheduled flight path, "which would have put the aircraft over disputed areas of the China Sea," before it turned back. Starting last year, Chinese air traffic authorities began to require that all civilian flights flying through the East China Sea ADIZ file pre-flight plans, transponder details, and other technical details ahead of their flights, according to the Air Transport World report. The incident involving QV916 is the first instance of a commercial flight being turned back due to a failure to comply with Chinese air traffic authority requirements, but at least 55 airlines worldwide are complying with the terms of China's ADIZ. The following image shows QV916s flight path on July 25. Source: Flight Radar 24 The Laotian government has not reacted publicly to the incident involving Lao Airlines flight QV916, and it is unlikely to do so for fear of risking its mostly positive rapport and growing economic ties with China. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), however, should avail itself of the opportunity to emphasize its support for the freedom of overflight over the high seas. In a statement last year, signed jointly with Japan, ASEAN pledged its support for "the freedom of overflight and civil aviation safety in accordance with the universally recognised principles of international law, including the 1982 UNCLOS, and the relevant standards and recommended practices by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)." The United States and Japan submitted a letter early last year to ICAO, a specialized UN agency, asking the group to repudiate China's ADIZ. Whether regional states, including the United States and Japan, like it or not, the compliance of this civilian flight with the requirements of Chinese air traffic controllers could be a sign of things to come. For China, the ADIZ was a way of creating facts in the air, and bolstering its claim to a disputed swathe of airspace. More importantly, an ADIZ was a particularly clever tool to do so given that the right to establish an ADIZ is not bestowed or restricted by any particular piece of international law. Until November 2013, however, it was customary for states to avoid declaring ADIZs over disputed territory. For China, successfully administering ADIZ rules is a coup for its sovereignty claims in the East China Sea. As one well-known international court opinion noted: ...a claim to sovereignty based not upon some particular act or title such as a treaty of cession but merely upon continued display of authority, involves two elements each of which must be shown to exist: the intention and will to act as sovereign, and some actual exercise or display of such authority. However unnoticed and seemingly insignificant the decision of QV916 to turn back around and fly back to South Korea, it has helped China fulfill the two requirements stated in that opinion in the East China Sea with its air defense identification zone. Statements of opposition to the Chinese ADIZ by the United States, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Australia and ASEAN will matter less and less if, in practice, China continues to enforce its terms and civilian aviators begin complying. http://thediplomat.com/2015/07/a-first-china-turns-back-commercial-flight-for-violating-east-china-sea- adiz-rules/ Back to Top Bomb threat forces BA flight from Las Vegas to London to land in Montreal Flight BA274 made emergency landing in Canada early on Wednesday morning after pilot diverted the plane as a precaution More than 300 passengers and crew are evacuated off the flight at Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau international airport in Montreal A British Airways flight from Las Vegas to London has been forced to perform an emergency landing in Montreal due to a bomb threat, Canadian police have said. Flight BA274 touched down at Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau international airport at about 5.15am local time (10.15am BST) after the pilot diverted the plane as a precaution. Cpl Francois Gagnon, of the Royal Canadian Mounted police, the national police force leading the operation at the airport, confirmed a bomb threat had been received. "British Airways received a bomb threat through a phone call," he said. Three hundred and 12 passengers and 16 crew members were evacuated from the flight, which left Las Vegas McCarran international airport at 9.30pm Pacific time on Tuesday and was due to arrive at Heathrow at 3.25pm on Wednesday. Michael Kontos, 35, was on board the flight returning to his home in north London from a four-day trip to Las Vegas with his business partner. "It was about four or five hours into the flight and we were woken up and told to check our bags to see if it was all ours," he said. "The air stewards came round to check the bags too, to see if any items or packages were not ours. "They couldn't find anything but the captain decided to land the plane in Montreal. There was a little bit of hysteria on board the plane. It was not a pleasant experience. The captain told us there was a security scare." Kontos, the founder and artistic director at the London School of Barbering, said he and his fellow passengers were in a holding lounge while their luggage was searched and expect to stay in a Montreal hotel on Wednesday night. "Everyone is tired," he said. "We just want to know when we're going to get home." A spokesman for Montreal police said a Swat team and police dogs were set to search the plane to ensure "nothing dangerous or suspicious" was on board. Images posted on Twitter showed a fleet of police cars approaching the plane on the runway. British Airways would not comment on reports of a bomb threat but confirmed the flight had been diverted. A statement from BA said: "Our flight from Las Vegas to Heathrow landed safely this morning at Montreal and customers left the aircraft as normal after the captain took the decision to divert the aircraft as a precaution. "The safety and security of our customers, crew and aircraft are our highest priorities at all times. We are looking after the customers and will provide hotel rooms for them and will rebook them to other flights as soon as we can. We are working with the Canadian authorities and giving them our fullest support." http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/29/bomb-threat-british-airways-flight-las-vegas-london-land- montreal Back to Top American Airlines to ferry banged-up Boeing 787 from China to DFW next week AvHerald.com had this photo of the banged-up airplane, with the photo attributed to passenger Wangshiyu0818. Earlier this week, one of American Airlines' Boeing 787 was climbing out of Beijing, China, when it encountered a hailstorm that left the new airplane somewhat beat up. The pilots returned to the Beijing airport, and there the airplane sits while experts from American, Boeing and engine manufacturer GE check it out and do some repairs to get it flying again. "We expect to ferry the aircraft to Dallas/Fort Worth the early part of next week," AA spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said Thursday. "We haven't found anything that we didn't expect to find. There are no major structural issues." As the photo above shows, the airplane most visibly got a dented radome, made of composite materials as is much of the airplane's surfaces. Huguely said a couple of sections of the windshield were cracked, as were lenses and caps over lights, with some parts of the composite surface receiving dents, and so forth. "We are working with Boeing and GE and they have people on site working with us," she said. Once the repairs necessary to make the airplane airworthy are made in Beijing, the airplane will go to American's D/FW maintenance base for more repairs and checks. "We'll put it back in service once it passes inspection," she said. The airplane, tail number N805AN, was delivered to American three months ago. We believe it was the fourth Boeing 787 that American received, based on the database on the All Things 787 blog. The first of its handful of Dreamliners arrived in late January. The airplanes have been put on the DFW- Beijing, DFW-Shanghai and DFW-Buenos Aires routes so far, as well as the DFW-Chicago run. According to FlightAware, American Flight 88 from Beijing to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport on Monday afternoon (Beijing time) was about 20 minutes out of Beijing and climbing above 26,000 feet when it began descending. It landed back at Beijing less than 45 minutes after takeoff. http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/07/american-airlines-to-ferry-banged-up-boeing-787-from- china-to-dfw-next-week.html/ Back to Top Why The Airplane Boarding Pass Could Soon Be A Thing of The Past Is the boarding pass going overboard? They could soon become a thing of the past, according to one top transportation official. To address the glaring lapses in security over the last few months, TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger, who was recently confirmed, will specifically target screening -- with a focus on checkpoints. He predicts that the days of the boarding pass may be numbered, while outlining his 5 to 10-year vision for the "checkpoint of the future." "I think we can eliminate the boarding pass," Neffenger said in a hearing on Capitol Hill today, adding, "the idea that you are your boarding pass and if I can tie you biometrically to a reservation, to an identification and I can do so in a verified way than one -- that moves you through the process faster." Neffenger notes that eliminating the boarding pass would remove the challenges for the document checkers at the checkpoints since there is little consistency with the passes, as each airline has a different style of boarding pass. He emphasized that the checkpoint is a critically important element in security, as it is a visible deterrent and the last chance to catch any threat. "[The checkpoint] is the barrier between the sterile and the non-sterile areas and there has to be an expectation of that area working," Neffenger said. Findings in the Homeland Security Inspector General's report found major lapses in TSA security, showing that agents failed 67 out of 70 tests, when Red Team members who were posing as passengers were able to get potential weapons through checkpoints, according to officials briefed on the report. Since the report, Administrator Neffenger said he is greatly disturbed by the failure and vowed to close these security gaps. http://abcnews.go.com/US/airplane-boarding-pass-thing-past/story?id=32761158 Back to Top Airline Testing Biometrics to Replace Boarding Tickets In the future, passengers may use finger scanners instead of boarding passes to check-in for their flight. Boarding passes can be real drag. They bend, they rip, and oftentimes they get lost. But one airline is looking to change the boarding process, using technology that will make you feel like a secret agent. Alaska Airlines is currently testing a machine that scans fingerprints of passengers as they go through the boarding process. Instead of displaying a paper ticket and ID, the kiosk uses biometrics to authenticate a person based on their physical characteristics. According to a report by Mercury News, Alaska Airlines started the trial program in April using 200 passengers who frequently fly out of Mineta San Jose International Airport. The airline has partnered with CLEAR, a security firm that expedites the security process for passengers who pay a yearly fee of $179. Until now, CLEAR customers used boarding passes and membership cards to go through security. Today, they have their fingers scanned, and those in the trial program don't have to use boarding passes. But the scanners are not flawless. Some participants have complained that it's difficult to remember their seat assignment without a paper reminder, while others believe that finger scanning adds time to the boarding process. "Instead of taking half a second it took 2.5 seconds," said Paul Pindell, one of the trial participants. "But if you multiplied that by 150 people on a plane that could slow things down." In fact, Mercury News reports that a woman testing the new system had to scan her fingerprints more than 12 times before she was eventually led through a metal detector. Alaska Airlines and CLEAR will have to work out accessibility and security concerns with these innovative kiosks, but if all goes as planned, the boarding process could get a whole lot faster for millions of passengers. This futuristic process isn't the airlines first high-tech improvement. Last year, it installed fingerprint scanners at club lounges in Seattle, Anchorage, Portland and Los Angeles. https://www.yahoo.com/travel/airline-using-biometrics-to-replace-boarding-125342215552.html Back to Top THE TALK OF OSHKOSH: MALAYSIA AIR 370 By Roger Rapoport OSHKOSH, Wisconsin - After a week of serving as the world's busiest airport, Whitman Field here has returned to its post EAA Air Venture status as a general aviation terminal doubling as a Greyhound bus depot. The departure of a B-52, a replica of the original Wright flyer, countless Gulfstreams, Citations, Embraers, jet powered biplanes, the latest amphibians, an Airbus 350 and 10,000 other aircraft means that this city on the shores of Lake Winnebago is just another quiet midwestern getaway. For the hundreds of thousands of guests, the lengthy air shows including two spectacular nighttime events with memorable fireworks, Oshkosh is hard to beat. But in the hotel bars, the brew pubs on the banks of the Fox River, the jam packed campgrounds, University of Wisconsin dining halls, at the VIP parties and inside the EAA museum one plane nowhere near Air Venture remained the center of inspired conversation and debate. From research scientists. mechanics, professors, airline pilots, government officials and flight safety experts talked missing Malaysia Air 370 endlessly. Passionately argued, many of these theories were not limited in the slightest by lack of data. With the plane now being hunted in a vast southern Indian Ocean search zone, this hull loss is a rare event in an industry that depends on lessons learned from accidents to make flying safer. One popular theory, suicide committed by Captain Zaharie Ahmed Shah, was sharply disputed by a pilot I met at EAA who was the Malaysia Air 370 pilot's next door neighbor for six years. Drawing on his personal experience flying with Shah, he scoffed at the idea that flight 370's captain would have sabotaged the Beijing bound flight. Another widely held theory focuses on a lithium battery cargo fire that would have cut off the plane's oxygen supply and possibly shut down portions of the electrical system. There is a precedent for this, a November 1987 South African Airways flight that caught fire and crashed in the Indian Ocean. A related theory is the possibility that the pilots lost consciousness before they could get to their oxygen mask compartments. Other experts cited research demonstrating that hackers have the ability to quickly reprogram airline flight computers. This mirrors the success of a Wired Magazine team that used an online program to hack the wireless controls of a Jeep Cherokee's entertainment system. In short order they took control of the vehicle's steering, brakes and transmission. Since this security breach was done from a remote laptop, some experts at EAA wondered openly if a saboteur could take over a jet whether or not he was actually on the plane. While this theory may sound farfetched it also raises the possibility of a traditional hijacking. Many Oshkosh pilots suggested that the lack of debris found in other overwater accidents like Air France 447, implied that the plane never pancaked into the ocean or went down after stalling in a flat spin. A surprising number of Oshkosh skeptics suggest, the plane landed on a remote landing strip. This theory, vigorously disputed by experts doing the underwater search, assumes that limited tracking data picked up by Inmarsat satellites is not credible. There are, of course, many other scenarios about Malaysia Air 370 . These include the idea that the plane was shot down by security forces determined to prevent a 9/11 style attack on a metropolis and the thought that the pilot worked with coconspirators to bring the plane down. The lack of a ransom or suicide note makes the latter idea less credible. Drawing on the experience of Air France 447 it's clear that absent an airplane it's impossible for any of these theories to hold up today.. While the speculation continues I'll be talking to the search team trying to recover the plane for a future report on the mystery of Malaysia Air 370. Roger Rapoport is the producer of the feature film Pilot Error (www.piloterrormovie.com) and the author of The Rio-Paris Crash: Air France 447. Back to Top Singapore Airlines releases seven A350 jet orders back to Airbus Singapore Airlines has agreed to a request from Airbus to release seven of its A350-900 widebody jet orders back to the aircraft manufacturer, the carrier said in a statement. This reduces the airline's A350s on order to 63, it said, in a series of adjustments to orders and deliveries to meet the immediate needs of the airline and the plane maker. Its purchase options for 20 of the wide- body A350-900s remain unchanged, the airline said. The carrier also brought forward the deliveries of some of the other A350-900s it has on order and can extend the leases on some A330-300s it has in service, to meet its fleet renewal and growth plans, SIA said. The airline also has orders for Boeing 777-300ERs and 787-10s, as well as Airbus A380 superjumbos. On Wednesday, the SIA Group reported a first-quarter net profit of S$91.2 million ($66.6 million) for the three months to end-June, up from S$34.8 million a year before. Revenues were up slightly at S$3.73 billion versus S$3.68 billion. Operating profit at the flagship full-service carrier increased to S$108 million from S$45 million, largely due to lower fuel costs and revenues from the sale of the seven production slots. SIA's long-haul low-cost subsidiary Scoot lost S$20 million during the quarter, down from a loss of S$25 million a year before, and its cargo business remained in the red. Looking ahead, SIA said that passenger and air cargo yields would remain under pressure in the July- September quarter due to a competitive environment and over-capacity. http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/30/airlines-airbus-sia-idUSL3N10A1G220150730 Back to Top Rolls-Royce profits cut in half as jet engine demand plummets Engineering firm announces pre-tax profits are down by 57% to £310m in the first half as company transitions towards more fuel-efficient engines Engineers work on one of Rolls's Trent XWB engines. Rolls-Royce profits have slumped by more than half as the British defence and aerospace group suffers falling demand for its jet engines. The FTSE 100 engineer said that pre-tax profits fell by 57% to £310m in the six months to 30 June. The results highlight the challenge facing Rolls' new chief executive, Warren East, who took charge after former boss John Rishton said he was retiring in April for a "change in lifestyle". Rishton oversaw a tumultuous period for Rolls which included a string of profit warnings, the first fall in sales for a decade, and the Serious Fraud Office launching an investigation into corruption allegations. Earlier this month, East, who previously ran Arm Holdings - which designs microprocessors for Apple - was forced to issue another profit warning , the fourth in 18 months, on just his second day in the job. East said Rolls was facing a period of "significant transition" as the business moves from a reliance on engines such as the Trent 700, which it produces for the Airbus A330, towards new, more fuel-efficient engines such as the Trent XWB. However, he pointed to a £2.8bn rise in the company's order book to £76.5bn as evidence that Rolls remains well-placed for the future. East said: "The continued growth in our order book demonstrates the long-term demand for our innovative products and services and underpins my confidence in the fundamental strength of our business. "In the near term, we are managing a significant transition from mature engines to newer, more fuel- efficient ones, such as the Trent XWB, Trent 7,000 and Trent 1,000. At the same time, we are taking appropriate actions to mitigate the effects of weakness in our offshore marine markets. "While these create a profit headwind in the near term, it is critical we successfully deliver our product launches, complete our supply chain transformation and sustain investment in our businesses to strengthen their competitive positions." Rolls is cutting more than 3,000 jobs in its aerospace and marine arm as it adapts to the slowdown in demand. As well as the pressure in civil aerospace, Rolls has suffered from falling demand for business jet engines, the impact of Russian sanctions, and a hit to its marine business from the decline in the price of oil. Sales in the first half of 2015 fell by 3% on a comparable basis to £6.3bn. However, Rolls increased its interim dividend payment by 3% to 9.27p per share. Alongside Rolls's results, BAE Systems, Britain's biggest defence manufacturer, reported a 6% fall in pre- tax profits to £508m, although sales rose 12% to £8.5bn. BAE produces the Typhoon fighter jet, the Astute-class submarines, and Britain's new Queen Elizabeth- class aircraft carriers. It also makes parts for the F-35 Lightning jet. http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/30/rolls-royce-profits-halve-jet-engine-demand-down Back to Top ISASI 2015, Germany, August 24 - 27, 2015 "Independence does not mean isolation". The International Society of Air Safety Investigators (ISASI) will hold their 46th annual seminar at the Kongress am Park, Augsburg, Germany, from August 24 - 27, 2015. For all current information including the link to the registration and hotel pages please go to www.esasi.eu/isasi-2015 Note: Cut off dates for hotel reservations are June 23rd for the Dorint & July 23rd for the Ibis & the Intercity For questions regarding Sponsorship please contact Ron Schleede - ronschleede@aol.com or Steve Hull - steve.hull@rtiforensics.com Exhibitors should contact Steve Hull or Ann Schull - isasi@erols.com Back to Top Upcoming Events: Fundamentals of IS-BAO August 19, 2015 Madrid, Spain https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1659089 IS-BAO Auditing August 20, 2015 Madrid, Spain https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1659096 Safety Management Systems Training & Workshop Course offered by ATC Vantage Inc. Tampa, FL August 6-7, 2015 www.atcvantage.com/training Fundamentals of IS-BAO August 25, 2015 Denver, CO USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1737105 IS-BAO Auditing August 26, 2015 Denver, CO USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1737126 Fundamentals of IS-BAO August 30, 2015 Casablanca, Morocco https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1725994 IS-BAO Auditing August 31, 2015 Casablanca, Morocco https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1725997 Aircraft Fire Hazards, Protection & Investigation Course 9-11 Sept. 2015 Hotel Ibis Nanterre La Defense (near Paris) France http://blazetech.com/resources/pro_services/FireCourse-France_2015.pdf AViCON - Aviation Insurance Conference September 10th and 11th, 2015 Stevensville, MD 21666 http://www.rtiforensics.com/news-events/avicon Regulatory Affairs Training Course September 15 & 16 Fort Worth, TX http://jdasolutions.aero/services/regulatory-affairs.php Suspected Unapproved Parts (SUPS) Training Course September 15 & 16 Fort Worth, TX http://jdasolutions.aero/ Safeskies 2015 Aviation Safety Conference 22 to 24 September 2015 Realm Hotel, Canberra www.SafeskiesAustralia.org Back to Top JOBS AVAILABLE: Fatigue Risk Management Systems (FRMS) Program Advisor Virgin Australia http://careers.virginaustralia.com/cw/en/job/496246/fatigue-risk-management-systems-frms-program- advisor Head of Safety Qantas http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/job-search-current-vacancies/global/en Safety Specialist Netjets www.netjets.com/careers Business Aviation Regional Sales Manager ARGUS International, Inc. https://home2.eease.adp.com/recruit/?id=18211162 Manager Airline Safety Cathay Pacific http://www.cathaypacific.com/careers Airline Safety Manager - SMS (ASM-SMS) Cathay Pacific http://www.cathaypacific.com/careers Director, ICAO Liaison International Business Aviation Council DILpost@ibac.org Curt Lewis