Flight Safety Information November 5, 2015 - No. 222 In This Issue Russian plane crash: U.S. officials say ISIS bomb may have brought down jet New Fears That ISIS Bomb Brought Down Russian Jet Sinai Security Concerns Spread After U.K. Says Bomb May Have Downed Jet Nancy Graham Named 2015 Winner...Of Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award Hong Kong's air traffic control system poses no flight safety issue Airlines Plan Egypt Evacuations as Jet Crash Blamed on Bomb UK CAA Signs Aviation Safety MoU with the Government of Kazakhstan Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 interrupted due to medical emergency PROS 2015 TRAINING Stop By and Visit At NBAA - Booth N812 Hypersonic Jet Could Cross Atlantic in 30 Minutes Demand for drone pilots soars in China Air New Zealand announces purchase of 15 new aircraft as regional competition heats up Boeing Sees a $730 Billion Aircraft Market in Middle East Over Next Two Decades As NASA Shrugs, FAA Looks at Leadership Role in Global Moon Village Upcoming Events JOBS AVAILABLE (New Positions) Russian plane crash: U.S. officials say ISIS bomb may have brought down jet Egypt says there is no evidence supporting the theory that a bomb took down Flight 9268 Metrojet grounds all of its Airbus A321 planes Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamel said officials have found no evidence to support the theory that a bomb caused Russian Metrojet Flight 9268 to crash in Sinai. As U.S. intelligence suggests terrorists may have bombed Metrojet Flight 9268, several countries are taking extra precautions -- but for different reasons. Metrojet's entire Airbus A321 fleet has been grounded while "additional safety checks are being conducted," Russia's federal air safety watchdog Rostransnadzor said Thursday. But British officials have halted flights from the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh due to concerns that the plane may have been bombed and "a credible threat to British nationals." Flight 9268 crashed Saturday in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula after breaking apart in midair, killing all 224 people on board. It was headed from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, Russia. U.S. officials told CNN that intelligence suggests ISIS or its affiliates planted a bomb on the Russian plane. The officials stressed that no formal conclusion has been reached by the U.S. intelligence community and that U.S. officials haven't seen forensic evidence from the crash investigation. But the intelligence also suggests someone at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport helped get a bomb onto the plane, one U.S. official said. "This airport has lax security. It is known for that," the official said. "But there is intelligence suggesting an assist from someone at the airport. " Egyptian authorities, who are leading the investigation into the crash, haven't publicly responded to reports on U.S. intelligence. Since the crash, they've downplayed the possibility that terrorism could be involved. Why some suspect ISIS involvement U.S. intel suggests ISIS bomb brought down plane The signs pointing to ISIS, another U.S. official said, are partially based on monitoring of internal messages of the terrorist group. Those messages are separate from public ISIS claims of responsibility, that official said. In an audio message from ISIS' Sinai branch that was posted on terror-related social media accounts Wednesday, the organization adamantly insisted that it brought down the flight. "Find your black boxes and analyze them, give us the results of your investigation and the depth of your expertise and prove we didn't do it or how it was downed," the message said. "Die with your rage. We are the ones with God's blessing who brought it down. And God willing, one day we will reveal how, at the time we desire." Doubts about ISIS' claims Who is ISIS in Sinai Pennisula? Typically, ISIS is quick to trumpet how and who carried out any attacks for purposes of praise and propaganda. To some, the fact that ISIS hasn't provided details in this case raises doubt about the group's repeated claims of responsibility. Officials in Egypt and Russia have said there's no evidence to support ISIS' claims. "That was a very baffling way to claim credit for what would be the most significant terrorist attack since 9/11," CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said. "But there may have been a method behind this and a reason behind this, and that may have been to protect an insider at Sharm el-Sheikh airport." Foreign tourists stranded in Egypt U.K. uses strong language suggesting bomb was on plane Concerns that the plane may have been bombed have left thousands of foreign tourists stuck in Egypt. British Prime Minister David Cameron's office said flights scheduled to leave Sharm el-Sheikh for the UK have been delayed as a precaution to allow British aviation experts to assess security arrangements at the city's airport. "While the investigation is still ongoing, we cannot say categorically why the Russian jet crashed," Cameron's office said Wednesday. "But as more information has come to light, we have become concerned that the plane may well have been brought down by an explosive device." An intelligence review revealed "there's a credible threat to British nationals" -- prompting the suspension of flights, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told CNN affiliate ITN. He said 3,500 British nationals were due to fly out of Sharm el-Sheikh on Thursday. "We hope by tomorrow (Friday) we will have in place short-term emergency measures that will provide us with the level of assurance we need to allow flights to go out from the UK empty and bring those people back to the UK," he told ITN. Tourists stuck at the airport Wednesday vented their frustration. "People have been shouting at officials," British tourist Sarah Cotterill told CNN. She was supposed to fly out of the resort city with her sister and their five children. "We are going to stay in a hotel in Sharm el-Sheikh. I don't know where. We don't know anything." Ireland has also suspended all flights to and from Sharm el-Sheikh until further notice. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said he was "somewhat surprised" by the British decision. "I think it is somewhat premature to make declarations related to what might or might not have happened to the aircraft before the investigation is completed and before there is a definitive cause for this crash," he told CNN. Militant battleground New video shows wreckage of Russian jet Sharm el-Sheikh, where Flight 9268 began its journey, is a beach resort at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. The plane crashed about 300 kilometers (185 miles) farther north, according to Egyptian authorities. Sinai has been a battleground between ISIS-affiliated militants and Egyptian security forces in recent years. Hundreds have died in the fighting. ISIS in Sinai is one of the most active of all the ISIS affiliates and has bomb-making capabilities, according to U.S. intelligence. But if the group did plant a bomb on the plane, it would represent an increase in sophistication. U.S. officials say ISIS has not proved to be nearly as advanced with bomb-making capabilities as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a group that U.S. national security officials believed were working on nonmetallic bombs to be smuggled onto planes. "If ISIS really was responsible for this, this will turbocharge their popularity in the global jihadi movement," Cruickshank said. Russia vs. ISIS Data shows steep, unrecoverable decent of Russian plane If the crash was caused by a bomb planted by ISIS or an affiliate, why might the terrorists target a plane of mostly Russian passengers? Russia started launching airstrikes in Syria in September, saying it was coordinating with the Syrian regime to combat ISIS and other terrorists. When news of the crash first broke, an ISIS-affiliated group known as Province of Sinai released a statement claiming responsibility for the crash, saying it had perpetrated the attack "in response to Russian airstrikes that killed hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land," according to Reuters. That claim was disputed by officials, who said ISIS couldn't have fired a missile to bring down the plane. U.S. officials initially said they doubted Russia's claims that it was targeting ISIS in Syria. But Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S. military's Operation Inherent Resolve targeting ISIS in Syria and Iraq, said Wednesday that some Russian airstrikes were hitting ISIS targets in Syria. "They've done hundreds of airstrikes at this point. I'm not putting out the count anymore, but they conduct airstrikes, but only a fraction of them have been against (ISIS) targets," he said. "And when I say fraction, I'm talking ... 10%." http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/05/middleeast/russian-plane-crash-egypt-sinai/ Back to Top New Fears That ISIS Bomb Brought Down Russian Jet The United Kingdom says it is concerned that the Russian jet was brought down by a bomb on Saturday, and is suspending flights to and from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. New intelligence suggests that ISIS may have planted a bomb on the Russian passenger jet that crashed in Egypt on Saturday, an anonymous U.S. official told CNN. British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond confirmed to Reuters that there is a "significant possibility" that ISIS was behind the attack. Neither U.K. nor the U.S. has not conclusively determined the cause of the plane crash, but, as NBC News reports, U.S. investigators are focusing on "ISIS operatives or sympathizers" as the perpetrators, British and U.S. officials said Wednesday they have information suggesting the Russian jetliner that crashed in the Egyptian desert may have been brought down by a bomb, and Britain said it was suspending flights to and from the Sinai Peninsula as a precaution. Intercepted communications played a role in the tentative conclusion that the Islamic State group's Sinai affiliate planted an explosive device on the plane, said a U.S. official briefed on the matter. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss intelligence matters publicly. The official and others said there had been no formal judgment rendered by the CIA or other intelligence agencies, and that forensic evidence from the blast site, including the airplane's black box, was still being analyzed. The official added that intelligence analysts don't believe the operation was ordered by Islamic State leaders in Raqqa, Syria. Rather, they believe that if it was a bomb, it was planned and executed by the Islamic State's affiliate in the Sinai, which operates autonomously. Other officials cautioned that intercepted communications can sometimes be misleading and that it's possible the evidence will add up to a conclusion that there was no bomb. Meanwhile, Russian and Egyptian investigators said Wednesday that the cockpit voice recorder of the Metrojet Airbus 321-200 had suffered substantial damage in the weekend crash that killed 224 people. Information from the flight data recorder has been successfully copied and handed over to investigators, the Russians added. Prime Minister David Cameron's office said British aviation experts were headed to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where the flight originated, to assess security before British flights there would be allowed to resume. No British flights were flying to the resort Wednesday, but several were scheduled to depart. Cameron's 10 Downing St. office said in a statement that it could not say "categorically" why the Russian jet had crashed. "But as more information has come to light, we have become concerned that the plane may well have been brought down by an explosive device," it said. The British government's crisis committee was meeting Wednesday to review the situation. Downing St. said Cameron had discussed the issue of security at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who flew to Britain on Wednesday for an official visit. The British disclosures would be an embarrassment to el-Sissi, who had insisted in an interview with the BBC on Tuesday that the security situation in the Sinai Peninsula is under "full control." He has staked his legitimacy on restoring stability and reviving Egypt's economy. The suspension of flights would be a further blow to Egypt's troubled tourism industry, which has suffered in the unrest that followed the 2011 Arab Spring. The one bright spot for Egypt has been tourism at the Red Sea resorts. British Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said the British experts would "ensure the right security measures are in place for flights." "It is when that review is completed that we will allow the flights that are there tonight to depart," he said. The Irish Aviation Authority followed the British lead and directed Irish airlines to suspend flights to Sharm el-Sheikh Airport and into the airspace of the Sinai Peninsula "until further notice." The British acted "too soon," said Hany Ramsay, deputy head of Sharm el-Sheikh's airport. "Other countries might soon follow them, Ramsay told The Associated Press, suggesting there may be political and commercial motives behind the British statement. "They want to hurt tourism and cause confusion," he added. Aviation experts are traveling to Sharm el-Sheikh to assess security before any British flights there will be allowed to leave, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said. Several airlines, including Lufthansa and Air France, stopped flying over Sinai after the crash, but British carriers had kept to their schedules. Almost 1 million Britons visit Egypt each year, many to Sharm el- Sheikh, which is also popular with Russians. The Metrojet flight carrying mostly Russian vacationers from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg broke up in the air at an altitude of 31,000 feet 23 minutes after takeoff and came down in the Sinai desert, Russian officials said. The plane crash site, 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of the city of el-Arish, lies in the northern Sinai, where Egyptian security forces have for years battled local Islamic militants. Two U.S. officials told the AP on Tuesday that U.S. satellite imagery detected heat around the jet just before it went down. The infrared activity could mean many things, including a bomb blast or an engine on the plane exploding due to a malfunction. One of the officials who spoke condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the information publicly said a missile striking the jetliner was ruled out, because neither a missile launch nor an engine burn had been detected. The Saturday crash killed all 224 people on the Metrojet Airbus plane. The Islamic State group claimed it had downed the plane because of Moscow's recent military intervention in Syria against the extremist group, but el-Sissi dismissed that as "propaganda" aimed at damaging Egypt's image. Douglas Barrie, military aerospace expert with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said it was too soon to say for sure the cause of the crash but the "general suspicion" that an explosive device was involved has been mounting. He said the British government's decision made sense. "It's a political decision to err on the side of caution if it has been deemed possible that an explosive device was involved and there are concerns about the levels of security at the airport involved," he said. The Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Commission, which oversees civil aviation in much of the former Soviet Union, said in a statement that information from the Metrojet flight's data recorder had been successfully copied and given to investigators. But the cockpit voice recorder "received serious mechanical damage." Egypt's Aviation Ministry also said the voice recorder is "partially damaged" and that as a result "a lot of work is required in order to extract data from it." Metrojet, the plane's owner, and Russian authorities offered conflicting theories of what happened. Metrojet officials have insisted the crash was due to an "external impact," not a technical malfunction or pilot error. Russian officials have said it's too early to jump to that conclusion. El-Sissi told the BBC that the cause of the crash may not be known for months and that there should be no speculation until then. Rescue teams in Egypt combed the Sinai desert for more remains and parts of the plane's fuselage as grief-stricken Russian families in St. Petersburg faced an agonizing wait to bury their loved ones. Russian and Egyptian rescue workers expanded their search area in the Sinai to 40 square kilometers (15 square miles). The Russian state television channel Rossiya-24 reported the plane's tail was found 5 kilometers (3 miles) away from the rest of the wreckage. Only one body has been released to a Russian family for burial so far. Relatives have identified 33 bodies and the paperwork is nearly finished on 22 of those, meaning the families should get the bodies shortly, said Igor Albin, deputy governor of St. Petersburg, in a televised conference call. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/russia-plane-uk_563a42f6e4b0411d306f1fc7 Back to Top Sinai Security Concerns Spread After U.K. Says Bomb May Have Downed Jet Dutch authorities say move a direct result of London's decision on flights to Sharm El Sheikh LONDON-Flights between the U.K. and Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt remained grounded Thursday, a day after the British government said there was a significant possibility the Russian airliner which crashed on Saturday was downed by a bomb aboard the plane. Dutch authorities are now following the advice from their British counterparts, who have also expressed concerns about security at Sharm El Sheikh airport, and have instructed airlines not to fly to the Egyptian coastal resort. A spokesman for the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice on Thursday said no flights would depart for the Egyptian beach resort until at least Sunday. The Dutch government was acting on the advice of the British government, rather than the country's own intelligence, the spokesman said. But several airlines have taken precautionary measures. Emirates Airline, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Air France-KLM, on Saturday rerouted planes away from Sinai in the wake of the crash as a precautionary measure. British Airways, which had continued flights to Sharm El Sheikh, on Wednesday said it was "liaising closely with the government" and awaiting more information. European discount airline easyJet canceled several Sharm El Sheikh flights late Wednesday following the British government's alert. Thomson Airways, the carrier of tour operator TUI Group, canceled all flights to the Egyptian beach resort through Nov. 12. The Airbus A321 jetliner, which was operated by a Russian carrier, crashed in the Sinai Peninsula after taking off from Sharm El Sheikh, killing all 224 people on board. The Egyptian branch of militant group Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the attack, a claim it reiterated Wednesday. The group's claim of responsibility has been met with deep skepticism by Egyptian, Russian and U.S. officials. Egyptian soldiers collect personal belongings of plane crash victims at the crash site of the passenger plane bound for St. Petersburg in Russia that crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Saturday. The U.K. authorities think a bomb might have downed the jet. British Prime Minister David Cameron was due Thursday to hold an emergency meeting with cabinet ministers to oversee how the U.K. is helping British tourists in Sharm El Sheikh. Later Thursday, Mr. Cameron will meet with Egypt President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi in London, on his first official visit to the U.K., which is set to be tense. Egyptian officials have expressed frustration with the U.K.'s decision to suspend flights and have defended the security at Sharm El Sheikh airport. U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Thursday that the U.K. won't resume flying until it is confident there are long-term, sustainable arrangements in place to improve security on flights between the U.K. and Sharm El Sheikh safe. "Regardless of the cost, regardless of the delay, regardless of the inconvenience, the point I am making is that the longer term arrangements have to be sustainable," Mr. Hammond said. The U.K. is working with airlines and Egyptian authorities to put in place emergency procedures and extra security. He declined to comment on what basis the U.K. made its decision on, saying he couldn't comment on intelligence issues, noting that the U.K. has reached its decision based on a range of information. Some 20,000 British nationals are currently in the Sharm El Sheikh area, a popular vacation destination. The U.K. on Wednesday said it advised against all but essential travel by air to Sharm El Sheikh airport. http://www.wsj.com/articles/netherlands-grounds-flights-to-sinai-airport-after-u-k-says-bomb-may-have- downed-jet-1446719160 Back to Top Nancy Graham Named 2015 Winner Of Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award Miami -- The Laura Taber Barbour Safety Foundation is pleased to announce Nancy Graham, a long-time aviation executive and former director of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Air Navigation Bureau, as the 2015 recipient of the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award. Graham, currently president of Graham Aerospace International, served at ICAO for eight years, through September 2015, following a 16-year period with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, where she held executive-level aviation positions of increasing responsibility. During her time at ICAO, she played a key role in strengthening international cooperation among global civil aviation stakeholders, with an emphasis on safety improvement. She helped shape the organization's current Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) and Global Aviation Air Navigation Plan (GANP), which established priorities and global performance targets for safety and ATM initiatives. She introduced annual safety and capacity improvement reports against both plans that serve to demonstrate measurable progress against these plans. She played a central role in the creation of Regional Aviation Safety Groups, which embraced these performance priorities and targets, putting them into action in partnership with non-governmental stakeholders. Graham also played integral roles in the global aviation response to implementing flight tracking initiatives following the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, and improving airspace security monitoring and warning protocol after the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over a conflict zone in Eastern Ukraine. "Nancy Graham's career epitomizes the tremendous impact that an inclusive, data-driven, performance- based approach can have on advancing civil aviation safety," says Dick Healing, Vice Chair of the Award Board and former Board Member of the National Transportation Safety Board. "Her legacy of results- oriented leadership with an emphasis on collaboration has helped improve global air transportation safety to the benefit of all who use it or rely on it." Graham was presented with the award during a dedicated ceremony on November 4 as part of the 68th International Air Safety Summit in Miami, Florida. About the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation and Award On April 14, 1945, after visiting family in Pittsburgh, Mrs. Laura Taber Barbour was aboard a Pennsylvania Central Airlines DC-3 when it crashed in to the rugged terrain of Cheat Mountain near Morgantown, West Virginia. All passengers and crew were killed. In 1956, her husband, Dr. Clifford E. Barbour and son, Cliff, established the Award in her honor. For nearly 60 years, this long distinguished award has recognized those responsible for crowning achievements in aviation safety worldwide. The Award was established through early association with the Flight Safety Foundation and from its founding has enjoyed a rich history of Award Board members, nominees and Award recipients. In 2013, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Foundation was formed from members of the Award Board, the aviation community and the Barbour family. As the foundation plans to broaden the scope of its intent, with great purpose, the Laura Taber Barbour Air Safety Award will continue to spotlight those champions who pioneer breakthroughs in flight safety. For more information on the foundation, the award, and past winners, visit http://LTBAward.org. CONTACT: Philip Barbour, 205-939-1700, 205-617-9007 Back to Top Hong Kong's air traffic control system poses no flight safety issue The control centre operates round the clock. To ensure its stable operation, it is important to maintain a constant, optimal room temperature. I refer to the article "Air cons required to prop up radar" (November 1). We would like to stress that the room temperature of the existing air traffic control centre of the Civil Aviation Department has all along been carefully monitored and has been set at a level to maintain the optimal operation of the air traffic control system. The control centre operates round the clock. To ensure its effective, efficient and stable operation, it is important to maintain a constant, optimal room temperature to prevent the over-heating of the system. Since the airport opening in 1998, the control centre has been installed with an air conditioning system with downwind flow to provide a cooling environment. Over the years, with more equipment installed in the control centre, an additional air-conditioning system has been installed since 2012 to enhance airflow. In view of colleagues' concern about the relatively low temperature in the control room, on top of the established mechanism to adjust the room temperature upon the request of supervisors, some enhanced measures (for example, temporarily turning off the additional air-conditioning system when the outside temperature is below 18 degrees Celsius) have been implemented since this January. This helps to keep the room temperature to between 21 and 23 degrees. With the implementation of the new air traffic control system, separate air conditioning systems have been installed. Ventilation vents connected directly to the bottom of the air traffic control equipment will minimise disturbance to the staff while achieving energy-saving and maintaining a better balance between system operations and staff comfort. Concerning the radar screen problems in the existing air traffic control system (the flight radar console screen freezes or the console crash as stated in your article), we would like to assure the public that the allegation that "the console doesn't tell you it freezes" as quoted in the article is unfounded. Aviation safety is our top priority. The Civil Aviation Department has stepped up efforts to enhance its maintenance measures to address staff concerns. Through an enhancement exercise conducted last year, including by upgrading the workstations and optimising radar signal inputs, the issue involving the radar screen has seen a significant improvement and remains well within the margin of the safety performance indicator. All of the department's air traffic controllers are highly trained and licensed to perform air traffic control duties. The safety of the aircraft will never be compromised. http://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/1875943/hong-kongs-air-traffic-control-system-poses-no- flight-safety-issue Back to Top Airlines Plan Egypt Evacuations as Jet Crash Blamed on Bomb Travel companies led by EasyJet Plc and Thomas Cook Group Plc are preparing to evacuate about 10,000 tourists stranded in Egypt after the U.K. banned commercial flights to Sinai, citing concern that a bomb caused the crash of a Russian plane there last weekend. EasyJet, which said Thursday it has 4,500 passengers in Egypt, will model the plan on its extraction of clients from Tunisia after a shooting in July left 30 Britons dead, with empty jets flying from the U.K. for rescue operations. "EasyJet is in close contact with the U.K. government as to when we may be able to resume flights and repatriate people," spokeswoman Anna Knowles said. "We would only do so when the government deems it safe it travel." The U.K.'s assessment that terrorism was the likely cause of the crash was based on "all the information available," some of it "sensitive," Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said on Sky News, a position echoed by three U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity. President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said there's "no basis" for that conclusion at this stage of the probe, even as Russian officials were ordered to bolster security measures in all countries where the country's airlines fly. Islamic State Preliminary evidence suggested involvement by Islamic State and investigators were examining the prospect that someone -- perhaps a baggage handler or airline official -- was bribed to get a bomb onto the Metrojet airliner, two of the U.S. officials said. The jet was downed en route from Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh airport to St. Petersburg, killing all 224 people on board. People purporting to represent Islamic State claimed the downing was retaliation for Russia's bombing of the extremist group in Syria. About 330 EasyJet customers were stranded by the cancellation of two flights Wednesday after Britain's intervention, and a further 1,800 were due to fly out Thursday on six services. While an initial statement said flights might resume after U.K. officials review security arrangements in Sharm el-Sheikh, Hammond would say only that trips might start again before the Christmas rush. Flights Halted EasyJet scrapped four flights from London on Thursday, one from Manchester and one from Milan, where the Italian government has yet to comment on the cause of the crash. Thomas Cook said it has 1,700 customers in the Red Sea resort who will be brought back in "due course," with free accommodation to be provided in the interim. The tour operator and rival TUI AG's Thomson arm scrapped all services through Nov. 12. Monarch Airlines said it's working with the Foreign Office to bring people home, and British Airways said it would put back its sole Thursday flight by one day for the moment. The Netherlands also said Thursday that it was advising people not to travel to Sinai. Representatives of the relevant government departments in countries including Germany and France didn't immediately respond to calls for comment. Premature Egypt's civil aviation ministry, whose investigators are leading the probe, said that theories about the cause of the tragedy are no more than speculation. Investigators haven't found any evidence or information proving the plane was downed by an on-board explosion, Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamal said in a statement Thursday. While the A321's flight-data recorder has been successfully retrieved and is ready for examination, the cockpit-voice recorder was damaged and needs further work to extract sounds from the crucial last few minutes of the flight. The disintegration of the aircraft close to its cruising altitude, with debris spread over an area measuring 8 miles by 4 miles, nevertheless suggests that it suffered a catastrophic break up that experts agree was most likely caused by some form of attack or a structural failure. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-05/u-k-airlines-plan-sinai-evacuation-as-jet-crash- blamed-on-bomb Back to Top UK CAA Signs Aviation Safety MoU with the Government of Kazakhstan London, England. 3 November 2015 - The Minister of Investments and Development (MID) of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Asset Issekeshev has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CAA International (CAAi), the State-to-State advisory arm of the UK Civil Aviation Authority (UK CAA). Witnessed by British Prime Minister, David Cameron and Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan, the MoU supports future collaboration between the UK and Kazakhstan to strengthen the safety oversight of Kazakhstan's Aviation Regulator, the Civil Aviation Committee (CAC). Under the MoU, CAAi has agreed to provide UK CAA expertise and guidance, to help raise the level of effective implementation of ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPs). CAAi will support the development of a CAC transformation plan that will include the separation of commercial services from regulatory provisions and oversight. CAAi will also support Kazakhstan in aligning its aviation safety regulations to European requirements and provide assistance to achieve ECAC membership and FAA Cat 1 status. Maria Rueda, CAAi Managing Director, said, "We are pleased to sign this MoU with Kazakhstan. It demonstrates both countries' commitment to promoting higher standards of aviation safety and we are committed to supporting Kazakhstan in achieving these goals". For more information, please contact Liam Byrne liam.byrne@caainternational.com or call +44 (0)1293 768700. Photo: Asset Issekeshev (left), Minister of Investments and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Mark Swan (right), Group Director of Safety & Airspace Regulation of the UK Civil Aviation Authority (UK CAA) signing a MoU. Back to Top Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 interrupted due to medical emergency MH370 debris found on Reunion Island (Credit: Yannick Pitou) The search in the southern Indian Ocean for the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been interrupted after a crew member on board a search vessel fell ill, Australian officials say. (more) The crew member, whose identity has not been released, was working on board the survey vessel Fugro Discovery, which had arrived back in the search area earlier this week and had deployed its tow fish on Wednesday to continue scanning the ocean floor. The Australian-led Joint Agency Coordination Center said on Thursday that the crew member had fallen ill and was diagnosed by the ship's doctor with suspected appendicitis. "As we have continued to emphasize, the safety and well-being of the crew is of the highest priority. Medical attention is being given on board, but further treatment is requirement," the center said in a brief statement. As a result, the tow fish has been recovered and the ship is now returning to the Australian port city of Fremantle, which will take about six days. The second search vessel, the Fugro Equator, is not expected to arrive back from a resupply visit until next Monday. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing 777 with 239 people on board, was operating a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it disappeared from civilian radar in the early morning of March 8, 2014. Investigators believe the aircraft continued to fly for nearly seven more hours before crashing in the southern Indian Ocean west of Perth. Wreckage from the aircraft washed up on Reunion Island earlier this year, which authorities said would be expected from a crash west of Perth. http://bnonews.com/news/index.php/news/id2388 Back to Top Back to Top Stop By and Visit At NBAA DATE Nov. 17 - 19, 2015 LOCATION Booth N812 Las Vegas Convention Center 3150 Paradise Rd. Las Vegas, NV 89109 Back to Top Hypersonic Jet Could Cross Atlantic in 30 Minutes A concept drawing of the newly imagined Skreemr hypersonic jet. How'd you like to travel from New York to London in less than an hour? One imaginative inventor has developed a concept plane that could take passengers across the pond in just 30 minutes - at least in theory. The aircraft concept, dubbed the Skreemr, is the brainchild of Charles Bombardier, an engineer and inventor who writes about his futuristic prototype designs in the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail. Bombardier's latest design describes a passenger aircraft that can travel at 10 times the speed of sound, or just under 8,000 mph (12,348 km/h). If such a jet were ever built, it would be five times faster than the Concorde, a now-retired supersonic passenger jet that once soared through the sky at speeds reaching Mach 2.04 (more than twice the speed of sound, at 1,565 mph, or 2,519 km/h). To reach its incredible Mach 10 speed, the Skreemr jet would have to take off from a "magnetic rail-gun launching system," Bombardier explained in a recent column for The Globe and Mail. 10 Wild Ways To Travel In The Future Rail guns consist of two conductive rails that produce an electromagnetic field that can propel a vehicle forward at high speed (kind of like a maglev train). Once this launching system gets the plane moving faster than the speed of sound (more than 767 mph, or 1,235 km/h), the jet's liquid oxygen and kerosene rockets would ignite, Bombardier said. The Skreemr's rockets would keep the plane climbing in altitude and would thrust it forward at speeds reaching Mach 4 (more than 3,000 mph, or nearly 5,000 km/h). Finally, the plane's scramjet engine would ignite, burning up hydrogen and compressed oxygen to propel the plane forward at speeds surpassing Mach 10 (more than 7,600 mph, or 1,220 km/h), Bombardier said. Hypersonic 'SpaceLiner' To Fly Passengers In 2050 Like regular jet engines, scramjet (short for supersonic combusting ramjet) engines combine liquid fuel with oxygen to create thrust, according to NASA. But in a scramjet engine, oxygen doesn't come from a tank onboard the aircraft; it comes from the atmosphere that is passing through the vehicle as it moves through the air. The futuristic concept plane could carry about 75 passengers at a time, but these hypersonic travelers won't be taking off in the Skreemr anytime soon. While scramjet engines are currently under development in the United Statesand China, real-life applications of these devices are still a long way away. And as Bombardier pointed out in his recent post, scramjets are likely to be used on unmanned aircraft, like military drones, long before anyone straps them to a commercial aircraft. http://news.discovery.com/tech/robotics/hypersonic-jet-could-cross-atlantic-in-30-minutes-151104.htm Back to Top Demand for drone pilots soars in China With remote-controlled aircraft increasingly being used by businesses, China needs 10,000 pilots this year alone. New aviation schools are opening across China to meet a growing demand for commercial pilots to fly small, remote-controlled aircraft, or drones. It is estimated the country's maintenance, mapping, filming and agricultural industries will need more than 10,000 drone pilots this year. The use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), also commonly referred to as drones (to the displeasure of myriad aerospace professionals), is growing worldwide -- prompting the establishment and expansion of an integrated UAS support infrastructure to ensure a consistent supply of UAS operators, maintenance technicians, MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) facilities, parts supply chains, and more. http://www.intelligent-aerospace.com/articles/pt/2015/11/demand-for-drone-pilots-soaring-in-china.html Back to Top Air New Zealand announces purchase of 15 new aircraft as regional competition heats up Air New Zealand ATR72-600 Air New Zealand [NZX: AIR] is buying 15 new ATR72-600 aircraft worth a total $US375 million as regional competition heats up. Chief executive Christopher Luxon announced the new aircraft at a press conference in Auckland, attended by Prime Minister John Key. Eleven of the new aircraft will replace the airline's ageing 72-500 fleet while the remaining four will allow for growth on regional routes on which Air New Zealand is facing fresh competition from Qantas offshoot, Jetstar. Air New Zealand has said the extra seating capacity on the new aircraft means it will be able to be more competitive on price fares this year and passengers can expect to see over two million fares under $100 this financial year. Three years ago Air New Zealand said it would invest in 14 of the 72-600 aircraft, of which seven have since been delivered and the remaining seven will arrive by the middle of next year. The 15 additional aircraft are due to arrive at the end of next year. Mr Luxon said the airline was committed to operating a world-leading turboprop fleet and a comprehensive regional network. "The extra four 68-seat ATR72-600 that we are adding to our fleet will enable us to operate up to an additional 600,000 seats into the New Zealand regional market annually," Luxon said. Once the new aircraft arrive, the airline will have a fleet of 29 ATR aircraft, the third largest in the world, to service the regional network. In addition, Air New Zealand also operates 10 19-seat Beech 1900D and 23 50-seat Bombardier Q300 aircraft. At the company's annual meeting last month, Mr Luxon said the airline is spending $2.6 billion in the next four years on new aircraft, including a further seven Dreamliners. Overall fleet capacity will increase 11% this year compared to 12% last year, which Mr Luxon said was the fastest it had grown in the airline's 75-year history. The country's national carrier also said increased demand due to buoyant tourism and lower fuel prices had strengthened its outlook for the first half of the 2016 financial year with a forecast $400 million profit before tax compared to $216 million in the previous corresponding period. http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/air-new-zealand-announces-purchase-15-new-aircraft-regional-competition- hots-b-181174 Back to Top Boeing Sees a $730 Billion Aircraft Market in Middle East Over Next Two Decades Rendering of 737-MAX 8 aircraft. Boeing Boeing has forecast that airlines in the Middle East will require 3,180 new aircraft over the next twenty years, a demand which it values at $730 billion, with 70% of that demand driven by "rapid fleet expansion in the region." The U.S. aircraft manufacturer predicts that the largest share of future demand will be in single-aisle aircraft, such as its 737 MAX, estimating that Middle East carriers will need approximately 1,140 of those aircraft. "These new airplanes will continue to stimulate growth for low-cost carriers and replace older, less-efficient airplanes," Boeing states in its announcement. "Traffic growth in the Middle East continues to grow at a healthy rate and is expected to grow 6.2 percent annually during the next 20 years," said Randy Tinseth, Vice President, Marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "About 80 percent of the world's population lives within an eight-hour flight of the Arabian Gulf. This geographic position, coupled with diverse business strategies and investment in infrastructure is allowing carriers in the Middle East to aggregate traffic at their hubs and offer one-stop service between many city pairs that would not otherwise enjoy such direct itineraries." Globally, Boeing forecasts long-term demand for 38,050 aircraft, valuing the market at $5.6 trillion, with new aircraft replacing older, less efficient planes and facilitating the growth of established carriers and new model carriers in emerging markets. http://skift.com/2015/11/04/boeing-sees-a-730-billion-aircraft-market-in-middle-east-over-next-two- decades/ Back to Top As NASA Shrugs, FAA Looks at Leadership Role in Global Moon Village ESA Director-General Johann-Dietrich Woerner discussed his concept of an international "Moon Village" at the International Astronautical Congress in Jerusalem in October. Credit: ESA/C. Diener WASHINGTON - For the last five years, NASA has made it clear that the moon is not on the agency's critical path for its long-term goal of sending humans to the surface of Mars. While NASA is willing to support other countries that might be interested in going to the moon, and plans to operate in cislunar space around the moon, NASA doesn't see the need to land humans on the moon again. NASA administrator Charles Bolden reiterated this point in a talk last week at the Center for American Progress in Washington. "It will be critical for industry, both in the United States and elsewhere, but most importantly for our international partners to finally step up" and take the lead on lunar landing plans, he said. "Unfortunately, nobody's stepped up yet." While no one may have stepped up yet, in the view of NASA, there is no shortage of proposals elsewhere for human lunar missions. Chinese officials have talked for years about having such missions as a long- term goal, although exactly how, and when, they would carry them out is uncertain. Last week, Vladimir Solntsev, the president of Russia's RSC Energia, said a human mission was in the works for 2029, but how Russia's cash-strapped space program would pay for it is also unclear. Then there is the European concept of a "Moon Village." Or, more accurately, the concept of an international lunar base espoused by the European Space Agency's new director-general, Johann-Dietrich Woerner, on several occasions, both before and after becoming head of the space agency in July. "We were looking at what are the requirements, what are the wishes, what are the demands for future lunar exploration," Woerner said during a panel session with other heads of space agencies at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Jerusalem last month when asked about the idea. "To go to the moon, it should not be a closed shop, but it should be an international joint effort where the different countries of the globe should bring in their special ideas, their special competence," he continued. "Let's give it a name: 'Moon Village.'" A village, he said, is a place where "some people are coming together, some nations are coming together." Moreover, he suggested the base should be established on the lunar farside, a site valued by some radio astronomers because it is out of direct radio contact with the Earth. Bolden, sitting next to Woerner at the conference panel, offered his take on the Moon Village idea. He reiterated his support for the "proving ground" concept of operations in cislunar space, but that the U.S. would not lead a human return to the moon. "The U.S. does not have to be the country that says, 'We're going, follow us,'" he said. "We're all going back to the surface of the moon. But, it's just that the United States has no intention of leading that effort. We will support and be along with anybody that goes." Woerner has been discussing the idea of a Moon Village long before taking the helm of ESA, though. Speaking at the 31st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in April, Woerner, then head of the German space agency DLR but already preparing to take over ESA, pitched another heads-of-agencies panel on an international lunar base. "Why not go even a step further and not just land on the moon, but to have a permanent international moon station on the far side of the moon," he said in that April panel. That base, he said, would offer opportunities for astronomy and planetary science, as well as "resource management" to learn how to make use of resources there. "If that is a good step for further exploration of the solar system, wherever it goes, then it would be fine," he said. "The first step is to define together, on a global perspective, a permanent international moon station on the far side of the moon. That would be a target we could really achieve and would give us a really big motivation from the public." While Woerner has been talking about these plans for some time, they have not yet translated into policy given the lack of official ESA backing for the proposal, let alone support from other space agencies, as well as Bolden's comments lack week about other nations not yet stepping up to lead a lunar exploration program. However, others are paying attention. George Nield, FAA associate administrator for commercial space transportation, said the commercial sector should play a role in an plans for an international "Moon Village." Credit: SpaceNews/Tom Kimmell "I was particularly impressed with the comments made by Jan Woerner, the new director-general of the European Space Agency," said George Nield, Federal Aviation Administration associate administrator for commercial space transportation, recounting his impression of the IAC in a speech at a meeting of the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) last month. He was referring to Woerner's Moon Village concept raised at the meeting. "What appeals to me about that kind of a vision is that it minimizes the requirement for a very prescriptive, top-down management structure, with one country specifying the architecture and calling all the shots," Nield said. "Instead, it would enable countries to participate as much or as little as they chose." Nield, though, raised one issue about the Moon Village concept. "Instead of assuming that each inhabitant of the village is the representative of a particular nation, or government space agency, let's open it up to commercial entities," he said. There would, he argued, be a number of roles companies could play in an international lunar base, from providing goods and services to building habitats and other infrastructure. "The bottom line is, as we start to contemplate the idea of establishing villages on the moon or elsewhere in the solar system, let's not limit our thinking to government space agencies," he said. "Private industry has the potential to play an important role, and it need not be exclusively as a government contractor." Later in the day at the meeting, members of COMSTAC debated whether to enshrine that idea in a recommendation to the FAA that its engage directly with ESA on ways to involve commercial providers in the Moon Village concept. "I think it's an interesting idea," Nield said. "To the extent that the committee decides that that would be beneficial, I believe time is of the essence." "I think it's embarrassing when NASA's leadership is up on a stage with other international space agency heads, and they say, 'We want to go back to the moon,' and America's response is, 'We don't lead,'" said Mike Gold, chairman of COMSTAC and an executive with Bigelow Aerospace, a company that has stated long-term aspirations of creating a lunar base. Other members of COMSTAC suggested the committee take a little more time to think about the recommendation before approving it. After some discussion, COMSTAC elected to refine the recommendation and take it up in a special telecon to be scheduled in the near future. Should COMSTAC recommend that the FAA discuss with ESA a commercial role in a Moon Village, Woerner has hinted he might be open to it. "The better is the enemy of the good, so if you have a better idea, I will join," he said at the IAC. "But if you have no better idea, there's one idea on the table. Let's do it." http://spacenews.com/as-nasa-shrugs-faa-looks-at-leadership-role-in-global-moon- village/#sthash.ZTiwMGJL.dpuf Back to Top Upcoming Events: Aviation Safety Management Systems (SMS) Seminar (ERAU) Nov. 17-19, 2015 Daytona Beach, FL www.erau.edu/sms Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Seminar (ERAU) Dec. 8-10, 2015 Daytona Beach, FL www.erau.edu/uas New HFACS workshop Las Vegas December 15 & 16 www.hfacs.com 2016 DTI SMS/QA Symposium January 3, 4, & 5 2016 Disney World, FL 1-866-870-5490 www.dtiatlanta.com BARS Auditor Training Washington DC? Tuesday-Thursday 5-7 April http://flightsafety.org/bars/auditor-training Back to Top JOBS AVAILABLE: Flight Data Analyst Air New Zealand https://careers.airnz.co.nz/jobdetails/ajid/Q3W3g/Flight-Data-Analyst,111690 Curt Lewis