Flight Safety Information January 13, 2016 - No. 009 In This Issue PROS 2016 TRAINING Missing Malaysia Air Jet Search to Be Limited Without New Clues UNITED AIRLINES JET STUCK IN MUD AT RDU U.S. Pilots Forget How to Fly Manually, Says Department of Transportation EVA Air continues to rank 3rd in global airline safety index Duluth man charged in Canada with making threats on airplane Association questions low safety ranking of Indonesian airlines Drones vs. FAA...RC grounded in DC, federal court weighs cases Graduate Research Surveys. Graduate Research Survey Upcoming Events Jobs Available Missing Malaysia Air Jet Search to Be Limited Without New Clues A crew member looks out the windows during a search and rescue operation to find the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 airplane. Photographer: Mohd Rasfan/AFP/Getty Images The multinational team hunting for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 won't expand the search zone in the southern Indian Ocean without new clues about the wreck's exact location. More than 80,000 square kilometers (31,000 square miles) of seabed have been scoured, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said Wednesday in its weekly update. The search of the full 120,000 square-kilometer area will be completed in the middle of the year, the bureau said. The governments of Australia, Malaysia and China need "credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft" before the search area can be expanded further, the bureau said in the statement. Flight 370 was en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur in March 2014 when it disappeared with 239 people on board. Investigators concluded that someone on board intentionally disabled the aircraft's tracking devices, and the jet turned south before plunging into the sea off Australia's western coast. The only solid evidence so far from the missing Boeing Co. 777 is a wing component that washed up in July on Reunion Island, some 3,800 kilometers (2,360 miles) from the search zone. In December, new analysis of the flight path and satellite communications narrowed down the most likely wreck site, and ships have been focused since then on the southern end of the search zone. Though the effort hasn't yet turned up any trace of MH370, one of the search vessels found a shipwreck last month that probably dates back to the early 1800s, the bureau said in its update. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-13/missing-malaysia-air-jet-search- to-be-limited-without-new-clues Back to Top UNITED AIRLINES JET STUCK IN MUD AT RDU Travelers at Raleigh Durham International Airport (ABC11 Reporter Anthony Wilson) A United Airlines flight got stuck in the mud Tuesday at Raleigh Durham International Airport. An airport official said the plane was getting ready to take off when it took a turn too sharp and went off the concrete. One wheel ended up in the mud. No one was injured and the passengers were taken off the airplane and put on another flight. The airliner was scheduled to go to Newark, N.J., and now a mechanic is coming to try to free the plane. http://abc11.com/travel/united-airlines-jet-stuck-in-mud-at-rdu/1157015/ Back to Top U.S. Pilots Forget How to Fly Manually, Says Department of Transportation Don't read this if you're about to board an airplane. A new report by the Department of Transportation warns that U.S. pilot training no longer maintains their ability to fly commercial flights manually because of the surfeit of autonomous technology inside the cockpit. The organization's report explains that in cases where technical issues have required pilots to take manual control of their craft, some worrying trends in a lack of ability are evident. From the report: Advances in aircraft automation have significantly contributed to safety and changed the way airline pilots perform their duties... While airlines have long used automation safely to improve efficiency and reduce pilot workload, several recent accidents, including the July 2013 crash of Asiana Airlines flight 214, have shown that pilots who typically fly with automation can make errors when confronted with an unexpected event or transitioning to manual flying. As a result, reliance on automation is a growing concern among industry experts, who have also questioned whether pilots are provided enough training and experience to maintain manual flying proficiency. The report adds that that the Federal Aviation Administration "does not have a process to ensure that air carrier pilots are trained to use and monitor automation systems while also maintaining proficiency in manual flight operations." It suggests that the Administration should develop new ways to monitor and evaluate pilots in order to assess their manual flying abilities, as well as creating checks to be sure that thorough training is provided to them. Which sound like a great idea. You can read the full report here. http://gizmodo.com/u-s-pilots-forget-how-to-fly-manually-says-department-1752668219 Back to Top EVA Air continues to rank 3rd in global airline safety index Taipei, Jan. 12 (CNA) Taiwan-based EVA Airways (EVA Air) (????) continues to hold the third position among the world's safest airlines in an annual index compiled by Germany's Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre (JACDEC). JACDEC is an organization that monitors more than 1,000 flight operators and serves as a reliable source for aviation safety information. According to the list, which was released Tuesday, EVA Air ranks just behind Cathay Pacific Airways and Emirates, which were also the No. 1 and No. 2 safest airlines last year. "Flight safety is the core value of EVA Air," said EVA Chairman K.W. Chang (???) upon learning the news. "We are honored to be recognized by a professional institute, so that the world can see the excellent performance of a Taiwanese carrier," he said. The airline has been among the top 10 carriers on the JACDEC list since 2003, which has a safety score primarily calculated by the renevue traffic performance of an airline in relation to the number of serious incidents and total losses it has experienced up to 30 years back. EVA was also ranked among the world's top-20 safest airlines in an analysis released recently by the AirlineRatings.com website. http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201601120032.aspx Back to Top Duluth man charged in Canada with making threats on airplane DULUTH, Minn. - A northern Minnesota man accused of making threats on a flight from Alaska to Colorado faces two charges in Canada. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police says 54-year-old Nicholas Aliksyuk of Duluth is charged with one count of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm and one count of mischief to property over $5,000. WDIO-TV (http://bit.ly/1TTZyxB ) reports that the incident happened early Saturday morning on a United Airlines flight from Anchorage to Denver. Aliksyuk was arrested when the airplane made an unscheduled landing in Vancouver, British Columbia. He remains in custody in Canada. It wasn't immediately known whether Aliksyuk has an attorney who can comment on his behalf. http://www.startribune.com/duluth-man-charged-in-canada-with-making-threats-on- airplane/365098641/ Back to Top Association questions low safety ranking of Indonesian airlines National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia aircraft are pictured parked at an airport. The Indonesia National Air Carriers Association (INACA) has questioned the assessment criteria of a recent survey conducted by airlineratings.com following Wednesday's news that Indonesian airlines were ranked lowest in the world along with carriers from Nepal and Suriname, being awarded just one out of a possible seven stars. (tempo.co) The Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA) has questioned the assessment criteria in a survey conducted by airlinerating.com following Wednesday's news that Indonesian airlines shared the lowest ranking with Nepali and Surinamese airlines, being awarded just one out of seven stars. According to INACA chairman M. Arif Wibowo, clear criteria was sorely needed as aviation industry is fully regulated due to the high risk concerning human lives. "Safety is mandatory and the INACA is committed to ensuring that all its members always prioritized aviation security and safety. We will always obey the rules and regulations, either those of the Indonesian government, the International Civil Aviation Organization [ICAO], the Federal Aviation Administration [FAA], the European Aviation Safety Agency [EASA] or other international regulators," said Arif in a press release on Wednesday. He added that the INACA periodically conducted workshops on company aviation safety officers (CASO) to ensure the country's aviation operations were in accordance with current standards. "The Indonesian government is serious and issues policies to enhance the standard of national aviation security and safety should be included as one of the criteria for the assessment," said Arif. As proof of commitment, national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia reportedly has been issued operational safety audit certificates since 2008. Certificates are issued biennially by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The carrier's latest IOSA certificate was extended in 2014 and a new audit will be conducted again this year. Arif compared the results of airlinerating.com's survey with UK-based consultancy company Skytrax, which declared Garuda the world's best regional airline and best regional airline in Asia in 2012 as well the as world's best Economy Class in 2013. The carrier has also been continuously included on Skytrax's list of 10 top world airlines since 2013. According to airlinerating.com, the low-ranked Indonesian airlines included in the survey were Batik Air, Citilink, KalStar Aviation, Lion Air, Sriwijaya Air, Nam Air, TransNusa, Trigana Air, Wings Air and Xpress Air. Among all flag carriers in Southeast Asia, Indonesia also lags behind with just three stars for safety, while other countries got four to seven stars, the maximum. On the list from lowest to highest is Garuda Indonesia (three stars), Lao Airlines (four stars), Thai Airways International (four stars), Malaysia Airlines (five stars), Philippine Airlines (six stars), Myanmar Airways International (six stars), Royal Brunei (six stars), Vietnam Airlines (five stars) and Singapore Airlines (seven stars). The rating criteria are based on the availability of IOSA or Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) certification, whether an airline is on the European Union (EU) blacklist, if it has maintained a fatality-free record for 10 years, if the airline is endorsed by US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), whether the country of the airline's origin meets all eight ICAO safety parameters, whether the airline's fleet has been grounded by the country's governing aviation safety authority and whether the airline operates only Russian-built aircraft. (kes)(+) http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/01/07/association-questions-low-safety- ranking-indonesian-airlines.html#sthash.b660AIDG.dpuf Back to Top Drones vs. FAA RC grounded in DC, federal court weighs cases The nation's second highest court now has two cases before it challenging recent actions taken by the FAA to regulate aircraft weighing less than 55 pounds and flown by hobbyists. The legal tug of war between the FAA and enthusiasts (including the world's largest model aircraft hobbyist organization) may be decided about 30 miles from the nearest place a hobbyist can legally fly a small unmanned aircraft, as of Sept. 2. That's when the FAA expanded the Washington, D.C., no-drone zone far beyond its original size, which was bounded by the Flight Restricted Zone, extending up to 15 nautical miles from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The FAA notified the Academy of Model Aeronautics hours before updating a 1981 advisory circular on model aircraft rules to include new language that made the Washington, D.C., Special Flight Rules Area-covering everything within a 30-nm radius of the DCA VOR-a no-fly zone for model aircraft, or unmanned aircraft, terms that are defined inconsistently in various laws and regulations. As a result, 14 AMA clubs were grounded in an instant by a single advisory circular, and the FAA added more than 2,000 square miles of Virginia and Maryland to the no-fly zone for drones, more than tripling its size. AMA advised its members in December to comply with the September directive, noting that litigation was already underway, and that the organization was also negotiating with the FAA to resolve this particular impasse. Caught by surprise Being lumped in with those who fly quadcopters thousands of feet in the air near busy airports, fit them with guns, or crash them into crowds, came as a surprise to AMA members including Scott Strimple. The 44-year model aircraft enthusiast is also a captain for a major airline with more than 25,000 flight hours, and an authorized commercial operator of many of the larger camera-toting drone models used by civilians. Strimple is often called on by media organizations and others seeking education in the safe operation of small unmanned aircraft systems. He is also out of luck if he wants to fly a radio-controlled aircraft within 30 miles of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Strimple, in a telephone interview, said he and fellow model aircraft enthusiasts "are just sitting here with our mouths hanging open, saying, 'What's this all about?'" Hobbyists had, until June 2014, assumed that Congress had them covered, having directed the FAA in 2012 to keep its regulatory hands off hobbyists. There was, however, one exclusion within the 2012 law to that "hands off" directive, a caveat that the FAA seized upon amid growing alarm over reckless drone operators. "Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the authority of the Administrator to pursue enforcement action against persons operating model aircraft who endanger the safety of the national airspace system." That sentence, vague as it may be, is shaping up to be one of the key points of debate in a legal and regulatory battle that could spill over into the manned aircraft world, in the view of Jonathan Rupprecht, a Florida attorney who has built a busy practice around unmanned aircraft. An outspoken critic of FAA drone policy, Rupprecht has authored books and blogs on the subject, and he is also a certificated flight instructor and graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. "I think pilots need to realize that the drone community is kind of like their crazy black sheep rebellious brother," Rupprecht told AOPA. He likened the drone world to the "canary in the coal mine" and the "first to feel FAA overreach." Rupprecht, who is not representing parties in the cases now being litigated in a federal courtroom (though he noted he's doing the research, and is available), said that if the FAA is allowed to circumvent the rulemaking process and force hobbyists to register drones (and traditional model aircraft whose operators long-believed they were exempt from FAA regulation), "what happens when the FAA starts changing it around and starts going after manned aircraft pilots?" Flying into the Washington, D.C., Special Flight Rules Area, he noted, could get more difficult for every pilot. "It's not manned versus unmanned. (We) really should phrase it as, everybody should follow the law," Rupprecht said. "The FAA did not follow the law. They're kind of making up law, and pushing it off on one group." Drones behaving badly An outsider to that particular group by virtue of claiming foreign residence posted a YouTube video in March 2014 that has been viewed more than 3.3 million times, likely populating the nightmares of many pilots. It depicts a six-rotor, off-the-shelf copter ascending through clouds to more than 3,300 feet and hovering there for a while, before things head south. The drone refuses to budge when commanded to descend, and the panicked and distracted operator allows it to drift hundreds of feet off course. The wayward craft was still high in the air when it ran out of battery power and crashed into a tree, narrowly missing homes. The video post includes a lengthy mea culpa, commentary on lessons learned, and pledges to never do it again (and to delete YouTube comments that reiterate the various violations of common sense that the 11-minute film documents). The poster even offers advice to fellow droners: "Never ever take any unnecessary risks. It is never worth it. I got away with it this time, but I could as well have ended up hurting or even killing someone on the ground." Irresponsible drone use became a worldwide phenomenon as advancing technology produced cheap systems capable of flying thousands of feet in the air while feeding live video back to the ground, and the FAA started collecting reports in 2014 from pilots, bystanders, law enforcement agents, and others. Some described similar behavior. The same month as the ill-fated attempt at drone VFR-on-top video posted on YouTube, the FAA suffered a setback in its nascent effort to bring rogue drones to heel. Drone pilot Raphael "Trappy" Pirker persuaded an administrative law judge that the FAA had no authority to fine him $10,000 for filming with a drone for profit in 2011. The FAA appealed that ruling to the NTSB, defending its right to fine Pirker, the lead pilot of Team BlackSheep, a high-profile company in the drone world known for making movies and more recently for retail and services. Pirker wound up settling the case and paying a $1,100 fine without admitting guilt or any violation. Thus ended the FAA's first attempt to enforce an agency policy dating to 2007 that prohibited commercial use of small unmanned aircraft. Years later, only a couple of dozen enforcement actions related to drone use have been brought by the FAA; federal officials cited the difficulty in tracking down misbehaving operators when implementing in December a new rule requiring registration of small unmanned aircraft flown by hobbyists. That requirement was quickly challenged, though not by the AMA, which already had a pending petition in federal court. Challenges mount Within 10 days of the new registration requirement's unveiling, John Taylor, a Maryland attorney and drone enthusiast filed his own petition with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals challenging the registration requirement in much the same way the AMA had challenged the FAA's right to regulate model aircraft in its own petition filed in August 2014. The AMA petition has been put into a legal holding pattern while the FAA decides whether and how it will enforce rules written for manned aircraft with respect to model aircraft and drone operators. The FAA is sorting through 33,000 comments received on its 2014 notice that it would treat all aircraft the same, regardless of size. Meanwhile, the number of reported drone sightings by pilots and others skyrocketed in 2015 though critics (including AMA) contend the sighting reports released by the FAA overstate the danger actually posed by drone operators. The FAA, and those petitioning the nation's second highest court to squash any rules aimed at small aircraft hobbyists, all cite the language of Section 336 of the 2012 FAA Modernization and Reform Act, which states in part that that the administrator "may not promulgate any rule or regulation regarding a model aircraft, or an aircraft being developed as a model aircraft" by hobbyists. The FAA has taken the position that this language does not limit its ability to apply regulations written for manned aircraft in past years to model aircraft flown by hobbyists today, and much will depend on how the appellate judges define the word "promulgate." (Not to mention, "model aircraft.") The court has ordered parties in the Taylor case to file various documents by Jan. 27. AMA has meanwhile advised its members to hold off on registering their model aircraft. "AMA and the AMA District IV Government Relations Committee are currently in talks with the FAA to find a solution that will allow our members to resume the enjoyment of their long-standing hobby in the impacted Virginia and Maryland counties," said Richard Hanson, AMA's government and regulatory affairs representative, in a statement provided to AOPA. "More broadly, AMA has been working closely with the FAA and the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) on the Know Before You Fly campaign to educate newcomers to model aviation and drone technology. Education, not more regulation, is the key to enhancing safety." FAA Administrator Michael Huerta announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Jan. 6 that the agency's B4UFLY app, in beta testing since May, has been released for devices running Apple and Google software. (Following the Google link Jan. 7 led to an invitation to "become a tester.") "It is another important part of our education and awareness efforts to foster a culture of safety and accountability for the UAS community," Huerta said. http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2016/January/07/Drones-v-FAA Back to Top Graduate Research Surveys Barbara Schaffner is - since 11 years - a ground-facilities inspector at the Federal Office of Civil Aviation, Switzerland. As an expert in Ground Handling she is taking part in the ISAGO GOC. She co-chaired the ECAST Ground Safety Work Group and participated in the development and promotion of the RRM Syllabus (Ramp Resource Management). She is currently writing her Msc Thesis in Aviation Safety Management at City University, London. For her thesis "An Effective and Efficient Oversight of the Non-Commercial Complex Domain" - she would greatly appreciate your support by taking part in this Survey. Please note that "Survey 1 - NCC_NAA" (see below) is for National Aviation Authorities experts and "Survey 2 - NCC_Operation" (see below) is for all operational-specialists in the NCC domain (aircraft owners, flight crews, management-companies of NCC Aircraft). Thank you for your support! Survey 1 - NCC_NAA https://de.surveymonkey.com/r/Survey_NCC_NAA Survey 2 - NCC_Operation https://de.surveymonkey.com/r/Survey_NCC_Operation Back to Top Graduate Research Survey I am currently pursuing a career in Aviation Safety. I will be completing a MSc. in Aviation Safety with this final research project. The scope of the research is: 'Evaluating the perception of stress among air traffic controllers in the United Arab Emirates as a safety risk to operational performance'. I am interested in the views of ATC operators from around the world to help establish a baseline for the research and gain further insight into the ramifications of stress in this sector on a global scale. The link to the survey is as follows: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/InternationalATCStress I look forward to the feedback. Kind Regards, Gary Peck MSc Aviation Safety Emirates Aviation University Back to Top Upcoming Events: Embry-Riddle A³IRCON January 14-17, 2016 Phoenix, AZ http://commons.erau.edu/aircon/2016/ Fundamentals of IS-BAO February 10, 2016 Phoenix, AZ USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1730209 IS-BAO Auditing February 11, 2016 Phoenix, AZ USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1730222 6th European Business Aviation Safety Conference 2016 February 23-24, 2016 Frankfurt, Germany www.ebascon.eu Fundamentals of IS-BAO March 2, 2016 Long Beach, CA USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1740682 IS-BAO Auditing March 3, 2016 Long Beach, CA USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1740683 Fundamentals of IS-BAO March 3, 2016 HAI HeliExpo - Louisville, KY USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1770508 IS-BAO Auditing March 4, 2016 HAI HeliExpo - Louisville, KY USA https://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=1770509 2016 Air Charter Safety Symposium | Safety: A Small Investment for a Rich Future March 8-9, 2016 | NTSB Training Center | Ashburn, VA http://www.acsf.aero/events/acsf-symposium/ 50th Annual SMU Air Law Symposium March 31 - April 1, Dallas, TX http://smulawreview.law.smu.edu/Symposia/Air-Law.aspx CHC Safety & Quality Summit | Back to Basics: Prioritizing Safety in a Challenging Economy April 4-6, 2016 Vancouver, BC www.chcsafetyqualitysummit.com BARS Auditor Training Washington, DC Tuesday-Thursday 5-7 April http://flightsafety.org/bars/auditor-training IATA OPS Conference April 18-20, 2016 Copenhagen, Denmark http://www.iata.org/events/Pages/ops-conference.aspx 3rd International Accident Investigation Forum 19-21 April 2016, Singapore Aviation Academy http://www.saa.com.sg/iaif2016/ ICAEA Workshop: Aviation English Training for Operational Personnel April 29-30, 2016 Santa Maria Island, The Azores, Portugal www.icaea.aero Back to Top Jobs Available: Director of Safety www.aviationsearchgroup.com Deputy Director of Flight Operations & Technical Services Helicopter Association International https://www.rotor.org/AboutHAI/Employment.aspx Curt Lewis