Flight Safety Information September 19, 2017 - No. 187 In This Issue Incident: United A319 near Austin on Sep 18th 2017, engine fire indication Incident: TuiFly B738 at Fuerteventura on Sep 18th 2017, rejected takeoff due to both left main tyre burst Incident: ANA B735 at Nagoya on Sep 18th 2017, burning odour in cabin EVAS - Cockpit Smoke Protection Plane makes emergency landing at Austin airport China Relaxes Physical Requirements For Pilots Airbus extends restrictions as it works on A350 pump fix Civil Aviation Authority deputy chair resigns (New Zealand) How cloud technology in aviation keeps us safe in the skies How The United Tech-Rockwell Collins Deal Impacts Airplane Manufacturers The end of black boxes? Fredonia prof's invention could boost air safety HELICOPTER SAFETY NEWS Wyvern and Women and Drones Partner To Provide EXACT UAS Certification Assessments For Members Why More Pilots Are Skipping the Flight Suit British Airways plans to turn trash into jet fuel Rolls Royce chairman predicts: Chinese-made jet engines coming soon China's Out-Of-Control Tiangong-1 Space Station to Crash Back to Earth Early 2018 GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY. CHC Safety & Quality Summit - 2017 (September 27-29; Grapevine, TX) Incident: United A319 near Austin on Sep 18th 2017, engine fire indication A United Airbus A319-100, registration N839UA performing flight UA-801 from Houston Intercontinental,TX to Austin,TX (USA), was descending towards Austin when the crew reported an engine (V2522) fire indication. The aircraft continued for a safe landing on Austin's runway 17R. Attending emergency services found no trace of fire or smoke. The airline reported the engine fire indication was identified to have been false. http://avherald.com/h?article=4ae8954c&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: TuiFly B738 at Fuerteventura on Sep 18th 2017, rejected takeoff due to both left main tyres blown A TuiFly Boeing 737-800, registration D-ASUN performing flight X3-2149 from Fuerteventura,CI (Spain) to Hanover (Germany) with 170 people on board, was accelerating for takeoff from Fuerteventura's runway 01 when the crew rejected takeoff at high speed (about 100 knots over ground) due to both left hand main tyres being blown and separating from the wheels. The aircraft slowed on left main wheel rims, nose and right main gear tyres and came to a safe stop on the runway about 1700 meters/5580 feet from the start of takeoff run and about 890 meters/2900 feet from the displaced threshold. There were no injuries, the aircraft damage remained limited to the left main gear, the runway features four new grooves parallel to the runway center line. The passengers disembarked via stairs onto the runway and were bussed back to the terminal. http://avherald.com/h?article=4ae88efc&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: ANA B735 at Nagoya on Sep 18th 2017, burning odour in cabin An ANA All Nippon Airways Boeing 737-500, registration JA303K performing flight NH-435 from Nagoya to Fukuoka (Japan) with 126 passengers and 5 crew, was in the initial climb out of Nagoya when the crew reported a burning odour in the cabin, stopped the climb at about 5000 feet and returned to Nagoya for a safe landing about 12 minutes after departure. The airline reported flight crew and cabin crew detected a burning odour that originated from the air conditioning system. There were no injuries. Passengers reported the smell was similiar to smell of oil. A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration JA76AN reached Fukuoka with a delay of 4.5 hours. http://avherald.com/h?article=4ae88bef&opt=0 Back to Top Back to Top Plane makes emergency landing at Austin airport AUSTIN (KXAN) - A United plane had to make an emergency landing at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport after a reported engine fire, according to the Austin Fire Department. The call came in around 3:09 p.m. Monday at 10185 Hotel Drive, in the northern part of the airport. The Austin Fire Department says the plane is on the ground and will be towed and escorted back to its gate. ABIA says the plane was headed toward Austin from Houston, and that its operations team found no fire or smoke in the plane. http://kxan.com/2017/09/18/plane-makes-emergency-landing-at-austin-airport/ Back to Top China Relaxes Physical Requirements For Pilots BEIJING-The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has relaxed its famously tough physical requirements for entry into pilot training, potentially improving the availability of personnel who are always in short supply in the country. Eyesight requirements have been lowered so that 84% of potential students will be acceptable, up from 28%, the CAAC says. Inadequate eyesight was previously the most common reason for rejecting candidates. People who have had corrective surgery on their eyes to fix shortsightedness are now also acceptable, the CAAC says, adding that it has been observing the relevant medical technology for 20-30 years. The relaxed standards will give airlines greater choice in hiring, the CAAC says, neglecting to mention that the usual problem is not a lack of variety among applicants but simply a lack of applicants, especially for captains' positions. Although the country is most reluctant to permit foreigners to take jobs that locals can do in any industry, the airlines and other civil aircraft operators have long been in the international market for pilots. A common joke in Chinese civil aviation is that the CAAC has higher physical standards for pilots than the national space program has for astronauts. One of those standards has demanded that pilots be at least 165 cm (5 ft. 4 in.) tall and have legs no shorter than 74 cm. Those requirements are now abolished, the CAAC says. The average height of Chinese men is 172 cm. For women the figure is 160 cm. Female pilots are notably uncommon in China. "The movement of pilots has become a focus on concern in the industry in recent years," the authority said in March in its annual review of Chinese civil aviation. The new rules go into effect Oct. 10 but, considering the time needed for training and accumulating experience, they cannot make much difference to the availability of captains until the 2030s. The CAAC has also cut the time each pilot may spend flying, from 1,000 hr. to 900 hr. per year. In principle, this could reduce pilot availability, but it is not clear how many Chinese airline pilots have exceeded the new limit. That rule change was made at the end of August. Chinese mainland air transportation operators had 14,396 captains and 16,900 first officers at the end of 2016. There were 880 foreign pilots, mostly flying domestic-trunk and international routes. The number of pilot licenses grew 10.9% in 2016 to 50,504 at the end of the year, virtually matching the 10.8% annual average growth of the number of civil transport aircraft in the five years up to that time. The figures imply that 38% of license holders are not working for airlines, even though Chinese general aviation is minuscule compared with the country's giant commercial air transportation industry. In 2016 the most common age of air transportation pilots-not the average age-was 27. The most common age of air transportation captains was 33. "From this we can see that in the coming 10 years there will be a golden age for the number of captains," the CAAC says. Seven pilot schools opened in 2016, taking the total to 20. The capacity of the schools is 3,450 pilots, the administration says, without making clear whether that is the number of student places or annual graduations. www.aviationweek.com Back to Top Airbus extends restrictions as it works on A350 pump fix Airbus has extended the revision of the A350 minimum equipment list while it works to resolve a technical issue centred on hydraulic pump overheating risks. The A350 had been subject to an emergency airworthiness directive in August after analysis concluded that an overheating engine-driven pump could potentially ignite fuel in the aircraft's tanks if the inerting system was not operating. Airbus has again revised the master minimum equipment list for the type, in order to avoid an uncontrolled overheating event, following further investigation. The European Aviation Safety Agency states that the 6 September revision expands the number of restricted items on this list. EASA requires operators to implement the revision within 30 days, adding that the directive remains an interim measure. www.flightglobal.com Back to Top Civil Aviation Authority deputy chair resigns (New Zealand) The deputy chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority has resigned after he told an airline he governs that a rival carrier was going to be grounded. The authority grounded Tauranga-based airline Sunair Aviation on September 8 for the second time in nine months, suspending its Air Operator Certificate and Certificate of Airworthiness. The CAA's deputy chairman Peter Griffiths has now resigned after making an "error of judgment" and telling rival carrier Barrier Air about Sunair's suspension before it took effect. Griffiths, according to Companies Office records, is a director of Barrier Air and a part- owner via a separate firm. "It should be acknowledged that Peter's intent was to offer Barrier Air assistance to Sunair in order to minimise the adverse effect on its customers and when he initiated the contact with Barrier Air he did not realise that the suspension was not yet in place," a statement from CAA said today. "Despite that good intent, Peter freely admits to an error of judgement and has submitted his resignation from the Board. He has also apologised to Sunair for his actions," the authority said. CAA chair Nigel Gould has apologised to Sunair's chief executive on behalf of the board. "Having considered the circumstances of the case, which amount to a very rare error of judgement on the part of a board member, and the clear intent to assist Sunair, the chairman is of the view that the resignation and an internal debrief of the circumstances by the board are sufficient to address the issue," the authority said. The CAA said the decision to suspend Sunair resulted from an audit of Sunair maintenance records. "The findings of this audit highlighted a number of anomalies and omissions in maintenance records that called into question the reliance that could be placed upon the operator's control and conduct of aircraft maintenance," it said. These findings created a reasonable doubt about the airworthiness of the aircraft operated by Sunair and the Operator's maintenance control and the quality assurance systems intended to ensure their airworthiness," the CAA said. Sunair chief executive Dan Power said, in his view, there had been a breach of confidentiality. He did not believe an internal debrief of the circumstances by the board was sufficient to address the issue and to ensure to the operations of the CAA were robust. He said it was good to have people on the board who had experience in the aviation industry but there was a difference between them having experience and having a financial investment in any airline business. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11924097 Back to Top How cloud technology in aviation keeps us safe in the skies The ICAO's chief of integrated aviation analysis Marco Merens said the Accident Notification System is a good example of how ICAO uses the cloud to collect, store, organize, analyze and ultimately share information. Source: Ideagen Each day, over 100,000 passenger planes take to the skies all around the world bringing along with it a host of challenges and the wonderment of how modern-day aviation safety technology keeps disasters few and far in between. The number of flights varies based on the time of day and year, according to FlightRadar24, who keep track of aircraft around the world. In July and August, this year more than 16,000 flights were up in the air in the span of two hours on an average Friday afternoon. Until today, the tragic disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, in March 2014 remains a mystery and is seen as a clarion call for the global airlines to adopt more efficient tracking methods, particularly those that run on cloud technology. For the uninitiated, cloud computing, simply put, is software and services run over the Internet, instead of an isolated computer network. According to American Think Tank Brookings Institution, the vanishing of the ill-fated flight was "astonishing" as it left no clear digital fingerprints amid a world of instantaneous communications and geo-position systems. And the only way we would learn the truth about the incident is if investigators recover the aircraft's black box still retrieved from depths of the Indian Ocean. In other words, this is equivalent to saying that the digital information of what transpired during the flight is only available on a sole hard disc drive. With that in mind, cloud computing technologies for the aviation industry began proliferating. In recent years, airline companies have increased their reliance on cloud tech to receive flight location, speed, and other information to servers on land through tamper-proof mechanisms, as the think tank advocated. The cutting-edge technology also allow aviation authorities to monitor flight conditions and recreate the circumstances of air crashes if the need arises. Earlier this year, an official from the International Civil Aviation Organisation's (ICAO), the specialised United Nations' agency that oversees international air transport, said cloud computing now plays a critical role in the management of global civil aviation. The ICAO's chief of integrated aviation analysis Marco Merens said the Accident Notification System is a good example of how ICAO uses the cloud to collect, store, organize, analyze and ultimately share information, The Edge reported. Computer networks, servers, storage and applications, are among those offered by Cloud service providers. It's cheap and effective and depending on how certain clouds were designed, make make extremely complex tasks turn simple, allowing anyone with an account and password access from anywhere and at any time. In light of this, ICAO's Integrated Aviation Analysis Section (IAA) transitioned to the cloud tech which is able to notify the agency of a major incidences or risks in real-time. Merens said the process of collecting massive amounts of data and streamlining the crucial bits of information on what's happening is usually done through Elastic MapReduce or EMR on Amazon, the programming framework which structures data into smaller tasks. Cloud-based safety solution Steven Cespedes, the Head of Aviation at United Kingdom solutions provider Ideagen, said the company's enterprise cloud-based software, Coruzon, essentially aligns all the key elements of an airlines' safety management into one system. "In terms of compliance, auditing risk management, hazard reporting, safety reporting, people competency - it puts all those elements into one solution," he told Tech Wire Asia recently. Coruzon was recently adopted by Jakarta-based Lion Air Group, which has a fleet of more than 100 aircraft and flies to at least 126 destinations, replace an older system, helping to strengthen the airline's safety culture through functionality such as smart forms, GEO tagging and a mobile app for detailed reporting. The Coruzon software provides airlines like Lion Air Group with safety performance oversight across its six affiliated Air Operator's Certificate's (AOCs), delivering detailed performance data to quickly highlight potential safety weaknesses and risks, such as those linked to pilot fatigue or aircraft incidents. Cespedes said apart from being a highly-integrated safety measure, Coruzon is also big on cost savings for growing airline companies. "That's essentially one of the biggest cost savings solutions because all of the previous systems all relies on hardware so that hardware goes away and all they need is an internet connection," he said. "As they grow they don't need to invest in other hardware, an internet connection is all they need to access the system," he added. Sometimes, clouds tend to be associated with issues of latency due to the geographic locations of their servers, but Cespedes says Coruzon - which is hosted in the Amazon Data center in Ireland - does not meet such deployment issues. Additionally, he said Coruzon is also updated every two months while the company plans to set up a data center somewhere in Asia for better efficiency. "Opening the data center would minimize the down time and we realize we have to do that for all of our customers." Safety Compliance and Better aircraft maintenance According to American aviation solutions provider Aircraft Technical Publishers (ATP) aircraft mechanics who used cloud tech have immediate access to the right information in the right way. "They don't need to worry about currency or whether someone has installed the latest revision disc or updated paper pages," it explained in a whitepaper. The company said with cloud computing, mechanics would always have access to the most current documentation, even when they are traveling or out in the field. Steven Cespedes, the head of aviation solutions provider Ideagen's Head of Aviation, said the company's enterprise cloud-based software essentially aligns all the key elements of an airlines' safety management into one system. Source: Ideagen "Parts lists can be generated by copying and pasting information directly form the technical publications and can be electronically sent, reducing the time spent and risk of errors that were possible with old-style, handwritten parts requests. "Productivity improves, as does safety and compliance because the information mechanics need is available when and where they need it." http://techwireasia.com/2017/09/cloud-technology-aviation-keeps-us-safe- skies/#C7uYlyLrIdxQWgts.97 Back to Top How The United Tech-Rockwell Collins Deal Impacts Airplane Manufacturers After much speculation, United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) recently announced its plans to acquire Rockwell Collins for $30 billion, making it the biggest acquisition in aerospace history. The company has agreed to pay $140 per share in the merger, while taking on over $7 billion in pre-existing debt. Despite the seemingly clear advantages to the deal, United Tech has come under immense fire from some industry experts and existing customers. While experts deem the deal to be too expensive, Boeing and Airbus have raised concerns that are less obvious. The commercial airplane market has been hurt immensely over the last two years. New orders have fallen in the past few quarters as airlines slow purchases after years of record buying. Historically, orders from airlines have been cyclical in nature, and it appears that the market is going through a sustained slump at the moment. Economic and political uncertainty has also forced air carriers and governments to delay or cancel orders for new aircraft. Further, airliners built more than 20 to 30 years ago are still flying regular routes, having been refurbished multiple times. Additionally, airplane makers have had to incur significant development costs in the same period, putting immense pressure on Boeing and Airbus' profits. While plane manufacturers have struggled to maintain profit margins in the high single digits, suppliers like UTC and Rockwell have had profit margins between 14-17%. As a result of the dismal commercial market and rising pressure from investors, both Airbus and Boeing have tried to adopt a more aggressive stance towards suppliers in terms of pricing. However, as they allow other companies to produce some of the more complex parts in their aircraft, the companies have to an extent given away their right to capitalize on a highly lucrative market - servicing airplanes for airlines globally. To put this into perspective, Rolls Royce, the British engine supplier, makes close to half of its sales and most of its profits from servicing engines. Accordingly, it comes as no surprise that both Boeing and Airbus are ready to better capitalize on this market by making more parts in-house. To this end, in July Boeing announced its plans to open up a facility which manufactures various kinds of avionics and other electrical systems, while Airbus continues to cut its list of suppliers and do more of its own work in-house. How United Technologies Factors In The combined company following United Tech's acquisition of Rockwell Collins will have annual revenues of over $60 billion, which is not too far off from Airbus at $80 billion and Boeing at $96 billion. So it seems logical that the airplane manufacturers would feel threatened by the acquisition, which gives the combined company on the supplier end significantly more bargaining power. https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2017/09/12/how-the-united-tech- rockwell-collins-deal-impacts-airplane-manufacturers/#2dc28e485735 Back to Top The end of black boxes? Fredonia prof's invention could boost air safety Junaid Zubairi is a computer scientist, with a doctorate from Syracuse University, and a full professor at SUNY Fredonia. For the last several years, Zubairi has been pouring that intellect into a project that could save millions of dollars - and maybe lives. Last month, he was granted a United States patent for his Flight Data Tracker, a software system that could potentially replace the black box recorders in airplanes. Eventually, it could change the way airplane crashes are investigated - and perhaps even prevent some crashes from happening. So this is worth repeating: Zubairi is a really smart man. But this whole project started with something he simply didn't understand. "I had this thing in the back of my mind, that there are some idiots going around using the name of Islam and killing innocent people," said Zubairi, a native of Pakistan who has lived full time in the United States with his family since 1999. "I was surprised. I was born as a Muslim, and I never had these kinds of teachings." Zubairi speaks in a low, level voice. He could be talking about how terrorists weaponize airplanes, cause explosions and destroy property. Or he could be instructing you on the finer points of his Flight Data Tracker, which is designed to send information from the cockpit to the ground in real time. Either way, he doles out his words quietly and with measure. It's almost as if logic collides with emotion, and the facts wash over his feelings. But listen to him carefully, and you'll hear that his feelings - in this case, a sense of duty to his country (Zubairi is an American citizen) and devotion to his faith - are the catalyst for his work. "I had this idea in my mind: What I can do in my field, let me do it," Zubairi said. "Whatever I can do." For years, Zubairi quietly looked for what he could do. He wanted to use his expertise as a computer scientist to contribute to airline safety, but he had to find an unfilled need. He needed a specific problem to solve. Zubairi found it about six years ago. In 2011, the black boxes from Air France Flight 447 were pulled from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. The boxes - which are actually bright orange contraptions installed in the tail of airplanes, and built to be virtually indestructible - were a vital find. They contained memory cards with flight data that helped reveal why the jet, which was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, plunged into the ocean. They helped provide answers for the families of the 228 people who died. But the flight data recorders took two years, and $40 million, to find. Zubairi, sitting one evening last week in the softly lit dining room of the Hamburg home where he lives with his wife and young adult children, offered other examples. In some crashes, the black box was recovered comparatively quickly (including Buffalo-bound Colgan Air Flight 3407, which crashed in 2009 in Clarence). In one case - Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared in 2014 over the Indian Ocean - the black box has never been found; nor has most of the wreckage. "It came to my mind: Let me try and think about some solution to this problem," said Zubairi, who began work on his Flight Data Tracker in 2012. Provocative questions He began with a simple question, one that has been pursued by other scientists. If airplanes can provide Wi-Fi that allows passengers to message with people on the ground, then why not have the plane itself send vital flight data and cockpit recordings to the ground? In theory, that would eliminate the need for difficult-to-find black boxes by storing their information digitally. One challenge is bandwidth. Passengers tweeting, texting and emailing doesn't require nearly as much connectivity power as an airplane sending a constant stream of vital signs to Earth. Another is money. Satellites easily could be used to transmit that information, but doing so is incredibly expensive. Still another is motivation. Airlines are not required to stream flight data to Earth, and the pilots union has long been guarded about the ways in which flight information and cockpit recordings can be used. If it's expensive, not mandated and potentially contentious, why do it? For those reasons, among others, airlines have clung to their black boxes. But Zubairi, sensing there is a time when that may change, set out to create technology that would make it easy and cost-efficient to effectively digitize black boxes. "Black box is a very good technology," he said. "It is solid. It is robust. It is indestructible. It helps in finding the real cause of the crash. But it is not needed anymore. It is time that we move on and we use our networking, which is everywhere now. Everything is interconnected. We are never out of touch. The planes have a very good, solid connection already. So why don't we use that, and transfer the data to the ground in real time?" How it works Beginning in 2012, he started designing a software system that uses the existing infrastructure that connects airplanes with air traffic control towers. It works like this: When a plane is getting ready to depart a city, its onboard computer server transmits its destination to a server at that origin airport. The airport server sends the plane a list of airports it will fly over en route to the destination. From the air, the plane computer will connect with servers at each of those airports, transmitting black box data to the ground. This would include real-time data on dozens of factors, ranging from how much the plane is rolling (that is when the wings tilt up and down) to windspeed or cockpit recordings. By having planes connect with multiple servers, Zubairi's Flight Data Tracker system avoids overloading any one central server. These multiple ground servers collect the information and send it back to the origin airport, where the information is stored. (When a plane is flying over the ocean or a large desert, where there are no air traffic control towers, the more-expensive satellite option will have to be used.) When the flight touches down, a full set of digital block box information is already collected and stored on a server. Information that is no longer needed - for example, cockpit recordings - can be deleted. But if something went wrong - say, a missed landing, or the worst-case scenario, a crash - then the black box information is immediately available. In theory, that would allow investigations to move forward more quickly, and without the cost of finding the actual black box. Beyond that, Zubairi is hoping the use of flight data streaming in real time can help "avoid a disaster." If the information coming from the plane suggests something is wrong in the air, or if the plane is off course, there is a chance to correct it before the worst happens. Working mostly alone For the better part of three years, Zubairi worked days and nights perfecting this system on a computer model. Other than a handful of undergraduate students who assisted him from semester to semester, he worked mostly alone. Even when he was ready to apply for a patent in 2014, he took the solo route - and was initially rejected. "Junaid did a lot of research," said Steven Wood, a patent attorney with the Research Foundation for SUNY. "He read a bunch of patent applications and tried to educate himself as best he could on how to write a patent application. But it is a really technical, specialized exercise." After the initial rejection from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Zubairi began working with Wood and SUNY's research foundation. Wood helped him rewrite the application, with tighter language that more clearly defined the usefulness and uniqueness of Zubairi's invention. Ultimately, after multiple rounds of questions, rejections and requests for clarifications, the patent - Zubairi's first - was granted on Aug. 1, 2017. Zubairi, holding the gold-sealed patent document that was mailed to him, pointed out that this allows him to share the technology with the aviation industry through research and licensing agreements. "It should not be proprietary, in my opinion," he said. "It should be global, and it should be open, so everyone can see and they can work on it." Zubairi's contribution has been made; now, he needs airlines and aviation companies to work on it, or support him in the next step of research. Right now, the Flight Data Tracker exists only as a computer simulation. The next phase is testing it on the ground, using actual servers and black boxes, and then in the air. "I am laying the groundwork for the data to be available on the ground in real time," Zubairi said. "Now it is the job of the aviation industry to build on top of that." http://buffalonews.com/2017/09/18/end-black-boxes-fredonia-professors-invention- change-airline-industry/ Back to Top HELICOPTER SAFETY NEWS Sept. 18, 2017 Contact: Tony Molinaro Phone: (847) 294-7427 Your Risky Business: Pushing for More Safety Management USHST Announces 3rd Group of Safety Enhancements to Reduce Fatal Helicopter Accidents WASHINGTON DC - The U.S. Helicopter Safety Team has completed its comprehensive analysis of the root causes of fatal accidents and has developed 22 measurable safety enhancements aimed at reducing fatalities. The 22 safety enhancements can be grouped into four categories: * Safety Management Seven safety enhancements * Competency Six safety enhancements * IMC and Visibility Four safety enhancements (announced on Sept. 6) * Loss of Control Five safety enhancements (announced on Sept. 11) Within the topic of Safety Management, the USHST will be working to implement these four safety enhancements (plus three more still in development). They encompass pre- flight actions, proactive initiatives, and beneficial technology. * The Final Walk Around Action: Develop guidelines and recommended practices for helicopter preflight inspection, final walk around, and post flight inspection and promote the recommended practices to the training community and general pilot community. * Pre-Flight Risk Assessment for Student Flights Action: Provide recommended practices to instructors for pre-flight risk assessment of student flights. * Flight Data Monitoring Action: Promote the installation and use of data recording devices (e.g. HFDM, camera recording) for purposes of: 1) detection and monitoring of aircraft and engine limitations that were exceeded, 2) collecting and preserving more data relevant to accident investigation, 3) detecting and correcting procedural noncompliance. * Full Authority Idle Protection Devices Action: Encourage the development and installation of Full Authority Idle Protection devices to prevent unintended loss of engine power. The USHST will be announcing the remaining proposed safety enhancements in the coming weeks. Initial focus for all the safety enhancements will be in these four sectors of the industry: Personal/Private, Air Ambulance, Commercial, and Aerial Application. From 2016 through 2019, the USHST is focusing major attention on reducing fatal accidents within the U.S. civil helicopter community. The industry-government partnership is targeting a reduction by 2019 to 0.61 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours. The fatal accident rate goal for 2017 is 0.69 or lower. Initial figures for the first six months of 2016 show an actual rate of 0.58 fatal accidents per 100,000 flight hours. More information about the USHST, the International Helicopter Safety Team, its reports, safety tools, Reel Safety audio-visual presentations and YouTube videos can be obtained at its web site at www.IHST.org and on the IHST Facebook page. Back to Top Wyvern and Women and Drones Partner To Provide EXACT UAS Certification Assessments For Members Wyvern Ltd., a leading innovator in risk management solutions for the UAS industry, has partnered with the Women and Drones organization to offer its EXACT UAS Certification assessments to its members at a discounted rate. EXACT is an acronym for EXcellence, through Assessment, Continuous monitoring, and Training. Women and Drones members will receive a 10% discount on EXACT UAS Certification assessments which focus on applying aviation best practices to drone operations that promote a culture of safety and to further raise the bar of professionalism for UAV operators. EXACT UAS Certification is valid for 24 months and is supported by Wyvern's networking and marketing efforts to help grow commercial opportunities for members. The assessment process is designed to be non-intrusive and consultative every step of the process and includes feedback and suggestions. "We are thrilled to partner with the Women and Drones community, said Michelle Dina, Director of Corporate Relations at Wyvern. "Maintaining internationally-recognized policies and procedures for ensuring a safe, professionally-run operation that reduces risk really does open doors and create opportunities for drone service providers. I'm excited to introduce Women and Drones' EXACT network members to our global client network that requires third-party validation for their vendors." "Wyvern's safety-forward approach to UAS certification is an exciting opportunity for anyone looking to advance in the industry. Completing an assessment and attaining EXACT Certification will make a woman stand out as a pilot who fully understands that every part of a flight operation has to be operated to the highest standards," added Sharon Rossmark, CEO and Founder, Women and Drones. Contact Michelle Dina directly at michelle.dina@wyvernltd.com or +800-946-4626 for more information.about getting started. About Wyvern: For over 25 years Wyvern has been a global leader in manned and unmanned aviation risk management, safety, and quality solutions. The company is recognized worldwide for its excellence and value in risk management to the aviation community through its flagship Wingman Program and data platform which allows buyers and sellers to source, research, and vet supplemental lift from service providers. As a global innovator in risk management solutions Wyvern has expanded its offerings to include the UAS industry. Its EXACT UAS Certification Program is the first comprehensive safety, quality and risk management program for end users and operators of UAS. Learn more at https://www.wyvernltd.com. About Women and Drones: WomenAndDrones.com is the premier multimedia platform for women in the UAS industry that features the women who are disrupting, innovating and shaping the global drone market. Through strategic partnerships the company offers UAV flight skill training, "drone as a service" (DaaS) flight operations for business and drone/STEM educational programming for students aspiring to a career in the unmanned sector. The Advisory Board for the organization includes aviation and UAS industry experts. Visit http://womenanddrones.comand follow @WomenandDrones on Twitter. Back to Top Why More Pilots Are Skipping the Flight Suit The Operation Enduring Freedom Camouflage Pattern, or OCP, uniform, also known as the "multi-cam," is the Air Force-designated uniform for Airmen performing "outside the wire" missions. (U.S. Air Force/Senior Airman Sandra Welch) Pilots not wearing flight suits while flying? Don't worry. The Air Force knows some units may be doing just that. Airmen flying cargo airlift or helicopters -- anything aside from a fighter and without an ejection seat -- have been seen wearing the Army Aircrew Combat Uniform, known as the A2CU, more often, Capt. Kathleen Atanasoff recently told Military.com The uniform looks very much like the Air Force's Operational Camouflage Pattern, or OCP. In 2014, to coincide with the Army, the service announced that deployed airmen would wear the combat OCP camouflage pattern. "The two-piece [A2CU] uniform has OCP-patterned fabric and the same fire-retardant properties as the flight suit, making it certified for wear by pilots flying aircraft without ejection seats," Atanasoff said in an email. "Since the [uniform] pattern matches the OCP, it is often the uniform for downrange locations where many aircrews are operating," she said. But the A2CU has also been in use stateside, Air Force officials said. There's no official effort to adopt a new uniform. But commanders across the force are giving some airmen the option to wear the A2CU as a duty uniform during training or while deployed. For example, Air Mobility Command's director of operations authorized AMC pilots to wear the uniform for Exercise Mobility Guardian this summer, according to spokesman Col. Chris Karns. "Some AMC pilots have opted to wear where authorized," Karns told Military.com. "It is authorized for mobility aircrews flying in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility. Those outside [CentCom] but performing combat and combat support operations into U.S. Central Command are authorized use of the uniform" as well. Additionally, loadmasters with the modular aerial firefighting systems (MAFFS)-equipped C-130 Hercules, who have had a busy firefighting season in states such as Montana, Oregon and Washington, can wear it during specific missions, he said. The move was approved in February as part of Air Force Instruction 36-2903, "Dress and Personal Appearance of Air Force Personnel," Karns said. Atanasoff said the service routinely considers uniform updates, to include airmen operating in high temperature environments. http://www.military.com/daily-news/2017/09/18/why-more-pilots-skipping-flight- suit.html Back to Top British Airways plans to turn trash into jet fuel * British Airways plans to use household waste to produce fuel for its 787 Dreamliners British Airways has announced plans to create a set of waste plants that turn regular household garbage - or since we're talking about plans for the UK, rubbish - into jet fuel for its fleet. The plan, currently being assessed in collaboration with renewable fuels company Velocys, is part of a program designed to cut fleet-wide emissions in half by 2050. The airline says its first waste-recycling plant will take "hundreds of tonnes of household waste" every year, saving it from landfill and converting it into clean-burning renewable fuel. The waste will include diapers - or rather, nappies - plastic food containers and chocolate bar wrappers. The fuel produced is expected to deliver greenhouse gas savings of around 60 percent compared to current fossil fuels, for an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of around 60,000 tonnes (66,139 tons). When up and running, the plant is expected to pump out enough fuel to power every single British Airways 787 Dreamliner flight from London to San Jose and London to New Orleans. According to the company, that will make it the first plant of its size. This project hasn't just popped up completely out of the goodness of British Airways' heart. Last week, the British Department for Transport published a set of changes to its Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation. Those changes means sustainable jet fuel is now eligible for incentives, in an attempt to promote cleaner aviation. Don't expect your next flight to be powered by biofuel, either: the project is still at the feasibility study stage. http://newatlas.com/british-airways-jet-fuel-rubbish/51395/ Back to Top Rolls Royce chairman predicts: Chinese-made jet engines coming soon Rolls Royce expects China to begin engine manufacturing for jumbo jets, company Chairman Ian Davis said at the Singapore Summit "It makes sense for industrialized countries to start doing so," he said The world's second-largest economy will likely start manufacturing engines for jumbo jets soon, according to Rolls-Royce, a long-time engine manufacturer for commercial and defense aerospace. "In the long-run, it's very possible and plausible that China and other countries will be looking to develop wide-body engines," said Rolls Royce Chairman Ian Davis at the Singapore Summit over the weekend. "It makes sense for industrialized countries to start doing so and we assume at some stage of the future that they will come in." The Shanghai-based Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, or COMAC, has already begun the development of a narrow-body engine. The first C919 passenger jet made by the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) is pulled out next to a Chinese national flag during a news conference at the company's factory in Shanghai, Nov. 2, 2015. "It's a big growth market and I think the key, as always, is to make sure you've got competitive products that really offer something to customers," said Davis. In addition to aerospace and cars, Rolls Royce's other business segments include industrial products for the marine, nuclear and power sectors. Davis said he continued to expect strong growth from the Middle East. That market "is driven by aggressive strategies to attract traffic and ambitions to build a real hub in the region, not oil prices," he explained. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/18/rolls-royce-chairman-ian-davis-on-chinese-jet- engines-singapore-summit.html Back to Top China's Out-Of-Control Tiangong-1 Space Station to Crash Back to Earth Early 2018 An out-of-control spacecraft will come crashing down to Earth sometime in January or February 2018, a new calculation predicts. China announced it had lost control of the Tiangong-1 space station in September 2016 and initially thought the spacecraft would fall back to Earth in "late 2017." Since then, refined estimates have put the date of re-entry at some point between December 2017 and March 2018. Now, The Aerospace Corporation, a California-based nonprofit that provides assistance to the government's national security space programs, has announced that the date of re- entry will be late January or February of next year. The corporation made this prediction using data up through September 13, 2017. Tiangong-1 will meet a fiery death upon its re-entry, mostly burning up in the atmosphere. Because of the spacecraft's size-34 feet by 11 feet, and 18,740 pounds-The Aerospace Corporation says some material may survive. Any material that does reach the planet may be highly toxic and corrosive. "For your safety, do not touch any debris you may find on the ground nor inhale vapors it may emit," The Aerospace Corporation warned. However, with two thirds of the planet covered in water and huge areas of land uninhabited, any surviving debris are highly unlikely to land in places where they could cause any major damage. Whether anyone will see Tiangong-1's final descent depends on where and when it enters the atmosphere. The location should be known a few days before the event. "Visibly incandescent objects from this re-entry will likely last tens of seconds (up to a minute or more) in contrast with the vast majority of natural meteors, which last mere seconds," the corporation said in a statement. "Depending on the time of day and cloud visibility, the re-entry may appear as multiple bright streaks moving across the sky in the same direction." Tiangong-1 was launched in 2011 as China's first space station. It was unmanned but had a habitable experimental module so astronauts could stay there. Two manned missions took place over its five-year operational period and were noted for including the nation's first female astronauts, Liu Yang and Wang Yaping. The space station officially ended its service in March 2016. A few months later, it was widely reported that China was no longer in control of the spacecraft. In September 2016, the space agency confirmed the news in a press conference. The plan for a controlled re- entry, in which the spacecraft's descent could be managed with a thruster burn, was no longer possible. Instead, the spacecraft has been on a decaying orbit, and its altitude will continue slowly decreasing until reaches the upper atmosphere. When that happens, Tiangong-1 will make its uncontrolled re-entry. In a note sent to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in May, China's space agency said the orbit has been under close surveillance since control was lost, and that the spacecraft is currently descending at a rate of about 520 feet per day. "China attaches great importance to the re-entry of Tiangong-1," the agency said. "China will make strict arrangements to track and closely monitor Tiangong-1 in its orbital development and will publish a timely forecast of its re-entry." https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-control-tiangong-1-space-150055913.html Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Dear Participants, You are being requested to participate in a research study of your information on factors contributing to the decision to quit flying from Part 121 commercial aviation. This study is expected to take approximately 8 minutes of your time. In order to participate, you must be at least 18 years old and currently employed as a Part 121 pilot in the United States. Participation in this study is voluntary, and you may choose to opt out of the study at any time. If you choose to opt out, your data will be destroyed. We appreciate your consideration and time to complete our study. Please click on or copy and paste the URL below: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8FNJBHZ For more information, please contact: Gajapriya Tamilselvan gtamilselvan2014@my.fit.edu We appreciate your interest and participation! Curt Lewis