Flight Safety Information June 12, 2019 - No. 118 In This Issue Boeing 737 Max to Be Flying Again by December, FAA Official Says Incident: AirAsia India A320 near Chandigarh on Jun 9th 2019, engine stall prompts hijack alert Incident: British Airways B744 near Shannon on Jun 10th 2019, burning smell in cabin Incident: Alaska A320 near Portland on Jun 10th 2019, smoke in cabin, smell of smoke in cockpit Accident: Peace B733 at Lagos on May 15th 2019, hard landing and engine pod strike Boeing 737-8V3 (WL) - Tire Burst on landing (India) Regional passenger jet makes emergency landing in Fargo New York chopper crash: Pilot's rating questioned amid questions over flight rules RECOMMENDATIONS TO PREVENT JET FUEL CONTAMINATION RELEASED Hijack hoax on Jet flight lands business class flyer in jail for life China's Paramilitaries are Reportedly Using Lasers to Harass, Injure Pilots GE Aviation addresses GE9X issue after lengthy flight test phase Hong Kong Airlines to transfer rights for two A350s to Hainan Uber shows off its latest concept for air taxis; FAA chief hits hard on safety issue GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Aircraft Fire Hazards, Protection and Investigation - course Join us in Washington, D.C., on July 15-18 for ALPA's annual...Air Safety Forum Boeing 737 Max to Be Flying Again by December, FAA Official Says American Airlines Group Inc. Boeing Co. 737 Max planes sit parked outside of a maintenance hangar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Boeing Co.'s 737 Max aircraft, grounded since March after two fatal crashes in five months, will be back in the air by December, according to a top Federal Aviation Administration safety official. It's not possible to give an exact date as work progresses on safety fixes to the aircraft, Ali Bahrami, the U.S. regulator's associate administrator for aviation safety, said Wednesday in interview at an aviation safety conference in Cologne, Germany. While the FAA is "under a lot of pressure," he said the Max will be returned to service "when we believe it will be safe." Knowing when the aircraft may return to service would help airlines contend with the disruption caused by the grounding of the narrow-body Max, Boeing's most popular model. The FAA has said that there's no time frame to sign off on Boeing's proposed software fix for the jet. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-12/boeing-737-max-to-be-flying- again-by-december-faa-official-says Back to Top Incident: AirAsia India A320 near Chandigarh on Jun 9th 2019, engine stall prompts hijack alert An AirAsia India Airbus A320-200, registration VT-SXR performing flight I5-715 from Delhi to Srinagar (India) with 175 people on board, was enroute at FL340 about 80nm west of Chandigarh (India) when the left hand engine (CFM56) stalled prompting the crew to select the emergency code into the transponder and descend the aircraft. The crew inadvertently selected the code for unlawful interference into the transponder prompting (military) ATC and emergency services to activate the hijack protocols. The crew soon after corrected their mistake and explained what happened and requested to return to Delhi, however, the aircraft was redirected to Chandigarh where emergency services and police awaited the aircraft landing on single engine about 40 minutes after leaving FL340. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground in Chandigarh for about 26 hours, then positioned to Delhi and returned to service. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c916320&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: British Airways B744 near Shannon on Jun 10th 2019, burning smell in cabin A British Airways Boeing 747-400, registration G-CIVJ performing flight BA-293 from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Washington Dulles,DC (USA), was enroute at FL340 about 100nm northwest of Shannon (Ireland) when the crew declared PAN PAN reported they had a burning smell in the cabin and were unable to locate the source of the smell. The crew requested to return to London. ATC offered a diversion to Shannon, the crew maintained however to return to London. The aircraft turned around and maintained FL340 for the return. The aircraft landed safely back in London about one hour after the decision to return. A passenger reported a burning odour developed in the aft cabin near the aft doors. Cabin crew thought the odour originated from some of the ovens and shut the galley down, the odour however continued. The captain came back to the aft cabin and returned to the cockpit, then announced the aircraft was returning to London. The flight attendants were commenting to themselves about feeling dizzy and suffering from headache. The flight was cancelled. The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground in Heathrow for about 23 hours, then returned to service. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c916ead&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Alaska A320 near Portland on Jun 10th 2019, smoke in cabin, smell of smoke in cockpit An Alaska Airlines Airbus A320-200, registration N365VA performing flight AS-1323 from San Francisco,CA to Seattle,WA (USA) with 134 people on board, was enroute at FL380 about 45nm south of Portland,OR (USA) when the crew donned their oxygen masks, declared emergency reporting smoke in the cabin and the smell of smoke on the flight deck, and diverted the aircraft to Portland. The flight crew advised cabin crew reported visible smoke from the exit row to the flight deck, the flight crew did not see any smoke however had a strong smell of smoke on the flight deck. The aircraft landed safely on Portland's runway 28R about 21 minutes after leaving FL380. Emergency services examined the aircraft but found no trace of fire. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/ASA1323/history/20190611/0405Z/KSFO/KSEA http://avherald.com/h?article=4c91611c&opt=0 Back to Top Back to Top Accident: Peace B733 at Lagos on May 15th 2019, hard landing and engine pod strike An Air Peace Boeing 737-300, registration 5N-BUK performing flight P4-7091 from Port Harcourt to Lagos (Nigeria), landed on Lagos' runway 18R at 18:33L (18:33Z) but touched down hard, rolled out and taxied to the apron. Nigeria's AIB reported on Jun 11th 2019, that they were not aware of the occurrence until after a passenger reported a hard landing in on Jun 5th 2019. Investigators were dispatched to the site and found the occurrence confirmed, the right hand engine's cowling had contacted the runway surface causing damage to compressor blades of the engine, the right main landing gear oleo and strut had been fully compressed and "bottomed", the #4 tyre's (right outboard) sidewall was scoured. The aircraft had been grounded since the occurrence and is currently awaiting hard landing inspections including inspections of the wing tips, wing roots and engine pylons due to concerns over the heavy impact. The AIB accused Air Peace of concealing the occurrence from the AIB. Air Peace claimed they had reported the occurrence to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nigeria (NCAA) as well as Boeing and CFM International and had grounded the aircraft. The AIB also claims the airline had concealed another occurrence of Dec 14th 2018 involving Boeing 737-300 registration 5N-BUO and reported both FDR and CVR had been overwritten by the time the AIB learned about the occurrence. Concerning 5N-BUO the AIB had already released a preliminary report in March 2019, see Accident: Peace B733 near Enugu on Dec 14th 2018, loss of cabin pressure. http://avherald.com/h?article=4c916624&opt=0 Back to Top Boeing 737-8V3 (WL) - Tire Burst on landing (India) Date: 11-JUN-2019 Time: 03:32 UTC Type: Boeing 737-8V3 (WL) Owner/operator: SpiceJet Registration: VT-SLI C/n / msn: 29670 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 189 Other fatalities: 0 Aircraft damage: Minor Location: Jaipur Airport - India Phase: Landing Nature: International Scheduled Passenger Departure airport: Dubai Airport (DXB/OMDB) Destination airport: Jaipur International Airport (JAI/VIJP) Narrative: SpiceJet flight SG58, a Boeing 737-800, suffered a right-hand main gear tire burst on landing on runway 27 at Jaipur Airport, India. https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/226091 Back to Top Regional passenger jet makes emergency landing in Fargo American Eagle jet safe on the ground at Fargo's Hector International Airport Photo: KFGO News Hector International Airport fire crews standing by for passenger jet that made safe, emergency landing. FARGO, N.D. (KFGO) - A regional passenger airliner made a safe emergency landing at Fargo's Hector International Airport shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday. The CRJ-900 American Eagle Airlines jet with about 60 passengers on board was en route from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Bismarck when the pilot diverted to Fargo. Airport Executive Director Shawn Dobberstein told KFGO News there was some type of mechanical problem. The plane landed without incident and was parked some distance from the terminal. Those on board were brought to the terminal to claim their luggage and waited for hotel shuttles. Dobberstein said the airplane was to be checked over in the morning to determine if it's safe to fly. One of the passengers, Tyler Morgan, of Abilene, Texas said he was told there was a problem with the tires or landing gear on the plane's left side. He said the landing was "fairly smooth" and the pilots felt they needed a longer runway to safely land and decided to detour to Fargo. The plane is flown by Mesa Airlines https://kfgo.com/news/articles/2019/jun/12/regional-passenger-jet-makes-emergency- landing-in-fargo/ Back to Top New York chopper crash: Pilot's rating questioned amid questions over flight rules An air safety investigator says an earlier passenger in a helicopter that crashed into a Manhattan skyscraper, killing the pilot, said nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The veteran pilot killed when the helicopter he was flying crashed atop a New York skyscraper lacked an instrument flight rating, required when flying through heavy fog and rain, and apparently became lost. Though no one else was killed or injured, the crash on the midtown Manhattan high-rise raises the issue again about flight rules over New York, still jittery almost 18 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. These days, those concerns over the rules are heightened due to the Trump Tower, the office and residential high-rise, which has had a flight restriction around it since Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016. "If you're going to have those helicopters, especially over sensitive areas, should we be looking at additional restrictions?" asked Jim Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, the government's aviation accident investigation arm. "When things happen, you need to look at your risk assessment and need to adjust it." It was quickly determined that terrorism played no role in Monday's crash. Rather, the pilot radioed controllers to say he was lost and was trying to find his way back to the helipad, which had become obsured by fog and rain, the Associated Press reported. The pilot, Timothy McCormack of Clinton Corners, New York, was alone in the craft. he held a commercial pilots license for helicopters and was qualified as an instructor, documents show. But his lack of an instrument flight rating, which allows a helicopter to be flown by monitoring instruments along with air-traffic control instructions, instead of flying by sight, could have made a difference. But with the NTSB picking up the investigation, the probe is sure to include McCormack's decision to depart in what were clearly inclement conditions. "The decision to lift off in the first place is the first thing to be questioned," said Mike Isler, a helicopter pilot and aerial film producer based at the airport in Linden, New Jersey. McCormack was flying an eight-seat Agusta A109E helicopter as dense fog hung over Manhattan. Generally, in such conditions, pilots would file an instrument flight plan then be in contact with air traffic controllers. But it's a judgment call when it comes to weather: Helicopters that stay below 1,100 feet, as McCormack was doing, over the rivers are not required to be in contact with controllers, the FAA says. Because of that, the decision to take off would have been McCormack's, who had 15 years of flying experience. McCormack took off from the 34th Street heliport, apparently bound for Linden, about 20 miles away. He crashed on the 787 Seventh Avenue building 11 minutes later. The crash shortly before 2 p.m. EST sparked a fire, major emergency response and elicited worry in the streets around the 51-story tower. Now pilots fear the call for new flight restrictions over Manhattan. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/06/11/helicopter-crash-pilot- rating-fog-nyc-flight-rules-question/1425721001/ Back to Top RECOMMENDATIONS TO PREVENT JET FUEL CONTAMINATION RELEASED Since 2017, three different instances of jet fuel contamination have led to engine failures in jets, most recently in May when a Citation experienced a double engine failure in flight but was able to land safely. A very light jet being refueled. Photo by Mike Fizer. The industry-led Aircraft Diesel Exhaust Fluid Contamination Working Group released recommendations June 11 for aircraft operators, fixed-base operators, fuel suppliers, and other stakeholders to mitigate the possibility of diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) contamination in jet fuel. DEF is a colorless liquid injected directly into the catalytic converter in diesel engine light- and heavy-duty vehicles in order to meet stringent EPA emission control standards. When mistakenly added to aircraft jet fuel, DEF crystallizes and clogs fuel systems, leading to engine failure. In three separate and distinct instances at locations in the United States, including Nebraska and Florida, over the past three years, DEF has been mistaken for fuel system icing inhibitors (FSII), a clear liquid that is added to aircraft jet fuel. "I applaud the industry for working together to promote steps to address this serious risk to pilots, but I strongly believe that DEF needs to be permanently removed from airports. We don't need to lose any lives over this," said AOPA President Mark Baker. After analyzing the events that led to the fuel contamination, the working group found that the DEF container markings were ambiguous and that the containers were often stored near FSII containers. Line personnel, who were under time pressure, mistakenly grabbed the wrong container of fluid. A lack of training and supervision combined with a high turnover rate of line personnel at FBOs and a lack of standard processes, storage, and handling procedures also contributed to the fuel contamination incidents, the working group said. "The risk of another inadvertent DEF contamination event is too great to not take a concerted, aggressive, and multi-pronged, coordinated approach to prevent another occurrence," the working group said, calling its recommendations "a good first step but most certainly not the last." The recommendations focus on prevention, detection, and response for aircraft operators, FBOs, fuel suppliers, and aviation industry groups. Additionally, the FAA has made efforts to alert various stakeholders, issuing a safety alert for operators and a special airworthiness information bulletin. In addition, the Office of Airport Safety and Standards sent a letter to airport sponsors providing further background and recommendations. The report strongly urged "all stakeholders to review this report and use it to review their particular segment of the overall system and make immediate and appropriate changes, once identified, and continually monitor, check, and re-check to ensure the proper processes and procedures are, and remain, in place." The working group charged industry associations with continued communication and educational efforts with their members and called on the industry to "request an emergency exemption from the rules requiring DEF in on-airport equipment from the EPA." The AOPA Air Safety Institute issued a safety notice to aircraft operators regarding DEF contamination in May. "The working group members and broader community must and will remain vigilant in monitoring the entire system, reinforcing where needed, and act quickly, if another event unfortunately occurs," the report noted in its summary. The working group is composed of representatives from AOPA, AvFuel, CommScope, Dassault Falcon Jet, Fair Wind Air Charter, the FAA, FBO Partners, Epic Fuels, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, Gammon Technical Products, Gulfstream Aerospace, Murray Equipment Inc., Midwest Aviation, the National Air Transportation Association, the National Business Aviation Association, Phillips 66, Sheltair, Signature Flight Support, TAC Air, Total Control Systems, Truckee-Tahoe Airport, Union Pacific, and World Fuel Services. https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2019/june/11/recommendations-to- prevent-jet-fuel-contamination-released Back to Top Hijack hoax on Jet flight lands business class flyer in jail for life * Birju Kishor Salla, 38, was also fined 50 million rupees * The fine will be distributed among pilots, crew and passengers, a special court of NIA said An Indian court sentenced a business class passenger to life in jail after he was found guilty of placing a hijacking note in the washroom of a flight, the first such ruling under a new law. Birju Kishor Salla, 38, was also fined 50 million rupees ($720,000), which will be distributed among pilots, crew and passengers, a special court of the National Investigation Agency said in a judgment on Tuesday. The passenger, who was flying on a Jet Airways India Ltd. flight to New Delhi from Mumbai in 2017, was found guilty of intentionally disrupting the operations of an aircraft on board. "Flight No. 9W 339 is covered by hijackers and aircraft should not be land and flown straight to POK," Salla wrote in a note placed in a tissue paper box, according to court filings. POK refers to the part of the disputed state of Kashmir that's administrated by Pakistan. Salla further vowed to start killing people if the aircraft's landing gear was deployed, according to the documents. A platinum member of Jet Airways's loyalty program and a jeweler by profession, Salla may have wanted to ground the airline to woo a stewardess, who he hoped would then approach him for job, the Times of India newspaper reported without saying where it got the information. The flight's pilots will get over $1400 each from the fine, while every passenger on board will pocket $360, according to the verdict. Crew members will get $720. India in 2016 amended rules, making the death penalty compulsory if a hijack attempt results in the death of a hostage or security personnel. In Salla's case, the pilot managed to land in the western airport of Ahmedabad and no passenger or crew was harmed. https://www.livemint.com/news/india/flight-no-9w-339-hijack-hoax-on-jet-flight-lands- business-class-flyer-in-jail-for-life-1560319476020.html Back to Top China's Paramilitaries are Reportedly Using Lasers to Harass, Injure Pilots The cockpit of a U.S. Air Force C-130 at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti. The latest weapon in the great power competition shaping up between the West and China is, inevitably, the laser. Over the past year American and Australian military personnel have reported being the target of lasers coming from the direction of Chinese forces, in some cases resulting in eye injuries. The lasers are another form of deniable harassment conducted by Chinese military personnel and the so-called "maritime militia": commercial sailors deputized by the Chinese navy. The incidents started in 2018, in Djibouti of all places, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. The small, strategically located African country has long been a base for U.S. and French military forces operating throughout the Horn of Africa region. Chinese military forces, after securing a ten year lease in 2016, moved in and quickly carved out a large base. Soon, U.S. military pilots were reporting lasers pointed at their aircraft as they flew near the Chinese base. In May 2018 the Pentagon reported that two pilots of a C-130 transport suffered minor eye injuries due to a "military grade laser," and that there had been between "two and ten" laser strikes on U.S. aircraft. But last week, word came from the South China Sea that Australian helicopter pilots were recent victims of laser strikes. Pilots operating from the amphibious ship HMAS Canberra reported lasers aimed at them as their ship travelled from Vietnam to Singapore, transiting the South China Sea along the way, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute: Some helicopter pilots had lasers pointed at them from passing fishing vessels, temporarily grounding them for precautionary medical reasons. Was this startled fishermen reacting to the unexpected? Or was it the sort of coordinated harassment more suggestive of China's maritime militia? It's hard to say for sure, but similar incidents have occurred in the western Pacific. The Canberra was reportedly trailed by People's Liberation Army Navy warships that acted cordial enough, but several passing fishing boats aimed lasers at Australian helicopters, causing their pilots to be temporarily grounded as a precaution. China has claimed large sections of the South China Sea, creating military bases out of reefs and islets with the use of dredging. China's exact claims are cleverly ambiguous, but it is generally believed the country considers roughly ninety percent of the South China Sea Chinese territory-and it doesn't like visitors. Foreign warships passing through the SCS are tailed, sometimes aggressively. The laser strikes against Australian pilots were likely from Beijing's so-called "maritime militia." China's domestic fishing fleet ranges far and wide over the world's oceans, but particularly into regions such as the South China Sea. The People's Armed Forces Maritime Militia is a paramilitary force that often uses these fleets to conduct activities that would be too provocative for the People's Liberation Army Navy-China's Navy-to pull off. Some of the fishing boats may do real fishing but, when the U.S. or Australian Navies sail by, they reportedly pull out the ol' military-grade fishing laser and start making nuisances of themselves. The laser strikes and the Maritime Militia are a way of conducting aggressive-even dangerous activities-without directly using the Chinese military, and thus offering plausible deniability to the Chinese government. Many of the instances of laser strikes hitting American aircraft in Djibouti didn't originate from the base itself, but from the waters just off the coast. In the incident involving HMAS Canberra, the Chinese military acted quite professionally while nearby fishing boats were the ones shining lasers. Had the Chinese Navy itself been the one shining the lasers, or had a laser emanated directly from China's Djibouti base, it would have very clearly been a state-sponsored act of aggression. Instead, Beijing can just shrug it off as the actions of some misguided patriotic fishermen-nothing to do with China, of course. The Maritime Militia is like some kind of bizarro world Coast Guard-a paramilitary force that carries out missions the home country doesn't want its navy to take care of. In Washington's case, the U.S. Coast Guard exists to handle law enforcement issues the U.S. Navy is barred by law from addressing. In Beijing's case (which, to be fair, also has a coast guard) the Maritime Militia is often used to accomplish missions that may not be exactly legal, or the actions of a government that follows international norms. Countries like the U.S. and Australia can't do a whole lot about the laser strikes If Western navies take military action against a fishing boat, it simply looks like national armed forces beating up on civilian fishermen, which could justify a greater Chinese military presence-all to protect innocent fishermen. That also doesn't exact a cost from the real hand directing the militia's activities-the Chinese military itself. The Maritime Militia, like the mysterious "little green men" that appeared in the Crimea ahead of Russia's takeover, are instruments of of force deployed by totalitarian governments to further state goals. There is nothing quite like them in the West. How the U.S. and its allies deal with these part-time actors and laser attacks will be one of the great military dilemmas of the 21st century. https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/chinas-paramilitaries-are-reportedly-using-lasers-to- ha-1835311543 Back to Top GE Aviation addresses GE9X issue after lengthy flight test phase GE Aviation still anticipates completing GE9X certification testing this year after a lengthier-than-planned round of flight tests and recently discovered "anomaly" in an engine's high-pressure compressor. GE Aviation completed a second round of certification flight testing for the 777X's engine in May, during which it completed 53 test flights and logged more than 300 flight hours. The engine maker had told FlightGlobal late last year that it anticipated "making about 18 flights or so" during the second round of testing. That was about the same number as in the first testing round, which concluded in May 2018. The company says additional flight tests in the second phase reflect changes to the massive, 105,000lb-thrust (467kN) GE9X's "variable stator vane lever arm". The arms set the pitch of stator vanes, which are inside the compressor and slow airflow, increasing its pressure. GE Aviation redesigned the arm prior to the second phase of test flights after determining the initial design wore out faster than expected. "Since the engine for phase two had the new variable stator vane lever arm in the high- pressure compressor, we wanted to get the engine performance data on this configuration at altitude," GE Aviation says. It also repeated some tests conducted in the first phase of flight testing. "The engine performed extremely well on the flight tests," GE Aviation says. The company is making other changes to improve the GE9X's durability. "During a recent test, GE detected an anomaly in the engine data from the high- pressure compressor," GE Aviation says. "After data analysis and additional testing, our engineers saw an opportunity for a durability improvement in the front of the compressor." "GE anticipates completing its certification testing this year," it adds. The company does not provide specifics, but says the anomaly is "mechanical in nature - and is not related to the design or performance of the high-pressure compressor". "GE is taking a proactive approach and working the improvement so it can be incorporated into the flight test engines at Boeing as well as incorporated into our engines that will take part in our remaining ground tests," the company says. GE Aviation has completed about 85% of the GE9X's certification testing, including aerodynamic, bird-ingestion, loss-of-blade, hailstorm and icing tests. "The engine's performance at altitude was great," GE Aviation says. "Just a handful of tests remain, including emissions and block test." The block test involves running the engine for 25, six-hour cycles, accumulating 150h of run time during which the engine is at "redline" - its max core speed, fan speed and exhaust gas temperature, GE Aviation says. The company conducts GE9X flight testing on its 747-400 test bed. Last week Boeing chief financial officer Gregory Smith said Boeing was waiting on the GE9X to advance the 777X programme. "Long-pole in the tent right now is [the] GE engine. There are some challenges. They're working through their own testing," Smith said of GE Aviation during an investor conference hosted by investment bank UBS. "We're having to do some retesting. And they're working their way through that." "We still expect to fly this year and entry into service in 2020," Smith added. Boeing installed GE9Xs on its first flight-test 777X in January. The engine's 3.4m- diameter (134in) fan, composed of 16 carbonfibre blades, makes the GE9X the world's largest jet engine, GE Aviation says. https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/ge-aviation-addresses-ge9x-issue-after- lengthy-fligh-458847/ Back to Top Hong Kong Airlines to transfer rights for two A350s to Hainan Hong Kong Airlines (HKA) will transfer purchase rights of two Airbus A350-900s to sister company Hainan Airlines for free, as the latter moves to ramp up capacity and growth. Hainan says in a Shanghai Stock Exchange disclosure that the two aircraft in concern, which HKA has on order with Airbus, have serial numbers 360365 and 360371. Hainan, HKA and Airbus signed the purchase right transfer agreement, the disclosure states. As part of the deal, the HNA Group, which owns both carriers, will provide a guarantee of $509 million, and the Hainan Airlines Group will provide a counter- guarantee of $509 million. Cirium's Fleets Analyzer shows that HKA has 10 A350-900s on order. It has another six in service, and three more in storage. Meanwhile, Hainan has four A350-900s in service, and another two on order. In the disclosure, Hainan says the transfer of the purchase rights for free was done according to its business and fleet plans. Hainan will also borrow $234 million from China Development Bank to help with the purchase. https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/hong-kong-airlines-to-transfer-rights-for- two-a350s-458852/ Back to Top Uber shows off its latest concept for air taxis; FAA chief hits hard on safety issue Uber says it's on track to start flying its first all-electric air taxis on a demonstration basis next year, with commercial service due to begin in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Los Angeles areas in 2023. It's also planning to focus on Australia's tech capital, Melbourne, as its first international air taxi market. That's a change from previous plans, which looked instead in Dubai's direction. To give potential riders an idea of what they'll be climbing into, the rideshare company took the occasion of its annual Uber Elevate conference in Washington, D.C., to show off a mockup of the aircraft's passenger cabin and a new video: Like the delivery drone design that Amazon unveiled last week at its re:MARS conference in Las Vegas, the Uber concept shows its electric vertical-takeoff-and- landing craft, or eVTOL, transitioning from vertical to horizontal flight after a copter-like liftoff. Eric Allison, head of Uber Elevate, repeated the company's view that the cost of taking an eVTOL ride will eventually be comparable to Uber rideshare - and should be much faster than getting around traffic-clogged urban areas. Allison said eVTOL service is sure to be cheaper than Uber Copter, the helicopter transport service that is due to link New York's JFK International Airport with downtown Manhattan starting next month at a one-way cost of $200 to $225 for an eight-minute copter ride. (That cost includes the Uber car pickups at each end of the aerial trip.) But there's lots of work to be done over the next couple of years: Uber still has to focus in on the designs for its air taxi fleet and get them certified by the Federal Aviation Administration. Uber has been working with several eVTOL ventures - including Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences as well as Embraer, Bell, Karem and Pipistrel Aircraft. Today the company announced that Jaunt Air Mobility would join the group. During his talk at Uber Elevate, acting FAA chief Daniel Elwell made clear that the eVTOL taxis as well as commercial drones, also known as unmanned aircraft systems or UAS, would have to address safety concerns before they fill the skies. https://www.geekwire.com/2019/uber-shows-off-latest-concept-air-taxis-faa-chief-hits- hard-safety-issue/ Back to Top GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY Dear Participants, You are being asked to participate in a research study to develop a trust in air traffic controllers scale. This study is expected to take approximately 5 minutes of your time. In order to participate, you must be a resident of the United States, at least 18 years old, and a certified pilot. 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 immediately destroyed. We appreciate your consideration and time to complete our study. Please click on or copy and paste the URL below: https://forms.gle/DmMB9fXSupVa5oTGA For more information, please contact: Brad Baugh, Ph.D. in Aviation Student baughfd0@my.erau.edu We appreciate your interest and participation! Back to Top Aircraft Fire Hazards, Protection and Investigation Course presented by N. Albert Moussa, PhD, PE July 9 to 11, 2019 BlazeTech Corporation 29 B Montvale Ave, Woburn MA 01801 USA. Dear Colleague, While commercial air transport is very safe, the advent of new technologies poses fire safety challenges that will be treated in this course. This offering draws upon Dr. Moussa's work in this area since 1971 as well as related courses that BlazeTech has been teaching since 1998. Lectures will include Li and Li-ion battery fires, flammability of carbon fiber and glass fiber composites, emerging aviation fluids, engine fires, fuel tank fire/explosion, fire extinguishment methods, protection methods, aircraft accident investigation, and fire/explosion pattern recognition. Recent accidents are continuously added to the course. For each type of fire, this course will provide a cohesive integrated presentation of fundamentals, small- and large-scale testing, computer modeling, standards and specifications, and real accident investigation - as outlined in the course brochure. This integrated approach will enable you to address safety issues related to current and new systems and circumstances, and to investigate one of a kind fire and explosion accidents. The course will benefit professionals who are responsible for commercial aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles including design, equipment selection, test, operation, maintenance, safety management system, hazard/risk assessment, and accident investigation. View Brochure for course content and registration form (also embedded below). View Testmonials of previous attendees and their Companies. View some of the technical references discussed in this course. We also offer this course at the client site as well as customized courses on fire and explosion in other areas. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. Albert Moussa, Ph.D., P.E. BlazeTech Corporation 29B Montvale Ave. Woburn, MA 01801-7021 781-759-0700 x200 781-759-0703 fax www.blazetech.com firecourse@blazetech.com LinkedIn Back to Top Join us in Washington, D.C., on July 15-18 for ALPA's annual Air Safety Forum Curt Lewis