Flight Safety Information January 24, 2020 - No. 018 In This Issue Incident: Jetblue A320 at Grenada on Jan 22nd 2020, engine shut down in flight Accident: Avianca Costa Rica A319 near Panama City on Jan 23rd 2020, upset injures 8 Incident: Indigo A20N at Mumbai on Jan 23rd 2020, engine shut down in flight Incident: Lufthansa A388 over Atlantic on Jan 23rd 2020, cargo smoke indication Cessna S550 Citation S/II = Fatal Accident (South Africa) Kazakhstan extends suspension of Bek Air's AOC over safety issues QANTAS PILOTS WARN FATIGUE SYSTEM MAY BE ILLEGAL Study: Commercial air travel is safer than ever Canada's TSB says Iran has invited it to examine black boxes FAA investigates crash of $300,000 University of Iowa drone Analysts: Bombardier's Bizjet Unit Could Be Sold JetBlue picks up used jets as Airbus A321neo delays mount NASA reveals the payloads for the first commercial Moon cargo deliveries MITRE - SMS Course - March 2020 ACSF Safety Symposium DTI Training Canada Incident: Jetblue A320 at Grenada on Jan 22nd 2020, engine shut down in flight A Jetblue Airbus A320-200, registration N661JB performing flight B6-950 from Grenada (Grenada) to New York JFK,NY (USA) with 75 people on board, was in the initial climb out of Grenada when a loud bang was heard from one of the engines (V2527). The crew stopped the climb at 2000 feet, shut the engine down and returned to Grenada for a safe landing. A replacement Airbus A321-200 registration N975JT reached New York with a delay of 9:40 hours. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Grenada about 28 hours after landing back. https://flightaware.com/live/flight/JBU950/history/20200122/1958Z/TGPY/KJFK http://avherald.com/h?article=4d25a522&opt=0 Back to Top Accident: Avianca Costa Rica A319 near Panama City on Jan 23rd 2020, upset injures 8 An Avianca Costa Rica Airbus A319-100, registration N703AV performing flight LR-693 from San Jose (Costa Rica) to Bogota (Colombia) with 108 passengers and 5 crew, was enroute at FL370 about 150nm southeast of Panama City (Panama) when the crew decided to divert to Panama City due to an upset causing injuries on board and a cockpit indication. The aircraft landed safely in Panama City about 30 minutes later. 6 Passengers and 2 cabin crew were attended to by paramedics. The airline reported the crew had received an alert on one of the aircraft systems. During the flight an abrupt movement of the aircraft occurred. The crew diverted to Panama City, 6 passengers and 2 cabin crew were treated by paramedics after landing in Panama City. Mode-S data transmitted by the aircraft show the aircraft at FL370 at about 488 knots over ground as it crossed the coast into Colombia. Within a minute the aircraft turned about 25 degrees to the right and descended to below FL350, another minute later was in a significant climb above FL350 to near FL360 at 410 knots over ground, before settling on FL350 another minute later, the speed over ground continued to fluctuate between 412 and 516 knots until it settled at 449 knots about 6 minutes after the upset, when the aircraft had turned 180 degrees to the left and was on course to Panama City. Passenger photos show a cabin ceiling cracked by impact, blood stains on the cabin ceiling, a destroyed lavatory and debris all across the cabin. http://avherald.com/h?article=4d259fd0&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Indigo A20N at Mumbai on Jan 23rd 2020, engine shut down in flight An Indigo Airbus A320-200N, registration VT-IJD performing flight 6E-5384 from Mumbai to Hyderabad (India) with 95 people on board, was climbing out of Mumbai when the crew stopped the climb at about FL230 due to a left hand engine (PW1127G) stall, shut the engine down and returned to Mumbai for a safe landing on runway 27 about 35 minutes after departure. The airline reported the crew observed an engine warning and returned to Mumbai. http://avherald.com/h?article=4d25968f&opt=0 Back to Top Incident: Lufthansa A388 over Atlantic on Jan 23rd 2020, cargo smoke indication, heating device smoking A Lufthansa Airbus A380-800, registration D-AIMG performing flight LH-460 from Munich (Germany) to Miami,FL (USA) with 266 people on board, was enroute at FL380 about 300nm west of Brest (France) when the crew received a cargo smoke indication and decided to turn around and divert to Paris Charles de Gaulle (France). The aircraft descended to FL370 on the way to Paris but did not start the descent towards Paris and instead carried on to return to Munich (Germany), where the aircraft landed safely about 2:15 hours after turning around. The airline reported the crew discharged the fire suppression system in the cargo bay which extinguished the indication. Therefore the aircraft did not land in Paris but carried on to Munich. A defective fan heater in the cargo bay had been smoking causing the smoke detectors to trigger. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Munich about 5 hours after landing back. http://avherald.com/h?article=4d25951c&opt=0 Back to Top Back to Top Cessna S550 Citation S/II = Fatal Accident (South Africa) Date: Thursday 23 January 2020 Time: ca 10:50 Type: Cessna S550 Citation S/II Operator: South African Civil Aviation Authority Registration: ZS-CAR C/n / msn: S550-0078 First flight: 1986 Crew: Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 Total: Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3 Aircraft damage: Damaged beyond repair Location: Outeniqua Mountains, Ruiterbos area ( South Africa) Phase: En route (ENR) Nature: Survey/research Departure airport: George Airport (GRJ/FAGG), South Africa Destination airport: George Airport (GRJ/FAGG), South Africa Narrative: A Cessna S550 Citation S/II of the South African Civil Aviation Authority crashed into Outeniqua Mountains, Ruiterbos area, between Mossel Bay and Oudtshoorn. The three occupants were killed and the aircraft was destroyed. The Citation departed George Airport at 10:40 hours local time on a flight calibration mission of navigational aids of the same airport. Last contact with the flight was about ten minutes after takeoff. https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20200123-1 Back to Top Kazakhstan extends suspension of Bek Air's AOC over safety issues 23 January 2020 The Kazakhstan Aviation Administration extended the suspension of Bek Air's Air Operator Certificate after it found several safety issues during an inspection at the airline following a fatal accident. On December 27, 2019, a Fokker 100 of Bek Air crashed on takeoff from Almaty Airport, killing twelve. The aviation authorities proceeded to suspend the carrier's AOC after this accident and initiated an inspection. The authorities reported details of their findings, that led them to extend the suspension. Among others, the authorities noted issues with the tracking and record keeping of parts. For instance, serial numbers were removed from engines, making it impossible to verify the compliance of the engines, as well as to confirm the actual number of hours and cycles. Also, flight crew training records were found to be incomplete and in some cases their authenticity was called into question. With regards to the recent accident, the authorities state that CCTV evidence shows that no tactile inspection of the wings was carried out prior to departure. This is a necessary check to determine the presence of ice on the wings. If the violations are not remedied within 6 months, the AOC and the airworthiness certificates will be revoked. The airline, in turn, issued a statement, responding to all issues raised by the authorities. For example, Bek Air states that id plates were removed that were "weakly attached" to important and expensive units (usually engines) and stored in the office of the aviation engineering team. https://news.aviation-safety.net/2020/01/23/kazakhstan-extends-suspension-of-bek-airs-aoc-over-safety-issues/ Back to Top QANTAS PILOTS WARN FATIGUE SYSTEM MAY BE ILLEGAL Qantas fatigue Pilots are worried about fatigue risk management on ultra-long-haul flights. Photo: Daviid Gray /Getty Images for Qantas Australian pilots say the nation's regulator will breach its legal safety and responsibilities if it accepts a new fatigue risk management system without consulting with the people directly affected. The Australian and International Pilots Association has warned it may take legal action if the Civil Aviation Safety Authority pushes ahead with permanent changes to the system without consulting with it. AIPA represents most pilots at Qantas, which is trying to extend its ultra-long-haul flying capabilities. The union's misgivings apply to a fatigue risk management system (FRMS) that has been under trial since February 2019. AIPA safety and technical director Shane Loney said there had been discussions at various levels up to CASA boss Shane Carmody about active engagement by the association in developing and approving fatigue risk management systems. But he said it had been rebuffed because it was a union. "That, we contend, is contrary to the Civil Aviation Act,'' Loney said. "And apart from that legal interpretation of the Act it just defies good sense., "As pilots, every day we go to work and our prime concern is the safety of our aeroplane and our passengers and when it comes to fatigue it's exactly the same. "The people who live and breathe the aircraft operation, and the fatigue issue in particular, are its crew. "That means if you're not engaging with the pilots, the people who suffer this at work, then how on earth does a regulator get to understand the current live issues and project those into the future?" AIPA maintains that CASA has not just failed to meet the requirements of its governing legislation but also guidelines set by the International Civil Aviation Organization. Loney said AIPA had only been provided with heavily redacted documents in response to Freedom of Information requests on the Qantas FRMS. He warned that failing to consult with pilots would put aviation safety at risk. He said AIPA pilots were involved in multiple working groups on other safety issues through AusALPA. "Frequently, when our volunteers are involved in those meetings, the comments are made that 'We're really pleased you're here because you are the guys that understand the issues.','' he said. "But when it comes to something like the fatigue risk management system it's like they are more concerned about the commercial interest of an airline rather than the safety aspects. "We have seen from the banking royal commission what happens when regulators do not properly regulate." CASA is looking to increase planned duty limits to 20 hours but AIPA claims it does not have sufficient scientific or operational backing for the move. The pilots are also worried by a move to allow a captain, a first officer and two second officers to crew ultra-long-haul routes instead of the more senior crew used by other airlines. Loney said CASA was poised to endorse a fully-authorized fatigue risk management system after the year-long trial but it would not cover Project Sunrise operations, which would need further changes. The concern was how the traveling public and Qantas crews could have confidence that Sunrise would be achieved safely if the regulator and the airline could not agree on how business should be conducted now. "It's the process that's flawed because they haven't considered all the safety aspects and they haven't spoken to the pilots,'' he said. "So we need to fix the process so we can all have confidence into the future that, with both the regulator and the airline, we will deal with fatigue safely." AIPA legal advisor and former senator Nick Xenophon said the process was troubling for Australian travelers because it appeared CAAS was protecting the commercial interests of airlines at the cost of genuine health and safety considerations. "We need to have faith in the decision-making process - that it is based on independent science and that it properly involves the men and women who will be tasked with flying these planes,'' he said. A CASA spokesman said the regulator was aware of the concerns raised by the pilots. "CASA is continuing to work through these concerns with AIPA,'' he said, adding that CASA was closely monitoring the 12-month FRMS trial. "Data gathered from this trial will enable informed discussion with relevant stakeholders as to potential fatigue risks,'' he said. "CASA will consider the results of this trial in the context of risk to aviation safety." https://www.airlineratings.com/news/qantas-pilots-warn-fatigue-system-may-illegal/ Back to Top Study: Commercial air travel is safer than ever The rate of passenger fatalities has declined yet again in the last decade, accelerating a long-term trend. It has never been safer to fly on commercial airlines, according to a new study by an MIT professor that tracks the continued decrease in passenger fatalities around the globe. The study finds that between 2008 and 2017, airline passenger fatalities fell significantly compared to the previous decade, as measured per individual passenger boardings - essentially the aggregate number of passengers. Globally, that rate is now one death per 7.9 million passenger boardings, compared to one death per 2.7 million boardings during the period 1998-2007, and one death per 1.3 million boardings during 1988-1997. Going back further, the commercial airline fatality risk was one death per 750,000 boardings during 1978-1987, and one death per 350,000 boardings during 1968-1977. "The worldwide risk of being killed had been dropping by a factor of two every decade," says Arnold Barnett, an MIT scholar who has published a new paper summarizing the study's results. "Not only has that continued in the last decade, the [latest] improvement is closer to a factor of three. The pace of improvement has not slackened at all even as flying has gotten ever safer and further gains become harder to achieve. That is really quite impressive and is important for people to bear in mind." The paper, "Aviation Safety: A Whole New World?" was published online this month in Transportation Science. Barnett is the sole author. The new research also reveals that there is discernible regional variation in airline safety around the world. The study finds that the nations housing the lowest-risk airlines are the U.S., the members of the European Union, China, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. The aggregate fatality risk among those nations was one death per 33.1 million passenger boardings during 2008-2017. For airlines in a second set of countries, which Barnett terms the "advancing" set with an intermediate risk level, the rate is one death per 7.4 million boardings during 2008-2017. This group - comprising countries that are generally rapidly industrializing and have recently achieved high overall life expectancy and GDP per capita - includes many countries in Asia as well as some countries in South America and the Middle East. For a third and higher-risk set of developing countries, including some in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, the death risk during 2008-2017 was one per 1.2 million passenger boardings - an improvement from one death per 400,000 passenger boardings during 1998-2007. "The two most conspicuous changes compared to previous decades were sharp improvements in China and in Eastern Europe," says Barnett, who is the George Eastman Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. In those places, he notes, had safety achievements in the last decade that were strong even within the lowest-risk group of countries. Overall, Barnett suggests, the rate of fatalities has declined far faster than public fears about flying. "Flying has gotten safer and safer," Barnett says. "It's a factor of 10 safer than it was 40 years ago, although I bet anxiety levels have not gone down that much. I think it's good to have the facts." Barnett is a long-established expert in the field of aviation safety and risk, whose work has helped contextualize accident and safety statistics. Whatever the absolute numbers of air crashes and fatalities may be - and they fluctuate from year to year - Barnett has sought to measure those numbers against the growth of air travel. To conduct the current study, Barnett used data from a number of sources, including the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network Accident Database. He mostly used data from the World Bank, based on information from the International Civil Aviation Organization, to measure the number of passengers carried, which is now roughly 4 billion per year. In the paper, Barnett discusses the pros and cons of some alternative metrics that could be used to evaluate commercial air safety, including deaths per flight and deaths per passenger miles traveled. He prefers to use deaths per boarding because, as he writes in the paper, "it literally reflects the fraction of passengers who perished during air journeys." The new paper also includes historical data showing that even in today's higher-risk areas for commercial aviation, the fatality rate is better, on aggregate, than it was in the leading air-travel countries just a few decades in the past. "The risk now in the higher-risk countries is basically the risk we used to have 40-50 years ago" in the safest air-travel countries, Barnett notes. Barnett readily acknowledges that the paper is evaluating the overall numbers, and not providing a causal account of the air-safety trend; he says he welcomes further research attempting to explain the reasons for the continued gains in air safety. In the paper, Barnett also notes that year-to-year air fatality numbers have notable variation. In 2017, for instance, just 12 people died in the process of air travel, compared to 473 in 2018. "Even if the overall trendline is [steady], the numbers will bounce up and down," Barnett says. For that reason, he thinks looking at trends a decade at a time is a better way of grasping the full trajectory of commercial airline safety. On a personal level, Barnett says he understands the kinds of concerns people have about airline travel. He began studying the subject partly because of his own worries about flying, and quips that he was trying to "sublimate my fears in a way that might be publishable." Those kinds of instinctive fears may well be natural, but Barnett says he hopes that his work can at least build public knowledge about the facts and put them into perspective for people who are afraid of airplane accidents. "The risk is so low that being afraid to fly is a little like being afraid to go into the supermarket because the ceiling might collapse," Barnett says. http://news.mit.edu/2020/study-commercial-flights-safer-ever-0124 Back to Top Canada's TSB says Iran has invited it to examine black boxes TORONTO, ONT - Canada's Transportation Safety Board said Thursday it has been invited by Iran to participate in the download and analysis of the flight recorders from the downing of a Ukraine International Airlines jet "whenever and wherever" that takes place. Iran has acknowledged that its armed forces fired two Russian anti-aircraft missiles at the jetliner that crashed after taking off from Tehran's main airport earlier this month, killing all 176 people on board. Fifty-seven Canadians died and 138 of the passengers were headed to Canada. The Transportation Safety Board said in a statement it understands that the plane's flight-data recorders - commonly known as black boxes - are still in Iran and said Iran is assessing options for their download and analysis, including doing it in Iran. Iranian officials have offered contradictory remarks on whether they'll send the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders abroad to be analyzed. A preliminary report by the Civil Aviation Organization said Iranian officials had asked French and American authorities to send them "up-to-date equipment" to pull the data in Iran. Canada's Transportation Safety Board said it will deploy a second team of investigators to examine the recorders whenever and wherever that activity takes place. Two other Canadian safety board investigators are heading back to Canada after six days in Tehran and two in Kyiv. The investigators are still seeking a bigger role in the probe, but the TSB says the Iranian authorities have been co-operative and helpful. Iran may be hesitant to turn over the recorders for fear that more details from the crash - including the harrowing 20 seconds between when the first and second surface-to-air missiles hit the plane - will come to light. The government of Canada has said the boxes should be sent quickly for analysis by experts in either France of Ukraine. The Guard's air defenses shot the plane down shortly after it took off from Tehran on Jan. 8. Hours earlier, the Guard had launched ballistic missiles at U.S. troops in Iraq in response to the U.S. airstrike that killed Iran's top general in Baghdad. Officials say lower-level officers mistook the plane for a U.S. cruise missile. Iranian officials initially said the crash was caused by a technical problem and invited countries that lost citizens to help investigate. Three days later, Iran admitted responsibility after Western leaders said there was strong evidence the plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile. The victims also included 11 Ukrainians, 17 people from Sweden, four Afghans and four British citizens. Most of those killed were Iranians. The other five nations have demanded Iran accept full responsibility and pay compensation to the victims' families. The plane was a Boeing 737-800 that was designed and built in the U.S. The plane's engine was designed by CFM International, a joint company between French group Safran and U.S. group GE Aviation. Investigators from both countries have been invited to take part in the probe. https://www.clickorlando.com/news/2020/01/23/canadas-tsb-says-iran-has-invited-it-to-examine-black-boxes/ Back to Top FAA investigates crash of $300,000 University of Iowa drone No one hurt, but wreck illustrates risk of 100-pound craft The Latitude HQ90B, a research drone owned by the University of Iowa's Operator Performance Laboratory, is shown here in IOWA CITY - The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating what caused a $300,000 research drone owned by the University of Iowa to crash Dec. 18, leaving a fiery wreck in a densely packed mobile home park near the Iowa City Airport. The Latitude HQ90B, a 100-pound drone with an 18-foot wingspan, "became unresponsive" during the afternoon flight and crashed in a yard at the Lake Ridge mobile home park, the UI reported. In a video posted on Facebook, Kalvin Butterbaugh, who lives on Bay Ridge Drive, coughs as he walks through smoke from the smoldering debris in his yard. One wing is shattered by the deck stairs, while several feet away sits what appears to be a parachute severed from the rest of the broken drone. "You don't have a hose or anything?" a woman asks Butterbaugh, who seems stunned by the crash. YouTube is full of drone crash videos in which small, recreational drones hit buildings or trees or the ground, sometimes dramatically. But the UI drone crash points out the real risk to nearby humans when a remote-controlled drone as large as a small plane falls out of the sky. In August, a Swiss drone delivery service was suspended indefinitely when a 22-pound drone able to carry packages of up to 4.4 pounds crashed in Zurich about 50 yards away from where children were playing, the Verge reported. The drone had an emergency parachute, but the cord became disconnected, resulting in an uncontrolled crash. No one was injured. The Washington Post reported in 2016 that 20 large Air Force drones had crashed in the previous year on training missions in the United States and in combat zones around the world. UI Research Drones The Latitude HQ90B that crashed in Johnson County was owned by the UI's Operator Performance Laboratory, a simulation and flight-testing research lab within the UI College of Engineering. The fixed-wing, single-engine drone was purchased in 2018 to test visual navigation functions for commercial drone applications. The UI long has had a partnership with Collins Aerospace (formerly Rockwell Collins) to test avionics systems. The company provided funding and equipment for the project, the UI reported. The lab owns four other drones, only one of which is being used now for research, the UI said. The Vapor 55, an electric helicopter drone weighing 55 pounds and costing about $80,000, is used to carry light detection and measuring systems as well as other payloads. The three other drones, built by lab staff, each weigh about 65 pounds and cost $20,000. Tom Schnell, a UI professor of industrial and systems engineering and lab director, was remotely operating the HQ90B on Dec. 18 to test visual navigation functions for commercial drone applications. The flight started at the Iowa City Airport and was intended to be limited to the airport property, the UI reported. Schnell, a commercial pilot who also is certified to fly drones, declined to be interviewed because of the ongoing investigations by the UI, manufacturer and the FAA. "This doesn't seem like the right time since there isn't much I can add until we know the root cause," Schnell said in an email. "Once the investigation has concluded, I would be happy to discuss all we have going on at the OPL." Review Continues The Johnson County Sheriff's Office, which investigated the crash, declined to provide its report or photos of the crash, saying it had forwarded the information to the FAA. Previous news reports said the FAA doesn't investigate crashes of aircraft under 300 pounds, but FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said that is not accurate. "As part of its regulatory authority, the FAA investigates all aviation accidents and incidents," she said, confirming a probe of the crash. People have registered nearly 1.5 million drones with the FAA, about two-thirds of which are for commercial purposes, Isham Cory said. That's almost four times as many registered drones as registered manned aircraft. https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/public-safety/faa-investigates-crash-of-300000-university-of-iowa-drone-20200123 Back to Top Analysts: Bombardier's Bizjet Unit Could Be Sold Two business aviation analysts said Bombardier might sell off its business aviation division due to financial woes. (Photo: Matt Thurber/AIN) After warning about worse-than-forecast earnings, a reassessment of its partnership with Airbus on the A220, and pursuit of alternatives to pay down debt, Bombardier could "take an existing page out of their old playbook...and sell yet another business unit," specifically its business jet division, posits business aviation analyst Brian Foley. While it wouldn't be a "seller's market" for Bombardier's business jet division," Foley said there would likely be several potential suitors. Of the major business aviation OEMs, "The last logical man standing...would be Textron Aviation," he said, noting that product overlap would rule out both Gulfstream and Dassault, while Embraer is preoccupied with its Boeing tie-up. "Non-strategic buyers could also be suspects," Foley added, citing large private-equity firms, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, and the company's founding Beaudoin family. Fellow business aviation analyst Rolland Vincent agrees that its business jet unit could be put up for sale, "although there are other possibilities such as further asset sales or joint ventures in its airplane and train units." He told AIN that the most likely buyers would be Textron Aviation, allowing it to go up-market, or Mitsubishi, which reached a deal in June to buy Bombardier's CRJ program. A Bombardier Aviation spokesman told AIN that the company's business aviation division "has strong platforms that continue to perform," adding that the company won't comment on market speculation. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2020-01-23/analysts-bombardiers-bizjet-unit-could-be-sold Back to Top JetBlue picks up used jets as Airbus A321neo delays mount JetBlue Airways has joined the ranks of carriers scrambling to make up for a shortfall in new jets as delivery delays of its new Airbus A321neos drag on into 2020. The New York-based carrier has signed a deal to lease four used A321s - something it has rarely done in its 20-year history - as it tries to mitigate a shortfall of new planes this year, JetBlue finance chief Steve Priest said during an earnings call on Thursday. JetBlue anticipates deliveries of 11 A321neos - it is contracted to take 14 of the planes - and the first one of 60 new Airbus A220s in 2020. "We have confidence in the [delivery] guide, that can obviously evolve as things go forward," Priest said, suggesting that further A321neo delays - as JetBlue experienced in 2019 - are possible. JetBlue has company with its A321neo delays. American Airlines has also been forced to push back arrivals of the jet, while also contending with Boeing 737 MAX deliveries that remain halted until the aircraft is re-certified - currently expected by mid-2020. Alaska Airlines, American, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines are all due to take MAX deliveries this year. The Airbus delays are forcing JetBlue to make other trade offs. One is adding the used A321s to its 2020 fleet plan, and another is metering its roll-out of A320s with restyled cabins. JetBlue has restyled 53 A320s with the new cabin to date, president Joanna Geraghty said on the call Thursday. However, the A321neo delivery delays has forced it slow the program and push back the expected completion of the effort to early 2021 from late 2020. The carrier's restyled A320 cabins feature a refreshed look like on the its A321s - though no pantry as on the A321neos - including personal entertainment screens at every seat and power outlets in every row. The reconfigured jets also have 12 additional seats with room for 162 passengers. JetBlue has also slowed growth from Wall Street analysts' expectations due to the delays. The airline will grow capacity by 5.5-7.5% year-over-year in 2020, about two points lower than analysts' forecasts and slower than usual for JetBlue according to Geraghty. The focus remains growing in the carrier's core focus cities at Boston Logan (BOS) and Fort Lauderdale, at the cost of underperforming markets like Oakland (OAK). "We plan to continue to take targeted network actions," said Geraghty. She added that every city and route has to "earn its way into our network." JetBlue has also trimmed capacity to Puerto Rico, where it maintains a focus city in San Juan (SJU), following a drop in demand after several earthquakes hit the island earlier in January. Geraghty called the reductions "temporary." https://thepointsguy.com/news/jetblue-picks-up-used-jets-as-airbus-a321neo-delays-mount/ Back to Top NASA reveals the payloads for the first commercial Moon cargo deliveries NASA has finalized the payloads for its first cargo deliveries scheduled to be carried by commercial lunar landers, vehicles created by companies the agency selected to take part in its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. In total, there are 16 payloads, which consist of a number of different science experiments and technology experiments, that will be carried by landers built by Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines. Both of these landers are scheduled to launch next year, carrying their cargo to the Moon's surface and helping prepare the way for NASA's mission to return humans to the Moon by 2024. Astrobotic's Peregrine is set to launch aboard a rocket provided by the United Launch Alliance (ULA), while Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lander will make its own lunar trip aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Both landers will carry two of the payloads on the list, including a Laser Retro-Reflector Array (LRA) that is basically a mirror-based precision location device for situating the lander itself; and a Navigation Doppler Lidar for Precise Velocity and Range Sensing (NDL) -- a laser-based sensor that can provide precision navigation during descent and touchdown. Both of these payloads are being developed by NASA to ensure safe, controlled and specifically targeted landing of spacecraft on the Moon's surface, and their use here is crucial in building robust lunar landing systems to support Artemis through the return of human astronauts to the Moon and beyond. Besides those two payloads, everything else on either lander is unique to one vehicle or the other. Astrobotic is carrying more, but its Peregrine lander can hold more cargo -- its payload capacity tops out at around 585 lbs, whereas the Nova-C can carry a maximum of 220 lbs. The full list of what each lander will have on board is available below, as detailed by NASA. Overall, NASA has 14 contractors that could potentially provide lunar payload delivery services through its CLPS program. That basically amounts to a list of approved vendors, who then bid on whatever contracts the agency has available for this specific need. Other companies on the CLPS list include Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX and more. Starting with these two landers next year, NASA hopes to fly around two missions per year each year through the CLPS program. Astrobotic Payloads Surface Exosphere Alterations by Landers (SEAL): SEAL will investigate the chemical response of lunar regolith to the thermal, physical and chemical disturbances generated during a landing, and evaluate contaminants injected into the regolith by the landing itself. It will give scientists insight into the how a spacecraft landing might affect the composition of samples collected nearby. It is being developed at NASA Goddard. Photovoltaic Investigation on Lunar Surface (PILS): PILS is a technology demonstration that is based on an International Space Station test platform for validating solar cells that convert light to electricity. It will demonstrate advanced photovoltaic high-voltage use for lunar surface solar arrays useful for longer mission durations. It is being developed at Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Linear Energy Transfer Spectrometer (LETS): The LETS radiation sensor will collect information about the lunar radiation environment and relies on flight-proven hardware that flew in space on the Orion spacecraft's inaugural uncrewed flight in 2014. It is being developed at NASA Johnson. Near-Infrared Volatile Spectrometer System (NIRVSS): NIRVSS will measure surface and subsurface hydration, carbon dioxide and methane - all resources that could potentially be mined from the Moon -- while also mapping surface temperature and changes at the landing site. It is being developed at Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California. Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSolo): MSolo will identify low-molecular weight volatiles. It can be installed to either measure the lunar exosphere or the spacecraft outgassing and contamination. Data gathered from MSolo will help determine the composition and concentration of potentially accessible resources. It is being developed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. PROSPECT Ion-Trap Mass Spectrometer (PITMS) for Lunar Surface Volatiles: PITMS will characterize the lunar exosphere after descent and landing and throughout the lunar day to understand the release and movement of volatiles. It was previously developed for ESA's (European Space Agency) Rosetta mission and is being modified for this mission by NASA Goddard and ESA. Neutron Spectrometer System (NSS): NSS will search for indications of water-ice near the lunar surface by measuring how much hydrogen-bearing materials are at the landing site as well as determine the overall bulk composition of the regolith there. NSS is being developed at NASA Ames. Neutron Measurements at the Lunar Surface (NMLS): NMLS will use a neutron spectrometer to determine the amount of neutron radiation at the Moon's surface, and also observe and detect the presence of water or other rare elements. The data will help inform scientists' understanding of the radiation environment on the Moon. It's based on an instrument that currently operates on the space station and is being developed at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Fluxgate Magnetometer (MAG): MAG will characterize certain magnetic fields to improve understanding of energy and particle pathways at the lunar surface. NASA Goddard is the lead development center for the MAG payload. Intuitive Machines Payloads Lunar Node 1 Navigation Demonstrator (LN-1): LN-1 is a CubeSat-sized experiment that will demonstrate autonomous navigation to support future surface and orbital operations. It has flown on the space station and is being developed at NASA Marshall. Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS): SCALPSS will capture video and still image data of the lander's plume as the plume starts to impact the lunar surface until after engine shut off, which is critical for future lunar and Mars vehicle designs. It is being developed at NASA Langley, and also leverages camera technology used on the Mars 2020 rover. Low-frequency Radio Observations for the Near Side Lunar Surface (ROLSES): ROLSES will use a low-frequency radio receiver system to determine photoelectron sheath density and scale height. These measurements will aide future exploration missions by demonstrating if there will be an effect on the antenna response or larger lunar radio observatories with antennas on the lunar surface. In addition, the ROLSES measurements will confirm how well a lunar surface-based radio observatory could observe and image solar radio bursts. It is being developed at NASA Goddard. https://www.yahoo.com/news/nasa-reveals-payloads-first-commercial-131846278.html Curt Lewis