Flight Safety Information - March 15, 2021 No. 053 In This Issue : Incident: DANA D328 at Lagos on Mar 14th 2021, runway excursion : Incident: KLM Cityhopper E295 at Berlin on Mar 11th 2021, lightning strike : Antonov An-26 - Fatal Accident (Kazakhstan) : Airline passenger faces federal charge with a possible $250,000 fine for refusing to wear mask, urinating in cabin : Air safety violations decline 62% in 2020: Govt data (India) : China punishes Donghai Airlines for crew's mid-air fight : How an American Airlines doctor battled to put defibrillators on board every major airline flight : Airbus targets Boeing's freight fortress with potential A350 cargo jet - sources : Air Force Testing Starlink Internet On Aircraft : Graduate Survey Incident: DANA D328 at Lagos on Mar 14th 2021, runway excursion A Dornier Nigeria Aviation AIEP Dornier Do-328, all flight data unknown, veered right off the runway while landing in Lagos in the evening. Nigeria's AIB have dispatched investigators on site. No further information currently known. DANA operates 5 Do-328: 5N-DOW, 5N-DOX, 5N-DOY, 5N-BUN, 5N-BVO and 8 Do-228: 5N-ARP, 5N-DOA, 5N-DOB, 5N-DOD, 5N-DOJ, 5N-DOK, 5N-DOL and 5N-DOM. According to their website they only perform charter flights and have no scheduled flights. 5N-DOY was seen flying around Abuja on Mar 14th 2021 about 15:10Z (17:10L), 5N-BVO was seen arriving in Abuja around 18:10Z (20:10L). None of the other aircraft were seen flying. On Mar 14th 2021 evening runways 18 were active for landing. Unclear, unsharp photos and an equally poor video seem to suggest that the aircraft may have landed on runway 18L coming to a stop about 760 meters/2500 feet past the runway threshold. https://avherald.com/h?article=4e46ec06&opt=0 Incident: KLM Cityhopper E295 at Berlin on Mar 11th 2021, lightning strike A KLM Cityhopper Embraer ERJ-195-E2, registration PH-NXA performing flight KL-1831 from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Berlin (Germany), was on approach to Berlin's Brandenburg Airport with thunderstorms around the aerodrome when the aircraft entered a hold at 5000 feet for about 20 minutes. The aircraft landed safely on runway 25R. The aircraft was unable to depart for the return flight due to lightning strike damage, the flight had to be cancelled. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 48 hours before positioning back to Amsterdam. The aircraft had joined the fleet of KLM Cityhopper on Feb 23rd 2021 having done it's first flight on Jan 22nd 2021. https://avherald.com/h?article=4e45c715&opt=0 Antonov An-26 - Fatal Accident (Kazakhstan) Date: Saturday 13 March 2021 Time: 17:22 Type: Antonov An-26 Operator: Kazakhstan Border Guards Registration: 02 white C/n / msn: 7201 First flight: Crew: Fatalities: / Occupants: Passengers: Fatalities: / Occupants: Total: Fatalities: 4 / Occupants: 6 Aircraft damage: Destroyed Aircraft fate: Written off (damaged beyond repair) Location: Almaty Airport (ALA) ( Kazakhstan) Phase: Landing (LDG) Nature: Military Departure airport: Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport (NQZ/UACC), Kazakhstan Destination airport: Almaty Airport (ALA/UAAA), Kazakhstan Narrative: A Kazakh Border Service Antonov An-26 crashed at Almaty Airport, killing four of the six occupants. The aircraft crashed about 600 m short of the threshold of runway 23R and burst into flames. Weather at the time of the accident was poor with overcast clouds at 300 feet (91 meters), a visibility of 5 km with light freezing drizzle and mist. https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20210313-0 Airline passenger faces federal charge with a possible $250,000 fine for refusing to wear mask, urinating in cabin DENVER — A Colorado man accused of disrupting an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Denver by refusing to wear a mask and then standing up and urinating in the cabin faces a federal charge of interfering with a flight crew and attendants that carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison and a possible $250,000 fine. The FBI arrested 24-year-old Landon Grier of Canon City after the flight landed March 9, according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver. The affidavit by FBI Special Agent Martin Daniell III, who interviewed Grier and crew members, says Grier appeared to be trying to sleep but swatted at an attendant when she asked him repeatedly to put on his mask, as required by the Federal Aviation Administration. A passenger later summoned attendants because Grier was urinating in his seat area, Daniell wrote. The agent said Grier told him he had several beers and "a couple of shots" before boarding the flight, fell asleep on the plane and "awoke to being yelled at by the flight attendants who told him he was peeing." "He stated he had no recollection of hitting the flight attendant and didn't know if he was peeing," Daniell said. Grier made an initial court appearance on Thursday. A federal public defender was appointed to represent him. He was released on $10,000 bond pending his next court appearance set for March 26. Public defenders do not comment on pending cases, and a call to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver for comment wasn't immediately returned late Friday. In a statement, Alaska Airlines said: "We will not tolerate any disturbance onboard our aircraft or at any of the airports we serve." https://www.yahoo.com/news/airline-passenger-faces-federal-charge-210441762.html Air safety violations decline 62% in 2020: Govt data (India) Along with reduction in flights, last year also saw restrictions on the use of breath analysers on cabin crew 2020 saw a sharp drop in reported air safety violations due to reduction in flights and curbs on breath analyser tests. Around 250 aviation employees failed breath analyser tests in 2018 and 2019 and the cases declined to 92 in 2020. Similarly, there were zero cases of allowing unauthorised entry into cockpit and violation of cockpit and cabin discipline, the civil aviation ministry said in its response to the Lok Sabha last week. Domestic air travel was suspended for two months during the nationwide lockdown. Air travel resumed in calibrated manner on May 25 with restrictions on capacity. As a result, the number of flights halved and the number of passengers fell 56 per cent on a year-on-year basis. Along with reduction in flights, last year also saw restrictions on the use of breath analysers. A pre-flight test is done to ensure that staff are not under the influence of alcohol. While pilots and cabin crew have been subject to pre-flight examination from earlier, a breath analyser test was introduced for ground staff, aircraft engineers and air traffic controllers from September 2019. Breath analyser tests were halted last March on directions of court orders. Testing resumed in September after the Delhi High Court modified its order. However, the number of tests for pilots and cabin crew were capped at ten per cent for domestic flights and only recently increased to 25 per cent. Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Kumar said strict regulatory oversight has helped in making skies safer. “ We have been relentless in our endeavours to institute a strict system of accountability and it seems to have done the trick. We will continue with our efforts and shall ensure that coming years are safer and better for aviation safety.” The civil aviation regulator has been carrying out audits, surveillance and spot checks of airlines and airports. Deficiencies are brought to the notice of the operator and action is taken in case of non-compliance. “All airlines are in compliance of DGCA regulations,” the ministry said in its response. It added there were no reports of violation of engine emission norms or air pollution by the airlines. Aviation experts disagree. Surveillance and spot checks are done to prevent serious incidents and accidents but last year 21 perople died in an Air India Express crash in Kozhikode, they pointed out. “Aviation safety has not at all improved. There is inadequate safety oversight. Many posts of flight operation inspectors are still vacant. Airport Authority of India (AAI)-run airports continue to be deficient in safety matters. Yet AAI does not face strict action for non-compliance. We will not be able to prevent accidents unless we address these issues,” said Shakti Lumba, former vice president of operations, IndiGo. “The government appointed Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau did not even release a preliminary investigation report about the Kozhikode crash. That says a lot about aviation safety,” he added. https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/air-safety-violations-decline-62-in-2020-govt-data-121031400326_1.html China punishes Donghai Airlines for crew's mid-air fight BEIJING, March 15 (Reuters) - China’s aviation regulator said on Monday it is suspending Donghai Airlines from adding new routes, flights and capacity after concluding an investigation into a mid-air dispute between crew members on a recent domestic flight. The pilot, who, according to media outlet Caixin, blamed the head flight attendant for not clearing his way to the bathroom, will have his license revoked, Wu Shijie, deputy director of the Office of Aviation Safety at the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), told a monthly briefing. Wu did not specify how long the restrictions on routes, flights and capacity would last. He also did not offer the details on the mid-air fight. Media reports, citing an aviation-focused Wechat account, said the fight between the two men had broken out 50 minutes before the flight landed and both men were injured. Shenzhen-based Donghai said in a statement on Monday that the pilot and the head flight attendant would never work for the airline again, and that three vice presidents had lost their positions and would have their pay docked by 10,000-20,000 yuan https://www.reuters.com/article/china-aviation-donghai/rpt-update-1-china-punishes-donghai-airlines-for-crews-mid-air-fight-idUSL1N2LD0K2 How an American Airlines doctor battled to put defibrillators on board every major airline flight Today every major commercial flight in the U.S. carries an automated external defibrillator, a device that can restore a normal heartbeat by sending an electric shock to the heart. Its presence on those flights, credited with saving hundreds of lives in the past two decades, is largely the work of one man. A new book, “Shocked: Life and Death at 35,000 Feet,” recounts how David McKenas, corporate medical director for American Airlines from 1994 to 2002, convinced the airline to put defibrillators on board. In those days, convincing the airline was in fact a matter of convincing one man, CEO Bob Crandall. Crandall said yes. In 1997 American became the first U.S. airline to put defibrillators on board, a societal change that has been little recalled before this book. Jointly written by McKenas and Dan Reed, the book will be published in June by Canoe Tree Press. It is Reed’s third book about American, which he has covered since 1982 for two newspapers and Forbes. (We are not related, but we did co-write the second book.) Feb. 18, 1998, was the first time a life was saved by a defibrillator on an American flight. Since then, all U.S. airlines and many other entities have followed American in providing the devices, widely known as AEDs. They cost a few thousand dollars each. “We estimate that about 1,700 lives are saved in the United States per year by bystanders using an AED,” an American Heart Association spokesperson told me. If a cardiac arrest victim receives a shock from an AED in the first minute, the chance of survival is nine out of 10, she said. (After eight minutes, it’s probably too late for an AED to help, the book says.) Since 2018, American has counted 57 incidents where onboard AED use has enabled a passenger to regain a pulse after being unresponsive, said spokesman Andrew Trull. Earlier, in a 2007 press release, the airline commemorated the 10th anniversary of its first AED placement, saying “American proudly celebrates the 76 lives it has saved in those ten years.” And that’s just one airline. What is a defibrillator? It works in the way that “the battery from one car can be used to jump start the engine of a second car via a set of jumper cables,” the authors say. “Only when you are dealing with the human heart, the battery and jumper cables are a lot more sophisticated, and the ‘jump’ or shock to the still heart must be given within a matter of minutes.” McKenas not only convinced Crandall, in a strategic process that is at the heart of the book, but also convinced Congress that it should require defibrillators on every aircraft. In 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration put that policy in place, effective in 2004. In both efforts, McKenas found key allies in the two flight attendant unions, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. These unions have led societal change for six decades, mainly in their advocacy for women in the workplace, a novel concept when they began to work on it. For American, enabling defibrillator usage on aircraft involved training 25,000 flight attendants to use the device. One highlight of the book is the forward by Crandall, one of most influential airline U.S. executives of all time. Both his immodesty and his exactness are evident. Crandall writes that he does not take credit for putting defibrillators on aircraft. He notes, however, that executives often get disproportionate credit for organizations’ successes. In his case, he says, “The credit was certainly welcome and to some extent, deserved.” In his way, Crandall praises Dan Reed. He says, “Dan worked to become something of a journalistic expert” on the airline business. That “is not quite the same as being a true expert on the airline business, but he worked hard to make sure he asked the right questions,” Crandall notes. As an airlines reporter, I had to laugh. The book begins with a suspenseful story about that first saved life on Flight 2017 from Dallas to Mexico City in February 1998. A male passenger, traveling with his wife, suffered a sudden cardiac arrest. “It was then and there that a historic change in air travel — and really in modern life on this planet — began unfolding,” the authors write. The narrative flashes back to McKenas’ life story, which includes being a doctor for the Air Force and NASA, his move to American and his battle for defibrillators. While McKenas deserves immense credit, it is possible to conclude that the telling of his life story could be shorter. McKenas also provides an intriguing and somewhat troubling refresher course on the health hazards of flying. First regarding cabin pressure, which is normally equivalent to an altitude between 5,000 and 8,000 feet. For comparison, he notes that Mount Mitchell, the tallest mountain in the eastern United States, is 6,684 feet tall. At that altitude, air pressure declines and “each cubic meter of air weighs progressively less against your body.” This creates an imbalance between the air inside your head and the air outside. As a result, air presses against your eardrum. Worse than that, the concentration of gasses in the atmosphere, including oxygen, diminishes along with pressure. During the pandemic, it has become common knowledge that the blood oxygen level is normally about 90%. As aircraft cabin pressure diminishes, blood oxygen can routinely drop to 60% or 70%. For people with congestive heart failure, anemia or chronic obstructive airway diseases, that is a problem. So each passenger potentially represents a health hazard, not only to you — if they have a contagious disease — but to themselves if they have a heart condition. Another hazard: About 85% of commercial flights have doctors on board, which can be helpful in a health crisis. An unfortunate corollary is that 15% of flights do not have a doctor on board, according to the book. At its conclusion, the book returns to Flight 2017. The passenger who suffered cardiac arrest and his wife “were deeply Christian people, who trusted God for everything in their lives” and his wife prayed fervently that he would live. The defibrillator had been placed on the aircraft just two days earlier, and history was made. https://thepointsguy.com/news/defibrillators-american-airlines-book/ Airbus targets Boeing's freight fortress with potential A350 cargo jet - sources PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus is canvassing airline support for a potential freighter version of its A350 passenger jet, targeting a key stronghold of U.S. rival Boeing as e-commerce lifts demand for transported goods, people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The jet would be the first freighter spin-off of the latest generation of carbon-fibre jets and help stabilise output of wide-body jets that have been badly hit by the COVID-19 crisis. But a launch depends on identifying enough buyers willing to take a punt on fickle cargo demand in the midst of the aviation industry’s worst downturn, which has trampled airline finances. “We are always looking at product developments but do not comment on specific programmes,” an Airbus spokesman said. Air freight demand, which was weak before the COVID-19 crisis, has soared as home-bound shoppers turn to e-commerce, but analysts warn it is volatile and prone to extended downturns. Normally about half the world’s air cargo is carried in the bellies of passenger jets, but a hit to travel from the pandemic has left the world more reliant on dedicated freighters and conversions of passenger planes. Although it has vaulted past Boeing as the world’s largest producer of passenger jets, Airbus has had limited success in penetrating the freighter fortress of its arch-rival. It pulled the plug on a freighter version of its A380 superjumbo almost 15 years ago and has had no freighters in its order pipeline since December, when Turkey’s MNG Airlines cancelled three A330 freighter. Boeing has delivered 202 of the rival 777 freighter, compared with 38 of the A330 cargo version. Dominating the trade lanes is Boeing’s 747 freighter with more than 260 delivered. ‘BRIGHT SPOT’ It is not the first time a possible new freighter has been mooted. The latest design on the drawing board at Airbus’s Toulouse headquarters in France involves a slightly longer aircraft than the best-selling Airbus A350-900 jetliner. Its development poses technical challenges since it would involve placing a cargo door in the composite shell chosen by Airbus to compete with Boeing’s lightweight composite 787. Experts say cutting composite is more challenging than traditional aluminium, though Airbus could reap benefits from a decision - seen as costly at the time - to build the A350 from composite panels rather than barrel sections used on the 787. Industry sources estimate Airbus would need commitments for some 50 aircraft to go ahead with a launch, with Chief Executive Guillaume Faury focusing on carrying out a major restructuring while directing resources towards an A321XLR passenger plane. A development would cost an estimated $2-3 billion. Temptingly, the booming freight market offers respite from a slump in demand for big jets that has forced Airbus and Boeing to slash production, with A350 output halving to five a month. More than a third of wide-body jets sold by Boeing in the past year have been freighters. But the same crisis that crippled passenger travel has also created a glut of unused passenger planes that can be converted more cheaply into freighters than buying new. That means the business case for developing a new aircraft must be watertight. “Given the A350 production rate has been cut ... and the cargo market is the one bright spot in the wide-body market, one would have to say the likelihood of an A350F has increased compared to a year ago,” said Richard Evans, senior consultant at UK-based Ascend by Cirium. While not imminent, a launch could jog Boeing into reacting with a freighter version of its larger 777X, he added, though Boeing must also grapple with delays in its certification. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-airbus-freighter-exclusive-idUSKBN2B41NA Air Force Testing Starlink Internet On Aircraft SpaceX has caught the eye of the U.S. Air Force and not because of the occasionally explosive nature of its testing programs. Air Force contractor Ball Aerospace, whose sole business is “building conformal antennas for tactical aircraft,” is working with SpaceX to see if the Starlink satellite internet service has military applications. The deal was revealed in an FCC filing by SpaceX obtained by CNBC to amend its current experimental authorization “to demonstrate the ability to transmit to and receive information from (1) two stationary ground sites and (2) one airborne aircraft at one location, and would add to these (3) limited testing from a moving vehicle on the ground.” The letter has apparently been taken down or moved on the FCC site. Many of SpaceX’s most recent launches have carried dozens of small satellites designed to bring high-speed internet to rural and isolated areas. It now has 1200 satellites in low orbit. The company has begun experimentally serving areas of southern Canada and the northern U.S. as well as areas of New Zealand, the U.K. and Germany. In the Air Force test, CNBC says it’s part of Ball’s $9.7 million contract to explore the use of commercial space assets for defense purposes. The flight tests will be done at Edwards Air Force Base. https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/air-force-testing-starlink-internet-on-aircraft/ Graduate Survey Survey of Commercial and Airline Transport Pilot’s Perception of the Impact Cockpit Organizational Framework has on Flight Safety and Subordinate Pilot Behavior https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/COF-Survey Curt Lewis