Flight Safety Information - June 22, 2023 No. 120 In This Issue : Incident: BAW A320 at Frankfurt on Jun 16th 2023, hydraulic leak : Incident: TUI B788 at Cancun on Jun 15th 2023, flaps problem : NTSB details unresponsive jet’s fatal flight over DC region : Laws getting tougher in Colorado for suspects who point lasers at aircraft : United Airlines Boeing 777 Returns To Los Angeles With Smoke In Cockpit : Sri Lankan Airlines says sick cockpit crew delayed Korea flight : FedEx to shut down 29 more aircraft as demand shrinks : Boeing Sees Regional Carriers Looking For Larger Aircraft Incident: BAW A320 at Frankfurt on Jun 16th 2023, hydraulic leak A British Airways Airbus A320-200, registration G-EUUK performing flight BA-916 from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Frankfurt/Main (Germany), was descending towards Frankfurt when the crew reported hydraulic problems. The aircraft continued for a safe landing on Frankfurt's runway 07C. A passenger reported the crew announced in flight that they had technical problems. After landing a lot of emergency services responded, the crew announced they had a hydraulic leak, emergency services needed to pump the remaining hydraulic fluid off. The aircraft subsequently taxied to the apron about 2 hours after landing. The aircraft remained on the ground for about 20 hours, then positioned back to London Heathrow. https://www.avherald.com/h?article=50abfa49&opt=0 Incident: TUI B788 at Cancun on Jun 15th 2023, flaps problem A TUI Airways Boeing 787-8, registration G-TUIE performing flight BY-659 from Cancun (Mexico) to Bristol,EN (UK), was climbing out of Cancun's runway 12R when the crew stopped the climb at 5000 feet due to problems with the flaps. The aircraft subsequently climbed to 8000 feet for about 30 minutes, then returned to Cancun for a safe landing at a higher than normal speed (about 170 knots over ground) on runway 12R about one hour after departure. A passenger reported the crew announced the flaps had become stuck, they were landing back at a higher than normal speed. The aircraft remained on the ground in Cancun for three days. https://www.avherald.com/h?article=50abf813&opt=0 NTSB details unresponsive jet’s fatal flight over DC region Federal officials said a private jet, intercepted by fighters earlier this month over the D.C. region, flew with an unresponsive crew for hours near four major cities and some of the world’s most restricted airspace. In its preliminary findings released Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board said flight controllers lost contact with the Cessna Citation 560 soon after it departed Elizabethton, Tennessee, early in the afternoon on Sunday, June 4. According to air traffic records, a routine radio exchange over flight level clearance was the last controllers in Atlanta heard from pilot Jeff Hefner 15 minutes after takeoff. The Cessna then flew solely under computer guidance for the next hour before reaching its intended destination of Long Island, New York. With nobody at the controls to carry out a landing, the aircraft circled to the southwest and held its altitude of 34,000 feet for more than 300 miles — approaching New York City, Philadelphia and Baltimore before passing directly over the nation’s capital. “They knew the route and approved it — all routine. What’s not routine here is the plane approached Long Island while on the autopilot,” WTOP anchor and commercial pilot Dan Ronan said, and with everyone onboard incapacitated by that point, “it made a 180-degree turn and continued flying.” An overview of the Cessna’s flight track, published Wednesday in a report from federal crash investigators. (Courtesy NTSB) Two F-16 aircrafts, scrambled from Joint Base Andrews to intercept the uncommunicative aircraft, were the sources of a sonic boom that startled residents in Northern Virginia, Washington and Maryland. Efforts to contact the pilot through radio transmissions, flight maneuvers and flare deployments all failed, the NTSB reported, before the plane likely exhausted its fuel supply and plunged into the Blue Ridge Mountains south of Staunton in Virginia. Four people were aboard: Hefner, a caretaker from Jamaica and a real estate broker returning from a family visit along with her 2-year-old daughter. None survived. Hefner was an accomplished pilot with a 25-year history in aviation totaling nearly 35,000 flight hours as of May, of which 850 were logged in the Cessna 500 series. Investigators are considering whether the plane’s occupants died as a result of a catastrophic event with its oxygen or pressurization system — an F-16 reported seeing the Cessna’s pilot slumped over in the cockpit, unconscious. Complicating the search for answers was the near-total extent of the aircraft’s destruction, with transportation officials describing the wreckage as “extremely fragmented” and “scattered” around a charred crater in the woods. “The signatures observed during an examination of the terrain, trees, and wreckage found at the accident site all were consistent with a high velocity, near vertical descent,” the NTSB wrote. “Fragments of both wings, fuselage, empennage, in addition to both engines, were located in the debris field. Flight control continuity could not be established due to the fragmentation of the wreckage. The cockpit was destroyed in the impact.” Officials have not found the Cessna’s cockpit voice recorder among the debris field in the two weeks since the crash. The NTSB said the private aircraft was not equipped with a flight data recorder, and was not required to have one. In addition to combing through debris, investigators are also turning to maintenance inspection records and air traffic control audio recordings to piece together what happened. https://wtop.com/local/2023/06/ntsb-details-unresponsive-jets-fatal-flight-over-dc-region/ Laws getting tougher in Colorado for suspects who point lasers at aircraft Colorado will soon get tougher on people who point lasers at aircraft, the result of several years of concern about the dangerous trend. "It's hard to catch them, but with the new legislation and the more resources that are out there now once we can we can actually find a spot, we have somebody to give it to now that has the ability to go act on it," said Flight For Life pilot Mark Burrows. The new law making it a felony will add to existing federal law against pointing lasers at aircraft. But police and sheriffs are often the ones going after people who do it, not the FBI, so having state law in place will allow them to do more than simply take away the lasers. Offenders will now face the potential of fines and jail time with the offense becoming a Class 6 felony in Colorado. "Anything coming up at the helicopter I don't generally like, lasers or bullets," said Mark Burrows, a Flight For Life pilot who previously served as a helicopter pilot in Iraq and Afghanistan and survived being shot down in Iraq. Burrows keeps a database of laser incidents involving Flight For Life aircraft. There have been 30 or 40 over the past two years. "It tells us certain times of day where it's happening, when it's happening. If it's happening from a certain spot all the time. We can help law enforcement narrow down when, what time of the day, who might be doing it." Nearly all the incidents he's been tracking have been along the Front Range. It's been serious enough that one Flight For Life staffer is no longer in the air. "We have one of our crew members lose a third of their vision and can't fly anymore." Lasers are not prohibited in the U.S. and there are now companies manufacturing devices powerful enough to point and circle stars. Some incidents involving aircraft likely have been in error, but Burrows says when they track and continue to interfere, it's more insidious. Light scatters through windows in cockpits creating blinding glare. "Once it strikes you in the eye it pretty much blinds you momentarily," Burrows described. The new law will kick in July 1 and pilots from commercial aircraft, medical helicopters and police helicopters are all hoping for more enforcement to reduce incidents and dangers. "Even if it's innocent, just don't do it," said Burrows. https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/laws-tougher-pressure-mounts-suspects-point-lasers-aircraft/ United Airlines Boeing 777 Returns To Los Angeles With Smoke In Cockpit The aircraft didn't make it far before it returned safely to LAX. United Airlines flight UA1158, operated by a Boeing 777-200, was headed from LA to Hawaii when reports of smoke on the flight deck required the aircraft to turn back and return to base swiftly. The flight had initially departed from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Wednesday, June 21st, 15 minutes behind its scheduled departure time of 08:35. It was expected to make an un-eventful journey into the Pacific, with an estimated arrival time to Honolulu's Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL), by 11:05. However, only after 30 minutes from take-off, the crew reported smoke both in the cockpit and parts of the cabin, before raising the alarm. Firefighters were ready. With the captain reporting issues back to base, the flight circled over Los Angeles briefly before touching down only 45 minutes after take-off. The Los Angeles City Fire Department met the flight on the apron to assist. The plane was able to gate normally, and there have been no injury reports to the 360 passengers and ten crew. According to data from Flightradar24.com, United Airlines has rescheduled a new service to transport passengers to Honolulu, with an expected departure time of 16:15 on Wednesday, arriving at HNL after 19:00. N779UA, the aircraft in question, is a Boeing 777-200 with a ripe old age of almost 27 years. Having been delivered brand new to United Airlines, it is the classic UA grey and blue; it now sports the updated livery for UA and operates primarily trans-continental flights between the East and West Coast of the US, including jaunts to Hawaii. The aircraft is scheduled to perform a flight on June 22nd, between Los Angeles and New York (Newark), as UA2471. However, this could be subject to change. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating the incident. Not the first time On Friday, September 2nd, last year, a United Airlines flight (UA71) from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) was forced to reject takeoff at high speed after smoke was seen in the cabin. The flight, operated by a Boeing 777-200, was cleared for takeoff at around 09:50 local time, over 30 minutes later than the scheduled departure, and accelerated to 90 knots before aborting takeoff. Reports claim that light smoke formed in the cabin, forcing pilots to perform the emergency stop. Fire and emergency services arrived on the runway less than 10 minutes later. The crew then decided to conduct an evacuation, with 253 passengers and 13 teams safely exiting the plane. Passengers were then bussed back to the terminal, and the affected aircraft returned to the apron. Two people on the flight were treated for smoke inhalation. According to a report from NL Times, a spokesperson for the Kennemerland Security Region said, "A small, electrical short circuit may have caused it." Given the threat posed by smoke in the cabin, which could indicate a range of critical problems, if the aircraft took off, it would have turned back around and performed an emergency landing. https://simpleflying.com/boeing-777-united-airlines-returns-los-angeles-smoke-cockpit-june-2023/ Sri Lankan Airlines says sick cockpit crew delayed Korea flight State-run SriLankan Airlines said a flight to Korea was delayed after a ‘cockpit crew member’ fell sick and a rested replacement conforming to aviation safety regulation could not be found until the next morning. SriLankan flight UK 470 which was to depart on June 20, 2023 at 2020 hours with a batch of applicants seeking jobs in Korea. “…[D]ue to the various regulations for fatigue and safety that govern operating crew, there was no available replacement until the morning of 21 June 2023,” the airline said in a statement. “SriLankan Airlines regrets the inconvenience caused to its guests by the delay of UL 470.” “The airline is also working with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment and Korean authorities to rebook the passengers scheduled to travel to Seoul for work on the next earliest flight. SriLankan said its flights to South Korea is primarily based on supporting the travel needs of migrant workers, and has been working with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment since April 2022. https://economynext.com/sri-lankan-airlines-says-sick-cockpit-crew-delayed-korea-flight-124129/ FedEx to shut down 29 more aircraft as demand shrinks Fleet will still grow as newer freighters get delivered FedEx plans to remove 29 aircraft from its fleet this year through permanent retirement and temporary storage, fulfilling its new program to eliminate permanent costs and make its logistics network more flexible as global trade slows. CEO Raj Subramaniam said on Tuesday’s earnings briefing that the Express unit will park 20 aircraft in fiscal year 2024 and permanently retire nine additional MD-11 freighters. But the latest fleet statistics show the integrated logistics and parcel carrier’s mainline fleet will actually grow by 10 aircraft this year as Boeing planes ordered years ago are delivered. FedEx Express retired 18 aircraft in the just-completed fiscal year, including 12 MD-11s, four Boeing 757-200s and two Airbus A300-600s. FedEx wrote off the $70 million book value of the planes plus 34 related engines in its fourth-quarter results. FedEx (NYSE: FDX) began flying less in October as part of a corporate restructuring aimed at improving efficiency and reducing immediate costs as the downturn in shipping and e-commerce sales took hold. Express revenues fell 13% in the fourth quarter, ended May 31, to $10.4 billion while operating income was halved at $430 million. Success in decreasing expenses and higher U.S. yields partially offset lower volumes and helped improve profits, which tumbled 64% for the full year. The company said Express package volumes declined 7%, an improvement from the third quarter. Since fall, the company’s in-house airline has slashed dozens of daily flights from its schedule, accelerated the retirement of aging aircraft and deactivated other aircraft until demand picks up. Management has also indicated it plans to rely more heavily on partner airlines in the future instead of purchasing capacity itself to improve cash flow and prioritizing owned aircraft for parcel shipments over heavy freight, which will be moved more by third parties. FedEx reduced global flight hours by 12%, year over year, during the fourth quarter. Domestic aircraft utilization is down even more, according to a recent analysis by Morgan Stanley. “We continue to make significant progress in taking cost out of our network, delivering a $2 billion year-over-year reduction in operating cost in the fourth quarter of FY ’23. This included more effectively matching flying with demand, marking the first quarter of this year where our flight hours declined more than the underlying volumes,” said Subramaniam. The express delivery company decommissioned its few remaining MD-10-30 cargo jets in December. Those planes were taken off the accounting books at the end of fiscal year 2022 but were utilized a few months longer because FedEx was still anticipating continued strong demand midway through last year. Overall fleet size decreased during the fiscal year by 10 units, with retirements offset by the addition of 14 factory-built Boeing 767-300 freighters and two Boeing 777s. FedEx currently has 700 aircraft, including 407 mainline aircraft and 293 feeder aircraft — 14 more than the prior year. Decisions on aircraft acquisitions were made years ago, well before the current financial pressures forced FedEx to rebalance its network and consolidate Express and Ground operations to better utilize existing infrastructure and personnel. The fleet additions are mostly for fleet modernization as they will replace aircraft being retired. FedEx currently has 46 MD-11s, which will be phased out by fiscal 2028. During the next two years, FedEx plans to add 55 aircraft to its fleet, the majority of them small feeder aircraft operated by contractors. It will get rid of 18 MD-11s, while adding 24 767s and six 777s, 27 all-new Cessna 408 SkyCourier aircraft, and 16 ATR72-600s, barring production delays. The Cessnas and ATRs are small turbo-prop planes. FedEx has committed to buying 41 SkyCouriers and 17 ATR72s. After fiscal year 2025, FedEx has no firm commitments for aircraft purchases. Capital expenditures for aircraft are expected to decrease to about $1 billion in fiscal 2026, the company’s CEO said. For FedEx Corp., overall, fourth-quarter adjusted operating income dropped 20% to $1.77 billion. Management recently agreed on a five-year contract with its pilots’ union. Pilots will vote next month on whether to ratify the deal. https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fedex-to-shut-down-29-more-aircraft-as-demand-shrinks Boeing Sees Regional Carriers Looking For Larger Aircraft Boeing says some airlines may substitute regional jets with single-aisle aircraft. Economic factors and resource considerations are driving a shift in the regional jet market, according to Boeing Commercial Airplanes VP Darren Hulst. The company’s 2023 Commercial Market Outlook, published June 17 ahead of the Paris Air Show, forecast a requirement for 1,810 regional jets below 100 seats over the next two decades, down by 15% on last year’s projection. Hulst told ATW that the downward revision was being driven by a pilot shortage and increased demand for larger single-aisle aircraft. “We anticipate that the pilot situation will resolve itself over time through the principles of supply and demand,” he said. “But the value proposition of larger jets becomes more compelling going forward. Market growth coupled with constraints in terms of slots, gates, and infrastructure prompts airlines to seek the most cost-effective capacity in the market.” Hulst said that regional jets are not the lowest-cost in capacity, prompting airlines, especially in larger regional jet markets, to substitute them with larger or single-aisle aircraft. “This enables them to achieve greater efficiency and meet capacity growth requirements,” he added. However, Hulst said that despite the forecast demand drop, regional jets will continue to serve an important part of the market, particularly in small areas where essential air service is crucial. The regional jet market will also be among the most affected by emerging aircraft technologies, such as electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicles, he said. https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/location/boeing-sees-regional-carriers-looking-larger-aircraft Curt Lewis