Flight Safety Information - April 10, 2024 No. 073 In This Issue : Incident: Southwest B737 near Fort Walton Beach on Apr 8th 2024, wheel well fire indication : Incident: ANZ B789 near Auckland on Apr 8th 2024, hydraulic problems : Aircraft Cabin Air International Conference - 17 & 18 September - London : Incident: France A319 near Budapest on Apr 8th 2024, smoke/fumes in cockpit : Accident: Europa B789 at Santo Domingo on Apr 7th 2024, foreign object debris penetrates fuselage on landing : US NTSB chair vows to be 'fierce advocate' for safety in new term : FAA Investigates Claims by Boeing Whistleblower About Flaws in 787 Dreamliner : Air Force contractor who walked into moving propeller had 'inadequate training' when killed : Air Canada pilots land a Boeing 737 in Idaho after another in-flight emergency : GAO Report on Coast Guard Aviation : Woman Claims She Went Into Cardiac Arrest On An American Airlines Flight After Being Left For ‘Hours Upon Hours’ in a Wheelchair During Prolonged Delay : Air Astana Upgrades Safety Training with CEET and RFFT Simulators in Astana, Kazakhstan : PhD GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY : CALENDAR OF EVENTS Incident: Southwest B737 near Fort Walton Beach on Apr 8th 2024, wheel well fire indication A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700, registration N496WN performing flight WN-6080 from Fort Walton Beach,FL to Dallas Love,TX (USA) with 115 people on board, was climbing out of Fort Walton Beach when the crew received indication of a wheel well fire and decided to divert to Atlanta,GA (USA). After working the checklists the crew advised ATC the fire indication did not extinguish. The aircraft landed on Atlanta's runway 09R about 45 minutes after departure. A replacement Boeing 737-700 registration N276WN reached Dallas with a delay of about 3 hours. The occurrence aircraft returned to service about 14.5 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=5173572b&opt=0 Incident: ANZ B789 near Auckland on Apr 8th 2024, hydraulic problems An ANZ Air New Zealand Boeing 787-9, registration ZK-NZI performing flight NZ-902 from Auckland (New Zealand) to Papeete (French Polynesia), was climbing out of Auckland when the crew levelled off at FL250 following a hydraulic problem. After consultation with dispatch and maintenance the crew decided to return to Auckland for a safe landing about 70 minutes after departure. The airline reported due to limited engineering facilities in Papeete the decision was made to return to Auckland following hydraulic problems. The rotation was cancelled. https://avherald.com/h?article=5173556f&opt=0 Incident: France A319 near Budapest on Apr 8th 2024, smoke/fumes in cockpit An Air France Airbus A319-100, registration F-GRHF performing flight AF-1088 from Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) to Bucharest Otopeni (Romania), was enroute at FL390 about 60nm south of Budapest (Hungary) when the crew declared PAN PAN reporting they had fumes in the cockpit and requested descent and to divert to Budapest. The crew later reported they had smoke and fumes in the cockpit and cabin. The aircraft landed safely on Budapest's runway 13R about 25 minutes after leaving FL390, vacated the runway, stopped briefly on the parallel taxiway and taxied to the apron. Passengers reported the crew told them about a technical problem at first, then they were told it was smoke on the flight deck. The remainder of the flight as well as the return flight were cancelled. The passengers were rebooked onto other flights. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Budapest about 21 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=51735412&opt=0 Accident: Europa B789 at Santo Domingo on Apr 7th 2024, foreign object debris penetrates fuselage on landing An Air Europa Boeing 787-9, registration EC-NBX performing flight UX-89 from Madrid,SP (Spain) to Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), landed on Santo Domingo's runway 17 and taxied to the apron. The aircraft was unable to depart for the return flight however due to a number of punctures of the fuselage received during landing. According to preliminary information the runway asphalt surface partially collapsed on landing, debris of the runway surface impacted and penetrated the fuselage. The airport reported operations at Santo Domingo's Las Americas Airport were temporarily suspended after the runway's asphalt layer lifted. https://avherald.com/h?article=51732a47&opt=0 US NTSB chair vows to be 'fierce advocate' for safety in new term WASHINGTON (Reuters) - National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy will tell lawmakers she is committed to winning approval of safety recommendations and scrutinizing federal agencies. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee is holding a hearing Wednesday on President Joe Biden's nomination of Homendy to serve a new term heading the board that investigates air, rail, marine, pipeline and highway accidents. "On scene, my most important duty is to brief the families on what is often the worst day of their lives. It's why I fight so hard for NTSB safety recommendations," Homendy will say, according to her written testimony pledging to continue serving "as a fierce advocate for improving transportation safety." Homendy was the on-scene board member for last month's Baltimore bridge collapse and the Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 mid-air emergency prompted by a door panel blowout. Homendy, who has served on the board since 2018 and has been chair since August 2021, previously was a senior legislative staffer working on transportation issues. She will tell senators the NTSB in 2023 hired 71 people after hiring just 7 in 2017 boosting its headcount to 430. The NTSB has 2,200 domestic and 450 foreign cases annually in every mode of transportation, her testimony seen by Reuters says. Last month, Homendy criticized what she termed Boeing's lack of cooperation in the door plug probe including failing to disclose the names of 25 workers on the door crew at the 737 factory in Renton, Washington. After Homendy's comments, Boeing provided the 25 names. Boeing denied failing to cooperate. She has also urged action after a series of near-miss aviation safety incidents, and urged the Federal Aviation Administration to mandate retrofitting all planes with cockpit voice-recorders capturing 25 hours of data from the current two-hour loop. Homendy has also pushed for new train safety measures after the February 2023 derailment of a Norfolk Southern operated train in East Palestine, Ohio. Homendy previously criticized the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for failing to ensure driver assistance systems like Tesla Autopilot or nascent self-driving vehicles are safe. NHTSA declined to adopt NTSB's recommendations and said drivers are expected to "remain fully and continuously engaged in the driving task" but did push Tesla to recall 2 million vehicles over the lack of Autopilot safeguards in December to prevent driver misuse. Tesla said in December it did not agree with NHTSA's analysis but would deploy an over-the-air software update that will "incorporate additional controls and alerts" to further encourage drivers to adhere to their continuous driving responsibility when using Autopilot. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-ntsb-chair-vows-fierce-101012106.html FAA Investigates Claims by Boeing Whistleblower About Flaws in 787 Dreamliner WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating claims made by a Boeing engineer who says that sections of the fuselage of the 787 Dreamliner are improperly fastened together and could break apart mid-flight after thousands of trips. The engineer, Sam Salehpour, who worked on the plane, detailed his allegations in interviews with The New York Times and in documents sent to the FAA. A spokesperson for the agency confirmed that it was investigating the allegations but declined to comment on them. Salehpour, who has worked at Boeing for more than a decade, said the problems stemmed from changes in how the enormous sections were fitted and fastened together in the assembly line. The plane’s fuselage comes in several pieces, all from different manufacturers, and they are not exactly the same shape where they fit together, he said. Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times Boeing conceded those manufacturing changes were made, but a spokesperson for the company, Paul Lewis, said there was “no impact on durability or safe longevity of the airframe.” Lewis said Boeing had done extensive testing on the Dreamliner and “determined that this is not an immediate safety of flight issue.” “Our engineers are completing complex analysis to determine if there may be a long-term fatigue concern for the fleet in any area of the airplane,” Lewis said. “This would not become an issue for the in-service fleet for many years to come, if ever, and we are not rushing the team so that we can ensure that analysis is comprehensive.” In a subsequent statement, Boeing said it was “fully confident in the 787 Dreamliner,” adding that “these claims about the structural integrity of the 787 are inaccurate and do not represent the comprehensive work Boeing has done to ensure the quality and long-term safety of the aircraft.” Salehpour’s allegations add another element to the intense scrutiny that Boeing has been facing since a door panel blew off a 737 Max jet during an Alaska Airlines flight in early January, raising questions about the company’s manufacturing practices. Since then, the plane-maker has announced a leadership overhaul, and the Justice Department has begun a criminal investigation. Salehpour’s concerns are set to receive an airing on Capitol Hill . Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s investigations subcommittee, is planning to hold a hearing with Salehpour on April 17. Blumenthal said he wanted the public to hear from the engineer firsthand. “Repeated, shocking allegations about Boeing’s manufacturing failings point to an appalling absence of safety culture and practices — where profit is prioritized over everything else,” Blumenthal said in a statement. The Dreamliner is a wide-body jet that is more fuel efficient than many other aircraft used for long trips, in part because of its lightweight composite construction. First delivered in 2011, the twin-aisle plane has both racked up orders for Boeing and created headaches for the company. For years, the plane-maker has dealt with a succession of issues involving the jet, including battery problems that led to the temporary grounding of 787s around the world and quality concerns that more recently caused an extended halt in deliveries. Boeing has also confronted a slew of problems at its plant in South Carolina where the Dreamliner is built. A prominent Boeing whistleblower who raised concerns about manufacturing practices at the plant, John Barnett, was found dead last month with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Dreamliner was a pioneer in using large amounts of so-called composite materials rather than traditional metal to build the plane, including major sections like the fuselage, as the aircraft’s body is known. Often made by combining materials such as carbon and glass fibers, composites are lighter than metals but, as comparatively newer materials, less is known about how they hold up to the long-term stresses of flight. Those stresses create what engineers call fatigue, which can compromise safety if it causes the material to fail. Salehpour said he was repeatedly retaliated against for raising concerns about shortcuts he believed that Boeing was taking in joining together the pieces of the Dreamliner’s fuselage. Debra S. Katz, a lawyer for Salehpour, said that her client raised his concerns with supervisors and tried to discuss them in safety meetings, but that company officials did not listen. Instead, she said that Salehpour was silenced and transferred to work on another wide-body aircraft, the 777. Salehpour said that after his transfer, he found additional problems with how Boeing was assembling the fuselage of the 777. “This is the culture that Boeing has allowed to exist,” Katz said. “This is a culture that prioritizes production of planes and pushes them off the line even when there are serious concerns about the structural integrity of those planes and their production process.” In its statement, Boeing said that it encouraged its workers “to speak up when issues arise” and that retaliation was “strictly prohibited.” The FAA interviewed Salehpour on Friday, Katz said. In response to questions about the Dreamliner, Mike Whitaker, the agency’s administrator, reiterated that the regulator was taking a hard line against Boeing after the Alaska Airlines episode. “This won’t be back to business as usual for Boeing,” Whitaker said in a statement. “They must commit to real and profound improvements. Making foundational change will require a sustained effort from Boeing’s leadership, and we are going to hold them accountable every step of the way.” Salehpour said the shortcuts that he believed Boeing was taking resulted in excessive force being applied to narrow unwanted gaps in the assembly connecting pieces of the Dreamliner’s fuselage. He said that force led to deformation in the composite material, which he said could increase the effects of fatigue and lead to premature failure of the composite. John Cox, a former airline pilot who runs a safety consulting firm, said that while composites were more tolerant of excess force than metals, it was harder to see that composites had been stressed to the point that they would fail. “They just snap,” he said. “The catastrophic in-flight breakup, yes, that’s a theoretical possibility,” Cox said. “That’s why you’d want to have the testing done to preclude that.” Boeing’s tests are an appropriate step, Cox said, because “if the degradation goes far enough, that could potentially lead to a catastrophic failure.” https://www.yahoo.com/news/faa-investigates-claims-boeing-whistleblower-165636095.html Air Force contractor who walked into moving propeller had 'inadequate training' when killed Inadequate training, poor lighting and more factors are to blame for the death of a California contractor killed after she walked into a plane's moving propeller in California last fall, United States Air Force officials have found. Stephanie Cosme, 32, of Palmdale, was struck and critically injured the evening of Sept. 7, 2023, when she "inadvertently walked into the parked remotely piloted aircraft’s rotating propeller" at Gray Butte Field Airfield, according to an Air Force accident investigation report. Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles. The airfield where Cosme was killed is owned and operated by General Atomics and located near Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County. Noisy and poor conditions also factor in engineer's death Cosme, a test engineer for Sumaria Systems, was performing test support functions for the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, before she walked into the MQ-9A's propeller during ground tests and was killed, according to the report released Friday. Other factors including noisy conditions, poor conditions, and a rush to finish testing, all contributed to Cosme's loss of situational awareness during the incident, the report continues. Cosme lost situational awareness, test were rushed Accident Investigation Board President Brig. Gen. Lance R. French determined that Cosme "was incorrectly instructed or trained on how to take telemetry readings when approaching the MQ-9A while the engine was running" and that she lost situational awareness walking around the aircraft taking telemetry readings with a hand-held measurement device. According to the report, French also found "a clear lack of communication among the contractor test team and ground support personnel. He also wrote that due to previous delays and cancellations, the tests conducted on Sept. 7 "were rushed." https://www.yahoo.com/news/air-force-contractor-walked-moving-141548400.html Air Canada pilots land a Boeing 737 in Idaho after another in-flight emergency An Air Canada Boeing 737 Max 8 landed safely in Idaho after experiencing an in-flight emergency Tuesday when pilots received a warning light in the flight deck, airline and airport officials said. The issue was determined to be a faulty cargo hold indicator, Air Canada said in an email, without elaborating. Boeing has been under intense scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers since January, when part of the fuselage on a Boeing 737 Max 9 jet blew out midflight, exposing a gaping hole and forcing pilots to make an emergency landing. It’s the deepest crisis for the iconic aircraft manufacturer since a pair of deadly crashes involving Max jets in 2018 in Indonesia and 2019 in Ethiopia. On Tuesday, Air Canada said Flight 997 from Mexico City to Vancouver, Canada, diverted to Boise Airport as a precautionary measure after the warning light came on. The aircraft landed normally at 10:59 a.m. and was met by first responders, airline officials said. The plane will stay in Boise at least overnight, according to airline officials. According to Transport Canada, the plane has been registered to Air Canada since Jan. 29, 2019. Its year of manufacture was also listed as 2019. The 122 passengers and six crew members were waiting in Boise on Tuesday for a different jet to take them to Vancouver, airline officials said. No injuries were reported, Boise Airport officials said in a post on Facebook. Boeing officials didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday. Airline executives have expressed their frustration with Boeing, and even minor incidents involving jets the company produced are attracting extra attention. A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 safely returned to Denver on Sunday after the engine cover fell off and struck the wing flap during takeoff, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. https://fortune.com/2024/04/09/air-canada-pilots-boeing-737-idaho-emergency/ GAO Report on Coast Guard Aviation The following is the April 9, 2024, Government Accountability Office report Coast Guard: Aircraft Fleet and Aviation Workforce Assessments Needed. From the report What GAO Found The U.S. Coast Guard relies on its aircraft to support its many missions, using them most heavily for search and rescue. However, its aircraft generally did not meet the Coast Guard’s 71 percent availability target during fiscal years 2018 through 2022. Specifically, the aircraft fleet availability ranged from 66 percent to 68 percent during this timeframe. The Coast Guard set this target to help ensure a high probability that its air stations can deploy at least one aircraft on short notice for search and rescue. Coast Guard officials attributed the aircraft fleet generally not meeting availability targets to maintenance and repair challenges. As of January 2024, the Coast Guard had four programs underway to modernize its aircraft and help ensure they are available for operations in the coming decades, at an estimated cost of $105.6 billion. These programs were generally meeting their approved cost and schedule baselines. One of these programs aims to consolidate the fleet from 98 short-range and 48 medium-range helicopters to an all medium-range helicopter fleet. This would reduce the fleet size from 146 to at least 127 total helicopters. However, the Coast Guard has not fully assessed whether this transition will result in the type and quantity of helicopters needed to meet its mission demands. For example, it has not conducted an analysis of alternatives—an analytical study comparing the operational effectiveness, costs, and risks—to determine the best suited aircraft to meet mission needs. Assessing different helicopters using such an analysis would help the Coast Guard determine the best alternative to replace its short-range helicopter. Additionally, a fleet mix analysis would help ensure it identifies the necessary number of helicopters it requires to meet its mission demands. As of July 2023, the Coast Guard had 387 of 4,134 (9 percent) of its authorized military aviation workforce positions vacant. However, the Coast Guard has not fully determined its aviation workforce needs. Coast Guard guidance calls for the Coast Guard to assess and determine necessary staffing levels and skills to meet mission needs. This may be higher or lower than the number of its authorized positions. The Coast Guard has not used this process for a large portion of its aviation workforce, including all 25 of its air stations and its major aircraft repair facility. Until such analysis is completed, the Coast Guard will not fully understand the resources it requires for its aviation units. Why GAO Did This Study The Coast Guard, a multi-mission military service within the Department of Homeland Security, is responsible for protecting and defending more than 100,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways. It relies heavily on its fleet of about 200 aircraft to do so. Several of the Coast Guard’s aircraft are approaching the end of their original service lives. The Coast Guard is amid a multibillion-dollar acquisition effort to modernize its aircraft fleet. It has also reported challenges maintaining a sufficient workforce to meet its growing mission demands. The James N. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 includes a provision for GAO to review issues related to Coast Guard aircraft availability. This report examines, among other things, (1) the extent Coast Guard aircraft met operational availability targets, (2) Coast Guard efforts to modernize its aircraft fleet, and (3) the extent it has determined its aviation-related workforce needs. GAO analyzed Coast Guard documentation and data on aircraft availability, acquisitions, and aviation workforce. GAO also interviewed Coast Guard officials, including those representing eight of 25 air stations with a mix of aircraft and geographic locations. What GAO Recommends GAO is making five recommendations, including that the Coast Guard assess the type and number of helicopters, and aviation workforce size, needed to meet mission demands. The Department of Homeland Security concurred with these recommendations. https://news.usni.org/2024/04/10/gao-report-on-coast-guard-aviation Woman Claims She Went Into Cardiac Arrest On An American Airlines Flight After Being Left For ‘Hours Upon Hours’ in a Wheelchair During Prolonged Delay An elderly American Airlines passenger claims she went into cardiac arrest on a flight to Chicago after she was left for ‘hours upon hours’ in a wheelchair during a prolonged delay which left her in the hospital for days racking up a huge medical bill and leaving her with lasting heart problems. 71-year-old Pamela Harrison is now suing American Airlines for negligence and breach of contract after she says she was “jammed into a seat on an airplane” causing her to go into ventricular fibrillation when she tried to rise from her seat. Pamela was flying from Nashville International Airport to Chicago O’Hare on May 7, 2023, and had booked and paid for disability assistance due to walking issues. Pamela normally uses a walker to help her move independently but was made to check in into the aircraft meaning she was reliant on a wheelchair assistant. American Airlines had emailed passengers ahead of the flight to tell them that departure was meant to go ahead as scheduled, but when Pamela was all checked in and already through security, she discovered that the flight had been delayed. At this point, Pamela says she was simply abandoned in a wheelchair at the gate. As the delay stretched on, Pamela claims she tried to ask for help but was denied assistance as the departure stretched from 5 pm into the late evening hours. Without her walker, Pamela was unable to get up to get food or drink, or to use the restroom. The flight did eventually depart on the same day but Pamela claims she was ‘jammed’ into a seat that didn’t accommodate her condition, preventing her from stretching her legs. It’s this prolonged period of non-movement that Pamela says led her to suffering a cardiac arrest when the plane landed in Chicago and she attempted to rise from her seat. Paramedics rushed to the plane and shocked Pamela’s heart before she was rushed to Amita Health Resurrection Health Center where she was treated for a heart attack. Although American Airlines contracts out wheelchair assistance services at Nashville Airport, the lawsuit argues that AA is vicariously liable for the actions of its contractor. “Due to the Defendants’ negligence and /or breach of contract, Plaintiff has suffered extraordinary, devastating, and permanent damages,” reads the lawsuit, which was filed in a Tennessee district court earlier this month. Pamela is suing American Airlines for $5 million in damages. American Airlines has not yet responded to the suit. https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2024/04/10/woman-claims-she-went-into-cardiac-arrest-on-an-american-airlines-flight-after-being-left-for-hours-upon-hours-in-a-wheelchair-during-prolonged-delay/ Air Astana Upgrades Safety Training with CEET and RFFT Simulators in Astana, Kazakhstan Air Astana has installed an Airbus A320 family cabin emergency evacuation trainer (CEET) and real fire fighting trainer (RFFT) simulators at its Flight Training Center in Astana, Kazakhstan. The simulators, the only ones of their kind in Kazakhstan, have the capability to simulate various practical emergency situations as part of the training of cabin attendants and pilots, including incapacitation of one of the pilots, emergency opening, crowd control and evacuation of passengers, depressurization, real firefighting and orientation in the aircraft cabin in conditions of heavy smoke. The airline has already begun safety and emergency training for existing and new cabin attendants and pilots. Air Astana Group conducting safety and evacuation training. Click to enlarge.Air Astana Group conducting safety and evacuation training The CEET and RFFT will be utilized throughout the year covering crew and pilot initial training for new joiners and the mandatory regulatory recurrent training required by legislation for current flight and cabin crew. “Flight safety and consequently our safety training is our top priority,” said Sandra Cullen, Vice President Training and Customer Experience. “New simulators are not only innovations, but also ensures our crews are trained to the highest standards in ‘reality’ conditions so that or customers can feel safe and cared for on every flight. These new simulators will allow the airline to save crew duty time, but most importantly enhance our already high level of flight and cabin crew training.” Air Astana Group currently operates a fleet of 50 aircraft split between Air Astana and FlyArystan. https://www.travelnewsasia.com/news24/104-AirAstana.shtml PhD GRADUATE RESEARCH SURVEY My name is Michail Karyotakis. I am a Research student at Cranfield University in the UK. Currently, I am working on my Research project, which is focused on Developing a Dynamic Safety Management Framework for Advanced Air Mobility Operations. The following Questionnaires serve the main purpose of data collection since data on the Research field is limited. The surveys are not affiliated with any airline, training organisation, or any other. Participation in the surveys is voluntary and anonymous (if desired by the participant). Each survey will take about 10 minutes to be completed. Thank you in advance for your time and patience. Your participation is highly appreciated. Please click the link below to enter the survey: https://cranfielduniversity.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1M8LnQdhnjnu0Jg (1) https://cranfielduniversity.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dmoQJRGyrp9PUEK (2) Student email: michail.k.karyotakis@cranfield.ac.uk CALENDAR OF EVENTS • Blazetech - Aircraft Fire Hazards, Protection, and Investigation Course June 4 - 7, 2024 • (APTSC) Asia and Pacific Turboprop Safety Conference - June 26 - 27, 2024 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia • Airborne Public Safety Association, Inc. (APSCON 2024) - July 29 - August 3; Houston TX • Asia Pacific Airline Training Symposium - APATS 2024, 0-11 September, 2024, Singapore • Aircraft Cabin Air International Conference - 17 & 18 September - London • 2024 Ground Handling Safety Symposium (GHSS) - September 17-18, 2024 - Fort Worth, TX • 2024 ISASI - Lisbon, Portugal - September 30 to October 4, 2024 • International Congress of Aerospace Medicine ICAM 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal, 3 - 5 October 2024 • Aviation Health Conference back on Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th October 2024 • 2024 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition - Oct. 22-24 (Vegas) Curt Lewis