søndag 30. juni 2019

GA - Ulykke i USA - ASN

Date:29-JUN-2019
Time:c. 18:00
Type:Silhouette image of generic M6 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different
Maule M-6-235 Super Rocket
Owner/operator:Private
Registration: N56512
C/n / msn: 7439C
Fatalities:Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 4
Other fatalities:0
Aircraft damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:Tern Lake NW of Moose Pass, Kenai Peninsula, AK -   United States of America
Phase: En route
Nature:Private
Departure airport:
Destination airport:
Narrative:
The aircraft impacted mountainous terrain north of Tern Lake, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska.
Three of the four occupants received fatal injuries. One occupant onboard the aircraft was seriously injured. Visibility conditions may have been a factor to the accident.  

Indisk Jaguar flyger gjør jobben..... The Aviationist

Etter bird strike, slipper han external stores og redder flyet, står det å lese. Hadde han ejected ville mange liv gått tapt.
Sjekk video her:
http://tinyurl.com/yylphju8

lørdag 29. juni 2019

Glad i alt som flyr

Foto: Live Gram
På besøk hos Puffin Sanctuary på Heimaey, Vestmannaeyar. Lundefugler som er skadd, denne her er vasket for olje, slippes ut straks de har kommet seg såpass at de kan fly. Akkurat dette individet er en ungfugl som nå straks skal ut og kose seg med 10 millioner artsfrender her på øya.

GA havari i Guatemala - ASN

Date:27-JUN-2019
Time:
Type:Silhouette image of generic C182 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different
Cessna 182Q
Owner/operator:Paradise Bound Ministries INC
Registration:N5388N*
C/n / msn:18267683
Fatalities:Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:0
Aircraft damage:Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:Chimaltenango -   Guatemala
Phase:En route
Nature:Private
Departure airport:Quiche
Destination airport:Guatemala City's international airport
Narrative:
The light plane crashed under unknown circumstances and was completely destroyed by fire. Both occupants , American national, were injured. One of them passed away due to the injures sustained in the crash. 

Check video her: http://tinyurl.com/y5pkcfdv

Trump og håndtlanger Bolton planlegger krig - NRK


USA utplasserer jagerfly i Qatar

Et titall amerikanske F-22 jagerfly er sendt til Qatar som ledd i USAs styrkeoppbygging som svar på Irans angivelige trusler. Her fra Ørlandet flystasjon der femtegenerasjonskampflyet F22 i fjor hadde fellestrening med F35 for første gang i Norge i fjor. Amerikanske F22 Raptor. Arkivfoto.

Et titall amerikanske F-22 jagerfly er sendt til Qatar som ledd i USAs styrkeoppbygging som svar på Irans angivelige trusler.
NTB
29. juni 2019 02:47 – Oppdatert 29. juni 2019 09:15
USAs sentralkommando opplyste fredag at F-22-flyene ankom al-Udeid-basen «for å forsvare amerikanske styrker og interesser».
Sentralkommandoen postet flere bilder av flyene som landet i Qatar torsdag, og sa at det er første gang slike fly har vært utplassert på al-Udeid-basen. De har tidligere vært på en base i Emiratene for å støtte USAs styrker i Syria.

Patriot og hangarskip
Fire bombefly av typen B-52 ble sendt til al-Udeid i begynnelsen av mai
etter at Det hvite hus kunngjorde at et hangarskip skulle sendes til regionen som svar på angivelige iranske trusler.
I de siste ukene er også rakettforsvarssystemer av typen Patriot sendt til regionen.

GA havari i USA - ASN

Date:27-JUN-2019
Time:02:32 UTC
Type:Silhouette image of generic BE55 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different
Beechcraft E55 Baron
Owner/operator:Industrial Power Inc
Registration: N664AR
C/n / msn: TE-1163
Fatalities:Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Other fatalities:1
Aircraft damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:5sm SW of Fayetteville Regional Airport/Grannis Field, Hope Mills, NC -   United States of America
Phase: Landing
Nature:Training
Departure airport:Fayetteville Regional Airport, NC (FAY/KFAY)
Destination airport:Fayetteville Regional Airport, NC (FAY/KFAY)
Narrative:
While practicing nighttime takeoffs and landings, the aircraft impacted a residential structure on Pasadena Avenue about 5 miles southwest of Fayetteville Regional Airport/Grannis Field in Cumberland County, North Carolina. The aircraft and house were destroyed. The sole pilot onboard the plane and one occupant inside the home were fatally injured. Another person in the house was seriously injured.

The aircraft was reportedly maneuvering when it crashes, according to the FAA. 

GA - Dårlig fuel planning - VG

SMÅFLY MÅTTE NØDLANDE I NABOLAG

Brendan Sullivan/Omaha World-Herald via AP/ NTB scanpix
En pilot i Omaha i USA ble fredag nødt til nødlande småflyet sitt i et nabolag, rundt 30 meter fra rullebanen til småflyplassen Millard, da flyet gikk tom for drivstoff. Piloten sier han var på vei til småflyplassen for å hente sønnen sin. Politiet i Omaha sier ingen personer ble skadet, skriver nyhetsbyrået AP.

UAM - Honeywells syn på tingenes tilstand - Intet hørt fra Luftfartstilsynet - AVweb

Six keys to winning the Urban Air Mobility race




June 2019

It follows every advance in aviation, from the boom in early airliners to the frenzy over very light jets in the 1990s: a gradual retrenchment as the best-prepared companies pull ahead of the pack. Now there are signs it’s beginning to happen in the white-hot competition over urban air mobility aircraft,
too.

With more than 150 companies worldwide racing to field UAM prototypes, the smartest are quietly preparing for the next phase: partnering with major aerospace suppliers that have the technology, global reach and certification expertise to make aircraft not just flyable, but viable.    
We’ve seen this change up close because of Honeywell Aerospace’s close relationship with the top UAM aircraft developers, regulators, industry groups and consulting firms worldwide. And because we’ve also got decades of experience helping aircraft get certified, we’ve got a pretty good idea of what’s coming next.
Here’s our view of the six areas where UAM companies will need to excel in the next few years:

FOUNDATIONS FOR AUTONOMOUS FLIGHT

Every trade study of urban air mobility is clear on one thing: to succeed in the long-term, companies must prepare for a future without pilots in the aircraft. Removing pilots dramatically increases payload and reduces labor costs.
The public is still skeptical: a survey by Booz Allen Hamilton for NASA found that only 21 percent of people would feel comfortable flying alone in an automated aircraft – though that number increased to 40 percent if they were accompanied by other passengers that they knew.
Two factors should increase public acceptance: the advent of self-driving cars and trucks, and the introduction of rugged, accurate flight systems.

A Honeywell engineer tests new flight systems in one of the company’s simulators in Phoenix, Arizona.
Honeywell, for example, is developing an integrated flight system that will grow to support autonomous operations. It combines a vehicle management computer, compact fly-by-wire computers, the new IntuVue RDR-84K radar and an array of sensors and navigators. Inertial measurement units provide location information even when radio or GPS signals are blocked, such as in “urban canyons” between buildings.

FLY-BY-WIRE

Companies that built their first UAM prototypes using controllers designed for small UAVs are discovering those systems simply are not robust enough for passenger flights.
Porsche Consulting study noted that the generally accepted risk models for hobby drones, when applied to 23,000 passenger drones clocking close to 50 million flight hours per year, would translate into one critical incident every other day – “which is clearly not acceptable.”
To bring air transport-level safety and reliability, the leading UAM companies are now looking to install true fly-by-wire computers.

Honeywell’s fly-by-wire computer for urban air mobility vehicles brings stability and safety to these new aircraft designs.
Honeywell’s fly-by-wire computers for UAM aircraft are derived from its systems for airliners, but are only about the size of a hardcover book. They are intended to work in threes, a design known as a triplex architecture.
The three computers continuously consolidate mode states, meaning they “vote” on actions, while equalizing commands across channels to isolate failures and prevent control upsets.
Each computer uses lockstep processing, meaning two computing paths run in parallel and constantly check each other’s work.

COLLISION AVOIDANCE TECHNOLOGY

Most UAM companies are flying their prototypes at small airports or over remote test ranges. But as designers begin to put the “urban” in urban air mobility, collision avoidance technologies will become critically important.
Honeywell pioneered the traffic collision avoidance system and enhanced ground proximity warning system used to keep passenger aircraft safe. This year it is debuting the new IntuVue RDR-84K for UAM and Part 23 aircraft.
The RDR-84K is a compact, software-based collision avoidance radar that “steers” multiple beams electronically using a small phased array. It has no moving parts and can mount flush against an aircraft’s skin.

ELECTRIC AND HYBRID-ELECTRIC PROPULSION

Advances in distributed propulsion – the use of multiple electric motors located around the aircraft – have helped fuel this boom in new aircraft designs.
Multirotor designs – including that of Volocopter, a Honeywell partner – distribute rotors around the edges of the aircraft. Pipistrel, another Honeywell partner, uses a “lift-and-cruise” design combining rotors and fixed wings. Lilium and other companies use “tilt-x” designs that can tilt wings, rotors or ducts.
Honeywell is developing an integrated propulsion system that includes motors, controllers, power conversion, distribution, propellers and fans. For longer-range VTOL aircraft, such as air ambulances that must venture into rural areas, the company has also introduced a hybrid-electric turbogenerator that combines the rugged HTS900 turbine engine with two 200kw generators.
The system burns conventional or bio-derived jet fuel and can feed motors or high-capacity batteries.

ACTUATION

Electromechanical actuators don’t get as much attention in the press, but they are key to the design of urban air mobility vehicles.
UAM aircraft will fly low, through thermals and the unusual winds caused by buildings. They must make pinpoint landings dozens of times a day, requiring dramatic power changes and fly-by-wire computers that make hundreds of tiny adjustments every second.
The aircraft’s actuators must perform millions of these movements, withstand the unusual vibrations caused by multiple rotors, and be impervious to bad weather, all while maintaining the highest degrees of precision and reliability.
That’s why Honeywell is introducing a line of electromechanical actuators especially for these aircraft, based on our extensive pedigree in commercial and military applications.

CERTIFICATION EXPERTISE

Finally, the winners in the UAM race will be able to navigate the regulations of multiple countries. Consultants can help, but savvy companies will pick partners with certified, ready-to-fly systems and decades of experience getting new aircraft in the air.

Honeywell’s urban air mobility team is working closely with aircraft designers around the world.

OUT OF FLIGHT TESTING, INTO YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

There’s no doubt that urban air mobility is here to stay. The excitement is building with every test-flight video that appears online. Now smart companies are partnering up for the next phase: getting passengers, not just hopes, aloft.
At Honeywell, our dedicated UAM team is actively looking for new partners. Learn more about our technology, sign up for updates or tell us about your project at our Urban Air Mobility systems page.

fredag 28. juni 2019

Helikopterulykke - HEMS i USA - ASN



Date:


28-JUN-2019
Time:01:00 LT
Type:Silhouette image of generic A109 model; specific model in this crash may look slightly different
AgustaWestland AW109S Grand
Owner/operator:North Memorial Health
Registration:N11NM
C/n / msn:22075
Fatalities:Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 3
Other fatalities:0
Aircraft damage:Substantial
Location:Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport (BRD), MN -   United States of America
Phase:Approach
Nature:Ambulance
Departure airport:
Destination airport:Crow Wing County Airport, MN (BRD/KBRD)
Narrative:
The helicopter impacted fenced field terrain while on a night approach to Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport (BRD), near Brainerd, Minnesota.
The helicopter sustained substantial damage. The pilot and nurse were fatally injured. A third occupant survived with serious injures.
Fog was present at the time of the accident. Damage was reported as "substantial" by the FAA.

Elfly - Oppdatering om denne modellen - Curt Lewis

This Cessna Aircraft Will Test an All-Electric Propulsion System

AeroTec is prepping to flight test a magniX all-electric propulsion system on a Cessna Caravan 208B turboprop plane.


Cessna Caravan Photo: Courtesy of Cessna
Furthering the aviation communities' aim to reduce carbon emissions -which tests, engineers and certifies aerospace projects and products-joined forces with Washington-based magniX to test the magniX 750 horsepower magni500 all-electric propulsion system on a Cessna Caravan 208B single-engined turboprop plane. The two companies are working together to get magniX's system certified and begin flight testing by the end of 2019.

"The electric-aviation revolution is very real, and AeroTec is the right team to help innovative aviation companies like magniX bring their technology to market sooner," said Lee Human, AeroTec's president and founder. "AeroTEC is responsible for the magni500-powered 208B's modification design, integration and flight test."

The Cessna Caravan is one of the world's most used Middle Mile (traveling fewer than 1,000 miles) planes, with more than 2,600 operating in 100 countries. By refitting this aircraft with magniX's electric-propulsion system, the industry will witness a quick hit to the emissions-reduction tally. The Caravan can seat up to 10 passengers and sports a range of 1,079 nautical miles, and it needs 2,055 feet for takeoff.

Owners configure these planes for business or cargo use, with a choice of three interior packages to luxe as little or lot as desired. The cockpit features the Garmin G1000 NXi avionics suite, with all kinds of displays and increased situational awareness."Retrofitting an iconic workhorse like the Cessna Caravan for the first time is no small feat. Through our work with AeroTec, we are committed to meeting and exceeding expectations of our solution so we can continue to advance electric aviation," said magniX CEO Roei Ganzarski. "Electrifying existing aircraft enables flexible, clean air-travel...at a fraction of the cost. And for operators not ready to make the leap into new, clean-sheet, all-electric aircraft, retrofitting the Cessna Caravan provides a solution that allows them to reap the benefits of clean, cost-effective aviation in a shorter time frame."

magniX began production of the propulsion system this spring, and AeroTec is busy modifying aircraft in anticipation of the new system. The first flight is scheduled for the end of this year at the AeroTec's Flight Test Center in Moses Lake, Wash.

Drittluft i mange fly - Curt Lewis

Airlines' dirty secret: Air quality is terrible inside airplanes


Flight attendants, passengers and flight crew often breathe toxic fumes - and the airlines are in denial

Flight attendants, pilots and the traveling public have complained for decades about health effects that they attribute to poor air quality in the aircraft cabin. Yet despite years of highlighting potential risks to air safety from toxic fumes, airline labor unions and airline safety advocates believe the aviation industry remains reluctant to address their concerns.

John Samuelsen, the president of the Transport Workers Union of America, a labor organization that represents over 17,000 flight attendants across the United States, characterized the problem as the "dirty little secret" of the airline industry.

Samuelsen told Salon that while this is issue is by no means new, airline labor unions have struggled to convince airlines to take their concerns seriously. (He noted TWU represents flight attendants at Southwest Airlines, JetBlue and Allegiant Air.)

Samuelsen explained that the air individuals breathe on commercial airplanes is a combination of recycled air within the cabin (that passengers and crew inhale and exhale), along with outside air that has been compressed by the aircraft's engines, known as "bleed air."

For decades, aircrafts have relied on bleed air for a range of purposes - from cabin pressurization to anti-icing to air conditioning and starting the engine - but if a seal inside the engine leaks, bleed air can mix with cabin air and can cause toxic fumes to leak into the cabin. Most passengers expect bleed air to be heavily filtered, but Samuelsen said that's often not the case.

"There's always a potential. . . that flight attendants, passengers or the flight crew are breathing in chemicals and things that can make you very sick - even carcinogens," Samuelsen said in reference to bleed air.

He claimed that while airlines are in "absolute denial" over problems with air quality, his union's concerns have managed to capture the attention of members of Congress, who responded by introducing a measure called the Cabin Air Safety Act to tackle the issue.

The legislation, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and in the House of Representatives by Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., would require commercial aircrafts to install, operate and constantly monitor carbon monoxide detectors during flights. It would also require flight attendants, pilots, aircraft technicians and first responders to undergo training at least once a year on how to identify and respond to incidents involving toxic fumes on aircrafts involving smoke or fumes.

The bill would direct the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to develop a standardized system for flight attendants and other airline crew to report incidents of smoke or fumes on board a commercial aircraft. Investigators would have to take place no more than seven days after an incident is reported to identify "any replaced, worn, missing, failed or improperly serviced components," according to a draft of the legislation. The agency would also be required to publish the data collected every three months on a public website.

"This legislation can protect the flying public and airline crews by ensuring the cabin air they breathe during flights is safe - free from any hidden and toxic fumes," said Blumenthal, who is a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

Samuelsen said the bill is "designed to compel operations like Southwest Airlines to pump air into the cabins that's chemical-free and carcinogen free."

Despite concerns by passengers and crews, the FAA told Congress in 2015 that the "risk for these issues" is "extremely low."

It remains unclear how often these toxic fume events occur. The FAA has said toxic fume events are extremely rare, while the Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents approximately 15,000 pilots at American Airlines, has said approximately 20,000 fume events have occurred over the past decade - an average of five per day. This disparity may result from a lack of uniform reporting procedures among various carriers.

The issue has prompted four flight attendants, all of whom work for Alaska Airlines, to file two lawsuits against Boeing Co. because of "devastating health effects" from what they allege was exposure to toxic fumes on flights.

Though most pilots, flight attendants and travelers will never experience a serious fume event, airline labor unions believe the potential threats are too serious to ignore.

"This should be a no brainer," Samuelsen said. "The current system that exists across the board in this industry is that the air quality of planes is completely horrific."

T-38 nær havari - Job well done - Curt Lewis

T-38 pilot who saved two lives and an aircraft receives top safety award

Maj. Gen. Patrick Doherty, commander of the 19th Air Force, presents Capt. Matthew Heath, an instructor pilot at Vance Air Force Base, Okla., with the Air Medal Feb. 6, 2018. at Vance Air Force Base, Okla. (Airman Zachary Heal/Air Force)

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. - Capt. Matthew Heath, a T-38 instructor pilot, was guiding a student during a landing in Amarillo, Texas, on Nov. 18, 2017, when the Talon suddenly lost thrust in both engines.

"When I saw the student move the throttle and nothing happened ... it was definitely nerve wracking to say the least," Heath told The Telegraph of Macon, Georgia.

Heath, who is assigned to the the 71st Flying Training Wing at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, took the controls and managed to guide the aircraft to a safe landing, saving the lives of himself and his student, and also saving the $8.2 million aircraft.

On Thursday, Gen. Dave Goldfein will present Heath with the Koren Kolligian Jr. Trophy at the Pentagon, according to the Air Force Safety Center.

The trophy, awarded annually to one airman by the chief of staff, recognizes outstanding feats of airmanship by aircrew members who - by extraordinary skill, exceptional alertness, ingenuity or proficiency - averted accidents or minimized the seriousness of the accidents in terms of injury, loss of life, aircraft damage or property damage, according to the Safety Center website.

This trophy memorializes 1st Lt. Koren Kolligian Jr., an Air Force pilot declared missing in the line of duty when his T-33 aircraft disappeared off the California coast on Sep. 14, 1955.

Heath, chief of training for the 25th Flying Training Squadron, previously accepted the Outstanding Airmanship Award from Air Education and Training Command's director of safety, according to The Telegraph.

The Warner Robins, Georgia, native has also received the Air Medal.

GPS poblemer ved Ben Gurion - Curt Lewis

Moscow blamed for disruption of GPS systems at Ben Gurion Airport

Israeli officials say interference caused by Russian military in Syria; Russian embassy dismisses accusation as 'fake news'


An airplane drives along the runway at Ben Gurion International Airport, on May 8, 2018. (Flash90)

Israeli officials on Thursday accused Russia of responsibility for the ongoing disruptions to the satellite navigation systems of airplanes flying around Ben Gurion International Airport.

The Russian embassy in Israel dismissed the allegations as "fake news" that they "couldn't respond to seriously."

The issue has not yet caused any accidents or safety incidents, but has a "significant impact on all aspects of operating a plane from the cockpit, as well as on managing air traffic," the Airports Authority said in a statement Wednesday.

The interference with the airplanes' GPS reception appears to stem from a form of electronic warfare known as "spoofing," which Russia has been accused of doing in the past as a defensive measure, despite the disruptions it causes to nearby aircraft and ships.

The interference appears to originate in Syria, where Russian troops and aircraft are fighting on behalf of the country's dictator, Bashar Assad, Israeli officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Israel Defense Forces refused to comment publicly on the source of the interference, but said it has not affected its operations.

"The issue is of civilian concern and the IDF provides technological support in order to facilitate freedom of movement within Israel's airspace," the army said. "The IDF operates continuously to maintain operational freedom of movement and superiority in the electromagnetic spectrum."

The Israeli Airline Pilots Association said Russia's spoofing was a fairly advanced method of feeding GPS receivers with incorrect location data by a transmitter, making it appear to the pilot as though the aircraft is in a different location, sometimes miles away. As the GPS receiver continues to show location information, it does not immediately appear as a malfunction.

"This type of blocking requires great technical knowledge and high mechanical capability, which is not possessed by individuals or organizations," the association wrote on Twitter.

Since the interference began, planes in Israel have had to use an alternative method for landings, known as the Instrument Landing System.

"It is a safe and professional method that is used every day in airports around the world, including Israel," the Airports Authority said.

The GPS reception problem only affects airplanes in the sky, not sensors on the ground.

"Ben Gurion Airport controllers have been giving full guidance to planes that are taking off and landing. At no point has there been a safety incident connected to this GPS interference or related to navigation instructions or flight paths," the airports spokesman said.

GPS spoofing problems have been reported in Russia in the past. In June 2017, over 20 ships experienced GPS interference while sailing through the Black Sea, showing the vessels to be 25 nautical miles (46.3 kilometers) closer to the shore than they actually were and in some cases on land. Similar anomalies have been reported around the Kremlin and Putin's Palace.

Researchers have surmised that Russian officials use GPS spoofing as a protective measure for Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Norwegian news outlet NRKbeta. During the GPS interference in the Black Sea, Putin was located nearby, inspecting a natural gas pipeline.

Areas in Norway and Finland close to the Russian border have also reported this type of GPS interference.

An24 ulykke i Russland - Curt Lewis

Accident: Angara AN24 at Nizhneangarsk on Jun 27th 2019, engine failure, veered off runway and collided with building

An Angara Airlines Antonov AN-24, registration RA-47366 performing flight 2G-200 from Ulan-Ude to Nizhneangarsk (Russia) with 43 passengers and 4 crew on board, was on approach to Nizhneangarsk when the left hand engine failed. The aircraft landed on Nizhneangarsk's runway 22 in the touch down zone at 10:24L (02:24Z) following a stable approach, rolled out on the center line for some distance, then veered right off the runway, went over soft ground and impacted a building, a fire broke out. The captain and flight engineer were killed in the accident, 44 people were able to evacuate or were rescued, 7 people were injured, 37 people remained uninjured including first officer and flight attendant. The aircraft was destroyed.

Russia's Ministry Emergency Ministry reported emergency services received the emergency call at about 10:30L after the aircraft broke through a fence catching fire and collided with sewage treatment plants. 44 people were rescued, 7 of them were injured. Two people on board have been killed. A fire on board of the aircraft was quickly extinguished by emergency services. (Editorial note: these numbers suggest, in combination with the official passenger and crew count by the airline, one person is still missing).

The airline reported RA-47366 performing flight 2G-200 from Ulan-Ude to Nizhneangarsk made an emergency landing at Nizhneangarsk, veered off the runway and collided with ground infrastructure. As result of the collision a fire occurred. All 43 passengers were promptly evacuated. The captain and flight engineer were killed, the first officer and the flight attendant escaped uninjured. The captain had 34 years of experience and 15,702 hours total, the first officer 20 years of experience and 6,315 hours total, the flight engineer 35 years of experience and 13,728 hours. The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC/MAK) have opened an investigation.

Rosaviatsia reported the crew declared "Distress" about 30km (16nm) from the airport reporting the failure of the left hand engine. Emergency services took their stand by positions for the arrival. On landing the aircraft went off the runway, collided with technical structures of the airport and caught fire. All passengers are alive, the captain and flight engineer died in the accident.

The MAK reported an accident happened to AN-24 RA-47366 at Nizhneangarsk. Two crew were killed, the aircraft burned partially down. A commission has been formed and has begun work to investigate the accident.

MAX - B737 varianten ser ut til å bli en katastrofe for Boieng - Curt Lewis

U.S. regulator cites new flaw on grounded Boeing 737 MAX


FILE PHOTO: The angle of attack sensor is seen on a 737 Max aircraft at the Boeing factory in Renton

WASHINGTON/SEATTLE (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has identified a new risk that Boeing Co must address on its 737 MAX before the grounded jet can return to service, the agency said on Wednesday.

The risk was discovered during a simulator test last week and it is not yet clear if the issue can be addressed with a software upgrade or will require a more complex hardware fix, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The FAA did not elaborate on the latest setback for Boeing, which has been working to get its best-selling airplane back in the air following a worldwide grounding in March in the wake of two deadly crashes within five months.

The new issue means Boeing will not conduct a certification test flight until July 8 in a best-case scenario, the sources said, but one source cautioned it could face further delays beyond that. The FAA will spend at least two to three weeks reviewing the results before deciding whether to return the plane to service, the people said.

Last month, FAA representatives told members of the aviation industry that approval of the 737 MAX jets could happen as early as late June.

The world's largest planemaker has been working on the upgrade for a stall-prevention system known as MCAS since a Lion Air crash in Indonesia in October, when pilots were believed to have lost a tug of war with software that repeatedly pushed the nose down.

A second deadly crash in March in Ethiopia also involved MCAS. The two accidents killed a total of 346 people.

"On the most recent issue, the FAA's process is designed to discover and highlight potential risks. The FAA recently found a potential risk that Boeing must mitigate," the FAA said in the statement emailed to Reuters. "The FAA will lift the aircraft's prohibition order when we deem it is safe to do so."

Boeing said in a securities filing late on Wednesday that the FAA has asked it to address through software changes a specific flight condition not covered in the company's already-unveiled software changes.

The U.S. planemaker also said it agreed with the FAA's decision and request, and was working on a fix to address the problem.

"Boeing will not offer the 737 MAX for certification by the FAA until we have satisfied all requirements for certification of the MAX and its safe return to service," Boeing wrote in the filing.

INTENSE SCRUTINY

Boeing's aircraft are being subjected to intense scrutiny and testing designed to catch flaws even after a years-long certification process.

Two people briefed on the matter told Reuters that an FAA test pilot during a simulator test last week was running scenarios seeking to intentionally activate the MCAS stall-prevention system. During one activation it took an extended period to recover the stabilizer trim system that is used to control the aircraft, the people said.

It was not clear if the situation that resulted in an uncommanded dive can be addressed with a software update or if it is a microprocessor issue that will require a hardware replacement.

In a separate statement, Boeing said addressing the new problem would remove a potential source of uncommanded movement by the plane's stabilizer.

A hardware fix could add new delays to the plane's return to service.

The FAA also said on Wednesday that it continues "to evaluate Boeing's software modification to the MCAS and we are still developing necessary training requirements. We also are responding to recommendations received from the Technical Advisory Board. The TAB is an independent review panel we have asked to review our work regarding 737 Max return to service."

American Airlines Group Inc and Southwest Airlines Co earlier canceled flights through early September as a result of the grounding. On Wednesday, United Airlines said it also was removing MAX flights from its schedule through Sept. 3.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/exclusive-faa-says-identifies-potential-200032632.html

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FAA Finds New Problem With 737 Max Jets, Delaying Their Return To Flight


Southwest Airlines is among the companies that grounded Boeing 737 MAX aircraft because of a software failure that caused fatal crashes of Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines planes. The FAA said Wednesday it has found a new flaw in the plane that needs to be fixed.

The Federal Aviation Administration has found a new problem in Boeing's troubled 737 Max that the company must address before the regulatory agency will allow the airplanes to fly passengers again. The discovery further delays the airliner's return to service.

Southwest, American and United Airlines, the three U.S. carriers that fly Max jets, have already pulled the aircraft from their schedules through Labor Day weekend and this latest development could set back the plane's return to commercial flight well into the fall.

Boeing's popular narrow-body aircraft has been grounded since March after an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max crashed shortly after taking off from the airport in Ethiopia's capitol, Addis Ababa, killing all 157 people on board. It was the second crash of a Max plane in five months; as a Lion Air jet crashed in Indonesia last October, killing 189 people.

Investigators link both crashes, in part, to an automated flight control system that acted on erroneous information from malfunctioning sensors and put the planes into nose dives the pilots could not pull the planes out of.

Boeing has developed a software fix for that flight control system, called MCAS, but sources familiar with the situation tell NPR that in simulator testing last week, that FAA test pilots discovered a separate issue that affected their ability to quickly and easily follow recovery procedures for runaway stabilizer trim and stabilize the aircraft.

A statement from the regulatory agency says as part of a process designed to discover and highlight potential risks, "the FAA found a potential risk that Boeing must mitigate."

Boeing says in a statement that the company is working on the required software fix to address the FAA's request. A spokesman told NPR the company is committed to working closely with the FAA to safely return the 737 Max to service.

Just a few weeks ago, officials with the FAA and Boeing had suggested the 737 Max could be certified to fly airline passengers again by the end of this month. Now that timeline is being pushed back at least a few weeks, if not considerably longer.

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/26/736430419/faa-finds-new-problem-with-737-max-jets-delaying-their-return-to-flight 

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Long before the Max disasters, Boeing had a history of failing to fix safety problems


Several Boeing 777 aircraft were in various stages of production during a media tour of the firm's facility in Everett, Wash., in February. (Lindsey Wasson/Reuters)

Years before two Boeing 737 Max jets crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia, U.S. regulators found a pattern of recurring safety problems with the manufacturing giant.

During a trip to Japan in 2015, an auditor with the Federal Aviation Administration discovered a Boeing subcontractor was falsifying certifications on cargo doors for hundreds of 777s and had been doing so for years, according to interviews and government documents.

Back in the United States, Boeing mechanics were leaving tools inside plane wings, precariously close to the cables that control their movements. Workers also were improperly installing wires in 787s, which could increase the risk of shorts or fires, FAA officials found.

Repeatedly, safety lapses were identified, and Boeing would agree to fix them, then fail to do so, the FAA said. The agency launched or was considering more than a dozen legal enforcement cases against the company for failing to comply with safety regulations, a review of FAA records shows, with fines that could have totaled tens of millions of dollars.

So FAA officials tried a new approach. Rather than pursue each violation separately, agency officials bundled them together and negotiated a broader deal.

"The thinking was, get everything wrapped into one case since we're trying to address a bunch of broader systemic issues anyway," said an FAA official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

As Boeing faces intense scrutiny over back-to-back crashes of its 737 Max jet, documents and interviews show that the company had safety problems known to federal regulators for years.

In 2015, the FAA decided to try to get Boeing to meet, then go beyond, federal safety requirements by addressing broader corporate culture and governance issues, including what agency officials considered a lack of transparency.

The week before Christmas of that year, Boeing and the FAA signed a five-year settlement agreement that was unprecedented in scope. The company paid a modest $12 million penalty, but it agreed to make significant changes in its internal safety systems and practices for "ensuring compliance" with regulations.

In the days after the agreement was signed, top U.S. officials cast it as a powerful reminder that every company, no matter its size, must comply with minimum safety standards.

Boeing's profits after signing the deal topped $20 billion by the end of September 2018, making the company's $12 million penalty easy to gloss over despite occasional press reports of the firm's shortcomings.

Then a Lion Air 737 Max plunged into the Java Sea on Oct. 29. It was the first of two tragedies that led many to question the soundness of the Boeing aircraft and the company's approach to safety.

And it injected the largely overlooked government settlement with a new urgency - as a means of tracking company failures identified by the FAA, illuminating Boeing's relationship with its regulators, and potentially forcing new safety improvements as investigators probe what was behind the two Max crashes.

Among its commitments under the deal, Boeing agreed to greatly expand its use of an internal tool meant to help determine the root causes of its safety problems and make sure they get fixed and stay that way.

In response to FAA findings that Boeing was often late or incomplete with its required safety submissions, the company also agreed in 2015 to take various remedial steps and be more responsive.

But over the first 3½ years of the agreement, Boeing failed to meet some of its obligations, according to two people who requested anonymity to discuss details of the settlement.

Boeing says it has taken major steps to comply. The FAA, meanwhile, last year chose not to invoke enforcement provisions that could have meant $12 million in additional penalties for the company. The agreement runs through Dec. 31, 2020, and there is the potential for more financial penalties if Boeing fails to meet the requirements.

As investigations continue into Boeing and the FAA over the safety certification of the 737 Max and the two crashes that killed 346 people, regulators and others are scrutinizing whether there are echoes of the persistent problems that prompted the 2015 agreement.

An FAA official said it is too early to establish a connection between the probes and specific concerns addressed in the settlement. But the official, who asked not to be named discussing ongoing matters with Boeing, said that "if we learn something, we'll obviously go back and address that."

'Failures of corrective action'
Boeing's inability to rid its newly built planes of what it calls "Foreign Object Debris," such as tools left behind, was one of the problems that prompted the settlement. But an FAA official said the company is still struggling with the issue, and a top Air Force official told Congress the government temporarily halted deliveries of Boeing tankers earlier this year over "FOD" problems.

The company committed to improving the quality and timeliness of information it provides to the FAA. But in the case of the 737 Max, the FAA said, it took Boeing more than a year to notify it about a software problem that disabled a crucial warning light connected to the automated system at the center of the tragedies.

Most of the cases that sparked the settlement talks involved "apparent failures of corrective action," according to the agreement - meaning Boeing wasn't implementing promised fixes or problems were reoccurring.

For example, before the 2015 agreement, Boeing workers kept failing to insert "lock wires" into holes in bolts used to build planes, according to the FAA. The wires are akin to the twist-ties of industrial manufacturing, and they serve as a backup so bolts or other fasteners can't come loose, allowing critical parts to detach in the rumble of flight. Whether because of problems with training, sloppiness or employees rushing to meet commercial deadlines, the FAA found Boeing failed to sufficiently correct the problem in the period before the settlement.

In addition, special decompression panels - meant to prevent a sudden change in pressure from collapsing the floor beneath passengers - had been improperly installed, and "corrective actions" weren't sufficient.

A source of contention has been whether Boeing has met its commitment to use its own "Boeing Problem Solving Model" to examine the causes of an array of problems and come up with systemic solutions, rather than simply dealing with the symptoms.

The company also agreed to provide "on-demand reports" covering "any documentation relating to" Boeing's work implementing the agreement. But a person familiar with the settlement said Boeing has demonstrated "some resistance" to providing that information.

Boeing did not answer questions about how many times the problem-solving model has been used or whether it had been slow to meet its commitments under the agreement.

The FAA said in a statement that it "has not yet assessed any deferred penalties" against the company but "continues to closely monitor and evaluate Boeing's performance."

It added: "When we have had a concern, we have raised it with Boeing for resolution consistent with the agreement. As this settlement remains open, we cannot discuss our current evaluation and potential appropriate actions we may take based on Boeing's performance of the agreement."

Boeing said it "has worked with the FAA and invested significant resources to implement these improvements, further enhancing Boeing's quality and compliance systems" and is "fully committed to meeting the rigorous standards" in the agreement.

"This is precisely how the system is supposed to work: rigorous oversight by the FAA, coupled with significant Boeing investment in process, systems, and people, leading to continuous improvement in safety, quality, and compliance," Boeing said in a statement.

Boeing's responsiveness, oversight under scrutiny
The settlement agreement grew out of long-running concerns among some at the FAA that Boeing was not complying with federal safety standards.

Critics say that because of the firm's importance to the U.S. economy, its confidence in its own technical expertise and its deep ties in Washington, Boeing has a history of shaping the rules it follows - and slow-rolling legal mandates it doesn't consider a priority.

Boeing's delays turned into a major FAA concern after a fuel tank exploded in a Boeing 747 in 1996 and TWA Flight 800 crashed off Long Island, killing 230 people.

In 2008, the FAA gave Boeing and other companies more than two years to provide airlines with the technical information they needed to comply with a post-TWA regulation intended to make fuel tanks less flammable.

Boeing missed the deadline by more than 300 days, and the FAA took legal action in response to Boeing's "tardiness."

That case helped lead to the settlement, as did missed deadlines elsewhere, including for sending airlines data needed for their inspections to make sure structures didn't crack, according to the FAA.

Some at the FAA say Boeing was testing agency rules in other important ways that also have resonance today, citing the Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) program as an example.

The program delegates power to a unit inside Boeing that is supposed to do much of the detailed, technical work involved with finding whether the company is complying with minimum safety standards. The Boeing employees are supposed to act independently of Boeing's corporate interests in judging whether an airplane's designs meet those standards.

But when there were disagreements over whether safety standards were being met, top Boeing employees who were supposed to be representing the FAA at times aggressively championed the company's interests instead, even traveling to Washington to make their case.

Agency leaders, with backing in Congress, have pushed for greater delegation of safety responsibilities to Boeing. Some FAA officials have warned that the agency has been too deferential, and auditors have repeatedly found that the FAA has fallen short in overseeing its own delegation program.

The 2015 agreement said Boeing's top two ODA employees "will not advocate" for the company on specific compliance issues, to avoid potential conflicts. But a recent case under investigation in South Carolina indicates similar conflicts may have continued.

In April, the FAA investigated after a Boeing inspector, working as part of the ODA program in South Carolina, complained about facing undue pressure from company management. The inspector found Boeing failed to comply with a safety regulation and alleged that a manager from outside the ODA unit interfered with the inspector's work.

Earlier this month, the FAA notified Boeing in a letter of investigation that the inspector had indeed faced management interference. The FAA said procedures meant to ensure inspectors remained independent weren't being followed or were being subverted by a dual reporting structure that left inspectors subject to more than one boss.

Boeing declined to comment.

The highly delegated certification process has come under increased scrutiny since the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max crashes, with questions being raised about how the anti-stall system investigators say was a factor in both crashes was certified as safe.

The Justice Department's criminal division is looking into the 737 Max, and a congressional committee, the Transportation Department's Office of Inspector General and several internal and external panels are investigating the FAA's approval of the plane and the agency's broader certification system.

Falsified certifications

After a cargo door on a United Airlines 747 broke off near Honolulu in 1989, the Boeing jet faced an "explosive decompression," and nine passengers were "ejected from the airplane and lost at sea," according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

A problem in the door control system - a bad switch or wiring - allowed the locked door to become unlatched and blow open. "Also contributing to the accident was a lack of timely corrective actions by Boeing and the FAA following a 1987 cargo door-opening incident on a Pan Am B-747," the NTSB said.

So FAA officials were alarmed to discover in 2015 that a mechanic at a bus and airplane parts maker north of Nagoya, Japan, Iwado Industry Co., had falsified certifications on hundreds of cargo doors.

Iwado was acting as a supplier to Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which in turn provided parts directly to Boeing.

For years, the Iwado mechanic had been working on part of the door's mechanical system without the correct tool and had been falsely recording that the work had been done properly, according to the FAA. The submissions were also certified as correct by a second layer of quality-control workers.

Safety experts say that type of breach calls into question the trustworthiness of operations.

"It's disturbing that people might think that they can cut corners and lie, if that's happening, when in fact the consequences of those falsehoods could be severe," said Arnold Barnett, an aviation safety researcher and professor of statistics and management at MIT.

Boeing said all the large 777 doors were "re-measured" by both suppliers after the FAA's discovery and "no non-conformances were found."

After a follow-up FAA visit, "all parts were confirmed to be safe and compliant," Boeing said. The mechanic was retrained the day the issue was discovered, and improvements were made to the training curriculum, Boeing said in a statement.

But the episode raised questions about Boeing's oversight of its global network of suppliers and the suppliers' internal inspection regimens.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries said in a statement that "Boeing was the primary examinee" of the FAA audit, so it and Iwado were not in a position to answer questions.

Iwado did not respond to requests for comment.

The mechanic was one of a number of such examples, according to the FAA.

Boeing's own employees in Renton and Everett, Wash., and elsewhere also recorded false information for certain planes, including on a 787 that was sold to Air Canada and later experienced a fuel leak, the FAA found. A Boeing mechanic and inspector involved in that case faced unspecified "corrective action," the company said.

Boeing audits "concluded that this was an isolated event," the company said in its statement, adding that it launched long-term fixes, "including formal training and communication on personal accountability in the manufacturing process, stressing the importance of complying with all regulatory requirements."

The Seattle Times in 2017 first reported on many of the cases that led to the settlement.

Beyond the issue of providing accurate information, the settlement also describes specific benchmarks Boeing must meet to improve the quality of its safety submissions and hit deadlines.

The goal is to "make sure there's clarity about what right looks like and expect that the first time and avoid our use of resources reworking things to get it to be acceptable," the FAA official said.

A Boeing spokesman did not answer questions about its progress in those and other specific areas. But a person familiar with the company's activities said it made a number of improvements, including to some specifications used by its mechanics in building planes that the FAA said could be confusing. It also audited a sample of its suppliers and found that the cases of "improper acceptance" of parts addressed in the settlement were not typical.

"You've got to give them credit for what they do," an FAA official said.

Max threatens 'story of success'

Acting FAA administrator Daniel Elwell. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
In the months since the dual disasters overseas, acting FAA administrator Daniel Elwell has repeatedly pointed to the remarkable safety record of the U.S. commercial aviation system, crediting the rigor and shared purpose of government and industry.

"One fatality in 10 years. I'll say it again: 90 million flights, 7 billion passengers. We've had one fatality," Elwell said after a Texas meeting last month with international aviation authorities on the FAA's response to the Max.

Barnett, of MIT, said those numbers represent a "remarkable story of success."

"Of course, everything looks a little different in light of the Max," he said.

In a recent study, Barnett found that about 1 in 8 million passengers worldwide died on a scheduled commercial flight in the decade ending in 2017. But for passengers who flew on the Max, Barnett estimated the risk was "at least 20 times that," or roughly 1 in every 300,000 passengers.