MAY 27, 2019 - No. 042 In This Issue Boeing pays $2,000 a month to park each 737 Max while it waits for a fix FAA Grounds Tamarack Atlas-equipped CJs S7 Technics' mobile warehouses improve productivity Embry-Riddle helps get 'warbirds' back to Normandy ATSB RELEASES FINAL REPORT INTO VIRGIN AUSTRALIA ATR 2014 INCIDENT EBACE 2019: Collins Aerospace evolves business aviation seat MaxAir resumes flight Monday Air Asia India drops plan to take Jet's grounded B737s Volocopter to show air taxi landing platform in Singapore SpaceX's Starlink Could Change The Night Sky Forever, And Astronomers Are Not Happy Boeing pays $2,000 a month to park each 737 Max while it waits for a fix While regulators contemplate whether Boeing Co.'s 737 Max can safely return to the skies, workers in a California airplane-storage yard keep a careful vigil against earthier concerns. Crews have sealed 34 Southwest Airlines Co. jets against the Mojave Desert's sun, wind and sand, as well as insects and birds that can creep into wheel wells and engine air inlets. Southwest declined to discuss the expense, but one industry veteran said such sojourns run about $2,000 a month for each plane - a small but critical cost amid Boeing's many looming financial penalties. The attention lavished now on the planes will help determine how fast the Max get back in the air once a worldwide grounding is lifted. Designed to ferry throngs of travelers, the young jets' only daily visitors these days are technicians who draw fuel samples to scout for bacterial contamination. Once a week, Southwest mechanics spool up the big turbofans, boot up flight computers, and extend and retract flight-control surfaces such as wing flaps. "Planes are meant to be flying and being used,'' said Tim Zemanovic, who used to own an Arizona storage park and estimated monthly storage costs, which include labor and materials. "You've got to keep them that way even when they're in storage.'' The constant care extends to almost 500 grounded Max planes around the world, a total that includes about 100 factory-fresh jets that can't be delivered to customers because of the flying ban, which began in March after the second deadly crash in five months. Managing aircraft upkeep on such a scale is unprecedented, as Boeing grapples with a crisis that has already lopped $41.5 billion off its market value. The maintenance costs are just the start of Boeing's financial exposure. The Chicago-based planemaker also faces an estimated $1.4 billion bill for airlines' canceled flights and lost operating profit if the Max fleet is still grounded by the end of September, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst George Ferguson. Boeing's inventory could balloon by nearly $12 billion by the end of September if regulators don't act, and 737 production continues at the current pace, Ferguson said. "They can't keep building and parking planes indefinitely," he said. "We don't think it will get to that, but it's going to take a lot of cash to park those in the desert." As Boeing finalizes paperwork to certify a redesign of flight-control software linked to the two disasters, executives are laying detailed plans for the Max's eventual return to commercial flight. The team huddles daily and includes officials from the 737 program, corporate headquarters and the commercial and global-services divisions. The challenge of safely pulling hundreds of planes out of storage was among the topics discussed at a summit of global regulators convened by the Federal Aviation Administration in Texas, Daniel Elwell, the agency's acting chief, told reporters after the meeting Thursday. The Max grounding has long since passed the 60-day mark when aircraft are typically placed in long-term storage. Bringing them back to life will now involve a rigorous review that can last weeks as compared to days for planes that are parked for less than two months. As the global fleet starts to come back online, Boeing plans to set up a round-the-clock operations center to support customers. Teams of mechanics, technicians and field-service representatives will fan out to assist airlines as their jets make the "transition from storage and preservation activities to operational flight," said Doug Alder, a Boeing spokesman. Southwest, the largest Max operator, is already planning for the plane's return even though it's not clear if that is weeks or months away. "It will be a staggered-type return to service," said Gary Bjarke, director of contract services for the Dallas-based carrier. Until then, Bjarke leads the team overseeing the upkeep of Southwest's Max fleet parked on a desert plain in Victorville, Calif., east of Los Angeles. Southwest ferried all its Max planes to the storage yard in the days after U.S. regulators halted commercial flights. Crews spent about 80 man-hours preparing each jet for storage, and Bjarke estimates it will take about 120 hours of work to get each single-aisle plane back into flying condition. In all, he said, the maintenance checks could take about 30 days before the last of the airline's parked 737s rejoin daily operations. For German tour operator TUI AG, the logistics of managing its parked jets are more complicated. The company stored 13 Max at bases in Brussels, Amsterdam and Manchester, U.K., where its mechanics can tend to them, said spokesman Aage Duenhaupt. Another plane was stranded in Sofia, Bulgaria, with another in Spain's Canary Islands, where third-party contractors are tending to them by following Boeing's storage protocol. The tempo of care is largely set by detailed checklists provided by Boeing. Instructions for "prolonged parking" run more than 100 pages in a manual for a previous generation of 737s. There are separate procedures to prepare planes depending on whether they will be parked a week, a month, two months or a year. Basic service tasks are spelled out in similar increments. Even a simple requirement to wash an airplane is complicated by its sheer size. If a maintenance provider doesn't have a concrete pad wash area with a drain for waste water, there's another option: wipe the plane down by hand. "Basically, use cleaning wipes," said Zemanovic, the former owner of the Arizona storage park. The manual occasionally spells out risks in colorful detail, including the bacteria or fungi that can turn jet kerosene into the consistency of "mayonnaise," clogging the fuel system if water hasn't been thoroughly drained. There are separate lists that, step by step, make the plane serviceable once its desert stay comes to an end. "They just don't park them and walk away and come back six months later," said Zemanovic, who now serves as president of Fillmore Aviation, a Minneapolis-based company that specializes in end-of-life aircraft care. "Someone's looking at them every day." https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-boeing-737-max-park-in-desert-20190524-story.html Back to Top FAA Grounds Tamarack Atlas-equipped CJs The FAA has grounded all Cessna Citation Model 525, 525A, and 525B (CJ1, CJ2, and CJ3) light jets equipped with Tamarack Aerospace active load alleviation (Atlas) winglets. The action follows last month's issuance of an emergency airworthiness directive (AD) by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), and while a reciprocal directive from U.S. regulators was expected, a Tamarack representative expressed "disappointment" to AIN at the timing and wording of the FAA action. Similar to the EASA AD, the FAA's May 24 directive requires Atlas to be disabled; however, the agency was not satisfied with the proposed mitigation in the EASA AD-use of "speed tape" to secure the Tamarack Active Camber Surfaces (TACS) in neutral position-and will not allow operation of the 76 Atlas-equipped CJs in the U.S. outside of approved ferry flights until a better alternative is identified. "Use of speed tape was never a Tamarack solution, and in the course of harmonizing to the EASA directive the FAA noted its use wasn't acceptable," said Paul Hathaway, Tamarack's vice-president of marketing. "However, we have over the past year issued two service bulletins at company expense to address potential TACS asymmetry, and those modifications have been submitted to both aviation authorities as an alternate means of compliance (AMOC) to resolve the directives." Those bulletins call for replacement of a screw inside the TACS control unit (TCU) that could work free of its fastening structure and drive TACS movement, and installation of aerodynamic centering strips to force the control surfaces back in-trail if a fault causes them to drift to an asymmetric position. Hathaway noted no further control issues have been reported on aircraft complying with either or both of the bulletins. The first bulletin for repair of the TCU is mandatory, while the centering-strip bulletin is optional (unless the FAA decides to make it mandatory as part of an AMOC). We have petitioned the FAA and EASA with our own flight test data, an extensive white paper, and flight test videos demonstrating these modifications are the best corrective paths to return these aircraft to service with Atlas enabled," he stated. The FAA directive noted five reported control loss incidents involving Atlas-equipped aircraft to the agency and EASA. In one of those incidents, however, Atlas appears not to have been involved. The December 2018 incident was documented in a NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) narrative, in which the submitter responded to a callback from NASA. In the ASRS report NASA wrote in the callback section, "On the reporter's aircraft, maintenance found the aileron trim actuator was out of tolerance. Once the actuator was replaced, the problem has not returned." The agency also cited an ongoing National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into a November 2018 fatal accident in Indiana that involved an Atlas-equipped CJ2+ that had complied with the mandatory TCU service bulletin; however, Hathaway emphatically stated the NTSB has not yet contacted the company as part of that investigation. "We've offered our input and have been told it is not needed," he continued. "I can't definitively say the Board has ruled out Atlas [as causal to the accident] but we've been told by other agencies it would be highly unusual to have not been contacted if they believed the system was relevant to the investigation." (An NTSB spokesperson told AIN last month the investigation "is still ongoing at this time. Only preliminary information is available.") While the aircraft manufacturer Textron Aviation and engine manufacturer Williams International are party to the investigation, Tamarack Aerospace is not a party. In the FAA's discussion of the reasoning for the AD, it stated the following: "The NTSB investigation focuses on the role the Atlas may have played in the accident." AIN has asked the FAA whether it was specifically told that the NTSB's investigation is focusing on Atlas, but the agency didn't respond by the time this was published. Hathaway also noted a discrepancy in the pilot's account of the incident that drove issuance of the original EASA Emergency AD, involving a CJ1+. "The pilot claimed his aircraft rolled to 90 degrees in one second, and a CJ simply cannot roll that quickly," he said. "Flight data recovered by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) and EASA, directly from the aircraft's AHRS [attitude and heading reference system], shows the roll event occurred over 18 seconds. "That matches our own flight test data for TCU failure," Hathaway continued, "and should have been an easily-recoverable scenario, but the pilot did not follow the recovery procedure specified by Tamarack." The aircraft did eventually return to level flight and landed safely. The UK CJ1+ also had not complied with the mandatory TCU service bulletin, according to Tamarack, and when its TCU was examined, it was found to have the loose-screw problem identified in the bulletin. For the moment, Hathaway stated the company eagerly awaits FAA approval of the service bulletin AMOCs to return U.S. operators to flight, a process likely to be drawn out by the Memorial Day weekend in the U.S. as well as the agency's "post-[Boeing 737] Max" sensitivity to reports of aircraft control issues. "Our customers are concerned, but they realized we've conducted ourselves in an open, honest, and transparent manner," he concluded. "Frankly, there's a lot of frustration, but we're confident we've brought the regulators up to speed on how our product works." https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2019-05-24/faa-grounds-tamarack-atlas-equipped-cjs Back to Top S7 Technics' mobile warehouses improve productivity S7 Technics (S7T), Russia's most innovative maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services provider, is increasing its fleet of KitCar 'mobile warehouses'. This year its airport bases at Moscow's Domodedovo and Novosibirsk's Tolmachevo will benefit from specialised vehicles that expeditiously deliver spare parts, consumables and equipment straight to staff working on aircraft maintenance. The KitCar scheme completed its first mission in June 2018 having been launched by S7T as part of a lean production implementation. There are currently five of the vehicles in the provider's fleet, all of them based at Domodedovo. The main task of the KitCar is to cut down on the physical displacement of technical staff and the time needed for them to locate the necessary tools and spare parts. Under the project, all vehicles come fitted with a spare parts inventory in which the range of materials is based on the most urgent needs of the staff. With the remote access to the spare parts inventory database, having on-board printer, the air conditioned KitCar becomes a convenient mobile technical office. "The idea to create a fully-fledged automobile office came into being at S7 Technics as part of our lean production tools implementation," Artyom Ilyin, head of the lean production department at S7 Technics, points out. "Prior to last summer, our technicians had access to ordinary vehicles, each of which performed only a single function - transporting either tools, or spare parts etc. But there was no possibility of fully supporting our apron works using one vehicle. The KitCar project has successfully accomplished this task," Ilyin enthuses. Each of the current five designated KitCars has its own specific purpose. Nicknamed Airbus and Boeing, two of them are filled with tools, parts and consumables to service the respective types of each aircraft manufacturer. These vehicles perform the function of a handy mobile office with access to the databases. Another of the cars, dubbed Cabin, carries tools and parts for works specifically related to aircraft interior maintenance. The fourth and fifth mobile warehouses - both called Oil - deliver technical fluids. By this summer, S7 Technics plans to replenish its vehicle fleet with an additional KitCar mobile warehouse. The MRO provider's Novosibirsk base is to receive this latest mobile office with its aviation parts inventory. Overall, the KitCar project has already proved to be an efficient addition for the MRO provider. Calculations show that, annually, one special vehicle can save engineering and technical personnel more than 4,000 working hours. This time workers are then able to devote this time to other aircraft maintenance issues. http://www.rusaviainsider.com/s7-technics-mobile-warehouses-improve-productivity/ Back to Top Embry-Riddle helps get 'warbirds' back to Normandy Students and faculty of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University will provide crucial weather support to 15 vintage World War II C-47s, DC-3s and variants, nicknamed Dakotas, as they cross the Atlantic to celebrate the 75th anniversary reenactment of the Normandy invasion. "This historical mission will allow me to include my students in understanding transoceanic weather support in a real-world scenario," said Professor Debbie Schaum, Associate Chair and Associate Professor of Meteorology in Embry-Riddle's Applied Aviation Sciences. Professor Schaum is joined in the effort by Dr. Shawn Milrad, Dr. Daniel Halperin, and Central Florida News 13's Rob Eicher, all assistant professors of meteorology at Embry-Riddle. Unlike modern commercial aircraft, the vintage planes are more restricted by inclement weather. They have limited internal climate control and, even more importantly, the de-icing varies by aircraft, so the pilots need to be informed of areas of potential icing. On May 13th, 2019 the Embry-Riddle weather support team put out its preliminary assessments, defining the weather-posed challenges for the aircraft, which were scheduled to depart from Oxford, CT. on May 19th, 2019. "There are many problems with the East Coast this week," said Professor Schaum. "We actually have a Nor'easter off the coast of New England bringing in lots of moisture, with low ceilings and even a mix of rain and snow possible for parts of Maine and Canada." At this point, all aircraft successfully launched from Oxford, CT. The fleet are scheduled to land for refueling in Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland, and Scotland, at airports selected because they would have been refueling points for these aircraft during World War II as part of the original "Blue Spruce" route. The aircraft will then join an international fleet of Dakotas in England, before flying to France to participate in the D-Day commemorative events on June 2nd-9th, which is planned to involve a June 5th drop of 200+ parachutists outfitted in period World War II Allied uniforms into historical drop zones. Several aircraft are currently on the ground across Goose Bay, Narsarsuaq, Reykjavik and Prestwick. "We can't determine anything until the night before each planned departure," said Garrett Fleishman, an Embry-Riddle undergraduate. Fleishman is responsible for helping to connect the university to the mission to fly the planes from the United States to Europe. A pilot majoring in Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Fleishman approached Professor Schaum in January after she told a class he was in about Embry-Riddle providing weather support for the annual Air Race Classic events. She immediately agreed to help out with the transatlantic flight and recruited Milrad, Halperin and Eicher. "She's been all for it," said Fleishman. "We've both been extremely excited and motivated to get the aircraft across safely." Fleishman has been involved with vintage war planes, sometimes known as "warbirds," for years. He started working for Tradewind Aviation while in high school. It was at Tradewind that the President of the company, Eric Zipkin, bought a C-47 that he discovered had been flown in the D-Day invasion in 1944. He began taking the airplane to air shows and educational events. From there, he and other aviation history enthusiasts formed the Tunison Foundation, specifically for the purpose of providing dynamic historical education using vintage aircraft. About 18 months ago, the foundation started organizing the plan for the C-47 and DC-3 aircraft to fly to the D-Day commemoration from the United States. For the pilots who will cross the Atlantic in the vintage planes, "It's going to be a huge adventure," regardless of their level of experience, said Fleishman. In addition to weighing weather concerns, the flight crews will deal with maintenance issues that arise with aircraft that - although meticulously cared for - were built in the 1930s and 1940s. "We do expect things to break along the way," said Fleishman, adding that each airplane has on board its own replacement parts and tools, and at least one certified mechanic. Although Fleishman will not make the transatlantic flight to the commemoration in a vintage plane, he will travel there and help fly while in Europe as well as on the journey back to the United States. Fleishman has a second-in-command type rating to fly the planes and is working toward a pilot-in-command type rating. During the flight to Europe, Professor Schaum's students will do basic forecasting for the planes' route each day. Their information will be compared to the official briefings that Professor Schaum and her colleagues will be providing. By watching the weather the entire time the planes are in the air each day, the students will be able to participate in updating the weather conditions and forecast. This will allow the briefer to fine tune the afternoon briefing to the crews. Professor Schaum and her colleagues are donating the time they put into providing weather support for the vintage planes. "This is such a historical celebration that when I asked my colleagues to participate, they readily agreed," she said. ABOUT EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is the world's largest, oldest and most comprehensive institution specializing in aviation, aerospace, engineering and related degree programs. A fully accredited university, Embry-Riddle is also a major research center, seeking solutions to real-world problems in partnership with the aerospace industry, other universities and government agencies. A nonprofit, independent institution, Embry-Riddle offers more than 100 associate's, bachelor's, master's and Ph.D. degree programs in its colleges of Arts & Sciences, Aviation, Business, Engineering and Security & Intelligence. The university educates students at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., through its Worldwide Campus with more than 135+ locations in the United States, Europe and Asia, and through online programs. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu, follow us on Twitter (@EmbryRiddle) and facebook.com/EmbryRiddleUniversity, and find expert videos at YouTube.com/EmbryRiddleUniv. About the D-Day Squadron The D-Day Squadron is the part of the Tunison Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. In June 2019, the D-Day Squadron will lead an American fleet of historic, restored C-47 World War II military aircraft in Daks Over Normandy, a flyover of more than 30 international aircraft to drop more than 200 paratroopers over the original 1944 drop zones in Normandy commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day. The event will honor the citizen soldiers of the War, whose bravery led the Allies to the liberation of France, and then to an end of the devastating War in Europe. The Squadron's education program takes the compelling story of the citizen soldier to audiences at airshows and events off the flight line to honor these brave Americans and ensure their memory and significance is appreciated for generations to come. The group's efforts are funded through the generous tax-deductible contribution of their supporters. Learn more at DDaySquadron.org http://warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-news/embry-riddle-helps-get-warbirds-back-to-normandy.html Back to Top ATSB RELEASES FINAL REPORT INTO VIRGIN AUSTRALIA ATR 2014 INCIDENT The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has released its final report into a 2014 incident where a Virgin Australia Regional Airlines ATR 72-600 suffered significant damage when pilots applied opposing control inputs to their control columns. The turboprop VH-FVR was operating a regular public transport (RPT) service from Canberra to Sydney on February 20 2014 when the flight crew experienced a "significant windshear that resulted in a rapidly decreasing tailwind" on descent. This led to a rapid increase in airspeed, with the primary flight display "likely indicating well above the maximum operating speed of the aircraft (VMO) of 250kt", the ATSB final report published on Friday said. In response, the first officer, who was the pilot flying, reduced power and made nose-up control inputs in an attempt to slow the aircraft. However, the captain "perceived a need to take over control of the aircraft, with the intention of preventing the airspeed exceeding VMO". "The captain took hold of the controls and made nose-up pitch control inputs without immediately following the specified take-over procedure and alerting the first officer of his intent," the final report said. "About 1 second after the captain initiated the nose-up control inputs, the first officer (unaware that the captain was also making control inputs) reversed his control input." The two differential forces from the captain and first officer activated the pitch uncoupling mechanism, meaning the left and right pitch control systems were disconnected from each other. As the ATSB explained, the pitch disconnect mechanism was intended for activation in the event one of the aircraft's elevators being jammed. In this case, the pitch uncoupling mechanism meant the elevators were able to operate independently of each other. "Given the high airspeed, asymmetric elevator deflections that occurred immediately following the pitch disconnect event resulted in aerodynamic loads that exceeded the strength of the horizontal stabiliser and resulted in significant damage to the stabiliser," the ATSB final report said. This caused "significant damage" to the stabiliser. However, this damage was not detected by licenced aircraft maintenance engineers who inspected the aircraft by torchlight at night after landing in Sydney. The ATSB final report said the people involved in the inspection "did not carry out the specified general visual inspection of the stabilisers probably because of a breakdown in the coordination and certification of the inspection tasks between the engineers". "The damaged horizontal stabiliser was not detected and the aircraft was released to service," the final report said. Over the next five days, the aircraft flew 13 more sectors. After the 13th flight, on February 25, the pilot reported a possible bird strike while on descent into Albury, and ordered an inspection of the aircraft upon landing. It was during this inspection when damage to the horizontal and vertical stabiliser fairing was noted, and a subsequent inspection linked the damage to the February 20 differential control event. The damage included broken carbon plies, cracked joint sealant, deformations, and minor damage to the rudder, all of which it said were consistent with an overstress condition, and recommended replacement of the horizontal stabiliser, elevators, and vertical stabiliser. A look at the damage is shown in the following images: The final report followed two interim reports and a preliminary report in what the ATSB described as one of its most complex, thorough and protracted safety investigations ever undertaken. The first interim report published in June 2016 highlighted the safety issue where inadvertent application of opposing pitch control inputs by flight crew could activate the pitch uncoupling mechanism which, in certain high-energy situations, could result in catastrophic damage to the aircraft structure before crews were able to react. Then, in May 2017 the second interim report included three recommendations to address another safety issue where the aircraft manufacturer, ATR, "did not account for the transient elevator deflections that occur as a result of the system flexibility and control column input during a pitch disconnect event at all speeds within the flight envelope". "As such, there was no assurance that the aircraft had sufficient strength to withstand the loads resulting from a pitch disconnect," the report said. The final report's safety recommendations called on the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to take "further action to review the current design standard (CS-25) in consideration of effect that dual control inputs may have on control of aircraft". Meanwhile, it recommended ATR "assess the operational risk associated with limited tactile feedback between left and right control columns in the context of no visual or auditory systems to indicate dual control inputs". The ATSB also recommended ATR perform a detailed review of the effects of dual control inputs on the aircraft's longitudinal handling qualities and control dynamics to determine if there were any detrimental effects that could lead to difficulty in controlling the aircraft throughout the approved flight envelope and operational range. The final report noted ATR released an All Operators Message in February 2016 to inform operators of revised maintenance and operational documentation relating to the pitch control system and pitch disconnect occurrences. Meanwhile, EASA released Safety Information Bulletin 2016-20R1 in December 2016 to highlight the risks associated with rapid and large alternating control inputs and the addition of "Inappropriate Flight Control Inputs" to its risk portfolio. Also, VARA had issued an airworthiness memo in March 2014 about the release to service of ATR aircraft following an in-flight pitch disconnect. In June 2014, the airline then provided guidance to ATR pilots about descent procedures and potential airspeed limitation exceedances. "VARA and the subsequent operator of ATR aircraft, Virgin Australia Airlines (VAA), reviewed and revised operational procedures and guidance relevant to the occurrence, and added elements to their training and checking processes," the final report said. Meanwhile, Toll Aviation Engineering (TAE), whose engineers conducted the initial check on February 20, provided guidance to maintenance personnel about safety reporting in June 2014. Then, in February 2016, the company Toll Aviation and TAE issued a safety alert to affected personnel to advise that an aircraft was to be grounded for maintenance after an in-flight pitch disconnect. ATSB chief commissioner Greg Hood said the final report sought to "influence further incremental safety improvements". "Aircraft and aircraft systems need to be designed in anticipation of and tolerant to foreseeable inadvertent flight crew actions," Hood said in a statement. "This serious incident demonstrates aircraft and aircraft systems need to be designed in anticipation of and tolerant to foreseeable inadvertent pilot actions." "Further, when identified, aviation safety regulators and aircraft manufacturers need to address previously unforeseen aircraft design consequences during the operational life of an aircraft type." A flight attendant suffered a broken leg in the February 20 2014 flight. The full report can be found on the ATSB website. https://australianaviation.com.au/2019/05/atsb-releases-final-report-into-virgin-australia-atr-2014-incident/ Back to Top EBACE 2019: Collins Aerospace evolves business aviation seat Collins Aerospace Systems has unveiled its next-generation Evolution seat, building upon the success of the first generation with increased living space and comfort. "Evolution is unmatched in its ability to scale from a business class seat to a super first class seat," said Ian Webb, vice president of Sales and Marketing for Seating at Collins Aerospace. "This foundation coupled with ease of maintenance and reliability testing makes for one of the highest quality business jet seats on the market." Evolution provides greater room inside the cabin due to its unique recline design allowing for close-to-bulkhead installations. Unlike traditional seats that must be floor tracked or seat-base tracked and reclines in two motions, Evolution reclines in one continuous motion. The seat has a compact pedestal base that allows designers the ability to achieve the appearance of a floating seat and it operates on a proprietary triple roller system for a smooth transition between seat positions with minimal effort. It also has an extended leg rest to accommodate a range of occupant sizes. Additionally, with a one-touch control, the seat adjusts immediately to the proper takeoff and landing positions, as well as provides a "zero gravity" recline position to reduce pressure points during flight. Its patented headrest, with tilt provides head support for reading and working, and fits flush into the backrest when the seat is in a full-flat position. Articulating armrests on the seat can also be lowered to produce a wider sleeping surface. https://www.hmgaerospace.com/news/inflight/ebace-2019-collins-aerospace-evolves-business-aviation-seat/ Back to Top MaxAir resumes flight Monday The Management of Max Air Limited, says the airline recently downscale its operations to meet the demands of its passengers in line with the Civil Aviation Regulations (CARs). Mr Kehinde Ogunyale, Abuja Airport Station Manager of the airline, revealed this on Monday in Abuja. Ogunyale said that Max Air had operated with a single aircraft due to mandatory maintenance checks, adding that one was undergoing mandatory checks at Aero Hangar in Lagos and another on C-checks. He said that the airline reduced its operations from seven to five destinations by excluding Port Harcourt and Sokoto routes as well as reduce frequencies to Lagos and Kano while combining operations to Yola and Maiduguri. The manager said that the aircraft on mandatory checks at Aero had been recertified by the regulatory authority to resume flight on Monday. "We were doing a one aircraft operations due to mandatory maintenance checks on our aircraft while another is on C-checks. "During this period we reduced our destinations from seven to five because we stopped flying to Sokoto and Port Harcourt and we were not selling tickets for those destinations. "Max Air operated four sectors through a partner airline in order to reduce the pressure on that particular day. "Our passengers were briefed, we did some rescue operation with a partner airline. "The aircraft has been recertified and released to service and we are back to full operations from Monday May 27," he said On allegation that the airline's passengers were stranded for several hours, Ogunyale said that at no time were their passengers stranded on account of the airline. According to him, the challenges with delays were not caused by the situation but due to weather conditions with approaching rainy season and also a few times to VIP movements. "There was a particular flight that passengers were sitting on the aircraft for close to two hours and I also remember three different times that we had to come back to base due to weather conditions. "One to Kano, we couldn't land because of weather and we had to come back here and wait for weather to improve and while we were waiting for kano weather to improve, the weather caught up with us in Abuja and we had to wait for another one hour 30 minutes. "So there were things that we didn't have control over like the weather issue and VIP movements. "Max Air is currently using it's 747 fleet for Umrah operations and has lifted almost 8000 passengers to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. "We have had to delay some of the flights because of passengers showing up late and at no time were passengers stranded or left behind," he said. Max Air was named as the first of the three domestic airlines with highest on time performance record by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in the first quarter of 2019. The Consumer Protection Unit of NCAA named Max Air, Overland and Azman Air as airlines that recorded lowest figures in terms of flight delays and cancellations. https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2019/05/27/maxair-resumes-flight-monday/ Back to Top Air Asia India drops plan to take Jet's grounded B737s New Delhi-Low-cost carrier Air Asia India has dropped its plan to lease B737 aircraft of grounded Jet AirwaysNSE 2.60 % as the Tata group venture carrier wants to continue with one type of aircraft. "Air Asia India had informed the aviation regulator about their plan to lease some of the B737 airplanes that were operated by Jet Airways. But later it did not follow up. Now, the idea has finally been dropped," said an industry source. He said the airline did not want to pursue the plan as induction of new type of fleet was seen adding complications given the different seat configuration, maintenance and skill requirement. "In low-cost airline business, one-type of fleet is advisable," the executive quoted above said. Facing severe liquidity crunch, Jet Airways had stopped operations on April 17. In order to fill the capacity gap due to grounding of Jet Airways, the rivals SpiceJet and Vistara swung into action to take the crisis-hit airline's narrow-body airplanes. While SpiceJet is learnt to have inducted 20 of Jet's grounded B737 planes, Vistara took 4. The Bengaluru-headquartered Air Asia India also showed initial interest and applied to Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for regulatory approval. The airline is set to continue its expansion plan adding A320 airplanes. In the next 18 months, it plans to double its fleet size from current 21 A320 aircraft. The budget carrier that started operations in June 12, 2014 currently has a market share of 6.2 per cent in the domestic market. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/air-asia-india-drops-plan-to-take-jets-grounded-b737s/articleshow/69497639.cms Back to Top Volocopter to show air taxi landing platform in Singapore Volocopter and British Skyports plan to complete the first port for electric air taxis before the end of this year. The presentation is planned during the public test flights Volocopter has announced for the second half of the year in Singapore. Volo-Port is the name given by the German aviation startup to the landing platforms planned for its service. According to Volocopter, they will be the only physical infrastructure necessary to operate air taxis in cities in the near future. The agency Brandlab is responsible for the design of the Volo ports. Their detailed plans are currently being shown at the GreenTech Festival in Berlin. According to the startup, each individual Volo port is designed in such a way that it can be operated both independently and with other Volo ports in different formations. This approach allows a dynamic growth of the infrastructure. "We have analysed the available space and movement patterns in city centres worldwide and identified infrastructure as one of the keys to the new air taxi market," says Duncan Walker, Managing Director of Skyports. With the first prototype of a mobile Volo port, the partners will demonstrate passenger areas and processes, including pre-flight and boarding controls, and test critical ground operations steps such as battery replacement, battery charging, maintenance and security checks. In addition, the prototype will be used to monitor the authorities' infrastructure and gather feedback for further development. The ports are also essential to the final design of the VTOL as they enable quick and repeated battery swaps. As a spokesperson told electric during the New Mobility Tour in Berlin, each Volocopter includes 9 battery modules that power two rotors each. While two may fail for the air taxi to still land safely, Volocopter aims to exchange the batteries at every stop - within three minutes - in future. Since 2016 Volocopter has held a provisional traffic approval for its electric flying taxi from the German authorities and is in close exchange with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), from which the company is seeking a commercial approval. The manufacturer flies regularly in Germany and Dubai and has also flown publicly several times in the past. For the second half of 2019, as mentioned above, a test series of inner-city flights is planned in Singapore reportedly. "Receiving the commercial license for air taxi aircraft is a question of time not possibility. We are thus focusing on shaping the necessary ecosystem around UAM (urban air mobility) including air traffic management, city regulation and the take-off and landing infrastructure," says Alex Zosel, co-founder of Volocopter. This includes air traffic management, the legal basis in the cities as well as the launch and landing infrastructure. "Once regulation comes through on the aviation and city level - and this will be sooner than most think - we will be ready to take off," Zosel adds confidently. Volocopter recently announced its intention to cooperate with Frankfurt Airport. The aim of both sides is to develop concepts for the ground infrastructure and the operation of electric air taxis for use at airports. The main focus is on smooth passenger handling and efficient connections to existing traffic infrastructure. https://www.electrive.com/2019/05/26/volocopter-to-prototype-mobile-landing-platform/ Back to Top SpaceX's Starlink Could Change The Night Sky Forever, And Astronomers Are Not Happy On Thursday, May 23, Elon Musk's SpaceX successfully launched its first 60 Starlink satellites, a planned mega constellation of satellites designed to beam internet from space to the world. But since footage emerged of the train of satellites in the night sky, astronomers have been up in arms at the impact Starlink could have on our views of the cosmos. Starlink is designed to eventually consist of 12,000 satellites, orbiting at altitudes of about 550 kilometers and 1,200 kilometers. SpaceX is one of nine companies known to be working on global space internet, and already concerns have been raised about space junk. Now astronomers too are worried about what the future may hold. "The potential tragedy of a mega-constellation like Starlink is that for the rest of humanity it changes how the night sky looks," says Ronald Drimmel from the Turin Astrophysical Observatory in Italy. "Starlink, and other mega constellations, would ruin the sky for everyone on the planet." Following the Starlink launch, several observers - including amateur astronomer Marco Langbroek - captured footage of the satellites in orbit. All 60 were deployed in a train, one behind the other, but astronomers were surprised that the satellites shone brighter than many had expected them to. "What I had not anticipated was how bright the objects were and how spectacular a view it would be," says Langbroek. "It really was an incredible and bizarre view to see that whole train of objects in a line moving across the sky." SpaceX had kept the logistics of each satellite under wraps prior to the launch, but following the launch it was revealed that each satellite had a relatively large solar panel, perfect for not only gathering but reflecting sunlight back to Earth. This means anyone looking up at the stars, from any location on Earth, would always have the final Starlink constellation in view, for better or worse. "It turns out that these satellites are easy to see with our own eyes, much brighter than we were expecting," says astrophysicist Darren Baskill from the University of Sussex in the U.K. "If we can see them with our eyes, that means they are extremely bright for the latest generation of large, sensitive ground-based telescopes." Such telescopes include the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), currently under construction and designed to take wide sweeping views of the night sky to study a variety of bodies such as asteroids and comets. While the true impact of Starlink isn't known yet, it's thought the LSST may have to deal with one Starlink satellite every few images, notes astrophysicist Bruce Macintosh from Stanford University in the U.S., resulting in a streak through the image. Such issues are not new to astronomers, but the sheer number of Starlink satellites is cause for concern. "Part of the knee-jerk reaction across the astronomy community after the launch of the Starlink satellites was purely caused by a lack of information," says astrophysicist Jessie Christiansen from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in the U.S. "A significant amount of the outcry could have been avoided if there had been an impact study done in advance." During the dead of night the satellites are unlikely to be visible, as they will be in darkness with no sunlight to reflect. But it's in the hours after sunset and before sunrise that people are most worried, when the thousands of satellites will be reflecting light from orbit and, it appears, clearly visible to anyone looking up. Another concern is not just for visual astronomy, but radio astronomy too. Each satellite will emit radio signals in order to communicate with Earth, and for astronomers that rely on radio waves to study the universe - such as the first image of a black hole revealed last month - Starlink may bring with it new complications. "Radio astronomers are even more concerned as the satellites are transmitting in the 10.7-12.7 GHz band, which includes the spectral lines of water among other things," says space archaeologist Alice Gorman from Flinders University in Australia. "Radio astronomers fight daily to protect critical observation bands, and this is only going to get worse." Musk, to his credit, has responded to some of the concerns on Twitter. After initially seeming to misunderstand how and why the International Space Station (ISS) is visible in the night sky, he noted that SpaceX was looking into how to mitigate the effects of Starlink satellites on astronomy. "Sent a note to Starlink team last week specifically regarding albedo reduction," he said. "We'll get a better sense of value of this when satellites have raised orbits and arrays are tracking to sun." He also implied that the ultimate goal of Starlink - bringing internet to the 3.3 billion people in the world who are offline, and using that money to fund SpaceX's missions to Mars and beyond, albeit with an unclear market on how many of those can afford space internet or want to be online in the first place - was a "greater good" than any impact on astronomy. "Potentially helping billions of economically disadvantaged people is the greater good," he said. "That said, we'll make sure Starlink has no material effect on discoveries in astronomy. We care a great deal about science." It's clear, however, that much work will still need to be done to allay the concerns of the astronomy community. While some may point to the benefits services like Starlink could bring, others will be quick to point out the irrevocable impact this could have on human culture. "I'm not so worried about astronomy per se," says Drimmel. "I'm worried that what inspired me to become an astronomer is at risk." While those initial images of the train of satellites were impressive, the possibility of having so many satellites constantly visible is somewhat alarming. Astronomers may well be able to mitigate the impact of Starlink and other satellites (several teams are already working on models to see how that might be done), but the night sky itself may change forever as a result. "With Starlink, we are expecting at least 100 satellites to be visible at any one time [at any location on Earth]," says Baskill. "Soon, even those fortunate to experience a truly dark site will find it filled with a haze of metal, slowly swarming across the night sky." https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanocallaghan/2019/05/27/spacexs-starlink-could-change-the-night-sky-forever-and-astronomers-are-not-happy/#2399bc0459b6 Curt Lewis