Flight Safety Information - September 20, 2024 No. 188 In This Issue : Incident: SAS A20N near Copenhagen on Sep 18th 2024, cat needed : Incident: Jazz CRJ9 at Philadelphia on Sep 13th 2024, split elevator : Faulty component could have caused "extensive damage" to jet, report finds : A Higher Calling: A GE Aerospace Leader’s Lifelong Mission to ‘Bring Them Home Safely’ : California Firefighters Forced to Ground Aircraft After Drone Invasion : SMBC Aviation Capital to lease 20 Airbus A321neo aircraft to United Airlines : Beta Installs Electric Aircraft Chargers at Three Florida Airports : NOAA Pilots Persevere Through September Weather for Critical Algae Research in Bering Sea : Airplane makes emergency landing at PDX after device battery emits smoke : Delta Airlines pauses flights between JFK and Tel Aviv through December 31 : Hawaiian Airlines will soon notify staff about employment status following merger : European aviation authorities link Airbus engine fire to cleaning process : NTSB Working To Streamline Drone Program : Graduate Research Survey : This September, let's end childhood cancer. Together. : Calendar of Events Incident: SAS A20N near Copenhagen on Sep 18th 2024, cat needed A SAS Scandinavian Airlines Airbus A320-200N, registration SE-DOX performing flight SK-4683 from Oslo (Norway) to Malaga,SP (Spain), was enroute at FL360 about 160nm northwest of Copenhagen (Denmark) when the crew decided to divert to Copenhagen after a fugitive mouse had been sighted in the cabin. The aircraft landed safely on Copenhagen's runway 04R about 50 minutes later. A passenger reported meal service was in progress. When a fellow passenger opened their food tray a mouse jumped out and disappeared. Shortly afterward the captain announced, there was a safety risk and diverted to Copenhagen. A replacement A20N registration SE-ROR reached Malaga with a delay of about 2.5 hours. The occurrence aircraft returned to service about 16 hours after landing in Copenhagen. https://avherald.com/h?article=51de35c2&opt=0 Incident: Jazz CRJ9 at Philadelphia on Sep 13th 2024, split elevator A Jazz Canadair CRJ-900, registration C-GJAN performing flight QK-8931 from Philadelphia,PA (USA) to Toronto,ON (Canada), was climbing out of Philadelphia when the crew stopped the climb out of runway 09L just before reaching 10,000 feet, declared PAN PAN and decided to return to Philadelphia due to a split elevator. The aircraft landed safely on runway 09R about 40 minutes after departure. The Canadian TSB reported in addition the crew received a TCAS resolution advisory while returning to Philadelphia. The aircraft had suffered the same problem just 4 days earlier, see Incident: Jazz CRJ9 at Newark on Sep 9th 2024, split elevator, returned to service on Sep 12th 2024 and was on its 8th sector when the problem re-occurred. https://avherald.com/h?article=51de32d5&opt=0 Faulty component could have caused "extensive damage" to jet, report finds Hong Kong's air safety authority has found that a defect in an engine component of a Cathay Pacific Airways Airbus A350 that forced a Zurich-bound flight to return to Hong Kong could have caused “extensive damage” to the aircraft HONG KONG -- Hong Kong’s air safety authority said Thursday that a defect in an engine component of a Cathay Pacific Airways Airbus A350 that caused a fire, forcing a Zurich-bound flight to return to Hong Kong, could have caused “extensive damage” to the aircraft. The report on the Sept. 2 incident by Hong Kong’s Air Accident Investigation Authority said the steel braided sheath of a fuel hose connecting to a fuel spray nozzle was ruptured. Had the faulty component not been promptly detected and repaired, it could have escalated into a more serious engine fire. A preliminary investigation found soot on a section of the aircraft's core engine, indicating signs of a fire. Five other fuel hoses in the Cathay jet also were found to have either “frayed metal braids or collapsed structures,” the report said. Cathay Pacific said in a statement that it “acknowledged” the report. “Following the incident, Cathay Pacific immediately contacted the aircraft and engine manufacturers as well as the regulator,” the statement read. “As a precautionary measure, it proactively initiated a fleet-wide inspection of its Airbus A350 aircraft that cleared the aircraft for operation.” The engine fire aboard the Cathay plane caused cancellations of 70 flights and prompted inspections of the carrier's fleet of 48 Airbus A350 jets. Other airlines, such as Japan Airlines, conducted inspections on similar models in their fleets following the incident. The report released Thursday recommended that Rolls-Royce, which makes the Trent XWB-84 and XWB-97 engines that power Airbus’ A350 jets, provide information including the inspection requirements of the affected components “to ensure their serviceability.” After the incident, the European Union's Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued a directive requiring a one-time fleet inspection for some A350s after receiving safety recommendations from Hong Kong’s Air Accident Investigation Authority. https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/faulty-component-caused-extensive-damage-cathay-pacific-jet-113834471 A Higher Calling: A GE Aerospace Leader’s Lifelong Mission to ‘Bring Them Home Safely’ Every morning, Terri Braun Voutsas wakes up and reaches straight for her phone. “I’m checking for events,” says Braun Voutsas, the executive director of flight safety at GE Aerospace. “Events” is industry terminology for jet engine-caused accidents or incidents that pose some risk to an airplane. Thinking about engine safety before breakfast might sound stressful, but it’s second nature to Braun Voutsas, who has just chalked off her 35th year at GE Aerospace. In 2023, the company recorded zero engine-related events, improving on a strong five-year record of 0.04 incidents per one million departures. That is no mean feat, given that an aircraft with an engine manufactured by GE Aerospace or one of its partners takes off every two seconds. But Braun Voutsas won’t break her morning ritual, because she remembers July 19, 1989, like it was yesterday. It was a warm Wednesday afternoon 35 years ago and Braun Voutsas, who had started working full-time in GE Aerospace’s life management division just two weeks earlier, was at her desk in Cincinnati, poring over calculations for rotating jet engine parts. The news began to reverberate around the offices. United Airlines Flight 232, traveling from Denver to Chicago, had crash-landed in Sioux City, Iowa, killing 111 of the 296 people on board. At the center of a series of failures leading to the crash was GE Aerospace’s CF6 engine. “It’s something you never forget,” says Braun Voutsas. “I still get goose bumps thinking about it.” The disaster was devastating to the industry and GE Aerospace, and then it led to an industry-wide safety transformation. From that day forward, GE Aerospace led from the front on flight safety, making it foundational to everything it does. In 2013, the company was the first manufacturer to roll out a safety management system (SMS), a decade before the Federal Aviation Administration proposed the requirement. Today, everywhere from the shop floor to the boardroom is an open, safe space for raising safety concerns. And engineers and technicians have developed newer and more thorough techniques for inspecting engine parts, using, among other things, the same ultrasound tech found at a doctor’s office and the same X-ray fluorescence (XRF) scanning used by art museum restorers to see through layers of a Renaissance painting. Sioux City has also defined Braun Voutsas’ career. “Safety has always been at the forefront of my mind,” she says. “Like many of my colleagues, I’ve made it my life’s mission to make sure it never happens again.” Making a Career Out of Math Growing up as one of three girls to a single mom in Cincinnati, Braun Voutsas’ talent for math and science was obvious. But she had another love: the great outdoors. As a teen, she’d even imagined herself working as a forest ranger. Fate intervened in her final year of high school, when she started babysitting for a neighbor who worked as a scientist at a major company, and they got to chatting about their passions. Braun Voutsas had something of an epiphany: You could make a whole career out of math. The neighbor had a big impact on her, she remembers. Later that year, she earned a place in the mechanical engineering program at the University of Cincinnati. It was a smart call. Attending school just down the road allowed Braun Voutsas to live at home and save on her expenses. The University of Cincinnati also ran an extensive co-op program, which allowed students to alternate semesters between the lecture hall and a workplace for one year of their course. In her second year, Braun Voutsas accepted a co-op placement at GE Aerospace. She had lucked out, finding her vocation in her backyard even before she’d graduated. “In simple terms, I was working at a company that put a motor on an airplane, which made it fly,” she says. “That was so fascinating.” Braun Voutsas spent the year shuttling between home, the GE Aerospace labs, and the university. “I was continuing my studies, making some money, and trying the trade.” Even as an engineering co-op, she felt the weight of responsibility every time she crunched the numbers. “Even the slightest miscalculation on the energy of a rotating part would have a negative impact on the airplane,” she says. When she graduated with a year in the industry under her belt, the world was Braun Voutsas’ oyster. But GE Aerospace already felt like home. “I decided to take a role, maybe stay five years, and then go someplace else,” she says. “I’m still here 35 years later.” An Unforgettable Day Then came the fateful day. A little over an hour into Flight 232’s voyage to Chicago, a rotating fan disk in the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10’s tail-mounted CF6 engine failed catastrophically. Debris from the engine sliced through all three of the airplane’s hydraulic lines, disabling all normal flight controls. The crew managed to use the throttles to bring the plane down for a crash landing at the airport in Sioux City, where the jet caught fire and broke into pieces. Later, investigators discovered a half-inch crack in the fan disk that had been missed during a maintenance inspection. The crack was the result of a deviation in the process of melting titanium that allowed the metal to mix with oxygen, forming a material phase called hard alpha that is both brittle and weak. Braun Voutsas remembers a shocked workplace. The impact on colleagues was evident. “You could physically see the emotions that they went through,” she recalls. Setting the Agenda Numbness and shock soon turned into a keen sense of responsibility. Sioux City and flight safety shouldn’t be taboo, decided GE Aerospace leaders. They encouraged all employees to start discussing the issues. Fred Herzner, the former chief engineer at GE Aerospace and Braun Voutsas’ mentor, was instrumental in this effort. He set up the Safety Program Management Teams for each of the company’s engine models, which helps to ensure collective responsibility for flight safety, ensuring that no one individual is responsible for a decision impacting safety. “He made it his life goal to ensure we had the right culture and systems in place,” says Braun Voutsas. Leaders reached out to the rest of the aerospace industry, ensuring that flight safety was always at the top of the agenda from then on. “All the way through to Chief Executive Larry Culp, our leaders have been top-notch in talking about it,” Braun Voutsas explains. “It’s turned into an open conversation, and a policy of zero retaliation on raising your hand. That can be anyone from the mechanic working on our jet engines to the trucker who is moving them.” GE Aerospace backed up the cultural change with the best technical talent in the industry. Its Life Management team, which establishes safe operating life limits for all the parts in an engine, threw its arms around math-minded engineers like Braun Voutsas, ensuring they had abundant resources and support. “We were a nucleus of people who did calculations, and we were very influential in the industry, setting the stage for the new era of flight safety,” she says. Leaders hired brilliant metallurgists to help engineers understand the properties of titanium and how it melts. Together they explained to the world how tiny defects in titanium can completely change the fatigue capability of rotating parts, turning them into a liability. “I knew if the fan disk broke free, you’d have something with the power of a locomotive,” she says. Soon a series of changes were implemented. The biggest was adopting a process called electron-beam cold hearth melting, to melt titanium used in alloys. The updated process eliminates hard alpha and reduces defects. GE Aerospace also increased its ultrasonic inspection of engine parts, using sound waves to detect cracks and defects that might be hard to see. Safety Mantra It’s this combination of safety-first culture and empirical tenacity that has reduced events to practically zero. Along the way, Braun Voutsas has devised a kind of mantra on flight safety. “First, we try to stop events from occurring,” she explains. “And if we do have an event, we make sure we learn from those, stop it happening again, and read it across all of our platforms.” She felt a surge of pride when the FAA accepted GE Aerospace’s four-pillar SMS in 2017: policy, promotion, risk management, and assurance. “We were the first to get a voluntary system accepted, and it’s a really strong system,” she says. “We have an opportunity to build on that foundation and lead the industry.” Braun Voutsas has good news for people who still experience butterflies on takeoff. “Flying is so much safer today than it was in the 1980s. I think about the people flying today and I am confident that our products will get everyone home safely.” https://www.geaerospace.com/news/articles/higher-calling-ge-aerospace-leaders-lifelong-mission-bring-them-home-safely California Firefighters Forced to Ground Aircraft After Drone Invasion Firefighters with the California state fire agency were forced to ground their aircraft while fighting the Line Fire in San Bernardino County because of unauthorized drones in the area. The Line Fire ignited on September 5 near the San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California. The blaze has since grown to more than 39,000 acres and is 51 percent contained. It has put thousands and thousands of structures at risk, including single- and multifamily homes and commercial buildings. The fire was so severe that California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a state of emergency for San Bernardino County earlier this month, unlocking additional state resources and personnel to assist firefighters and securing federal assistance to support the response to the blaze. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) crews have been tirelessly combating the flames but were forced to pause their efforts earlier this week when drones interrupted their operations. Drones force California firefighters to ground aircraft "There have been multiple drone incursions over the Line Fire area. This has forced us to temporarily ground our aircraft which has impeded firefighting operations," CAL FIRE posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday morning. "Please help us share the message that flying drones in wildfire areas can have serious consequences." The #LineFire is 39,181 acres and 50% contained. Cooler temperatures over the area are bringing up moisture levels in the vegetation. There was minimal fire growth overnight. There have been multiple drone incursions over the Line Fire area. This has forced us to temporarily… CAL FIRE also included information about the drone incursions in its most recent status update about the fire, warning that flying drones near a wildfire "can have deadly consequences." "Please be respectful of those fighting the fire and the community members who are impacted by fire. Never fly drones near wildfire. If you fly, we can't," the update said. A CAL FIRE spokesperson told Newsweek that at least two drones have disrupted firefighting operations, at one point for at least two hours. The drone operator has not been identified. Other social media accounts also called out the drone incursions, criticizing people who chose to fly drones near wildfires to acquire imagery of the fires. "Folks, don't fly your drone near wildfires. I see a lot of [weather chasers] do this with alacrity (primarily in other states)...you're a scumbag if you do this," one post said. "It not only puts the fire aviators at risk, but also the crews on the ground who could be crushed, get burned up in the resulting spot fire, or have their lives ruined by having to fish the remains of the pilots out of the wreckage." "No shot is worth it," the post added. The cause is under investigation, CAL FIRE said. There are no evacuation orders in place for residential areas, although all national forest lands, trails and roads in the San Bernardino National Forest are closed within the wildfire zone. Several evacuation warnings advising people to be ready to flee should fire behavior change remain in place. https://www.newsweek.com/california-firefighters-forced-ground-aircraft-wildfire-drone-invasion-1956465 SMBC Aviation Capital to lease 20 Airbus A321neo aircraft to United Airlines SMBC Aviation Capital has announced the signing of definitive lease agreements with United Airlines for 20 Airbus A321neo aircraft. The aircraft arrival was previously announced as part of United’s fleet plan in April 2024, and is scheduled to be delivered from 2026 and will come from SMBC Aviation Capital’s direct Airbus order book. This deal announcement comes in addition to a recently completed 20 aircraft (Boeing 737-8 MAX) sale and leaseback transaction between SMBC Aviation Capital and United Airlines. At the Farnborough Airshow in July 2024, SMBC announced that it will be exercising options for 22 A320neo family aircraft firm orders. “The relationship between SMBC and United has never been stronger and these leases are a meaningful part of our efforts to optimize our balance sheet and to increase our return on capital,” Michael Leskinen, United’s Chief Financial Officer said in a statement. “We thank SMBC for its continued support and partnership,” Leskinen added. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, SMBC Aviation Capital is one of the world’s leading aircraft leasing companies, specializing in providing commercial jet aircraft to airlines across the globe. https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/smbc-aviation-capital-to-lease-20-airbus-a321neo-aircraft-to-united-airlines Beta Installs Electric Aircraft Chargers at Three Florida Airports Electric aircraft manufacturer now has chargers now online in Tallahassee, Gainesville, and Crestview Beta Technologies held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new charging station at the Million Air FBO at Tallahassee International Airport in Florida on Sept. 18, 2024. Beta Technologies inaugurated three new electric aircraft chargers at airports across Florida this week. The universal charging stations, which can power various types of electric aircraft and ground vehicles, are now online at Tallahassee International Airport (KTLH) in the Florida Panhandle, Gainesville Regional Airport (KGNV) in north central Florida, and Bob Sikes Airport (KCEW) in Crestview near Eglin Air Force Base. To celebrate the installations, Beta held a commissioning ceremony in partnership with the Million Air FBO at KTLH on September 18. “Tallahassee International Airport plays a vital role in driving the local economy, generating an estimated $1 billion annually. As TLH continues to expand its impact, we are excited to join the Florida Department of Transportation, Beta, and Million Air to introduce cutting-edge electric aircraft charging infrastructure at the airport,” said David Pollard, director of aviation for the City of Tallahassee. Following the installation of a Beta charger at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida last year, the Vermont-based company now has four charging facilities in the Sunshine State. Beta is building a nationwide charging network that now includes 32 active sites, and the company has at least another 50 locations in the works. The next Florida location to receive a Beta charging station will be Jacksonville Executive at Craig Airport (KCRG), a company spokesperson told AIN. To help the state prepare for the arrival of advanced air mobility (AAM) services, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) said it will release a document later this year—the “FDOT Advanced Air Mobility Land Use Compatibility and Site Approval Guidebook”—offering guidance for local governments and other stakeholders. “As Florida’s aviation industry is experiencing tremendous growth to keep pace with our growing population and record-breaking number of tourists, FDOT is looking to the future as the national leader in AAM deployment, which will revolutionize how we efficiently move people and goods,” said FDOT secretary Jared Perdue. At each of the three airports in Florida, Beta installed two types of chargers: an airside Level 3 DC fast charger for electric aircraft and ground support vehicles, plus a groundside Level 2 charger for electric cars and buses. Funding for the installations came from one of Beta’s government contracts, the spokesperson told AIN. Earlier this month, Beta received a $20 million contract award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to evaluate how electric aircraft could replace helicopters for emergency medical services. In addition to its charging infrastructure, Beta is developing a small electric airplane and an eVTOL aircraft for passenger and cargo operations. Beta’s launch customer, United Therapeutics, intends to use the aircraft to transport human organs bound for transplant surgeries. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/futureflight/2024-09-19/beta-installs-electric-aircraft-chargers-three-florida NOAA Pilots Persevere Through September Weather for Critical Algae Research in Bering Sea Crisp 40 degree temperatures, sunny skies, and smooth flying were a treat for the Arctic AIR team when they were last in Nome in June. Fast forward to September, blustery conditions and low clouds are making the team’s critical algae research a bit more challenging. Still, the team is persevering thanks to the dedication of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) corps of talented pilots. Lieutenant Commander Denise Miller and Lieutenant Laura Rock were on the yoke for part of Arctic AIR’s mission this September. Before taking flight, the duo go through extensive checks to ensure the flight will be safe. Rock said they use several sources like the Alaska Weather Unit and an advanced NOAA product called Rapid Refresh to check for current conditions. “Trying to gauge the weather, as difficult as that may be, is one of our first and foremost priorities,” Rock said. A Resonon Pika L hyperspectral camera is one of a few tools in the Arctic AIR’s suite of sensors. The camera, capable of capturing a virtually continuous spectrum of colors, points downward from the floor of the plane. It can capture the unique color of different species of algae, giving the researchers the ability to differentiate between helpful –and harmful– types of algae. The cloudy conditions in September have forced the team to fly closer to the water to capture an unobstructed view of the Bering Sea. That can create challenges, since flying closer to the water reduces the size of the area the camera captures. Miller said that during the flight, they’re constantly monitoring and updating their flight plan in collaboration with project lead Jiaxu Zhang to ensure their scientific mission can be met. “A lot of our planning is teamwork. Talking with her about the areas that she's most interested in, in terms of algae blooms and then comparing that with weather models. So it's just finding the right balance of clear of clouds, at a good altitude for the camera." - Lt. Cmdr. Denise Miller, NOAA 400 miles above the Twin Otter, NASA’s PACE satellite is capturing data with a hyperspectral camera of its own. The satellite, launched earlier this year, is just one layer of a growing web of resources being used to better understand phytoplankton in the Earth’s oceans. A constellation of microSWIFT buoys deployed by the Arctic AIR team this summer are also collecting data in the water, along with samples collected by local boat owners and fellow researchers. This web is making it possible for the team to do ground-truthing, a method of correlating aerial data with ground data to ensure their sensors are working accurately. Zhang said this is important as the team tries to better understand harmful algal blooms. “The goal is to try to get as much data as we can, and then try to see if we can tell if there is a potential harmful algae bloom happening down there. We want to overfly that cruise so that they can collect water samples, and we can have the remote sensing data up in the air. That way we can do ground truthing on the data that we collect,” Zhang said. In the future, Arctic AIR hopes to add a few new pieces of equipment to the mix including the American-made Freefly Alta-X drone and a pole-mounted DALEC hyperspectral camera that can be used on ships. This will further expand their capability to detect and track algal events like one that struck the Bering Strait region in 2022. That bloom is now known to be the largest, most persistent, and toxic ever documented nationwide. This winter, the team will review their data and optimize their plans before returning to the region in June. https://knom.org/2024/09/19/noaa-pilots-persevere-through-september-weather-for-critical-algae-research-in-bering-sea/ Airplane makes emergency landing at PDX after device battery emits smoke PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — An airplane made an emergency landing at Portland International Airport Thursday night after the battery of someone’s device emitted smoke from within the plane, authorities said. The Port of Portland responded to a KOIN 6 News inquiry Thursday night, saying in part that the “aircraft landed safely.” “Portland Airport Fire & Rescue responded to the scene and identified / contained the source of smoke, which appeared to be a battery from a personal electronic. Emergency response is stood down and the aircraft was turned over to the airline,” said Port of Portland Media Relations Manager Allison Ferre via email. Details about the incident are otherwise limited. KOIN 6 News is working to learn more. https://www.koin.com/local/multnomah-county/airplane-makes-emergency-landing-at-pdx-after-device-battery-emits-smoke/ Delta Airlines pauses flights between JFK and Tel Aviv through December 31 Delta pauses flights between JFK and Tel Aviv through Dec. 31 due to 'conflict in region' People can still book travel to Tel Aviv on the Delta website, but it's for partner airlines like EL AL Israel Airlines. NEW YORK (WABC) -- Delta flights between New York's John F. Kennedy Airport and Tel Aviv, Israel will be paused through Dec. 31 due to "ongoing conflict in the region," the airline said in a release Thursday. The company cited factors like security guidance and intelligence reports. People can still book travel to Tel Aviv on the Delta website, but it's for partner airlines like EL AL Israel Airlines. "Customers impacted by the schedule change will receive notifications via the Fly Delta app and contact information listed in their reservation as these cancellations are processed in Delta's system," the company said in a statement. https://abc7ny.com/post/delta-airlines-suspends-flights-between-jfk-tel-aviv-december-31-due-ongoing-conflict-region/15327883/ Hawaiian Airlines will soon notify staff about employment status following merger Nonunion Hawaiian Airlines employees will learn, as soon as Friday, whether their positions will be retained through the company’s merger with Alaska Airlines. While most positions are expected to be retained, the company identified some as duplicative. The notification process will continue for two weeks and those who are facing layoffs will be offered a severance package with career counseling services. Union employees, such as pilots, flight attendants and other frontline workers, will not be impacted but will begin a process of re-negotiating contracts with Alaska Airlines. Hawaiian Airlines has about 7,400 employees, but after merging with Alaska Airlines and its regional subsidiary company Horizon Air will now grow to about 33,000 employees globally. Noncontract Hawaiian Airlines employees who stay with the company for an additional 90 days after closing on Wednesday will receive a retention award. The merger between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian was finalized on Wednesday. Joe Sprague, the former Alaska Airlines regional president of Hawai‘i and the Pacific, has been named the interim Hawaiian Airlines CEO. He will lead the company as the Federal Aviation Administration finalizes a single operating certificate, which could take over a year. Joe Sprague, and several senior executives from Hawaiian Airlines, will comprise the interim Honolulu leadership team. "At that point, it will be one operating airline. However, as we've shared from the very beginning, we will be maintaining two separate customer-facing brands — Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines," Sprague said. "So even a year from now, when we get to that spot where we have a common operating platform, what the customers will continue to see here in Hawaiʻi will be Hawaiian Airlines," he said. All Hawaiian Airlines loyalty programs will be unaffected by the merger, but customers will now also be able to use earned miles on Alaska Airlines. Alaska Airlines miles will now also be redeemable on Hawaiian Airlines flights. The company is also launching the Huakaʻi program for Hawaiʻi residents that will offer a quarterly 10% discount for interisland flights. Sprague added that there will also be offers for out-of-state travel. It's similar to a program Alaska Airlines offers Alaska residents, where certain parts of the state are also inaccessible via car. "All folks need to do is make sure they're a Hawaiian Miles member. And then within the next few weeks, we will make a sign-up available ... [for] benefits that will honestly address the cost of flying between the neighbor islands, including a free bag," Sprague said. "There's a special relationship between the airline and the residents of a place that is so uniquely reliant on air travel." https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2024-09-19/hawaiian-airlines-notify-staff-employment-status-alaska-airlines-merger European aviation authorities link Airbus engine fire to cleaning process (OTCPK:CPCAF) on Sept. 2 was linked to a possible maintenance issue, European aviation safety authorities said Thursday. The engines were made by Rolls-Royce Holdings (OTCPK:RYCEY) (OTCPK:RYCEF). The European Union Aviation Safety Agency this month ordered airlines to visually inspect Rolls-Royce XWB-97 engines after the incident on the Zurich-bound Airbus (OTCPK:EADSY) (OTCPK:EADSF) A350-1000. "In-service and in-shop inspections since then have identified that a specific cleaning process available during engine refurbishment may lead to fuel manifold main fuel hose degradation," the agency said in a statement. The announcement came after Hong Kong authorities said they discovered a hole in a fuel hose after leaking fuel caught fire in one of the plane's engines. No one was injured in the incident. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/european-aviation-authorities-link-airbus-engine-fire-to-cleaning-process/ar-AA1qR7GI?ocid=finance-verthp-feeds NTSB Working To Streamline Drone Program The NTSB is seeking a cloud-based software provider to help manage its drone program. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is working to enhance its drone program by seeking a cloud-based software provider for fleet management, according to a recent federal contract posting. The agency intends to use this software to more effectively track its increasing number of uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), which are vital for investigating accidents. Currently, the NTSB does not have a centralized system for tracking its drones, which are used to capture video and photos of incidents and perform mapping and photogrammetry. In its posting, the NTSB notes that, until recently, its UAS program has been operated on a small scale, with just five drones, four active crew members and one program lead. Documentation of fleet assets and personnel was managed manually through basic spreadsheets and databases, a process described as “archaic” and “inefficient,” making it difficult to maintain a robust safety management system. The NTSB says it has recently launched its UAS Flight Operations Program—expanding its aircraft fleet from five to 12 drones—and has increased personnel to a team of 15. According to the agency, “Implementation of a solution for both aircraft and program management will serve to improve the effectiveness and integrity of NTSB investigations.” https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/ntsb-works-to-streamline-drone-program/ Graduate Research Survey I am a former United States Air Force aviator with over 30 years of flying experience, now pursuing a Ph.D. in Aviation at Saint Louis University. My research focuses on Human Factors, particularly sleep and fatigue. My journey in aviation has been defined by a commitment to excellence, service before self, and integrity towards a greater good. For my dissertation, I am studying pilots' likelihood to report sleep disorders in Part 121 commercial aviation operations—a critical issue affecting both pilot health and aviation safety. My Research This anonymous survey is designed to be completed in 10-12 minutes and aims to build a predictive model to better understand situational factors influencing pilots' reporting behaviors. Your participation could contribute to long-term safety improvements in the aviation industry, including enhanced fatigue countermeasures and better sleep disorder screening. The survey is entirely confidential, with no way to trace responses back to individuals, and has been approved by the Saint Louis University Institutional Review Board (IRB). Thank you for considering taking part in this important research. Survey Link: https://slu.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_agHdxCbY0E1D3Ho CALENDAR OF EVENTS • Safety is not a Secret - September 27-28, 2024 - Seminar, JUNGLE AVIATION AND RELAY SERVICE • 2024 ISASI - Lisbon, Portugal - September 30 to October 4, 2024 • DEFENCE AVIATION SAFETY 2024 - 2 OCTOBER - 3 OCTOBER 2024 - LONDON • International Congress of Aerospace Medicine ICAM 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal, 3 - 5 October 2024 • Aviation Health Conference back on Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th October 2024 • Safeskies Australia Conference, Canberra Australia - 16th and 17th of October 2024 - www.safeskiesaustralia.org • 2024 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition - Oct. 22-24 (Vegas) • Sixth Edition of International Accident Investigation Forum, 21 to 23 May 2025, Singapore Curt Lewis