December 11, 2024 - No. 50 In This Issue : Transport Canada issues emergency directive for Airbus A220 : Airbus looking to fill over 800 positions in Canada to accelerate A220 production : U.S. GPS modernization faces delays, technical challenges: GAO report : FAA sets new directives for select Boeing 737 models : Inside Europe's Biggest Airplane Graveyard (Video 16:21) : Bell Completes Wind Tunnel Testing Efforts to Validate Revolutionary Stop/Fold Jet Transition Capability : FAA Advisory Circular Opens The Door For TCAS Upgrade : The commercial aviation trends likely to impact MRO providers in the future : Inaccurate gauges contribute to fuel exhaustion : A Higher Calling: A GE Aerospace Leader’s Lifelong Mission to ‘Bring Them Home Safely’ Transport Canada issues emergency directive for Airbus A220 By Skies Magazine August 6, 2024 Transport Canada has released an emergency airworthiness directive (AD) mandating thorough visual inspections of the main landing gear (MLG) on Airbus A220-100 and A220-300 aircraft due to the potential absence of a fuse pin. The directive was issued after maintenance checks revealed that a pintle fuse pin was missing from the left-hand main landing gear of an A220 aircraft. It applies to the Airbus A220-100 (Model BD-500-1A10) with serial numbers ranging from 50001 to 50065 and 50067 to 50076, as well as the -300 (Model BD-500-1A11) with serial numbers from 55001 to 55284, 55286, and 55289. According to Transport Canada, if a pintle fuse pin was either missing or damaged, it could cause “a significant redistribution of loads in the MLG assembly and reduce the capability of the MLG assembly to withstand those loads, potentially resulting in the collapse of the MLG during takeoff.” The emergency AD stipulates that within 24 flight cycles of the effective date of Aug. 3, maintenance personnel must carry out a detailed visual inspection of the pintle housing assembly to confirm the presence and proper installation of the pintle fuse pins. If a pintle fuse pin is found to be missing or improperly installed, Airbus Canada must be contacted for an approved resolution. Airbus looking to fill over 800 positions in Canada to accelerate A220 production By Dayna Fedy-MacDonald February 22, 2023 Airbus on Feb. 22 announced its plans to recruit more than 800 new employees in Canada this year, as the manufacturer is looking to ramp up production of its A220 commercial aircraft, as well as “meet opportunities in the helicopter, defense, and space fields,” the company said in a press release. In 2022 alone, Airbus hired 800 new personnel and created more than 400 positions for the A220 in Mirabel, Quebec. Now, the OEM is looking to recruit a further 800 employees in 2023. Of the 800 new employees, 500 will be recruited for the creation of new positions, which Airbus said reflects the growth of its operations in Canada. The A220 final assembly line in Mirabel, Quebec. Frederick K. Larkin Photo The jobs will range from sub-component assembly and flight operations, to IT and customer service. “Two-thirds of the workforce will be in support functions, while one-third will be in production,” Airbus said. More specifically, Airbus Canada’s president and CEO, Benoît Schultz, said this year the company is aiming to “allocate one-third of our positions to young graduates and early-career professionals, and maintain our goal to have 33 percent of new hires and promotions allocated to women.” The company added: “These new hires will be essential to maintaining [our] position as a leading player in the Canadian aerospace sector, ensuring the full potential of the A220 and supporting the decarbonization of air transport.” Airbus currently manufactures the A220 at two facilities, both located in North America. The first is in Mirabel — which is the main A220 facility — and the second is in Mobile, Alabama. There are nearly 3,000 personnel working at the A220 commercial aircraft program headquarters in Mirabel, and more than 4,000 individuals who work at the 10 sites and offices of Airbus and its subsidiaries in Canada. While Airbus has not offered a recent update regarding the A220’s monthly production rate, Skies reported in August 2022 that Airbus is producing a total of 72 A220s per year between the Mirabel and Mobile facilities. The OEM has plans to increase that number to 168 units by 2025, which would translate to a monthly production rate of 10 units at Mirabel and four units at Mobile. Currently, the largest operator of the A220 is Delta Air Lines, with 59 of the type in its fleet — comprised of both the A220-100 and A220-300. Canada’s flag carrier, Air Canada, is not far behind, with 33 A220-300s in its fleet. The aircraft is tailored specifically for the 100- to 150-seat market. In July 2022, Airbus forecasted that there will be global demand for at least 7,000 aircraft in that exact seat category over the next 20 years. Note: The Airbus A220 is manufactured in two locations: Mirabel, Que., and Mobile, Ala., with Mirabel serving as the main final assembly line. In 2022, Airbus was producing a total of five A220s per month, but has been working towards ramping up production to 14 aircraft per month — 10 at Mirabel and four at Mobile. In late July, the OEM confirmed that it hopes to achieve this goal by 2026. U.S. GPS modernization faces delays, technical challenges: GAO report The annual assessment is part of the GAO’s mandate from Congress to evaluate the cost, schedule and performance of GPS acquisition programs. Sandra Erwin September 9, 2024 Illustration of a GPS IIIF satellite in orbit. Credit: Lockheed Martin WASHINGTON — A new U.S. government report highlights mixed progress in the modernization of the Global Positioning System (GPS), citing advancements in satellite and ground equipment upgrades alongside persistent delays in some areas. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, released Sept. 9, reveals that the Space Force is grappling with technical hurdles in next-generation GPS satellites and ground systems. These challenges have eroded schedule margins, potentially pushing back the delivery of 24 M-code-capable satellites crucial for military operations through the 2030s. M-code, a more secure and jam-resistant signal, is central to the modernization efforts. The ground control segment known as OCX, while achieving some key testing milestones, still requires further evaluation before military acceptance. The projected acceptance date is now set for December 2025. The report also flags risks in the development of user equipment, including microchips and cards that process M-code signals. Although the first increment of user equipment is approaching final tests, newly discovered deficiencies threaten to disrupt the timeline. The Department of Defense is additionally working to address potential shortages of GPS chips and cards. Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the next-generation GPS IIIF satellites, is tackling manufacturing difficulties with a crucial component, the Linearized Traveling Wave Tube Amplifier, the report says. This component is essential for enabling a high-powered, steerable M-code signal. To mitigate these challenges, Lockheed Martin has subcontracted the construction of amplifiers from the third GPS IIIF satellite onward. The OCX program, led by Raytheon, completed a qualification test for Blocks 1 and 2 in December 2023. However, several test events remain before the system can be accepted for operational use. The related OCX Block 3F program has made progress in software development, but ongoing delays with earlier blocks have complicated efforts. This annual assessment — mandated by Congress in the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act — requires GAO to evaluate the cost, schedule, and performance of GPS acquisition programs. The report underscores the complexity and ongoing challenges in modernizing this critical global navigation infrastructure. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued new airworthiness directives (ADs) for certain models of the Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737 aircraft. Published 11/30/2024, 05:43 AM Reuters. These directives, published in the Federal Register, address two separate concerns that could potentially affect flight safety. The first AD targets specific Boeing 737-300 and -400 series airplanes. This directive comes after a report identified that the flight control rigging tolerances might not allow the spoiler to deflect to the minimal level required. This level is necessary for the engagement of the cruise thrust split monitor within the autothrottle system. The FAA's directive aims to ensure that the spoiler deflection meets the essential safety threshold. The second AD affects certain Boeing 737-8, 737-9, and 737-8200 (737 MAX) airplanes. The action follows a report detailing a non-conforming installation of spoiler wire bundles that could result in unintended spoiler movement. Notably, there was an incident involving a flight spoiler hardover, which is an uncommanded and full deflection of the spoiler, a situation that can significantly impact an aircraft's handling and safety. Both ADs are set to take effect on January 6, 2025. These measures are part of the FAA's ongoing efforts to maintain high safety standards and prevent potential issues that could arise from these identified risks. The directives will require inspections and potential modifications to ensure compliance and enhance the safety of these Boeing 737 aircraft models. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C. Inside Europe's Biggest Airplane Graveyard What is happening inside Europe’s largest aircraft storage site? I visited Teruel, Spain to find out more from Tarmac Aerosave. During the peak of the Pandemic, there were about over 150 widebodies stored in Teruel making it the largest aircraft storage site in Europe. Most of them are A340, A380, Boeing 747 and B777 wide-body aircraft. As travel demand returned, there was a shortage of airplane flying. More and more airplanes are leaving the storage and flying back in the sky for a second life! Staff from Tarmac Aerosave showed me how to re-activate an Airbus A380. After completing 5,000 hours of check and maintenance, the Etihad Airways A380 is ready to leave storage and return to service. Next, I visited an A330 with components and parts removed from the airplane. The airplane is being recycled. The Tarmac team showed me how they remove parts and document it before sending it to the owner. Up to 94% of the airplane can be recycled within 12 weeks. It is interesting to see an array of activities in Europe’s biggest aircraft storage site. Bell Completes Wind Tunnel Testing Efforts to Validate Revolutionary Stop/Fold Jet Transition Capability 4 December 2024, 14:56 (CST) Bell Completes Wind Tunnel Testing Efforts to Validate Revolutionary Stop/Fold Jet Transition Capability Test operations seek to validate the stability and control of the stop fold vehicle during jet transition Wichita, KS (December 4, 2024) – Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, has completed wind tunnel testing at the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University in support of the DARPA Speed and Runway Independent Technology (SPRINT) program. This test phase follows successful evaluation of the Stop/Fold rotor system using the Holloman High Speed Test Track (HHSTT) in New Mexico in 2023. Building upon the previous folding rotor testing, the wind tunnel program validated the stability and control of the aircraft through the rotor fold and unfold sequence in flight. Together, these two critical risk reduction tests prove the concept is ready to move ahead into a flight demonstration as part of the DARPA SPRINT program. “After completing folding rotor transition testing on the sled at Holloman Air Force Base last year, we’re thrilled to have now completed this next phase of testing,” said Jason Hurst, executive vice president, Engineering, Bell. “Bell’s advanced Stop/Fold family of systems will revolutionize the speed, range and survivability of vertical lift aircraft to enable operations in contested environments. We are excited to be part of another aviation milestone with this breakthrough technology. Bell is currently in Phase 1B of the DARPA SPRINT program. The SPRINT program intends to design, build and fly an experimental aircraft (X-Plane) to demonstrate enabling technologies and integrated concepts necessary for a transformational combination of aircraft speed and runway independence for the next generation of air mobility and air combat platforms. Bell's scalable Stop/Fold configurations combine modern jet speed with runway independence, offering next-generation capabilities that will transform the battlefield for the nation's warfighters. The ability to leverage available runways for maximum payload and range, along with robust vertical lift, empowers Agile Combat Employment (ACE) from nearly any location—delivering a clear strategic advantage, particularly in the Indo-Pacific theater. In an environment with limited runways, vast distances, and a contested battlespace, this aircraft provides the essential speed and range to meet mission demands. This unique combination of capabilities is also ideally suited for Special Operations, enhancing speed, reach, and survivability for our most challenging and sensitive missions. Alexis Baird FAA Advisory Circular Opens The Door For TCAS Upgrade More sophisticated collision-avoidance software is on the horizon. Mark Phelps Updated Dec 4, 2024 4:15 AM EST Now decades old, TCAS technology could be displaced with an upgrade. Now decades old, TCAS technology could be displaced with an upgrade. Credit: Wikipedia The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) is reporting on a recent FAA Advisory Circular (AC) that refers to a new generation of collision avoidance technology. The AC, itself, “provides an acceptable means to address operational use of collision avoidance systems (CAS), including ACAS and traffic alert and collision avoidance systems (TCAS).” “ACAS” is the generic term used to refer to collision avoidance systems in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations as well as among the international community. According to Richard Boll, chair of the NBAA Domestic Operations Committee, Airspace and Flight Technologies Subcommittee, the FAA AC introduces a new, upgraded collision-avoidance platform. “ACAS X is the next generation of software replacing TCAS,” he said. “ACAS X is more sophisticated than the TCAS systems we use now. The technology and algorithms currently used date back to the 1970s. This new system can evaluate threats and, through a Monte Carlo simulation, process hundreds of scenarios and determine the ‘least cost’ or lowest risk, most efficient option for collision avoidance.” According to the NBAA statement, ACAS X is not mandatory at this time, but the association predicts that the technology will be introduced over the next few years. The commercial aviation trends likely to impact MRO providers in the future By Luke Peters November 2, 2024, 06:00 (UTC +3) MRO AeroTime Note: Please see several photos in the original article. The demand for air travel has never been higher than it is today, and consequently, the need has never been greater for airlines to equip their fleets, meet that demand and capitalize on it. But in the rush to get more planes flying, carrying passengers (and cargo), and earning revenue, the ever-present issue of safety and aircraft maintenance looms large. Safety should underpin any commercial airline’s operation, from the smallest air taxi operator to the largest intercontinental mega carrier. Adherence to safety regulations and protocols means always maintaining those aircraft to a safe standard, regardless of cost. As the adage goes, ‘If you think aviation safety is expensive, try having an accident.’ Whether an airline is flying a freshly delivered Boeing 787 Dreamliner or a 20-year-old Airbus A320, every single aircraft needs to follow a schedule of maintenance throughout its service life. From replacing the smallest screw to a complete airframe strip down and overhaul, every aircraft requires regular engineering checks to ensure that its airworthiness (and hence, safety) is not compromised at any stage. Additionally, every single maintenance event must be diagnosed, fixed, and recorded, and this needs to be done by a correctly certified organization. Such a process must be facilitated through engineering support, hangarage, parts, labor, and expertise. However handling all this in-house comes at a considerable cost, and so an increasing number of carriers are outsourcing aircraft maintenance requirements to third parties. These organizations, known within the industry as Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) providers, allow operators to access such support services without incurring the fixed costs of providing them themselves. As the number of commercial aircraft in operation has risen, so the demand for MRO services has also taken an upward trajectory. Indeed, the MRO industry has never had it so good. Yet, as with anything relating to aviation, the demand for MRO services remains cyclical and subject to external factors such as economic recessions, health pandemics, and industry downturns, to name just a few. In an industry that is currently enjoying a remarkable phase of business growth, it would be easy to assume that these halcyon days for MRO providers are here to stay. But with the factors responsible for this unprecedented increase in business set to change over the next decade, AeroTime examines the future trends that are set to shape the future development of the MRO industry. The cyclical nature of the MRO industry The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on the global airline industry. Too few passengers, coupled with too many aircraft sitting doing nothing, pushed many operators to the brink of collapse. However, in the three years since the end of the pandemic, air travel has boomed, and airlines are now struggling with the opposite issue – that is, too many passengers and too few aircraft to carry them. A study published by McKinsey in July 2024 showed that, after a period of negative growth during the pandemic, the volume of airline flights, measured in revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs), has already surpassed pre-pandemic levels. Overall, the growth rate for airline traffic in 2024 is forecast to be 4.2%, while long-range forecasts indicate that growth will continue to rise by 4.3% percent annually until 2034. While the world’s planemakers and other Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) have been trying to increase production rates to deliver more aircraft to customers, this strategy has backfired (in the case of Boeing, spectacularly so). Such companies now have huge order backlogs stretching out for many years ahead and they are struggling to meet their own delivery schedules. With delays to engines and other vital components from suppliers reaching manufacturers, compounded with ongoing labor disputes, the airline industry is having to adjust to the prospect of keeping older aircraft in the air for longer, bridging the gap until newer replacements arrive later this decade – or in some cases, early the next. With fewer aging aircraft being retired, the supply of used serviceable materials (USMs) is getting tighter too, as there become fewer aircraft being parted out. This is driving up the cost of USMs and MROs which have specialist knowledge in this field and are benefitting from airlines relying on their expert knowledge and contacts. Regardless of the growing need to keep older airframes safe and in the air for longer, though, can MROs continue to capitalize on this current trend, and if so, for how long? Moreover, as more new-generation jets with lower maintenance requirements come online to replace the older airframes over the coming years, could this shift have a detrimental effect on MROs? Lengthening retention rates of older aircraft McKinsey predicts that, between 2024 and 2034, the global fleet of commercial airliners will grow by 3.4% annually, as airlines equip their fleets to handle the growth being driven by the huge increase in travel demand. However, as newer aircraft enter airline fleets and older, less reliable planes are retired between 2024 and 2034, the likelihood is that demand for MRO services will start to decline. Newer, more modern aircraft tend to be more reliable thanks to their use of cutting-edge technology, meaning that they require fewer maintenance checks than older airframes. With fewer older aircraft operating, the demand for maintenance services on such aircraft will also drop – a shift that will undoubtedly impact MROs. Between 2024 and 2030, as these next-generation aircraft replace older models, McKinsey forecasts that MRO spending will slow to an annual growth rate of around 1.2%. Even if delivery schedules can be stabilized to meet airlines’ expectations in the future, it remains likely that they will still not have enough aircraft to sustain their desired growth. This is due to the domino effect caused by the almost total shutdown of aircraft production lines during the pandemic, causing a lag effect that will take years to clear. This, coupled with the ongoing issue surrounding next-generation jet engines (Pratt& Whitney LEAP and Rolls-Royce Trent 1000) has exacerbated the already strained supply of new aircraft. As such, then, airlines will be bound to retain older aircraft in their fleets for longer. Analysts have estimated that aircraft retirement rates of commercial aircraft will be around 24% percent lower from 2024 through 2026, compared to the period between 2020 and 2019. This will be music to the ears of MRO providers – for now, at least. New aircraft replacing older fleets However, this boom time is not set to last, according to those same analysts. Higher-than-average fleet ages, plus the resulting increase in maintenance requirements for those older aircraft, are not expected to persist indefinitely. Towards the end of this decade, as supply chain issues are resolved and aircraft production rates rise, aircraft retirement rates are forecast to return to pre-pandemic levels, at around 2.7% of the global fleet annually. Overall, by the end of the decade, the average commercial aircraft age is predicted to settle back to around 12.3 years. A crucial point to note about the incoming next generation of aircraft is that overall, the average capacity per aircraft is on the rise. Potentially, this means that fewer aircraft will be required to fly the same number of passengers from A to B (generally speaking). However, not only will these planes be larger overall, but they will also offer extended-range capabilities never seen before in commercial aircraft. This is an important consideration for MROs, as long-range can mean fewer sectors per airframe. Fewer sectors mean fewer take-off and landing cycles, the phases of flight that put the most strain on an airframe. Conversely, higher cycles result in a higher maintenance requirement for components such as landing gears (brakes, wheels, and legs), plus flap mechanisms. When airplanes perform fewer cycles, the frequency of overhauls reduces which results in fewer shop visits. Ultimately, the integration of more long-range aircraft into airline fleets is sure to have a trickle-down effect on MRO providers. Challenges with supply chains will ease In recent months, the leading aircraft manufacturers have been seeing production rates drop as bottlenecks in the supply chain, as well as issues with obtaining key components, have worsened. This has led to order books stretching far beyond 2030, as manufacturers battle to clear the huge order backlogs that have accrued in the immediate post-pandemic period. In the meantime, aircraft retirement rates will reduce to their lowest level in decades, as older airframes are retained. However, industry analysts forecast that these supply chain issues will ease by around 2026 and 2027 and that plane manufacturers will gear up production rates as soon as they can do so. Therefore, from 2024 onward, total annual aircraft deliveries are expected to rise by 4% annually, as the manufacturers work hard to clear their order backlogs and remain on schedule. After all, for every aircraft delivered late, the longer the manufacturer must wait to be paid, which has a detrimental impact on their cash flow. Lower maintenance requirements Composite materials are being used to an increasing degree in main aircraft structures such as fuselages, wings, and engines. These are considered to be far more durable and dependable than their steel or aluminum alloy counterparts. As such, it is widely expected that tomorrow’s aircraft will require less maintenance and less frequent heavy checks, which in turn will affect the amount of such business handled by MROs specializing in these areas. Fewer passenger-to-freighter conversions Air cargo is one area that has become particularly lucrative for MRO providers in recent years. During the pandemic, as passenger planes were grounded, the freight-only airline came to the fore, as people switched to e-commerce for their essentials and luxury goods, plus deliveries of vaccinations and protective equipment ramped up. Some airlines even began using their passenger planes as freighters, filling the rows of empty seats with boxes of commodities and medical equipment. To meet the surging demand for air cargo, not only did cargo airlines keep already aging aircraft in service longer, but they also relied more heavily on passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversions. This process saw older passenger planes being converted to dedicated freighters, having large side cargo doors added and their floors strengthened. In the years since 2020, the P2F market has surged, with the A321P2F and A330P2F becoming particularly attractive to carriers retiring older Boeing 737-400Fs and 757-200Fs. But while MROs specializing in such conversions have seen orders balloon in the past few years, this trend is not likely to last. The carriage of cargo in the belly-holds of passenger aircraft has recovered since the pandemic and has now surpassed previous levels. Equally, the demand for air cargo capacity has become more volatile, with early indications showing that the demand for P2F conversions is already beginning to tail off. This will mean that MROs specializing in this work risk being over-capacity if they cannot adapt their business to other areas of MRO activities. Only a couple of years ago, the scramble to get into the P2F market was rising unabated. Now, the slow-down in this market is already underway as it begins to shrink and new orders for P2F conversions slow to a trickle. What does this all mean for MRO providers? As stated at the beginning of this article, MRO providers have never had it so good and are currently expanding and benefiting from the surging demand for their services. The prevailing market conditions in global aviation dictate that continued MRO growth is assured from 2024 through 2034 when analysts predict the industry will be worth $135 billion annually at today’s prices. This growth will be driven primarily by the high demand for maintenance on older aging fleets of commercial aircraft, for the aforementioned reasons. Over the longer term, however, MRO growth will start to plateau due to the impact of an increasing retirement of older aircraft as newer, more technologically advanced aircraft are delivered to airlines and the manufacturers’ order backlogs start to clear. Additionally, as these older aircraft reach the point where they require expensive and lengthy ‘C’ and ‘D’ heavy maintenance checks, their owners may simply deem it not economically viable to keep them in the air. The introduction of next-generation aircraft is also likely to affect spending on MRO services, despite the overall size of the global fleet increasing. This is due to increased reliability, better technology, and in some cases longer stage lengths and fewer take-off and landing cycles, all of which require less frequent maintenance inputs. Additionally, the growing use of composite structures and other innovative technologies resulting in fewer maintenance checks will begin to bite for MROs as new aircraft replace the older ones still in service. Once the current next-generation jet engine teething issues are overcome, this is likely to negatively impact MROs even further. According to industry forecasts, the Asia–Pacific region is predicted to remain the largest MRO market over the next decade, increasing by 0.8 percent annually from 2024 to 2034. By that point, it is forecast to account for 32% of the global MRO market. Elsewhere, Europe and North America are both expected to maintain shares of around about 25%, with annual growth rates of 1.5 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively. Conclusion It is clear that today’s MRO providers are right to be focusing on the maintenance and repair of the aging global commercial airline fleet. After all, this is currently the area of highest growth and thus is where the highest revenues can be earned. That said, MROs also need to keep one eye on the future and the never-ending changes and fluctuations in the aircraft market, both new and used planes already in service. The over-reliance on the servicing of aging jets and building up of expertise in the P2F sector would be unwise for the reasons already set out, plus new trends that are already beginning to appear on the horizon. To future-proof their businesses, it would be prudent for today’s MROs to develop and broaden their capabilities to maintain the aircraft of the future. This will include developing expertise across all the next-generation aircraft with their new technology engines, which are to be built using a large degree of composite materials. The whole market dynamic for MROs is changing. The servicing of older aircraft, currently bread and butter for many MROs, will in due course be replaced by a need to service a growing global fleet of newer, higher-technology planes. As this transitional process begins to take place over the coming years, the rewards will be there for those MROs who are best prepared to meet this change. However, those who are not risk being left behind as the industry moves on without them. Inaccurate gauges contribute to fuel exhaustion By NTSB · November 22, 2024 · The private pilot just purchased the amateur-built Mustang II, which was reportedly equipped with two fuel tanks in each wing totaling 22 gallons or a total capacity of 44 gallons. According to the previous owner who was an airframe and powerplant mechanic, since filling the right fuel tank more than one month earlier, he flew the airplane on two separate flights totaling 1.3 hours. No additional flights were made by him after fueling. During an engine run before departure of the accident flight, the left and right fuel gauges indicated about one needle width from empty and 1/2 capacity, respectively. The new owner believed the depicted fuel amount was adequate for the intended short duration flight to a nearby airport for fuel. He departed with the fuel selector on both, then shortly after takeoff moved it to the left fuel tank. About 13 minutes later the engine quit. He declared a mayday, moved the fuel selector to both and then right tank positions but that did not restore power. He flew towards a nearby airport but realized he was unable to land there. He maneuvered for a field, but about 26 minutes since departure the airplane collided with a tree adjacent to a residence, stalled, and hit a portion of the house, the ground, and a car before coming to rest upright. Examination of the wreckage at the accident site by an FAA inspector revealed no fuel remaining in either wing fuel tanks, in the airframe fuel strainer, fuel lines, or on the ground around the wreckage. Although the carburetor was impact damaged, there were no fuel stains on or around it. The engine Operator’s Manual specified that the fuel consumption was about 9.0 gallons per hour at 65% power or at economy cruise. Thus, for the approximate 30 minutes long flight about 4.5 gallons of fuel were required. That value could have been reflected in any combination between the left and right fuel tanks, but it an extreme unbalance with no fuel in the left fuel tanks and all fuel in the right tanks would have reflected just under 1/4 capacity on the right fuel gauge. At no configuration based on the amount that was actually on-board should the right fuel gauge have indicated 1/2 capacity. Therefore, the right fuel quantity gauge likely indicated that the tanks contained more fuel than the amount that was actually on board, which resulted in inadequate fuel for the intended flight and a subsequent total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion. As part of the airplane’s last condition inspection performed more than 12 months earlier by the previous owner, the accuracy of the fuel gauges at empty was not performed. Probable Cause: A total loss of engine power due to fuel exhaustion. Contributing to the fuel exhaustion was the likely inaccurate right fuel quantity indicating system. NTSB Identification: 106267 To download the final report. Click here. This will trigger a PDF download to your device. This November 2022 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others. A Higher Calling: A GE Aerospace Leader’s Lifelong Mission to ‘Bring Them Home Safely’ September 17, 2024 | by Chris Noon 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.” Curt Lewis