Flight Safety Information - December 12, 2024 No. 247 In This Issue : Accident: Allied Cargo B734 at Abuja on Dec 11th 2024, runway excursion on landing : Incident: DHL Expreso B763 at Bogota on Dec 8th 2024, rejected takeoff : Airbus A320-232 - Smoke in the Cabin (Mexico) : Strong jet stream could wreak havoc on Wednesday flights : A Southwest jet and a small plane wound up on the same California runway after being cleared to land : Department of Labor orders Asia Pacific Airlines to pay more than $2M to cargo pilot wrongly fired for reporting aircraft safety concerns : Korean Air Buys Majority Stake In Rival Asiana Airlines : NASA Performs First Aircraft Accident Investigation on Another World : Refurbish or replace? American Airlines ponders fate of top international workhorse jet : Calendar of Events Accident: Allied Cargo B734 at Abuja on Dec 11th 2024, runway excursion on landing An Allied Air Cargo Boeing 737-400 freighter, registration 5N-JRT performing flight 4W-206 from Lagos to Abuja (Nigeria) with 5 crew on board, landed on Abuja's runway 22 at 10:05L (09:05Z) but veered right off the runway before coming to a stop in a ditch. The five occupants were taken to a hospital and released with no reported injuries. The aircraft sustained substantial damage. Nigeria's NSIB have opened an investigation into the occurrence and reported the aircraft was coming from Lagos when it landed on Abuja's runway 22 at 10:06L but went off the right side of the runway into the grass. No injuries were reported, the aircraft sustained substantial damage. Nigeria's Civil Aviation Authority reported: "At 10:05am today, December 11, 2024, an Allied Air Cargo aircraft with registration number 5N-JRT skidded off Runway 22 at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja with five (5) souls on board with no reported injury. They were all safely evacuated and taken to the FAAN clinic for further checks." and added Nigeria's NSIB is investigating. There are only ground tracks of the left main gear, no tracks of the right main gear are visible on the ground. https://avherald.com/h?article=5216ca13&opt=0 Incident: DHL Expreso B763 at Bogota on Dec 8th 2024, rejected takeoff A DHL Aero Expreso Boeing 767-300 freighter, registration HP-3310DAE performing flight D5-926 from Bogota (Colombia) to Miami,FL (USA), was accelerating for takeoff from Bogota's runway 14R when the crew rejected takeoff at high speed (about 160 knots over ground). The aircraft slowed safely and vacated the runway but then became disabled due to deflating left and right hand main gear tyres. The cargo was unloaded onto the taxiway before the aircraft could be towed. A replacement Boeing 767-300 registration HP-3610DAE took the cargo to Miami reaching the destination with a delay of about 11 hours. Colombia's DIACC reported they have opened an investigation into the occurrence stating a cargo aircraft rejected takeoff apparently due to a technical discrepancy. The occurrence aircraft is still on the ground in Bogota (standing Dec 11th 2024). https://avherald.com/h?article=5216d461&opt=0 Airbus A320-232 - Smoke in the Cabin (Mexico) Date: Wednesday 11 December 2024 Time: 13:15 UTC Type: Airbus A320-232 Owner/operator: Viva Aerobus, lsf Avion Express Malta Registration: 9H-SWI MSN: 3141 Year of manufacture: 2007 Engine model: IAE V2527-A5 Fatalities: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: Other fatalities: 0 Aircraft damage: Unknown Location: E of Zacatecas - Mexico Phase: En route Nature: Passenger - Scheduled Departure airport: Mexico City-Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX/MMMX) Destination airport: Ciudad Juárez-Abraham Gonzalez International Airport (CJS/MMCS) Confidence Rating: Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources Narrative: VivaAerobus flight VB1000, an Airbus A320-232, was en route at FL340 when the flight crew initiated an emergency descent and diversion to Zacatecas Airport, Mexico, after smoke was observed in the cabin. https://asn.flightsafety.org/wikibase/465692 Strong jet stream could wreak havoc on Wednesday flights NEW YORK – Airline passengers should prepare for possible impacts to their flights Wednesday as a dynamic combination of weather could lead to delays or – if you are traveling in the right direction – an earlier arrival time. The FOX Forecast Center is monitoring flights across the eastern U.S. on Wednesday. The powerful, dynamic system moving across the region will be driven by an uncommonly strong jet stream, which could see speeds top nearly 150 mph high up in the atmosphere. Washington Flights Exceed 800 Mph Due To Near-record Winds Over Dc The jet stream refers to winds in the upper levels of the atmosphere that travel from west to east and form when warm air masses from the south collide with cold air masses from the north. Since the boundary between cold and warm air masses is more pronounced during winter, the jet stream is more robust. Pilots can take advantage of this tailwind to decrease flight durations. Commercial airlines usually fly between 5-9 miles above Earth's surface and can take advantage of a strong jet stream. Given the expected north-south orientation, some flights may benefit from an increased tailwind, which may result in shorter flight times. This will be most common among northbound flights heading from locations in the Southeast to the Northeast. Some flights from Atlanta to Boston arrived about 20 minutes early on Wednesday morning after taking advantage of the strong tailwinds, reaching ground speeds around 650 mph. A Boston-bound flight reached 651 mph and reached its destination early on Dec. 11, 2024. Conversely, southbound flights could experience different routes from the usual ones as they will be facing a strong headwind. This could also lead to slightly increased turbulence, especially in the form of Clear Air Turbulence (CAT). CAT occurs at or above 15,000 feet and is felt when the plane moves in between air masses moving at different speeds or directions. According to the FOX Forecast Center, this strong jet stream, combined with the expected heavy rain at major eastern U.S. hubs, including New York, Boston, Charlotte, and Atlanta, may lead to flight delays on Wednesday. Early on Wednesday, more than 1,000 flights were delayed. The U.S. Ronald Reagon Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., was under a ground stop due to reduced visibility. Fog, strong winds and, later in the day, potentially severe thunderstorms could have more travel impacts. https://www.yahoo.com/news/strong-jet-stream-could-wreak-195634723.html A Southwest jet and a small plane wound up on the same California runway after being cleared to land WASHINGTON — A Southwest Airlines jet wound up on the same runway with a small private plane that had stopped after an air traffic controller cleared both planes to land on the same California runway in October, according to federal investigators. The National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday that the planes came within 900 feet (275 meters) t of each other before the smaller plane taxied off the runway. The board said in a preliminary report that investigators interviewed the controller, a supervisor and others involved in the Oct. 19 incident in Long Beach, California. It did not comment on those interviews. The NTSB said a controller told the crew of a four-seat Diamond DA40 to land on the main runway and stop short of an intersecting runway. About two minutes later, the controller cleared pilots of the Southwest Boeing 737 to land on the main runway, followed shortly by the Diamond crew telling the controller that they were stopped on the runway, as directed. As they were completing their landing rollout, the Southwest pilots told the controller that there was another aircraft on the main runway, the NTSB said. Both planes taxied to their parking areas https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/12/11/a-southwest-jet-and-a-small-plane-wound-up-on-the-same-runway-after-being-cleared-to-land/ Department of Labor orders Asia Pacific Airlines to pay more than $2M to cargo pilot wrongly fired for reporting aircraft safety concerns Aero Micronesia retaliated against pilot who refused to fly plane with faulty engine HAGATNA, GUAM – The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered Asia Pacific Airlines to pay more than $2 million in wages, damages and attorney’s fees to an employee reprimanded, suspended and later fired for raising aircraft safety concerns and refusing to fly a cargo plane that they believed had an unreliable engine. Investigators with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found the Guam airline, operated by Aero Micronesia Inc., dismissed the pilot’s unease and retaliated against them for exercising their federally protected rights to raise safety concerns. OSHA learned the pilot repeatedly expressed concerns that the airlines’ maintenance team approved the aircraft maintenance and repair reports without diagnosing the engine problems correctly. A parallel investigation by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration determined the pilot accurately assessed that the Asia Pacific Airlines’ maintenance team used the wrong procedure to troubleshoot and diagnose the engine malfunctions, making it impossible to identify the cause of the problem and fix it before clearing the aircraft to fly. Despite the FAA’s findings, the airlines’ then-chief pilot and Director of Operations Ralph Freeman maintained throughout OSHA’s investigation that disciplining and terminating the employee was a legitimate action. The agency concluded the pilot’s efforts to report safety concerns contributed to Asia Pacific’s disciplinary actions. “Asia Pacific Airlines has shown an unacceptable and potentially catastrophic disregard for safety and shamefully viewed pilots’ safety concerns as employee conflicts,” said OSHA Assistant Regional Administrator Ryan Himes in Seattle. “The outcome of this investigation should remind all employees that they are legally protected and can raise safety concerns without fear of retaliation by their employer.” OSHA ordered Asia Pacific Airlines to pay $419,267 in back pay plus interest, eight years of future salary, $27,596 in interest on loans and restoration of 401k contributions, $75,000 in emotional damages and reasonable attorney fees. In addition, Asia Pacific Airlines was ordered to expunge the employee’s record and provide training to current employees on their rights. Asia Pacific Airlines may appeal the order to the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges. In 2019, an Administrative Law Judge ruled that Asia Pacific Airlines violated the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century whistleblower protection provision by illegally terminating a pilot who raised several safety concerns. Since 2014, OSHA has received safety complaints from several of the airline’s pilots. A wholly owned subsidiary of Tan Holdings Corp. in Saipan, Asia Pacific Airlines operates in Guam, Hawaii and throughout the Pacific. In 1992, the department’s Wage and Hour Division fined a Levi Strauss Marianas garment factory operated by Tan Holdings Corp. more than $9 million for wage violations and worker abuses. https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/osha/osha20241211-1 Korean Air Buys Majority Stake In Rival Asiana Airlines South Korea's flag carrier Korean Air said Thursday it had bought a majority stake in rival Asiana Airlines for $1 billion, making it the effective owner four years after first expressing its takeover intentions. With the acquisition of a 63.88 percent stake, Korean Air said it had invested 1.5 trillion won in the merger, "making Asiana Airlines a subsidiary" of the company. The move will create Asia's second-biggest airline group based on capacity, after Singapore Air, and the 10th-largest globally, according to Bloomberg News. The final phase of the tie-up follows the European Union's approval in February, granted on the condition that the flag carrier divests Asiana's global cargo freighter business as part of antitrust measures. The European Commission, the bloc's powerful antitrust authority, last year expressed concerns the takeover could restrict competition on routes between Europe and South Korea. It had concerns about the impact on cargo transport services between all of Europe and South Korea. The approval was also contingent on Korean Air making "necessary assets" available to South Korean rival T'way Air to launch operations on four overlapping routes: Barcelona, Frankfurt, Paris, and Rome. With Asiana Airlines as its subsidiary, Korean Air will "strengthen the national aviation industry's competitiveness, enhance Incheon Airport's hub capabilities, and expand its global network reach", the airline said in a press release. It described the merger as a "strategic milestone for Korea's aviation industry". Asiana Airlines will convene a shareholders meeting in January to pick a new board of directors appointed by the parent Korean Air, it said. It added that there would be no workforce restructuring during the integration, with employees in overlapping roles "reassigned within the organisation". Korean Air currently operates a fleet of 158 aircraft with more than 20,000 employees, serving 115 cities in 40 countries. Ahead of the merger's approval, Korean Air said in March it would sign a $13.7 billion deal with Airbus to purchase 33 A350 series aircraft to strengthen its long-term fleet operations. https://www.barrons.com/news/korean-air-buys-majority-stake-in-rival-asiana-airlines-c52cc903 NASA Performs First Aircraft Accident Investigation on Another World The review takes a close look the final flight of the agency’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which was the first aircraft to fly on another world. Engineers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and AeroVironment are completing a detailed assessment of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s final flight on Jan. 18, 2024, which will be published in the next few weeks as a NASA technical report. Designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to five experimental test flights over 30 days, Ingenuity was the first aircraft on another world. It operated for almost three years, performed 72 flights, and flew more than 30 times farther than planned while accumulating over two hours of flight time. The investigation concludes that the inability of Ingenuity’s navigation system to provide accurate data during the flight likely caused a chain of events that ended the mission. The report’s findings are expected to benefit future Mars helicopters, as well as other aircraft destined to operate on other worlds. Final Ascent Flight 72 was planned as a brief vertical hop to assess Ingenuity’s flight systems and photograph the area. Data from the flight shows Ingenuity climbing to 40 feet (12 meters), hovering, and capturing images. It initiated its descent at 19 seconds, and by 32 seconds the helicopter was back on the surface and had halted communications. The following day, the mission reestablished communications, and images that came down six days after the flight revealed Ingenuity had sustained severe damage to its rotor blades. What Happened “When running an accident investigation from 100 million miles away, you don’t have any black boxes or eyewitnesses,” said Ingenuity’s first pilot, Håvard Grip of JPL. “While multiple scenarios are viable with the available data, we have one we believe is most likely: Lack of surface texture gave the navigation system too little information to work with.” The helicopter’s vision navigation system was designed to track visual features on the surface using a downward-looking camera over well-textured (pebbly) but flat terrain. This limited tracking capability was more than sufficient for carrying out Ingenuity’s first five flights, but by Flight 72 the helicopter was in a region of Jezero Crater filled with steep, relatively featureless sand ripples. One of the navigation system’s main requirements was to provide velocity estimates that would enable the helicopter to land within a small envelope of vertical and horizontal velocities. Data sent down during Flight 72 shows that, around 20 seconds after takeoff, the navigation system couldn’t find enough surface features to track. Photographs taken after the flight indicate the navigation errors created high horizontal velocities at touchdown. In the most likely scenario, the hard impact on the sand ripple’s slope caused Ingenuity to pitch and roll. The rapid attitude change resulted in loads on the fast-rotating rotor blades beyond their design limits, snapping all four of them off at their weakest point — about a third of the way from the tip. The damaged blades caused excessive vibration in the rotor system, ripping the remainder of one blade from its root and generating an excessive power demand that resulted in loss of communications. Down but Not Out Although Flight 72 permanently grounded Ingenuity, the helicopter still beams weather and avionics test data to the Perseverance rover about once a week. The weather information could benefit future explorers of the Red Planet. The avionics data is already proving useful to engineers working on future designs of aircraft and other vehicles for the Red Planet. “Because Ingenuity was designed to be affordable while demanding huge amounts of computer power, we became the first mission to fly commercial off-the-shelf cellphone processors in deep space,” said Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity’s project manager. “We’re now approaching four years of continuous operations, suggesting that not everything needs to be bigger, heavier, and radiation-hardened to work in the harsh Martian environment.” Inspired by Ingenuity’s longevity, NASA engineers have been testing smaller, lighter avionics that could be used in vehicle designs for the Mars Sample Return campaign. The data is also helping engineers as they research what a future Mars helicopter could look like — and do. During a Wednesday, Dec. 11, briefing at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting in Washington, Tzanetos shared details on the Mars Chopper rotorcraft, a concept that he and other Ingenuity alumni are researching. As designed, Chopper is approximately 20 times heavier than Ingenuity, could fly several pounds of science equipment, and autonomously explore remote Martian locations while traveling up to 2 miles (3 kilometers) in a day. (Ingenuity’s longest flight was 2,310 feet, or 704 meters.) “Ingenuity has given us the confidence and data to envision the future of flight at Mars,” said Tzanetos. More About Ingenuity The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was built by JPL, which also manages the project for NASA Headquarters. It is supported by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA's Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley and NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, provided significant flight performance analysis and technical assistance during Ingenuity’s development. AeroVironment, Qualcomm, and SolAero also provided design assistance and major vehicle components. Lockheed Space designed and manufactured the Mars Helicopter Delivery System. At NASA Headquarters, Dave Lavery is the program executive for the Ingenuity Mars helicopter. For more information about Ingenuity: https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-performs-first-aircraft-accident-investigation-on-another-world/ Refurbish or replace? American Airlines ponders fate of top international workhorse jet American Airlines is currently wrestling with just that decision — albeit one with far bigger stakes than a home improvement project or a new car. The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier is trying to decide what to do about its workhorse long-haul aircraft, the Boeing 777-200ER, CEO Robert Isom said at a recent industry event. An international workhorse American has 47 of the 777-200s — more than any other wide-body plane in its fleet. The jet flies all over the world. It serves passengers on the airline's new route from New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Tokyo's Haneda Airport (HND). It's also a big part of American's transatlantic flying, as you can see on the below July 2024 map from Cirium. Its amenities aren't bad; it sports 37 lie-flat business-class pods, along with 24 premium economy seats. But American's fleet of 273-seat 777s isn't young, either. With an average age of just under 24 years, the jets date back to the early years of Boeing's 777 program. Now, a little perspective: Commercial airplanes can fly for decades, so American's 777-200ERs are hardly in their twilight. But to extend their lives in the long term, they'd likely need a bit of tender loving care in the cabin. And, much like a car owner ponders how much they're willing to spend on maintenance at, say, the 90,000-mile mark, American is currently thinking through how it wants to approach the future of its international workhorse. "The 777-200 is something we're talking about right now," Isom acknowledged, speaking at the Skift Aviation Forum in Dallas on Nov. 12. Upgrades clearing less? Airlines say more passengers are just paying for those first-class seats Long-haul fleet future One reason the fate of the 777-200 comes up: There's a clear path forward for all of American's other long-haul jets. Its 20 larger 777-300ER aircraft are younger, with an average age of just under 11 years, per Cirium. Those planes are headed to the shop starting in 2025 for total interior makeovers, including the elimination of their Flagship First cabin in favor of American's all-new Flagship Business suites. Those jets are "in really good shape," Isom said. American's new, more premium-heavy Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners — slated to join the fleet soon — will also sport the privacy door-equipped suites (as will its narrow-body, transatlantic-capable Airbus A321XLRs set to join the fleet in 2025). AMERICAN AIRLINES Sure, American's existing Dreamliners don't have the new suite concept, but they're also a lot younger than its 777-200s that have been around most of this century. I found the current Dreamliner's business-class product to be more than comfortable on a recent flight from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (ORD) to London's Heathrow Airport (LHR). "Is that an aircraft that we're going to go ahead and invest in — remod the interiors, upgrade those?" he posed, speaking in Dallas. "Or is it something you take a look at for potential replacement in the future?" Among other factors for American to consider, its 777-200s sport two different business-class configurations. Some offer the newer reverse herringbone Super Diamond pod, while others still fly with the far less popular Concept D seat that alternates between a forward- and rear-facing configuration. If the carrier opts for an interior refurbish on the aircraft, it could look to harmonize (and modernize) its business class product on the jets. Those factors will surely figure into its ultimate decision. An otherwise young fleet In a lot of ways, American can claim a feather in its cap that it really only faces this sort of dilemma with one twin-aisle aircraft type. While the carrier hasn't enjoyed the same profits as its top U.S. competitors in recent years, American does have a younger fleet than Delta Air Lines or United Airlines. Delta and United have vast outstanding orders for long-haul jets, and the airlines continue to fly an array of long-haul airplanes that are older than American's 777-200s, such as the Boeing 767 found in both carriers' fleets. Plus, as mentioned, American isn't done getting new planes. On top of hundreds of single-aisle jets — including 50 of its new XLRs — the carrier has outstanding orders for 30 new Dreamliners in the coming years; this includes the new premium-heavy 787-9s (to be known as the "787-9P") that'll debut in the near future. "I like what we have. We have a good stream of the 787-9s coming in over the next several years, and that is going to allow us to really expand in ways and serve markets in a way that customers want," Isom said. What could come next? Some might wonder what could replace American's nearly four dozen 777-200s — if, that is, the carrier decides a glow-up for the jet isn't worthwhile. Isom said the carrier has strong hopes for its existing and incoming Dreamliners over the next decade. But he also acknowledged, "Of course, we're talking to Airbus as we need to." While American's current wide-body orderbook exclusively features Boeing's Dreamliner, it's safe to say the airline has connections with the French planemaker, as it has hundreds of narrow-body A320 family jets in its fleet. It's worth noting, Boeing is also currently producing a new generation of 777X jets. However, the 777X has run into a series of delays, and no U.S. airline has ordered any variants of the jet to date. https://thepointsguy.com/news/american-airlines-ponders-boeing-777-200-fleet/ CALENDAR OF EVENTS • Sponsor the 2025 Fuzion Safety Conference! March 4 & 5, 2025 (Orlando) • Annual Women in Aviation International Conference, Gaylord Rockies Resort & Conference Center | Denver Colorado, March 27-29, 2025 • 59th Annual SMU Air Law Symposium is scheduled March 31 - April 2, 2025 • Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF) Safety Symposium April 7-9, 2025 • AIA Conference: The Aviation Insurance Association's annual conference in Orlando, Florida from April 25–28, 2025 • Sixth Edition of International Accident Investigation Forum, 21 to 23 May 2025, Singapore • The 9th Shanghai International Aerospace Technology and Equipment Exposition 2025; June 11 to 13, 2025 Curt Lewis