Flight Safety Information - January 17, 2025 No. 013 In This Issue : Accident: UPS B763 at San Bernardino on Jan 9th 2025, tail strike on landing : Incident: PIA A320 at Dammam on Jan 16th 2025, communication system failure : Incident: Atlanta Icelandic B744 at Hong Kong on Jan 16th 2025, engine failure : South Korea’s Crashed Jet Reveals Bird Feathers in Both Engines : Empowering Pilots: Denise Dekker on the Unseen Impact of Flight Data : Pilot Hiring Nosedives in 2024 : Boeing crisis forces Saudi Arabia’s start-up airline to delay launch : Boeing resumes 777X test flights after grounding in August : Annual Airline Deaths More Than Double In 2024, Per Aviation Safety Network : ISASI ANNUAL SEMINAR 2025, DENVER, COLORADO CALL FOR PAPERS : Volunteers needed for Greenwich led aeroplane evacuation trials : Calendar of Events Accident: UPS B763 at San Bernardino on Jan 9th 2025, tail strike on landing A UPS United Parcel Service Boeing 767-300 freighter, registration N324UP performing flight 5X-2918 from Louisville,KY to Ontario,CA (USA) with 3 crew, diverted to San Bernardino,CA (USA) and landed on San Bernardino's runway 06. After roll out the crew advised tower that they had become destabilized just before touch down due to a windshear and had a tail strike. The aircraft taxied to the apron. On Jan 16th 2025 the FAA reported: "AIRCRAFT ENCOUNTERED A TAILWIND ON LANDING, LANDED HARD AND INCURRED A TAIL STRIKE, SAN BERNARDINO, CA." The aircraft is still in San Bernardino about 58 hours later. https://avherald.com/h?article=522ba5e6&opt=0 Incident: PIA A320 at Dammam on Jan 16th 2025, communication system failure A PIA Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A320-200, registration AP-BLC performing flight PK-244 from Dammam (Saudi Arabia) to Lahore (Pakistan), was climbing through FL270 out of Dammam when the crew decided to return to Dammam, descended the aircraft and returned to Dammam for a safe landing on runway 34R about 30 minutes after stopping the climb. The airline reported a fault in the aircraft's communication system prompted the return. Maintenance however found no fault. The aircraft departed again after about 3 hours on the ground and reached Lahore with a delay of about 3.5 hours. https://avherald.com/h?article=522e65a3&opt=0 Incident: Atlanta Icelandic B744 at Hong Kong on Jan 16th 2025, engine failure An Air Atlanta Icelandic Boeing 747-400, registration TF-AMU performing flight CC-4400 from Hong Kong (China) to Dubai al Maktoum (United Arab Emirates), was climbing out of Hong Kong's runway 07R when upon being handed off to departure an engine (CF6) failed prompting the crew to stop the climb at FL090, dump fuel and return to Hong Kong for a safe landing on runway 07L about 90 minutes after departure. Hong Kong's emergency services reported the aircraft suffered a suspected engine stall. The aircraft is still on the ground in Hong Kong about 9 hours after landing back. https://avherald.com/h?article=522e6348&opt=0 South Korea’s Crashed Jet Reveals Bird Feathers in Both Engines South Korean investigators found feathers in both engines of the Boeing Co. 737-800 jet involved in a crash late last month, pointing to possible evidence that the aircraft may have lost electrical power before an ill-fated emergency landing that killed almost everyone on board. The authorities, who are investigating the fatal accident of the Jeju Air plane that killed 179 of 181 on board at Muan International Airport, made the discovery after inspecting the wreckage, according to a person familiar with the probe, who asked not to be identified as the information hasn’t yet been made public. The finding was first reported by South Korean broadcaster MBN on Friday. The Korean transport ministry, which is leading the joint investigation with officials from US National Transportation Safety Board, declined to comment. The ministry suspects that both engines shut down shortly before the pilot attempted an emergency landing, depriving the aircraft of almost all electrical power as it touched down. The plane’s two black boxes, the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, both missed the final minutes before the jet exploded following its failed landing, reinforcing the suspicion of a loss of electrical power. The plane, a predecessor to the Boeing 737 Max, made an emergency landing without its landing gear or flaps deployed, skidding on its belly off the runway and exploding after hitting a concrete structure sitting just beyond the perimeter of landing strip. The accident came a few minutes after the airport control tower had warned the pilot of the risk of bird strikes. The plane’s engine maker, a joint venture between General Electric Co. and Safran SA, previously found a feather in one of the two engines. Authorities have yet to disclose the transcripts of the two recorders and the conversation between the airport control tower and the pilot as well as the surveillance camera’s data at the airport, as they are still matching the timelines of all pieces of evidence. https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2025/01/17/808707.htm Empowering Pilots: Denise Dekker on the Unseen Impact of Flight Data Air travel is largely an effortless experience for passengers. They book a flight, sit back, and wait to arrive at their destination, preferably with a snack and in-flight entertainment to pass the time. But behind every flight is a complex network of decisions and data points. These range from software that gives pilots actionable insights into the safety and fuel efficiency of recent flight paths to innovative engine maintenance programs that help reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Through powerful flight data analytics platforms such as Safety Insight and Fuel Insight, GE Aerospace is working to break each flight down into a series of patterns and actions that can be improved upon to help make flight safer and reduce emissions. “We’re really embedded in the aviation industry alongside our customers,” says Denise Dekker, solutions architect at GE Aerospace and a longtime pilot. “Before I started working on software like Safety Insight, I just knew GE Aerospace for their engines — I had no idea the company was doing so much more.” For Dekker, aviation safety is more than a statistic. At age 6, she lost her close friend in a tragic flight accident, the same summer that her family relocated so she could attend the same school as her friend. With a pilot father who flew long-haul for KLM every week, this experience was even more acute. “Each time he’d walk out the door, suitcase in hand, I’d feel an uneasy knot in my stomach,” she explains. “He took that as a teaching moment. He would sit me down and explain that everything comes with risk, even sitting at home, and talk me through why and how accidents can happen and how we can use those learnings to make flying safer in the future.” That lesson paid off: Little more than a decade later, Dekker would find herself in the cockpit of a Cessna 152 trainer plane, control columns in hand, putting her fear behind her. Taking to the skies, she was quickly hooked. “When we landed, the instructor told my father to brace himself, as things were about to get very expensive for him!” she laughs. Using the Swiss Cheese Model to Improve Safety In movies, aviation safety is simply when investigators start digging into black box data to figure out what went wrong. But for the aviation industry, it’s a consideration for every single flight that takes to the skies. In 2023, GE Aerospace 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. “Air travel and cheese may seem like an unlikely pair, but we often talk about the Swiss cheese model to understand how incidents can occur,” explains Dekker. “Each slice of cheese can be seen as a different aspect of our operations — like maintenance, air traffic control, or pilot training. Usually, the holes (or errors) in these slices don’t line up. But when they do, like looking through a stack of Swiss cheese slices, it can lead to a chain of events that may compromise safety.” To increase awareness about potential incidents, pilots need information on fuel usage, routing, and risks encountered on previous flights. Using software such as FlightPulse, pilots can compare flight data from previous journeys with the performance of their current flight. This data-driven approach allows pilots to identify potential risks and trends, enabling proactive risk management before issues arise. In Dekker’s words, “instead of just learning from incidents, we want to learn from flights that had potential risks and from flights that were standard. This way, we can learn from more data and not only understand what went wrong but also learn from what went well.” By monitoring each flight, pilots can spot whether any new trends emerge and where there may be a higher risk of an incident. This same data can be used to make flying more efficient, by leveraging personalized data relating to fuel consumption, weather patterns, and flight routes or altitudes to decrease the emissions impact of each journey. Adding up the data from thousands of pilots, all of this results in a continuous feedback loop between flight data and flight performance, which improves safety and sustainability, day by day. Making Flying Safer with Each Flight Today, Dekker is a long way from the child who worried each time her father left home. Her career has been forged on making aviation safer and more sustainable, from her earliest roles as an incident investigator to her work with customers like KLM to translate their needs into engineering solutions. The recent SkyTeam Aviation Challenge, in which airlines collaborated to conduct increasingly sustainable flights, was a career highlight. “It was exhilarating to sit alongside our KLM partners and see the flight crew in action with FlightPulse on the flight from Amsterdam to Singapore, especially as a former commercial pilot,” she says. “At GE Aerospace we often talk about our mission to ‘lift people up and bring them home safely.’ I can’t think of a better way of paying tribute to my friend and her family than to spend my days making sure that flying becomes safer with each flight — because behind every statistic is a name, and a story that deserves to be told.” GE Aerospace is looking for talented, innovative engineers globally to help advance aerospace for future generations. Explore opportunities and apply online for engineering roles at invent.ge/engineering to see your ideas take flight. https://www.geaerospace.com/news/articles/empowering-pilots-denise-dekker-unseen-impact-flight-data Pilot Hiring Nosedives in 2024 Major U.S. airlines hired far fewer pilots last year. U.S. pilot hiring tanked in 2024 as airlines continue to face aircraft delivery delays. The reduction comes after several years of record hiring trends as airlines recovered from the pandemic. In 2024, the major U.S. carriers hired 4,834 new pilots, according to data from the Future and Active Pilots Alliance. This figure is a far cry from the over 12,000 pilots hired in 2023, representing a 60% year-over-year drop. United Leads United continues to bolster its pilot ranks, hiring 1,317 new aviators last year. In 2023, the Chicago-based carrier hired 2,349 pilots. It hired 2,500 in 2022. Aircraft at United’s Aviate Academy in Arizona (Photo: GoJet Airlines) Delta took the No. 2 spot in 2024, onboarding 1,022 new aviators. The Atlanta-based airline recently opened a new training facility in Salt Lake City. Spirit and FedEx didn’t hire any pilots in 2024. Both Alaska and Southwest halted regular hiring during the first quarter of last year. American stopped hiring pilots in May 2024, citing aircraft delivery delays on its Boeing 787-9 and 737 MAX aircraft. 2025 Outlook Airlines have hinted at more moderated hiring trends in 2025 following the record-setting post-COVID years. Projections provided to FAPA suggest that hiring may be up around 50% this year. During a recent earnings call, Delta leaders said they expect “more normalized” pilot hiring trends throughout the industry. 2024’s lower numbers are in line with 2019, when U.S. airlines hired 4,977 new pilots. https://airlinegeeks.com/2025/01/16/pilot-hiring-nosedives-in-2024/ Boeing crisis forces Saudi Arabia’s start-up airline to delay launch Riyadh Air originally planned to begin operations in the early part of this year - Riyadh Air A new Saudi Arabian airline has pushed back its highly-anticipated launch after receiving fewer aircraft than expected from stricken plane maker Boeing. Having originally planned to begin operations in the early part of this year, Riyadh Air is now targeting the third quarter after Boeing halved its number of expected deliveries. Bosses are preparing to receive just four 787 Dreamliner wide-body aircraft in 2025, Bloomberg reported, having previously expected eight. Tony Douglas, the chief executive of the start-up Saudi Arabian carrier, said: “We have obviously pivoted like everybody else has on a number of occasions to be able to adjust to the latest forecast. “I am confident, given the latest forecast, that we’ll get deliveries this year. Is it completely without risk? Obviously no, it’s not.” Riyadh Air has said it wants to offer flights to 100 global destinations by the end of the decade, supporting Saudi Arabia’s bid to attract 100m tourists a year. String of Boeing setbacks The delayed launch comes after Boeing has fallen far behind Airbus in its long-running battle to be the world’s biggest plane maker, having suffered from a string of setbacks and crises. The US manufacturer delivered less than half the number of jets shipped by its European rival in 2024, the latest data show, with a similar story for new orders. Riyadh Air revealed in October that it had lodged a mammoth $8bn (£6bn) aircraft order with Airbus, as it aims to take on established Middle Eastern carriers such as Emirates. The airline, which is bankrolled by the Saudi state, struck a deal to buy 60 A321neo short-haul jets from Airbus. This was in addition to an earlier agreement for 39 Boeing wide-bodies announced last year, which includes the option for another 33. The carrier has already rented one Boeing 787 jet that became available from Oman Air, although it will not have the Riyadh Air interiors and is not primarily aimed at carrying passengers once commercial operations start. It will instead be used as a technical spare. Boeing has faced a series of crises since a door plug blew out of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max at 16,000ft in January last year. A safety review led to the Max model being immediately taken out of service for safety checks, which revealed a litany of issues. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) subsequently caped build rates for the plane at 38 a month. Scrutiny of production processes and the supply chain subsequently uncovered fundamental quality-control problems at Boeing, deepening the crisis and causing Max output to slow even further. It is now six years since Boeing last occupied the top spot in the airliner industry, which remains an effective duopoly between the US company and Airbus. A Riyadh Air spokesman said: “The arrival of the first B787-9 will allow operations to commence as soon as possible and we remain in close contact with our colleagues at Boeing with the aim to receive delivery of a number of aircraft later this year. “Major parts of the first aircraft are already prepared for final assembly and given well-known global supply chain challenges, we expect delivery to start in Q3, facilitating the start of operations soon after.” https://www.yahoo.com/news/boeing-crisis-forces-saudi-arabia-141239556.html Boeing resumes 777X test flights after grounding in August SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing resumed testing for its long-delayed 777X widebody jet on Thursday, with the first flight since the U.S. planemaker grounded the test fleet in August due to the failure of a key engine mounting structure. The grounding came just five weeks after it had started certification flights for the 777-9 with officials from the U.S. aviation regulator onboard. Federal Aviation Administration staff were not on board for Thursday's flight, according to the company. The 777X is the successor to Boeing's 777, one of the most commercially successful long-haul airliners. The company initially planned to deliver the first 777X to launch customer Qatar Airways in 2020. First delivery of the 777-9 has since been pushed back to 2026, followed by the smaller 777-8 and a freighter version later in the decade. Boeing's other 777X airline customers include Emirates, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways. The planemaker has 481 777X orders, including 170 from Emirates and 60 from Qatar, according to Cirium, an aviation industry analytics company. Boeing's 777-9 test plane made a return flight from Boeing Field in Seattle to Moses Lake, Washington on Thursday. "We continue to execute a rigorous test program to demonstrate the safety, performance and reliability of the 777-9," Boeing said after it landed in the afternoon. A company spokesperson declined to comment on how the airplane performed during the flight. https://www.yahoo.com/news/boeing-resumes-777x-test-flights-023506076.html Annual Airline Deaths More Than Double In 2024, Per Aviation Safety Network While 2024 was a comeback year for the aviation industry, with more than 4 billion passengers flying worldwide, there also some worrying trends. Specifically, 2024 was the deadliest in commercial aviation in six years. Some 318 people died on commercial flights in 2024. This was more than twice as many as the 120 who died in 2023, according to data from the Aviation Safety Network. In the final week of December, 2024 went from being a relatively safe year to one with hundreds of passenger deaths. Two accidents in the last week of 2024, in Korea and Kazakhstan, made it the deadliest year for commercial aviation since 2018. That year, 557 people died, including 189 in the first Boeing 737 MAX disaster, the crash of a Lion Air aircraft in Indonesia. Last year, on December 25, 2024, an Embraer ERJ-190AR operated by Azerbaijan Airlines crashed near Aktau Airport in Kazakhstan. The incident killed 38 of the aircraft’s 69 passengers. On December 29, a Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air crashed at Muan International Airport in South Korea, killing 179. There were just two survivors, crew members seated in the tail. The front of the aircraft was completely destroyed when it hit a concrete structure at the end of the runway. Not only was this the worst accident of this aircraft type in terms of fatalities, but it was also the worst accident in South Korean history. Both incidents are extremely troubling and demand a thorough investigation. The Jeju Air crash may have been caused by a bird strike, an electrical failure, or something else. Unfortunately, determining the cause of the crash may be difficult due to the failure of the “black boxes” on board to record the flight’s final four minutes.. On the other hand, the cause of the Azerbaijan Air crash appears to be already known. The aircraft seems to have been hit by a missile. Missile Nightmare For Airlines Missile strikes on civilian aircraft is a horrendous trend that must end. The flight appears to have been hit by a Russian missile over Grozdny, perhaps while targeting a nearby drone swarm. Russian President Putin even issued a partial apology. On December 27, the New York Post published a story “Missiles are the biggest killers of plane passengers,” following the Azerbaijan Airlines attack. The article noted that over ten years, more than 500 passengers had been killed in missile attacks. A little research showed that this startling number is correct. Just three missile attacks over the last ten years killed 512 people. A strike on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over the disputed Donbas region in 2014 took 298 lives. An “accidental” Iranian shoot-down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 departing Tehran in January 2020 killed 176. And December’s apparent missile hit on Azerbaijan Airlines killed 38 and left the aircraft as mangled wreckage with shrapnel holes. Vulnerable airliners and today’s highly accurate ground-to-air missiles do not mix. Terrorists shooting down airliners with “MANPAD” handheld rocket launchers or larger missiles has long been an aviation nightmare. A 2019 RAND study found more than 60 missile attacks on civilian aircraft since 1975, resulting in more than 1000 deaths. Some cargo carriers and VIP aircraft like Airforce One have adopted anti-missile systems. Although none of these three airliners was deliberately targeted, airliners have presented a tempting terrorist target for more than 50 years. Stowaways Threaten Airline Safety—And Their Own A different threat to airline safety became clear in 2024, stowaways. In one incident, a 57-year-old woman evaded TSA security and got onto a Delta flight to Paris sans ticket or boarding pass. She was arrested in Paris, returned to the United States and given home confinement, which she promptly escaped. Another group of stowaways posed a definite threat to themselves, as well as to passenger safety. In 2024, several individuals somehow gained access to world airports, got on the tarmac, and hid in the wheel wells of commercial aircraft. Several stowaway flyers died, two when their decomposed bodies were found during a routine inspection of the landing gear of a JetBlue aircraft. Stowaways can be crushed when the landing gear is retracted, fall out when the landing gear is extended, or simply freeze to death at the minus-65F degree temperatures found at 35,000 feet. Estimates are that up to 80% of those who stowaway in this manner perish. And illegal passengers who stow away in the landing gear or electrical compartments can also do damage to sensitive aircraft systems, threatening the aircraft itself. Airport Actions Threaten Travelers and Stars Airports were the site of protests, shutdowns and vandalism in 2024. This raises the question of airport perimeter and access road security. While cameras and patrols help, there is a lot of airport to cover. At LAX, for example, the airport runways range from 8,926 to 12,923 feet in length. Private jets were a particular target. A pair of protestors sawed open a chain link fence at Stansted Airport in the UK. They then used fire extinguishers to spray-paint a pair of multimillion dollar jets, part of a campaign to Oil. They had been searching for Taylor Swift’s private jet used for her Era Tour, but settled for doing $75,000 worth of damage and delaying 75 flights. In the U.S., police officers have been injured in pro-Palestinian attempted airport blockades. At Berlin and Munich airports, aircraft have had to divert to avoid landing on protestors who glued their hands to the runways. At a pro-Palestinian protest at JFK, a large balloon was repeatedly launched in a possible effort to disrupt flight operations. Major US airports like JFK, LGA, LAX, PDX, ORD, SEA and ATL have been blocked, some multiple times. Travelers have had to abandon rideshare vehicles and lug heavy luggage to their terminal. In a protest at LAX in December 2023, pro-Palestinian protestors attempted to block an approach road, strewing it with debris and attacking stalled drivers in their vehicles. A police officer was thrown to the ground, and 36 arrests were made. Yet there has been little or no Federal investigation or action. Bottom Line The good news is that air travel has recovered from COVID and carries billions of leisure and business fliers around the world in relative safety. One threat to airline safety—that of the “unruly passenger”—actually dropped in 2024. According to CNN, the FAA investigated more than 2,000 unruly passenger incidents in 2024, “a big drop from a record high of 5,973 in 2021.” Yet the 2024 total was still nearly twice as high as in the pre-Covid era. Yes, flying is safer that driving. But airlines, aircraft manufacturers, regulatory agencies and the flying public cannot be complacent in the face of the highest flight death total in six years. Continued vigilance is the bottom line. https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelgoldstein/2025/01/15/airline-deaths-more-than-doubled-in-2024/ ISASI ANNUAL SEMINAR 2025, DENVER, COLORADO CALL FOR PAPERS www.isasiannualseminar.com It is with great pleasure that the organizing committee invites expressions of interest to present a paper at the ISASI 2025 seminar which will be held at the Renaissance Hotel in Denver, Colorado from September 29th through October 4th. Further information on the tutorials, main program, registration, and accommodation options will be provided in due course. The theme for ISASI 2025 is “Soaring to New Heights: A World of Innovation.” Denver is known for its picturesque and grand mountain ranges which soar high over the city. Additionally, we find ourselves in an ever rapidly evolving aviation ecosystem in which we now share portions of our airspace with the growing commercial space and UAS/UAV industries. Can we keep up with these advancements as investigators? What do we need to do in order to stay one step ahead of the next incident or accident? We invite abstract submissions which support this theme, including topics such as: • Commercial space development, technology, and mishap investigations • New, novel, and experimental investigative technologies in accident investigation • Research on notable technological safety improvements and their contribution to safety • Challenges in protecting the safety, security, and continuity of increasing amounts of flight data • Improvements and challenges in novel aircraft and engine designs • Uncrewed and autonomous vehicle investigations • Training of the next generation of aviation safety professionals with novel methodology • Accident or incident case studies involving technological advancements as contributing factors to the event, or their use during the investigation • Training of a new cadre of accident investigator in an increasingly safer operating environment as experienced investigators retire • The scope of the seminar is wide ranging. Papers are welcome from all aspects of safety investigation including operations, cabin safety, training, human factors, technology, family assistance, regulation and case studies. Papers should be supported by a 20-minute presentation with a further 10 minutes allotted for questions. Further details for the Call for Papers are available at www.isasiannualseminar.com. Please review the submission guidelines (available here and at www.isasiannualseminar.com). We look forward to seeing you at ISASI 2025! Abstract Submission Guidelines Please see the sidebar (for mobile phone viewing, bottom of this email) for the submission deadlines. • Submissions via www.isasiannualseminar.com • Use standard 1‐inch margins at the top, bottom, and sides • Please use a 12‐point font in Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial (in this order of preference) • Use single-spacing • The title should be boldface and centered at the top • Author name(s) should be boldface and set below the title. • Include your organization name and your title (if applicable) • Provide your abstract for your paper that adequately enables the Technical Program Committee to judge the merits of your paper based upon interest, contemporary or future thought, audience pertinence, wide application, technical merits of the paper, communication, and finally integration of the seminar theme to some level • New for 2025:To ensure the highest quality presentations, all interested presenters are strongly encouraged to submit a short video recording (less than 2 minutes) of themselves showcasing their abstract and the main themes of their presentation. General The term “paper” refers to the document that will be posted on the ISASI member website following the seminar and possibly reproduced in Forum magazine. The term “presentation” refers to the actual presentation made at the seminar which usually consists of PowerPoint slides. NOTE: All submissions (other than invited keynotes) require a paper and a presentation in accordance with the schedule. Consent for Email Use By submitting of an Expression of Interest and Abstract, you give the International Society of Air Safety Investigators permission to use your email address to communicate with you, and to provide access to the conference software where, if selected, you will upload your presentation materials. Contributor License Agreement Concurrent with the submission and acceptance of the technical presentation material, the contributor grants the International Society of Air Safety Investigators non‐exclusive, no‐ charge, royalty‐free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publish for consumption and distribute the contribution and such derivative works. This is a license agreement only; it does not transfer copyright ownership and does not change your rights to use your own Contribution for any other purpose. Permission to Publish in ISASI Forum Authors not wishing their papers to be considered for publication in the ISASI Forum should so indicate with the submission of their paper. The absence of such notification will be considered as permission to publish the paper as outlined above in the Contributor License Agreement statement. For ease of transfer, all papers should be submitted as attachments to an email or be placed on USB memory stick and mailed to the Technical Committee to be received 20‐days before the seminar (an upload option may be also be made available). PAPER DEADLINES www.isasiannualseminar.com Jan 31, 2025 Expression of interest (simply, "I am interested in presenting") Feb 28, 2025 Abstract, CV/resume/, professional biography Mar 31, 2025 Presenters notified Apr 30, 2025 Draft papers, including a refined abstract of three pages and outline are due Jun 30, 2025 Final papers and draft PowerPoint presentation due Jul 31, 2025 Final Powerpoint presentation due Aug 31, 2025 All presentation materials, bio, headshot photo uploaded to Speaker Resource Center Volunteers needed for Greenwich led aeroplane evacuation trials The University of Greenwich, with partners Cranfield University, will be running a series of evacuation trials in February 2025. These trials will investigate the decisions made by passengers when they’re evacuating a large Blended Wing Body aircraft BWB aeroplanes are cutting-edge concepts where there is no clear divide between the wings and the main body of the aeroplane, unlike current passenger aeroplanes which are essentially long tubes with two wings. Participants in these trials will be some of the first people to experience what the interiors of these ‘planes of the future’ will be like. This study will help to improve aeroplane evacuations and provide the aviation industry with valuable information about how people behave when evacuating these novel new concept aeroplanes. A series of trials are planned, requiring the participation of over 1500 volunteers between the ages of 18-65 years. Experts from the University of Greenwich will be designing the trials, as well as analysing the data. As part of the design process, the trials have been simulated using Greenwich’s own aircraft evacuation simulation software, airEXODUS, and so the in-person trials will also be used to further validate the predictions of that software. For the full-scale evacuation trials, a like-for-like mock-up of the BWB cabin interior is being constructed by Cranfield University at their Bedfordshire campus. Cranfield University is also managing the recruitment of the volunteers. During the trials, participants will board the BWB mock-up, receive a pre-flight safety briefing from cabin crew and then at an unspecified time there will be an instruction to evacuate due to an emergency. Everyone will be asked to quickly but safely make their way to an exit. Further details for volunteers to consider are: - The BWB cabin mock-up will be stationary at all times and is ground-based. There are no stairs to board or disembark. - Audio will be used in the cabin to simulate engines starting, taxiing and take-off. - Smoke will not be used in the cabin to simulate and emergency. - Emergency evacuation slides will not be used. - Each evacuation trial will involve a large number of people, so volunteers must be comfortable in crowded places. - Volunteers behaviour in the cabin will be recorded by overhead cameras. - Each participant will be involved in three evacuation trials during the day. After exiting the BWB mock-up, participants will complete a questionnaire about the choices they made during evacuation. Experts from the University of Greenwich will then analyse that information to help the aviation industry develop its aircraft designs and safety protocols. Professor Ed Galea, leading the University of Greenwich side of the project said, ‘BWB aircraft are an exciting concept for the future of passenger flight. There are several projects around the world pursuing this concept, driven by its potential to deliver significant aerodynamic efficiencies that will help in reducing fuel burn and the aviation industry’s contribution to global warming. However, a major challenge facing BWB concepts, given their cavernous interiors, is whether it is possible to safely evacuate everyone in less than 90 seconds, as required by international aviation safety regulations. Our advanced evacuation modelling using the air EXODUS software suggests that, with an appropriately designed cabin interior and evacuation procedures, it may be possible. This project will test the concept further with full-scale evacuation trials. It is an exciting opportunity for members of the public to contribute to the future of passenger aviation’ The trials are scheduled for Tuesdays and Fridays between February 4-21, 2025. They will take place on Cranfield University campus in Cranfield, Bedfordshire. If you’d like to take part in the trials, or want more information, please visit the main evacuation trials web page. CALENDAR OF EVENTS · Sponsor the 2025 Fuzion Safety Conference! March 4 & 5, 2025 (Orlando) · · "Automation in Transportation: Lessons for Safe Implementation," on March 11-12, 2025, in Washington, DC. · 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