Airbus leaves the US FAA panel reviewing Boeing safety culture

European planemaker Airbus said it had withdrawn from a U.S. government-named panel reviewing Boeing’s safety processes and how they influence Boeing safety culture after two fatal 737 MAX crashes in recent years killed 346 people.

The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) panel named last week includes MIT lecturer and aerospace engineer Javier de Luis whose sister was killed in a MAX crash, as well as experts from NASA, the FAA, labour unions, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines, GE Aviation and FedEx Express.

Among those named was James Tidball, head of the certification for Airbus Americas. Airbus said in a statement to Reuters it appreciated the FAA's recognition of Tidball's impartiality concerning safety but given "the panel’s focus on a particular (Original Equipment Manufacturer, Tidball)... has decided to recuse himself from this working group."

Airbus leaves the US FAA panel reviewing Boeing safety culture

The panel, which Congress required under a 2020 law to reform how the FAA certifies new airplanes, has nine months to complete its review and issue findings and recommendations. Congress directed the agency to appoint a panel by early 2021, but the FAA missed that deadline.

A 2020 U.S. House report said the MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 "were the horrific culmination of a series of faulty technical assumptions by Boeing's engineers, a lack of transparency on the part of Boeing's management, and grossly insufficient oversight by the FAA."

Boeing last week declined to comment on the panel, but previously emphasized it has significantly reformed its safety culture after the MAX crashes cost it more than USD 20 billion.

The FAA continues to subject Boeing to enhanced oversight, inspecting all new Boeing 737 MAXs and 787s before they can be delivered.

Last month, Congress voted to lift a December 27 deadline imposing a new safety standard for modern cockpit alerts for two new versions of the 737 MAX aircraft that could have put the future of those new models at risk.

ALSO READ - Boeing B737 MAX fleet suspension is one of the single most extensive aviation insurance claims in history

In May, the FAA opted to renew Boeing's Organization Designation Authorization (ODA) program for three years rather than the five years Boeing sought. The FAA continues to subject Boeing to enhanced oversight, inspecting all new Boeing 737 MAXs and 787s before they can be delivered.

ALSO READ - Airbus abandons its 2022 commercial aircraft delivery goal

(With Inputs from Reuters)

Air traffic to and fro Kashmir was affected on Friday as several flights were cancelled due to snowfall across the valley, officials said here. The fresh snowfall started early in morning and continued till the last reports came in.

While the higher reaches of Jammu and Kashmir experienced moderate to heavy snowfall, the areas in the plains received light to moderate snowfall.

"The flight operations at Srinagar airport have been suspended till further notice due to continuous snowfall and low visibility," the Director, of Airport Authority of India (AAI), Srinagar Airport, Kuldeep Singh, told PTI. He said the flight operations took place in the morning but had to be suspended after 10 am due to low visibility and snowfall.

Air traffic in Kashmir affected as several flights cancelled due to snowfall

Most of the airlines, including, Air India, AirAsia, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Vistara, have cancelled all their remaining flights for the day due to the bad weather, Singh said. Other airlines also have cancelled several of their flights.

All flights to and from Srinagar were initially suspended and later cancelled after 10 am due to continuous snowfall and poor visibility, an airport official said. The air traffic will resume after the weather improves. The passengers booked on the cancelled flights would be accommodated by the respective airlines in the next available flight at no extra cost, airport authorities said.

The inclement weather has also resulted in the closure of the Srinagar-Jammu national highway - the only all-weather road connecting Kashmir valley with the rest of the country. The highway was closed for traffic due to landslides at Mehar, and slippery conditions of the road. The officials said road clearance operations were going on, but continuous snowfall and rain were making the job difficult.

ALSO READ - Jammu & Kashmir airports to get a makeover worth INR 2,361 crore

Continuous progress is the goal when it comes to safety. Airbus is always looking for new inspiration to develop proactive solutions that can raise performance and safety.

Representative | Airbus

And what better place to get inspiration from than the magnificent natural world? Airbus's "sharklet" wing-tip design, which decreases drag, and the fello'fly demonstrator, which imitates the formation flying of snow geese for better performance, are just a few of the innovative solutions it has developed as a result of biologically inspired engineering, also known as "biomimicry".

Airbus

The recent biomimicry demonstration from Airbus, called DragonFly, was motivated by the common, humble "dragonfly."

A dragonfly's exceptional vision, 360-degree vision, and ability to recognize landmarks enable it to clearly determine the limits of its territory. Similar to how the systems the company is researching and developing review and recognize landscape elements to help the aircraft "see" and safely maneuver in its surroundings.

Especially in the context of emergency operations, these advances may add another level of safety to aircraft. In the odd event that a crew loses control of the plane, DragonFly can reroute the flight to the closest suitable airfield and help with a secure landing.

Decoding "DragonFly"

When it comes to derisking emergency operations, DragonFly could be a game-changer. Its three main areas of focus each support automated yet thoughtful decision-making by combining data collected during flight with a massive corpus of flight information.

Representative | Royal Aeronautical Society

In order to help assure safe flight and landing, DragonFly provides a solution. The onboard system recognizes a problem and automatically chooses the best airport to guide the aircraft toward if the crew is unable to manage it.

Of course, flight routes and outside variables are complicated and dynamic. A dragonfly explores its surroundings before adjusting its course. Similar to this, the DragonFly prototype makes its landing decisions by taking into account the environment, including flight lanes, topography, and weather. However, in contrast to a typical dragonfly, the DragonFly additionally gains from a continuous line of communication between the aircraft and both Air Traffic Control and the airline's Operations Control Center to guarantee a secure and well-coordinated approach.

L'Usine Nouvelle | Representative

In the same way that dragonflies can recognise landmarks that help them to define boundaries, our demonstrator is equipped with cutting-edge sensing technology and software, capable of managing in-flight and landing operations. The DragonFly demonstrator has been made possible through cooperation within the Airbus engineering community and with our trusted external partners, and we look forward to the insights that this final stage of testing will deliver- Isabelle Lacaze, Head of DragonFly demonstrator, Airbus UpNext

Possible safe and automated landing at any airport in the world

Airbus has developed a system that combines sensors, computer vision algorithms, and reliable navigation calculations to greatly simplify landing in poor visibility or challenging weather circumstances because a dragonfly's eyesight functions much more swiftly than a human's.

The technologies were able to help pilots throughout the flight test campaign when handling a simulated disabled crew member event, as well as during landing and taxiing operations. The aircraft was able to construct a new flight trajectory plan and interact with both Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the airline operations control center while taking into account external factors like flight zones, topography, and weather conditions.

These advancements open the door for an automatic landing (if required) or can be tailored to the pilot's flying abilities to relieve them of extra steps in an emergency or critical circumstance.

In the future, DragonFly's advancements may make it possible for the plane to land at any airport in the world, regardless of whether the airport has the ground equipment necessary for automatic landing.

The crew of the DragonFly demonstration can manage taxi guidance and instructions, including navigation and surveillance, with the use of pilot assistance technology, giving them up to concentrate on other crucial responsibilities.

Airbus

Airbus has started testing new, on-ground, and in-flight, pilot assistance technologies on an A350-1000 test aircraft.

Moving forward

The final three months of DragonFly's testing phase have already begun. Through these test flights, Airbus UpNext will be able to upgrade or validate the technology in order to incorporate advancements into the next programs.

Along with these features, Airbus UpNext is starting a project to develop the newest computer vision-based algorithms for improved landing and taxi assistance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nubL1I7sxEE

Cooperation between Airbus divisions and outside partners, such as Cobham, Collins Aerospace, Honeywell, Onera, and Thales, allowed for the execution of these tests. The French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) provided some funding for DragonFly as a part of the French Stimulus plan, which is a component of the European Plan, Next Generation EU, and the France 2030 plan.

SOURCE: Airbus

COVER: Machine Design

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Friday, January 13 allowed the ownership of Jet Airways to be transferred to the Jalan Kalrock Consortium (JKC), which had won the bid to resurrect the grounded carrier in 2021.

This comes as the consortium has appealed to the Supreme Court against a separate ruling by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) directing it to clear unpaid provident fund dues of INR 250 crore to employees, said multiple people aware of the development, highlighting the legal hurdles that remain for the new owners.

An NCLT division bench of justice PN Deshmukh and technical member Shyam Babu Gautam allowed JKC’s seek the transfer of Jet's ownership in an oral order. The ownership currently vests with the monitoring committee comprising Jet's lenders, JKC executives and the court-appointed resolution professional.

The court gave its approval despite lenders' contention that JKC had not fulfilled all conditions--including securing Jet's domestic flight slots and international traffic rights—as per the resolution plan, which is effective November 18.

The resolution applicant usually has 180 days to clear all dues to creditors but the NCLT has acceded to JKC’s demand that this is extended. It has until May 2023 to clear all dues to lenders, other creditors and workers.

The NCLT rejected an oral demand by the lenders to stay in the operation of the Friday order for two weeks so that they can challenge the ruling in the NCLAT. JKC has said it will spend INR 1,375 crore - INR 900 crore as capital infusion and INR 475 crore paid to creditors. Of that, INR 380 crore will go to financial creditors. JKC is to have an 89.79% stake while 9.5% will go to lenders.

“The NCLT order implies that the airline’s handover and distribution are segregated,” the person said. “The standoff between lenders and the resolution applicant on payment of uncleared dues to employees delayed the handover of the airline.”

Naresh Goyal founded Jet Airways, once India's biggest private carrier, stopped operations on April 17, 2019, unable to cope with its financial liabilities. It was taken to bankruptcy court by the airline's lenders. JKC's plan was approved by the NCLT in June 2021. Since November 2022, there has been a tussle between lenders and JKC over unpaid dues.

The cargo service at Pune airport resumed partially after SpiceJet and IndiGo took approval from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security Instructions (BACS).

The Airports Authority of India abruptly suspended cargo service at the Pune airport by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security Instructions (BACS) on January 1.

“The cargo service was suspended at the Pune international airport as many airlines had not taken approval of running cargo service from BACS. Many airlines are in the process of taking approval. Currently, two airlines have received approval – SpiceJet and IndiGo. Their cargo services resumed from January 3. Air India, GoFirst, Vistara and AirAsia are waiting for approval. Once these airlines receive the approval their cargo services will also resume."

Santosh Dhoke, Airport Director, Pune

As per officials, goods of at least 100-120 tonnes are transported from Pune airport daily.

Once the new terminal building is ready at the Pune International Airport – the cargo service will be shifted to the new building. The new cargo terminal will have a capacity of 36,000 tonnes. It will be called an ‘interim integrated air cargo terminal, ' and will be ready by March 2023. AAI Cargo Logistics and allied services company will oversee the operations of this cargo facility at its new location.

Pune Airport resumes partial cargo operations

The current capacity of cargo transportation in Pune is 25,000 metric tonnes, of which 17,000 is domestic and 7,500 is international.

Airport authorities plan to construct an international air cargo terminal in Pune which is expected to be ready by December 2024. The current cargo hold area will shift to make way for the terminal building. An integrated cargo terminal is under construction on land provided by the Indian Air Force and operations will begin here by March this year.

ALSO READ - Pune Airport to get a new terminal building by May 2023: Scindia

One ex-pat pilot flying for Alliance Air was detained by Indian Air Force security on Monday for allegedly taking pictures and videos of a restricted aerodrome at the Uttarlai Air Force Station, Rajasthan on his mobile phone. Hired to operate a charter flight to Delhi, the pilot has had a formal complaint lodged against him, by the IAF, with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). He was hired to operate Alliance Air charter flight 9I962, with 23 passengers on board a ATR 72-600(VT-AIZ) aircraft. The incident occurred while the flight was readying for departure from Uttarlai to Delhi “Boarding was on when the pilot, a Brazilian national, started taking videos of the air force station. It’s not known if he was shooting out of curiosity, as an aviation enthusiast or if there were other reasons. He was caught by the IAF security personnel and detained for questioning,” said a TOI source. The charter flight was to depart around noon, but with the pilot not available, the aircraft stayed on ground for close to five hours, the source said, adding that the flight finally departed for Delhi late evening. "The incident has caused much consternation among the airline officials, especially with Republic Day a few weeks away," they added. Under the IAF norms laid down for operation of civil flight from its aerodromes, “no aerial/ ground photography from the aircraft is permitted and no sensory equipment is to be carried by passengers in hand bags." Civil non-schedule flights (charter flights) with foreign crew members can operate to these IAF air stations only after obtaining clearance from the Defence Ministry. For foreign crew members, airlines operating scheduled flights are required to obtain clearance from ministry of home affairs (IB) and ministry of external affairs. Uttarlai Air Force Station in Barmer, Rajasthan lies close to the country’s border with Pakistan. Given its geographical proximity, the station played a critical role in the Indo-Pakistan war. An Alliance Air spokesperson said that the pilot concerned has been 'de-rostered pending investigation'.