May 1, 2024 - No. 18 In This Issue : MTU Eyes Faster Turn Times As GTF Groundings Plateau ; REPORT Two Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 tail strike incidents were caused by a software glitch : Aircraft Cabin Air International Conference - 17 & 18 September - London : The Revival of Supersonic Travel : Navy pauses T-45C Goshawk fleet operations after ‘engine malfunction’ : The Irony of Europe’s Green Aviation Policies: Fragmented Skies Fuel Higher Emissions : NATA’s Hard Line Complicates Fuel Quest : Boeing buys GKN factory, ending dispute over F-15, F/A-18 parts : Air Force maintenance mishaps are rising. Can a worksheet fix it? : Maintenance Month takes flight : MOSAIC Final Rule Now Expected In 2025 MTU Eyes Faster Turn Times As GTF Groundings Plateau Sean Broderick April 30, 2024 MTU Aero Engines continues to roll out new protocols to reduce Pratt & Whitney PW1000G overhaul turnaround times (TAT) as it works to support the fleet’s accelerated inspection program to flag parts with production flaws. “We are fully committed to doing our utmost to reduce the impact on airlines and to mitigate costs,” MTU CEO Lars Wagner said on the company’s first-quarter (Q1) earnings call April 30. “One clear point here is the acceleration of the work in our shops. Currently, we are in the middle of implementing measures to reduce the TAT in our shops. We have identified multiple areas where we can further improve and together with Pratt & Whitney, and we will share these learnings with all network shops.” MTU, a risk-sharing partner in the PW1000G geared turbofan (GTF), also is one of the prime aftermarket service providers. That gives the company a key role in helping airlines tackle mandatory inspections to flag life-limited parts (LLPs) with contaminated powder metal (PM). The checks, based on Pratt’s recommendations, have overwhelmed an overhaul network that was not prepared for so many inspections so soon in the engine’s life cycle. While Pratt is working to bring shop capacity on faster than planned and boost production of spare parts, projected wing-to-wing TATs remain at 250-300 days, Pratt parent RTX said on a recent earnings call. Initial mandatory engine removals began in September 2023, or about 200 days ago, and ramped up quickly through the end of 2023. The long TATs are a combination of waiting for open slots and extended time in the shops. MTU, which did not provide more details on its efforts, has said it is focused on shortening overhaul times by developing more targeted work scopes that meet the mandatory inspection requirements and restore some useful life into engines. Current shop-times are estimated at 100-150 days, depending on how much work each engine needs. Meanwhile, Pratt is boosting production of affected parts, including certain high-pressure compressor integrally bladed rotors and high-pressure turbine disks, to feed MRO shops. Pratt has been delivering new engines with full-life LLPs since late 2023, but swapping out all suspect in-service parts with new ones will take time. Any part subject to the inspections that is cleared must come back for follow-up inspections. Intervals vary by part, but engines on the busiest Airbus A320neos will hit some of Pratt’s repetitive inspection thresholds within a year or less. The potential headaches for operators and the MRO shops underscore the importance of getting full-life parts installed as quickly as possible. “There’s work to do in the course of this year and going into 2025,” MTU CFO Peter Kameritsch said. “All the [new-engine] deliveries are delivered with unlimited life disks, and we continue to increase putting in these unlimited life disks into the MRO shops ... So, this is still a challenge.” Groundings linked to the inspections—a mix of scheduled and accelerated checks—appear to have plateaued. The Aviation Week Network Fleet Discovery database shows 634 PW1000G-powered aircraft have been on the ground for at least 30 days. Another 42 flew sparingly in the previous seven days—often a sign of entering or exiting long periods of dormancy, such as heavy maintenance visits. Not all of the PW1000G-powered aircraft grounding are linked to contaminated PM inspections, however. RTX reiterated that it expects PM-related groundings to hover at around 350 per day on average through 2026, when the majority of unscheduled inspections will be done. The total number of idled, GTF-powered aircraft has changed little in the last month after climbing steadily since inspections began in September 2023. RTX said on its recent earnings call that groundings have peaked as operators move to comply with the latest and most comprehensive inspection mandate, issued in late March. REPORT Two Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 tail strike incidents were caused by a software glitch Last updated: April 27, 2024 08:15 AIRLIVE A software glitch caused a temporary shutdown of Alaska’s flight activity nationwide. On the morning of Jan. 26, as two Alaska Airlines flights from Seattle to Hawaii departing six minutes apart experienced a tail strike. The pilots of each flight felt a slight bump and the flight attendants at the back of the cabin heard a scraping noise. As the noses of both Boeing 737s lifted skyward on takeoff, their tails had scraped the runway. Both planes circled back immediately and landed again at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The incident grounded both flights and forced a temporary shutdown of Alaska’s flight activity nationwide. Horrifyingly, investigators have now discovered that a software glitch was responsible for the incident. According to the Seattle Times, the tailstrikes occurred largely as the result of a bug in a program sold by a Swedish firm called DynamicSource. The program is supposed to deliver “crucial weight and balance data” that pilots enter into their flight computers to help determine stuff like “how much thrust the engines will provide and at what speed the jet will be ready to lift off.” The data [delivered] was on the order of 20,000 to 30,000 pounds light. With the total weight of those jets at 150,000 to 170,000 pounds, the error was enough to skew the engine thrust and speed settings. Both planes headed down the runway with less power and at lower speed than they should have. And with the jets judged lighter than they actually were, the pilots rotated too early. The Revival of Supersonic Travel The first flight of XB-1 paves the way for the return of supersonic travel that’s more affordable, more convenient, and more sustainable There have only been two civil supersonic airliners to enter regular service: the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 and the British-French Concorde, which flew for the last time more than two decades ago in October 2003. On March 22, 2024, XB-1 became the first independently developed supersonic jet to take flight, paving the way for the return of supersonic travel onboard Overture, Boom’s sustainable supersonic airliner. Unlike its predecessors, Overture is designed to be economically and environmentally sustainable, with the ability to take supersonic flight from an experience limited to few to routine travel for millions of passengers worldwide. First flown commercially in 1976, Concorde’s sleek design represented the future of aviation at the time. With a cruising speed of over twice the speed of sound, Concorde could travel from London to New York in about three hours. With faster flights came the promise of a more connected planet. Concorde may have actually been ahead of its time. The supersonic aircraft didn’t have the efficiency benefits of modern aircraft materials and technologies and entered service when the international travel market was one-tenth the size of what it is today. Born from a competition among countries, Concorde was, in some ways, a build-at-all-cost aircraft which impacted its economics and commercial appeal to airlines outside of British Airways and Air France. Concorde went on to fly for 27 years across a limited set of transatlantic routes. Eventually, the cost to service and maintain the plane and the resulting restrictive ticket prices led to its shutdown in 2003. By the end of its lifetime, only 20 Concorde aircraft were built with 14 entering service. While Concorde was neither economically or environmentally sustainable, it did provide a glimpse into the breakthrough possibilities associated with faster flights. Source: United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Skift Research, 2019 Estimated at Time of Study XB-1 Informs Overture Now, 50 years later, XB-1, the world’s first independently developed supersonic jet, took flight at the Mojave Air & Space Port in Mojave, California on March 22, 2024. XB-1 was flown by Boom Chief Test Pilot Bill “Doc” Shoemaker, and Test Pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg flew the T-38 chase aircraft which monitored XB-1 in the air. Now that XB-1 has successfully completed its first flight, the team will systematically expand the flight envelope to confirm its performance and handling qualities through and beyond Mach 1. Boom also recently received a first-of-its-kind Special Flight Authorization (SFA) to Exceed Mach 1 from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This SFA will allow XB-1 to conduct supersonic operations in Mojave and specifically in the Black Mountain Supersonic Corridor and in a portion of the High Altitude Supersonic Corridor within the R-2515 airspace, which has been used extensively for research and military supersonic aeronautical operations. Ongoing testing of Boom’s supersonic demonstrator aircraft is bringing the world closer to the return of commercial supersonic flight onboard Overture. The XB-1 program provides the foundation for the design and development of Overture, while establishing a safety-first culture in engineering and manufacturing. XB-1 validates key technologies and innovations, including: Augmented reality vision system: Two nose-mounted cameras, digitally augmented with attitude and flight path indications, feed a high resolution pilot display enabling excellent runway visibility. This system enables improved aerodynamic efficiency without the weight and complexity of a movable nose. Digitally-optimized aerodynamics: Engineers used computational fluid dynamics simulations to explore thousands of designs for XB-1. The result is an optimized design that combines safe and stable operation at takeoff and landing with efficiency at supersonic speeds. Carbon fiber composites: XB-1 is almost entirely made from carbon fiber composite materials, enabling it to realize a sophisticated aerodynamic design in a strong, lightweight structure. Supersonic intakes: XB-1’s engine intakes slow supersonic air to subsonic speeds, efficiently converting kinetic energy into pressure energy, allowing conventional jet engines to power XB-1 from takeoff through supersonic flight. Achieving Economic and Environmental Sustainability with Overture The achievements of Concorde remind us that supersonic travel is possible; Overture highlights that supersonic travel for passengers is not just in the near future, but it’s both economically viable and environmentally sustainable. Overture leverages computational design tools that enable comprehensive aircraft optimization, modern materials such as carbon fiber composites that greatly improve aerodynamics and efficiency, and technologies that ensure Overture is optimized for sustainability. While history’s supersonic airliners served only a handful of routes, Boom has identified over 600 profitable routes across the globe at fares that are affordable for passengers and profitable for Boom’s airline partners, that today include United Airlines, American Airlines, and Japan Airlines. And global travelers are ready for a revival of supersonic flight. In a recent study with global premium passengers, interest in supersonic air travel is sky high, driven by faster flight times. 97% of passengers are interested in flying supersonic and 87% of passengers are willing to switch from their preferred airline to access supersonic. Overture is designed to carry 64-80 passengers and to fly on up to 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Boom has secured 10 million gallons of net zero carbon SAF per year from Dimensional Energy and AIR COMPANY for the duration of the Overture flight test program. Both companies produce sustainable fuels from waste CO2 using only renewable energy, allowing Boom to directly close the carbon loop. A Faster and More Connected World With Overture and the realization of sustainable supersonic air travel, there’s an opportunity to harness next generation speed and sustainability to advance the ways we connect with others, experience the world, and conduct business. Flying at 2x the speed of today’s passenger airliners, Overture has the power to make the world dramatically more accessible through flights that are faster, more affordable, more convenient, and more sustainable. Imagine Tokyo to Seattle in four and a half hours instead of eight, flying from Boston to Paris and back home in time to tuck the kids into bed. Los Angeles to Tahiti in just over 4 hours. The idea of a weekend trip expands to adventures abroad without sacrificing full days for travel. Envision New York to London in 3:40 hours and back in the same day, or an extra night at home before meetings in Tokyo. Supersonic travel has the potential to change where we do business, it changes where we vacation, and it even changes who we can fall in love with. Revolutionizing travel by bringing cities, cultures, and people closer while reshaping global business and leisure travel has always been at the core of Boom’s mission to make the world dramatically more accessible. Navy pauses T-45C Goshawk fleet operations after ‘engine malfunction’ By Diana Stancy May 1, 04:02 AM The Navy has grounded its T-45 Goshawk training fleet following multiple engine issues in recent months, the second such grounding since 2022. (Mass Communication Specialist Seaman August Clawson/Navy) The Navy issued a pause on operations for its T-45C Goshawk jet trainer fleet this month, following an engine failure on April 12. The incident, which is under investigation, involved a T-45C Goshawk from Training Air Wing 1 that suffered an “in-flight engine malfunction,” according to Chief of Naval Air Training spokeswoman Anne Owens. The aircraft completed a precautionary landing in Hesler-Noble Field in Laurel, Mississippi in response. “CNATRA is investigating the incident as [Naval Air Systems Command] spearheads the engineering investigation,” Owens said in an email to Navy Times. “Out of an abundance of caution, operations of all T-45C Goshawk aircraft have been paused while CNATRA, Naval Air Forces, and NAVAIR assess the fleet’s ability to safely resume flying.” No injuries were reported, and the Navy is evaluating the amount of engine damage present in the aircraft, Owens said. Navy grounds T-45 Goshawk fleet over engine blade failure The so-called "safety pause" began Friday but was not announced by the Navy until Tuesday.By Geoff Ziezulewicz Naval Safety Command also reported an engine malfunction at takeoff from a T-45 based out of Naval Air Station Meridian in Mississippi on March 18, prompting the crew to conduct a high-speed abort. No injuries were reported in that case. According to Owens, the two incidents are not believed to be related. Both were categorized as Class A mishaps, which the Navy stipulates involve death, or $2.5 million or more in damages, or the destruction of an aircraft. The grounding marks the second for the Goshawk fleet since October 2022, when the Navy paused operations for the T-45 fleet “to review an engine blade fault.” Operations resumed less than three weeks later in that case. The Navy and Marine Corps utilize the T-45 for its pilot training program for jet carrier aviation and tactical strike missions. The Navy first introduced the T-45C variant to the fleet in 1997. The Irony of Europe’s Green Aviation Policies: Fragmented Skies Fuel Higher Emissions by Gary Leff April 22, 2024 France has enacted a ban on certain short flights since they think people should be taking the train instead, and that this is better for the environment. But since they’re limiting short flights at capacity-constrained Orly airport, you’re just getting short flights replaced by longer ones. More emissions! A lot of European concern over the environment is virtue signaling that winds up counterproductive, or just cheap talk. At least France uses nuclear power! Any criticisms of the aviation industry in Europe are unserious though because European aviation is more carbon intensive than U.S. aviation as a result of European government policies. Specifically, European air traffic control protectionism forces planes to fly longer, less direct routes and burn more fuel. Europe has fragmented air traffic control, and the European Commission plan to “finally achieve a single, unified airspace with more efficient and more climate-friendly aircraft operations” doesn’t actually do that because European member state s, and their air traffic controller unions, don’t want to cede any of their local control. As transportation researcher Bob Poole writes, Europe has “three times as many en-route centers as the United States, to serve a much smaller number of daily flights.” Air traffic control is more expensive, and flights “follow zig-zag paths through the convoluted airspace, rather than the most efficient (and hence least environmentally damaging) routes.” MetricU.S. continentalEurocontrol membersArea (sq. km.)10.4 million11.5 million# of ANSPs137Approach control facilities2616En-route facilities2062Airports with towers517406Average daily flights41,87428,475Total ANSP staff31,64751,130Controllers12,17017,794% of ANSP staff38.5%32.3% Source: “FAA/Eurocontrol Comparison of Air Traffic Management-Related Operational Performance: US/Europe.” (https:www.ansperformance.eu) Europe won’t do facility consolidation. Instead, they’re going to settle for “performance plans with binding targets and incentives to make flights more efficient and environmentally friendly.” Ireland’s transportation minister called out the charade as being the result of lobbying and that it will do virtually nothing for the environment or economic efficiency. Since airlines have to plan for longer flight paths because of local air traffic control, Eurocontrol actually advises that pilots not request and controllers not grant requests for more direct routings because that’s just going to mean early arrivals without gates. Meanwhile, easyJet plans to count unnecessary emissions on each of its routes. They’re burning mad over the cost of wasted fuel. NATA’s Hard Line Complicates Fuel Quest By Russ Niles Published: April 29, 2024 The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) has laid all its cards on the table. We now know why it thinks General Aviation Modifications Inc.’s G100UL unleaded fuel is clearly considered an outlier in the quest for a new drop-in replacement for 100LL even though it has been approved by the FAA via a universal STC for gas engines in certified airplanes (the helicopter process is underway). According to a statement from NATA, the STC, which in FAA circles is an immensely powerful document, is nothing more than “a positive step” toward an unleaded replacement fuel because GAMI has chosen not to submit the fuel to ASTM International for testing and the granting of a “fuel specification.” In a nutshell, NATA says ASTM tests more stuff that is relevant to its members like compatibility with hoses, tanks, meters, etc. It also says that without that ASTM fuel specification, its members don’t want to touch it because they’re afraid insurance won’t cover any issues that crop up. Obviously that logjam could be broken if GAMI submitted G100UL to ASTM, but company founder George Braly doesn’t trust the ASTM process and has thus far resisted getting involved with them. I don’t know if there’s any negotiating room there, but I also don’t know if anyone in a more relevant position has asked. The hell of this impasse is that we could end up with a fuel that ticks all the boxes for trucks, pipes and pumps on the ground but may not work without some form of operating or physical modification in some aircraft engines up in the air. During an update on the quest for an unleaded fuel by the End Aviation Gasoline Lead Emissions (EAGLE) committee last week, it was mentioned several times that the last fuel standing in the Piston Aviation Fuel Initiative (PAFI) program, the process that would lead to a “fleet authorization,” may not be completely compatible with a small minority of engines. The fuel, made by Lyondell/Basell and VP Racing, is now undergoing extensive testing by the FAA, and it seems like EAGLE already knows it’s going to cause issues in some of the 143 engine makes on the FAA registry that are not Continental, Lycoming or Rotax. The nature of those possible shortcomings or how widespread they are was not discussed, but even if 99% of engines hum happily on that fuel, try telling the folks in that remaining 1% that it’s acceptable collateral damage that they can’t just pump the fuel and go flying. And there’s the question of just how much power an ASTM specification wields in this process. The FAA is used to being in charge of these sorts of things, and is it really going to surrender that regulatory omnipotence to make sure insurance companies are happy? There’s also the sticky issue of optics and potential or perceived conflicts. NATA is unequivocal in its assessment of G100UL. It’s going nowhere without ASTM. NATA is a member of EAGLE and must therefore present that position to the EAGLE membership, and NATA President Curt Castagna is co-chair of EAGLE. Under parliamentary procedure, the chair(s) are neutral and only vote to break ties. I’ve never seen a vote at an EAGLE meeting so maybe it’s not bound by those rules, but NATA’s clear position on the ASTM thing puts Castagna in an uncomfortable spot at best. We all want the same thing. We want a fuel that performs at least as well as 100LL and it seems like all those elements are satisfied among the three remaining contenders in the process. Given that, it seems unfortunate that hard positions that exclude any of the players are being taken. Boeing buys GKN factory, ending dispute over F-15, F/A-18 parts Through the deal, Boeing’s litigation with supplier GKN Aerospace will be dropped, and the aerospace giant will take possession of a St. Louis-area factory it used to own. By MICHAEL MARROW on April 26, 2024 at 2:26 PM An F-15EX fighter jet taxis to its parking spot at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Nov. 8, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo by Jaima Fogg) WASHINGTON — Boeing has agreed to buy a St. Louis-area facility from GKN Aerospace that supplies critical parts for the Boeing F-15 and F/A-18 fighter jets, a lifeline for the aerospace giant’s fighter production that also ends contentious litigation between the two parties. The transaction would see GKN’s F-15 and F/A-18 operations immediately transition to Boeing, according to a Boeing press release. Additionally, Boeing has agreed to hire 550 GKN employees, the bulk of GKN’s workforce at the site located in the St. Louis suburb of Hazelwood, Mo. “Boeing is growing across the region with a healthy backlog of current programs while also seeking future opportunities,” Steve Parker, senior vice president & chief operating officer of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said in the release. “This agreement allows us to not only deliver for our customers, but also gives the highly skilled GKN workforce the opportunity to bring their immense talents to bear in support of the warfighter and the St. Louis defense and aerospace industry. This is a win-win-win for those employees, Boeing, and the broader St. Louis community.” GKN and its parent company, the British firm Melrose Industries, previously planned to shutter the Hazelwood facility by the end of the year, citing profitability woes. Boeing responded with a lawsuit in December 2022, arguing that GKN was violating an agreement to supply parts for the F-15 and F/A-18, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The agreement to buy the factory would end litigation between the two parties, according to a Boeing spokesperson. The spokesperson also told Breaking Defense that the facility employed roughly 600 people, some of whom retired or opted to seek work outside Boeing. While GKN supplies many of Boeing’s competitors in the defense world, the Hazelwood plant is a “Boeing only supplier” that supports F-15 and F/A-18, which will remain the focus of operations there, the spokesperson said. The Hazelwood factory’s closure could have threatened Boeing’s fighter programs, which are based in the St. Louis area. The F-15EX — Boeing’s newest variant of the F-15 fighter equipped with a modernized radar and new electronic warfare suite, among other features — is a key product for the company’s international business, particularly for customers like Israel that could buy up to 50 in a potential multibillion-dollar deal with the US. And, following a recent agreement with the US Navy, Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet line will now be extended until 2027. In a brief statement, GKN said that “Last year, the companies began discussing the potential to return the site to Boeing to avoid closure of the facility. A deal has now been completed and the site has returned to Boeing ownership. The sale secures the future of the facility for the employees and we wish everyone at St. Louis very well for the future.” The factory’s acquisition by Boeing actually brings it back under the planemaker’s ownership, as Boeing had spun off the facility to GKN in 2001. It’s also the second time in recent months that Boeing has moved to buy a struggling supplier that it used to own, following the company’s recent announcement that it would seek to acquire aerostructures maker Spirit Aerosystems. The two moves could help Boeing stabilize some operations at its defense business as the company toils to get fixed-price development programs on track. Boeing, which reported its first quarter earnings for 2024 on Wednesday, turned a $151 million profit in the quarter while incurring $222 million in losses between the KC-46A tanker and T-7A trainer programs. Despite wrestling with a new safety crisis on its commercial side that has upended the company, and a loss this week on a high-profile Air Force drone contract, the planemaker is still pressing ahead with a planned multibillion-dollar expansion of its St. Louis area operations as it eyes more next-gen aircraft opportunities. Air Force maintenance mishaps are rising. Can a worksheet fix it?By Courtney Mabeus-Brown Tuesday, Apr 23 Raul Castaneda, 47th Maintenance Directorate maintainer, inspects the engine bay of a T-6 Texan II at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, April 12, 2017. (Airman 1st Class Benjamin N. Valmoja/Air Force) How is your personal stress? How much sleep did you get last night? Do you need to use hazardous materials or chemicals to complete your next task, and how is the lighting in the workspace? Those are just some of the questions that Air Education and Training Command wants its aircraft maintainers to answer on a new worksheet it rolled out in February. Air Force’s costliest accidents, maintainer injuries rose in 2023 Two people died and 10 aircraft were destroyed in aviation-related mishaps in FY23 as the Air Force’s most serious accidents hit a five-year high. The two-page questionnaire is intended to help determine how safe an airman’s work environment — and their mental state — may be before starting any high-risk maintenance work, ranging from hoisting and towing an aircraft to checking landing gears or loading munitions. Maintenance-related mishaps, including “preventable” accidents during engine checks and while towing aircraft, have cost AETC more than $50 million since September 2018, the command said in February. But fiscal year 2023 saw an “alarming spike” in those accidents, prompting the training branch to look for new ways to enforce its safety precautions. Overall, the Air Force recorded 75 major non-combat mishaps during FY23, including 21 that occurred during ground maintenance — nearly double the maintenance incidents of the previous year, according to Air Force Safety Center data obtained by Air Force Times. Figures were current as of April 1. AETC recorded a total of 11 Class A and Class B mishaps in FY23, most of which occurred in flight. Three took place during ground maintenance, including two separate incidents in which F-35 jets sucked foreign objects into their engines, and one instance in which an F-16′s engine erupted in flames while being checked. In comparison, AETC logged one Class A ground operations accident in FY22 and zero in FY21, Air Force safety data shows. Contractor crushed by T-38 jet suffered broken ribs, spinal fractures A T-38 Talon training jet collapsed onto a contractor after he removed a pin from the aircraft's nose landing gear in February 2023. Class A accidents involve a death or permanent total disability, destruction of a military aircraft, damages of more than $2.5 million, or a combination of those criteria. Class B mishaps cause between $600,000 and $2.5 million in damages, a permanent partial disability, inpatient hospitalization of three or more personnel. While the Air Force said no one was directly injured in AETC’s worst maintenance mishaps, they can lead to serious injury. For instance, in February 2023, a contractor working on an Air Combat Command-owned T-38A Talon at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, was crushed when the jet collapsed on him while he was lubricating the aircraft’s landing gear, leaving him with multiple broken bones. An Air Force investigation found the unnamed man had removed a safety pin that allowed the landing gear to retract without other precautions in place. Ground mishaps within AETC “really clued us in to realize that we needed to foster a stronger risk-management and safety mindset in the maintenance community,” Col. Will Phillips, the command’s safety director, told Air Force Times. How it works AETC’s new questionnaire is similar to the checklist completed by fighter crews in preflight briefings to tally mission risks and will create “a more standardized, repeatable process” to measure factors that could contribute to an accident before starting a potentially dangerous task, Phillips said. Misplaced flashlight in F-35 engine results in $4 million in damage A handheld flashlight was sucked into the F-35's inlet engine during a maintenance ground run. By Sarah Sicard AETC maintainers “perform tasks that risk their own health and welfare, and they also risk aircraft damage when they have to do these tasks everyday, but their tasks are mission-essential,” Phillips said. The command’s approximately 7,600 active duty and civilian maintainers will use the worksheet, which takes about 10 minutes to complete. It does not yet apply to contractors, though Phillips said that’s being considered. The paperwork is to be completed by each person before starting a new task. If the same task is being performed throughout the day, like towing aircraft, it only needs to be completed once. However, if a factor changes that can increase risk, like weather, maintainers are required to complete a new worksheet. The tool is also not intended to replace a departmental “knock-it-off” instruction intended to empower personnel from stopping a task they feel is too risky. Top Air Force recruiter predicts maintainer, security forces shortage As of the end of March, the midpoint of fiscal 2023, the Air Force was less than halfway to its active duty recruiting goal By Rachel S. Cohen “This process equips personnel and supervisors to objectively assess risk and alert leadership when task, human, and environmental factors may accumulate to create an unacceptable level of risk,” instructions accompanying the worksheet said. Scores in each area — human, environmental and task risks — are separately tallied; the team lead should be briefed on each, with a focus on how to mitigate them. A “moderate” score in any area requires approval to proceed from a flight, section chief or expeditor; a “high” score requires the OK from a production superintendent. “The concept is, once you have a team of people and they put together an understanding of what their aggregate risk is, if it rises to a certain level, then they elevate that to their supervisor and their supervisor can then look at say, ‘OK, can I swap a person? Can we push this to the day shift? Can we add another person to the crew that’s more experienced?’” Phillips said. “‘What are those measures I can take to buy down risk?’” The worksheets can be thrown out at the end of a shift, but must be kept if a mishap occurs. Phillips said some maintenance units are keeping the sheets anyway to “get a better finger on the pulse of the data at a more macro level.” The information can help units track trends, including where resources — or a lack of them — could be driving risk in an already stretched-thin maintainer community that has struggled to keep up with aging aircraft and a high operational tempo. The sheet could also become a tool to help units connect struggling airmen with support services. “Will this form encourage leaders to have a better understanding of what’s going on with their folks? The answer to that is we hope so,” Phillips said. While some may feel the added paperwork amounts to micromanaging or even policing airmen, Phillips said that’s not the intent. But the command is conscious of that perspective as it seeks honest answers. That’s why AETC expects an initial question about alcohol consumption in the last 24 hours to change to something more generally related to health. “We can meet them in the middle” by asking less specific questions, Phillips said, “and still achieve the baseline objective of a good assessment.” The command expects to tweak the questionnaire as it receives feedback and will eventually release a new form. It’s almost impossible to know how many potential accidents may be avoided. But thanks to the worksheet, Phillips said he hopes to hear from units about instances when maintainers flagged risks and stopped upcoming work as a result. AETC plans to share the results of its initiative with the other major commands. “If it canceled a sortie, I would love to know about that so we can begin to understand,” Phillips said. “Maybe a point value needed to be adjusted. Maybe we need to include something else, or maybe we need to remove something from the form.” “We’re trying to find that balance between risk and mission,” he said. Maintenance Month takes flight By staff writers May 1, 2024 Engineer working on an EC225 helicopter in the maintenance hangar at Bristow Helicopters Australia, Karratha, Western Australia. Source: CASA Aircraft maintenance engineers play a vital role in ensuring safety across the aviation industry. Millions of passengers rely on aircraft to take them on their next adventure – aircraft that have been assessed by licensed engineers to ensure they are safe and airworthy to fly. That’s why we’re highlighting their important contribution to aviation through Maintenance Month. Throughout the month of May we’ll be raising awareness of the different career paths that aircraft maintenance engineers take on while also encouraging individuals to consider careers as an engineer. What to expect in Maintenance Month • Hear from our own engineer experts and aviation safety advisors at a series of webinars (topics will be announced on 2 May) • See what some of our previous AME scholarship winners have been up to • Read a variety of maintenance articles pulled from the archives of Flight Safety Australia • Enter a competition to win one of 3 gift cards to Snap On Tools (conditions apply) The month will highlight the dedication and expertise of engineers to keep Australian skies safe while also acknowledging their commitment to aviation safety. Follow CASA on social media – Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram – to ensure you don’t miss out on celebrating with us. You can also subscribe to our maintenance newsletters to receive maintenance updates throughout the year. MOSAIC Final Rule Now Expected In 2025 By Russ Niles Published: April 24, 2024 The final rule on the Modernization of Special Airworthiness Certification (MOSAIC) is now expected sometime in 2025. When the comment period closed for the MOSAIC Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in January it was suggested that the final rule might be announced at AirVenture 2024 but that is no longer the expectation. “It is correct that early to mid-2025 is expected to be the announcement of the final rule,” said EAA spokesman Dick Knapinski. “That’s been no secret—we’ve been telling those who ask that, based on our conversations with the FAA, most recently at our annual winter summit in Oshkosh in early March.” Knapinski said the FAA sincerely wanted to get the rule ready for this year’s AirVenture, “but it would have been an impressive stretch even in the best of circumstances, given that the NPRM public comment period closed in early 2024. Any slippage would have made that even tougher.” The timeline was also hit by the need to reopen comments for 30 days in February to backfill an omission in the original document. The coming election will also use government resources that would be needed to process the new rule, which is intended to reduce certification burdens for new and legacy recreational aircraft while enhancing safety with new technology. Knapinski said the Department of Transportation will release its spring rulemaking plans in a few weeks and that should give an official timeline for the MOSAIC rule. Curt Lewis