FAA orders Airbus A380 engine inspections. U.S. air-safety regulators have issued an emergency order requiring airlines to inspect engines on roughly 120 Airbus A380 superjumbo jets world-wide, prompted by an engine that violently broke apart during an Air France flight at the end of September.

The safety directive issued Thursday by the Federal Aviation Administration covers all engines manufactured for Airbus SE A380s by a joint venture comprising General Electric Co. and United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney unit. The partnership supplies engines for roughly 60 percent of the global A380 fleet, with Emirates Airline operating the majority of the affected four-engine, double-decker aircraft.

The move by the FAA, which certified the engine as did European regulators 10 years ago, requires inspections to start as quickly as two weeks, depending on the number of trips they have flown. The directive follows a nonbinding service bulletin issued by the engine alliance.

The FAA wants operators to inspect front fan hubs — disks that hold rotating blades — for possible defects or damage. The manufacturer said the checks take roughly two hours and can be done without removing engines from aircraft.

Responding to questions for the alliance, a General Electric spokesman said in an email that the inspections are precautionary and “a root cause has not been established.” The rest of the GP7200 engine fleet “powers the A380 around the clock,” according to the statement, and “we aren’t aware of any issues” that would threaten flight safety.

http://www.marketwatch.com/

Ground collision between two Airbus A320 at Juarez, Mexico. October 10th – two Viva Aerobus Airbus A320 aircraft were involved in a ground contact incident in the hours of darkness. 

The right-hand wing-tip sharklet of XA-VAK collided with the left-hand horizontal stabilizer of XA-VAV. 

https://aviation-safety.net/

Ryanair Flight Escorted by RAF Typhoons to Stansted Airport A Royal Air Force fighter jet escorted a Ryanair plane to Stansted Airport, north of London, on Wednesday after the flight from Lithuania was diverted because of a security threat, the airline and the authorities said.

The police said that the plane, which originated in Kaunas, Lithuania, had landed safely around 8:55 a.m., and that passengers had been escorted off the flight. Ryanair later said a “suspected hoax security alert” had been flagged by the Lithuanian authorities.

Flights were briefly halted, the airport said, but were now “arriving and departing as normal.”

It was not immediately clear why the jet had required a military escort. Loud noises were reported in the Suffolk area of England, but the police said the sounds had come from a military plane.

“We can now confirm that the loud bangs heard across Suffolk this morning was a sonic boom produced by military aircraft,” the police wrote on Twitter.

Since the 1970s, Stansted Airport has been the designated facility for receiving flights after security alerts, according to a police press officer.

London has been on high alert after a string of terrorist attacks. Most recently, in September, 29 people were injured by a bomb on a subway train at the Parsons Green station during the morning rush hour.

The attack prompted the British authorities to temporarily raise the terrorism threat to the highest possible level, and the police have asked the public to report any suspicious activity.

https://www.nytimes.com/

Hong Runway incursion incident at Hong Kong; A330 aborts takeoff when B747 crosses active runway Kong Airlines HX236, an Airbus A330-343, aborted the takeoff roll at Hong Kong-Chek Lap Kok International Airport in a runway incursion incident involving a Boeing 747. 

A Boeing 747-400F, registered OM-ACB and operated by Air Cargo Global as flight CCC831, landed on runway 07L at Chek Lap Kok Airport following a flight from Turkmenbashi. The aircraft taxied to the cargo apron on the south of the airfield. This necessitated crossing runway 07R, which was being used for departures. 
Flight HX236 was cleared for takeoff by the Tower controller and at 08:54, the aircraft began rolling for takeoff. At the same time, flight CCC831 crossed the active runway at taxiway J6, which is located 1700 m from the threshold of runway 07R. The aircraft had been instructed by the Ground Controller to taxi to their parking position C12 via taxiways K4 and L2. There was no explicit clearance to cross the runway. 
The flight crew of the Airbus A330 aborted their takeoff roll and left the runway via J6. The aircraft subsequently took off uneventfully. 

Weather about the time of the incident (08:54 LT / 00:55Z) 
>> VHHH 220100Z 09005KT 9999 FEW010 SCT028 27/25 Q1011 NOSIG 
VHHH 220030Z 06005KT 9999 -SHRA FEW005 SCT028 26/25 Q1011 TEMPO 4000 SHRA

https://aviation-safety.net/

Runway excursion, Cessna 650 Citation VII at Istanbul-Atatürk. September 21st 2017. A Cessna 650 Citation VII corporate jet was destroyed in an accident and post-impact fire during an attempted on landing at Istanbul-Atatürk International Airport in Turkey.

The aircraft departed Atatürk Airport about 21:05 local time, with destination Ercan. Shortly after takeoff a situation developed which forced the flight to return to the departure airport. The aircraft suffered a runway excursion while attempting to land on runway 35L. It crossed a concrete ditch and a post impact fire erupted. The two pilots, hostess and sole passenger survived the accident.

https://aviation-safety.net/

Accident: China Eastern B738 at Wenzhou on Sep 4th 2017, tail strike on landing. A China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800, registration B-7031 performing flight MU-2655 from Chengdu to Wenzhou (China), struck its tail onto the runway while landing in Wenzhou at about 17:34L (09:34Z). There are no reports of injuries, the aircraft sustained substantial damage however.

No weather data are available for Wenzhou.

Wenzhou features a concrete runway 03/21 of 3200 meters/10500 feet length.

The concrete blasted the tail of the aircraft.

http://avherald.com/

EASA issues Emergency Airworthiness Directive for A359s due to possible fuel/air ignition in fuel tanks. On Aug 24th 2017 The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) released Emergency Aiworthiness Directive (EAD) 2017-0154-E for all Airbus A350-941 aircraft stating:

In the A350 design, the hydraulic fluid cooling system is located in the fuel tanks. Recently, an overheat failure mode of the A350 hydraulic Engine Driven Pump (EDP) has been found. Such EDP failure may cause a fast temperature rise of the hydraulic fluid.

This condition, if not detected and corrected, combined with an inoperative Fuel Tank Inerting System (FTIS), could lead to an uncontrolled overheat of the hydraulic fluid, possibly resulting in ignition of the fuel-air mixture in the affected fuel tank.

Airbus have released an updated Master Minimum Equipment List “that incorporates restrictions to avoid an uncontrolled overheat of the hydraulic system”. Several items have changed to “NO GO”.

The new dispatch requirements and MEL requirements must be implemented on the next flight.

The EASA advises that this EAD is an interim measure, additional Airworthiness Directives may follow.

http://avherald.com/

Cabin Air Safety Act aimed at cleaning the air in the air. It’s not all that unusual these days to hear stories of “fume events” or incidents where unusual “odours in the cabin” have caused flights to be delayed, rerouted or to make emergency landings.

In January, 2017, seven flight attendants were taken to the hospital after a fume event on an American Airlines flight that landed in Orlando. According to news reports, that Airbus A330 had experienced two previous fume events before that.

Last week, a JetBlue plane on its way to Florida from California had to land instead in Oklahoma City due to an unknown odour that was coming from the cockpit. Ambulances met the plane and medics gave oxygen to some of the passengers who were having trouble breathing.

Stories like this grab headlines, but airline crew members have been worried about, reporting and complaining about a wide variety of health concerns – everything from light-headedness and dizziness to vomiting and memory impairment – related to contaminated air on airplanes for years.

There’s been some disagreement in the aviation community over whether or not toxic cabin air is a real problem.

A wide range of groups representing aviation workers, including the Allied Pilots Association, the International Union of Teamsters, Association of Flight Attendants-CWA and the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and others have come out in support of the Cabin Air Safety Act: legislation recently introduced (and amended to FAA reauthorization) to try to gain additional protection for crew members and airline passengers.

The proposed legislation was introduced by US Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA), and cites academic research suggesting that in the last decade alone there have been approximately 20,000 “toxic fume events” on aircraft involving air that enters the cabin through the jet engines and then becomes contaminated with engine oil, exhaust, fuel fumes, de-icing fluids or ozone before mixing with air entering the cabin.

The act calls for:

• Mandated pilot and flight attendant training regarding toxic fumes on aircraft;
• Rules requiring the FAA to record and monitor reports of fume events through a standardized form and public database;
• Assurance that thorough investigations will occur after fume events occur; and
• The introduction of carbon monoxide sensors on aircraft set to alarm based on national air quality standards.
“Most Americans go to work with the expectation of breathing clean air, but until we achieve better standards for cabin air quality, flight attendants don’t have this guarantee,” said AFA International President Sara Nelson in a statement. “Lawmakers need to act to prevent Flight Attendants, pilots or passengers from suffering the effects of breathing toxic fumes in the cabin.”

https://runwaygirlnetwork.com/

Serious incident: Wrong thrust setting, long takeoff of Boeing 747-8 at Tokyo-Narita, Japan. A serious incident of a Boeing 747-8F of Polar Air Cargo was revealed on 9th August 2017. In the night of 15th July, 2017, just 19 minutes before the curfew, flight PAC/PO213 to Shanghai Pudong International Airport was taking off from runway 16L (2500 m/8202 ft long) at Tokyo/Narita. 

The freighter became airborne just 85 m/279 ft from the departure end of the runway. However, the altitude should have been more than 10.7 m/35 ft at 326 m/1070 ft (15% length margin) from the departure end. No personal injuries were reported, and there were no further trouble for the rest of the flight.
 
A fence near the runway 16L departure end was damaged by the engine exhaust. A resident under the departure course reported household effects were blown away by the plane. 

Polar Air Cargo explained that this occurrence was due to an erroneous thrust setting at the takeoff. JTSB launched an investigation as a serious incident similarly to overrun accidents. 

http://aviation-safety.net/

B737 near tail strike on takeoff, stalls. A Royal Air Maroc B737 almost strikes tail and stalls on take off. Watch the video!
Courtesy of www.holykaw.alltop.com/