Commercial Space Flight Reaches New Heights

March 5 – March 4, 2010 marked a significant milestone in Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) efforts overseeing the safety of the nation’s commercial space transportation industry with the 201st FAA licensed commercial rocket launch. The vehicle carried into orbit an environmental satellite to improve weather forecasting and help monitor environmental events. FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation safety inspectors were present to monitor operations of the Delta IV booster.

Beginning in the late 1980s, all of FAA’s licensed launches have been completed without any fatalities, serious injuries, or significant property damage to the uninvolved public. This spotless record, spanning over two decades, underscores the total commitment to safe operations throughout the FAA’s full range of activities.

“With, the retirement this year of NASA’s Space Shuttle, the nation will now look to the commercial space industry to take on added responsibilities, including commercial human space flights and replenishing equipment and technologies at the International Space Station,” said FAA Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation George Nield. “Americans can feel confident that FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation will be on the job monitoring and overseeing the safety of these new and exciting activities,” he added.

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    Boeing PR: NewGen Tanker Win Would Bring 230 Jobs, $10 Million to Oklahoma

    OKLAHOMA CITY, Nov. 12, 2010 — The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today announced that Oklahoma will benefit from an estimated 230 total jobs and generate an estimated $10 million in annual economic impact if the NewGen Tanker is selected as the U.S. Air Force’s next aerial refueling aircraft.

    Boeing submitted its proposal July 9 to replace 179 of the Air Force’s 400 Eisenhower-era KC-135 aircraft. The Air Force is expected to award a contract in the next few months.

    "We welcome the high-paying, skilled jobs that the Boeing tanker project will support," said Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry. "Oklahomans will be very proud to contribute to the mission of our country’s brave military men and women, who need just the kind of state-of-the-art, American-made tanker that Boeing has proposed."

    "Oklahoma’s aerospace workers will play an integral role on Boeing’s tanker team," said Mark DeVoss, Supplier Management director, Boeing Tanker Programs. "Along with the rest of the United States Tanker Team, our suppliers in Oklahoma will be focused on building a NewGen Tanker that best meets America’s military needs at the greatest value to American taxpayers."

    Oklahoma manufacturers ready to produce critical components on the NewGen Tanker include:

    • Boeing, Oklahoma City
    • Cinch Connectors, Vinita
    • Limco Manufacturing, Tulsa
    • Precise Machining & Manufacturing, Tulsa.

    Currently, Boeing has 964 employees in Oklahoma and works with nearly 247 suppliers/vendors, delivering a total $531 million in annual economic impact.

    The NewGen Tanker is a widebody, multi-mission aircraft based on the proven Boeing 767 commercial airplane and updated with the latest and most advanced technology. Capable of fulfilling the Air Force’s needs for transport of fuel, cargo, passengers and patients, the combat-ready NewGen Tanker will meet or exceed the 372 mandatory requirements described in the service’s final KC-X Request for Proposal released Feb. 24.

    The NewGen Tanker will be made with a low-risk approach to manufacturing that relies on existing Boeing facilities in Washington state and Kansas as well as U.S. suppliers throughout the nation, with decades of experience delivering dependable military tanker and derivative aircraft. Nationwide, the NewGen Tanker program will support approximately 50,000 total U.S. jobs with Boeing and more than 800 suppliers in more than 40 states.

    The Boeing NewGen Tanker also will be more cost-effective to own and operate than a larger, heavier tanker. It will save American taxpayers more than $10 billion in fuel costs over its 40-year service life because it burns 24 percent less fuel than the competitor’s airplane.

    Boeing has been designing, building, modifying and supporting tankers for decades. These include the KC-135 that will be replaced in the KC-X competition, and the KC-10 fleet. The company also has delivered four KC-767Js to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force and is on contract to deliver four KC-767As to the Italian Air Force.

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    Lufthansa and UFO union agree pay settlement for around 16,000 flight attendants

    Successful arbitration under Heide Simonis / Agreement on 22-month pay freeze and significant improvements in working conditions

    Deutsche Lufthansa AG and the independent UFO flight attendants’ trade union have reached agreement at their protracted pay talks. Both sides today accepted a mediated settlement put forward by former Schleswig-Holstein Premier Heide Simonis, ending months of negotiations stretching back to March 2010. Under the terms of the arbitration settlement, the pay accord for some 16,000 Lufthansa flight attendants is to be extended and the collective wage agreement re-defined.

    At the talks on remuneration, the two sides agreed on a pay freeze. The existing pay settlement is to be re-concluded unchanged for a period of 22-months, lasting up to 31 December 2011. The new collective bargaining agreement is to last up to 28 February 2014. It envisages further improvements in working conditions: Among others, it reduces changes to duty rosters, giving cabin crews greater planning security, as well as defining and extending rest and break periods. Furthermore, in compensation for the staggered implementation of improved working conditions, cabin crews are to receive a structural, compensatory payment amounting to 1,000 euros in March.

    On conclusion of the pay accord, Member of the Lufthansa German Airlines Board Finance & Human Resources, Dr. Roland Busch, said a fair compromise has been reached after long and difficult negotiations. It takes account of the need of flight attendants for planning stability and the special pressures they encounter in air traffic as well as the Company’s need for flexible and cost-efficient operations. “With this pay settlement, we are investing in significantly better working conditions for cabin crews. That was highly important to our staff, which is why we have made material concessions where their need for change was greatest. Now is the time to look ahead and face the challenges from competition in the industry together,“ Dr. Busch emphasised

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    Boeing Statement on Proposed Agreement Regarding Santa Susana Cleanup

    SIMI VALLEY, CALIF., Sept. 3, 2010 – In response to today’s announcement of an agreement in principle between the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, the U.S. Department of Energy and NASA regarding the potential cleanup of Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California, Boeing issued the following statement:
    “We are reviewing the framework of the proposed agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy, NASA and the State of California. While we don’t have specific details about the proposed agreement, we are hopeful that it moves the cleanup forward while preserving the biological, historical and cultural resources at Santa Susana.

    “Boeing remains committed to a cleanup that fully protects human health and the environment and preserves Santa Susana as open space for future generations. We remain open to continued dialogue with the State and will continue our environmental investigations, interim soil and groundwater cleanups and storm water quality improvements.”

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    NTSB PRESS RELEASE: NTSB CITES LACK OF BIRD STRIKE RESISTANT WINDSHIELD REQUIREMENTS IN FATAL CRASH OF HELICOPTER IN LOUISIANA

    National Transportation Safety Board
    Washington, DC 20594

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 24, 2010
    SB-10-45

    The National Transportation Safety Board today released a
    final report on a fatal crash involving a transport-category
    helicopter caused by a bird strike. The Board said the lack
    of requirements for bird strike-resistant windshields
    contributed to the crash, and called on the FAA to develop
    such requirements.

    On January 4, 2009, a dual-engine Sikorsky S-76C++
    helicopter (N748P), registered to and operated by PHI, Inc.,
    crashed into marshy terrain near Morgan City, Louisiana
    approximately 7 minutes after takeoff from Amelie,
    Louisiana, on a charter flight to an oil rig in the Gulf of
    Mexico. Both pilots and 6 of the 7 passengers were killed
    in the crash.

    The aircraft had reached level cruise flight at 850 feet
    mean sea level and 135 knots when the cockpit voice recorder
    recorded a loud bang, followed by sounds consistent with
    rushing wind and a power reduction on both engines. The
    aircraft crashed several seconds later. Feathers and other
    bird debris were collected from the canopy and windshield of
    the aircraft. Laboratory analysis identified the remains as
    coming from a female red-tailed hawk; the average weight of
    such a bird is 2.4 pounds.

    The investigation revealed that the impact of the bird on
    the canopy just above the windshield near the engine control
    quadrant likely jarred the fire extinguisher T-handles out
    of their detents and moved them aft, pushing both engine
    control levers into or near the flight idle position,
    reducing fuel to both engines. The pilots were probably
    disoriented from the broken windshield and rushing air and
    were unable to react in time to maintain control of the
    helicopter.

    The helicopter was originally equipped with laminated glass
    windshields that complied with European bird-strike
    resistance standards. PHI replaced the windshields with
    lighter-weight, aftermarket cast acrylic windshields that
    did not have any bird-strike resistance standards.

    The NTSB determined that the helicopter crashed because of
    the sudden loss of power to both engines following the bird
    strike and the subsequent disorientation of the crewmembers.
    Contributing to the accident, the Board said, were the lack
    of FAA regulations and guidance requiring helicopter
    windshields to be resistant to bird strikes, the lack of
    protections that would prevent the T-handles from
    inadvertently dislodging out of their detents, and the lack
    of a master warning light and audible system to alert the
    flight crew of a low-rotor speed condition.

    Recommendations were issued to the FAA dealing with, among
    other things, the design of S-76C++ fire extinguisher T-
    handles and engine control quadrants, and similar designs of
    other helicopters, and of audible low-rotor alarm systems;
    certification standards for helicopter windshields; and
    simultaneous dual-engine power loss training for helicopter
    pilots.

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    eptember 2010 Passenger Airline Employment Down 0.6 Percent from September 2009

    Tuesday, November 16, 2010 – U.S. scheduled passenger airlines employed 0.6 percent fewer workers in September 2010 than in September 2009, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today. This is the 27th consecutive decrease in full-time equivalent employee (FTE) levels for the scheduled passenger carriers from the same month of the previous year (Tables 1, 2). FTE calculations count two part-time employees as one full-time employee.

    BTS, a part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration, reported that the September FTE total of 377,676 for the scheduled passenger carriers was 2,248 below that of September 2009 (Table 3). Historic employment data can be found on the BTS web site.

    Five network airlines – American Airlines, US Airways, Alaska Airlines, Continental Airlines and United Airlines – decreased employment from September 2009 to September 2010. The sixth network carrier, Delta Air Lines, after completing its merger with Northwest Airlines, is reporting combined employment numbers in 2010 and reported 8.4 percent more FTEs in September 2010 than the combined totals of both carriers for September 2009 (Table 9). Network airlines operate a significant portion of their flights using at least one hub where connections are made for flights to down-line destinations or spoke cities.

    All seven low-cost carriers reported more FTEs in September 2010 than in September 2009. They are Spirit Airlines; Frontier Airlines; Virgin America Airlines; Allegiant Air; JetBlue Airways; AirTran Airways; and Southwest Airlines (Table 12). Regional carriers Atlantic Southeast, Comair, Horizon Air, Mesa Airlines, Mesaba Airlines, Shuttle America Airlines, and Lynx Airlines reported reduced employment levels compared to last year (Table 15).

    Scheduled passenger airline categories include network, low-cost, regional and other airlines.

    The six network airlines employed 377,676 FTEs in September, 67.7 percent of the passenger airline total, while seven low-cost carriers employed 17.0 percent and 18 regional carriers employed 13.9 percent (Table 4).

    Delta employed the most FTEs in September among the network airlines, Southwest employed the most FTEs among low-cost airlines, and American Eagle Airlines employed the most FTEs among regional airlines. Six of the top 10 employers in the industry are network airlines (Table 6).

    Beginning with October 2007 data, US Airways’ numbers are combined with numbers for America West Airlines in the network category. For previous months, America West’s numbers were included with the low-cost airlines.

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    PR: FAA Proposal of $206,550 Penalty Against Martinaire Aviation

    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is proposing a $206,550 civil penalty against Martinaire Aviation, of Addison, Texas, for violating U.S. Department of Transportation Hazardous Materials Regulations.

    The FAA conducted a comprehensive hazardous materials inspection at the company’s headquarters on July 8, 2011. As a result of that inspection, the FAA alleges the airline routinely failed to complete documents properly and comply with the requirements for notifying pilots in command about hazardous materials transported as cargo.

    The allegations involve 17 shipments of hazardous materials Martinaire accepted for transportation by air on 12 flights between April 1 and June 22, 2011. Martinaire is a scheduled air cargo and cargo charter company. The flights operated between various cities across the country.

    Martinaire has 30 days from the receipt of the FAA’s enforcement letter to respond to the Agency.

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