Safety concerns over soft tarmac spots at Suvarnabhumi airport by IATA.
In a report focussing on airport infrastructure in Thailand, IATA has highlighted an urgent need to address soft tarmac spots at Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK).
Temporary remedial repairs have been carried out on the runway tarmac, but reported incidents are steadily increasing, and IATA has urged Airports of Thailand (AoT) to urgently commit to a permanent solution.
Soft tarmac issues that result in runway closures and disruption have significant knock-on effects
IATA’s overwhelming concern regards safety, but soft tarmac issues that result in runway closures and disruption have significant knock-on effects.
These include:
• Delays resulting in missed onward connections, lost or delayed luggage
• Costs as a result of passenger re-routing due to missed connecting flights, hotel costs, and passenger compensation
• Gate changes caused by capacity constraints and repairs, resulting in passenger complaints and missed onward connections
• Fuel costs and delays caused by imposed holding patterns, and taxiing congestion as a result of capacity issue
• Impairing slot management and takeoff efficiencies
IATA also revealed its support for the approval of terminal expansion plans at BKK. With passenger numbers already surpassing the terminal design capacity of 45 million per year—and demand growing by 10% annually—expansion is vital if the airport is to meet demand.
The development of U-Tapao (Pattaya) as a third Bangkok airport would be an error
Another Bangkok airport, Don Mueng (DMK), meanwhile, experienced demand growth of 21.34% in 2016, driven by a surge in low-cost carrier passengers.
Although recognizing the pressure the Thai Government is under to meet demand, IATA believes the development of U-Tapao (Pattaya) as a third Bangkok airport would be an error. IATA instead believes the focus should be on maximizing throughput and efficiently using the facilities at BKK and DMK.
Thai Airways International has grounded part of its Boeing 787-8 fleet owing to turbine replacement issues with the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine.
The carrier says it is working with Rolls-Royce on the issue, which it expects to be sorted out by September.
“Due to the shortage of Boeing 787 Dreamliner engine spare parts, it is necessary that some aircraft of this type must be parked and temporarily cannot be operated, which is a problem that affects Thai and other airlines worldwide whose 787 aircraft are equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines that have turbine blade problems,” says Thai’s acting president, Usanee Sangsingkoo, in a statement.
She adds: “As this problem may affect flight safety, Thai has removed these engines from its aircraft and sent them for repair at the Rolls-Royce technical maintenance center in Singapore earlier this year.”
The Star Alliance carrier has also conducted negotiations with R-R to obtain compensation expenses accruing from the issue.
When contacted by FlightGlobal, R-R said it is working to resolve Trent 1000 issues.
“This is the continuation of work which started last year to upgrade Trent 1000 engines to the latest standard,” says R-R.
“We have a clear service management plan in place with all operators to undertake this work and minimise disruption. The current disruption that we are causing to the Thai fleet is clearly of great concern to us. The Thai and Rolls-Royce teams are working together to minimise this impact and restore full flight operations as soon as possible.”
In September 2016, R-R said it would replace turbine blades in the intermediate-pressure turbine of the global Trent 1000 fleet. The engine-maker said that the existing design was “failing to meet its expected lifespan”, and that it would roll out a global fix.
Media reports from Thailand say that four of Thai’s six 787-8s are grounded. One story shows the image of a parked 787-8 with an empty engine cowling.
Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that the average age of Thai’s 787s is 2.6 years. Thai also has two 787-9s on order, which are to be delivered in September and December.
Sangsingkeo adds that it is using other types on 787-8 routes to ensure passenger service is not affected. FlightMaps Analytics shows that Thai’s 787s operate short and middle-haul routes. Key destinations include Brisbane, Perth, Delhi, Beijing, and Phuket.
Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that there are 213 in-service 787s globally that are powered with Trent 1000s. Of these, 101 are with operators in the Asia-Pacific.
Globally, major users of Trent 1000 powered 787s include All NipponAirways with 59 aircraft, British Airways (24), and LATAM (23).
Lone-wolf radio hoaxer hacks Melbourne air traffic control
Federal police are hunting a lone-wolf radio hoaxer who made 15 illegal transmissions to air-traffic controllers and domestic passenger pilots last month – including one telling a Virgin pilot to abort a landing.
The agencies investigating the incidents believe only one person has made the transmissions by finding a way to tap into the air traffic control frequency and communicate directly with planes and control towers.
AFP hunt for Melbourne air traffic control hoaxer
The Australian Federal Police are investigating a series of hoax calls to air traffic controllers and domestic pilots. Vision courtesy ABC News Melbourne.
Flight data shows the plane came close to the runway at 5.19pm as it approached Tullamarine Airport. Then three minutes later the plane climbed to 3800 feet and started circling over north-west Melbourne – all under orders from the hoax air-traffic controller.
John Lyons, president of Virgin Independent Pilots Australia, said rogue radio transmissions were “a concern” because pilots must obey instructions from air traffic controllers but may not be able to verify who is or isn’t a legitimate controller.A radio hoaxer told a Virgin pilot to abort a landing. Photo: Tian Law
Later that evening, the hoax caller impersonated the pilot of a light aircraft. He issued a mayday call and pretended to be experiencing engine trouble. The ABC have posted audio where air traffic control personnel are trying to assess the mayday call. An air traffic controller then communicates with the light aircraft which the unauthorised individual is pretending to pilot.
“I can see you there now. Roger your mayday. Could you please advise what your situation is,” the air traffic control operator asks.
“Engine failure,” the hoax caller replies. “Descending passing through 4500.”
Mr Lyons said rudimentary amateur VHF radio equipment could be used in such a hoax.
Avalon Airport. Photo: James Davies
“It’s not hard for someone to obtain,” he said. “There’s a lot of people that spend a lot of time observing aircraft at airports, and many of them have radios that monitor frequencies. But most of them just listen.
“In a worst case scenario, an aircraft will be told to go around, but there’s an aircraft on a runway crossing that runway.”
Mr Lyons said rogue transmissions also pose a risk because if someone pretends to be a pilot issuing a distress call, that call gets top priority from traffic controllers.
The union boss, who was a pilot for 48 years, said rogue broadcasters would have to be close to a plane in order to tell it to turn around.
“Normally VHF would require them to be in line of site of the aircraft,” he said.
Mr Lyons said the investigating agencies were doing everything they could to eliminate safety risks.
The Australian Federal police are yet to make any arrests in relation to the incidents. Also investigating are the Australian Communications and Media Authority and Airservices Australia – a government-owned ‘air navigation’ company.
None of the three agencies would comment further last night. Sources said this was for fear of copycat amateur radio operators trying to do the same thing.
However, Fairfax Media understands it is relatively easy to track rogue radio transmissions – but only when the signal is live. It is not known if authorities made attempts to track the rogue transmitter while he was making fake broadcasts.
Police warn the offender could face 20 years in jail. The incidents happened to controllers and pilots at or near Tullamarine and Avalon airports.
The AFP’s head of Crime Operations, acting Assistant Commissioner Chris Sheehan, said today the public could be assured there was no risk to safety.
However the ABC reported on Monday night that a Virgin Australia passenger flight from the Gold Coast to Melbourne aborted its landing only 80 metres from the tarmac on October 27. According to the ABC the incident happened around 5:00pm on October 27. The aircraft changed its altitude and course under the instruction of the unauthorised person transmitting from an unknown location.
“These incidents are being thoroughly investigated by the AFP, with technical support from the ACMA,” says Assistant Commissioner Chris Sheehan.”The airlines have been briefed to ensure the advice has been passed on to their pilots and to ensure appropriate measures are in place.”
Aircraft do not use encrypted frequencies like police because air traffic control need to respond quickly to incidents and have planes coming in from interstate as well as overseas. To move all aircraft in Australia to an encrypted system would be very costly.
At Leeds-Bradford airport in Britain in 2010, investigators from the airport’s anti-terrorism Project Griffin probed two incidents of hoaxers – or ‘pirates’ – trying to communicate with planes which were landing or taking off.
All airlines have individual call signs and all air traffic controllers use special VHF frequencies – but all this information is freely available online.
According to Australia’s Aviation Transport Act, interfering with aircraft navigation facilities or “putting the safety of an aircraft at risk by communicating false information” are in the same class of offence as taking control of an aircraft, damaging an aircraft or planting a dangerous item onboard.
SINGAPORE: Low-cost carrier Scoot is investigating after sparks were seen coming from the engine of one of its planes on Saturday (Nov 26).
A user on social network Sina Weibo uploaded a video of the incident on Saturday evening and said that a friend, who was on board flight TZ001 travelling from Sydney to Singapore, had sent him the footage. He said a loud bang was heard about 30 to 40 minutes before the plane landed and the engine on the right side of the plane started emitting sparks.
The video, which has been shared about 780 times as of Monday night, has also been reposted on YouTube.
In a statement on Monday evening, Scoot said the plane, which was carrying 338 passengers, encountered “an incident during the descent into Singapore which necessitated a shut-down of the right engine”.
“Our flight crew exercised due diligence and immediately contacted Singapore’s Air Traffic Control while requesting for fire services to be on standby on landing. The aircraft landed as scheduled without incident and fire services subsequently confirmed that there was no engine fire,” a spokesperson for the airline said, adding that the cause of the incident is under investigation.
“Safety is of utmost importance to Scoot and we will spare no effort to ensure the well-being of our guests,” Scoot added.
JIT: Flight MH17 was shot down by a BUK missile from a farmland near Pervomaiskyi
The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) is convinced of having obtained irrefutable evidence to establish that on 17 July 2014, flight MH-17 was shot down by a BUK missile from the 9M38-series. According to the JIT there is also evidence identifying the launch location that involves an agricultural field near Pervomaiskyi which, at the time, was controlled by pro-Russian fighters. This was announced today by the JIT during a presentation for the relatives of the victims. Members of the JIT, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine, are working together on the criminal investigation into the crash of flight MH17.
On 28 September 2016, the interim results of the criminal investigation which included the findings regarding the weapon and launch location were presented. The investigation into those responsible for the crash will take more time.
Nederland – The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) is convinced of having obtained irrefutable evidence to establish that on 17 July 2014, flight MH-17 was shot down by a BUK missile from the 9M38-series. According to the JIT there is also evidence identifying the launch location that involves an agricultural field near Pervomaiskyi which, at the time, was controlled by pro-Russian fighters. This was announced today by the JIT during a presentation for the relatives of the victims. Members of the JIT, Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine, are working together on the criminal investigation into the crash of flight MH17.
Today, the interim results of the criminal investigation which included the findings regarding the weapon and launch location were presented. The investigation into those responsible for the crash will take more time.
Scenarios
All forensic examinations, witness statements, telecom information, satellite images, radar data, findings by experts and other supporting evidence point to an attack by a ground based air defence system. In addition, the JIT has also investigated other alternative scenarios.
Of these alternative scenarios, an accident and evidence for a terrorist attack from inside the aircraft have been ruled out. Results from the forensic investigation support the scenario of an attack from outside the aircraft. The scenario that flight MH17 was shot down by a military aircraft was explored and discounted on the basis of radar data, witness testimonies and forensic research. The JIT has obtained sufficient radar data, both from Russia and Ukraine, which – when viewed in conjunction – provide a full picture of the airspace over eastern Ukraine. This shows that at the time of the crash, no other airplanes were in the vicinity that could have shot down flight MH17.
The Russian Federation mentioned last week that they have found ‘new’ primary radar images. Based on those images the Russian Federation concludes also that there was no second airplane that could have shot down MH17.
Weapon
The investigation demonstrated that flight MH17 was shot down by a 9M38 series BUK missile. Investigators have compared parts of the alleged weapon which were found at the crash site with reference material. This involved the dismantling of various types of BUK missiles from the 9M38 series and comparing this reference material with the metal parts recovered from the crash site.
The investigation team had to establish a link between the parts found and the downing of flight MH17. It had to be proven that the parts had not been in the area prior to the crash, and that they had not been placed there by third parties after the crash. The crash site was not fenced off for the purpose of forensic examination. It was clear that persons other than the investigators had access to the crash site.
Two examples of the link were presented:
During the autopsy of the bodies of the cockpit crew, several fragments were found that belonged to the warhead of a 9M38 series BUK missile. One of these fragments found showed traces of cockpit glass on the surface, which was the same unique type of glass that is used for the a Boeing 777. It was determined that the fragment pierced the aircraft from the outside through the cockpit window.
In the frame of one of the cockpit windows a metal piece was found which was identified as a part of a 9M38 series BUK missile. This piece was located in a twisted position in the frame, making it clear that it was shot into the window frame with great force.
The JIT has been able to identify a large part of the route concerning the arrival and the departure of the BUK-TELAR. This was the result of intercepted telephone conversations, witness statements, photographs and videos that had been posted on social media, and a video never shown before which was obtained from a witness. The system was transported from Russian territory into eastern Ukraine and was later transported on a white Volvo truck with a low-boy trailer. The truck was escorted by several other vehicles and by armed men in uniform.
Launch site
The final destination of the BUK-system was on farmland near Pervomaiskyi. Evidence that supports this includes multiple witnesses who saw and photographed the condensation trail of the BUK missile and its movement through the air. Other witnesses were able to link the trail to the BUK-TELAR which they had seen earlier on 17 July 2014.
Witnesses were interviewed who had seen a plume of smoke, the BUK-TELAR at the launch site in Pervomaiskyi, and the missile right after it had been launched.
Journalists have spoken to witnesses who had seen the launch of the missile at a very short distance from the launch location. These witnesses testified that they heard a very loud noise and a high whistling sound.
After the BUK missile had been fired, the BUK-TELAR initially drove off under its own power. A short time later it was reloaded onto the Volvo truck and transported back to the Russian border. During the night, the convoy crossed the border into the territory of the Russian Federation.
Now that we have established what happened, the investigation now focuses on the perpetrators. This will be a matter for the long haul. So far, the JIT has identified approximately 100 people who can be linked to the downing of MH17 or the transport of the BUK-TELAR. The JIT has been investigating these people through various sources, such as intercepted telephone conversations and witness statements.
In addition, an investigation is conducted into the chain of command. Who gave the order to bring the BUK-TELAR into Ukraine and who gave the order to shoot down flight MH17? Did the crew decide for themselves or did they execute a command from their superiors? This is important when determining the offences committed by the alleged perpetrators.
The JIT wishes to emphasise that it continues to seek additional information and evidence, including information from insider witnesses. Ukrainian law provides for lower sentences, and in certain circumstances relief from criminal liability, for those who cooperate with the investigation.
Intercepted telephone conversations
Furthermore, the website www.jitmh17.com now includes a number of intercepted telephone conversations. The JIT is now asking for information about certain people who participated in these conversations. People who can identify these voices are requested to report this to the JIT.
The JIT will be actively involved in the investigation in the coming period and for that reason the JIT agreement was extended yesterday, until 1 January 2018.
On Oct 21st 2015, a Royal Brunei Airlines Boeing 787-800, registration V8-DLB performing flight BI-684 from Manila (Philippines) to Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei) with 152 passengers, was climbing out of Manila when the crew stopped the climb at FL280 reported the left hand engine (Trent 1000) had failed and was shut down. The aircraft returned to Manila for a safe landing on runway 24 about 50 minutes after departure.
The flight was cancelled.
The airline confirmed the Dreamliner’s crew received abnormal indications for one engine prompting the captain to turn back to Manila for technical checks. A number of passengers have already been rerouted onto other flights, the remaining passengers were taken to hotels.
Philippines’ Civil Aviation Authority reported the crew informed air traffic control the left hand engine had failed and declared emergency.
On Oct 28th 2015 the airline reported that while preparing the change of the left hand engine a boroscopic inspection of both engines confirmed, that BOTH engines had sustained similiar damage.
The airline wrote: “Rolls Royce has conducted a detailed boroscope inspection of both engines as part of preparations to replace the affected engine, with a spare which has already been transported to MNL from BWN. However, in recent hours information has been conveyed to the airline by Rolls Royce that the second on wing engine on this aircraft has itself being the subject of similar damage. The boroscope inspection has now revealed evidence of damage to a number of blades on both engines, for reasons which are as yet unknown. At this point, there is no evidence that an external event such as a bird strike has caused this damage to both engines. Efforts to establish the cause of the damage by Rolls Royce are continuing, fully supported by the RB Engineering team.”
The airline continued that as result of this finding all Dreamliners in their fleet are to undergo boroscopic inspections now, too, causing “very severe” disruptions of flight schedule in the coming days.
When the oxygen masks fall. The moment the oxygen masks fall, you’ll have about 15 minutes worth of oxygen. This is easily more than enough of time for the pilot to lower the airplane to a lower altitude where you can breathe easily.
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A radio hoaxer told a Virgin pilot to abort a landing. Photo: Tian Law
