FlyDubai crash may have been caused by conflict between pilots

The FlyDubai Boeing 737-800 may have crashed at Rostov-on-Don airport because of a disagreement between the pilots when the aircraft was picking up altitude to make another go-around, reports Russian daily Kommersant, citing sources close to the investigation.

According to Russian business daily Kommersant, pilot error is emerging as the likeliest cause of the crash of a FlyDubai airliner in southern Russia on March 19.

Having deciphered the flight recorder of the crashed Boeing 737-800, Russian investigators have been able to recreate the last moments before the disaster.

While trying to land the aircraft at Rostov-on-Don airport in adverse weather, the crew had to abort the first landing attempt to try and make another go-around.

Kommersant reports that because of a strong and constantly changing wind, the Boeing's autothrottle, which ensures an aircraft's descent or ascent in autopilot mode, did not function properly. The captain took the decision to switch off autopilot and steer the aircraft himself.

According to the flight recorder data, six kilometers from the runway at an altitude of 270 meters, one of the pilots pressed the TOGA (“Take-off/Go around”) button, which aborts a landing attempt and sends the aircraft on another circuit.

Autopilot off

Then one of the members of the crew switched off the autopilot and took control of the aircraft. That meant that the pilots had to set the aircraft’s angle of pitch themselves on the basis of the readings on the control panel.

Investigators believe that the crew made a mistake when switching between the landing and ascent modes.

Kommersant points out that the aircraft was in a complex configuration during its descent in the autopilot mode. Its elevator was set to nose-down, while the fin was working in the opposite direction, tipping the nose of the aircraft up.

When an aircraft makes another go-around in autopilot mode, the system simultaneously changes the position of all the tillers. However, the autopilot was switched off and one of the pilots pulled the steering column towards him.

Disagreement in the cockpit

As a result, the Boeing headed upwards. When the aircraft reached a critical angle, the speed began to drop and a disagreement between the pilots erupted. 

Kommersant says that the pilot who was at the controls at the time revved the engines as the aircraft was ascending, while the co-pilot began to tip the nose of the aircraft down. The other pilot began shouting: "Stop. Where? Stop! Stop!" At the same time, he was trying to push the tiller away to stop the ascent.

Experts explain that the conflicting actions at the two tillers resulted in a "break-up" in command and sent the Boeing into a nosedive.

The pilots managed to coordinate their actions only as the aircraft was coming down at a speed of 325 kph at an angle of about 45 degrees.

However, by then it was too late and the last sounds on the recording are the pilots’ shrieks of horror as the aircraft plunges to the ground. 

Identity of speakers unclear

According to Kommersant, investigators have not yet been able to establish which of the pilots made the fateful mistake: The intonation and timbre of their voices on the recording blend together.

Law-enforcement agencies are planning to seek the help of the pilots' families in order to help them identify the speakers.

Debris Found Off Mozambique Likely From 777, Says Official

Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai has effectively confirmed reports that a piece of debris that washed ashore in Mozambique this week likely belongs to a Boeing 777. “Based on early reports, [there is] a high possibility [that] debris found in Mozambique belongs to a B777,” he wrote on his Twitter feed Wednesday. After noting that the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation was working with Australian authorities to retrieve the debris, found on a sand bar just off the coast, he warned against speculation that the piece belongs to the still missing 777 used for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which went missing in 2014.

“I urged everyone to avoid undue speculation as we are not able to conclude that the debris belongs to MH370 at this time,” he said, in response to reports of the finding by NBC News.

Contacted by AIN for comment, Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Center “possibly from an aircraft,” has been found in Mozambique. “We are working with officials in Mozambique and Malaysia to investigate,” a media spokesman confirmed.

The discovery comes almost exactly two years after MH370 vanished after diverting from its intended flight path between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board.

Last July an environmental worker found a flaperon from the ill-fated Boeing’s 777 on a beach in the town of Saint Andre on Reunion Island, not far from the site of this latest discovery. The conclusion that the flaperon came from MH370 supports the contention, based on radar and satellite data, that MH370 “turned back” from its flight path over the South China Sea and crossed the Malaysian peninsula on a westerly course. The loss of the aircraft led the International Aviation Safety Organization to require that airlines track their aircraft at regular intervals using available technology.

Malaysia has officially declared the disappearance of MH370 an accident and leads the investigation of its cause. Boeing, France’s BEA aviation accident investigation authority, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and theU.S. National Transportation Safety Board. The investigation is due to be wrapped up in the middle of 2016 if no credible explanation for the 777's disappearance has been formulated by then.

Upgraded Il-76MD-M Airlifter Makes First Flight in Russia

Russian aircraft manufacturer Ilyushin conducted the first flight of an upgraded Il-76MD-M airlifter on February 28. Chief test pilot Nikolai Kuimov headed the design bureau’s crew for the flight, which was uneventful.

The Il-76MD-M is a mid-life upgrade of the four-engine Il-76MD airlifter. The flight-test aircraft, registered as RF-76746, was reworked at Ilyushin’s flight-test facility in Zhukovsky near Moscow. The design bureau plans to complete flight tests later this year and use RF-76746 as the prototype to upgrade 40 Il-76M/MDs now in service with the Russian air force.

Ilyushin is performing the work under contract to the Russian defense ministry. The latter also plans to fund a similar upgrade on a still undetermined number of Il-78M tankers.

The TAPO factory in Uzbekistan built nearly a thousand Il-76M/MDs and delivered the last airlifter in 1992. Forty will be upgraded to the MD-M standard over the next 12 years.

The MD-M upgrade targets the youngest part of the Il-76M/MD fleet—mainly those airframes with the longest remaining service life. The upgrade features a modern avionics suite, a new radio communications set and a self-protection system. The aircraft keeps its original Soloviev D-30KP2 engines. Its service life is extended by 10 years to 40 years.

Some of the MD-M onboard systems are replaced with systems developed for the new Il-76MD-90A transport, which is being produced by the Aviastar factory in Ulianovsk. As of late February, the Russian air force had accepted two of the 39 Il-76MD-90As it has ordered; a third was undergoing acceptance trials. Aviastar will deliver the -90A model through 2021.

Another Il-76MD upgrade solution that centered on replacing the D-30KP engines with Aviadvigatel PS-90A-76 turbofans has been scrapped due to cost. One aircraft, designated Il-76MD-90, underwent flight trials and later provided a testbed for the Il-76MD-90A project. “There will be no massive replacement of D-30KP engines by the newer PS-90A on in-service aircraft,” Ilyushin general designer Nikolai Talikov told AIN.

Construction Starts on A330 Completions Center in China

From left to right, Tianjin vice mayor Duan Chunhua, China’s National Development and Reform Commission vice chairman Lin Nianxiu, Airbus president and CEO Fabrice Brégier and AVIC chairman Lin Zuoming pose in front of a rendering of the new A330 completion and delivery center in Tianjin, China. (Photo: Airbus)

Crews have begun construction on the new Airbus A330 completion and delivery center (C&DC) in Tianjin, China. Scheduled for opening in 2017, the facility will become Airbus’s first widebody completion center outside of Europe. The site of the A330 C&DC sits adjacent to the Airbus Tianjin A320 family final assembly line (FAL) and the Airbus Tianjin Delivery Center.

“The ground breaking ceremony for the A330 C&DC in Tianjin marks a new milestone for Airbus’ international footprint and underlines the strong cooperation with our Chinese partners,” said Airbus president and CEOFabrice Brégier. “Airbus’ long-standing cooperation with China spans single aisle and now also widebody aircraft and we will continue to look for further opportunities in the future.”

Airbus, Tianjin Free Trade Zone (TJFTZ) and Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) signed a framework agreement in the summer of 2014 calling for the establishment of an A330 C&DC in Tianjin. Plans call for the facility to engage in cabin installation, aircraft painting and flight test, as well as aircraft delivery and customer flight acceptance. Airbus will assemble the A330s completed at the Tianjin center in Toulouse.

Airbus’s bullish forecast for growth in passenger air traffic in China supports its cooperation with Chinese partners, the European company asserts. Its forecast calls for 6.9 percent average annual growth for the domestic air traffic market in China over the next 20 years and 6.8 percent for the Chinese international market over the same period. According to Airbus, a positive long-term economic outlook, a growing middle class and expansion in outbound tourism rank as the top underlying factors in its China forecast. 

According to Airbus’ 2015-2034 global market forecast (GMF), new deliveries of passenger aircraft carrying more than 100 seats and freighters weighing more than 10 metric tons for China will total about 5,400, including 3,630 single aisle aircraft and 1,770 twin-aisle and very large aircraft such as the A380. The figure amounts to about 17 percent of the world total demand for some 32,600 new aircraft over the same period. Airbus places the total market value of the new aircraft bound for delivery to China over the period at $840 billion.

Today, more than 170 A330s operate in China and Airbus collected orders for some 75 last year alone. Another 1,000 A320s operate in China, where one of four assembly sites for the narrowbodies resides.

Debris Found Off Mozambique Likely From 777, Says Official

Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai has effectively confirmed reports that a piece of debris that washed ashore in Mozambique this week likely belongs to a Boeing 777. “Based on early reports, [there is] a high possibility [that] debris found in Mozambique belongs to a B777,” he wrote on his Twitter feed Wednesday. After noting that the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation was working with Australian authorities to retrieve the debris, found on a sand bar just off the coast, he warned against speculation that the piece belongs to the still missing 777 used for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which went missing in 2014.

“I urged everyone to avoid undue speculation as we are not able to conclude that the debris belongs to MH370 at this time,” he said, in response to reports of the finding by NBC News.

Contacted by AIN for comment, Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Center “possibly from an aircraft,” has been found in Mozambique. “We are working with officials in Mozambique and Malaysia to investigate,” a media spokesman confirmed.

The discovery comes almost exactly two years after MH370 vanished after diverting from its intended flight path between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board.

Last July an environmental worker found a flaperon from the ill-fated Boeing’s 777 on a beach in the town of Saint Andre on Reunion Island, not far from the site of this latest discovery. The conclusion that the flaperon came from MH370 supports the contention, based on radar and satellite data, that MH370 “turned back” from its flight path over the South China Sea and crossed the Malaysian peninsula on a westerly course. The loss of the aircraft led the International Aviation Safety Organization to require that airlines track their aircraft at regular intervals using available technology.

Malaysia has officially declared the disappearance of MH370 an accident and leads the investigation of its cause. Boeing, France’s BEA aviation accident investigation authority, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and theU.S. National Transportation Safety Board. The investigation is due to be wrapped up in the middle of 2016 if no credible explanation for the 777's disappearance has been formulated by then.

Pratt & Whitney offers new engine rebate with Blackhawk XP upgrades

Through May 31, 2016, aircraft owners who purchase a Blackhawk XP New Engine Upgrade for the Beech-craft King Air 200 or 90 series, Cessna Caravan, Cessna Conquest I, or Piper Cheyenne series aircraft will receive up to a $65,000 rebate from Pratt & Whitney Canada.

The installation of the new engines can be delayed through the end of July, which allows more time to schedule the upgrade along with other maintenance items to reduce downtime, according to company officials.

Details of the New Engine Rebate program and specific amounts by engine model can be found here.

Another advantage of the rebate program is a relaxed core engine exchange condition, company officials noted. There are no extra charges for corrosion, sulphidation, expired life limited parts, non-genuine P&WC parts, FOD or missing logs.

Any core engine will be accepted as long as it was not removed for unscheduled reasons, officials noted.

Bullish Saab Sets Rollout Date For Gripen E

Saab will roll out the first Gripen E version at Linkoping, Sweden on May 18, said Richard Smith, the company’s head of marketing and sales for the combat aircraft. In a bullish briefing at the Singapore Airshow last week, Smith said that thanks to the 60 new-build E/F jets for Sweden, plus the Brazilian Gripen order and other surveillance and submarine programs, the Swedish company’s backlog was at an all-time high of $13.5 billion. The Gripen thus has a guaranteed long-term future, and the sales goal was “at least 300 more,” Smith said.

Smith described the “huge technical transfer program” associated with the Brazilian acquisition of Gripen. This includes 50 key projects in four categories, and is an expanded version of the model used in South Africa’s Gripen deal. Last October, the first 48 of an eventual 350 Brazilian engineers arrived in Sweden to work on the project. Fifteen of the expected 36 Gripens to be acquired by Brazil will be built by Embraer at a Development Center to be established at Gaviao Peixato. The center will also help develop the two-seat Gripen F and integrate weapons. There had been no slow-down of the Brazilian program, despite that country’s recent economic difficulties, Smith told AIN.  Preliminary design of a Sea Gripen version had been completed, with a potential Brazilian requirement in mind, Smith said. “Now we must do a market analysis,” he added.

Meanwhile, development of the existing Gripen C/D version was continuing. The Swedish air force was introducing the MS20 upgrade that includes a new radar processor and receiver/exciter, a new IRST (infrared search and track), and new weapons. The Mk4 radar upgrade provides longer range to exploit the new MBDAMeteor BVRAAM (beyond visual range air-to-air missile), which Sweden will be the first to declare operational. 

Reviewing sales prospects, Smith said final negotiations with  Slovakia for eight new C/Ds were in progress; Bulgaria and Croatia were also prospects in eastern Europe. Belgium required 30-36 new fighters to replace F-16s, and Finland between 48 and 60 new jets to replace F/A-18C/Ds. Saab had discussed a third batch of six Gripens with Thailand, where the company hopes to eventually sell a total of 36. Indonesia was “still a prospect” said Smith, where the Saab 2000 AEW aircraft was also being offered, after the success of that combination in Thailand. Malaysia had been offered a lease of 16 aircraft, he said. With a huge fleet of MiG-21s to replace, India “was a perfect fit, and we see a huge possibility to satisfy the ‘Make in India’ policy,” Smith added.