general

Federal safety officials are directing operators of some Boeing planes to adopt extra procedures when landing on wet or snowy runways near impending 5G service because, they say, interference from the wireless networks could mean that the planes need more room to land. The FAA said Friday that interference could delay systems like thrust reversers on Boeing 787s from kicking in, leaving only the brakes to slow the plane. That “could prevent an aircraft from stopping on the runway,” the FAA said. Similar orders could be issued in the coming days for other planes. The FAA has asked Boeing and Airbus for information about many models. Boeing said it is working with its suppliers, airlines, telecom companies and regulators “to ensure that every commercial airplane model can safely and confidently operate when 5G is implemented in the United States.” The order for the Boeing jets comes a day after the FAA began issuing restrictions that airlines and other aircraft operators will face at many airports when AT&T and Verizon launch new, faster 5G wireless service Wednesday.<br/>

The FAA will now consider the actual real-world skills of US and foreign airline pilots when developing aircraft-specific pilot-training standards. The move by the FAA aligns it with requirements in a 2021 that law revamped some aspects of FAA oversight. That law came out of the 737 Max crisis and resulting criticism about the FAA’s certification of the jet. FAA panels called “Flight Standardization Boards” set pilot-training standards for newly certificated aircraft. They determine required pilot ratings and “recommended minimum training programme requirements” for new aircraft, the FAA says. Those boards previously included inspectors and technical advisers. But the FAA issued a “national policy” notice on 27 December 2021 that now requires standardisation boards also include pilots. Those pilots must be “air carrier pilots of varying levels of experience” if the boards are working on standards for transport aircraft. The notice specifies collaboration with “domestic and foreign” pilots. The change follows two 737 Max crashes – a Lion Air crash in October 2018 and an Ethiopian Airlines crash in March 2019. Investigators attributed the crashes to factors including the Max’s flight control system and pilot actions.<br/>

Forecasts of snow and ice as far south as Georgia have put a big part of the Southeast on an emergency preparedness footing as shoppers scoured store shelves for storm supplies and crews raced to treat highways and roads as a major winter storm approached from the Midwest. Nearly 1,000 flights within the US have already been canceled for Sunday in anticipation of snow and ice in the South, according to the flight tracking site flightaware.com, which tracks flight cancellations worldwide. A major US airport hub for American Airlines – Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina – leads the list of cancellations for Sunday at US airports.<br/>

People trying to fly from the United States to China may soon be confronted with an unthinkable scenario: Starting next week, there are likely to be no commercial flights bound for the country as Beijing tries to keep coronavirus infections out ahead of the 2022 Winter Olympics. Beginning January 19 and continuing for at least two weeks, all flights from the United States to China have either been canceled or are likely to be suspended because of Chinese aviation regulations, according to CNN Business research of government announcements and published flight schedules. As of Friday, only two flights still appeared eligible to operate for that period, one of them with United Airlines (UAL). The Beijing Winter Games open on February 4, and participants are mostly taking special flights restricted to people with OIympics credentials as part of a strict bubble that authorities are implementing around the event. Since June, the Civil Aviation Administration of China has applied a so-called "circuit-breaker" rule to international flights. That rule means that a flight is automatically suspended for two weeks if five or more passengers test positive upon landing in China. If 10 or more passengers test positive, the suspension period increases. Story has more.<br/>

Three women are facing federal charges of attacking an airline security worker who tried to block them from boarding a flight at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport in September because of what prosecutors say was problematic behavior, including a refusal to wear a face mask properly. The three were released on $25,000 bond each after arraignment Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn. Two defendants' attorneys, Mia Eisner-Grynberg and Jacob Barclay Mitchell, declined to comment Friday; a message was left for the third woman's attorney. Prosecutors said in court papers that the women were trying to board a Delta Air Lines flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 22. They had ordered a total of about nine alcoholic drinks in four hours at airport bars while waiting for a delayed departure, according to prosecutors. When the three arrived at the departure gate, the flight crew decided they shouldn't be allowed on because they were acting belligerent, one wouldn't wear her mask as required by federal regulation, and another appeared disoriented and was having trouble walking, prosecutors said. A Delta security officer and a gate agent approached the trio in the jet bridge and asked them to go back, saying they could get a flight later in the day, according to prosecutors' court papers. They said the women refused, one of them hit the security officer in the head with his two-way radio, another punched the gate agent in the face when the agent tried to intervene, and the third stepped on the security officer's face as all three kicked and hit him after he fell to the floor. The flight crew eventually pulled him behind some jet bridge doors and held them shut as the women lashed out at the crew, according to prosecutors. Story has more.<br/>

Brazil is suffering a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases as the Omicron variant spreads through the country, putting pressure on health services and weighing on an already sputtering economy. Insufficient testing and a data blackout caused by hackers have made it harder for experts to track the spread of the highly contagious variant in Brazil, but there are increasingly clear signs it is hitting Latin America's largest nation hard. The variant is slamming the wider economy. Brazil's National Association of Restaurants said 85% of its members are dealing with staff absences, with some 20% of the workforce out. Airlines Azul and Latam Airlines Group were forced to cancel flights due to a shortage of staff, resulting in long queues in some airports.<br/>

Airlines flying to Mali, which has been placed under sanctions by West Africa’s regional economic bloc, must confirm whether they will continue to operate within 72 hours, or risk losing their landing slots. “After this deadline, their time slots will be handed to other airlines, in order to assure continued services,” Mali’s Transport Minister Madina Sissoko Dembele said in a statement. The deadline applies from Saturday and follows the imposition of sanctions by the Economic Community of West African States. Air France-KLM has already suspended flights to Mali’s capital, Bamako, despite not being covered by the sanctions, joining regional airlines Air Senegal and Air Cote d’Ivoire. <br/>

Hong Kong has “no definitive timeline” for lifting restrictions on international borders this year, a top official has said, despite the heavy toll the city’s zero-Covid policy has taken on its status as a transport and financial hub. Hong Kong’s elimination strategy, which involves 21 days of quarantine for international arrivals, has made it increasingly difficult for executives to use the city as a regional hub. Passenger flights to eight countries, including the UK and US, have been banned and air freight services reduced. The city will also ban transit flights from about 150 countries categorised as high risk because of the Omicron variant from Sunday for at least a month. But the chaos wrought by the global Omicron outbreak has reinforced the Hong Kong government and public’s confidence in the city’s zero-Covid strategy, said Edward Yau, secretary for commerce and economic development. “It will be hard to address [the question of a timeline], as it will be subject to a lot of conditions and situations . . . I think no one can give you a definite timeline as such,” Yau said. Hong Kong has recorded just 213 deaths from the pandemic and avoided citywide lockdowns. By contrast, the UK has registered 174,233 Covid-19 deaths. But international business has expressed concerns that the city has articulated no exit strategy and is becoming cut off from the world, leading to an exodus of talent.<br/>

Indonesia is placing a greater emphasis on upset prevention and recovery training (UPRT) following the 2021 fatal crash of a Sriwijaya Boeing 737-500 into the Java Sea. In its interim report into the 9 January 2021 disaster, which killed 62 passengers and crew, Indonesia’s National Transport Safety Committee (NTSC) outlines the progress of the investigation, as well as safety measures already taken by various parties. “Responding to this safety recommendation, the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) had accelerated the UPRT program by assigning a special task force to implement the UPRT on 25 June 2021,” says NTSC. The task force has already completed several actions focused on improving regulations and training around UPRT in Indonesia, and how to successfully implement it. In February 2021, Boeing issued bulletins pertaining to “Airplane Upset Prevention and Recovery, and followed up in February with a multi-operator message about the “Potential for Latent Flap Indication System Wiring Failure and Impacts to the Autothrottle System,” which was followed by a Federal Aviation Administration Airworthiness Directive. The NTSC also lists 16 measures taken by Sriwijaya, mainly focused on maintenance and aircrew procedures and training.<br/>

The FAA said on Friday it is proposing conditions that would allow FedEx to install a laser-based missile-defense on Airbus A321-200 airplanes. Delivery company FedEx Corp in October 2019 applied for approval to use a feature that emits infrared laser energy outside the aircraft as a countermeasure against heat-seeking missiles, the FAA disclosed in a document. A FedEx spokeswoman declined immediate comment about whether it is still pursuing approval for the application. FedEx does not currently operate any Airbus 321 planes. The FAA said it is still reviewing the proposal and will consider public comments. Airbus did not immediately comment. The airline industry and several governments have been grappling with the threat to airliners from shoulder-fired missiles known as Man-Portable Air Defense Systems, or MANPADs, for decades. Some use infrared systems to target an aircraft's engines.<br/>