The US Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday said it would hold a March 8 hearing on efforts by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to reform how it certifies new airplanes after two Boeing 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people. Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen will appear at the hearing. Congress in 2020 passed sweeping reforms to address FAA certification efforts after the fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 raised safety questions about the agency's airplane certification program. "We need a clear commitment that this legislation will be fully implemented, and that these reforms -- ensuring designee oversight, mandating Safety Management Systems, and holding manufacturers accountable -- are all adhered to," Commerce Committee chair Maria Cantwell said at a hearing on Wednesday on President Joe Biden's pick to head the FAA. "We feel that industry and FAA got too cozy," she said.<br/>
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Amanda Parkman's wheelchair suffered some cracks and a broken headlight cover after a trip earlier this month. It was annoying, but it could have been much worse. When the 36-year-old assistant professor at the University of Arizona traveled from Tucson, Arizona, to New Orleans on Feb. 2, she was prepared for possible complications. She was flying by herself, as she usually does, but as someone who relies on a wheelchair to get around, dealing with the vagaries of air travel can be frustrating, she said. This time, she said, she got off relatively lucky. Although Parkman couldn't speak to the ramp workers at the airport in Las Vegas where she was connecting before her chair was improperly loaded – on its side, from what she could see – the resulting damage was mostly cosmetic. A plastic cover on one of her headlamps was cracked and fell off in New Orleans, and another piece that covers some of the chair's mechanisms was also cracked at some point along her journey. She returned to Tucson via Houston on Feb. 13.<br/>"Consistency across airports, it's never the same," she said, referring to the way disabled passengers are communicated with and treated by airlines and airports around the world. Parkman has osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bones, and always has to ensure airline and airport employees understand how to handle her wheelchair. She almost always tries to speak to the ramp supervisor before her chair is loaded on the plane and provides written instructions with photos on how to load and store it, with varying results on every trip.<br/>
The US NTSB has issued a preliminary report of a near-miss involving a Fedex Boeing 777-300ER and a Southwest Airlines 737 in Austin last month. On 4 February, a FedEx aircraft descended toward an active runway before breaking off its approach due to departing traffic on the same runway, the Federal Aviation Administration and flight data from FlightAware showed. At the time, data estimated the distance between the aircraft to have been less than 200ft. The US safety agency says in its report published on 2 March that the incident involved an “overflight that resulted in a loss of separation” between the two aircraft, but “the closest proximity has not yet been determined”. The incident took place early in the morning, when, according to air traffic control, “there was an extremely low traffic volume and complexity” at Austin Bergstrom International airport. The weather at the time was “low instrument flight rules”, meaning both aircraft had limited horizontal and vertical visibility. The incident involved FedEx flight 1432, a 767 with registration N297FE, and Southwest flight 708, a 737-700 registered N7827A. The FedEx jet took off from Memphis that morning at about 06:21 Eastern US time and flew the roughly 486nm (900km) to Memphis, flight tracking data shows. The Southwest aircraft was bound for Cancun. At about 06:40 Central US time, when the FedEx freighter was “several miles from” Austin’s airport, controllers cleared its pilots to land on Austin’s Runway 18L. The Southwest aircraft was cleared for take-off on the same runway. “According to the captain of FDX1432, he noted that, at an altitude of about 150ft, the [first officer] called go-around after visually seeing SWA708 at approximately 1,000ft to 1,500ft from the approach end of the runway,” NTSB says. “At 0640:34, one of the FDX1432 crew broadcasted ‘Southwest abort’, and then at 06:40:37 broadcasted that ‘FedEx is on the go.’” “A review of preliminary Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast data revealed that when FDX1432 was at the departure end of the runway climbing out of 1,900ft, the controller instructed FDX1432 to turn left heading 080 and maintain 3,000ft. At the same time, SWA708 was about 1,000ft lower than FDX1432 and began a right turn away from the runway heading,” NTSB writes.<br/>
An industry coalition is calling on Ottawa to broaden its trusted traveller pilot program and roll it out across the country. The government program allows approved passengers access to expedited lanes for airport security screening after they undergo background checks. It is currently available at select airports to a thin slice of Canadians including aircrew and airport workers, military personnel and members of cross-border programs such as Nexus. Greater Toronto Airports Authority CEO Deborah Flint says the pilot should be expanded countrywide and all Canadians should be able to apply, in order to board passengers faster. The demand comes ahead of spring break starting next week, when Flint says traveller numbers at Toronto’s Pearson airport are expected to be 30 per cent higher than a year ago. It also follows a year of travel chaos as surging demand last summer and in late December outstripped the ability of airports, airlines and border guards to handle the groundswell.<br/>
The owner of London Southend Airport is planning to sell the business. Esken said it would "explore" disposing of its aviation business, which also includes its logistics provider Star Handling. Passenger numbers at the Essex terminal dropped 90% during the coronavirus lockdowns. "Ultimately this will benefit our airline partners, customers, local stakeholders and the region," said an airport spokesman. Southend's three main carriers, Ryanair, Wizz Air and easyJet, all pulled out of the airport when the pandemic began. Passenger numbers fell from 2.15m in 2019-20 to 147,000 in 2020-21, and for a period there were no passenger flights whatsoever. The airport announced post-tax losses of £21.5m in the year ending 28 February 2022. Managers, however, have claimed to be making a comeback, having reopened routes to Faro, Malaga and Palma last year, and announced the resumption of four flights per week to Amsterdam from May 2023. An airport spokesman added: "Our parent company Esken is exploring a sale of London Southend Airport and initial planning for this has already started. "Esken will look for the right buyer with the capital to support our new management team and our ambitious growth prospects over the long term."<br/>
Aircraft lessor AerCap said on Thursday it had been approached by Russian airlines and their insurance companies about possible settlements for planes stranded after the Ukraine invasion but that it was unclear if any deal could be reached. Western sanctions in place against Russia mean such a proposal would likely need approval from the European Union and the United States and neither has indicated it intends to allow such transactions. Before the invasion, Russia was a major market for aircraft lessors, which bought jets from Boeing and Airbus and leased them to Russian airlines wanting to avoid the up-front cost and inflexibility of buying planes themselves. But after Western sanctions forced lessors to cancel these contracts, Moscow refused to allow the planes to leave, stranding almost $10b worth of aircraft in Russia and triggering claims by lessors against their own insurers. “We have been approached by some Russian airlines and their insurers about potential insurance settlements involving some of our aircraft lost in Russia,” CE Aengus Kelly told analysts in a conference call. “However, it is too early to know whether anything will come out of it. And we have nothing further to say on it at this stage,” he said.<br/>
Two Americans were arrested in Kansas City on Thursday for an alleged scheme to send aviation-related technology to Russia in violation of U.S. export controls. Cyril Buyanovsky, 59, and Douglas Robertson, 55, are accused of conspiring to circumvent US export laws by selling avionics to customers around the world that operate Russian-built aircraft, according to an indictment unsealed in US District Court in Kansas. The pair repaired and shipped technology from their firm, KanRus Trading Company, submitting false export information, such as a fraudulent invoice that showed Germany as the end destination for repaired equipment bearing a sticker for Russia's Federal Security Services (FSB). On Feb. 28, 2022, after U.S. authorities detained a shipment of avionics, the U.S. Commerce Department told the men they needed a license to export the equipment, the Justice Department said in a statement. In May, June and July, they illegally shipped the electronics through Armenia and Cyprus.<br/>
Turbulence remains a major cause of injuries to flight passengers and crew, even as US airlines have made steady improvements in their overall accident rate in recent years. A Lufthansa flight from Texas to Germany is the latest example. The Airbus A330 reported severe turbulence over Tennessee on Wednesday and was diverted to Virginia’s Washington Dulles International Airport. Seven people were taken to hospitals with injuries believed to be minor. Climate change is expected to make turbulence worse in the coming decades, experts say, though improvements in weather forecasting will help. Turbulence accounted for 37.6% of all accidents on larger commercial airlines between 2009 and 2018, according to a 2021 report from the National Transportation Safety Board. The FAA released data last year showing 146 serious injuries resulted from turbulence from 2009 to 2021. Last year, over the span of two days in December, a flight to Honolulu and a flight to Houston hurt a total of 41 people. In July, severe turbulence led to at least eight minor injuries on a flight to Nashville, Tennessee, that had to be diverted to Alabama. Also, three separate flights to Detroit, Miami and Columbus, Ohio, resulted in series injures to three crew members, according to NTSB data. The NSTB has said more can be done — both within the industry and among passengers — to limit injuries from turbulence. And everyone agrees that simply wearing a seatbelt during the entire flight will significantly reduce one’s risk of getting hurt.<br/>