INNOVATION IS THE WAY FORWARD

While leaders discussed the future of flight innovations, VBACE successfully stood testimony to innovation and adaptation

WITH THE PANDEMIC BRINGING the world to a halt, it had made everyone duly realise the importance and the need for innovation as the model to sustain themselves irrespective of what they do. In a panel discussion on The Future of Flight: How Digital Solutions are Transforming the User Experience,” moderated by NBAA Western Regional Representative Phil Derner, panelists stated that aircraft connectivity is powering innovations for new levels of efficiency and safety and predictive analytics could also improve passenger service and reduce emissions.

“People want the same connectivity experience in the aircraft as they have at home, whether it’s surfing the Internet or communicating with their team members. It has to be seamless and reliable,” said Thomas Sterling, Director of Business Aviation Digital Solutions and Information Management Services at Collins Aerospace.

Scott Uhlir, Associate Director of Digital Strategy for Collins Aerospace Avionics remarked, “With connectivity systems in place, aviation can analyse flight data to power new predictive technologies. The use of data is moving us from reporting on what has happened to where we can say what is happening now. Very soon, the industry will move beyond that to prediction, helping users to make more effective decisions.”

Predictive technologies, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, could soon enable the industry to create a “digital twin” of an aircraft for maintenance and diagnostics, added Daniel Baker, founder and CEO of FlightAware. “People think about connectivity largely as taking content from the ground and delivering to the airplane. And yet, taking the data from the avionics and sending it down to the ground allows us to solve great problems through predictive diagnostics. With this technology, we can increase efficiencies across the board, and reduce costs, carbon emissions and noise emissions,” Baker noted.

The panelists also recognised that connectivity also has helped the industry adapt to the adversities of COVID-19 by enabling online partnerships to solidify business aviation’s future.

“I don’t have any doubt in my mind that were creating technological innovations faster than ever and when our customers are ready to leverage them as they get back to normal flight operations, they will be incredibly impressed with what’s been accomplished,” said Uhlir.

■ VBACE CONCLUDES ON AN EXEMPLARY SUCCESS.

The event in itself was a standing testimony to innovation, technical advancement and adaptation as a way to move forward with times. The NBAA stated that the first-of-its-kind VBACE exceeded expectations for bringing people together in a busy digital marketplace, setting the stage for major announcements, presenting inspiring speakers and providing access to the best thinkers for innovating during and beyond the COVID-19 crisis.

“VBACE demonstrated that our industry is relentless in the face of formidable challenges. We are stronger together, and we are always moving forward. Clearly, VBACE was more than just a connection opportunity: it was a new kind of industry catalyst,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen.

Bolen also stated some examples to add value to the success of VBACE. “The 3-D VBACE exhibit floor featured a who’s who of OEMs, fuel providers, flight and mission planners, avionics firms and other leading companies. Many exhibitors deftly leveraged the VBACE platform for headline-driving announcements, which were thoroughly covered by news organizations. View a sampling of VBACE exhibitor press announcements,” Bolen added.

He also mentioned that thousands of attendees were part of the event, including those active in aircraft type clubs, maintenance firms, safety-advocacy groups, regional business aviation associations, groups focused on diversity and inclusion, sustainability stakeholders and other aviation-based organisations. “Show-goers gave high marks for the new capabilities offered as part of the event, including virtual, bottomless backpacks. Dedicated VBACE chat rooms and coffee chats invited a new kind of peer-to-peer engagement, with hundreds of industry professionals sharing perspectives through energized, online exchanges.”

While VBACE education sessions and new Thought Leadership sessions were a big draw, providing access to innovators in the fields of safety, sustainability, technological innovation, everchanging international requirements, strategies for promoting workforce diversity and more.

He also pointed out that dedicated Professional Member happy hours drew hundreds of registrants to mingle and be entertained by celebrity guests Dave Coulier, Pilot, Comedian, and Actor from TV’s Full House; and performances by Grammy award-winning songwriter of “Eye of the Tiger,” Jim Peterik of The Ides of March, formerly of Survivor and Cathy Richardson, lead singer of Jefferson Starship.

“NBAA is energized by the excitement and enthusiasm for the new ways VBACE provided for doing business, building relationships, bettering ourselves as professionals and working together to chart a course for the future,” Bolen concluded.

ON MARCH 18, 2019, the Boeing 737 MAX airliner was grounded by all countries across the globe operating this latest version of the most widely used platform. Altogether, there were 387 aircraft being operated the world over by 59 airlines providing 8,600 flights per week. The decision to ground this particular fleet was triggered by the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 operating a Boeing 737 MAX 8. This disaster took place a few minutes after takeoff from Addis Ababa airport in Ethiopia in which all 149 passengers and eight crew members on board perished. The aircraft was practically brand new as it had been with the airline for just four months. Before this accident, on October 29, 2018, an Indonesian airline Lion Air Flight 610, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, that took off from Jakarta, crashed into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff. There were 189 lives lost in this accident. This was the first major accident involving a Boeing 737 MAX which is an updated version of the Boeing 737.

Soon after the accident on October 29, 2018 involving the Boeing 737 MAX, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) revealed that the MAX version had a newly designed automated flight control called the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), that would push the nose of airplane down if for any reason, the MCAS received correct or erroneous inputs of the nose of the aircraft pitching up and heading for a stall. Under these circumstances, the pilot would not be able to manually override the nose down attitude forced by the MCAS. Unfortunately, for some strange reason, there was no mention of this newly introduced system in the flight manual and as such, pilots were not aware of the consequences of the failure of this system and of the procedure to be followed in the event of its failure. Hence in both cases of malfunction of MCAS leading to crash of the airliners, pilots in command were not able to take appropriate action to regain control of the aircraft.

Failure of the OEM to include information on the MCAS in the flight manual and the action by the pilot in the event of malfunction of the system, was indeed a serious lapse on the part of the company. However, for some reason, this was not observed and recorded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). This undoubtedly cast a shadow on the process of certification of the new model of the aircraft by the US regulatory agency. The two crashes in less than five months for the same reason, ought to have been clear evidence that there was a systemic flaw in the aircraft as well as in the regulatory system then in vogue. Clearly, this needed immediate attention by the OEM to make the necessary modification to the MCAS and include the relevant information in the flight manual. These two accidents were indicative of the need for review and restructuring of the regulatory procedures to remove inherent flaws in the system if any.

In March 2019, soon after the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure initiated investigation into the design, development, and certification of the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and related matters that led to the two disasters. Apart from the design flaw in the MCAS, the Investigating Committee observed that the FAA’s certification review of the Boeing 737 MAX was grossly insufficient and that the FAA failed in its duty to identify key safety problems and to ensure that they were adequately addressed during the certification process. The combination of these problems led to the loss of two airliners and loss of precious lives. Grounding of the fleet of Boeing 737 MAX across the globe came a deep shock to the parent company that was already under considerable financial stress while battling its major competitor Airbus. Boeing cut production of the 737 MAX by ten units per month and was prepared to reduce it further if the grounding continued. Meanwhile, Boeing undertook complete redesign of the software of the MCAS and built in recovery procedures from incorrect inputs in the flight system to eliminate all possibility of conflict between the MCAS and the pilot. Apart from the technical improvements, every pilot to fly the Boeing 737 MAX are now required to undertake a twohour training course on a computer followed by an hour of flight simulator training.

After nearly two years of grounding during which the parent company worked diligently to remove the anomalies in the software, in mid November this year, the FAA has finally given the green light for the Boeing 737 MAX to return to service.