One Year Since a Passenger Plane was Shot Down, ICAO and Several Nations Urge Iran to Comply with the Aircraft Accident Investigation Provisions of Annex 13.
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• January 8th, 2021, marked the first anniversary of the tragic shoot-down of Ukrainian Airlines flight PS752 from Tehran, Iran, to Kyiv, Ukraine. Now a year later, the lack of information from the Iranian authority’s investigation has not gone unnoticed.
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• The aircraft had been mistakenly shot down by the Iranian military in 2020, killing 176 passengers and crew.
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• Ukraine and other countries jointly called for “a complete and thorough explanation ... including concrete measures to ensure that it will never happen again.”
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• ICAO expects the Final Report to contain “specific recommendations” and “a thorough safety investigation so that governments and industry can enhance all applicable predictive and preventative measures.”
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• Citizens of Canada, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Afghanistan, and Sweden were among those that perished.

Reuters & ICAO

FAA and Subject Matter Experts Create a Powerful Safety Search Engine.
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• Subject matter experts across the globe have collaborated with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to create a powerful search engine called the Dynamic Regulatory Systems (DRS).
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• The DRS is a new safety tool that combines more than 65 document types and 2 million regulatory documents into a single searchable application to make it simpler and quicker to research aviation safety guidance material.
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• Each document will also contain hyperlinks to the appropriate FAR’s or guidance that forms the basis of the record.
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• The tool is mobile friendly and accessible on most browsers.

Federal Aviation Administration

Citation 560 Private Jet Climbs 10,000ft Beyond Cleared Altitude Before Spiraling into Terrain, Killing All on Board.
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• The aircraft departed from Portland, Oregon, headed for Boise, Idaho.
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• When the aircraft flew through the assigned altitude of FL230, the Seattle Center controller attempted to contact the pilot but received no reply.
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• The aircraft reached FL310 before entering a right hand descending spiral dive before impacting terrain, killing the two people (a crewmember and a passenger) on board.
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• The NTSB plans to release a preliminary report soon.

Flying Mag

Verbalizing Flight Instrument Indications Could Aid Spatial Disorientation Recovery.
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• A recent simulator study carried out in South Korea found that verbalizing the indications from flight instruments aids in better recovery from spatial disorientation (SD) and unusual attitudes.
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• The study involved a group of 30 fighter pilots: half were asked to verbalize information they saw on their flight displays, and half were asked not to.
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• According to the report, the pilots that verbalized what their instruments were indicating performed slightly better (10% better).
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• The simulation covered six different illusions, including somatogravic illusion, the leans, and graveyard spiral.
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• The report said that the study’s findings could aid in developing training plans and responses for SD.
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• In case you missed it, check out our recent blog discussing somatogravic illusion, and strategies to overcome its effects.

Flight Safety Foundation

TSA Seeks Help From the GA Community to Report Suspicious Activity Around the Inauguration.
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• “In light of the recent events at the U.S. Capitol, and preparation for the upcoming presidential inauguration, the Transportation Security Administration is asking our general aviation partners to maintain a heightened security awareness through the end of January,” TSA said in a security awareness communication.
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• Security has been tightened at Ronald Reagan Washington National, Washington Dulles, and Baltimore Thurgood Airports.
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• Operators who plan to be in the Washington, D.C. area in the next few weeks should expect airspace restrictions and be required to make reservations with FBOs for parking and instructions on additional security or parking issues.

AINonline