Flight Safety Information October 12, 2011 - No. 210 In This Issue Avian Flight Data Inform Aircraft Safety Plans Computer virus hits U.S. drone fleet American to trim flights amid wave of pilot retirements Avian Flight Data Inform Aircraft Safety Plans Birds are a significant threat to aviation safety, particularly for small civilian aircraft and at local and regional airports. Large species are particularly problematic because they are heavy, have a limited ability to maneuver away from oncoming aircraft, and aggregate in flocks. Bird-plane collisions have consistently been a problem at U.S. Air Force (USAF) bases, where they not only place pilots in danger, but also cost the military--and the U.S. taxpayers--substantial amounts of money in damages. Black vultures (Coragyps atratus) and turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) are the third and fourth most expensive species for the USAF, in terms of bird strikes, and together these are responsible for more human-injury-inducing civil aircraft strikes than any other bird except the Canada goose (Branta canadensis). This is what motivated a team of researchers from the United States Department of Agriculture to use GPS satellite transmitters to study the flight behavior and activity patterns of vultures near the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, South Carolina. Vulture populations in the state are quite healthy, having recently risen by 9.9% and 11.9% for black and turkey vultures, respectively; further, individuals of both species are resident year-round. As a result of this high potential for collisions, 4 vulture-aircraft strikes have been reported at Beaufort since 2006. The researchers used a baited walk-in trap to capture 16 vultures, after which they also measured, individually tagged, and attached transmitters to the birds. Unfortunately, several of the original focal birds died before the end of the study, so the scientists redeployed transmitters on new individuals, bringing the total sample size to 22; 4 of these were individuals that remained alive for the entire 2-year study. The transmitters were attached to the vultures with a Teflon tape backpack harness. During every hour between dawn and dusk, on the hour, the transmitters recorded latitude and longitude, altitude, speed, and direction of movement; any time a bird was moving more than 0 km/h, it was assumed to be in flight. The transmitters logged a whopping 106,554 locations over the duration of the project. The scientists used these data to investigate variations in behavior between species and among seasons, calculate the proportion of time an average bird spends in flight, and estimate the home range size of each bird. Both species were most active in the winter and least active in the summer, which the authors link to the shorter day length in the winter and the increased need for foraging efficiency at that time of year. Black vultures spent less time in flight than turkey vultures (8.4% of the day vs. 18.9% of the day, respectively). Black vultures have long been thought to watch turkey vulture activity in order to find sources of food; plus, black vultures are very social birds and probably communicate with each other to share information about feeding locations. Thus, it was not surprising to find that they spent less time in transit. Turkey vulture activity peaked in the middle of the day and then gradually declined; black vulture activity was similar in pattern, but lagged behind by about an hour. Overall, the busiest time of day for vultures was during the 4-9 hours after sunrise. Both species of birds spent the bulk of their time <100 m in altitude; 48% of 3,992 black vulture data points fell within this range, and 60% of 9,622 turkey vulture data points were within this range. However, black vultures were more common than turkey vultures >200 m; while the peak turkey vulture altitude was 1,378 m, black vultures were recorded as high as 1,578 m. Again, this is probably related to the black vultures' tendency to watch turkey vultures in order to find food--a high cruising altitude likely gives them a good vantage point from which to see their red-headed relatives. Throughout the day, the birds distributed themselves at different altitudes; although most flights were <50 m during the first 4 hours of daylight, they rose to 100-150 m by the middle of the day, depending on species. Across all seasons, turkey vultures had larger home ranges than black vultures--a couple individuals of the latter species even flew all the way down to Florida. The vulture mortality observed throughout the 2-year study period resulted from traffic, shooting, and electrocution--but, luckily for pilots, not collisions with aircraft. Because vulture flight activity is associated with the birds' efforts to locate food, the authors suggest that a more detailed analysis of food habitats would help further elucidate the species' foraging behaviors. For instance, turkey vultures prefer small, solitary prey items that are unpredictable and dispersed throughout the habitat; this requires them to potentially spend more time in the air, covering larger distances. Although there have been some studies on how the birds locate their prey, these natural history details remain contested. Additionally, a better understanding of the movements and population numbers of their most common meals--squirrels, rabbits, opossums, etc.--might also help managers predict where and when vulture flight activity will be heaviest. The scientists used their data to create an 11x15 grid plotting altitude by hour after sunrise; each grid square was colored to indicate the occurrence of vultures at that combination of time and height. This relatively simple technique provides a clear indication of the most dangerous times and heights to fly--the red "danger zone" at <100 m between 4 and 9 hours after sunrise and the orange zone at <400 m between 2 and 12 hours after sunrise indicate combinations that pilots should actively seek to avoid. This particular matrix can be made even more accurate as additional vulture behavior data are collected; similar matrices can also be developed for other locations or other species, potentially minimizing flight danger to pilots and passengers across the country. http://www.science20.com/anthrophysis/avian_flight_data_inform_aircraft_safety_plans-83521 Back to Top Computer virus hits U.S. drone fleet The virus has resisted multiple efforts to remove it from Creech's computers It may be a common piece of malware They're sure that the infection has hit both classified and unclassified machines (WIRED) CNN -- A computer virus has infected the cockpits of America's Predator and Reaper drones, logging pilots' every keystroke as they remotely fly missions over Afghanistan and other warzones. The virus, first detected nearly two weeks ago by the military's Host-Based Security System, has not prevented pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from flying their missions overseas. Nor have there been any confirmed incidents of classified information being lost or sent to an outside source. But the virus has resisted multiple efforts to remove it from Creech's computers, network security specialists say. And the infection underscores the ongoing security risks in what has become the U.S. military's most important weapons system. "We keep wiping it off, and it keeps coming back," says a source familiar with the network infection, one of three that told Danger Room about the virus. "We think it's benign. But we just don't know." Military network security specialists aren't sure whether the virus and its so-called "keylogger" payload were introduced intentionally or by accident; it may be a common piece of malware that just happened to make its way into these sensitive networks. The specialists don't know exactly how far the virus has spread. But they're sure that the infection has hit both classified and unclassified machines at Creech. That raises the possibility, at least, that secret data may have been captured by the keylogger, and then transmitted over the public internet to someone outside the military chain of command. Drones have become America's tool of choice in both its conventional and shadow wars, allowing U.S. forces to attack targets and spy on its foes without risking American lives. Since President Obama assumed office, a fleet of approximately 30 CIA-directed drones have hit targets in Pakistan more than 230 times; all told, these drones have killed more than 2,000 suspected militants and civilians, according to the Washington Post. More than 150 additional Predator and Reaper drones, under U.S. Air Force control, watch over the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. American military drones struck 92 times in Libya between mid-April and late August. And late last month, an American drone killed top terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki -- part of an escalating unmanned air assault in the Horn of Africa and southern Arabian peninsula. But despite their widespread use, the drone systems are known to have security flaws. Many Reapers and Predators don't encrypt the video they transmit to American troops on the ground. In the summer of 2009, U.S. forces discovered "days and days and hours and hours" of the drone footage on the laptops of Iraqi insurgents. A $26 piece of software allowed the militants to capture the video. The lion's share of U.S. drone missions are flown by Air Force pilots stationed at Creech, a tiny outpost in the barren Nevada desert, 20 miles north of a state prison and adjacent to a one-story casino. In a nondescript building, down a largely unmarked hallway, is a series of rooms, each with a rack of servers and a "ground control station," or GCS. There, a drone pilot and a sensor operator sit in their flight suits in front of a series of screens. In the pilot's hand is the joystick, guiding the drone as it soars above Afghanistan, Iraq, or some other battlefield. Some of the GCSs are classified secret, and used for conventional warzone surveillance duty. The GCSs handling more exotic operations are top secret. None of the remote cockpits are supposed to be connected to the public internet. Which means they are supposed to be largely immune to viruses and other network security threats. But time and time again, the so-called "air gaps" between classified and public networks have been bridged, largely through the use of discs and removable drives. In late 2008, for example, the drives helped introduce the agent.btz worm to hundreds of thousands of Defense Department computers. The Pentagon is still disinfecting machines, three years later. Use of the drives is now severely restricted throughout the military. But the base at Creech was one of the exceptions, until the virus hit. Predator and Reaper crews use removable hard drives to load map updates and transport mission videos from one computer to another. The virus is believed to have spread through these removable drives. Drone units at other Air Force bases worldwide have now been ordered to stop their use. In the meantime, technicians at Creech are trying to get the virus off the GCS machines. It has not been easy. At first, they followed removal instructions posted on the website of the Kaspersky security firm. "But the virus kept coming back," a source familiar with the infection says. Eventually, the technicians had to use a software tool called BCWipe to completely erase the GCS' internal hard drives. "That meant rebuilding them from scratch" -- a time-consuming effort. The Air Force declined to comment directly on the virus. "We generally do not discuss specific vulnerabilities, threats, or responses to our computer networks, since that helps people looking to exploit or attack our systems to refine their approach," says Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis, a spokesman for Air Combat Command, which oversees the drones and all other Air Force tactical aircraft. "We invest a lot in protecting and monitoring our systems to counter threats and ensure security, which includes a comprehensive response to viruses, worms, and other malware we discover." However, insiders say that senior officers at Creech are being briefed daily on the virus. "It's getting a lot of attention," the source says. "But no one's panicking. Yet." Back to Top American to trim flights amid wave of pilot retirements American Airlines will further trim its flying capacity this year, cutting flights and retiring 11 of its 124 Boeing 757s. The company announced the move Monday as it grapples with both an uncertain economic outlook and - perhaps more importantly, in this instance - a higher-than-expected number of pilot retirements. On the latter point, AFP writes AA "hemorrhaged pilots in August and September, with 200 retiring -- eight times the normal level -- fueling speculation about the financial health of the company." News of the pilot retirements appeared to have played a role in a plunge in the stock price of AA parent company AMR last week. In light of that, "the company and the pilots' union have denied the wave of retirements is related to inside information, with the union saying it is more likely the result of general concerns about volatile global markets," AFP writes. ALSO ONLINE: Bankruptcy fears dog American, stock plummets As for trimming capacity, the Los Angeles Times writes that will be done by "canceling unpopular flights, among other changes ... ." Those changes could possible come with layoffs. "These capacity adjustments could have a significant impact on operations and, unfortunately, could result in employee reductions companywide," AA spokesman Sean Collins tells The Dallas Morning News. "However, we are still working on the specific schedule adjustments and will know more in coming days." DALLAS MORNING NEWS: American Airlines to reduce capacity by 3% TheStreet.com says the latest cuts will put AA's "full-year capacity for mainline ... up about 0.4% from last year, while consolidated capacity will be up about 1.2%. This is a roughly 3% reduction in the company's capacity expectations versus guidance the airline gave in January." "While our advance bookings are generally in line with last year, we are taking these additional steps in light of the uncertain economic environment, ongoing high fuel costs and to ensure we run a reliable schedule for our customers given additional pilot retirements we anticipate throughout the fourth quarter," Virasb Vahidi, American's chief commercial officer, is quoted as saying by Dow Jones Newswires. Bloomberg News notes the fourth-quarter capacity reduction means that AA's "costs for flying each seat a mile will increase 'modestly' ... American said yesterday in a statement, without elaborating." Bloomberg adds that "with business travel and unit revenue both reported to be strong, the airline's pullback suggests that a shortage of pilots is a primary driver, (Robert Mann of consultancy R.W. Mann & Co.) said." The Associated Press notes AA "already has taken steps this year to cut its capacity as fuel prices moved higher and expectations for a pickup in the economy didn't come to fruition." As for the reductions in AA's 757 fleet, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says the airline may be doing so "in anticipation of the delivery of the first Airbus A320 Family jets and Boeing 737s set for delivery in 2013 from its record combined order in August for 460 single-aisle aircraft." http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2011/10/american-airlines-cuts/552467/1 Curt Lewis, P.E., CSP CURT LEWIS & ASSOCIATES, LLC