New podcasts FACTS are telling a very different story on the tragic Lion Air MAX crash of late 2018.

The podcast by the Flight Safety Detectives former NTSB crash investigators Greg Feith and John Goglia are extraordinary in their detail and very sobering and highlight multiple failures of maintenance and serious pilot deficiencies.

They are a MUST LISTEN for anyone interested in air safety. 

Listen to podcasts 9 and 10.

Feith and Goglia are considered among the most respected safety analysts in the industry.

Last month Feith was highly critical of the Indonesian NTSC report and the primary conclusion that the MCAS software caused the crash of LionAir Flight 610 in October last year.

READ: Jetstar pilots failed to put the landing gear down

Feith, said the Indonesian NTSC 322-page report, issued in October, into the LionAir 737MAX tragedy presents an in-depth account of the “factual” information developed during the course of the investigation.

However, Feith said of the report, “there are so many flaws in logic, failures to properly analyze the facts, and failures to hold persons or organizations accountable and much more. They (NTSC) obviously reverse-engineered the “facts” to support their preconceived conclusions that the airplane and MCAS are to blame.”

“The NTSC stated the pilots, especially the First Officer, had significant training deficiencies and lacked basic flying skills. These same deficiencies occurred during the accident flight. These two pilots had no business being in the cockpit and the airplane should not have been operated because of all the maintenance issues that began at the beginning of October, and was not corrected, making the airplane unairworthy.”

Feith questions the NTSC’s silence regarding “the oversight by the Indonesian DGCA and the accountability of LionAir, especially after the airline had several serious incidents and accidents in the past 6 years.

Mr Feith’s views were supported by a well-respected Airbus training captain, who told AirlineRatings.com the first officer “could not fly”.

“The report on the FO is an eye-opener as he is constantly very poor in all phases of operating an aircraft,” the training captain said.

“The report indicates a lot of additional training in standard operating procedures and emergencies and this was repeated on almost every subsequent training session but the problems were never resolved.

“There is a continual mention of a very poor instrument scan which was also never resolved. Even more deeply troubling was that, according to the pilot reports, the first officer didn’t understand and had difficulty handling aerodynamic stalls, a fundamental of flying.”

“That FO could not fly and I wonder why the Lion Air trainers didn’t cull him as his performance at proficiency checks are all fail items.”

Jetstar plans to cancel 90 services over the weekend as part of a strike-busting contingency plan it estimates will get 95 percent of its passengers to their destinations on the same day.

The low-cost carrier will cancel 44 services on Saturday, December 14 and 46 services on Sunday as pilots belonging to the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP)  undertake four-hour work stoppages.

It will also cancel 18 flights on Friday due to separate action by ground workers.

It says it normally operates about 370 flights a day on average.

READ: Jetstar Christmas disurptions unlikely despite strike votes.

“The Australian Federation of Air Pilots’ work stoppages this weekend are completely unjustifiable and cynically timed to hurt travelers at the busiest travel time of the year,’’ Jetstar chief executive Gareth Evans said in a statement.

“To protect the weekend plans of tens of thousands of customers, teams across Jetstar have worked around the clock to develop a proactive contingency plan.

“To minimize the impact on customers by the four-hour stop-work periods, we are consolidating some services, upgauging aircraft, re-timing flights and Qantas and QantasLink will operate a number of supplementary services.”

Jetstar is contacting customers affected by the changes and is also offering full refunds prior to flying to those scheduled to travel between December 13 and December 20.

“We know the union’s actions are creating uncertainty for travelers, but if we accept an effective 15 percent net increase in pay that the union is demanding, there will be significant upward pressure on the low fares our customers rely on and we will be forced to review our investment in new aircraft and new destinations,’’ Evans said.

“We remain committed to reaching a new agreement to support the great work our people do every day, but not at any cost. Strong arm action from the AFAP will not change our position on this.

“Again, we say to the union: come to the table with a reasonable offer that is fair, and which also ensures the future of low fares travel for Australians.“

The weekend stoppages will be followed by lower-level work bans next week but the AFAP has promised not to take action over the busy Christmas period from December 21 to January 3.

It is not yet clear what impact the lower-level bans will have.

The pilots voted to take protected industrial action after negotiations over 12 months saw management unwilling to shift on pay and condition claims.

The pilots are upset they are the lowest-paid jet flight crews in Australia and the union says they are tired of not being valued as highly as their peers.

The AFAP disputes Jetstar’s claim it is seeking an effective 15 percent wage increase and argues the figure is based on inaccurate and flawed costings of non-salary claims.

It says it is seeking 3 percent annual wage rises.

The company counters with an assertion that just two of the union’s allowance claims would see the highest-paid pilots receiving an additional $A60,000 a year.

Jetstar is also facing industrial action at a number of airports on friday from ground crew represented by the Transport Workers’ Union over claims of low pay and insufficient work hours.

This is the action that is expected to result in 18 cancellations

The airline says about a third of its ground crew are full-time, earning on average above $A90,000 per year, while those working part-time earn on average $A63,000 a year.

Lovers of sports contests, concerts and even shareholder meetings are set to benefit from increased services by American Airlines to special events in 2020.

American is adding flights to support special events such as golf tournaments in Augusta, Georgia, music festivals in Palm Springs, California, and even the annual Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska.

The special events increase includes a direct Los Angeles-Palm Springs service in April and a new Embraer-175 service to Augusta from Boston as well as the upgauging of an existing service from Chicago.

READ: Emirates establishes Mexican beachhead with expanded Interjet deal

American says it will have the most seats of any airline to the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky  Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville in May with services from Boston, Charlotte, Washington, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Chicago and Philadelphia.

“It’s important to spend time and resources on memorable experiences, and we want to make sure our customers have options when it comes to the most important events around the country throughout the year,” American senior vice president of network strategy Vasu Raja said.

“We’re adding more seats, introducing new routes and making sure that our customers are taken care of throughout their travel journey.”

American this week also announced two new routes from the Texas cultural and technology hot spot Austin to Boston and California’s Silicon Valley.

The airline said the routes were in response to strong demand from customers who need to travel between Austin and the tech centers in San Jose and Boston.

Flights will operate twice daily, Monday through Friday, on a Boeing 737-800, year-round.

The aircraft features high-speed Wi-Fi, access to power at every seat and 16 first-class seats and the schedule will allow customers to attend early meetings and return home in time for dinner.

American recently renovated the Admirals Club in Austin and by the end of the year will have five contiguous gates at the airport.

And from May 9, it will introduce the only service from Austin to Los Cabos, Mexico on Saturdays and Sundays.

Emirates has kicked off its Dubai-Barcelona-Mexico City service with an enhanced interline agreement with rising Mexican star Interjet Airlines that it plans to expand.

This is the first time the Dubai-based giant has served Mexico and the new daily route launched December 9 despite a legal battle about the validity of an agreement between Mexico and the United Arab Emirates allowing the fifth freedom flight from Barcelona.

The long-running saga saw Aeromexico, part-owned by Emirates combatant Delta Air Lines, celebrating after a local judge ruled against the flights.

Read: Jetstar launches first low-cost Australia-Korea link.

However, the celebration was short-lived after the Mexican government moved to grant a permit for the Gulf carrier’s flights.

Emirates is using a Boeing 777-200LR with 38 business seats in a 2-2-2 configuration and 264 seats in economy class to service the route.

The airline says the new Interjet agreement allows its passengers to seamlessly connect via Mexico City to Interjet flights to Leon/Guanajuato, Culiacan, Cancun, Chihuahua, Guadalajara,  Merida, Monterrey, Puerto Vallarta, Tampico, Tuxtla Gutierrez, Tijuana and Villahermosa.

Interjet customers also have access to its global network to destinations in the Middle East, Spain, South East Asia, the Far East and North Africa.

“We’re pleased to establish a partnership with Interjet Airlines, allowing Emirates passengers to benefit from increased choice, flexibility and ease of connection to different cities within Mexico and to regional international points beyond,’’ said Emirates chief commercial officer Adnan Kazim.

“This partnership further demonstrates our commitment to Mexico for the long run, as we continue to look at ways to build our operations in the market to best serve our customers.

“While the interline agreement is only the start of our collaboration, we’re looking forward to (exploring) more mutual opportunities and a wider scope of partnership in the near future.”

Emirates has had a partnership with Interject since April when a one-way interline agreement allowed passengers from the Dubai carrier’s 12 US gateways to travel to Mexico City on Interjet flights.

“This enhanced agreement provides travelers from both airlines access to a broader network not only with more flight choices but for Emirates customers, access to more of Mexico with our many domestic connections from Mexico City,’’ said Interjet chief commercial officer Julio Gamero.

“When you combine this with seamless reservations, one-stop check-in with baggage checked to the final destination, more legroom between seats and Interjet’s outstanding onboard service, it’s easy to see why this agreement is a win-win for both airlines.”

Mexico-city based Interjet carries about 14 million passengers annually domestic and international routes. Internationally, it serves the US, Canada, Central America and South America.

Jetstar will face a range of low-level bans between December 14 and December 20 in addition to a series of four-hour strikes this weekend.

The Australian Federation of Air Pilots says the action is necessary after a decision by Jetstar to cancel further negotiation meetings in response to its decision to hold a ballot allowing it to take protected industrial action.

However, the AFAP reiterated it will not take protected industrial action between December 21 and January 3.

READ: Jetstar pilots forgot to lower the landing gear.

The stoppages will occur between 4:59 am and 8.59 am on Saturday, December 14, and Sunday, December 15, for narrow-body pilots mostly flying on domestic routes.

For wide-body pilots operating internationally, they will take place between 2:30 pm and 6:30 pm on Saturday and 9:30 pm and 1:30 pm on Sunday.

The bans will not apply to pilots not at their home base, flights already in operation or those flight crew performing duties associated with disembarking passengers or securing an aircraft.

The lower-level action will include bans on working on days off, duty-free days, annual leave or long service leave.

There will also be a ban on answering phone calls from Jetstar crewing and the performance of duties not on a pilot’s original roster.

The union also accused management of misrepresenting its wage claims, saying assertions by the airline that pilots are seeking a 15 percent wage rise “are simply untrue”.

AFAP executive director Simon Lutton said the AFAP wage claim was for 3 percent increases to salary.

He said the AFAP contended management had exaggerated and inflated the cost of the pilots’ non-salary claims while ignoring or undervaluing the benefits and efficiencies of the concessions that have been offered.

“Put simply, Jetstar have manufactured the alleged 15 percent increase based on inaccurate and flawed costings of our non-salary claims, such as those claims relating to rostering and fatigue mitigation,” he said.

Lutton said the AFAP hoped Jetstar would use the Christmas period to schedule meetings and resume negotiations that would prevent further action.

“We remain ready, willing and able to negotiate an agreement which balances the needs of both Jetstar and the Jetstar pilots however we cannot do this if Jetstar continues to refuse to resume negotiations,” he said.

The pilot actions come as the Transport Workers’ Union is planning two-hour stoppages — one in the morning and one in the evening — in ports around Australia on Friday December 13.

The stoppages are planned in Sydney, Melbourne, Avalon, Brisbane, Cairns and Adelaide airports.

A Jetstar spokesman said the company understood theAFAP action was frustrating for customers and  the airline was working through pilot rosters for the weekend to understand which flights may be impacted.

“There’s a lot of detailed work required to comb through the schedule and work out how we can best minimize impact to customers,” he said.

“That work will be finished by the end of tomorrow and we’ll contact customers directly if there is a change to their flight.”

The airline stood by its claim that the union’s demand was for an effective 15 percent pay increase.

It said the increase for a work group where captains earn on average well over $300,00 a year “would put significant pressure on the low fares our customers rely on”.

The pilots of a Jetstar A320 forgot to lower the landing gear as they approached Ballina airport in northern New South Wales and were forced to conduct a go-around after they were alerted to the oversight by a master warning.

The aircraft operating a flight from Sydney in May, 2018, had already conducted one go-around after the captain decided its airspeed and altitude were higher than a normal approach profile.

LISTEN: New podcasts tell very diffrent story about Lion Air MAX crash

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau found the flight crew did not follow the Jetstar standard procedures during the first go-around and this created distractions that contributed to the landing gear oversight.

In particular, the flaps remained at the Flaps 3 position during the visual circuit rather than the company standard of Flaps 1.

The first go-around was performed correctly by the first officer until the Jetstar A320  reached the circuit altitude of 1500ft.

Watch the ATSB video reconstruction of the incident:

As the first officer leveled the aircraft, it accelerated quickly towards the Flaps 3 limit speed and the FO called for approach mode to be activated to reduce the plane’s target speed.

Worried about a potential flaps overspeed, where the airspeed exceeds safe limits for the flap setting, the FO  retarded the thrust levers to idle and by doing so de-activated the auto-thrust system and its protections.

IF you love flying you will love this video

“With Flaps 3 still set and 10-degree nose-up pitch altitude, the aircraft performance deteriorated, requiring intervention by the captain,’’ the ATSB said.

Other distractions affecting the crew included the fact the first officer was expecting a left circuit instead of a non-standard right circuit and had not been briefed about the change.

Adding to this was the handover of flight duties to the captain, the need to correct the flight path and the fact the captain continued to fly the aircraft manually, adding to his workload.

The captain elected to remain at Flaps 3, which investigators described as permissible and safe but not Jetstar’s standard configuration for a visual circuit.

“The operator’s sequence of configuring the aircraft for landing required the landing gear to be selected DOWN prior to the selection of Flaps 3,’’ The ATSB report said.

“As the captain turned on to the final approach during the second approach, he scanned the flight instruments, observed Flaps 3 already set and instinctively commanded Flaps FULL, which was the normal sequence from Flaps 3.

“The FO selected Flaps FULL but then also turned his attention to monitoring the aircraft’s flight path.

“As such, neither of the flight crew were aware that the landing gear had not been selected DOWN.”

Investigators said that because the pilots flew the second circuit at 1500ft, the Electronic Centralised Aircraft Monitor (ECAM)  had not reset on the second approach and it did not display a landing memo at 950ft.

“The absence of the landing memo should have prompted the flight crew to perform the items of the landing checklist as a ‘read-and-do’ checklist,’’ it said.

“Had they read the required actions from the checklist, both the captain and FO would have been required to independently check and announce that the landing gear was down.

“This method should have effectively ‘trapped’ their error.”

When the landing memo did appear at 800ft, the crew were focused on intercepting the final approach path and performing radio calls and neither recalled seeing it.

“Both the captain and FO were subsequently alerted to the incorrect configuration for landing by a master warning message triggered at about 700 ft,’’ the report said.

The flight crew conducted a second go-around and landed without incident.

ATSB transport safety director Dr Start Godley said the incident highlighted the importance of adhering to standard operating procedures and correctly monitoring the aircraft’s approach.

“In this case a number of factors, such as distraction and limited use of aircraft automation, combined to result in the landing gear not being selected to down,” Dr Godley said.

“While highly undesirable, it should be noted that the aircraft’s warning system effectively alerted the flight crew to the problem and the crew responded promptly to the warning and initiated a second go-around.”

Jetstar said that as a result of the incident, the pilots attended debriefings with operations management and underwent specific simulator and line flying training related to the event.