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NEWS

Analysis: Boeing likely won't hurry decision on a 737 upgrade
Boeing is still considering whether to meet Airbus' decision to re-engine the A320 with a similar move for the 737, its comparable single-aisle plane. There are many pros and cons to the choice, according to Reuters, but Boeing has some wiggle room because Airbus is not going to debut the upgrade until 2016. "They probably have a 12- to 18-month reprieve," said Andrew Watterson, a consultant at Oliver Wyman.
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SpaceX prepares for milestone launch of commercial rocket
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has been making final preparations for what will represent a milestone in space travel this week -- the launch and recovery of the first commercially operated spacecraft from orbit. The company, known as SpaceX, performed an engine test on the Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday, with the launch of the Dragon space capsule planned on Tuesday.
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Navy awards Boeing $29.9M contract for unmanned cargo aircraft
Boeing has been awarded a $29.9 million contract to provide unmanned aircraft cargo systems to support the Marine Corps. The contract, awarded by Naval Air Systems, calls for the provision of two A160T Hummingbird unmanned vehicles, three ground-control stations, spares, training and support.
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Boeing could be tops in aircraft orders for 2010
For the first time in three years, Boeing appears poised to displace Airbus as the leader in new commercial aircraft orders. Through the end of November, Boeing has 489 net orders, compared to 388 for Airbus. Both companies are far ahead of their totals for 2009, when Airbus recorded 271 orders, and Boeing had just 142.
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Honeywell sees $2B in savings for airlines using GPS landing system
Honeywell Aerospace says its satellite-guided landing system known as performance-based navigation will save airlines some $2 billion annually when fully implemented, while saving 1.3 billion gallons of jet fuel. At least four U.S. airlines have equipped some of their jets with the system, which is just one piece of the massive NextGen air traffic control upgrade.
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Phantom Ray prepares for transport to California air base
Boeing's unmanned Phantom Ray aircraft will get a one-hour test ride this week atop a 747 shuttle carrier, marking the first time that the modified jumbo jet has been used to transport any vehicle other than a space shuttle. The flight, scheduled to take off Dec. 11 from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, is a test run prior to transporting the Phantom Ray to California's Edwards Air Force Base for its first flight.
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NASA: Discovery delayed until February, but extra mission is still possible
NASA has decided to pass on a Dec. 17-20 launch window for the Space Shuttle Discovery as engineers search for the cause of cracks in its exterior fuel tank. With December out of the question, Discovery's next launch window will come in early February, pushing the next Endeavour mission into April. Even so, NASA says there is still room on the calendar for one more launch in late June before the shuttle fleet is retired.
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Continental, mechanic found guilty in Concorde crash
Continental Airlines and one of its mechanics were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for their part in the crash of an Air France Concorde on July 25, 2000 in which 113 people died, a French court ruled Monday. The court concluded that there was an “incontestable link” between the safety failures of Continental and the fire that brought down the aircraft, and held the airline and its mechanic responsible for having incorrectly manufactured and installed a piece of titanium that fell from a CO DC-10 at that took off from the same runway at Paris Charles de Gaulle shortly before the Concorde.
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Discussion

Spain may extend ATC strike-ending emergency decree
The Spanish government said it may extend for up to two months its first “state of alarm” measure ordering controllers back to work for 15 days. The controllers launched a wildcat strike on Friday afternoon that resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of flights, with approximately 600,000 travelers stranded. The government's emergency decree was declared Saturday and controllers began returning to work hours after it was announced.
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Discussion

Images reveal battle to set down crippled Dagestan Tu-154

Extraordinary video images have emerged of the emergency landing by a crippled Dagestan Airlines Tupolev Tu-154M which illustrate the crew's battle to put the aircraft safely on the ground.
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Airbus outlines expected market impact of A320NEO

Airbus's long-awaited re-engined narrowbody programme, the A320 New Engine Option, or NEO, will mean there is "virtually no business case left" for Bombardier's CSeries, according to the European airframer's chief salesman John Leahy.
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Etihad lays out plan for 150-strong fleet
Etihad Airways will see conservative growth over the next two years as the Middle East carrier plans to take delivery of 11 new aircraft. Etihad currently operates a 57-aircraft fleet after receiving two Airbus A330-300s and two A330-200Fs this year. Next year Etihad plans to take delivery of seven new aircraft, a mix of Airbus and Boeing aircraft. The carrier will add one A330-200, three A330-300s, two Boeing 777-300ERs and one 777F aircraft. Plans for 2012 include the induction of another four 777-300ERs.
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Qantas unhappy with Rolls-Royce reaction
Qantas has made clear that it is not happy with Rolls-Royce's handling of the Airbus A380 engine failure crisis, and has prepared the way for court action against the engine manufacturer. The airline says it will take legal action unless the two parties can agree a settlement over losses resulting from grounding of its six A380s after the uncontained failure of a Trent 900 on 4 November. This failure forced a Qantas A380 to make an emergency landing at Singapore, the airframe having received considerable damage from high-energy escaping engine fragments.
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Other News

Rumor: Seems American Airlines just picked up 4 white tail 777's & looking to get 20 JAL 777's if they can get financing.

Airports worldwide reported 7.7% increase in passenger traffic for October compared to the year-ago period, bringing the 10-month traffic gain to 6.4% compared, according to figures released by Airports Council International.

JAL Group announced Monday that its subsidiary travel companies, JALPAK Co. and JAL TOURS will merge from April 1, 2011, subject to the approval of the stockholders of both companies. The new entity will retain the name of JALPAK Co., Ltd.

Lufthansa said its Electronic Flight Bag, with the addition of FlyNet connectivity will "enable us to make decisions in a better way," including constant updates to weather forecasts and live satellite pictures, for which pilots currently rely on paper documents, which can be up to 10 hr. old on long-haul flights. It will also allow LH to replace handwritten logs with the electronic TechLog system.

Lufthansa Systems reached five-year contract with Windrose Aviation to supply its Flight Management Systems onboard the Ukrainian carrier's Airbus A320 fleet. The airline operates a fleet of two Embraer E-195s, two MD-82s, one An-24 and two Airbus A320s.

AirBaltic announced it has finalized financing for all of its Bombardier Q400NGs and will take delivery of the remaining five of eight it ordered in the next few weeks. The eight aircraft have been purchased by Nordic Aviation Capital AS and will be leased to airBaltic.

ST Aerospace received Civil Aviation Administration of China and Transport Canada Supplemental Type Certification for its Boeing 757-200SF passenger-to-freighter conversion program.

Jetairfly took delivery of its first 737-800 with the new Boeing Sky Interior. The Belgian subsidiary of TUI Travel is the first European-based airline to operate a 737 with the new interior. The aircraft is configured with 189 seats and brings Jetairfly’s fleet to 14 aircraft.

Lufthansa will install new, lighter seats, offering up to four cm. more seat pitch on its European continental fleet, beginning Dec. 15. LH requires a total of around 33,000 seats for its existing fleet and for its soon to be delivered aircraft. Under the retrofit, up to two rows extra can be installed on an aircraft, which would increase the number of seats on an A320 from 156 to 168.

Tagsys announced that Qantas has deployed an RFID reusable bag tag using Tagsys technology. According to the company, the bag tags can store details for up to four flights and be reprogrammed for future flights. The bag tags are being used at Sydney and Perth domestic terminals by premium frequent flyers. This will be followed by deployments in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra in 2011.

Lufthansa told reporters in Frankfurt last week it is considering several options of self-service bag drops, including a home-print baggage tag with a reusable RFID sleeve, a hybrid paper-RFID tag, and a permanent RFID tag, which it is currently piloting with the attendees of this year’s AGM.

Emirates SkyCargo, the cargo division of Emirates airline, and DHL Global Forwarding, the air and ocean freight forwarder of Deutsche Post DHL, will partner to drive the e-freight agenda across their networks. Both companies said that working in an electronic environment will bring enhanced operational efficiency and improvement to the supply chain.

Delta Air Lines will outfit 223 Delta Connection regional jet aircraft with onboard Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi, beginning in January and slated to be complete by the end of 2011. It completed outfitting all mainline domestic aircraft in early November. Once fully installed, more than 80% of Delta's domestic fleet, 772 aircraft, will feature Gogo Inflight Internet access.

SITA and Royal Jordanian signed a five-year deal under which RJ will migrate to the SITA Airfare Insight fares pricing platform.

Air-Transport IT Services will provide its EASE common-use infrastructure platforms solution at Lynden Pindling International Airport, including include check-in counters for charter operators and 21 gate positions for nine scheduled carriers.

Ramco Systems Canada will provide its Aviation Series 5 Software to Aveos, including Financials and Aviation Analytics.



AVIATION QUOTE

Rule books are paper - they will not cushion a sudden meeting of stone and metal.
— Ernest K. Gann, 'Fate is the Hunter.'

ON THIS DATE

December 7, 1945

In 1945... New Zealand National Airways Corporation is founded with amalgamation of Union Airways, Air Travel and Cook Strait Airways. These carriers brought De Havilland biplanes and Lockheed twins to the new airline.

New Zealand National Airways Corporation began with a huge capital of one million pounds (Sterling) and had the responsibility of running a full domestic route network. It also served the various territories of the Pacific which were then under New Zealand control.



DAILY VIDEO





EDITOR’S CHOICE





HUMOR

Career Change

A gynecologist was getting sick of his job and decided that he needed a career change.

He"d always enjoyed tinkering with engines so thought he"d become a mechanic. So he went along to mechanics school and the final test was to strip the engine completely and reassemble it back into perfect working order. Our gynecologist friend did the test and anxiously awaited his results.

The day he received the results, he got quite a surprise -- he got 150%. He quickly phoned the instructor and asked about the high mark.

The instructor said, ?No, thats right. First, I gave you 50% for stripping down the engine -- a very thorough job. Next, I gave you 50% for reassembling it -- a fantastic job really. And then I gave you a 50% bonus for doing it all through the tail pipe.?



TRIVIA

General Trivia

1. What was the first man-made object to reach the surface of the moon?

2. A number of Ernest K. Gann’s books were made into motion pictures, the most notable being The High and the Mighty and Fate is the Hunter. Why did he detest the second of these?

3. What is the world’s largest helicopter?

4. What vortac is colloquially known as the “Broken Bra Vortac?”

5. True or false; a helicopter pilot operating under a special VFR clearance to depart Class B, C or D airspace during the day or at night is not required to abide by any minimum visibility.

1. Luna 2
3. Mil V-12 unless you count aerostats
5. True

I've never seen those three points of light behind the shuttle's tail before. What's going on there?

#4 TDT, Tidioute PA

No idea on the trivia, but the TU154 video is killer . . .

The Editor's Choice is also awesome. No idea what those three points of light are though . . .

ANSWERS:

1. The Soviet Union launched Luna 2 on 12 SEPT 1959, 10 years before Apollo 11. The spherical, 860 pound scientific package impacted the lunar surface on 14 SEPT, 33.5 hours after lift-off.

2. The movie’s producers bought the movie rights to the book merely to use its title. The film and the book had little in common.

3. The massive Soviet-built Mi-12 featured two side-by-side rotors that together spanned almost 220 feet, more than the wingspan of a classic 747. It had a maximum lift-off weight of 231,485 pounds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-12

4. The Tidioute Vortac in Pennsylvania.
http://skyvector.com/#35-14-3-4098-2065

5. True, He is required, however, to remain clear of the clouds (as difficult as it may be to see them).