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NEWS

787 wins certification from FAA and EASA
Boeing has received certification for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), ahead of first delivery in a month's time.
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Indian air force targets fighter crash rate
The Indian air force has lost 46 fighter aircraft in crashes in the last six years, and has initiated several programs to improve safety. The worst year for fighter crashes was 2009, when the country lost 10 aircraft. Eight incidents were recorded in 2006 and in 2008, while six aircraft were lost each in 2005, 2006 and 2010.
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Gulf Air A320 skids off runway in Kochi
A Gulf Air A320 aircraft has skidded off the runway while landing at India's Kochi International Airport, injuring one passenger and causing the aircraft's front landing gear to collapse.
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Tony Davis to leave Tiger Airways
Tiger Airways has announced a major leadership change, with acting CEO Chin Yau Seng to become permanent CEO, and Australia unit head Tony Davis to leave the company. Davis's departure is effective on 1 November 2011, when Chin will assume his new role, said Tiger. Davis will also cease to be an executive director of Tiger Airways.
Link

Air New Zealand full-year profit dips 1%; earthquakes hit 2H
Air New Zealand (ANZ) posted a fiscal-year net profit of NZ$81 million ($68 million), down 1% compared to the year-ago period. The airline’s second half was severely impacted by natural disasters, including earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand that resulted in a NZ$37 million loss after a NZ$112 million profit in the first half.
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Other News

Flybe Nordic, the new joint venture of Flybe and Finnair, will operate 416 weekly flights on 24 regional routes in the 2011-12 winter schedule, including all former Finnish Commuter Airline (Finncomm) routes plus nine new routes, the carriers announced. New routes are: Helsinki to Mariehamn in Aland, the autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty (twice-daily), Tartu in Estonia (six-times-weekly), Trondheim in Norway (four-times-weekly) and Umea in Sweden (four-times-weekly); Tampere to Tallinn in Estonia (three-times-daily); and TLL to Stockholm Bromma (three-times-daily), to Vaasa (six-times-weekly) and Oulu (six-times-weekly). The latter three routes will be operated by Flybe franchise partner Loganair. Most of the routes will start Oct. 30, but flights from Oulu, Turku and Vaasa to/from to TLL will launch Nov. 14. Flybe’s new routes will be included in Finnair’s flight schedules and flown as codeshare flights.

Virgin Australia (VA) posted a loss of A$66.6 million ($69.75 million) for its fiscal year ended June 30 compared to a profit of A$21.3 million in the year-ago period. The carrier blamed natural disasters in its home state of Queensland, the radical revamp of its product and the introduction of new aircraft for the loss.

Peru’s Ministry of Transport and Communication grounded Peruvian Airlines for safety reasons Aug. 18 for 90 days, according to the Aviation Safety Network (ASN).

SAS Group’s Wideroe recorded its best six months in company history, with a pre-tax profit of NOK187.2 million ($34.5 million), more than doubled from the NOK61.8 million ($11.4 million) earned in the year-ago period.

Monarch Airlines will launch thrice-weekly service to Sharm el Sheikh from London Gatwick and Manchester Nov. 30.

AirTran Airways will launch twice-weekly Baltimore-Aruba service Dec. 17.

Qatar Airways will postpone the launch of daily Doha-Baku-Tbilisi service from the original date of Nov. 30 to Feb. 1, "due to operational reasons," it said.

Etihad Airways and S7 Airlines have expanded their codeshare agreement to include Kazan, Samara, Krasnodar and St. Petersburg.



AVIATION QUOTE

I pay those guys to fly, so let them fly. I'll be damned if I'll pay them to just sit there.

— reportedly Eddie Rickenbackerer CEO Eastern Airlines. Eastern aircraft were some of the last to be equipped with autopilots, his pilots saying if it wasn't in Captain Eddie's SPAD he won't buy it. Quoted in 'Human Factors in Multi-Crew Flight Operations' by Orlady & Orlady.



ON THIS DATE

August 29th

---In 1879... In Ontario, Nellie Thurston becomes the first Canadian woman to fly in a balloon.

--- In 1909... At the end of a two-day flight from Lake Constance during which Count von Zeppelin travels a total distance of more than 400 miles, he makes a spectacular flight in his dirigible LZ5 over the city of Berlin, Germany.

--- In 1911... Mrs. A. Hewlett is the first British woman to gain a pilot’s license.

---In 1929…Graf Zeppelin sets down at Lakehurst, New Jersey to complete its circumnavigation of the globe.

---In 1931…Graf Zeppelin completes the first flight between Germany and Brazil.

---In 1955... W.F. Gibb flies on Olympus-engined Canberra B.2 to a world record altitude of 65,889 ft.

---In 1958…The United States Air Force Academy opens in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

---In 1959…Lockheed and Convair submit proposals for Mach 3+ reconnaissance aircraft.(Q)

---In 1966…First flight of the McDonnell Douglas DC-8-62.

---In 1970…First flight of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10.

---In 1983…First flight of the Beech Model 115 Starship.

---In 1996…Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801, a Tupolev Tu-154M (reg RA-85621) operating a charter flight from Moscow to Svalbard, Norway, crashes into a mountain after the crew botches the approach to Svalbard, killing all 141 on board. It is the deadliest crash ever to occur in Norway.

---In 1997…A Cubana de Aviación Tupolev Tu-154 crashed during takeoff into buildings in Quito, Ecuador. Seventy-five of the 90 people on board died as well as 10 on the ground.

---In 2005…Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) is impacted by Hurricane Katrina, but suffering no flooding. The airport would reopen to supply and rescue flights by the following day, with commercial cargo flights resuming September 10th and passenger flights restarting on September 13th.

---In 2007…Airmen at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota load six nuclear-tipped AGM-129 ACM cruise missiles onto a B-52H bomber for transport to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana without ensuring that the nuclear warheads had been replaced with training warheads. The nukes shoot the breeze without proper handling or security precautions in place for a full 36 hours before anyone notices. The Pentagon would classify it as a “Bent Spear” event, four USAF commanders would lose their jobs and many other airmen would be disciplined.



DAILY VIDEO





EDITOR’S CHOICE





HUMOR

God Was Busy

A college professor, an avowed Atheist, was teaching his class.

He shocked several of his students when he flatly stated he was going to prove there was no God.

Addressing the ceiling he shouted: "God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you 15 minutes!"

The lecture room fell silent. You could have heard a pin fall.

Ten minutes went by. Again he taunted God, saying, "Here I am, God. I'm still waiting."

His count-down got down to the last couple of minutes when a Marine - just released from active duty and newly registered in the class - walked up to the professor, hit him full force in the face, and sent him tumbling from his lofty platform.

The professor was out cold! At first, the students were shocked and babbled in confusion. The young Marine took a seat in the front row and sat silent.
The class fell silent...waiting.

Eventually, the professor came to, shaken he looked at the young Marine in the front row. When the professor regained his senses and could speak he asked: "What's the matter with you? Why did you do that?"

"God was busy. He sent the Marines."



TRIVIA

Worst WW2 Aircraft

1. One of the worst fighters to fly in RAF service was the Defiant. Who designed this unique aircraft.
Supermarine
Vickers
Boulton Paul
Hawker

2. One of Germany's most unusual aircraft was the BV-141, designed by Blohm und Voss. What was unusaul about this aircraft?
Its completely glazed centerline nacelle
Its unusual coupled engines
Its asymetric layout
Its odd armament

3. One of the worst US aircraft to enter squadron service was the P-39 designed by Bell. What country actually used the aircraft to much success?
United Kingdom
Russia
China
France

4. Me-323 was one of the largest, slowest, and most vulnerable aircraft of World War II. How many aircraft survived in service past 1944?
1
10
None
3

5. Definately the oddest transport prototype was the Antonov A-40. What was this aircraft?
A flying submarine type aircraft with a large hold
A prototype human powered aircraft.
A huge flying wing that could carry light tanks
A tank with wings attached

6. One of the worst Italian aircraft of the war was the Breda Ba.88. What was this plane's proposed role?
Bomber
Ground attack
Fighter
Recon

7. As the war progressed in Japan, the aircraft enginers become more and more creative (or desperate). One of their final designs was the MXY-7 Ohka piloted missile. What did the Americans call this plane?
Rita
Fire Blossom
Toa
Baka

8. Another piloted missile was attempted by Germany. The Fi-103R was a piloted version of the V-1. What was the pilot expected to do once locked on target?
Bail out and make his way back to German lines
Stay in the plane
Bail out and be picked up by experimental helicopters
Commit suicide using a small pistol

9. The Fairey Battle was the primary light attack aircraft of the RAF at the beginning of World War II. What battle was the combat debut for this aircraft?
Battle of Dunkirk
Battle of the Meuse
Battle of Malta
Battle of France

10. The A-24 was a dive bomber for the USAAC. What enemy type directly influenced the design of this aircraft?
Ju-87 Stuka
Blackburn Skua
B6M
Aichi D3A