You are at netAirspace : Forum : Air and Space Forums : netAirspace Daily News

NEWS

At Least 30 Dead In Angola Air Crash - Reports
At least 30 people were killed, including three generals, when an Angolan military aircraft crashed on Wednesday at an airport in Huambo, local media said. The plane with 36 people on board belonged to the air force and authorities were trying to reach the crash site, 550 kms (330 miles) southwest of the capital Luanda, Radio Nacional de Angola and news agency Angop said in reports monitored in Johannesburg.
Link

Interjet Decides Against Mexicana Takeover
Mexican airline Interjet said on Wednesday it has decided against taking over the operations of troubled carrier Mexicana, which stopped flying a year ago due to financial difficulties. In a newspaper announcement, Interjet said its board had been asked to consider taking on Mexicana's business by a third party, and had decided not to after reviewing the possibility.
Link

DOT's proposal to expand airline reporting requirements blasted by industry
Airlines are pushing back hard against the US Dept. of Transportation's (DOT) proposal to greatly expand regulatory reporting requirements for the industry, including mandating that carriers provide breakdowns of revenue generated by various ancillary charges.
Link

SAS to cut costs 3%-5% annually by 2015
SAS Group president and CEO Rickard Gustafson announced a new strategy, SAS 4Excellence, aimed at reducing costs by 3%-5% annually until 2015 and returning the carrier to profitability.
Link

House passes FAA extension; Senate must act to avoid partial shutdown
US House of Representatives passed Tuesday by unanimous consent legislation extending FAA and surface transportation funding into next year, pushing the issue to the Senate, which must act on the bill before Friday to avert another partial FAA shutdown.
Link

Qantas reaffirms 787 commitment
Qantas (QF) has reaffirmed its commitment to the Boeing 787 program, despite the long delays. Speaking with ATW in Seattle Tuesday, QF group executive-Airlines Operations Lyell Strambi said, “If the 787 lives up to its promise it will be a major draw card. It will stand out in customers’ minds and I think it will be the plane of choice.”
Link

Rolls Sees Jump In Electrical Power Demand
Led by Boeing’s more-electric 787, new and future commercial aircraft designs are driving a surge in demand for increased electric systems power, says Rolls-Royce. Graham Hopkins, executive vice president, external supply chain engineering for Rolls-Royce, says the current trend is driving toward a 10-fold increase in overall electric demand.
Link

Delta has no plans for follow-on aircraft order anytime soon
Delta Air Lines has quashed speculation that it intends to place a second aircraft order following its decision last month to order 100 Boeing 737-900ERs. Previously Delta had stated it could order up to 200 aircraft, and praised the technological advances offered by the Bombardier CSeries.
Link

Next generation 777 comes into focus
Building on its 777-300ER, Boeing is evaluating its next moves in the 300 to 415-seat market with its conceptual 777-8X/9X, powered by a smaller GE90-derived engine, composite wing, a possible fuselage stretch and higher economy seating capacity. This marks what is likely to become the second major incremental evolution of the 777 family, 15% better than today's aircraft.
Link


Other News

US Airways announced that William Post, retired chairman and CEO of Pinnacle West Corp. has joined its board of directors. Post, 60, will serve on the board's Compensation and Human Resources Committee and its labor committee.

Emirates Airline (EK) confirmed that former Lufthansa manager Thierry Antinori will join the Dubai-based carrier Oct 1. Antinori will become executive VP, replacing divisional SVP-Commercial Operations Worldwide Richard Vaughan, who will retire, said EK.

Air Transport Assn. of America named Christine Burgeson, former senior lobbyist for president George W. Bush and Citigroup, as SVP-Global Government Affairs.

KfW IPEX-Bank said Delphine Deroche has joined its aviation team as VP-North America. For the last two years, Deroche has been on secondment with the Airbus customer finance team in Toulouse. She will be based in Frankfurt.



AVIATION QUOTE
Captain: Got any ideas?
F/O: Actually not.
— Captain Chesley B 'Sully' Sullenberger III and F/O Jeff Skiles, flying an unpowered A320 over New York after suffering a bird strike that disabled both engines, they glided perfectly into the Hudson river with no loss of life. US Airways flight 1549, 15 January 2009.



ON THIS DATE

September 15th

---In 1784... Italian diplomat, Vincenzo Lunardi, makes the 1st ascent in a hydrogen balloon in Britain.

---In 1904... Wilbur Wright in the airplane Flyer II makes his 1st controlled half-circle while in flight.

---In 1934…Aeronaves de mexico (Aeromexico) is founded.

---In 1969…First flight of the Cessna FanJet500, the prototype which led to the Cessna Citation.

---In 1977…Air Seychelles established.

---In 1983…First flight of the Agusta A129 Mangusta MM590.

---In 1991…First flight of the C-17 Globemaster III

---In 1987… A Eurocopter Panther sets new time-to-altitude records for helicopters in its class.



DAILY VIDEO





EDITOR’S CHOICE





HUMOR

An Englishman, a Frenchman and an American

Three guys, an Englishman, a Frenchman and an American are out walking along the beach together one day. They come across a lantern and a genie pops out of it.

"I will give you each one wish," says the genie.

The American says, "I am a farmer, my dad was a farmer, and my son will also farm. I want the land to be forever fertile in America."

With a blink of the genie's eye, 'FOOM' - the land in America was forever made fertile for farming.

The Frenchman was amazed, so he said, "I want a wall around France, so that no one can come into our precious country."

Again, with a blink of the Genie's eye, 'POOF' - there was a huge wall around France.

The Englishman asks, "I'm very curious. Please tell me more about this wall.

The Genie explains, "Well, it's about 150 feet high, 50 feet thick and nothing can get in or out."

The Englishman says, "Right, fill it up with water."



TRIVIA

General Trivia

1The airport elevation shown on instrument approach charts is almost always the
a. highest point on any runway.
b. highest point on the longest runway.
c. highest point on the primary instrument runway.
d. the elevation of the airport reference point.

2. The first product advertised by skywriting appears to have been
a. Baby Ruth candy bars.
b. newspaper, The Daily Mail.
c. Cuban cigars.
d.American cigarettes.

3. Which of the following World War II bombers was armed with the most guns?
a. B-17 Flying Fortress
b. B-24 Liberator
c. B-25 Mitchell
d. B-29 Superfortress

4. A member of which of the following famous American families was a three-time U.S. National Soaring Champion, set numerous distance records, funded the Soaring Society of America during the Depression, and headed the U.S. Army's American Glider Program for Gen. Henry "Hap" Arnold during World War II?
a. Aronson (Ronson lighters)
b. du Pont
c .Ford
d. Rockefeller

5. Who are the Quiet Birdmen?
a. A fraternal organization of pilots founded by Charles Lindbergh.
b. An informal organization of pilots who have experienced and survived an actual engine failure.
c. A fraternal organization of sailplane enthusiasts founded by Orville Wright.
d. An organization of pilots with hearing and/or speaking disabilities.

6. The first pilot to fly a complete circle in an airplane was
e. Glen Curtiss.
f. Alberto Santos-Dumont.
g. Orville Wright.
h. Wilbur Wright.

ANSWERS:

1. (a) The high point usually is at one end of a runway but occasionally is somewhere between the ends of a runway.

2. (b) A British, war-surplus S.E.5a fighter was flown by Cyril Turner over England in May 1922. The first non-commercial skywriting was done over Seattle by Milton Bryant on July 19, 1913.

3. (c) B-25Js with the solid nose had 18 50-calibre guns, eight in the nose, four under the cockpit, two in the upper turret, two in the waist, and a pair in the tail, more than any other bomber.

4. (b) Richard C. du Pont also partnered in 1933 with Hawley Bowlus, shop foreman during the building of the Spirit of St. Louis, to form the Bowlus-DuPont Sailplane Co., which made gliders in California.

5. (a) At their meetings, members of the "Anciente [sic] and Secret Order of Quiet Birdmen" are not as quiet as their name would suggest. Lindbergh's founding of the "QBs" has not been confirmed.

6. (h) The circle was flown in 1.5 minutes on September 20, 1904, at Huffman Prairie, an 85-acre pasture that was the Wrights' test field near Dayton.