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Nigeria Grounds Dana Air After Lagos Crash
Nigeria's government has suspended the air license of Dana Air, two days after 153 people died in the country's worst airline disaster for 20 years, the aviation ministry said on Tuesday.
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Embraer Says Facing Order Deferrals In Europe

Regional jet maker Embraer faces order deferrals by some customers in Europe but has not yet been hit with cancellations despite the region's debt crisis, the head of the Brazilian company's commercial division said on Tuesday.
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Pakistan tests nuclear-capable Ra’ad air-launched cruise missile
Pakistan has conducted a successful test firing of the indigenously developed Hatf-VIII (Ra'ad) air launched cruise missile. The missile has a range in excess of 350km (217miles) and can deliver both conventional and nuclear warheads "with pin point accuracy", Pakistan's ministry of defence said in a statement. It added that the missile is a "low altitude, terrain hugging missile with high manoeuvrability".
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Combat Edge anti-g ensemble might be causing Raptor’s oxygen woes
The Combat Edge upper pressure-garment worn by US Air Force pilots flying the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor might be the cause of the fifth-generation fighter's oxygen maladies, sources say. While pilots need counter-pressure from the vest-like pressure garment to exhale at low cabin pressures found in the Raptor's cockpit, the Combat Edge and associated breathing systems might be providing too much pressure especially under g-loading. "It just seems a little weird to breathe of off this thing," one source says. "Because you can't expand your lungs as easily because you have something restricting you."
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FedEx retires 18 A310Fs, six MD-10Fs

FedEx said it has decided to permanently ground 18 Airbus A310-200 freighters and six MD-10Fs. “The majority of these aircraft are currently parked and not in revenue service,” it said in a statement. As a result of the retirements, the company incurred a noncash impairment charge of $134 million in its fiscal fourth quarter ended May 31.
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Scoot launches commercial flights
Singapore Airlines’ new medium to long-haul low cost carrier Scoot launched its inaugural commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney with 400 guests aboard. The flight, which media reports said was delayed by 100 minutes due to a medical emergency and a technical glitch, touched down without further incident at SYD.
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Oman Air to launch flights to Tehran this fall
Oman Air will launch a new daily service between Muscat and the Iranian capital Tehran Sept. 1. The MCT-THR route will be operated using WY’s Embraer E-175 regional jets. The airline took delivery of two of the aircraft in 2011; two more will enter service later this year. The airline also holds an option on a further five aircraft.
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Air Astana adds new routes this summer

Kazakhstan-based Air Astana (KC) has reported increased traffic and capacity in an updated presentation to ATW. First-quarter traffic rose 17% to 972,000 passengers compared to 834,000 in the year-ago period. Capacity rose by 14% in the first quarter to 2.92 million, against 2.55 million year-over-year.
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Greece’s Astra Airlines increases routes in Russia
Russian aviation authorities have approved eight new destinations for Greek carrier Astra Airlines (A2). The carrier received permission to fly from its Thessaloniki base to Novosibirsk, Omsk, Perm, Nizhniy Novgorod, Tyumen, Ufa, Samara, Volgograd, Voronezh and Saratov. The airline can operate these routes once a week from May 15 through the end of this year’s IATA summer season.
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AF goes daily with A380 to LAX

Air France has taken delivery of its eighth Airbus A380 and has launched a daily A380 service between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Los Angeles. LAX is the third US destination to be served by AF’s A380 aircraft, following New York and Washington; daily service began May 28.
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Southwest Airlines will launch new routes this year
Southwest Airlines plans to launch new routes in November and take over some routes flown by AirTran Airways. Southwest acquired AirTran last year, and eventually plans to absorb all AirTran flights into the Southwest brand. However, Southwest does not plan to add service in Memphis, Tenn., this year.
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American in new talks with pilots on cost-cutting
After failing to win agreement from flight attendants on cost-cutting measures, American Airlines on Monday began talking to pilots about concessions. A federal judge is acting as mediator in the negotiations. If the company and unions can't agree on layoffs, benefit reductions and other changes, a federal bankruptcy judge is scheduled to rule by June 22 whether American can impose its own terms.
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Safety agency, Airbus are close to settlement on A380 wing fix
The European Aviation Safety Agency is nearing a settlement with Airbus over fixes to the wings of A380s. Airbus has said cracks on the wings will take "a matter of days, not weeks" to fix for each aircraft. The fix will include replacing current wing rib feet with slightly heavier versions.
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Fla. is jockeying to be one of 6 UAV test sites
Unmanned aerial vehicles could be flying the Florida skies after the Federal Aviation Administration devises rules by 2015. The state is in the running to be one of the six test sites that the FAA could choose by the end of the year. "We want Florida to be at the leading edge of this," said Jim Kuzma, chief operations officer of Space Florida.
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Dream Chaser embarks on test flights in Colo.
The Dream Chaser spacecraft, built by Sierra Nevada Corp., began flight testing in Colorado this week. The low-altitude test flights were conducted near Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport. "The successful captive carry flight test of the Dream Chaser full scale flight vehicle marks the beginning of SNC's flight test program, a program that could culminate in crewed missions to the International Space Station for NASA," said Steve Lindsey, head of Dream Chaser flight operations, in a statement.
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Other News

Flybe (BE) and the UK’s air navigation services provider, National Air Traffic Services (NATS), have joined forces on a collaborative safety initiative known as FLOSS (Flybe Line Operational Safety Survey). FLOSS is described by the two companies as “a proactive safety process” that enables safety improvements to be developed and delivered by both BE and NATS in fine-tuning the interface between operational staff and controllers. Its methodology is based on the Day2Day (D2D) observational safety survey process being supported by Eurocontrol that involves anonymous, confidential and non-punitive “over the shoulder” observations by trained observers of a normal working situation.

Pratt & Whitney and Russia’s Irkut Corp. signed an agreement to offer the PurePower PW1400G engine on Irkut’s MC-21 family of aircraft. It will be the only western powerplant offered on the new narrowbody program. Irkut is developing the MC-21 as a family of 150- to 210-passenger aircraft with first flight of the PW1400G engined aircraft planned for 2015 and entry into service in 2017. The MC-21 series will feature jetliners with 25,000-32,000 lbs. of thrust.

Thai Airways International (TG) outgoing president Piyasvasti Amranand told the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand that TG has good future prospects. The recently ousted president said the carrier had reported a first-quarter profit of THB3.6 billion ($118 million). He said preliminary second-quarter figures were good, with a traffic load factor of 78% for April. “Things are moving well,” he said “financially I believe the company is strong.”

Jet Midwest Group announced it has acquired 17 complete Boeing 767 aircraft from Air Canada.

Boeing delivered the first new 737-800 NextGen to Air Lease Corp. (ALC) to be operated by Korean Air (KE) from an order placed during the 2010 Farnborough Airshow. The Los Angeles-based leasing company took delivery of a Next-Generation 737-800, which will be leased from ALC and operated by KE.

GECAS will lease 12 Boeing 737-500s to Sriwijaya Air. The first aircraft is in service with the Indonesian carrier; the rest are scheduled for delivery through January 2013.

Recaro Aircraft Seating has won an order from Alaska Airlines (AS) for its Recaro Basic Line 3520 seat. AS will be the launch customer for the variant, which will be installed as economy on its 22 new Boeing 737-900ERs scheduled for delivery beginning in the fall through 2014. AS will also install the Recaro CL4400 seat in the first-class cabin on its 737-900ERs.

AVIATION QUOTE

The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.

— Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 1776-1787.

ON THIS DATE

---In 1903... After several stationary stability trials, Ferdinand Ferber makes the first full trial of his glider No.6. It fails to take off in Nice, France.

---In 1910... Robert Martinet wins the first cross-country air race, between Angers and Saumur, France (27 miles), in a Farman; he takes 31 minutes and 35 seconds.

---In 1944... A huge airborne armada, nine planes wide and 200 miles long, carries American and British troops across the British Channel for the D-Day invasion of Europe.

---In 1944…Alaska Airlines commences operations.

---In 1964... Silver City Airways (British) announces that it has recorded the one-millionth car it has flown between the UK cross-Channel car ferry by air in 1948.

---In 1964… A U.S. Navy RF-8A Crusader photographic reconnaissance aircraft is shot down over Laos, becoming the first U.S. Navy aircraft and first American fixed-wing aircraft lost over Indochina in the Vietnam War era.

---In 1971… Soyuz 11 takes 3 cosmonauts to Salyut 1 space station.

---In 1985… Soyuz T-13 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 7 space station.

---In 2004… Alaska Airlines starts service between Denver and Anchorage and discontinues service between San Jose and Tucson.

DAILY VIDEO

EDITOR’S CHOICE

HUMOR

The Blind Skydiver

A blind man was describing his favorite sport, parachuting. When asked how this was accomplished, he said that things were all done for him: "I am placed in the door with my seeing eye dog and told when to jump. My hand is placed on my release ring for me and out I go with the dog."

"But how do you know when you are going to land?" he was asked. "I have a very keen sense of smell, and I can smell the trees and grass when I am 300 feet from the ground" he answered.

"But how do you know when to lift your legs for the final arrival on the ground?" he was again asked. He quickly answered: "Oh, the dog's leash goes slack."

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miamiair wrote:Dream Chaser embarks on test flights in Colo.
The Dream Chaser spacecraft, built by Sierra Nevada Corp., began flight testing in Colorado this week. The low-altitude test flights were conducted near Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport. "The successful captive carry flight test of the Dream Chaser full scale flight vehicle marks the beginning of SNC's flight test program, a program that could culminate in crewed missions to the International Space Station for NASA," said Steve Lindsey, head of Dream Chaser flight operations, in a statement.
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