NewsCommercial
Boeing starts building parts for first 737 Max
Having delivered 8,224 737s of all variants from 1967 through September, Boeing’s workers are now starting to build the single-aisle's newest model launched in 2011 – the 737 Max. The structural stringers for the fuselage fabricated in Auburn, Washington, look similar to any previous 737 stringer, but Boeing's workers likely noticed a slight increase in gauge, which is the first visible mark of the re-engined and heavily updated 737 Max model. The stringers will be shipped to Wichita, Kansas, where they will be joined with longerons, panels and other components by Spirit Aerosystems. The completed fuselages will then be sent next year by train to Renton, Washington, where Boeing’s final assembly workers will mate the wings and distinctive split-tip winglets, install landing gear and electronics and complete the interior.
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MH17 Crash Items Recovered Despite Nearby Clashes
Four Dutch experts and local emergency services made a start on Monday recovering personal belongings from the crash site of Malaysia Airlines MH17 in east Ukraine, despite fighting nearby. But the leader of the Dutch team coordinating the repatriation mission said the aim was still to get a Dutch team on site to comb the crash area, despite the fighting between government troops and separatist rebels. "The State Emergency Services managed to recover many personal belongings, nine boxes of a cubic meter each, from the crash site," Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, head of the Dutch repatriation mission, said in an interview on Dutch television. "(There was) jewelry, watches, credit cards, a driving license, a passport, an iPad, photos - things that really should be with relatives," he added.
LinkAirlines
Air France To Go Ahead With Transavia LCC in France
Air France-KLM is pressing ahead with expansion of its low cost unit in France and has a back-up plan if a deadlock with pilots continues, chief executive Alexandre de Juniac said. Pilots ended a strike in late September, its longest since 1998, despite continued deadlock with managers over the development of the firm's low-cost operations. Asked why the pilots suspended the strike when the final decision was not taken, Juniac said in an interview to weekly Le Journal du Dimanche: "Sense of responsibility prevailed. Our proposals remain on the table". Air France-KLM has put the total cost of last month's two-week pilots strike at up to EUR€500 million (USD$631.3 million), enough to wipe more than a fifth off its estimated full-year core profit.
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Finnair trades incentives for savings with pilots’ union
Finnair has approved a one-off long-term incentive plan for its pilots as part of a savings agreement concluded last month between the airline and the Finnish Air Line Pilots’ Association (SLL) that will generate €17 million ($22 million) in permanent annual savings. The savings agreement was contingent upon the realization of the incentive plan, which will cover the 2015-2018 period, provided the agreed-upon cost savings can be realized during this time.
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Lufthansa’s VC pilot union planning more strikes
Lufthansa pilot union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) is planning more strikes within the next several days in its ongoing protest over transition payments for early retirees, a VC spokesperson was quoted by several German media outlets as saying. Last week, Lufthansa Cargo pilots went on a two-day strike, but this action did not have a big impact on Lufthansa operations.
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Norwegian Says Younger Fleet Key To Greener Skies
Norwegian Air Shuttle will cut the average age of its fleet to less than four years, seeing younger aircraft as the key both to cutting fuel bills and limiting climate change. Huge aircraft orders in 2012 will help Norwegian, Europe's number three budget airline behind Ryanair and easyJet in terms of passenger numbers, to a goal of cutting emissions per passenger by 30 percent from 2008 to 2015. "The best an air company can do (to cut greenhouse gas emissions) is to fly modern planes," chief executive Bjørn Kjos said. "We will get down below four years in average age for the fleet. And we will stay there," said Kjos. "A plane can last 25 years but we will fly it less than 10 years."
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Thomson Airways to add two Boeing 787s, 47 737 MAXs by 2020
UK leisure carrier Thomson Airways will take delivery of two further Boeing 787s and 47 new 737 MAX aircraft by 2020 as part of its “five-year vision to change the face of holiday flying,” the airline said. This will give Thomson Airways an average fleet age of five years. The Dreamliner aircraft will increase long-haul capacity, and new destinations will include the only direct flight from the UK to Costa Rica in November 2015, with expanded operations in the Eastern Caribbean and the Antilles. Vietnam and Malaysia in Southeast Asia are under consideration.
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Airlines Need Tougher Rules On Battery Fires
An advisory panel has recommended tightening restrictions on bulk shipments of lithium batteries via commercial aircraft, after a crash that pointed to the risks of the volatile batteries onboard aircraft. The group, which advises the ICAO, suggested among other measures that fire detection systems be reassessed to see if they respond quickly enough, and that bulk shipments of the batteries be limited in size and placed in cargo compartments with the best fire-suppression ability. It also recommended that aircraft manufacturers and regulators consider new aircraft designs that reduce fire risk from the batteries, which are used in a wide range of consumer electronics.
LinkMilitary
Four killed in Turkish Seahawk crash
The four-man crew of a Turkish navy-operated Sikorsky S-70B Seahawk were killed when their helicopter crashed on 12 October. According to the navy, the rotorcraft took off from its Cengiz Topel facility, in Kocaeli to join an exercise at Konya air base. It crashed into a mountain during low visibility, killing its two pilots and two radar operators. The wreckage was located early the next morning.
LinkRegulatory
FAA Chicago-area ATC Back To Full Operations
Full operation was restored on Monday at the Chicago-area air traffic control site that was shut down in September by a fire, forcing extensive flight delays and cancellations. The fire forced the evacuation of the FAA control facility in Aurora, Illinois on September 26. Thousands of flights were cancelled at major airports in Chicago and across the United States and the disruption continued for several days. Operations slowly returned to near normal at O'Hare and Midway airports in the days after the fire by shifting nearly 200 workers and responsibilities to other sites.
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Aviation Quote
It is a magic aircraft . . . the pleasure of flying in it is almost a carnal one.
— Joelle Cornet-Templet, Air France's Chief Steward regards Concorde.
On This Date
---In 1947... Captain Charles “Chuck” Yeager becomes the 1st person to fly faster than sound. Yeager “breaks the sound barrier” in his Bell X-1 airplane, Glamorous Glennis, named after his wife. He was able to reach 670-mph or Mach 1.015 at Muroc Dry Lake, California.
---In 1962…U2 flight over Cuba discovers Soviet ballistic missile base. (Q)
---In 1964…First flight of the Sikorsky YCH-53 Sea Stallion.
Daily Video
Editor’s Choice
Humor
The Parrot
On reaching his plane seat a man is surprised to see a parrot strapped in next to him. He asks the stewardess for coffee whereupon the parrot squawks, “And get me a whiskey you cow.” The stewardess, flustered, brings back a whiskey for the parrot and forgets the coffee.
When this omission is pointed out to her, the parrot drains its glass and bawls, “And get me another whiskey you bitch.” Quite upset,the girl comes back shaking with another whiskey but still no coffee.
Unaccustomed to such slackness, the man tries the parrot's approach. “I've asked you twice for coffee. Go and get it now, or I'll give you a slap.”
Next moment, both he and the parrot have been wrenched up and thrown out of the emergency exit by two burly stewards. Plunging downwards the parrot turns to him and says, “For someone who can't fly, you're a cheeky bastard.”
Trivia
General Trivia
1. What large aircraft was considered so slow that its pilots used to say the navigator needed a calendar more than a chronograph?
2. Normal, Utility and Aerobatic category aircraft are stressed for 3.8, 4.4 and 6 Gs, respectively. What is the maximum allowable load factor for transport category jetliners?
3. Many airplanes are equipped with electrical inverters. What is the purpose of an inverter?
4. A pilot on a cross-country flight looks down and sees the tallest waterfall. Where is he?
5. Many multi-engine airplanes are equipped with ice protection plates. Where are they installed and what is their specific purpose?
6. What did aircraft designers Larry Bell, Donald Douglas and James McDonnell have in common?
7. What was the only American-built airplane to see action in WW1?
8. True or false; The simple square knot is one of the best to use when tying down an airplane with rope.
9. True or False; The circumnavigating Rutan Voyager, and the Spirit of St. Louis and at least one thing in common. Neither of them had brakes.
10. True or False, Two space shuttles are orbiting the Earth at the same speed and altitude. One however is a thousand miles behind the other. For the laggard to catch up with the leader, he should add thrust in the direction of travel.
11. Flutter can destroy an airplane and is a function of:
Calibrated Air Speed
Equivalent Airspeed
Indicated Airspeed
True Air Speed
12. Which of the following does NOT belong:
Emu
Gooney
Kiwi
Ostrich
Penguin
13. With respect to pilot qualifications, which of the following does not belong?
Controllable-pitch propeller
Flaps
Engine with more than 200 hp
Retractable landing gear
