NewsCommercial
Lufthansa Cancels 15 Friday Flights Due To Strike
Lufthansa said it would cancel 15 flights on Friday morning due to a security staff strike. German union Verdi has called on security workers at Frankfurt airport to go on strike on Friday in a bid to push for higher pay, a move likely to cause widespread disruption at Europe's third largest hub.
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Doomed UPS Plane Lacked Updated Warning Software
Updated software would have given UPS pilots an earlier warning that they were too low before their cargo jet crashed in August, killing both crew members on approach to Birmingham airport, Alabama, a US National Transportation Safety Board report concluded. The report, presented on Thursday as part of an NTSB hearing into the crash, said pilot Cerea Beal and first officer Shanda Fanning did not get a "too low terrain" warning from the plane's Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System until one second after the first sound of impact with trees in a residential area during its descent.
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Airlines Face Fines As Deadline Looms On EU ETS
US airlines have stepped up the pressure on EU countries not to impose fines for alleged breaches of emissions rules in the latest twist to an international row over aircraft pollution. The warning coincided with a deadline on Thursday for European Union nations to start enforcing rules covering 2012 emissions that could lead to fines of millions of euros against aircraft operators. US airline association A4A said it was calling on the European Commission - the EU executive and its member states for clarity that there would be no penalties. "We and various aviation stakeholders continue to push for a clear statement of relief from the application of the pending deadlines," it said. The next deadline for operators is the end of March, when they should report data for 2013 emissions.
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Air France-KLM To Invest USD$100 Mln In Gol
Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas has formed a strategic partnership with Air France-KLM that includes flight sharing and joint sales, according to a securities filing on Wednesday.
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Air France-KLM Swings Back To Operating Profit
Air France-KLM reported a swing back to profit last year and said it was on course to meet its main debt reduction goal in 2015 after a prolonged crisis. Posting its first underlying profit in three years, Europe's second-largest network carrier by revenues said it made an operating profit of EUR€130 million (USD$178 million) in 2013, compared with a EUR€336 million operating loss the year before. Air France-KLM confirmed a forecast of EUR€2.5 billion in EBITDA or gross earnings for 2014 and said it aimed to reduce net debt to EUR€4.5 billion in 2015, as previously pledged.
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Long landing in tailwind caused Il-76 overrun
Late reduction of thrust and an out-of-limits tailwind caused a Volga-Dnepr Ilyushin Il-76 to overrun as it touched down long at St John’s in Canada. Investigators found that the pilot increased thrust 3s after crossing the threshold of runway 11, and did not retard the throttles to idle for another 5s. The aircraft touched down 3,570ft beyond the threshold, bounced, then made contact again at 4,220ft – about halfway along the 8,500ft runway. Although reverse thrust was engaged on the two outboard engines, and the spoilers were deployed, the aircraft did not decelerate quickly enough. The crew belatedly applied reverse thrust on the inboard engines, about 1,000ft from the runway end, but the heavy transport overran by 640ft.
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Hawaiian Airlines to begin nonstop service to Beijing
Hawaiian Airlines will launch direct flights from Honolulu to Beijing in April as the carrier's eighth destination in Asia. "We are really focused on serving Hawaii as an destination uniquely," said Peter Ingram, chief commercial officer for the carrier. "We build our entire products on having service and hospitality that reflects the culture of Hawaii."
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American announces Okla. facility will move to 7-day schedule
American Airlines has decided to run its engine maintenance facility in Tulsa, Okla., seven days a week. The facility, called TAESL, is a joint venture with Rolls-Royce. The new schedule allows American to keep the current workforce in place.
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United to replace 747s with 777s for flights to Sydney
United Airlines plans to upgrade its fleet serving routes between the U.S. and Australia. United will replace its Boeing 747s with Boeing 777-200s on April 1 for flights between the U.S. and Sydney. The 777s include eight suites in first class, as well as 40 seats in business class and 221 seats in economy class.
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Japanese firm to build S.C. plant to supply Boeing
Toray Industries Inc., based in Japan, plans to build a carbon fiber manufacturing plant in South Carolina to supply the materials for the Boeing 787. "Toray is an important supplier on the 787 program, and we support its proactive efforts in regard to the program's planned rates of more than 10 (airplanes) a month," said Candy Eslinger, a Boeing spokeswoman.
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Column: Airports investigate heated runways to clear snow
Heated runways could provide the answer for airports looking into ways to clear snow from runways, writes columnist Scott McCartney. Airports deploy specially-designed snowplows, but can't use salt because it corrodes metal. However, the main obstacle for heated runways is the cost of installing heating elements beneath the pavement.
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Why airports are making room for pop-up shops
A number of airports are offering travelers more retail variety by making room for pop-up shops. For example, there was a farmers market at JFK International Airport in the fall, and San Francisco International Airport added two spots for stores with yearlong leases when it reopened one of its terminals. "We wanted to provide new small-business owners an opportunity to operate at SFO without the cost of an expensive build-out," said Doug Yakel, a spokesman for the San Francisco airport.
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Mo. city council to consider airport lease agreement
The Kansas City, Mo., Council will consider a lease agreement between airlines and Kansas City International Airport that calls for both parties to work together on a plan for terminal improvements. “We wanted a collaborative approach, and we’re excited we reached an agreement on this,” said Councilman Russ Johnson.
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ARC: Travel agent airline ticket sales rose in Jan.
The Airlines Reporting Corp. said travel agents sold $7.84 billion in airline tickets in January, up 2.83% from January 2013. ARC reported that domestic ticket prices in January increased by 2.2% over last year, while international fares rose 1.74%.
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Commentary: Shield commercial jets from missile attack
Commercial aircraft need protection against man-portable air-defense systems, or Manpads, according to Rachel Ehrenfeld, a director of the American Center for Democracy. Although the airline industry says installing the defense systems would cost too much, the downing of a single jet by a terrorist-controlled Manpad would mean "the struggling U.S. economy would be devastated in a flash," she writes. Ehrenfeld also notes there is evidence that the "threat of Manpads in the hands of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups has escalated dramatically."
LinkRotary Wing
UK CAA calls for changes in offshore helicopter operations
A special review of UK offshore helicopter safety by the Civil Aviation Authority has concluded that, despite having more accidents than some of their comparable foreign counterparts, UK operators are statistically just as safe. Nevertheless, the CAA has published 32 actions and many more recommendations to reduce risk exposure and increase passenger survivability in the event of ditching. It concludes that UK offshore operations are "of an equivalent level of safety to similar operations throughout the world". That includes a specific comparison with Norway, produced in conjunction with the Norwegian civil aviation authority. The study was a reaction to growing industry concern over safety following the fatal 23 August 2013 crash of an Airbus Helicopters AS332L2 Super Puma into the sea on approach to Sumburgh, Shetland, and several other fatal accidents in the UK sector over the past four years.
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DiscussionMilitary
Australia confirms A$4 billion P-8A buy
Australia has confirmed that it will acquire eight Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, with the first examples to be delivered in 2017. The aircraft will be fully operational by 2021, says prime minister Tony Abbott in a statement. His statement pegs the deal’s value at A$4 billion ($3.6 billion). “These state-of-the-art aircraft will dramatically boost Australia’s ability to monitor its maritime approaches and patrol over 2.5 million square kilometres of our marine jurisdiction – an area equating to nearly 4 per cent of the world’s oceans,” says Abbott. Canberra has also approved an option for an additional four examples.
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Tranche 2 Typhoons pass Red Flag test
The UK Royal Air Force has debuted its latest standard of the Eurofighter Typhoon at a Red Flag-series exercise at Nellis AFB, Nevada. Flown by 6 Sqn pilots from RAF Leuchars in Scotland, the Tranche 2-standard aircraft, plus support personnel from the unit and the RAF's 1 Sqn, took part in the Red Flag 14-1 exercise between 27 January and 14 February. The Typhoons were operated in the air-to-air role.
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Aviation industrial base faces "destruction," analyst says
The Defense Department's funding allocation decisions mean "death and destruction" for the U.S. military aviation industry, says Richard Aboulafia, an aviation analyst at the Teal Group. The downturn and heavy spending on F-35 mean that other programs "are dying," Aboulafia told the National Aeronautic Association in a recent meeting.
LinkSpace
Astronauts detail space station life in new exhibit
The awe-inspiring feeling of clinging to the exterior of the International Space Station during a repair, surrounded by the dark of space. The way continued weightlessness wears on the human body. Those are just a couple of the experiences NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson and aerospace engineer Camille Alleyne discuss in their promotion of a new exhibit at the California Science Center in Los Angeles called "Destination: Station." The show, running through April 7, is aimed at highlighting NASA's space station work.
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Paging Dr. R2: NASA robot trains as space doctor
A robot aboard the International Space Station is getting a crash course through medical school, learning to conduct basic medical procedures such as ultrasounds and injections via a medical team on Earth. Robonaut 2, or R2, has a camera in its head that would allow its Earth-bound handlers to see what is happening.
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NASA hopes to nab an asteroid for study
NASA has set up a "rapid response system" to pick the best candidates for its ambitious asteroid-capture mission. The space agency aims to use a robotic spacecraft to haul a near-Earth asteroid into a stable lunar orbit, where astronauts would visit it in the future. It's not as easy as just picking a space rock and going, however. Many asteroids are too big to be moved easily or are in unstable orbits. Others are too distant for telescopes to figure out what they're made of, which could make them unsuitable candidates. "There are other elements involved, but if size were the only factor, we'd be looking for an asteroid smaller than about 40 feet (12 meters) across," Paul Chodas, a senior scientist in the Near-Earth Object Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, said in a a statement.
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Aviation Quote
Victory, speedy and complete, awaits the side which first employs air power as it should be employed. Germany, entangled in the meshes of vast land campaigns, cannot now disengage her air power for a strategically proper application. She missed victory through air power by a hair's breadth in 1940. . . . We ourselves are now at the crossroads.
— Air Marshal Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris, opening of letter to Winston Churchill, 17 June 1942.
On This Date
---In 1911... A new 1910 Wright Type B Flyer owned by Collier’s magazine publisher Robert F. Collier, arrives at San Antonio, Texas on rent to the U.S. Army for $1.00 per month to supplement the aging Wright biplane first accepted on August 2, 1909.
---In 1919... The prototype of the first US-designed fighter to enter large-scale production, the Thomas-Morse MB-3 (to be made by Boeing), makes its maiden flight.
---In 1951…An English Electric Canberra becomes the first jet to make a crossing of the Atlantic without refueling, taking 4 hours 37 minutes.
---In 1964…A Philippine Airlines Douglas DC-3 crashes on approach to Marawi City. The accident is blamed on pilot error.
---In 1969…1st launching of heavy N-1 rocket at Baikonur Kazachstan (explodes).
---In 1970…Swissair Flight 330, a Convair CV-990 Coronado (HB-ICD) crashes when a bomb explodes nine minutes after departure from Zurich. The attempt to return the damaged aircraft to the airfield fails, and all 47 on-board are killed when the plane crashes into a wooded area.
---In 1971…All Nippon Airways operates their first international flight, a 727 charter from Tokyo to Hong Kong.
---In 1972…Luna 20 - USSR Lunar Lander launched. Landed on the moon and returned samples to the Earth. Landed on February 21, 1972 at Apollonius highlands located at latitude 3°32' N and longitude 56°33' E. 30 grams of lunar samples were returned to the Earth.
---In 1973…Libyan Airlines Flight 114 is shot down over the Sinai Peninsula by an Israeli Air Force F-4 Phantom IIs after an airspace violation. The Boeing 727-224 (5A-DAH) became lost and ended up in the area that was occupied by Israeli during the Six-Day War. The intention of the 20mm cannon fire was to cripple the aircraft, and the emergency landing resulted in the deaths of 108 of the 113 on-board.
---In 1979... Former astronaut Neil Armstrong climbs to 50,000 feet in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in just over 12 minutes in a Gates Learjet Longhorn 28, breaking five world records for business jets.
---In 1979…Japan launches Hakucho x-ray satellite and Corsa-B (550/580 km).
---In 1981…NASA launches Comstar D-4.
---In 1981…Japan launches Hinotori satellite to study solar flares (580/640 k).
---In 1984... Racing driver Henri Pescarolo and Air France pilot Patrick Fourticq land their Piper Malibu in Paris after a flight from New York, setting a speed record of 14 hours 2 minutes for a single-engined lift aircraft across the North Atlantic.
---In 1996…Soyuz TM-23, launched into orbit.
---In 2007…Adam Air Flight 172, a Boeing 737-300 (PK-KKV), experiences a hard landing that results in a bent and cracked fuselage in Surabaya, Indonesia. This led to the grounding of all Adam Air 737s, especially after the fatal crash of Flight 574 the previous month. All aboard survived with minor injuries.
---In 2008…Continental adds 27 aircraft to its firm order positions at Boeing, including eight new 777s and 19 new 737NGs
---In 2008…Santa Barbara Airlines Flight 518 crashes into the side of a mountain just after takeoff on a flight from Merida, Venezuela to Caracas. The ATR-42’s navigational equipment was failing when the aircraft crashed, killing all 46 aboard.
Daily Video
Editor’s Choice
Humor
F-16 Humor
F16's legs are too short. And they've only got one (semi-reliable) donk.
Lean, Mean, Flameout Machine.
I SHALL RETURN...Well, I might.
Mach Nix.
The F-16. Takes a licking, and takes a licking.
Have you hugged your chute today?
This Vehicle Makes Frequent Stops.
I came. I saw. I bingo'd.
No deposit, no return.
We've spent so much money on this thing that we can't afford to admit we were wrong.
A triumph of style over substance.
The best damn second place fighter in the world.
Instead of a CAS mod, we're going to install a roll bar.
And now with this LANTIRN thing and our new Block 40's, we can hit the ground at NIGHT!
We cover the target like a thong bikini.
And BINGO is my Name-O.
We crash more airplanes before 9-o'clock than most people crash all day.
Last in the talent show, but first in the swimsuit competition.
Lose a few, lose a few.
Feet and knees together, eyes on the horizon...
Designated no-hitter.
Everything you wanted in a fighter and less.
Optimist: F-16 pilot who's worried about dying from cancer.
Only Michael Jackson is more manly.
Hey, today we didn't lose a single jet.
This is going to hurt me more than it's going to hurt you.
User friendly... if you've got three hands.
If we have a war with BDUs, we've got 'em beat.
Careful badguys...I'm carrying BOTH bombs today. I'm talkin' wall-to-wall MK-82's Pal.
If I carried more weapons, and if I had enough gas, and if I could actually hit the target, and if I had some more REALLY expensive electrons so I could find you, and if my motor didn't quit, and if My wings didn't crack, Boy, I'd really teach you a lesson!
Trivia
Google Airports
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
HT-ETNW wrote:My answers to TRIVIA:
1. London South
2. London FarNorth
3. London NorthWest
4. London West
5. London CrossChannel aka. London-on-the-continent
-HT
