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Commercial

Northeast US Hit By Blizzards, Cold, After Record Snow
The US Northeast struggled to dig out on Sunday from the latest in a series of winter storms that made February the snowiest month in Boston's history, but bitter cold and huge drifts hampered the effort. Blizzard conditions forced the cancellation of more than 1,800 flights, most of them into and out of airports in Boston and New York, where wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour (97 kph) were predicted. Temperatures are 25 to 30 degrees (14 to 17 degrees Celsius) below normal for the East Coast, exacerbated by strong winds, said meteorologist Bruce Sullivan of the National Weather Service, adding the region was in the grip of "a brutally cold air mass."
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Airlines

Citilink Expects First Profitable Year In 2015
Garuda Indonesia's budget carrier Citilink is set to turn profitable this year, partly boosted by the government's crackdown on cheap fares, its chief executive said. Albert Burhan, who was appointed as Citilink's CEO this month, said the airline is looking to report its first annual profit in 2015 after it started operations in late 2011. "In 2015, the environment is better for us," Burhan, who was previously Citilink's chief financial officer, told Reuters, citing lower fuel prices and a less competitive market environment as helping the airline in its turnaround plan.
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Delta CEO outlines case for rewarding employees
Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson said profit-sharing helps the airline reward employees.
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JetBlue CEO brings experience to new role
Robin Hayes starts his position as CEO of JetBlue Airways today. Hayes, a native of the U.K., spent 19 years at British Airways. He joined JetBlue in 2008 as chief commercial officer. "People are so passionate about the JetBlue brand and the JetBlue story," Hayes said.
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JetBlue to launch service from JFK to Daytona Beach, Fla.
JetBlue Airways announced that it plans to launch new daily service to Daytona Beach, Florida, from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport next February. Daytona Beach will be the airline’s eighth destination in the state.
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Southwest begins companion pass promotion
Atlanta residents who take three trips on Southwest Airlines by 17 May will receive a free companion pass, under terms of a new promotion by the carrier. The round trips must be taken from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
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Airports

Advanced Wi-Fi system is installed at Miami airport
Verizon Wireless on Friday completed installation of an advanced Wi-Fi system at Florida's Miami International Airport. The system uses hundreds of small antennas and other technology to increase wireless speed and coverage throughout the 7.5 million-square-foot facility.
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Pittsburgh airport handled almost 8M passengers in 2014
Pittsburgh International Airport served nearly 8 million passengers in 2014, a 1.5% increase from the prior year. The airport handled 7..88 million passengers in 2013, according to the Allegheny County Airport Authority.
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Military

Egyptian air strikes target IS in Libya
The Egyptian air force has conducted air strikes against Islamic State militants in Libya, in retaliation for the killing of 21 Egyptians that extremists associated with the terrorist group claim to have carried out. The air strikes took place in the early hours of 16 February, and targeted the camps and assembly and training centres of the IS terrorist group in Libya. The Egyptian government released a statement claiming that in accordance with the law it made the decision to “take revenge” against the terrorists following the beheading of the 21 Coptic Christians. The killings were captured in IS video footage that was released on 15 January.
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F-35 Pilots Test Aircraft in Extreme Sub-Zero Conditions[/b]
F-35 test pilots are starting the aircraft's engine and simulating takeoffs in extreme cold temperatures with special arctic gear as a way to prepare the stealth fighter to perform in combat. The testing, which will finish up at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., in March, assesses the ability of the aircraft to start up, launch afterburners and even function in short-takeoff-and-landing, or STOVL, mode -- in extreme arctic temperatures, F-35 test pilot Cmdr. Tony "Brick" Wilson said.
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Space

NASA video reveals awesomeness of world's most powerful rocket
A new video from NASA gives a sense of the sheer power of the rocket that will take astronauts to Mars. The Space Launch System will be capable of hurling 154,000 pounds of payload into deep space, churning out the power of 13,400 locomotives.
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NASA says submarine could give researchers a glimpse into Saturn moon's methane sea
NASA is showcasing a submarine design that could allow for the exploration of the Kraken Mare methane sea on the Saturn moon Titan.
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Regulatory

FAA unveils proposed rules for drones
The Federal Aviation Administration on Sunday released a draft of proposed rules for the commercial use of drone aircraft in the U.S. The FAA regulations would not require operators to obtain pilots' licenses, but would require them to pass a written test, register the drone and pay about $200 in fees. The FAA estimates that 7,000 businesses will obtain drone permits within three years after the rules are finalized
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Aviation Quote

Father, we thank you, especially for letting me fly this flight — for the privilege of being able to be in this position, to be in this wondrous place, seeing all these many startling, wonderful things that you have created.

— L Gordon Cooper Jr, prayer while orbiting the earth, quoted in the New York Times, 22 May 1963

On This Date

---In 1904... The Wright brothers inspect the grounds where the St. Louis aeronautical exposition will be held in April.

---In 1934... The first airmail flight from Australia to New Zealand is flown by Charles T. Ulm in his Avro Ten, a license-built Fokker F. VIIB/3m registered as VH-UXX.

---In 1959…A Turkish Airlines Vickers Viscount 739 (TC-SEV) charter flight carrying Turkish prime minister Adnan Menderes and other government officials crashes about 3 miles short of London’s Gatwick Airport after diverting from Heathrow due to heavy fog. Menderes and nine other passengers survive, but the remaining 14 are killed.

---In 1959…The world’s first weather satellite, Vanguard 2, is launched by the US Navy to measure cloud cover.

---In 1965…Ranger 8, a satellite intended to take photos of the Moon to plan for the Apollo missions, launches.

---In 1966…A B-52 Stratofortress collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker during aerial refueling near Palomares, Spain, resulting in the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash. Seven crewmembers are killed in the crash, and two of the B-52's nuclear weapons rupture, scattering radioactive material over the countryside. One bomb lands intact near the town, and another is lost at sea. It is later recovered intact five miles (8 km) off shore.

---In 1966…French satellite Diapason D-1A launch into Earth orbit.

---In 1967…Kosmos 140 (Soyuz Test) launches into Earth orbit.

---In 1974…US Army Private Robert K. Preston steals a helicopter and hovers it above the White House for 6 minutes. He is then chased by Maryland State Police choppers and eventually shot at by Secret Service. He later explains that he wanted to prove that he was a skilled pilot after having been rejected by the Army’s flying program.

---In 1988…Asiana Airlines established.

---In 1996…NEAR - USA Asteroid Orbiter launched. The main scientific purpose of NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) is to orbit near Earth asteroid 433 Eros. The spacecraft is scheduled to study the asteroid for one year after entering orbit in February 1999. NEAR imaged Comet Hyakutake in March 1996 and will fly within 1,200 kilometers of asteroid 253 Mathilde on June 27, 1997. This is the first of NASA's Discovery missions.

---In 2005… Opening of a new international airport in Nagoya, Japan. It is the third Japanese international airport.

---In 2006…Aloha Airlines emerges from 14 months of bankruptcy protection. They would file for Chapter 11 again a little over two years later and cease passenger operations soon after that.

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Editor’s Choice

Trivia

General Trivia

1. What airplane produced by a well-known aircraft manufacturer was rejected by the U.S. Army in 1973 because it could be brought down by bow and arrow?

2. What is the largest, post-World War II, piston-powered, twin-engine airplane designed from scratch and produced exclusively as a general aviation airplane?

3. Why should every dedicated pilot fly at least once to KFFA?

4. Several types of liaison airplanes served the U.S. military during World War II. Best known of these were the first five, the L-1, L-2, L-3, L-4, and L-5. Can you identify these utilitarian “L-birds?”

5. Almost everyone has heard of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, but what is the Lightning II?

6. U.S. military flight-crew positions often have nicknames. What are the official positions of a boomer, a GAFO (pronounced GAY-fo), a raven, a GIB (pronounced gib), and a whizzo?

7. The Pratt & Whitney J58 (JT11D) engines that powered the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird use JP-7 fuel so inert that it could not be ignited with spark or ignition plugs. How was this exotic fuel ignited during engine start?

8. On November 13, 1942, and after having survived in a life raft in the western Pacific for 23 days, Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, Col. Hans Adamson, and Pvt. John Bartek were found by the pilot of a Vought-Sikorsky Kingfisher, a U.S. Navy seaplane. What was so unusual about the subsequent rescue?