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NEWS

Continental to include United's Economy Plus option
Economy Plus seating is coming to Continental following its merger with United. The airline will begin adding 40,000 of the roomier seats to its aircraft beginning in 2012. Economy Plus, which offers five inches of added legroom over Economy, has been a hit with United passengers since its debut about 10 years ago.
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Delta added 1,300 employees in 2010
Delta's workforce expanded to a total of 76,500 in 2010, compared to 75,200 in 2009, the airline revealed. The new hires, which included customer support staff, ground crews and flight crews, followed complaints about the carrier's operations and service last year.
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Skyteam airline alliance reportedly tries to lure Virgin Atlantic
Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines reportedly are striving to persuade Virgin Atlantic to join the Skyteam airline alliance. "Virgin Atlantic is a strong, independent business with a good growth position at both London Heathrow and Gatwick [airports] so we are not surprised that there is interest in us," Virgin said in a statement. Founder Richard Branson continues to hold a 51% stake, while Singapore Airlines owns the other 49%.
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Southwest raises fares $10 to cope with rising fuel prices
Southwest has become the latest airline to raise its prices as a result of rising fuel prices. The airline announced it will increase round-trip pricing by $10. The hike follows similar announcements by other airlines.
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Weekend blizzard halts air traffic in Upper Midwest
A massive winter storm forced airlines to scrap more than 1,000 flights across the Midwest yesterday. Delta canceled more than 700 flights from Minneapolis-St. Paul in anticipation of up to 18 inches of snow. Airlines reported hundreds of additional cancellations in Chicago and Detroit.
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European airports aren't ready to lift a liquid ban
Executives at airports across Europe said technology for detecting liquid explosives remains too unreliable, prompting concern about a pending deadline for partially lifting a ban on liquid in carry-on luggage. "The existing technology is not fit for the purpose," said Olivier Jankovec, director general of the Airports Council International Europe. "We risk paralyzing the big hubs."
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Charter air carrier plans to contract with casinos for Vegas flights
Charter airliner LV Air plans four daily nonstop flights between John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. Sean Smith, head of LV Air, says the goal is to move travelers from the Northeast to Sin City's casinos. "The goal is to fill Las Vegas hotel rooms with players, conventioneers and vacationers from the Northeast by drawing a straight line between the customer at his home to the casino floor and back again," Smith said.
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Royal Navy supporters fight to save Commando Helicopter Force
With the UK Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm having already been hit by the early retirement of the BAE Systems Harrier GR9 fleet late last year, its supporters are growing increasingly concerned that its Commando Helicopter Force (CHF) is also at risk.
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BAA narrows full-year losses for 2010
UK airports operator BAA has reported a full-year pre-tax loss of £316.6 million ($511.1 million), a 61% improvement over the £821.9 million pre-tax loss incurred in 2009. The results cover London's Heathrow and Stansted airports and are compared with 2009's results which included operating figures for London Gatwick. The 2009 figures also included a £277 million loss related to the disposal of Gatwick.
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Ryanair strengthens Lithuanian presence with Vilnius routes
Irish budget carrier Ryanair is to broaden its Baltic operations by opening services from the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, transferring some routes from its Lithuanian base at Kaunas. It will operate five new routes from Vilnius. Ryanair will operate new services to Dublin, London Stansted and Rome Ciampino and shift from Kaunas its connections to Barcelona Girona and Milan Bergamo.
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Cyprus Air Could Go Bust Without Aid
Cyprus's finance minister said on Monday the Mediterranean island's state-controlled airline Cyprus Airways could go bust by April unless it receives an emergency cash injection. The government is trying to secure a EUR€20 million (USD$27 million) lifeline for the cash strapped airline as compensation for losses incurred by a Turkish flight ban.
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Air Arabia Q4 Profit Drops 37 Percent
Low cost carrier Air Arabia posted a 37 percent drop in fourth-quarter net profit, missing analyst forecasts, and the airline plans to cut its dividend amid rising competition and higher fuel prices. Air Arabia earned a profit of AED73.2 million dirhams (USD$19.93 million) for the last quarter of 2010, down from AED115.68 million dirhams it reported during the same period in 2009.
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AVIATION QUOTE

If an airplane is still in one piece, don't cheat on it. Ride the bastard down.

— Ernest K. Gann, advice from the 'old pelican,' 'The Black Watch,' 1989.



ON THIS DATE

February 22nd

• In 1912... The Fokker Aviatik G.m.b.H. company is entered in the trade register at Berlin, Germany with a quoted capital of 20,000 marks. The company’s Holland-born founder, Anthony Herman Gerard Fokker, was brought up in Haarlem, the Netherlands and moved to Germany where he developed a passion for aviation before designing his first airplane – the Spider No. 1 – in late 1910.

• In 1925... Geoffrey de Havilland takes off in his newly built D.H.60 Moth G-EBKT, heralding a new age of light aviation.

• In 1928... Australian Bert Hinkler lands at Fanny Bay in Darwin, Australia after 11,000-mile solo flight from England. He is the first to make such a trip, setting four other new records: longest solo flight, longest light plane flight, first nonstop flight from London to Rome and fastest journey from Britain to India.



DAILY VIDEO





EDITOR’S CHOICE





HUMOR

SR-71 Humor

In his book "Sled Driver" SR-71 Blackbird pilot Brian Shul writes:
"I'll always remember a certain radio exchange that occurred one day as Walt (my back seater) and I were screaming across Southern California 13 miles high. We were monitoring various radio transmissions from other aircraft as we entered Los Angeles airspace. Though they didn't really control us, they did monitor our movement across their scope.

I heard a Cessna ask for a readout of its groundspeed."90 knots" Center replied.

Moments later, a Twin Beech required the same. "120 knots," Center answered.

We weren't the only ones proud of our groundspeed that day as almost instantly an F-18 smugly transmitted, "Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests ground speed readout.

There was a slight pause, then the response, "525 knots on the ground, Dusty."

Another silent pause. As I was thinking to myself how ripe a situation this was, I heard a familiar click of a radio transmission coming from my back seater. It was at that precise moment I realized Walt and I had become a real crew, for we were both thinking in unison.

"Center, Aspen 20, you got a groundspeed readout for us?" There was a longer than normal pause.....

"Aspen, I show 1,742 knots" No further inquiries were heard on that frequency.



TRIVIA

Aircraft ID
USAF Transports

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.


9.


10.

3 C130
4 C17
7 C141
8 757
10 DC9 or C9

I suck at the variants.

1. Convair C-131
2. Douglas C-133 Cargomaster
3. Lockheed Martin C-130J Super-Hercules
4. Boeing C-17 Globemaster 3
5. Fairchild C-123 Provider
6. Douglas C-124 Globemaster 2
7. Lockheed C-141 Starlifter
8. Boeing C-32
9. De Havilland DHC-4 Caribou
10. McDonnell Douglas C-9 Skytrain

1-10. Airplanes.

RandomMember wrote:1-10. Airplanes.

There are sandbags, grass, clouds and a tug too. Nice try though

ANSWERS:
1. Convair C-131 Samaritan
2. Douglas C-133 Cargomaster
3. Lockheed C-130J Hercules
4. Boeing C-17 Globemaster III
5. Kaiser Fairchild C-123 Provider
6. Douglas C-124 Globemaster II
7. Lockheed C-141 Starlifter
8. Boeing VC-32
9. deHaviland C-7 Caribou
10. McDonnell Douglas C-9 Nigtengale (Skytrain II)

JLAmber wrote:

RandomMember wrote:1-10. Airplanes.

There are sandbags, grass, clouds and a tug too. Nice try though

I thought it was pretty funny.....

ORFflyer wrote:

JLAmber wrote:

RandomMember wrote:1-10. Airplanes.

There are sandbags, grass, clouds and a tug too. Nice try though

I thought it was pretty funny.....

It was mildly amusing the first time.

JLAmber wrote:It was mildly amusing the first time.

I must have missed that one....

ORFflyer wrote:

JLAmber wrote:It was mildly amusing the first time.

I must have missed that one....

Fear not, action has been taken in a website far subjacent to this one.

JLAmber wrote:

RandomMember wrote:1-10. Airplanes.

There are sandbags, grass, clouds and a tug too. Nice try though

You also issed the wheels, metal, glass, paint, man in a banana costume, mountains and trees.

Nosedive wrote:

JLAmber wrote:

RandomMember wrote:1-10. Airplanes.

There are sandbags, grass, clouds and a tug too. Nice try though

You also issed the wheels, metal, glass, paint, man in a banana costume, mountains and trees.

And the m

That's a sweet picture of the Guppy!

Lucas wrote:That's a sweet picture of the Guppy!

With Ursa Major (Big Dipper) in it, no less!

JeffSFO wrote:

Lucas wrote:That's a sweet picture of the Guppy!

With Ursa Major (Big Dipper) in it, no less!

I'll be darned, didn't see that at first. Very well done! I might have to go see if this photographer has any other shots.

Airfoilsguy wrote:

Nosedive wrote:

JLAmber wrote:
There are sandbags, grass, clouds and a tug too. Nice try though

You also issed the wheels, metal, glass, paint, man in a banana costume, mountains and trees.

And the m

gud i!