Lambert-St. Louis up and running despite extensive tornado damage Around 90% of scheduled flights operated on Monday to/from Lambert-St. Louis International, which continued recovery efforts in the aftermath of an F4-strength tornado touching down on the airport's main terminal on Friday. STL Terminal 1's C Concourse sustained extensive damage and will be closed indefinitely, but most of the airport's other facilities are operational. Link Discussion
Questions raised in Southwest jet probe Detailed inspections of a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 that experienced a mid-flight fuselage rupture revealed possible manufacturing flaws and further evidence of fatigue cracks. A National Transportation Safety Board preliminary report released Monday on the April 1 incident raised new questions about the process for bonding fuselage skin and how wear and tear may affect certain older model Boeing 737-300 series aircraft. Link
DoD orders F136 termination The US government has terminated a contract that would have completed development of the General Electric/Rolls-Royce F136 alternate engine for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. The order by Ashton Carter, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, means the Department of Defense can close the F136 production line. Link
Man with knife overpowered on Alitalia flight A man with a knife tried to hijack an Alitalia flight from Paris to Rome on Sunday night, demanding it be flown to Libya, but was quickly overpowered and arrested when the plane landed, officials and witnesses said. Witnesses said the man put a small knife to the throat of a female flight attendant and held her for a few minutes. Link Discussion
First Lady's jet given wrong information Air traffic controllers mistakenly told the pilot of a plane carrying US first lady Michelle Obama last week he was further away from a nearby military cargo jet than he actually was, according to a report. Link Discussion
American seeks to boost Miami-Brazil service American Airlines applied to the US Dept. of Transportation for the right to fly 10 additional weekly frequencies from Miami to destinations in Brazil starting as early as December Link
NTSB: 2010 third year out of four with no fatal US passenger airline accident US airlines operating scheduled passenger flights under FAR Part 121 experienced 26 accidents in 2010 but no fatal accidents, according to preliminary statistics released by the US National Transportation Safety Board last week. The last fatal accident involving a Part 121 passenger carrier in the US was the February 2009 Colgan Air Q400 crash that killed 50. Link
ANA pilots enter first 787 flight training program Boeing last week said 787 training campuses in Seattle, Singapore, Tokyo, London and Shanghai have received approval from US FAA, UK CAA, EASA, CAAC and the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau. Meanwhile, 10 pilots from Dreamliner launch customer All Nippon Airways last week entered a Boeing Training & Flight Services 787 training program. Link
Sikorsky wins $3.5 billion Turkey deal Turkey’s Defense Industry Executive Committee has awarded Sikorsky a contract worth up to $3.5 billion for 109 international Black Hawks that will be used for utility and attack missions. The agreement involves helicopter assembly in Turkey, with Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) serving as prime contractor and collaboration from other suppliers in Turkey and the U.S. Link
EU aviation safety concerns grow When the European Union upbraids an African country for lax aviation oversight it is, by now, par for the course. When the EU does so with its biggest member state, Germany, that is an entirely different issue. In the latest update of the so-called aviation blacklist, a document through which the EU’s Air Safety Committee signals concerns about specific airlines and regulators - and bars some from operating in Europe—the group has taken the unusual step of singling out member states for oversight infractions. Link
Star seeks ATI for Brussels Airlines A group of Star Alliance partners currently operating a transatlantic joint venture want to add Brussels Airlines to their immunized partnership. The agreement currently permits Lufthansa subsidiaries Austrian Airlines, British Midland and Swiss International Air Lines the same immunized relationship their parent company enjoys with Air Canada, LOT Polish, SAS, TAP Portugal and United Continental Holdings, albeit with revenue sharing and other aspects of the joint venture controlled by the German operator. Link
Cessna shows first-quarter loss Despite an increase in revenues at Cessna, the company showed an operating loss for the first quarter of this year, parent company Textron said last week. Revenues were up about 26 percent compared to the first quarter of last year, but low production and delivery levels led to an overall loss of $38 million, compared to $24 million last year. Part of the loss, paradoxically, registered because fewer customers canceled orders, resulting in fewer forfeited deposits to boost the bottom line. Link
Other News
EgyptAir said it has deployed one of its six new Boeing 777-300ERs on its daily Cairo-Bangkok service. The MS 777-300ERs are configured in two classes, with 49 fully flat seats in business and 279 seats in economy. The airline took delivery of the last of six GECAS-leased 777-300ERs it was scheduled to receive earlier this month.
Pratt & Whitney and PAS Technologies signed an agreement establishing PAS Technologies as the exclusive designated service provider for "selected" repairs on Pratt & Whitney and IAE engine models. PAS will perform selected repairs on the PW2000, PW4000 and IAE V2500 engine families at its Hillsboro, Ohio, and Kansas City, Mo., facilities.
Delta TechOps finalized an exclusive five-year engine maintenance contract with Canadian charter operator CanJet Airlines covering CFM56-7Bs. Agreement also expands Delta TechOps' existing component and inventory logistics support covering the carrier's fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft, a contract it won in 2009.
AVIATION QUOTE
It is a good thing to learn caution from the misfortunes of others. — Publilius Syrus
ON THIS DATE
April 26th
• In 1949... Dick Reider and Bill Barris set a world endurance record for a flight-refueled aircraft in the U.S. They flew continuously in their Aeronca Chief light aircraft for 1,008 hours, one minute (over six weeks). They received food and fuel handed up from a speeding vehicle four times a day.
• In 1962... In utmost secrecy at the remote airfield in Groom Dry Lake, Nevada, the first Lockheed A-12 makes its first flight. It is the first of a family of top-secret spyplanes.
• In 1972... The first Lockheed L-1011 TriStar enters scheduled service, with Eastern Air Lines, on its route from Miami to New York.
• In 1987... The first full-scale prototype of Saab’s hi-tech JAS 39 Gripen fighter is unveiled in Sweden.
• In 1995... A Mikoyan MiG-29 sets a new FAI class C-1h world altitude record of 90,092 ft.
DAILY VIDEO
EDITOR’S CHOICE
HUMOR
WHY I WANT TO BE A PILOT When I grow up I want to be a pilot because it's a fun job and easy to do. That's why there are so many pilots flying around these days. Pilots don't need much school. They just have to learn to read numbers so they can read their instruments. I guess they should be able to read a road map, too. Pilots should be brave to they won't get scared it it's foggy and they can't see, or if a wing or motor falls off. Pilots have to have good eyes to see through the clouds, and they can't be afraid of thunder or lightning because they are much closer to them than we are. The salary pilots make is another thing I like. They make more money than they know what to do with. This is because most people think that flying a plane is dangerous, except pilots don't because they know how easy it is. I hope I don't get airsick because I get carsick and if I get airsick, I couldn't be a pilot and then I would have to go to work. — purported to have been written by a fifth grade student at Jefferson School, Beaufort, SC. It was first published in the South Carolina Aviation News.
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Ideology: The mistaken belief that your beliefs are neither beliefs nor mistaken.
