Atlantis space shuttle launch: Final mission looks set to be stalled by bad weather Tourists on Florida's Space Coast who are hoping to catch a glimpse of the final mission on NASA's space shuttle programme face waiting a little longer after lightning struck just a third of a mile from the Atlantis spacecraft. NASA officials say they haven't detected any damage from the strike, but they are making thorough checks of all systems to be sure. However, the thunderstorm lingers over Brevard County, Florida, meaning the weather isn't making it easy. Link Discussion
Airlines prepare to take off on fuel made from algae, wood chips After decades of waiting, commercial airlines have been given the go-ahead to use fuel made from algae, wood chips and other plants with obscure names. Test flights in recent years by United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL), Japan Airlines Co. and Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. have shown that planes can fly on everything from coconut oil to jatropha, a plant that grows in the tropics. Link
Dubai firm axes Airbus orders in crisis fallout DAE Capital has cancelled its remaining backlog of aircraft orders with Airbus in the latest sign of disruption at the majority state-owned Dubai leasing company, Airbus data showed on Thursday. The leasing firm, whose chief executive stepped down on June 30, has cancelled orders for 45 aircraft worth USD$5.8 billion at current list prices, according to a monthly Airbus order tally. Link
Gulf Air appears to cancel eight 787s Gulf Air appears to be the customer which cancelled an order for eight Boeing 787 aircraft last month. The airline ordered 16 of the twinjets in January 2008 and supplemented them with a further eight in April 2009. Link
Airbus sold 777 aircraft in first six months Airbus sold 777 aircraft in the first half including record-breaking orders at the Paris Air Show, the European plane maker said on Thursday. The net total of orders after cancellations stood at 640 aircraft, Airbus said in a monthly review. Link
Boeing's first-half 2011 aircraft deliveries on pace with 2010 Boeing's commercial aircraft deliveries through the first six months of 2011 kept pace with 2010 deliveries, with the manufacturer delivering 222 aircraft in the 2011 first half led by 181 737NGs, the exact number of total and 737 deliveries made in the 2010 first half. It delivered nine 767s through June 30, up from six of the type delivered in the first six months of 2010. First-half deliveries of 777s totaled 32, down from 35 in the year-ago period. Link
Tiger Airways Australia agrees to extend grounding through end of July Singapore-based Tiger Airways Holdings said former SilkAir CEO Chin Yau Seng would take over as acting CEO to allow the company's head, Tony Davis, to focus on overseeing subsidiary Tiger Airways Australia's recovery from its grounding by regulators over safety issues. Link Discussion
New York Metro Area ponders airport expansion The group that manages New York's airports is studying proposals to expand them after a warning that failure to keep up with increasing air travel demand could hurt the region's economy. Proposals poured in to the Port Authority of New York before July 1 deadline for comments on plans to expand usage at LaGuardia Airport, John F. Kennedy Airport and Newark Liberty Airport, a Port Authority spokesman said. Link
Israel, U.S. strike F-35 technology deal A major obstacle blocking Israel’s purchase of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been cleared, perhaps signaling that the U.S. is relaxing its hard-line approach to exporting JSF technologies that may be crucial to securing additional foreign sales. Link
Other News
BAA appointed Normand Boivin COO for London Heathrow. Boivin is currently serving as operations director for Aeroports de Montreal and will join BAA at the end of August.
Baltic Ground Services won a contract from AeroSvit to provide aircraft and passenger ground handling for the Ukrainian carrier at Warsaw International.
Vilnius International, Lithuania's busiest airport,was granted precision approach CAT II status. It is the first airport in the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to achieve CAT II. The airport anticipates that the implementation of the new system will reduce the number of days runways are closed owing to difficult meteorological conditions to approximately seven annually from a previous per year average of 15.
Nice Airport's runway movements will be restricted from Oct. 30 to Dec. 23 and from Jan. 2, 2012 to March 23, 2012, between 6 a.m. and 9:59 p.m., owing to airfield improvement work, French slot coordinator COHOR announced.
AVIATION QUOTE
Any sort of ship you have to learn to pilot; it takes a long time, a new set of reflexes, a different and artificial way of thinking. Even riding a bicycle demands an acquired skill, very different from walking, whereas a spaceship—oh, brother! I won't live that long. Spaceships are for acrobats who are also mathematicians.
— Juan Rico, in Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers, 1960
ON THIS DATE
July 8th
---In 1838... Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin is born in Baden, Germany. The first large-scale builder and pioneer of rigid dirigible balloons, Zeppelin made his first balloon ascent while serving as a volunteer and observer for the Union Army in America’s Civil War.
---In 1908... Thérése Peltier becomes the first woman to ascend in an airplane when Delagrange, her instructor, takes her up. She flies about 656 feet at a height of 13 feet.
---In 1947…First flight of the Boeing 377.
---In 1948…First flight of the Ilyushin Il-28 (NATO: Beagle).
---In 1952…New York Airways begins inter-airport helicopter services to link Idlewild, La Guardia, and Newark airports.
---In 1953…Sabena begins the first international helicopter services, linking Brussels (Belgium) with destinations in the Netherlands and France.
---In 1983…General Dynamics rolls out the 1,000th F-16 Fighting Falcon.
--In 1991… US Navy F/A-18 Hornet is forced to shoot down an E-2 Hawkeye after its crew abandons it following an engine fire.
DAILY VIDEO
EDITOR’S CHOICE
HUMOR
Cabin Announcements
• It was mealtime during our trip on a small airline in the Northeast. "Would you like dinner?" the flight attendant asked the man seated in front of me. "What are my choices?" he asked. "Yes or no," she replied.
• On a Continental Flight with a very "senior" flight attendant crew, the pilot said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached cruising altitude and will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants."
• On landing the stewardess said, "Please be sure to take all your belongings. If you're going to leave anything, please make sure it's something we'd like to have."
• "There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out off this airplane."
TRIVIA
Google Airports
Need a hint? PM Me.
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Ideology: The mistaken belief that your beliefs are neither beliefs nor mistaken.
Final Space Shuttle mission begins as Atlantis lifts off
The final mission of a Space Shuttle has begun, as Atlantis lifted off from Kennedy Space Center a few minutes ago. Earlier today, experts expected the launch to be postponed due to bad weather. However, the conditions did allow the launch of STS-135 to take place as scheduled.
More details are available at our STS-135 thread in the Space section.
Hewa Bora Boeing 727 with 122 on board crashes in Congo A plane carrying 112 people crashed on Friday as it tried to land at Kisangani international airport in Democratic Republic of Congo, Congolese airline Hewa Bora said. Separately, government spokesman Lambert Mende said he had been told that rescue services had pulled 40 survivors from the wreckage of the Boeing 727. Link Discussion / More details
Ideology: The mistaken belief that your beliefs are neither beliefs nor mistaken.
