News
Transport ministry identifies crashed SCAT CRJ200
Kazakhstan's transport ministry has identified the SCAT Bombardier CRJ200 involved in an accident outside the city of Almaty as a 13-year old airframe. It states that the aircraft - registered UP-CJ006, with serial number 7413 - was originally built in 2000. The ministry states that the aircraft had logged just over 25,700h in operation spanning 22,975 cycles, and gives the date of its "last repair" as June 2011.
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DOT Secretary LaHood to step down after controversial term for aviation
US secretary of transportation Ray LaHood has announced that he will not serve a second term in the cabinet level position, leaving behind a legacy of championing consumer rights and passenger safety with a new wave of sometimes controversial regulatory requirements. In his four-year term leading the Department of Transportation (DOT), the former Republican congressman from Illinois introduced sweeping reforms aimed at enhancing the rights of airline passengers against indefinite tarmac delays and hidden airline fees, as well as improving safety standards for crew rest. "As I look back on the past four years, I am proud of what we have accomplished in so many important areas," LaHood wrote in a letter to DOT employees, and he cited "strengthened consumer protections" against airlines as an example.
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Boeing Earnings, Outlook Overshadowed By 787
Just over a month ago, Boeing was flying high. Its factories were humming and speeding up production, its military business had just been restructured to deal with dwindling budgets and the company was confident enough to increase its dividend and resume buying back shares. Perhaps best of all, Boeing was shortly to reclaim the title of world's biggest plane maker, snatching back an honor that rival Airbus had held for a decade. But with its new 787 Dreamliner still grounded by two battery failures on the eve of its 2012 earnings release, the Chicago-based aerospace and defense giant is in no position to rest on laurels.
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Airbus Warned Of Battery Risk A Year Ago
Airbus warned the airline industry of risks related to lithium batteries almost a year before two safety incidents grounded 787 Dreamliners built by its rival Boeing. Airbus spelled out lithium hazards at a forum of airline customers in March 2012, citing the risk of flames, explosion, smoke and leakage in the event of a so-called thermal runaway or uncontrolled battery overheating. "The risks associated to lithium batteries require the attention of the entire industry," according to slides of the presentation by Christine Bezard, flight safety leader of the planned Airbus A350 plane that will also use lithium batteries.
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Italian Crash Probably Caused By Missile - Court
An Italian court said the cause of one of the country's most enduring aviation mysteries, a plane that broke up over the coast of Sicily 32 years ago killing 81 people, was most probably a missile hitting the aircraft. The case has divided Italians since the plane went down on June 27, 1980, when Italy was still the scene of both Cold War tensions and domestic militancy from the left and the right. The court, in what is seen as the final ruling of many, said the state must pay damages to the victims' families because the safety of the passengers had not been guaranteed.
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Global Tourism Set For Strong 2013
Global tourism is proving resilient in the face of an economic slowdown, with tourist numbers growing at close to pre-crisis levels in 2012 and expected to increase by almost as much this year, the UN World Tourism Organization said on Tuesday. Europe held onto its position as the world's most-visited region in 2012 but Asia-Pacific is catching up, recording the biggest increase in tourists in 2012 and expecting another strong performance this year. International tourist arrivals crossed the 1 billion mark for the first time in 2012, with visitor numbers swelling 4 percent. The Madrid-based UNWTO predicts similar growth this year.
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Sabre embroils IATA’s NDC initiative in counterclaim to US Airways lawsuit
Sabre called IATA’s New Distribution Capability “an agreement among the airlines to withhold content by not publicly filing their content.” In a counterclaim to the long-dormant antitrust lawsuit filed by US Airways, Sabre said, “IATA mistakenly believed that antitrust violations done under the auspices of a trade association would go undetected or unchallenged.” It said IATA’s Resolution 787, which approved the NDC initiative, is “nothing but agreements among competitors, with no privileged status under the antitrust laws.”
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Italian search teams find wreckage of missing USAF F-16
Italian search and rescue teams have recovered debris in the Adriatic Sea which they believe belongs to a missing Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon operated by the US Air Force. The USAF says the fighter, assigned to the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano air base, went missing on a night-time training mission on 28 January.
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US Air Force hopes to upgrade aggressor F-16s
The US Air Force is hoping to upgrade its fleet of Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon "aggressors" so that those aircraft can better replicate enemy fighters, the service's Air Combat Command (ACC) says. "To date, generally, it is considered that the aggressors under-replicate the current threat," says Major Gary Barker, the ACC training operations division's F-16 functional area and realistic training manager. "It's very difficult for the aggressors to provide the threat picture that we think we would see in near-peer combat."
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Australia to sell Sea Kings to UK spares provider
Australia will sell five Westland Sea King helicopters to UK surplus equipment and component supplier Aerospace Logistics (ASL). "Aerospace Logistics have over 30 years experience as an international specialist in the supply, refurbishment, exchange, maintenance, repair and overhaul of aircraft parts," says minister for defence materiel Jason Clare.
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Other News
Russia’s Air Traffic Management Corp. has banned Ukrainian carrier AeroSvit from operating flights in the country’s airspace. The ban was effective Jan. 25. Russia’s aviation authorities said the carrier was ordered to pay $697,000 for November’s air navigation services before Jan. 24 but the carrier did not meet the deadline. AeroSvit, which filed for bankruptcy Dec. 29, had said it would continue to operate, but earlier this month the airline began announcing flight bans and delays. In January, Air Traffic Management Corp. said AeroSvit’s debt had reached $1.5 million, which has been partially paid.
Boeing has started building the 737NG at a rate of 38 aircraft per month. Over the past two years, 737 production has risen more than 20%, from 31.5 to 38 aircraft a month, according to a company statement. In July 2011, Boeing opened a new paint hangar near its Renton, Wash. facility and in January 2012, it rolled out its first 737NG at the production rate of 35 monthly. In 2014, the rate is expected to increase to 42 aircraft a month. According to Boeing, mechanics have completed loading initial parts of the spars—internal support structures in the wings—into an automated spar-assembly machine.
Air Malta has posted a third-quarter net loss of €8.5 million ($11.4 million), narrowed from a loss of €11.9 million in the year-ago quarter. The airline’s third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2012. Air Malta, which is going through a major restructuring process, said that many of the restructuring costs were one-off charges. It reduced its third-quarter operating loss to €4.8 million, less than half the €9.8 million loss in the year-ago period. In a statement, the carrier said it was on track cut in half last year’s €30 million operating loss. It said the results were driven by improvements in the airline’s revenue (up 9.7% to €47.7 million), passenger numbers (up 3.5% to 377,951) and load factor (up 1% to 75.1%).
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co. (SCAC) has appointed Andrey Kalinovsky as president of the company, effective Feb. 1. He will replace Vladimir Prisyazhnyuk, SCAC said in a statement. Kalinovsky is former head of Sukhoi subsidiary Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association. In 2011 he became SCAC VP and director of its Komsomolsk-on-Amur branch. Kalinovsky oversaw the manufacturing of SuperJet 100 components in Novosibirsk and the aircraft assembly line in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
A Turkish Airlines spokesperson confirmed that a lightning strike caused an Airbus A321 engine fire on descent to Izmir Airport Jan. 24. According to the spokesperson, Turkish Airlines flight TK2348 from Istanbul Ataturk to Izmir Airport was struck by lightning during descent at 8,000 ft. The No. 2 (right) engine rear cowl caught fire near the end of the duct. The fire remained on the exterior of the engine for several minutes and left behind a long series of flames. Flight crew shut down the engine and extinguished the fire. The aircraft landed safely using a single engine and no one was injured. According to maintenance records after the incident, damage was found to the right engine fan cowl, common nozzle assembly, thrust reverser proximity sensor and EEC and promptly replaced.
AFI KLM E&M was selected by AlMasria Universal Airlines to deal with an aircraft on ground situation involving CFM56-5B engines. The MRO provider organized the lease of two spare engines for the Egyptian carrier and a shop visit for the two faulty engines.
Aerostar was selected by Freebird Airlines to have one Airbus A320-200 aircraft inspected at Aerostar’s Bacau facility. It was also selected by Swiftair to inspect one of its Boeing 737-300Fs at Bacau. The company has also begun a D01 check on a Royal Air Maroc Boeing 737-800 at Bacau and is also due to carry out three C checks on one 737-400 and two 737-800s for Pegasus in the first quarter.
Ameco Beijing completed a C check for one ACT Airlines Boeing 747-400, its first contract from the carrier.
Monarch Aircraft Engineering has begun construction work on its 110,000 sq. ft. maintenance facility at Birmingham Airport in the UK. The hangar is due to be fully operational by the end of 2013. MAEL aims to use it as it seeks to increase further its third-party customer base.
Aviation Quote
The probability of survival is equal to the angle of arrival.
Anonymous
On This Date
---In 1889... John Herschel uses camera obscura to photograph 48" (120cm) telescope.
---In 1942...Arrow Airways and Canadian Airways merged to form Canadian Pacific Airlines. This airline would later be sold to Pacific Western Airlines in 1987, renaming the paired company Canadian Airlines International. This operation would later be absorbed by Air Canada in 2000.
---In 1943…The Royal Air Force de Havilland Mosquito made its first flight.
---In 1948…Orville Wright, one of the two Wright Brothers that were the first in powered flight, dies at the age of 76.
---In 1948…A British South American Airways Avro Tudor IV, Star Tiger, disappears without a trace en route from the Azores to Bermuda with 31 on board. The loss of the aircraft along with that of BSAA Avro Tudor Star Ariel in 1949 remain unsolved to this day, with the resulting speculation helping to develop the Bermuda Triangle legend.
---In 1957... Sikorsky’s HSS-1 S-58 piston-engined helicopter, developed for anti-submarine operations, makes its first flight.
---In 1964…Ranger 6 - USA Lunar Hard Lander launched. Cameras failed; lunar probe impacted the surface of the Moon.
---In 1974…Pan Am Flight 806, a Boeing 707-321B (N454PA) crashes on approach to Pago Pago International Airport in American Samoa. The crash was attributed to the flight crew not realizing their excessive descent rate in time to correct for it, ultimately killing 97 of the 101 aboard.
---In 1979…A Varig Boeing 707 Freighter (PP-VLU) carrying valuable paintings mysteriously disappears over the Pacific Ocean. No wreckage or bodies were ever found. The flight was flown by the same Captain who crashed Varig Flight 820 in July of 1973.
---In 1983…Sun Country Airlines begins operations.
---In 1986…First flight of the Boeing 767-300.
---In 1988... Boeing’s long–range 747 SP Friendship One returns to Seattle to set a round-the-world record of 36 hours 54 minutes 15 seconds.
---In 1989…Phobos 2 - USSR Phobos Flyby/Lander (July 12, 1988) arrived at Mars and was inserted into orbit. The orbiter moved within 800 kilometers of Phobos and then failed. The lander never made it to Phobos.
---In 1992…Space Shuttle STS-42 (Discovery 15) lands.
---In 2000…Kenya Airways Flight 431, an Airbus A310 (5Y-BEN) departing Abidjan, Ivory Coast, crashes just after takeoff following the flight crew’s failure to properly respond to a false stall warning. The aircraft crashed into the water, where 10 of the 179 aboard were pulled from the ocean alive.
---In 2009…United States Air Force C-17A Globemaster III 06-0002 makes a belly landing at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
Daily Video
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Humor
Flying Truths
It's better to be down here wishing you were up there, than up there wishing you were down here, and If you're ever faced with a forced landing at night, turn on the landing lights to see the landing area. If you don't like what you see, turn'em back off.
A check ride ought to be like a skirt, short enough to be interesting but still be long enough to cover everything. Speed is life, altitude is life insurance. No one has ever collided with the sky.
Always remember you fly an airplane with your head, not your hands, and never let an airplane take you somewhere your brain didn't get to five minutes earlier.
Don't drop the aircraft in order to fly the microphone. An airplane flies because of a principle discovered by Bernoulli, not Marconi.
"Unskilled" pilots are always found in the wreckage with their hand around the microphone.
If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger; if you pull thestick back, they get smaller. (Unless you keep pulling the stick back-then they get bigger again.)
Hovering is for pilots who love to fly but have no place to go; the only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire; flying is the second greatest thrill known to man, landing is the first!
Everyone already knows the definition of a 'good' landing is one from which you can walk away. But very few know the definition of a 'great' landing. It's one after which you can use the airplane another time.
The probability of survival is opposite to the angle of arrival.
IFR: I Follow Roads.
You know you've landed with the wheels up when it takes full power to taxi.
Those who hoot with the owls by night, should not fly with the eagles by day.
A helicopter is a collection of rotating parts going round and round and reciprocating parts going up and down - all of them trying to become random in motion.
Helicopters can't really fly - they're just so ugly that the earth immediately repels them.
Pilots believe in clean living. They never drink whiskey from a dirty glass.
Things which do you no good in aviation: Altitude above you; Runways behind you; Fuel in the truck; Half a second ago; Approach plates in the car; and Airspeed you don't have.
If God meant man to fly, He'd have given him more money.
Flying is not dangerous; crashing is very dangerous.
A good simulator check ride is like successful surgery on a corpse.
Asking what a pilot thinks about the FAA is like asking a tree what it thinks about dogs.
Trust your captain but keep your seat belt securely fastened.
An airplane may disappoint a good pilot, but it won't surprise him.
Any pilot who relies on a terminal forecast can be sold the Brooklyn Bridge. If he relies on winds-aloft reports he can be sold Niagara Falls.
The friendliest flight attendants are those on the trip home.
Good judgment comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgment.
Being an airline pilot would be great if you didn't have to go on all those trips.
Aviation is not so much a profession as it is a disease.
The nicer an airplane looks, the better it flies.
There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are, but it's always a good landing if you can still get the doors open.
Passengers prefer old captains and young flight attendants.
One thing worse than a captain who never flew as a copilot is a copilot who once was a captain. No matter which, it’s best to keep the pointed end going forward as much as possible.
If an earthquake suddenly opened a fissure in a runway that caused an accident, the FAA would find a way to blame it on pilot error.
Any attempt to stretch fuel is guaranteed to increase headwind.
A thunderstorm is never as bad on the inside as it appears on the outside. It's much worse.
It's easy to make a small fortune in aviation. You have to start with a large fortune.
A male pilot is a confused soul who talks about women when he's flying, and about flying when he's with a woman.
A fool and his money are soon flying more airplane than he can handle.
The last thing every pilot does before leaving the aircraft after making a gear up landing is to put the gear selection lever in the 'down' position.
Try to keep the number of your landings equal to the number of your takeoffs, and remember takeoff's are optional, but landings are mandatory.
You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back.
Trivia
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