News
Colorado Snowstorm Slows Air Traffic
A wind-driven snowstorm blanketed eastern Colorado on Sunday, creating blizzard conditions on the High Plains and prompting the cancellation of 200 flights in and out of Denver Airport, authorities said.
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EADS Attacked By Chinese Hackers - Report
Airbus parent EADS and German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp recorded major attacks by Chinese hackers in 2012, German magazine Der Spiegel reported, citing unidentified people within the two companies.
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Boeing Proposes 787 Battery Fix To FAA
Boeing on Friday gave US aviation regulators its plan to fix the volatile battery aboard its 787 Dreamliner, even though investigators have not yet determined what caused the batteries to overheat on two planes last month.
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US Air Travel Faces Disruption From Cuts
The US air travel system faces widespread disruptions if automatic government spending cuts go into effect next week, transportation secretary Ray LaHood said on Friday in an effort to pressure congressional lawmakers to delay the cuts.
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United Plane Slips Off Cleveland Airport Taxiway
A United Airlines plane slid off the runway at Cleveland's main airport early on Friday shortly after landing, forcing passengers and crew to exit by stairs, but no injuries were reported, airport and airline officials said.
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Cracked Turbine Blade Grounds F-35 Fleet
The U.S. military grounded its fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters after a routine engine inspection revealed a cracked turbine blade in an F-35A based at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The precautionary flight suspension was announced on February 22, following an inspection earlier in the week. The grounding affects all three variants of the fighter, for a total of 51 aircraft.
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Kenya Airways-Etihad alliance to create powerful force in Eastern Africa
Africa's airline industry may not be large, but there is no shortage of activity as growing interest in the region's natural resources piques global attention.
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Frontier Airlines has numerous fits and starts in its network
US ultra low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines has made sweeping changes to its network during the last few weeks as it attempts to find the right mix of profitable routes that act as shields from one of its largest competitors, Southwest Airlines.
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United pushes Denver-Tokyo launch as 787 grounding continues
United Airlines has delayed the launch of its new Denver to Tokyo Narita flight to 12 May, due to the continued grounding of the Boeing 787.
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Other News
Oman Air leased two Boeing 737-800s to double daily services from Muscat to Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad. It will also increase service from Muscat to Lahore and Islamabad to daily.
Cathay Pacific Airways will add a fifth daily flight on its Hong Kong-London Heathrow service June 27.
Etihad Airways increased 7X-weekly Abu Dhabi-Lahore service to 11X-weekly. It will also increase 6X-weekly Abu Dhabi-Lagos service to daily March 31.
Spirit Airlines launched daily Houston-Orlando and 5X-weekly Detroit-Denver service, increasing to daily March 1.
Aviation Quote
Asking what a pilot thinks about the FAA is like asking a fireplug what it thinks about dogs.
Anonymous
On This Date
---In 1784... The first balloon flight made in Italy takes place from the grounds of a villa owned by Chevalier Paul Andreani near Milan and uses a modified Montgolfière hot air design built by the brothers Charles and Augustin Gerli.
---In 1929... The world's first major air evacuation comes to an end when Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) flies out the last of 586 civilians from Kabul to the safety to India. The airlift involves nationals of about 20 countries.
---In 1930... Ralph O'Neil lands in Miami on the first mail service of America airline New York, Rio and Buenos Aires Line (NYRBA) between Buenos Aires and New York after a difficult 6-day flight from Argentina.
---In 1932…Russia's civil airline changes its name to "Aeroflot" as we know it today.
---In 1933…USS Ranger (CV-4) is launched as the first American ship actually designed to be an aircraft carrier. (Earlier conventional ships had been converted to carriers).
---In 1963…First flight of the Transall C.160.
---In 1964…Eastern Air Lines Flight 304, a Douglas DC-8 (N8607), crashes into Lake Pontchartrain after departing New Orleans. All 58 aboard perish due to an abnormal trim component which led to instability when experiencing turbulence while climbing through 16,000ft.
---In 1965…The Douglas DC-9 makes its first test flight.
--- In 1970... TWA becomes the first airline to fly a "Jumbo Jet" within the US, when it inaugurates a Boeing 747 service between Los Angeles and New York.
---In 1975…Brig. General Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier, flies his final US Air Force sortie.
---In 1979…Soyuz 32 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6 space station is launched.
---In 1982…American Airlines cancels 15 Boeing 757-200 orders.
---In 1990... Smoke-free flights become mandatory throughout North America for all US airlines.
---In 2008…Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 crashes short of the runway while on approach to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. A faulty altimeter on the Boeing 737-800 (TC-JGE) led to a decrease in the autothrottle to idle. Noticing too late, the crew was unable to recover, and the aircraft broke apart while landing in the mud. Among the 135 people on-board, 9 die, including the two pilots.
Daily Video
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Humor
Hole Burning
A laser process that depletes, spatially or spectrally, the electron/hole pair density in a region of space or frequency of high coherent light, being spatial hole burning and spectral hole burning respectively.
Trivia
General Trivia
1. The solemn missing-man formation usually is flown over a funeral or memorial event in honor of the fallen. It is customary to see a wingman pull up, pull away, or simply be missing. What does it mean when the formation leader and not a wingman pulls away or is missing?
2. All U.S.-registered aircraft begin with an N and may end with a letter or a combination of two letters (such as N6796T and N707BS). What letter or letters, however, may not be used at the end of an N-number?
3. On September 2, 1944, Lieutenant JG George H.W. Bush’s Grumman Avenger was downed by anti-aircraft fire while he was attacking a radio transmitter on Chichi-Jima (near Iwo Jima), and the future president had to bail out. Why is the Avenger sometimes called a Grumman TBF and at other times a TBM?
4. How is it possible to easily determine wind direction at your altitude without using a computer, calculator, GPS, or other navigational aid?
5. What was done with toilet waste during the early days of airline travel?
6. What was the world’s first turboprop airliner?
