News
FAA May Limit Boeing 787 Extended Range
As Boeing works to regain permission for its 787 Dreamliner to resume flights, the company faces what could be a costly new challenge: a temporary ban on some of the long-distance, trans-ocean journeys that the jet was intended to fly. Aviation experts and government officials say the Federal Aviation Administration may shorten the permitted flying time of the 787 on certain routes when it approves a revamped battery system. The plane was grounded worldwide two months ago after lithium-ion batteries overheated on two aircraft. Losing extended operations, or ETOPS, would deal a blow to Boeing and its airline customers by limiting use of the fuel-saving jet, designed to lower costs on long-distance routes that don't require the capacity of larger aircraft. Such a loss could even lead to cancellation of some routes.
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Engines fitted to first flight-test A350
Airbus has fitted the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB powerplants to its first flying A350 prototype, and is also installing the aircraft's auxiliary power unit. A350 MSN1 is to undergo ground tests and painting over the next few weeks before being handed over to the airframer's flight-test team for ground runs. Airbus has yet to finalize a maiden flight date, simply saying it is aiming to fly the twinjet "in the summer".
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Ryanair strikes new crew pay deals
Ryanair has agreed pay increases and new rostering arrangements for cabin crew across the airline, as well as new pilot agreements at those Ryanair bases where existing long-term pay deals were due to expire in April. The airline says that cabin crew at all Ryanair bases have voted to accept a four-year agreement which, from 1st April 2013, will deliver average pay increases of 10% over four years, and increases in supervisory and other allowances.
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Australian Regulator OKs Qantas-Emirates Alliance
Australia's competition regulator has granted conditional final approval to a five-year alliance between Qantas Airways and Emirates, just days before the first Qantas flight is due to transit through Dubai. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said its approval was conditional on the airlines maintaining at least their pre-alliance capacity on routes between Australia and New Zealand amid concerns about reduced competition. The ACCC, which had already halved the desired alliance timeframe from 10 years, said it believed the tie-up as a whole would result in "material, but not substantial" public benefits through enhanced products and improved operating efficiency.
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Gol To Cut Flights After Q4 Loss
Brazilian airline Gol may continue cutting domestic flights into 2014, chief executive Paulo Kakinoff told journalists on a Tuesday call to discuss fourth-quarter earnings. The airline said earlier on Tuesday that it was cutting back flights to return to profitability as it reported a steep quarterly loss. Gol posted a fourth-quarter net loss of BRR447 million reais (USD$222 million), according to a securities filing, compared with a year-earlier profit of BRR54 million.
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Vote Will See EADS Reborn As 'Normal Company'
Airbus parent EADS faces the most far-reaching changes in its history as shareholders seek to balance French and German state shareholdings with tough new safeguards against political meddling. Europe's largest aerospace group has been haunted by political pressures since its inception, but is re-inventing itself to try to secure greater independence. "EADS will now become a normal company," chief executive Tom Enders told reporters on the eve of a shareholder meeting scheduled for Wednesday in Amsterdam.
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AirTanker to start defensive aids upgrade on RAF Voyagers
se of the UK's new Airbus A330 Voyager tanker/transports is set to be expanded from later this year, with the growing fleet set to receive an enhanced suite of self-protection equipment required to meet the Ministry of Defence's theatre entry standard for flights into Afghanistan. "Voyager's defensive aid suite [DAS] was delivered to specification. However, following a reassessment of requirement, a request was made by the MoD to deliver an enhancement to this capability," says Phill Blundell, chief executive of the AirTanker organisation tasked with providing the new type. "AirTanker, in partnership with the MoD, started work on this process more than 18 months ago, and we are now well advanced in delivery," Blundell says. The modification process was contractually formalised during March, with the first aircraft expected to enter a DAS enhancement programme in May 2013.
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SpaceX Dragon capsule returns successfully to Earth
The SpaceX Dragon capsule has returned successfully from its third flight to the International Space Station, splashing down into the Pacific Ocean. The Dragon capsule detached from its berth at the International Space Station early on 26 March, and fired its Draco thrusters to slow down enough to reenter Earth's atmosphere. SpaceX has confirmed a successful reentry, with splashdown around 250 miles off the coast of the Mexican state Baja California. The capsule will be recovered by a specially-equipped ship and brought back to the harbor at San Diego, California. Splashdown was delayed a day due to rough seas.
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Proton rocket launches Satmex 8 into orbit
A Proton-M has launched Satmex 8, a communications satellite, from its pad at Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on 26 March. As of press time, the Breeze-M upper stage has completed its first burn; three burns and several hours remain before the satellite reaches geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
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Mica: TSA should not conduct airport screenings
Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., said he plans to introduce legislation that would require airport screenings to be performed by private firms. Mica said the Transportation Security Administration should be in an oversight role, rather than conducting airport screenings. "TSA should be a security and intelligence agency," he said.
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American update of livery reflects modern design, experts say
The update of the livery for American Airlines reflects the modern age, experts say. "It brings American into the Apple age with its nice reflective coating," said Sudeep Ghai of Athena Aviation. The carrier will have as many as 73 planes with the new livery by year end.
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Airports offer more amenities for travelers
Airports in Europe and Asia offer such amenities as medical clinics, pharmacies and even dry cleaners for travelers. "Functionality was once the leading decision point in design, but now the traveler's ease and experience are among an airport's key priorities," said Jonathan Massey, a principal with the airport design firm Corgan Associates.
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Sequester looms for federal workers at airports
Around 80,000 federal workers at airports will receive reduced schedules once budget cuts from sequestration begin in April. The workers affected by sequestration include customs agents, airport security screeners and air-traffic controllers.
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Aviation Quote
Everything in the company manual - policy, warnings, instructions, the works - can be summed up to read, 'Captain it's your baby.'
Anonymous
On This Date
---In 1907... Romanian Trajan Vuia begins tests of his airplane, newly fitted with steering surfaces. He makes a short flight of 33 feet in Paris, France.
---In 1927... Young American airmail pilot Charles A. Lindbergh registers his entry in the Raymond Orteig challenge for the first man to cross the Atlantic Ocean solo. The challenge and a $25,000 prize, has been issued in 1920, but no one has so far been successful in making the flight.
---In 1931…TWA Flight 599, a Fokker F-10 (NC-999) crashes in Chase County, Kansas, killing all 8 aboard. The wood laminate construction of the aircraft became weak over time until a wing spar failed and separated from the aircraft. This brought upon the very first every grounding of an aircraft type.
---In 1945…The final V-2 missile to hit England falls in Kent.
---In 1946... An air agreement is signed by France and the US giving Air France the right to serve the cities of Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.
---In 1951…A Douglas Dakota DC-3, being operated by Air Transport Charter crashes shortly after takeoff from Runway Airport in Manchester, England. Ice forms on the carburetor after the Captain fails to properly use the heat controls, making the engines unable to gain enough power to climb. Of the 6 aboard, 4 die.
---In 1962…A Cubana de Aviacion Ilyushin IL-14 (CU-T819) crashes into the sea about a mile from Santiago, Cuba, killing all 22 aboard.
--- In 1968... Yuri Gagarin, in April 1961 first man in space, is killed in the crash of a MiG-15UTI trainer near the Soviet capital Moscow.
---In 1969…Mariner 7, one of two robotic probes sent to inspect Mars’ atmosphere and ice caps, launches.
---In 1972… Venera 8 USSR Venus Lander launched.
---In 1975…First flight of the de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7.
---In 1977…The Tenerife Disaster, the deadliest plane crash in history, takes place on a foggy day at Tenerife North Airport (then known as Los Rodeos Airport). Several aircraft, including a KLM Boeing 747-200 (PH-BUF) and Pan Am Boeing 747-100 (N736PA “Clipper Victor”), divert to Tenerife because of a bombing at their original destination, Las Palmas Airport in Gran Canaria, Spain. Tenerife, being a small airport with only one runway and taxiway, requires that the 5 or so diversions park on the taxiway, and then back-taxi and turn around on the runway when it came time to depart. The KLM aircraft taxied into takeoff position while the Pan Am taxied down the runway from the other end, but they are not visible due to each other due to the very dense fog. The KLM Captain either misunderstands ATC or decides on his own, commences takeoff. Only in the final moments do they realize they are on a collision course. The Pan Am attempts to vacate the runway unsuccessfully as the KLM rotates early, dragging its tail, but the belly of the KLM 747 rips into the main cabin and its right engines go right through the upper deck of the Pan Am aircraft. The KLM continues almost a quarter-mile before bursting into flames with its full fuel tanks. All 248 aboard the KLM aircraft perish and there are only 61 survivors among the 335 Pan Am occupants…a total death toll of 583.
---In 1984... British Airways inaugurates a Concorde service from London to Miami twice weekly. The service operates through Washington-Dulles, necessitating a 50-minute stopover. The overall trip lasts 6 hours 35 minutes, a saving approximately 2.5 hours over the direct flight by subsonic airliners. The round-trip fare is quoted a £2,509.
---In 1990…An Uzbek Civil Aviation Administration Ilyushin IL-76D (CCCP-78781) stalls on final and crashes before reaching Kabul, Afghanistan. All 11 aboard are killed.
---In 1990…An Angolan Government CASA C-212 Aviocar 300 is shot down near Kuito, Angola by UNITA forces, killing all 25 on-board.
----In 1994…The Eurofighter Typhoon, a twin-engine fighter designed by Alenia Aeronautica, BAE Systems and EADS, makes its maiden flight.
---In 1999…A Soviet anti-aircraft missile(SA-2 Guideline) takes down an F-117 Nighthawk in the Kosovo War for the first and only time thus far in its career.
---In 2004… NASA's X-43 pilotless plane breaks world speed record for an atmospheric engine by briefly flying at 7,700 kilometers (4,780 miles) per hour (seven times the speed of sound).
---In 2007…The last Airbus A300 leaves the Airbus assembly line.
---In 2012…Aboard JetBlue Airways Flight 191, an Airbus A320-200 flying from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York, to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada, the copilot locks Captain Clayton Osbon out of the cockpit after Osbon begins acting erratically, apparently suffering from a panic attack. Passengers subdue Osbon, and the airliner diverts to Amarillo, Texas, where Osbon is arrested.
Daily Video
Editor’s Choice
Humor
[b] You Might Be An Airplane Mechanic If…
You've ever slept on the concrete under a wing.
You've ever said "Oh yes sir, its supposed to look like that"
You know what JP4 or 145 octane tastes like.
You've ever used a black grease pencil to fix an overworked tire.
You have a better bench-stock in the pockets of your coveralls then the supply system.
You've ever used a piece of safety wire as a toothpick.
You've ever been told to go get "some prop wash and a yard of flightline."
You've ever worked a 14 hour shift on an aircraft that isn't flying the next day.
You can sleep anywhere, anytime, but as soon as the engines shut down you are wide awake.
You've ever stood on wheel chocks to keep your feet dry.
Used dikes to trim fingernails.
Wiped leaks immediately prior to crew show.
Wondered where they keep finding the idiots that keep making up stupid rules.
You've ever had to de-fuel an aircraft an hour after refueling it.
You've used a wheel chock as a hammer.
You know more about your coworkers than your own family.
You ever wished the pilot would say "Great Airplane".
You've ever wondered why it takes a college degree to break an airplane but only a high school diploma to fix one.
You have used a wooden chock as a pillow while sleeping on a pushback tug.
You have scuba dived a lav tank to remove everything under the sun.
You have had a pilot ask you why the valve stems on all the tires are not the same size.
You have had a steering bypass pin fall out during a blinding snowstorm while in a near red-line turn.....BOOM!!!
You have had a starter hang while performing a manual start on a RC-130!!!!
You just screwed up something really expensive.....D'OH!!!!
You have seen the "northern lights" inside the cabin while being shocked by a ballast (200v).
You have had fire lick the back of your neck after getting that INOP APU FINALLY started (tub removed).
You have told someone that you are an aircraft mechanic only to have them say, "But not on the engines...right?"
You have been blamed by management for looking where you were NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LOOKING.
You have wanted to put your foot up a pilot's ass on many occasions.
You have wished that you had chosen a different career.
Trivia
General Trivia
1. W.W. Windstaff was a fighter pilot for Great Britain during World War I. What did he say that is so well known that he is unwittingly quoted by almost every pilot?
2. What was Grumman’s first monoplane, and what was its first multiengine airplane?
3. What is a good reason to always leave the rotating beacon switch in the On position even when the airplane is parked, the master switch is off, and no one is in the airplane?
4. Just as B is the designation for Air Force bombers, RS is the designation for reconnaissance aircraft. Why, then, are the letters reversed in the designation of the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, which also is a “recon” aircraft?
5. A pilot climbs into the cockpit of his airplane and has reason to believe that his manifold pressure gauge is in error. How can he determine the amount of instrument error, if any, without turning on the master switch or operating the engine?
6. Who were the Night Witches?
