News
American Airlines systems restored after outage
American Airlines said its computer systems were restored and flights resumed after intermittent outages on Tuesday lasting several hours had led it to ground hundreds of flights in the US.
The problem with the computer systems began in mid-morning and prompted American to ask the US Federal Aviation Administration to ground its flights until 4 pm CDT.
American said its systems were restored as of 3:30 pm CDT.
"Flights have resumed, but we expect cancellations and delays throughout the remainder of the day," the carrier said in a statement.
Link
FAA reviewing 787 ETOPS certification separately from battery decision
US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Michael Huerta confirms that the Boeing 787's extended operations (ETOPS) certificate is being reviewed separately from the battery redesign investigation.
Addressing a Senate Commerce committee panel on the three-month anniversary of the Boeing grounding, Huerta's remarks clarified for the first time that
Boeing has been answering the FAA's questions on two key fronts.
Link
US investigators examine Phenom 100 brake unit after failure
US investigators are examining a brake control unit from an Embraer Phenom 100 after the aircraft's antiskid system failed while landing.
The Phenom 100 identified as N196EC, which is owned by Delaware-based Professive Aviation, landed without damage on 5 April at Key Field Airport in Meridian, Mississippi, despite the brake system failure.
Link
Cessna bullish on Latitude market prospects
Cessna's two-year-old vision for the mid-size business jet sector is now beginning to take physical shape. The first structures for the mid-size Latitude test aircraft are now in production. Wind tunnel testing is complete on the super mid-size Longitude. And new ideas for the XLS+ and Sovereign are now on the table.
Link
AgustaWestland unveils AW169 variant for AAS
AgustaWestland has unveiled a proposed military development of its 4.5t-class AW169 multipurpose twin-engined utility helicopter to meet the US Army's prospective Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement.
Link
MROAM: USAF breaks up P&W monopoly on C-17 engine services
Pratt & Whitney says it accepts a US Air Force decision to break up the company's 18-year grip on sustainment services for the engines that power the global fleet of Boeing C-17A airlifters.
The USAF has issued a request for proposals seeking competitive bids for a contract to manage the supply chain for the F117, which is the military derivative of the PW2000 turbofan that P&W supplies for the four-engined strategic transport.
Link
Porter CSeries order may open Toronto Billy Bishop to jets
Porter Airlines' order for up to 30 Bombardier CS100 aircraft, which is worth up to $2.29 billion, is welcome news for Bombardier.
It means the airframer has gained another customer that has chosen the aircraft type for flying at urban airports, which have strict noise and emissions regulations.
Link
United Launch Alliance completes major human-rating milestones
United Launch Alliance (ULA) has completed major milestones for the Orion-capable Delta IV launch pad ahead of a planned launch in September 2014.
The aerodynamic windtunnel testing is now complete and critical design review (CDR) finished for needed launch pad modifications.
"We just completed a windtunnel test of that configuration last week, a very solid, very aerodynamically friendly configuration," says George Sowers, ULA's vice president of business development and advanced systems.
Link
Scotland to London by air cheaper than rail
Flights between Scotland and London are nearly always less expensive than going by train, according to a survey conducted by Glasgow-based newspaper The Herald.
The survey, conducted on weekend travel between the months of April and June, found that some trips were nearly 60 percent cheaper by plane.
Link
Aviation Quote
It's easy to make a small fortune in aviation. You start with a large fortune.
Anonymous
On This Date
---In 1913... Briton Gustav Hamel lands after a non-stop flight of 4 hours and 18 minutes from Dover, England, to Cologne, Germany in a Blériot XI.
---In 1920…The Venezuelan Air Force is formed.
---In 1926... Western Air Express starts its service between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.
---In 1944…Howard Hughes and TWA president Jack Frye fly a Lockheed Constellation from Burbank to Washington, DC, setting a transcontinental speed record of 6 hours 57 minutes.
--- In 1961…Cuban exiles using B-26 Invaders begin the campaign to free Cuba from Fidel Castro.
---In 1964…Jerrie Mock becomes the first female pilto to successfully circumnavigate the globe, landing her Cessna 280 in Columbus, Ohio, after 29 days of flying covering 22,860 miles.
---In 1967…An SR-71 made the longest Mach 3 flight in history. The flight was over 14,000 miles. Pilot Robert L. Stephens (the Silver Fox), RSO Kenneth D. Hurley. (Q)
---In 1967…Surveyor 3 - USA Lunar Soft Lander launched. Landed on the lunar surface.
---In 1970... A Sikorsky CH-53D helicopter flies between London and Paris to demonstrate that modern helicopters can provide reliable inter-city services.
---In 1970…The crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft and its four astronauts returns to earth safely after suffering an explosion enroute to the moon.
---In 1973…Federal Express begins operations, using a fleet of 14 Dassault Falcon 20 jets to ferry parcels from 25 cities to their Memphis hub for the nightly sort and subsequent distribution across the country. The sort has gone on every night since, with the company growing becoming critical to the backbone of the world economy, and the fleet growing to over 700 aircraft flying to about 325 destinations.
---In 2012…A Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, accompanied by a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) T-38 Talon chase plane, carries the retired Space Shuttle Discovery from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, to Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia, where Discovery is slated to replace the Space Shuttle Enterprise on display at the Smithsonian Institution's nearby Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, a part of the National Air and Space Museum. The delivery flight includes low-level passes over the Cape Canaveral area as well as flybys at an altitude of 1,500 feet (457 meters) over Washington, D.C.-area landmarks.
Daily Video
Today marks the 48th Anniversary of the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. In tribute to those patriots(Alabama ANG: Thomas “Pete” Ray, Wade Carrol Gray, Leo Francis Baker and Riley W Shamberger, and those Cubans of Brigade 2506) that made the ultimate sacrifice, rest in peace, this is for them:
Editor’s Choice
Humor
You Know You have been in Iraq too long when. ...
• When mortars land near your compound and you roll over in bed and think "still way off, I got another 5 minutes"
• When you start humming with the Arabic song playing on the radio on the shuttle bus
• Every woman that reports to your unit starts looking attractive
• Every guy that reports to your unit starts looking attractive
• You walk an extra 6 blocks to eat at the KBR (contractor run) dining facility to have the exact same food they are serving in your dining facility because you think it tastes better
• You actually volunteer for convoy security duty because you still haven't seen the country yet
• You start picturing your wife in traditional Arab dress
• The contractors have more fire power than the military combat units. (This is true)
• You take the time to add your lines to this list
• You've spent $200 dollars at Haji mart on DVDs buying Basic Instinct, 9 and ½ weeks, and Body of Evidence just for the sex scenes
• You drink the water from the tap because you want to drop 20 pounds in two weeks
• Driving around in SUVs with weapons pointed out the windows and forcing cars off the road seems very normal to you
• You can put your body armor and helmet on in the dark in under 5 seconds
• When the organization you work for has changed its name more than 3 times
• When you can actually talk to people in the United States on a cell phone, yet you can't get people on their cell phone a block away
• When you actually spend more time writing e-mail about the dog in the compound versus how to conduct the fight in Najaf
• Your idea of a fun Thursday night is to go to the Palace pool to watch the State Department folks get drunk, naked and try to pick each other up
• When you actually get excited to get a package that contains 3 pair of socks, 12 bars of soap and a Victoria Secret Catalog
• When you start to enjoy the rocking of the trailer every time the MEDEVAC choppers fly over
• You memorized every episode from the 4th Season of Sex in the City
• You enjoy the audience commentary while watching a movie bought at Haji mart
• You see celebratory fire going over the compound at night and think, "wow the colors are so pretty" and want to fire back
• Your thinking of buying real estate in the green zone
• Your idea of sex is 20 minutes of Instant Messaging with your wife on the computer, OK, 10 minutes, who are you kidding?
• You wake up and think Baghdad, I am still in friggin Baghdad
• You make the new guy show you his count down timer just to make you feel better about your time you have left in country
• You're in the Army and you start saying Ooorah
• You're in the Marines and you start saying Hooah
• You're in the Navy and you realize you are in the middle of the desert, the exact opposite of being in the middle of the ocean, where one might normally find the Navy.
• You're in the Air Force, and you're on the plane home because an Air Force tour is too short to have been a long Iraq tour. Ignore this list, zoomie, you won't get it.
• You only notice the stench of Haji funk when its not there
• You plan on removing all trees and grass in your yard when you get home so it will look more natural
• You forget there are other colors than brown that can be found in places other than power point slides
• The temp drops down to 102 degrees and you shiver while reaching for your Gortex jacket
• You have noticed a change of season, from long, hot and dry to short, cold and wet.
• When you call home and your kids ask "Who is this?"
• You call home and your wife says hello Bill (your name is Sam)
• When you go on R&R, you duct tape your child to the roof of your car, hand him a pellet rifle, and assign him a sector of fire for the ride to "The Olive Garden."
• When you can comfortably shave and brush your teeth using bottled water, but don't mind showering in the "non-potable" local water.
• While on R&R, you look out the window and find Nature, which leads you to wonder who stole your sandbags.
• When some of the contractors wear their DCUs (Desert pattern camouflage uniform) more properly than some of your soldiers.
• When 12 hours is a short work day
• You go Battle Captains!
• When, During the BUA, "DIV asked MNSTC-I for the FRAGO that MNC-I was supposed to publish, but couldn't because MNF-I hadn't weighed in, since they were too inundated with MOD and MOI war-gaming the JCCs
within the ISF to square us away!" is a valid comment and generates no questions.
• When you start using words like G'day mate, Cheers, and Bloody hell as part of your normal vocabulary
• When you have your opinions printed in the STARS and STRIPES more than 3 times
• When the palace catches fire and instead of helping to put it out you grab a bag of marshmallows and start roasting
• When you step into any office and there are 6 colonels, 12 lieutenant colonels, 15 majors, and 8 captains supervising the work of 1 sergeant
• When you end every phone conversation with "Out"
• When you're ordered to get an air mission together on short notice because it's a "Hot priority" only to have the Major call back once he is in the air to ask "Does anyone know where I am going?"
• When the weapon buyback program has become so successful that you have issued the same AK-47 to the Iraqi army 3 times
• When you can actually tell the difference between the sound of an exploding car and an exploding mortar
• When on R & R you tell your wife that your weapon status is Red and your looking for the clearing barrel
• When on R&R you go to Church and wonder why no one is wearing body armor or carrying an automatic weapon to the service
• You see an indirect fire attack take out a generator and get angry at the enemy for not hitting the one that powers your computer
• You see an indirect fire attack take out an air conditioner and your vigor to fight is renewed
• You yell at the FNG for shouting incoming when the rounds don't impact close enough to hit your tent with dirt
• You know that you need to run inside immediately after any win of an Iraqi sports team to keep from being hit by celebratory fire
• You decide for that for shits and grins - lets take a run around Lost Lake at Camp Victory to see if we can get shot at by the sniper
• You never worry about oversleeping because if the morning call to prayers doesn't wake you, the daily 0430 mortar attack will (most mornings)
• The highlight of your shopping experience at the PX is to see that they got in a new shipment of Schick Tracer razor blades
• When you send out your laundry and your whites become grayer, your blacks become grayer and your DCU's become grayer - makes it easier to sort loads...
• You get offended by people wearing clean, pressed DCU's
• You decide that it is a better course of action to pull your blankets over your head than put on your body armor during a mortar attack - the woobee will save you and at least you are comfortable
• You make a contest out of seeing who can wear their uniform for more days before becoming entirely disgusted with themselves
• You wonder if the fish served at dinner really was carp caught out of the Tigris or Camp Victory's lake
• You find it completely acceptable to pick your nose while talking to a complete stranger or member of the opposite sex
• A rocket or a mortar really isn't a big deal until the crater it leaves is big enough to trip over in the dark on the way to the latrine
You go to a social gathering and intermittent gun fire or explosions don't even cause a pause in the conversation
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CO777ER wrote:[Today marks the 48th Anniversary of the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. In tribute to those patriots(Alabama ANG: Thomas “Pete” Ray, Wade Carrol Gray, Leo Francis Baker and Riley W Shamberger, and those Cubans of Brigade 2506) that made the ultimate sacrifice, rest in peace, this is for them:
