CommercialJetBlue E-190 makes emergency landing after slide deploysA JetBlue Airways Embraer 190 diverted to Orlando International airport today in an emergency landing after the aircraft's slide deployed into the front galley. The Boston-bound flight had departed from Fort Myers with 73 passengers and four crew members on board. JetBlue says the crew declared an emergency "out of an abundance of caution" after the aircraft's evacuation slide "partially deployed" into the E-190's front galley.
LinkAircraft Bomb Scare Turns Into Bullion ChaseTwo lunch boxes hidden in the toilets of a Jet Airways plane triggered first a bomb scare and then a smuggling probe as the tins were found to contain 12 gold bars each, a senior Indian customs official said on Wednesday. Smuggling is on the rise into India, one of the world's biggest buyers of gold, after the government raised import duty to 10 percent and introduced restrictions which have shriveled supplies into the domestic market. The Jet Airways plane had arrived at Kolkata airport from Patna on a domestic flight, but normally operates between the gold trading hub of Dubai and Mumbai, home to India's largest gold market. It was undergoing routine cleaning when maintenance staff discovered the two small tins.
LinkDiscussionAbu Dhabi Aerospace Fund Eyes US DealsThe aerospace unit of Abu Dhabi investment fund Mubadala is targeting acquisitions in the United States to expand its manufacturing capabilities after securing billion-dollar contracts at the Dubai Airshow. Mubadala Aerospace won industrial orders worth over USD$5 billion at the show to sell parts and materials to Boeing and Airbus. The deals could provide a reciprocal boost to Gulf economies after their state-owned airlines placed large orders worth about USD$150 billion at the event. Mubadala Aerospace, which already builds lightweight parts for Boeing and Airbus, plans to expand its manufacturing operations and also acquire other businesses.
LinkZagreb Airport To Close For Two Day StrikeA strike will close Croatia's Zagreb airport on Thursday and Friday in a dispute over extension plans and how it will be run in the future, state news agency Hina reported. Only emergency, military or government flights will be allowed to use Zagreb airport during the strike that will begin at 10:00 (10 am local time) on Thursday and end at midnight on Friday. Ante Dujic, representing four airport unions, told a news conference employees were unhappy about the rules regulating the running, maintenance and planned extension by the French-led consortium ZAIC, fearing jobs would be lost in the long-term.
LinkJet Airways Deal With Etihad Goes AheadThe Jet Airways deal with Etihad Airways has gone ahead with Etihad taking a 24 percent stake in the Indian carrier. Etihad will receive 27.3 million shares in Jet and will nominate two directors to serve on its board. As part of the deal the Jet Airways board approved the sale of its Jet Privilege Frequent Flyer program to a subsidiary Jet Privilege which will be co-owned by the two airlines.
Link777X helps Boeing double rival Airbus's haulBoeing’s launch of the 777X meant it pushed Airbus firmly into second place during the Dubai air show, more than doubling its rival’s order total in terms of value and the number of aircraft. It secured firm orders and commitments for 342 aircraft including 182 777-9X twinjets and 43 of the 777-8X – the first for the smaller variant. Boeing also landed 30 787-10s and 75 737 Max 8 aircraft, plus 11 current 737s and a single 777 freighter. It values the overall total at $101.5 billion, although it lists only $18.2 billion of this – comprising the 56 aircraft from Etihad Airways – as firm.
Link'Insulting' for Airbus to pitch lower-weight A330 to China: BoeingBoeing says it is "insulting" for its competitor to push the reduced-weight Airbus A330 to the China market as a solution for congestion at airports in the country. Speaking to reporters in Hong Kong recently, Boeing's senior vice-president of sales and marketing for northeast Asia Ihssane Mounir had harsh words for Airbus. “Frankly, and you can quote me on this, I find it insulting that a manufacturer would come in with old obsolete technology that burns 25-30% more fuel than their own A350, and 25-30% more fuel than our 787, that nobody is buying in bulk anymore. And they are telling them this is good for you. If it’s good for them, why aren’t they selling it somewhere else? Why is it just good for the Chinese?” he says.
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Bombardier expects more CSeries orders as flight testing progressesBombardier expects notable CSeries order book gains by mid-2014 as additional test flights demonstrate the performance and efficiency gains of the next-generation airliner, according to CSeries programme management director Sebastien Mullot. Speaking during the Scotiabank Transportation & Aerospace Conference, Mullot insists the CSeries programme is on track to hit the company’s target of 300 orders from 20 customers by the aircraft's entry into service, which may be the latter half of next year. The company has firm orders for 177 CSeries aircraft.
LinkBombardier poised to conduct more frequent CSeries flight tests Bombardier aims to increase the frequency of CSeries flights to nearly one per day after completing the bulk of ground vibration trials on its FTV-1 test article. Sebastien Mullot, CSeries programme director, speaking at the Scotiabank Transportation and Aerospace Conference 2013 on 19 November, described the ground testing as "pretty much done", although he noted that further trials could be conducted if flight-test data indicates a requirement. Recent ground evaluations included trials of the landing gear on the CS100 test vehicle which “are behaving as anticipated", says Mullot.
LinkTrade War 'Unavoidable' IF EU Emissions Plan Not SoftenedFailure by the European Union to soften a law to charge foreign airlines for their emissions will make an international trade war unavoidable, a German MEP steering the plan through the European Parliament said on Wednesday. A law passed in 2009 would have charged all airlines for emissions for the full duration of their flights into and out of the EU, but it was suspended last year amid complaints from countries including the United States, China and Russia and replaced with a scheme that applied only to routes wholly within the EU. The European Commission last month proposed reinstating the law, but weakening it to force all carriers using EU airports between 2014 and 2020 to pay for the greenhouse gases they emit in the bloc's airspace via Europe's Emissions Trading Scheme.
LinkAs bees see it, landings are easy Sometimes, the best way forward is to begin with a statement of the obvious. Consider this: “Landing is a challenging aspect of flight because, to land safely, speed must be decreased to a value close to zero at touchdown.” No aviator would dispute that, possibly excepting carrier pilots accustomed to smacking the deck (albeit with a perilously thin safety margin). Starting with this premise, Emily Baird of Lund University in Sweden and colleagues looked at how flying animals taper their vertical speed to zero for touchdown. Studying honey bees in controlled laboratory conditions, the team concluded that bees’ method is simple and elegant, and suggests – as per the title of their paper published in the 4 November issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences – A universal strategy for visually guided landing. What bees seem to do when coming in to land vertically is to adjust their speed so as to hold steady the rate of expansion of their visual image of the surface they are approaching. The beauty of this method is that it requires very little input data or calculation: bees’ eyes are too close together to give a useful stereo view, and their nervous systems are rudimentary. As Baird notes, this method could apply equally well to a flying robot.
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