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Ethiopian Airlines flight hijacked by co-pilot
Ethiopian Airlines flight ET702 from Addis Ababa to Rome was hijacked by the co-pilot and diverted to Geneva this morning. Swiss police say the co-pilot waited until the pilot went to the toilet before locking himself in the cabin and rerouting the Boeing 767-300ER to Geneva, where it landed at around 06:00 local time. The co-pilot then climbed down a rope from the window and surrendered to police officers.
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Nepali Plane Crash Wreckage Found, No Survivors
All 18 people aboard a small plane that crashed in bad weather in Nepal were killed, an army spokesman said on Monday, after searchers battled heavy rain and harsh winds to reach the rugged site the day after the event. All 15 passengers, among them a foreigner, and a crew of three were killed in Sunday's crash at Masine hill in the village of Dhikura, 200 km (125 miles) west of the capital Kathmandu, officials said. "All 18 dead bodies have been found," army spokesman Jagadish Pokharel told Reuters news agency. One was an infant, and nine of the bodies were charred beyond recognition, police added. There were no immediate further details from the remote area, authorities said.
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Embraer confident on E2 timeline
Embraer is confident that the re-engined E2 E-Jet series will meet its development timeline, despite delays to other recent aircraft programs. John Slattery, the airframer’s head of commercial, told Flightglobal in a recent interview that the program is “right on top of the schedule of development.” “We remain confident of the entry into service dates of the first half of 2018 for the E190, the first half of 2019 for the E195 and the first half of 2020 for the E175,” he says. Slattery adds that the same team that managed the development of the original E-Jet series, now referred to as the E1, is managing the E2 development path.
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Incorrect checks preceded Superjet cowl separation
Investigators believe ground checks were incorrectly carried out before an incident in which an Aeroflot Sukhoi Superjet 100 sustained engine cowl damage. The aircraft had been operating from Moscow Sheremetyevo as flight SU1808 to Odessa early on 14 February. It departed runway 25L but returned after “failure of one of the cowlings”, says Sukhoi’s civil aircraft division. The aircraft landed safely.
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Ferrovial Makes Bid For Three UK Airports - Source
Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial has made an offer to Heathrow Airport Holdings (HAH) for British airports Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Monday. Newspaper Expansion said the offer, for which Ferrovial has held talks over a joint bid with at least two Australian funds - Macquarie and Industry Funds Management - was worth GBP£800 million (USD$1.3 billion), citing industry sources. Ferrovial declined to comment. HAH said they could not comment and referred calls to Ferrovial. The Spanish company, which holds a 25 percent stake in HAH, previously BAA, has been on the hunt to strengthen its airport business as it seeks to diversify further from its crisis-hit domestic construction business.
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Italy Fines Ryanair, easyJet Over Insurance Offerings
Italy's anti-trust authority has fined low-cost airlines Ryanair and easyJet EUR€850,000 (USD$1.2 million) and EUR€200,000 respectively for what it said was insufficient transparency in their optional insurance offerings. It said on Monday that Ryanair had been given 30 days to respond about how it intended to make its optional flight cancellation insurance offers more consumer friendly.
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Boeing to announce site location for 777X wing on Tuesday
Boeing plans to build a new facility in Everett, Wash., to handle production for the 777X wing, sources said. Boeing is expected to announce the location on Tuesday, and the company said "the location will be announced at the appropriate time."
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Bahamas government offers proposal to address airline concerns over fee increases
Seven months after steep new and increased fees were accessed to airlines flying to and from the Bahamas, the government has offered a proposal to reduce fees to ensure major airlines' service to the islands continues. This responds to a June letter sent by Keith Glatz, Airlines for America vice president of international affairs, to the government expressing deep concerns over the fees which he said may trigger the airlines to "reconsider their service levels to the Bahamas" and "undermine the desire to stimulate the Bahamas' economy." An A4A spokeswoman confirmed receipt of the letter, stating A4A and its member carriers are working to understand the details of the proposal.
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Cleveland airport seeks to expand nonstop service
Joe Roman, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Partnership in Ohio, is looking to attract air service for nonstop routes recently eliminated by United Airlines. "We want to be strategic about how we do it," said Roman. "We're not the only airport in the country that's trying to expand air service." Roman said service to Phoenix and Montreal are top priority.
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Women business travelers offer wish list for airport lounges
A discussion group on LinkedIn focused on what women traveling for business would like to see offered at airport lounges. Female business travelers said they would like to see rooms for nursing mothers, areas for changing clothes, healthy food options and workout rooms, among other amenities.
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American, the world's largest airline, sets its sights on gold
Since its merger with US Airways in December, American Airlines Group has seen its stock rise by 42%. "We're off to a great start," CEO Doug Parker said. "The teams are working extremely well together, both at the management level and all of our employees out in the field."
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Republic Airways, pilots union reach tentative agreement
Republic Airways Holdings and its pilots union reached a tentative deal on Friday for a four-year contract. Members of the Teamsters union are expected to vote on the contract next month. The union represents more than 2,200 pilots at the carrier, which also includes Chautauqua and Shuttle America.
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Fla. airport waits for FAA approvals for $1B expansion
Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Fla., is awaiting Federal Aviation Administration approval for a $1 billion expansion. The first phase of the expansion calls for additional parking and a train to transport passengers. Phil Brown, the executive director of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, said the authority expects FAA approval for the first phase by the end of the month.
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Canada follows ICAO recommendations for multi-crew pilot's license
Canada is following recommendations from the International Civil Aviation Organization by adopting the multi-crew pilot's license. Unlike the U.S., where pilot hours are mandated by Congress, Canada has adopted 250 hours of flight training and 750 hours of ground school as the minimum requirement.
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Inspector general: FAA should clarify NextGen benefits, timetable
According to a report by the inspector general of the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration needs to clearly define the benefits and timetable of its NextGen program. "Unless FAA places greater management attention on its efforts to implement the act’s provisions, it is unlikely that the agency will realize enhanced program oversight and accountability or the benefits of advanced technologies and navigation procedures," the report said.
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FAA: We plan to hire thousands of air traffic controllers
The Federal Aviation Administration said the agency plans to hire 10,000 air traffic controllers over the next 10 years. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, meet age requirements and be willing to relocate to one of 315 FAA sites across the U.S. Applicants must also display "three years of progressively responsible work experience, or a Bachelor's degree, or a combination of education and work experience that totals three years."
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UAC takes cautious approach to China Su-35 buy
United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) feels there is scope to sell the Sukhoi Su-35 fighter to China, despite lingering concerns about Beijing’s view toward intellectual property. “We have a good opportunity to work with China on [the Su-35] despite the success Chinese industry demonstrated [replicating earlier Russian fighters],” says Mikhael Pogosyan, chief executive of Sukhoi parent company UAC. Speaking to journalists at last week’s Singapore air show, Pogosyan was replying to a journalist’s question about whether he was concerned about intellectual property issues related to a possible acquisition of the advanced type by Beijing.
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UAC chief shoots down FGFA technology transfer concerns
United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) has dismissed media reports that New Delhi is unhappy with the level of technology transfer related to the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) program. “I believe that the level of transparency and technology transfer Sukhoi and Russian industry have demonstrated…shows a brand new level of transfer and is especially better than that of other companies,” says UAC chief executive Mikhail Pogosyan. Pogosyan made the comments during a media roundtable at the Singapore air show. Recent unsourced media reports have indicated that India’s air force was concerned about Sukhoi’s willingness to share key information about the aircraft, which will be a variant of the T-50 PAK FA fighter.
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Aviation Quote
I wish for many reasons flying had never been invented.
— Stanley Baldwin, on learning that Germany had secretly built an air force in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles, 1935.
On This Date
---In 1832... Octave Chanute (1832-1910), first great historian of aviation, is born in Paris, France. Brought to the US when young, Chanute was a civilian engineer before turning to aviation. In 1894 he published Progress in Flying Machines. The book became a bible for the Wright brothers.
---In 1911... First official government air mail flight is made in India as French pilot Henri Pequet flies 6,500 letters a distance of about five miles (8 km).
---In 1934…TWA assembles a team to fly a prototype of the DC-1 from Burbank, California, to Newark, New Jersey, in a record-breaking 13 hours and 4 minutes.
---In 1963…Air Force authorizes the initial construction of the first six SR-71s. These aircrafts were designated R-12s. The project code name was SENIOR CROWN. (Q)
---In 1969…Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 crashes into Mount Whitney, killing all 35 on-board. The pilots of the DC-3 (N17750) were straying from their filed VFR flight plan when they struck. Weather and challenging terrain prevented rescue crews to come upon the wreckage until the following August.
---In 1969…Terrorists attack an El Al 707 on the runway at Zurich, killing a pilot and three passengers.
---In 1973... Daniel Bouchart and Didier Potelle land 19,568 feet up on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania in an SA 319 B Alouette II helicopter.
---In 1974…NASA launches Italian satellite San Marcos C-2 (235/843 km).
---In 1977... The converted Boeing 747 space shuttle carrier makes its first flight with the shuttle Enterprise on its back, at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center.
---In 1979…NASA launches space vehicle S-202.
---In 1981…Aircraft industrialist Jack Northrop, co-founder of Lockheed Corporation and, later, founder of Northrop Corporation, dies at the age of 85.
---In 1988…Binter Canarias is founded.
---In 2009…N652UA, a Boeing 767-322ER operated by United Airlines, is damaged significantly by the automatic discharge of a sprinkler system in the hangar it is parked in while undergoing maintenance at O'Hare International Airport, Chicago. Eleven cabin windows are knocked out by the force of the discharge, damaging the aircraft's avionics systems.
Daily Video
Editor’s Choice
Humor
Sightseeing
As an American Airlines jet was flying over Arizona on a clear day, the co-pilot was providing his passengers with a running commentary about landmarks over the PA system.
"Coming up on the right, you can see the Meteor Crater, which is a major tourist attraction in northern Arizona. It was formed when a lump of nickel and iron, roughly 150 feet in diameter and weighing 300,000 tons, struck the earth at about 40,000 miles an hour, scattering white-hot debris for miles in every direction. The hole measures nearly a mile across and is 570 feet deep."
From the cabin, a passenger was heard to exclaim, "Wow! It just missed the highway!"
Trivia
General Trivia
1. What airplane produced by a well-known aircraft manufacturer was rejected by the U.S. Army in 1973 because it could be brought down by bow and arrow?
2. What is the largest, post-World War II, piston-powered, twin-engine airplane designed from scratch and produced exclusively as a general aviation airplane?
3. Why should every dedicated pilot fly at least once to KFFA?
4. Several types of liaison airplanes served the U.S. military during World War II. Best known of these were the first five, the L-1, L-2, L-3, L-4, and L-5. Can you identify these utilitarian “L-birds?”
5. Almost everyone has heard of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, but what is the Lightning II?
6. U.S. military flight-crew positions often have nicknames. What are the official positions of a boomer, a GAFO (pronounced GAY-fo), a raven, a GIB (pronounced gib), and a whizzo?
7. The Pratt & Whitney J58 (JT11D) engines that powered the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird use JP-7 fuel so inert that it could not be ignited with spark or ignition plugs. How was this exotic fuel ignited during engine start?
8. On November 13, 1942, and after having survived in a life raft in the western Pacific for 23 days, Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, Col. Hans Adamson, and Pvt. John Bartek were found by the pilot of a Vought-Sikorsky Kingfisher, a U.S. Navy seaplane. What was so unusual about the subsequent rescue?
