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Australia Says Signals Detected Consistent With MH370
Australian officials said on Monday signals picked up by a black box detector attached to an Australian ship searching for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean were consistent with aircraft flight recorders. "Clearly, this is a most promising lead," Angus Houston, head of the Australian agency coordinating the search, told a news conference in Perth in western Australia. Houston, a retired air chief marshal, said two signals had been detected off Australia's northwest coast.
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MH370 searchers examine widely separated ‘pings’
The international search effort for the lost Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is focusing on separate pulse signals received by ships 600km apart. The first signal was received by a Chinese vessel, the Hai Xun, on Saturday 5 April 1,550km northwest of Perth, according to an illustration posted by the Australian Maritime Safety Agency (AMSA). The second signal was received by HMAS Ocean Shield 1,680km to the northwest of Perth. On Saturday, China’s official Xinhua news agency created a stir in international media when it disclosed that the frequency of the signal received by Hai Xun was 37.5kHz per second, which is consistent with the transmission of the locator beacon used on flight data and cockpit voice recorders.
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Pulse signal detected in MH370 search: report
Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 has in the course of its search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 detected a pulse signal in the southern Indian Ocean, Xinhua reports. The signal was picked up today by a "black-box detector" at 25°S latitude and 101°E longitude, and has a frequency of 37.5kHz per second, says the Chinese state news agency. "It is yet to be established whether it is related to the missing jet," adds Xinhua.
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Air New Zealand unveils distinctive livery on Boeing 787-9
Boeing has rolled out Air New Zealand's (ANZ) first Boeing 787-9, with the aircraft sporting a new all-black livery and the country’s official fern mark. The carrier will be the variant's first operator, says Boeing. The 787-9 can carry up to 40 more passengers an additional 300 nautical miles (555km) over the 787-8. The debut route for the 787-9 will be Auckland-Perth later this year.
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Kenya Airways receives first 787
Boeing has delivered Kenya Airways' first 787, which departed Everett today for Nairobi. The aircraft is the first of nine 787s that the airline has on order, and will operate on its first revenue flights within Africa in the coming weeks. The carrier will deploy the aircraft to Paris in early June, says Boeing. "The delivery of our first ever 787 Dreamliner not only opens a new chapter for our airline, but also for Kenya," says Titus Naikuni, Kenya Airways' chief executive. "The 787 will enable Kenya Airways to explore new markets, improve its economic performance, provide passengers with revolutionary comfort, while continuing to contribute towards the sustainable development of Africa."
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Pressure Increases For Aircraft Tracking After MH370
Four weeks into the hunt for MH370, pressure is building for better ways of tracking aircraft as regulators wrestle with the Malaysian jet's disappearance armed with only minimal information on the fate of its 239 passengers and crew. As search efforts intensified over the weekend, four weeks after the Boeing 777 went missing, US pilots association ALPA called for existing satellite technology to be made mandatory so controllers can track aircraft. Until recently, aircraft flying over oceans well outside the reach of air traffic control routinely gave their position through high-frequency radio links that are vulnerable to interference from the atmosphere.
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UniCredit CEO Says Etihad Good Partner For Alitalia
Etihad Airways could be a good partner for Alitalia, UniCredit chief executive Federico Ghizzoni said, adding he hoped the Abu Dhabi airline would submit a proposal for the Italian carrier. The Gulf carrier is due to kick-start formal talks for an investment in Alitalia by outlining its conditions in a letter of intent. "From the beginning I've said it could be a good partnership because there are no overlaps," Ghizzoni said on the sidelines of a business conference in Cernobbio in northern Italy. But sources close to the matter said negotiations with the Italian airline were not expected to make much progress on Saturday or Sunday, contradicting a Financial Times report saying Etihad was expected to make an offer to buy almost half of Alitalia as soon as this weekend.
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Military

Turkey ends delay by accepting first A400M
Turkey has at last accepted its first A400M tactical transport from Airbus Defence & Space, making it the second operator to receive the type after a delay of several months. First flown in August 2013 and then due to have been delivered from around late September, aircraft MSN9 had remained at the A400M final assembly site near Seville, Spain to support crew training activities for the Turkish air force.
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Gripen flies with passive targeting sensor
Saab has successfully test flown a key passive detection capability for its in-development Gripen E fighter, using dedicated test aircraft 39-7. Developed by Selex ES’s Airborne & Space Systems division, the Skyward-G infrared search and track (IRST) sensor will give the combat aircraft a long-range means of detecting and identifying potential airborne threats, without the need to first switch on its active electronically scanned array radar. Secondary applications include the ability to act as a navigation and landing aid during darkness.
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Aviation Quote

If we had these rockets in 1939, we should never have had this war.

— Adolf Hitler, regards the V-1 rocket.

On This Date

---In 1906... Charles Rolls, in his new balloon, races Frank Hedges Butler and friends aboard the Aero Club III. Rolls outdistances his opponents, who come down at Wimbledon, while he lands at Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England.

---In 1908... The members of the Aerial Experiment Association enter a competition sponsored by the Scientific American, which has offered $25,000 for a flight of over 0.62 miles. The Wrights refuse to enter because the rules state the airplane must take off without help.

---In 1922... The first Corps Observation Group, under the command of Col. William Mitchell, makes its first patrol, led by Maj. Ralph Royce, and thus becomes the first American squadron to go into action in Europe.

---In 1922…The first midair collision of commercial airliners takes place over Thieuloy-Saint-Antoine, Picardie, France between a Farman F.60 (F-GEAD) and a de Havilland DH-18 (G-EAWO). At a height of about 500ft in rainy weather, the two aircraft end up on a collision course with no time to evade each other. The Dash-18 loses its tail and a wing, while the Farman survives for a short while before also crashing. All seven people among the two aircraft die, including a young steward who initially survives the wreck, but succumbed to his injuries afterward.

---In 1957…A Varig Curtiss C-46 Commando (PP-VCF) crashes shortly after takeoff due to a fire in the left main gear wheel well. The pilot thought it was one of the engines, and shut it down unnecessarily. A go-around during a landing attempt when the gear doesn’t drop (due to the fire), allows more time for the fire to spread, leading to the left wing separating from the aircraft after the metal fatigue. All 40 aboard the aircraft perish.

---In 1958…AREA Ecuador Flight 222, a Douglas C-47 (DC-3) registered HC-ACL, crashes into a Chugchilan range of mountains after not maintaining the proper heading, resulting the fatalities of all 32 aboard.

---In 1959… Radar 1st bounced off Sun from Stanford, California.

---In 1967…First flight of the SA.340, prototype of the Aérospatiale Gazelle.

---In 1968… Luna 14 - USSR Lunar Probe launched. Luna 14 is in a lunar-solar orbit.

---In 1983…STS-6, using space Shuttle Challenger, launches. The mission is the first perform to a spacewalk.

---In 1992…Azerbaijan Airlines is founded.

---In 1994…FedEx Flight 705, a DC-10-30 (N306FE) experiences an attempted hijacking from a deadheading pilot, wanting to die in a plane crash so that his family could collect his life insurance. Using hammers to attempt to incapacitate the crew, take over the aircraft and possibly even crash the aircraft into FedEx headquarters, the crew fought vigorously after both the First Officer and Flight Engineer receive a fractured skulls. First Officer Tucker uses severely evasive maneuvers and near supersonic speed to throw off the attacker. Captain Sanders eventually takes over controls after the F/O becomes incapacitated and lands the aircraft at a very high speed while the aircraft is very heavy with fuel and cargo. All three pilots receive awards for heroism, and to this day have not received medical approval to fly again.

---In 1994…TAGG Angola L-100 (C-130) D2-THC catches fire while taxiing to a parking spot due to overheated brakes in Malengue, Angola. All 4 occupants escaped unharmed.

---In 1999…Turkish Airlines Flight 5904, a Boeing 737-400 on a ferry flight to Saudi Arabia, crashes in poor weather shortly after departure. It is suspected that the pitot static anti-ice system was not activated, creating false airspeeds that led to the deaths of all 6 on-board.

---In 2001…The robotic spacecraft Odyssey launches on its mission to orbit Mars, arriving at the planet the following October. The craft later collects data that would guess water to be on the plant. This is later confirmed by the Phoenix lander in July of 2008.

Daily Video

Editor’s Choice

Humor

The Copilot

I am the copilot. I sit on the right.
It's up to me to be quick and bright;
I never talk back for I have regrets,
But I have to remember what the Captain forgets.

I make out the Flight Plan and study the weather,
Pull up the gear, stand by to feather;
Make out the mail forms and do the reporting,
And fly the old crate while the Captain is courting.

I take the readings, adjust the power,
Put on the heaters when we're in a shower;
Tell him where we are on the darkest night,
And do all the bookwork without any light.

I call for my Captain and buy him cokes;
I always laugh at his corny jokes,
And once in awhile when his landings are rusty
I always come through with, "By gosh it's gusty!"

All in all I'm a general stooge,
As I sit on the right of the man I call "Scrooge";
I guess you think that is past understanding,
But maybe some day he will give me a landing.

Trivia

Commercial Pilot – Airplane Exam Questions

5440
Hatching on a Constant Pressure Analysis Chart indicates
A) hurricane eye.
B) windspeed 70 knots to 110 knots.
C) windspeed 110 knots to 150 knots.

5430
Which provides a graphic display of both VFR and IFR weather?
A) Radar Summary Chart.
B) Weather Depiction Chart.
C) Surface Weather Map.

5417
What type of Inflight Weather Advisories provides an en route pilot with information regarding the possibility of moderate icing, moderate turbulence, winds of 30 knots or more at the surface and extensive mountain obscurement?
A) AIRMETs and Center Weather Advisories (CWA).
B) Convective SIGMETs and SIGMETs.
C) Severe Weather Forecast Alerts (AWW) and SIGMETs.


5470
If an airplane is consuming 95 pounds of fuel per hour at a cruising altitude of 6,500 feet and the groundspeed is 173 knots, how much fuel is required to travel 450 NM?
A) 248 pounds.
B) 265 pounds.
C) 284 pounds.

5504
To use VHF/DF facilities for assistance in locating your position, you must have an operative VHF
A) transmitter and receiver, and an operative VOR receiver.
B) transmitter and receiver.
C) transmitter and receiver, and an operative ADF receiver.


5360
Which situation would most likely result in freezing precipitation? Rain falling from air which has a temperature of
A) more than 32 °F into air having a temperature of 32 °F or less.
B) 32 °F or less into air having a temperature of more than 32 °F.
C) 0 °C or less into air having a temperature of 0 °C or more.


5043
Excluding Hawaii, the vertical limits of the Federal Low Altitude airways extend from
A) 1,200 feet AGL up to, but not including, 18,000 feet MSL.
B) 700 feet AGL up to, but not including, 14,500 feet MSL.
C) 1,200 feet AGL up to, but not including, 14,500 feet MSL.


5212
An airplane will stall at the same
A) angle of attack regardless of the attitude with relation to the horizon.
B) angle of attack and attitude with relation to the horizon.
C) airspeed regardless of the attitude with relation to the horizon.

5076
A pilot flying a single-engine airplane observes a multiengine airplane approaching from the left. Which pilot should give way?
A) Each pilot should alter course to the right.
B) The pilot of the single-engine airplane should give way; the other airplane is to the left.
C) The pilot of the multiengine airplane should give way; the single-engine airplane is to its right.

5085
What is the minimum flight visibility and proximity to cloud requirements for VFR flight, at 6,500 feet MSL, in Class C, D, and E airspace?
A) 5 miles visibility; 1,000 feet above and 1,000 feet below.
B) 1 mile visibility; clear of clouds.
C) 3 miles visibility; 1,000 feet above and 500 feet below.


5608
What will occur if no leaning is made with the mixture control as the flight altitude increases?
A) The volume of air entering the carburetor decreases and the amount of fuel decreases.
B) The density of air entering the carburetor decreases and the amount of fuel increases.
C) The density of air entering the carburetor decreases and the amount of fuel remains constant.

5761
Hypoxia is the result of which of these conditions?
A) Insufficient oxygen reaching the brain.
B) Excessive oxygen in the bloodstream.
C) Excessive carbon dioxide in the bloodstream.

5163
If the airspeed is increased from 90 knots to 135 knots during a level 60° banked turn, the load factor will
A) remain the same but the radius of turn will increase.
B) decrease and the stall speed will increase.
C) increase as well as the stall speed.

5961
Which of the following is the final step of the Decide Model for effective risk management and Aeronautical Decision Making?
A) Estimate.
B) Eliminate.
C) Evaluate.

5002
NTSB Part 830 requires an immediate notification as a result of which incident?
A) Damage to the landing gear as a result of a hard landing.
B) Engine failure for any reason during flight.
C) Any required flight crewmember being unable to perform flight duties because of illness.

5470
If an airplane is consuming 95 pounds of fuel per hour at a cruising altitude of 6,500 feet and the groundspeed is 173 knots, how much fuel is required to travel 450 NM?