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No breakthrough in underwater search for MH370
An underwater vehicle searching for the lost Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has completed eight missions with no finds of interest. The Bluefin-21 underwater vehicle has searched about two-thirds of the search area, a circle with a 10km radius around the location of the second towed pinger locator contact on 8 April. A ninth search mission was scheduled to begin this morning. In addition, ten aircraft and 11 ships are searching the remote area of the Indian Ocean where the 777-200ER is believed to have crashed after running out of fuel. The visual search area for the day is nearly 50,000 km2, located 1,741km northwest of Perth.
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MH370 Sea Bed Scans Could End In Days
The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 entered its 44th day on Sunday as Australian search officials said a crucial series of sonar scans of the Indian Ocean floor could be completed within a week. The air, surface and underwater search is now focused on footage taken by a US Navy deep sea drone, which has narrowed its target range to a 10 km (6.2-mile) circle of sea floor. The Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) has spent the past week scouring the remote and largely unmapped stretch of ocean floor 2,000 km (1,200 miles) northwest of the Australian city of Perth for signs of the plane. The remote controlled submarine is now in its eighth deep sea mission with no sign of wreckage so far. The drone has searched about half its targeted area, the authorities said on Sunday.
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Air China, Hawaiian ink codeshare agreement
Hawaiian Airlines and Air China have entered into a codeshare agreement. Hawaiian launched service to Beijing earlier this week. Hawaiian and Air China are also working on a program to allow frequent fliers to earn loyalty points on both airlines.
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Analysts expect upbeat Q1 airline earnings despite exceptionally harsh weather
Despite unusually severe winter weather, analysts expect robust airline earnings for the first quarter. "Broadly speaking, we feel demand trends are good and we expect highly upbeat commentary on earnings calls," said Hunter Keay, an airline analyst for Wolfe Research Inc. Seth Kaplan, managing partner of Airline Weekly, also said "U.S. airlines are doing as well as they have ever done."
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Flight tracking companies to help enhance global aircraft monitoring
Satellite communications firm Inmarsat will offer airlines flight tracking service for free if the company is made part of a global tracking service aimed at enhancing the monitoring of commercial jets, Executive Chairman Andrew Sukawaty said. Separately, jet communications system maker Rockwell Collins said it hopes to join an International Air Transport Association task force that will seek to improve flight tracking. "With GPS satellites and connectivity, this is a solvable problem," said Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg.
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Airbus considers A320neo upgrades, sources say
When it came to the A320neo, Airbus deliberately focused on key propulsion and aerodynamic improvements to gain maximum performance advantage in the shortest possible development time. Now, with the A320neo set to start flight tests in October, industry sources claim that Airbus is shifting its focus to avionics, cabin and other system improvements that could sustain the A320 well into the 2020s. According to these sources, suppliers will meet with Airbus later this month to discuss various upgrade packages for the A320neo under an effort dubbed the Single Aisle Incremental Development (SAID) program, also known as the A320neo Plus. The initiative could result in a series of systems and interior upgrades that would start being introduced as of early 2016 onto production aircraft. The more challenging and extensive upgrades would be ready for entry into service in 2019, four years after the introduction of the first neo variant late next year. Airbus denies such a concrete project is in place. “There is no new neo,” one official says. Instead, he stresses that the manufacturer is continuing to look into research and technology initiatives for all its models, and points out that CEO Fabrice Bregier wants the company to follow a strategy of incremental improvement rather than investment in all-new aircraft. He has committed to refrain from launching a new aircraft program in the next 10 years. But that means the current portfolio has to remain competitive.
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Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems agree to long-term contract
Spirit AeroSystems has finalized a new long-term supply agreement with Boeing, which covers pricing for the structures Spirit builds for Boeing commercial airplanes, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The current agreement, which expired last year, was forged when Spirit became a company in 2005 after Boeing sold its Wichita commercial aircraft division. It runs through 2015. That original agreement had been extended until a new one could be reached. “Spirit is proud to partner with our Boeing customer and pleased to have this agreement in place,” a Spirit spokesman said in an e-mail. “We view it as a positive outcome for both partners.” The new contract establishes terms for pricing Spirit’s work on Boeing’s 737, 747, 767 and 777 programs, according to the filing. It does not include the 777X and 737 MAX development programs.
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FAA holds Bay Area workshops on flight path changes
The Federal Aviation Administration will be holding workshops in the San Francisco Bay Area to invite public comment on planned changes to air traffic routes for the three major airports in the area. The FAA says the changes are needed to modernize air traffic, and is offering information and experts to answer questions at the workshops.
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CBP approves airport terminal connecting San Diego, Mexico
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has approved a cross-border airport terminal serving both San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. The Tijuana International Airport has already started construction for the project, and the U.S. side is expected to start construction in May. Customs officials say the terminal should help ease congestion.
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Recaro, ZIM showcase latest seat designs at annual expo
Aircraft seat makers presented their latest innovations at this year's Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany. For economy class, ZIM showed off a seat with a center post for mounting the tray table and a 28-inch seat pitch, while Sogerma presented a premium economy seat with a single-piece construction. Recaro also presented an update of its flagship BL3520 seats with a built-in tablet computer holder that keeps the tray table accessible.
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DFW Airport finds "recomposure area" helps speed security line
Dallas Fort-Worth Airport is looking for a new sponsor for its highly successful "recomposure area" near the E18 security checkpoint, which gave passengers a chance to collect themselves or relax before and after entering security with amenities such as couches and mood lighting. The area included design touches to "speed [passengers] through the line to make it more user-friendly," said DFW spokeswoman Cynthia Vega. The experiment resulted in 25% faster lines, but has been halted until a new sponsor is found.
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Column: Seat design tweaks can have huge effect on airlines' razor-thin margins
Columnist Shaunacy Ferro explores the world of airplane interior design, from first-class seats to in-flight entertainment systems. "In the razor-thin margins of the airline industry, even a tiny design tweak can have a huge impact on the airline's finances," Ferro writes. "One Middle Eastern airline reduced its annual fuel cost by $120,000 by using slightly thinner leather in just 16 of its first class seats on 15 planes."
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Aviation Quote

. . . then there was war in heaven. But it was not angels. It was that small golden zeppelin, like a long oval world, high up. It seemed as if the cosmic order were gone, as if there had come a new order, a new heavens above us: and as if the world in anger were trying to revoke it . . . So it seems ours cosmos is burst, burst at last, the stars and Moon blown away, the envelope of the sky burst out, and a new cosmos appeared, with a long-ovate, gleaming central luminary, calm and drifting in a glow of light, like a new Moon, with its light bursting in flashes on the earth, to burst away the earth also. So it is the end — our world is gone, and we are like dust in the air.

— Milton, Paradise Lost.'

On This Date

---In 1914... The first news movie shot from the air is filmed by cameraman B.C. Hucks, Warwick Bioscope Chronicle Film, England. He flies down to within 400 ft. of the royal yacht with King George aboard, crossing the English Channel from Dover, England to Calais, France.

---In 1928... Australian explorer Hubert Wilkins and his American pilot Carl Ben Eielson arrive in Spitzbergen, Norway after making the first ever crossing of the Arctic by airplane. They left Point Barrow, Alaska, on April 15th in their Lockheed Vega.

---In 1942…Lieutenant Commander Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare becomes the first U.S. Navy aviator to receive the Medal of Honor.

---In 1961... USAF Major Robert White pilots the X-15A research airplane from Edwards Air Force Base in California on its first flight at full throttle, reaching a speed of 3,074 mph at an altitude of 79,000 feet, before climbing to 105,100 feet.

---In 1964…First flight of the HFB-320 Hansa Jet.

---In 1988…First flight of the Boeing 747-400.

---In 1989… SR-71 (974) was lost off the Philippines (0.25 miles north of the island of Luzon) due to an engine explosion. 974 was known as “Iche Ban”. The crew ejected safely, made it to shore and were rescued by one of the island’s former cannibal tribes. Pilot Dan House and RSO Blair Bozek survived. (Q)

---In 1990… Aeritalia joins the Airbus consortium as a partner.

Daily Video

Editor’s Choice

Humor

Army Ranger, Marines and crocodile shoes...

An Army Ranger was on vacation in the depths of Louisiana and he wanted a pair of genuine alligator shoes in the worst way, but was very reluctant to pay the high prices the local vendors were asking.


After becoming very frustrated with the "no haggle" attitude of one of the shopkeepers, the Ranger shouted, "maybe I'll just go out and get my own alligator so I can get a pair of shoes made at a reasonable price!"

The vendor said, "By all means, be my guest. Maybe you will run into a couple of Marines who were in here earlier saying the same thing."

So the Ranger headed into the bayou that same day and a few hours later came upon two men standing waist deep in the water. He thought, "those must be the two Marines the guy in town was talking about." Just then, the Ranger saw a tremendously long gator swimming rapidly underwater towards one of the Marines.

Just as the gator was about to attack, the Marine grabbed its neck with both hands and strangled it to death with very little effort. Then both Marines dragged it on shore and flipped it on its back. Laying nearby were several more of the creatures.

One of the Marines then exclaimed, "Damn, this one doesn't have any shoes either!"

Trivia

General Trivia

1. What is the Cessna 305?

2. While flying in a single-engine Cessna, Martin Wikelski observed that dragonflies fly only during warm daylight hours. How did he determine this?

3. The tails of the Piper PA–28 series of aircraft feature corrugations to strengthen the metal surfaces. Why are these corrugations concave (rounded inward) instead of convex (bulge outward)?

4. What major aviation motion picture was used by the U.S. Air Force as an official training film?

5. Construction of what will become the world’s highest airport used by airlines will begin next year and be completed in 2014. In which country will this airport be located?

6. The Invasion of Normandy (a.k.a. Operation Overlord) began on June 6, 1944, which is also known as D-Day. It involved what probably was the largest armada of military aircraft ever assembled for a single purpose. What does the “D” in D-Day represent?

7. A pilot is flying over Kansas at noon under clear skies. Unbeknownst to him, the sun is suddenly extinguished. How much time would elapse before the pilot finds himself flying in total darkness?