onsdag 30. mai 2012

B787 - Nå også som UAV?


Foto: Dalløkken
Researchers claim chip used in military systems and civilian aircraft has built-in function that could let in hackers

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner uses the Actel ProASIC chip that is troubling researchers. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian

Two Cambridge experts have discovered a "back door" in a computer chip used in military systems and aircraft such as the Boeing 787 that could allow the chip to be taken over via the internet.

The discovery will heighten concerns about the risks of cyber-attacks on sensitive installations, coming on the heels of the discovery this week of the 'Flamer' virus which has been attacking computer systems in Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

In a paper that has been published in draft form online and seen by the Guardian, researchers Sergei Skorobogatov of Cambridge University and Chris Woods of Quo Vadis Labs say that they have discovered a method that a hacker can use to connect to the internals of a chip made by Actel, a US manufacturer.

Bare må hjem.......

Racing the Storm: The 1999 Crash of American 1420

By Dan DePodwin, Meteorologist
May 30, 2012; 8:50 AM ET 
National Transportation Safety Board investigator Michael Kelly looks at the crash site of American Airlines Flight 1420 at Little Rock National Airport in this June 4, 1999 photo in Little Rock, Ark. A flight attendant on the plane told jurors Tuesday, May 17, 2005 at a federal trial in Little Rock that she never felt her life was in danger while Capt. Richard Buschmann flew American Airlines Flight 1420 from Dallas to Little Rock on June 1, 1999. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
The data for the following story was gathered from the official accident report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board.
As the sun set on the first day of June in 1999, passengers of American Airlines Flight 1420 boarded an MD-82 aircraft in Dallas, Texas, destined for Little Rock, Ark. It was warm, the air humid and the stage set for disaster.
A "Bowling Alley" Approach
In springtime, cool, dry Canadian air races southward while sticky, sultry, warm air resides across the Deep South. When these two air masses clash, the stage is set for violent thunderstorms. These ingredients came together on June 1, 1999 across Arkansas as Flight 1420 flew towards Little Rock.
Already delayed by poor weather in the Dallas area, Captain Richard Buschmann and First Officer Michael Origel were behind schedule and in danger of going beyond their allowed duty times. Prior to leaving Dallas, the crew was briefed on the developing thunderstorms in Arkansas, but believed they would be able to make it to Little Rock.
While in the air, an American Airlines flight dispatcher informed the flight crew that storms were closing in on Little Rock, but a "bowling alley" of clear air still existed and recommended expediting their approach to avoid the weather.
Just before 11:30 p.m. as Flight 1420 was about 30 minutes away from Little Rock, the airport weather observing station began reporting a thunderstorm. At this point, winds were still light, just 10 mph.
In the cockpit, Buschmann and Origel began to feel the effects of the increasingly bad weather with turbulence and frequent lightning. The increased workload of landing in poor weather would take its toll.

The "Bowling Alley" Closes-In
As Flight 1420 was on final approach, the weather rapidly deteriorated and the "bowling alley" closed in. Visibility on the runway dropped below the minimum required for landing and winds increased above the acceptable limit. Yet the pilots, tired from a long day of work, did not decide to abandon the approach and go to their alternate airport.
With lightning engulfing the plane, turbulence rocking it from side to side, and rain pelting the windows, the MD-82 touched down on the runway. Immediately, the plane began sliding, not losing speed. Despite applying the brakes, the plane continued through the end of the runway and careened into a steel walkway, coming to rest on the bank of the Arkansas River.
Captain Buschmann was killed instantly while 10 other passengers perished in the crash; 134 people survived.
The focus of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators quickly turned to the lack of braking and the weather. What they found would reveal a startling pattern in the aviation community.
An American Airlines MD-82 aircraft like the one involved in the accident. Courtesy of Flickr user Deanster1983

"Get There-Itis" and a Culture of Flying Through Storms
After months of investigation, witness interviews and studies of pilot behavior in thunderstorms, the NTSB found that two out of three pilots would land in a thunderstorm. They were more likely to do so if it was nighttime, they were behind schedule, or if other planes had landed in front of them.
This unsafe practice shocked many in the aviation community. It was also found that American Airlines had a vague policy about flight through thunderstorms. In response, more specific guidelines were adopted.
The storm that hit Little Rock late in the evening on June 1 was a severe thunderstorm. Just after the fatal crash, a wind gust to 88 mph was reported at the airport-clearly unsafe weather to attempt a landing. However, the flight crew decided to land anyway. Lead NTSB investigator Greg Feith described the insistence of landing despite weather "get there-itis."
But despite the poor weather, Flight 1420 had successfully landed. Why had the plane skidded off the runway without stopping? The key to unlocking this mystery was found on what was NOT heard on the cockpit voice recorder. There was no mechanical click signifying that the spoilers were armed.
The spoilers aid in braking by disrupting flow of air over the wing. In addition, they reduce lift which allows the plane to put its full weight on the wheels. In the case of Flight 1420, the flight crew forgot to arm the spoilers to deploy upon landing.
As a result, the pilots had extremely limited braking ability and could not slow the plane in time.
In the aftermath of this tragic accident, the NTSB recommended numerous improvements in cockpit procedures, communication of weather forecasts and flight crew training.
Despite the changes and lessons learned from June 1, 1999, weather continues to be a leading cause of aviation disasters. Incidentally, exactly 10 years later, Air France Flight 447 would vanish over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 people on board--more on that fatal night coming soon.

AF447 rapporten ute den 5. juli



 PARIS (AP) - French investigators say the final report into the causes of the crash of Air France flight 447 will soon be published, three years after the jet went down in the mid-Atlantic killing all 228 people aboard.

 France's accident investigation agency, or BEA, said in a statement Wednesday that the final report will be released at a news conference on July 5.

A preliminary report released last July highlighted a chaotic cockpit scenario before the crash, with a confused crew getting incoherent speed readings from faulty sensors, but it didn't draw a conclusion on whether pilot error, equipment failure or other unknown factors caused the crash.

The Airbus 330 passenger jet flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed on June 1, 2009

NORDSAR lansert i dag

Kl. 14 i dag var jeg invitert til å overvære lanseringen av samarbeidet mellom Heli-One og Eurocopter i hangaren til Heli-One på Sola. Samarbeidet er innrettet mot SAR kontrakten som skal komme ut i anbuds form i løpet av morgendagen, dersom det ikke blir en ytterligere utsettelse. Her promoteres EC225 som er en av fire kandidater til jobben som Sea Kingens arvtaker:

Foto: Per Gram
Her foredrar Eurocopters Thomas Hein for presse og andre interesserte. Maskinen som ble vist i dag var en offshore konfigurert maskin, altså ikke SAR utgaven. Det ble anledning til en flytur også.
Det knytter seg spenning til anbudets utforming. Blir det gitt anledning til å by på kontrakten med to helikoptertyper; en for nord og en for sør? Blir kravene at en skal kunne fly ut til 150NM utenfor grunnlinjen, i praksis 270NM, for der å plukke opp 20 nødstedte for deretter å fly 150NM til land og lande med reserver? Blir det anledning til å tilby en 15 års kontrakt med opsjon på nye 15 år? Gjenkjøpsavtaler? Nordsar lover 150 årsverk og 700 mill. i kontraktsperioden. Vil vedlikehold tas i Polen?
Jeg har snakket med flygere og de er nær sagt unisone i sin begeistring ovar maskinen, en maskin som jeg var heldig å vær første nordmann som fløy i 2003.
De andre kandidatene til jobben er S-92A, NH90 og AW101.

NH90 med problemer på Sola

Foto: Forsvaret

Fra min korrespondent på flyplassen:

NH90 med gearboks problemer på Sola i dag. Til info. Ingen pan eller mayday.
Callsign Tiger.

NH90 er an kandidat som Sea Kingens etterfølger.

Lavprisselskaper kommer dårlig ut


Svenske reisende klager mest på lavprisselskapet Ryanair. (Foto: Colourbox.com)

Sakset fra ABC Nyheter i morges

Disse flyselskapene får flest klager

Irske Ryanair topper listen, mens svenske reisende klager nest mest på Norwegian.

Dette kan du klage på

Du kan klage til Flyklagenemnda dersom du og flyselskapet eller flyplassen, eventuelt reisebyrået, ikke blir enige om hvilke rettigheter du har ved forsinkelser, kanselleringer, overbookinger, bortkommet/skadet bagasje og andre forhold som direkte knytter seg til gjennomføringen av flyreisen fra du møter på flyplassen til du har hentet bagasjen, herunder manglende assistanse ved spesielle behov knyttet til bevegelseshemming og som du har gitt flyplassen, flyselskapet eller reisearrangøren beskjed om på forhånd.
Les mer på Flyklagenemndas nettsider
Ødelagte vesker og klær over hele bagasjebåndet, forsinkede piloter og billettproblemer. Dette er ting man helst ikke vil oppleve, men som reisende har klaget på og flyselskapene blitt felt for av svenske Allmänna reklamationsnämnden (ARN).
På forespørsel fra Aftonbladet har ARN, som tilsvarer Transportklagenemnda fly i Norge, laget en oversikt over de selskapene som har fått flest klager og blitt felt flest ganger det siste året.
Øverst på listen havner det irske lavprisselskapet Ryanair, som er klaget inn 127 ganger og felt 75 ganger fra 1. januar 2011 fram til i dag.
På andreplass kommer Norwegian med 116 klager og 66 fellinger.

mandag 28. mai 2012

Single European Sky - EU leverer ikke

The Association of European Airlines has warned the EC that the region’s recovery could be jeopardised if conditions are not created by regulators to enable airlines to stimulate growth for other industries.

“Europe’s political leaders need to get serious about the growth agenda and provide fertile soil for its key industries to develop,” said AEA Chairman Bernard Gustin. “For the airline sector, this means a global solution on emissions trading, a Single European Sky which actually delivers and an end to economically-illiterate regulation.”

While Lufthansa’s CEO, Christoph Franz added “We welcome the Commission’s efforts to push through the Single European Sky, but we are furious that the largest EU Member States are simply not delivering. This fragmentation is ridiculous and unacceptable. The Commission must stand firm, rejecting every national performance plan that falls short of the EU-wide target. We will give them our full support in this initiative.”

T-38M - Fin løsning for et flott fly

PICTURE: Turkish air force receives upgraded T-38M By Flight Intl.
Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) has delivered the first modernised Northrop T-38 jet trainer to the nation's air force in Ankara.
The T-38M avionics modernisation project for the Northrop-built fleet was signed by TAI and Turkey's Undersecretariat for Defence Industries in 2007. The "Ari" (Bee) effort calls for 55 aircraft to be upgraded, with the work to extend their service lives until beyond 2020.
Key elements of the TAI-designed upgrade include a new central control computer, multi-function cockpit displays, head-up displays, hands-on throttle and stick controls and modern navigation and communication equipment. Suppliers include Turkish firms Aselsan and Havelsan.
TAI will deliver the programme's first five aircraft: two prototypes and three production examples. Modernisation work will then be continued at the Turkish air force's Eskisehir maintenance centre, with the project likely to be finished by the end of 2013.
The Turkish air force has a current active fleet of 67 T-38As, as recorded by Flightglobal's MiliCAS database.
Meanwhile, the air force is already starting to consider its requirements for a next-generation "T-X" trainer aircraft that should enter service during the 2020s, Brig Gen Atilla Darendeli, chief of the service's training branch, told IQPC's Military Flight Training conference in London this March.

DA42 - Et av mine favorittfly. Airborne sensing

Video: Diamond Multi-Purpose Platform DA42


Diamond has diversified its market to the military, law enforcement and even media realms with the DA42 Multi-Purpose Platform. Diamond Airborne Sensing's Markus Fischer took AVweb through the product at Diamond's factory in Wiener Neustad, Austria.
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Red Bull - Ta en slurk og gå bananas...

Video: Red Bull's Latest Aerial Ballet



Red Bull Wednesday shared video of one of its latest sponsored adventures -- five wingsuit skydivers joining up with and maintaining formation with two sailplanes in a dive over Austria. The team flew two aerobatic LET L-13 Blanik sailplanes and just to complicate things, the lead flew inverted and one skydiver formed up in between the inverted and upright glider. The skydivers and gliders came together in formation at roughly 12,000 feet. The sailplanes wore wingtip-mounted smoke canisters and one skydiver wore one on an ankle. The trick of the task was mating airspeed and descent rates and this time all members performed flawlessly.

Generally, wingsuits manage their best glide (roughly 2.5:1) at close to 75 mph. The Blaniks are a 1950's-era metal design and manage close to 30:1 at about 55. For the stunt, the team found a common airspeed closer to 110 mph, then found and held formation with the requisite precision.
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80-åring nær sin frelser......

FAA Investigates Tandem Skydiving Scare

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The FAA has paid a visit to a California skydiving company after video of some unplanned excitement vaulted it to Internet stardom earlier this week. It's been more than a year since an 80-year-old grandmother identified only as Laverne took a bucket-list tandem jump with the Parachute Center in Acampo, Calif., that may have got her a little closer to her maker than she bargained for. Laverne is seen having second thoughts in the aircraft door before she is encouraged to join the fun by her tandem partner and the cameraman. Laverne somehow slips out of her harness and makes most of the journey earthward in an undignified position in the grip of her partner. At one point during the freefall the cameraman moves in to help keep hold of Laverne. They landed none the worse for wear and that was the end of the story until the video hit theChive.

The video caught the attention of the networks and the Parachute Center has fielded numerous requests for comment with a variation of the statement made to the New York Daily News, which quoted an unnamed employee. "No one got hurt," the employee said. "The equipment worked properly." The FAA decided to check that out and spent part of Saturday interviewing staff and going over records.

Solar Impulse - Oppdatering

Etter planen skal maskinen ta av i dag for Marokko. Følg med.

International Flight Begins Without Fuel
 
Solar Impulse, the manned solar-powered airplane, began a 1,554-mile trip from Switzerland to Morocco, Thursday and landed safely after a 17-hour first leg at its planned layover site of Madrid. The 3,500-pound vehicle is carried by a 207-foot wingspan. It is propelled by batteries and 12,000 solar cells driving four electric motors. Pilot Andre Borschberg was at the controls for the first leg of the journey and reportedsubstantiated confidence in the technology. “It was incredible to fly alongside the barrier of clouds during most of the flight and not need to hesitate to fly above them. This confirms our confidence in the capacity of solar energy even further.” Monday, after a three-day layover to check the condition of the aircraft and make promotional visits, Bertrand Piccard is scheduled to take the controls for the next leg. Weather permitting, Piccard's leg will see completion of the journey in Morocco. The trip is just a small step toward the team's long term goals.

The Solar Impulse team became the first to operate a manned aircraft for more than 26 hours powered by batteries and energy acquired from the sun. The flight set endurance and altitude records. Another was earned in 2010 for manned flight powered only by sunlight. The team intends to punctuate all that with an around-the-world flight presently scheduled for 2014. The Switzerland-to-Morocco trip will allow the team to gather more real-world flight experience while promoting solar power. Morocco was chosen as a destination in part because of its plans to build five solar complexes generating 2000 megawatts of power by 2020.

Bon Voyage - Dansker på tur


Personal Space Torpedo

Donations from more than 2,000 people, plus other sponsorships, have funded Copenhagen Suborbitals' (CS) Tycho Brahe program, which aims to see individuals launched to at least 100 miles above the earth in personal capsules. The team's proposed capsule is made from rolled steel plate wrapped in a cork heat shield. Inside, the capsule's sole passenger would ride in a near-standing position, wearing a G-suit to help force blood to the head during acceleration. The passenger's head would sit in a transparent hemispheric dome topped with an aerospike for better supersonic performance. It gets better.

Dimensions of the capsule's cabin area are roughly two feet (diameter) by 7.5 feet (length). There will be no room in the capsule for movement once the vehicle goes weightless. After launching to 100 miles, parachutes will be used to slow the final descent. CS's team of about 20 have so far spent about $300,000 over the past four years developing their idea and last year made a test launch. The team says they are focusing on hybrid propellant rockets and have seen "very promising results" from "epoxy resin/nitrous oxide" mixtures. The team says hybrid propellants offer "lower complexity" and also that "the likelihood of catastrophic explosive failure is less." The team has a stepped test program scheduled for 2012.

Ubemannet luftskip


Military Airship Floats Toward First Flight

Northrop Grumman's 300-foot-long, 70-foot-tall, remotely piloted Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) airship is scheduled to fly for the first time in early June at Lakehurst, N.J. The maiden flight could take place anytime between June 6 and 10, weather permitting, and will be followed by a trip to Florida where it will be outfitted with surveillance gear. The LEMV has been designed to operate for the U.S. Army as a surveillance and reconnaissance platform, capable of loitering in the sky for days, or weeks, at a time ... provided it's not really windy at its operating altitude.

Alan Metzger, Director of Airship Programs at Northrop Grumman, told The Engineer magazine that the LEMV should be capable of carrying up to 2,500 pounds of payload and have a maximum endurance near three weeks. According to Metzger, the LEMV will be "vastly cheaper to operate" than most conventional aircraft. Three weeks in the air could cost roughly $20,000 for 3,500 gallons of fuel burned, depending on fuel prices. The vehicle can travel at speeds up to 80 knots, so winds above 20 mph are cause for consideration. The LEMV is expected to head across the Atlantic this winter for a front-line combat demonstration.

søndag 27. mai 2012

Syria - Vil Norge bli bedt om å bistå FN også denne gang?


Sikkerhetsrådet sitter i dette øyeblikk sammen for å diskutere den siste massakren i Syria. For undertegnede ser jeg ingen forskjell på Libyakonflikten, så vi må sette alle kluter til også denne gang.

lørdag 26. mai 2012

Ny billukt.... Privat prosjekt dokker med ISS

'New car smell' as space station crew enters Dragon capsule


By Melissa Gray, CNN
May 26, 2012 -- Updated 1905 GMT (0305 HKT)

Space station nabs 'Dragon by the tail'
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • NEW: Astronaut says the interior is roomier than the Soyuz
  • NEW: Don Pettit says commercial spaceflight will blossom on its own merits
  • Dragon is the first private spacecraft to connect to the International Space Station
  • It is carrying cargo including food and computer equipment
(CNN) -- "Like the smell of a brand-new car" were the words of International Space Station astronaut Don Pettit on Saturday after he carefully opened the hatch and entered the Dragon capsule for his first glimpse inside.
Dragon connected with the station Friday, making history as the first private capsule to reach the orbiting spacecraft.
Pettit opened the hatch at 5:53 a.m. ET with Russian cosmonaut and station commander Oleg Kononenko by his side. The two men, wearing T-shirts, khaki shorts, goggles and masks gave the thumbs up to the camera after they floated inside.
The initial inspection went smoothly and ahead of schedule and the interior looked good, according to SpaceX, the private company that built and operates the Dragon.
Pettit later told reporters in a briefing from space that the interior is roomier than the Russian Soyuz capsule that carried him to the space station. He said "it looks like it carries about as much cargo as I could put in my pickup truck."
Dragon delivered more than 1,000 pounds of cargo, including food, clothing, computer equipment and supplies for science experiments.
After the crew unloads that cargo, they will reload the capsule with experiments and cargo for its return trip to Earth. Dragon is scheduled to splash into the Pacific Ocean several hundred miles west of California on May 31, according to NASA.
Pettit said the crew has packed most of what its plan to send back to Earth, which includes everything from trash to scientific research and experimental samples.
Dragon launched Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. NASA collaborated with SpaceX on every part of the mission and gave final authorization for the flight.
Dragon reached the station Friday and was "captured" by the station's robotic arm just before 10 a.m. ET. Over the next two hours, the crew maneuvered the arm to bring the capsule in to berth and attach it to the station.
The mission, hailed by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden as a step toward a new future of private innovation in the space industry, comes as government funding of the space program decreases.
It also marked the culmination of six years of preparation to bring commercial flights to the space station after the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet last year, which leaves the United States with no means of independently sending humans into space. NASA relies on the Russian space agency to ferry U.S. astronauts to orbit.
Without the shuttle, the United States also has limited capabilities to send supplies to the station and bring them back. Dragon fills a need in taking significant payload back and forth, Pettit said.
In December 2008, NASA announced it had chosen SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft to resupply the International Space Station after the shuttle's retirement. The $1.6 billion contract involves a minimum of 12 flights, with an option to order more missions for additional cost, according to SpaceX.
SpaceX was created by PayPal founder Elon Musk and is one of a few of private companies receiving NASA funds to develop the commercial transport of astronauts into space.
Musk has said the commercial program -- with fixed-price, pay-for-performance contracts -- makes fiscal sense for taxpayers and fosters competition among companies on reliability, capability and cost.
Astronaut Joe Acaba, also aboard the space station, called the mission a great first step in the commercialization of spaceflight, and Pettit agreed.
"Commercial spaceflight will blossom due to its own merits, and doesn't really hinge on one mission," Pettit said. "It will hinge on the viability of launching many missions over a long period of time and being able to provide useful commercial goods and services in the low-earth orbit arena."
SpaceX is now developing a heavy-lift rocket with twice the cargo capability of the space shuttle and hopes to build a spacecraft that could carry a crew to Mars.

fredag 25. mai 2012

5. generasjonsfly ingen spasertur i parken...

India’s Version of Sukhoi T-50 Delayed by Two Years
AIN Defense Perspective » May 25, 2012
Sukhoi T-50
India’s version of the Sukhoi T-50 advanced and stealthy fighter has been delayed by two years. (Photo: Vladimir Karnozov)
May 25, 2012, 11:32 AM
The joint Indo-Russian project to produce a fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) for the Indian Air Force is facing a two-year delay. It will now take nine years instead of the stipulated seven to develop. The Indian Air Force attributes the delay to Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL), which has a workshare of 25 percent in the program.
The two-seat FGFA is based on the single-seat Sukhoi T-50 PAKFA. HAL is tasked with supplying designs for the tandem seating and cockpit displays, none of which have been provided on time, a senior air force official told AIN. HAL is also responsible for navigation and countermeasure dispensing. Indian junior defense minister MM Pallam Raju recently confirmed the delay to Parliament, commenting, “The fifth-generation aircraft is scheduled to be certified by 2019 [instead of 2017], following which series production will start.” India and Russia concluded the $295 million preliminary design contract for the FGFA project in December 2010, during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to India.

Flyplasskaos fra 1. juni?

Parat varsler flyplasstreik

Parat vil ta ut sikkerhetskontrollørene på flyplassene Gardermoen og Rygge i streik hvis de ikke får gjennomslag for kravet om et særtillegg til de sertifiserte sikkerhetskontrollørene. En eventuell streik vil føre til store forsinkelser i flytrafikken.


Det er ansatte i G4S Aviation og Securitas Transport Aviation Security som blir tatt ut i streik fra 1. juni klokken 06.00 dersom det ikke oppnås enighet i meklingen mellom NHO Service og Parat.

Det blir stilt andre og strengere personlige krav til sikkerhetskontrollører på flyplasser enn til andre vektere. Det er myndighetene som stiller krav til utdanning og sertifisering av sikkerhetskontrollørene på flyplasser. Kravene innebærer at den ansatte må bestå både en teoretisk og praktisk eksamen, og ha årlige resertifiseringer. Det må også vises i lønningsposen, sier Lars-Petter Larsen, forhandlingsleder i Parat.

Grunnlønna for en heltidsansatt vekter med 10 års ansiennitet er 290 000 kroner, sier Lars-Petter Larsen, som forventer at også minstelønnsatsene økes betraktelig i dette oppgjøret. Andre lavtlønnsbransjer har fått betydelige økninger i årets forhandlinger med NHO. Vi vil ikke være fornøyd med noe mindre, sier Larsen.

Ufrivillig deltid og uforutsigbar arbeidstid er et stort problem i vekterbransjen. Arbeidsgiver ansetter majoriteten av sine sikkerhetskontrollører på lave stillingsbrøker og kan i tillegg endre avtalt arbeidstid med kun 7 dagers varsel. Vi krever derfor at arbeidstidsordningene endres slik at flest mulig kan få heltid, samt at også vektere som arbeider døgnkontinuerlig får tilstrekkelig muligheten til å planlegge samvær med familie og venner, sier Parats forhandlingsleder.

Norwegian leaser ytterligere to Dreamliners

Foto: Per Einar Jansen
Norwegian has announced that it has signed an agreement with ILFC to lease two more 787-8 Dreamliners to use in its future long haul operations. The aircraft are scheduled for delivery in 2014.
The latest deal follows similar agreements with ILFC for three 787-8s, three other 787-8s are being sourced from Icelandair.

Wings and Wheels




Flyparkering og treffområdet.


Fellestreff og utstilling for
Fly, Bil og MC.
Årets treff blir arrangert
29. juni - 1. juli 2012.


Fredag 29. juni til søndag 1. juli arrangeres Wings and Wheels for 13. gang i Lunde i Telemark. Wings and Wheels arrangementet har blitt bedre og bedre for hvert år som har gått og vi prøver å toppe det nok en gang.
 
Wings & Wheels er Norges største fellestreff for Fly, Bil og MC, som for første gang ble arrangert sommeren 2000. Treffet holdes på Lunde flyplass, i hjertet av Telemark, i vakre naturomgivelser langs Telemarkskanalen. Wings & Wheels arrangeres for 13. gang 29. juni - 1. juli 2012 med sannsynligvis flere tusen besøkende.
 
Vi i Wings & Wheels prøver med dette treffet å vise både mangfoldet, samt det ypperste og mest ekstreme innen Motor- og Luftsport. Vi har etter hvert fått flere tusen trofaste deltagere som kommer for å treffe andre motor/fly- interesserte fra hele landet.
Etter fjorårets suksess følger Wings & Wheels på nytt opp med et nytt spektakulært Flyshow i år. Vi varmer opp på fredag med Fly In som en opptakt til Flyshowet på lørdag.
 
Wings & Wheels har vært Norges største småflytreff de siste to årene. Flycampen har blitt en suksess, så dette kommer vi til å legge til rette for i år også. Også ved årets Wings & Wheels blir det mulig å bivåne alle flyene på nært hold for publikum.
 
Tradisjonen tro blir det også i 2012 Cruising, Burnout, Carwash, Photo-Shoot samt utstilling og bedømming av Amcar/Veteranbil og MC. Vi tilbyr også i år "live" musikk fra Scenen med Hercules på fredag og Absinth og Steff Nevers på lørdag.
 
I år blir det stort FMX freesyleshow med motorsykler og snøskutere med Øystein Kjørstad og hans team fra NMK Kongsberg. De vil blant annet demonstrere baklengs salto (Backflip) med motorsykkel og snøscooter.
 
Etter fjorårets suksess følger Wings & Wheels på nytt opp med et spektakulært Flyshow med blant annet Scandinavian Airshow med Jacob Holländer i spissen. I tillegg til flyakrobatikk under flyshowet vil Scandinavian Airshow holde et fantastisk pyroshow fra dobbeldekkeren “Catwalk” på kvelden. I tillegg kommer en virkelig godbit, nemlig Bell UH1-E Super Huey. Helikopteret fløy som angrepshelikopter i Vietnam 1967-1970 og er det eneste privateide eksemplaret utenfor USA.
 
Det blir også mulighet til å se, høre og bli med i verdens største en-motors dobbeldekker. Antonov AN-2 kommer fra Skien, og blir der hele helgen.
 
Ellers så blir det som vanlig masse god og rimelig mat og drikke! Campingen og serveringa åpner kl 16.00 på fredag og stenger søndag kl 12.00.
Vi ønsker med dette alle velkommen til en flott Wings & Wheels helg i Lunde!
PROGRAM WW 2012
Fredag 29. juni
16.00: Campen åpner
Wings`n Wheels ankommer
23.00: Hercules spiller
 
Lørdag 30. juni
08.00–10.00: Frokost - Gratis for Campgjester
Wings`n Wheels ankommer
Gigantiske Modellfly
Flyshow, Aerobatic Extreme
Rundflyging: Seilfly, An-2 og Bell UH1-E Super Huey etc.
FMX Freestyle Ultimate Show
Cruising
•Burn-Out
Carwash
Photo Shoot
Airborne Pyroshow
21.00: Absinth Spiller
23.00: Steff Nevers Spiller
 
Søndag 01. juli
08.00–10.00: Frokost - gratis for campgjester
Wings`n Wheels avreise
 
Vi minner om at det er 18-års grense på treffplassen etter kl. 20.00 begge dager.
Programmet er ikke endelig.

PRISER WW 2012
Helgepass: kr. 500.-
Fredag: kr. 200.-
Lørdag: kr. 300.- Hele dagen
Lørdag frem til kl. 20:00: Over 16 år : Kr 100.-
Lørdag frem til kl. 20:00: 10-16 år : Kr 50.-
Barn 0-9 år: Gratis
 
Alle under 18 år skal ikke oppholde seg på Treffområdet etter kl 20.00. Det innbefatter også Campingen.

For ytterligere informasjon til besøkende fly, vennligst les gjennom nedenforliggende informasjon. Besøk også Wings and Wheels sine hjemmesider her: www.wingsandwheels.no

Vi ønsker med dette Alle velkommen til en flott Wings & Wheels helg i Lunde!

Mens vi snakker om solen....

Solar plane begins 1st transcontinental flight

GENEVA — An experimental solar-powered airplane took off from Switzerland on its first transcontinental flight Thursday, aiming to reach North Africa next week.

Pilot Andre Borschberg planned to take the jumbo jet-size Solar Impulse plane on its first leg to Madrid, Spain, by Friday. His colleague Bertrand Piccard will take the helm of the aircraft for the second stretch of its 2,500-kilometer (1,554-mile) journey to the Moroccan capital Rabat.

Fog on the runaway at its home base in Payerne, Switzerland, delayed the take off by two hours, demonstrating how susceptible the prototype single-seater aircraft is to adverse weather.

"We can't fly into clouds because it was not designed for that," Borschberg said as he piloted the lumbering plane with its 63-meter (207-foot) wingspan toward the eastern French city of Lyon at a cruising speed of just 70 kilometers an hour (43.5 mph).

Before landing in Madrid in the early hours of Friday, Borschberg will face other challenges, including having to overfly the Pyrenees mountains that separate France and Spain.

Just in case things go disastrously wrong, Borschberg has a parachute inside his tiny cabin that he hopes never to use. "When you take an umbrella it never rains," he joked in a satellite call with The Associated Press.

Piccard — the son of undersea explorer Jacques Piccard and grandson of balloonist Auguste Piccard — will have to cross the windy Straits of Gibraltar from Europe to Africa.

The team has been invited to Morocco by the country's King Mohammed VI to showcase the cutting edge of solar technology.

Morocco is about to start construction on a massive solar energy plant at Ouarzazate. The plant will form part of a country-wide solar energy grid with a capacity of 2000 megawatts by 2020.

The mission is described as the final dress rehearsal for a round-the-world flight with a new and improved aircraft in 2014. That trip will include stops in the United States, said Borschberg.

In 2010, the Swiss flew non-stop for 26-hour to demonstrate that the 12,000 solar cells attached to the aircraft can soak up enough sunlight to keep the plane airborne through the night. A year later, he took Solar Impulse on its first international flight to Belgium and France.

The project began in 2003 and is estimated to cost about $100 million over 10 years.

S-92A - Nå også i California?

Helicopter Noise Becomes Election Issue in CaliforniaLess than two weeks before California’s June 5 primary election, some federal lawmakers in the state are again making helicopter noise in the Los Angeles area a campaign issue. In a letter sent yesterday to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, seven members from California’s congressional delegation are urging him to jump-start the public comment period of the FAA rulemaking process. Their goal is instituting more restrictive flight paths and altitudes for civil helicopters operating in the Los Angeles area in the name of noise abatement. “We would also like to reiterate our firm belief that while consultations and reporting requirements are an important step forward, they are no replacement for meaningful action by the FAA,” the letter reads. “We strongly feel that FAA’s leadership must lead to meaningful action to reduce helicopter noise.” Attempts by various letter signers to pass targeted legislation and add-on amendments to force the FAA’s hand on the issue have failed. However, they now seem encouraged by the success of Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who successfully lobbied LaHood directly to have the FAA institute similar helicopter route restrictions over Long Island.

torsdag 24. mai 2012

Kystverket med nytt fly

Observert på Flesland i dag. Pussig merking av dette fine flyet. Sies å ha en endurance på 12 timer. Fotograf er Per Einar Jansen. Ser ut til å erstatte LN-SFT. Vet du noe om oppdragstype utover forurensingskontroll så er jeg interessert. Jeg er blant de som mener at bruk av Orion i overvåking av fiskerier og slikt er overkill. Noen mener at vi må vise militær tilstedeværelse i nord. Jeg mener at tilstedeværelse er nok. Denne maskintypen egner seg veldig godt.

met.no

Streik ved Meteorologisk institutt

Hovedsammenslutningen UNIO har tatt ut en del medlemmer på Vervarslinga på Vestlandet, Meteorologisk institutt, i streik. De fleste av de streikende er statsmeteorologer.
Streiken starter ved arbeidstidens begynnelse den 24. mai 2012, og vil pågå inntil partene er enige.

Mangelfulle varsler

Værvarsler og andre produkter fra Meteorologisk institutt er i all hovedsak en samproduksjon mellom regionkontorene i Oslo, Bergen (Vervarslinga på Vestlandet) og Tromsø (Vervarslinga for Nord-Norge).
Som følge av streiken vil værvarsler/produkter som normalt produseres på Vervarslinga på Vestlandet utebli, mens andre produkter fra Meteorologisk institutt vil kunne inneholde mangler.
Det vil klart framgå av varslene hvilke varsler som er berørt av streiken.

Tjenester fra Meteorologisk institutt som berøres av streiken

Følgende tjenester fra Meteorologisk institutt vil bli berørt av streiken:
  • Daglige værvarsler for Vestlandet og Trøndelag vil ikke forekomme verken på TV eller i radio, og tekstværvarslene for dette området vil mangle på værtjenesten yr.no. Statsmeteorologene vil heller ikke bearbeide værvarslene på yr.no, for Vestlandet og Trøndelag.
  • Radiointervjuer med statsmeteorologene på NRKs distriktskontorer på Vestlandet og i Trøndelag vil utgå.
  • Værvarsler for fiskebankene i Nordsjøen og havområdene i vest utstedes ikke.
  • Spesialvarsler for høy vannstand, skogbrannfare, snøskredfare, ising på fartøy utstedes ikke.
  • Værvarsler til sivil luftfart og helikoptertransport offshore utstedes ikke.
  • Spesialvarsler for farlige kyststrekninger, med unntak av spesialvarselet for Trondheimsleia vil ikke bli utstedt.

Tjenester som opprettholdes

Foreløpig er ikke regionkontorene i Oslo og Tromsø tatt ut i streik. Det betyr at det fortsatt vil produseres værvarsler som normalt, for det Østafjelske og for Nord Norge.
Det er dessuten søkt dispensasjon om opprettholdelse av tjenester som direkte berører hensynet til liv og sikkerhet, og som derfor vil gå uavhengig av streiken:
  • Den militære værtjenesten.
  • Overvåking for ivaretakelse av nødvendig nasjonal sikkerhet over norske landområder, i norsk luftrom, og i norske interesseområder til havs.
  • Varsling av ekstremvær som truer liv, helse og nasjonal infrastruktur, i alle deler av landet, til havs og på sokkelen.
    Beredskapstjenester som gir assistanse til andre statsetater og lokale myndigheter ved flom, skred, ulykker som radioaktiv forurensning, oljesøl, drift av gjenstander, søk og redning, ambulanseoppdrag mv.
  • Storm og kulingvarsler.
  • Offshore spesialvarsling for petroleumsinstallasjonene.


onsdag 23. mai 2012

Canadas S-92A prosjekt


Sannelig trist lesning dette her. Artikkelen er lang og går helt tilbake til 2005 med en gjennomgang av en herlig blanding av tekniske problemer og politisk beslutningsvegring. Cormorant og NH90 prosjektene nevnes også. Alle tre helikoptertypene er kandidater til å etterfølge Sea King hos oss som nytt redningshelikopter. Som om dette ikke er nok, så er den 4. og siste kandidaten til redningstjenesten, underlagts spesiell gransking etter nødlandingen i sjøen nylig utenfor Aberdeen. Les artikkelen her: http://tinyurl.com/lx4v55

tirsdag 22. mai 2012

Paragliding - ikke uten farer

Dersom du søker på Google, Paragliderulykke, så ser du uten videre at dette er en hobby som er risikofylt. I ettermiddag ble en mann alvorlig skadd i Trysilfjellet.

Bildet er sakset fra nettet. Det ser unektelig hyggelig ut!

C-130J - Falske deler i norske maskiner?

China-made counterfeit parts found in US military aircraft: Senate
Greg Waldron Singapore
10 hours ago
Source:
Norsk C-130J. Ved kontrollene maj. Trond Sølna. Foto: Per Gram

The US Senate Armed Services Committee has issued a report stating that China is a major source of counterfeit electronic components found on aircraft such as the L-3 Communications/Alenia C-27J, Lockheed Martin C-130J and Boeing P-8A.
The committee's investigation discovered 1,800 cases of counterfeit parts, with the total number of individual parts involved exceeding 1 million, the Senate Armed Services committee said in a statement.
"Our report outlines how this flood of counterfeit parts, overwhelmingly from China, threatens national security, the safety of our troops and American jobs," says committee chairman senator Carl Levin.
"It underscores China's failure to police the blatant market in counterfeit parts - a failure China should rectify."
The 112 page report details how counterfeit parts made their way into several high profile programmes.
In November 2010, cockpit display units produced by L-3 Display Systems were found to contain a counterfeit memory chip. At the time of the discovery, over 500 displays had been installed in types such as the C-27J, C-130J, C-17 and CH-46 helicopter.
L-3 had purchased the chips from a distributor in California, which had in turn bought them from a Shenzhen company called Hong Dark Electronic Trade.
Aside from the suspect memory chips, the report claims that L-3 Communications bought "tens of thousands" of Hong Dark's parts in 2009 and 2010.
As for the P-8A, on 17 August 2011, Boeing informed the navy that an ice detection module aboard the aircraft had "a reworked part that should not have been put on the airplane originally and should be replaced immediately."
BAE Systems, which made the module, informed Boeing of the suspect parts in January 2010 - over 18 months before Boeing informed the US Navy about the issue.
BAE had purchased the parts from a California firm called Tandex Test Labs, which had not tested the parts. Tandex had obtained the parts from a Florida distributor, which had in turn bought the parts from an affiliate of Shenzhen-based firm A Access Electronics.
The report cites several such examples. One theme is the failure of contractors to notify their military customers about the counterfeit parts in a timely fashion. It noted that counterfeit parts change hands many times before being purchased by contractors and that "contractors may know little about the ultimate source of the electronic parts they purchase."
The report called for more exhaustive testing processes for parts and for more timely reporting of counterfeit part issues when they emerge.
A committee statement added that the FY2012 National Defense Authorization Act has provisions that should "address weaknesses in the supply chain" identified by the investigation

EC225 - Bond

Air bosses order stricter inspections of Super Puma helicopters over new safety fears


AIR safety bosses have issued an emergency alert over a potential fault in Super Puma helicopters after one ditched in the North Sea.
The European Aviation Safety Agency have ordered stricter safety inspections on the EC225 choppers amid fears about a gear shaft in the main rotor drive.
The report comes after a Bond copter was forced to put down in the North Sea off Aberdeen with 14 people on board, sparking a major rescue operation.
The drama on May 10 happened after pilots saw an oil pressure warning light come on.
Investigations revealed a gearbox shaft had cracked.
Bond suspended all flights of the EC225 while rigorous checks of the fleet, manufactured by Eurocopter, were carried out.
An airworthiness report has now stated that there could be a "manufacturing defect" in the aircraft's bevel gear shaft.

The ditching was the third serious incident involving a Bond aircraft in the North Sea in three years.
A Bond spokesman said they had immediately put the stricter safety inspections into force.
He added: "We will be discussing flight scheduling arrangements with customers to avoid any potential disruption to services."

Stor uro i luftfarten internasjonalt


Skyways Express AB med sitt tillhörande dotterbolag City Airline AB har idag ställt in sina betalningar.


Skyways Express AB med sitt tillhörande dotterbolag City Airline AB har idag ställt in sina betalningar. Därav har bolaget också tvingats ställa in samtliga flygningar med omedelbar verkan. Bolagen kommer under förmiddagen begära sig själva i konkurs.

Det är därför tyvärr förgäves att ta sig till flygplatsen och vi beklagar detta djupt.

Då Skyways och Citys ägare har beslutat att inte längre finansiera bolagen har styrelsen tvingats fatta beslut om att ställa in samtliga betalningar och avsluta samtliga flygningar.

Under ett halvår har det arbetats hårt med att vända utvecklingen i bolaget och ledningen i Skyways och City Airline är ledsna för den uppkomna situationen.

”Det känns otroligt tråkigt att detta sker för bolaget och för våra passagerare som direkt drabbas av detta. Sorgligt är det dessutom för vår personal som riskerar att förlora jobben. Vi har kommit en bra bit på väg i vårt arbete med att vända bolagets utveckling men efter Cimbers konkurs blev det svårt att klara verksamheten” kommenterar Skyways och City Airlines VD Mikael Wångdahl.

Russisk helikopter

Multi-Role Kamov Ka-62 Debuts at HeliRussia
Russian Helicopters took the wraps off a new variant—the medium-category, multi-role Kamov Ka-62—on Thursday during HeliRussia 2012. Intended for the cargo transport, EMS, offshore, SAR and corporate sectors, the helicopter will feature a five-bladed rotor, secondary hydraulics unit, shock-absorbing seats and airframe/propellers made up of 50 percent polymetric composite materials.

Kamov Ka-62. Rendering courtesy of Russian Helicopters.

Turbomeca Ardiden 3. Photo courtesy Turbomeca.
Power will come from two Turbomeca Ardiden 3G engines supplying 1,680 hp, and St. Petersburg-based Transas will provide avionics. Progress Arsenyev Aviation Company will produce the Ka-62, with first flight targeted for August 2013. Russian Helicopters anticipates Interstate Aviation Committee (as well as EASA) certification and initial deliveries starting in 2015. Russian Helicopters CEO Dmitry Petrov described the Ka-62 as “reliable and easy to operate.”
Related: Airframe News

UAV - USA: For sikkerhets skyld; skyt!


AUVSI Responds to Unmanned Aircraft Controversy
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) President and CEO Michael Tuscano on Friday responded to criticisms of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), saying UASs serve the public good and provide a variety of services to the National Airspace System (NAS). Tuscano's comments come a few days after commentators on Fox News advocated shooting down UASs in civilian airspace. FAA, under mandate from the reauthorization bill passed earlier this year, is working to integrating civilian UASs into the NAS by 2015.
"To advocate for people to shoot down any object from U.S. airspace is irresponsible, dangerous and unlawful. Unmanned aerial systems are being designed to serve the public good, such as helping search and rescue officers find missing children, monitor weather and wildlife, provide disaster relief and respond to emergencies, as they did in the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan last year. The myriad of important uses will be imperiled if they become targets. Meanwhile, the suggestion that Americans take up arms against unmanned aircraft also endangers citizens on the ground," said Tuscano in a statement on the AUVSI website.
While discussing new FAA regulations regarding unmanned aircraft in the NAS in an appearance on Fox News on Monday, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer advocated for banning all unmanned aircraft from the NAS. "I don't want regulations, I don't want restrictions, I want a ban on this. Drones are instruments of war," said Krauthammer. "I would say that you ban it under all circumstances and I would predict, I'm not encouraging, but I an predicting that the first guy who uses a Second Amendment weapon to bring a drone down that's been hovering over his house is going to be a folk hero in this country."
Andrew Napolitano, a judicial analyst for Fox News, echoed Krauthammer's sentiments the next day in an appearance on Fox News. "The first American patriot that shoots down one of these drones that comes too close to his children in his backyard will be an American hero," said Napolitano.

SAS - Verdens punktligste

SAS var verdens punktligste flyselskap i april måned
Scandinavian Airlines ble i april måned igjen verdens punktligste flyselskap. SAS var det eneste større flyselskapet som hadde en punktlighet på over 90 % i forrige måned, med en score på 90,78 %. De tre siste årene har også SAS blitt kåret til Europas punktligste flyselskap.
”Vi er svært stolte av å inneha en punktlighet i verdensklasse, noe vi vet er høyt verdsatt av de tusenvis av passasjerer som reiser med oss hver dag. Våre ansatte jobber hardt for å sikre at vår daglige drift går så effektivt som mulig, og kombinert med produkter som Fast Track, SAS Smart Pass og våre enkle innsjekkingsmuligheter via mobil gir vi et uslåelig tilbud til våre kunder,” sier Rickard Gustafsson, CEO, Scandinavian Airlines.
I april ankom 17 782 ut av 19 701 flygninger på tid. SAS Groups datterselskaper Widerøe og Blue1 var også blant Europas mest punktlige, med score på henholdsvis 91,95 % og 90,17 %. Widerøe er klassifisert i kategorien regionale flyselskaper, mens SAS tilhører gruppen av større flyselskaper.
Data for målingene kommer fra den uavhengige kilden Flightstats. Flightstats måler over 150 000 flygninger per dag, arkiverer dataene for analyse og publisering, og tilbyr hver dag sanntids flyinformasjon til millioner av passasjerer verden over. For mer informasjon, besøk www.flightstats.com. SAS er plassert i kategorien ”Major airlines”.

mandag 21. mai 2012

UAV helikopter havarerte

GPS loss kicked off fatal drone crash

Paul Marks, senior technology correspondent
Camcopter.jpg
(Image: Jeremy Melloul/AFP/Getty Images)

Hopes that a new breed of commercial drones can be easily integrated into civilian airspace have been dashed after it was revealed that the loss of the technology likely to make it all possible - automatic GPS navigation between waypoints - led to a fatal accident last week.
The news comes after the maker of a surveillance drone that crashed into its control truck in Incheon, South Korea on 10 May, killing one of the company's engineers and injuring the two remote pilots, has confirmed that loss of the aircraft's GPS signal was an initiating event in the accident. But in preliminary findings ahead of an official report from the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board in Seoul, drone maker Schiebel of Vienna, Austria says that the GPS outage should not have led to loss of control of the aircraft, alleging that the remote pilots had reacted erroneously when GPS was lost.
Although North Korea was intermittently jamming GPS in the border region between 28 April and 15 May it is not known if the jammer was operating at the time of the fatal crash. The South has reacted angrily to the jamming, which has interrupted navigation on more than 600 civilian flights - and it has been likened to a form of terrorism by regional media.
In a statement supplied to New Scientist, Schiebel says its Camcopter S-100 drone, a 150-kilogram rotorcraft capable of 220 km/h flight, should have coped in any case because GPS can be lost for many reasons, such as an inability to access the positioning satellites due to obstruction by high buildings. The Camcopter has multiple inertial measurement units that "allow safe operation and recovery in the absence of GPS signals" the firm says.
"All information recovered to date indicates that after a loss of GPS signals to the aircraft's receivers incorrect handling and omissions over a time period of a number of minutes, resulted in an unfortunate chain of events that ultimately led to the crash," the statement says. Emergency procedures "to ensure a safe recovery in such a situation" do not appear to have been "correctly and adequately followed" it alleges.
The Schiebel aviation engineer who died - a 50-year-old Slovakian with much experience of the technology - was assisting two remote pilots working for one of Schiebel's South Korean partners. He was not in control of the aircraft, the firm says. It's thought the Camcopter was being tested for new duties in border operations.
The accident aircraft had been used by the South Korean authorities since 2008 to police major events - such as the 2010 G20 summit in Seoul, says a Schiebel spokesperson.
The accident will hardly fill people with confidence that upcoming civilian drones won't present a threat when laws allowing them to ply the skies in the US and Europe change in the next few months. Most modern drones use GPS waypoint navigation - flying from point to point on a map with little expert guidance - and its not clear how many, if any, will have inertial backup, or if users will know how to use it properly if they do. The comment thread here highlights some of the issues.
The ongoing Korean investigation is said to be focusing on the cause of the GPS denial and e-forensics on the charred remains of the control electronics, little of which survived.

UAS - Norge med i ubemannet overvåking

NATO signerer kontrakten for ubemannede overvåkningsfly

Kontrakten for anskaffelse av ubemannede overvåkingsfly til NATO ble signert 20. mai 2012 i forbindelse med toppmøtet i Chicago, der forsvarsminister Espen Barth Eide deltar sammen med statsminister Jens Stoltenberg og utenriksminister Jonas Gahr Støre.
"Norge er med på å anskaffe ubemannede overvåkingsfly til NATO, og signeringen av anskaffelseskontrakten i forbindelse med toppmøtet i Chicago er en milepæl i alliansesamarbeidet", sier en fornøyd forsvarsminister Espen Barth Eide.
Forsvarsministeren deltok på kontraktsigneringen sammen med forsvarsministrene fra NATOs medlemsland, NATOs stedfortredende generalsekretær, formannen for militærkomiteen, sjefene for NATOs strategiske kommandoer, samt representanter fra industrien.
Norges andel av investeringen er på anslagsvis 320 mill. kroner. Anskaffelsen vil gi oppdrag til norsk industri. Kongsberg Defence Systems er en av underleverandørene til amerikanske Northrop Grumman, og deltok også på seremonien i Chicago.
"Det er gledelig å se at denne anskaffelsen også vil komme norsk industri til gode, og at Kongsberg viser seg konkurransedyktige i store og viktige prosjekter som dette", sier forsvarsminister Espen Barth Eide.
Norge er ett av 13 medlemsland som skal anskaffe Global Hawk ubemannede overvåkingsfly, men driftskostnadene skal betales av alliansens 28 medlemsland. Overvåkingsflyene vil utgjøre kjernen i NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS), og skal gi NATO evnen til å overvåke store områder, fra store høyder og med lang rekkevidde, under alle slags vær- og lysforhold. De ubemannede flyene har en rekkevidde på 16.000 kilometer, og kan fly i høyder på opptil 60.000 fot. Flyene vil bli styrt fra en bakkestasjon i Italia.
"Overvåkingsflyene vil med sine avanserte sensorsystemer gi NATO et bedre bilde av situasjonen på bakken i alliansens ansvarsområde. Dette vil styrke landenes sikkerhet og evnen til å utføre militær aktivitet både i medlemslandenes nærområder og i eventuelle fremtidige fredsoperasjoner. Den overordnede målsettingen med AGS er å støtte NATOs kjernefunksjoner, blant annet kollektivt forsvar av medlemslandene", sier forsvarsminister Espen Barth Eide.
NATO vil eie og operere de ubemannede overvåkningsflyene som er ventet å være operative i 2017. Norge, ved spesialråd Erling H. Wang i Forsvarsdepartementet, innehar for tiden vervet som styreleder for NATOs AGS-organisasjon.

EC-135 - Sprekker i rotorblader

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is requiring inspections of Eurocopter's EC135 model after cracks were found in its rotors, the company says.
'Initial investigations have confirmed that EC135 flights remain safe,' a Eurocopter spokesman said on Monday, adding that the company was in the process of identifying what was causing the cracks.
EASA issued the directive on May 17, the newspaper Financial Times Deutschland reported.
Eurocopter, a division of European aerospace giant EADS, is the world's biggest civil helicopter producer and the EC135 one of its most popular models, with more than 1000 sold to about 270 clients.
EASA has called for operators of the EC135, a twin-engine helicopter widely used by police and ambulance services, to visually inspect rotors before each flight and replace the main rotor hub if cracks are detected.
The military version, the EC635, should be subjected to the same tests.

Bildet viser en EC-135 fra Statens Luftambulanse som sjekker ut landingsplassen ved området der jeg har hytte på Idse i Ryfylke. Den ble funnet i orden. Foto: Per Gram

Flyge- og arbeidstidsbestemmelser - Europa

Last week, just days after over 300 pilots and cabin crew demonstrated in front of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), calling for rules on fatigue to be based on science and safety, EASA’s rulemaking meeting on the subject ended in deep disagreement.

In a statement ECA said that “Air crew fatigue experts were alarmed by proposals brought to the table on behalf of airlines, which will lower the protections even further in EASA’s current proposal. Some of the worst existing practices, which are in stark contrast to EASA’s scientific advice, were supported by the airlines in the name of commercial benefit”.

“Sadly, despite the attempts of pilots, cabin crew, scientists and national aviation regulators to improve the proposed rules, this meeting has made it abundantly clear that airlines’ commercial wishes are driving the creation of these regulations” said Nico Voorbach, ECA’s President.

ECA’s Secretary General, Philip von Schöppenthau, added “It was apparent during the meeting that the agenda of these two days had been hijacked by airlines trying to push EASA into letting them avoid many of the proposed protections against fatigue. The airlines sought to water down rest requirements on long distance flights, and to invoke an absurd concept of ‘cultural specificities’ as a flimsy justification to evade some of the fatigue protections. They also insist on longer night duties and multiple flights beyond those deemed safe by science. We clearly expressed that putting profits before safety will not be tolerated by us.”

Meanwhile the ETF (European Transport Federation) also added its criticism “The airlines’ objective to degrade cabin crews’ in-flight rest facilities on long haul flights to economy seats has no scientific basis whatsoever. EASA must not give in to commercial requests but has to stick to science-based arguments…. We strongly call on the Agency to listen to their scientific advice and fulfill their duty to champion safety in the face of such blatant commercial pressure. Passenger safety must govern EASA’s proposal, not cost cutting for airlines”.