mandag 30. juni 2014

Kollisjon mellom fly på bakken kan unngås


EGPWS-based Wingtip Protection Prevents Ground Collisions

AIN AIR TRANSPORT PERSPECTIVE » JUNE 30, 2014
Honeywell Aerospace is testing a new Passive Wingtip Protection System that alerts pilots if they are in danger of colliding with a building or another aircraft. (Photo: Honeywell)
June 27, 2014, 9:43 AM
The sight of a building badly dented by the right wingtip of an Airbus A380 as the aircraft taxied at Le Bourget Airport ahead of the 2011 Paris Air Show emphasized the challenge posed by ground obstacles to pilots navigating around unfamiliar airports. Honeywell Aerospace seeks to address the problem through an innovative adaptation of its enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS). The new Passive Wingtip Protection System (PWPS), based on an upgrade to the EGPWS software, is now under development at the group’s facility in Redmond, Wash.

Remote Tower i Sverige får pressedekning


Sweden's Transport Agency Approves 'Remote Tower' Ops

AIN AIR TRANSPORT PERSPECTIVE » JUNE 30, 2014
Sundsvall Remote Tower Center
Swedish Transport Agency approval cleared the way to begin operations at the Sundsvall Remote Tower Center. (Photo: LFV)





















June 23, 2014, 12:05 PM
The Swedish Transport Agency approved technical and operational procedures Sweden’s air navigation service provider LFV will use to operate the world’s first “remote tower,” contractor Saab announced. This fall, controllers at the Sundsvall Remote Tower Center will begin managing takeoffs and landings at Örnsköldsvik Airport, 62 miles distant.
The remote tower concept combines the ATC functions of small airports at one centrally located facility, or remote tower center (RTC). The system links, in real time, cameras and sensors installed at the remote airports and feeds the information to controllers at the RTC, where it is streamed live on LCD displays. Saab’s remote tower suite includes high-definition cameras and pan-tilt-zoom cameras, surveillance and meteorological sensors, microphones, signal light guns and other devices installed at the airport.
Remote towers make it possible to maintain air traffic services at low-traffic airports and deliver services to airports without towers. During development work with LFV, “it became apparent that some of today’s air traffic control towers are no longer optimally located,” Saab added. In such cases, a remote tower system would allow controllers to see areas of an airport without having to build a new tower. “We can see a great deal of interest from many parts of the world,” said Håkan Buskhe, Saab president and CEO.
U.S. and European aviation officials discussed remote towers earlier this month at theRTCA Symposium in Washington, D.C. Florian Guillermet, Sesar Joint Undertaking executive director, said he was initially skeptical of the concept, but now sees its potential to provide air traffic services at locations that could use towers. “It’s not a question of whether we need [towers] or not, it’s can we afford them? That is where the remote tower concept is interesting,” he said. “This has a lot of potential. The technology is becoming mature.”

Etihad med over 100 fly i stallen

Etihad's Fleet Expands To 101 Aircraft


The Abu Dhabi state carrier received two new Airbus aircraft - a A321-231 and a A320-200, that expanded its fleet to over 100 planes.

Etihad Airways' fleet size expanded to 101 aircraft following the delivery of its 100th and 101st aircraft on Monday, June 30, the airline said in a statement.

The state carrier received a new Airbus A321-231 followed by an Airbus A320-200, making them the 100th and 101st aircraft respectively in Etihad's fleet.

Etihad currently operates three Airbus A321 with seven more on order, a statement said.

The airline will take delivery of its first Boeing 787-9 and Airbus A380 aircraft in October and December of this year respectively. The A380 aircraft will also feature Etihad's new luxury suites, which include a three-room cabin featuring a living room, bathroom and double bedroom.

The Abu Dhabi-based carrier placed its largest ever order, valued at $67 billion, for 199 aircraft and 294 engines last November.

Etihad, which began operations in 2003, now has more than 220 aircraft on firm order, including 71 Boeing 787s, 25 Boeing 777-X, 62 Airbus A350s and 10 Airbus A380s.

The airline is expanding opeartions globally and is growing its network by acquiring equity stakes in carriers such as airberlin, Air Seychelles, Virgin Australia, Aer Lingus, Air Serbia and Jet Airways. Etihad recently annouced that it is moving ahead to acquire a stake in loss-making Italian carrier Alitalia.

The airline, which recorded a 48 per cent jump in 2013 net profits to $62 million, carried 11.5 million passengers last year. It flies to over 100 (existing or announced) destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.

Honda Jets produksjonsmodell flyr

Honda Jet Makes Successful Test Flight


Production model of HondaJet took its first flight on June 27 at North Carolina. Honda Motor Co. Ltd.


Honda Motor Co. took a step closer to realizing its "Civic of the Skies," the unofficial nickname for the private jet in development by the Japanese car maker.

The production version of the HondaJet made its initial flight on June 27, according to the company, which hopes to get the plane certified and put into service next year.

Michimasa Fujino, president of Honda's aircraft unit, called the flight "an important achievement in bringing the world's most advanced light jet to market."

The plane lifted off from Piedmont Triad International Airport in North Carolina and climbed to 15,500 feet during the 84-minute flight, reaching a speed of about 644 kilometers per hour, according to Honda.

The unusual design of the jet, which mounts the engine over the wing instead of under it, is aimed at maximizing cabin space, reducing cabin sound and boosting fuel efficiency. The plane seats up to five passengers.

Honda is taking orders in North America and Europe for the aircraft, which is priced at $4.5 million. It will compete with other small jet planes from established manufacturers including Textron Inc. Cessna Aircraft Co., Embraer  and Cirrus Aircraft Co. Honda has said it thinks some customers will buy the plane for personal use like family trips, as the WSJ reported last year.

Honda Aircraft Co.'s headquarters are in Greensboro, N.C., the state where the Wright Brothers made the world's first airplane flight in 1903.

Japanese companies are looking to take a bigger role in a global aircraft market currently dominated by a handful of players in North America, Europe and Brazil. On June 26, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.7011.TO +0.48% mounted engines on its first test aircraft in the Mitsubishi Regional Jet program, which seeks to build 70- to 90-seat aircraft for regional airlines.

Koplet innflyging - ILS

Dutch find aircraft autopilot bug


AMSTERDAM (AP) - The Netherlands' air safety agency says it has detected a glitch that can cause airplane autopilot systems to respond in a dangerous way when a plane is attempting a steeper than normal landing approach.

In a report published Thursday, the Dutch Safety Board, which investigates disasters and potential accidents, said the glitch in some runway technology systems can cause the autopilot to pull up a plane's nose at the wrong moment during a steep approach, potentially leading to a stall.

The agency has notified airline safety organizations globally of the issue. Its investigation stemmed from a May 2013 incident at Eindhoven Airport, and it examined four similar incidents in Europe and 19 in the United States involving different aircraft, airports and airlines. Agency spokesman Wim van der Weegen said none of the incidents caused a crash.

Approximately 1,500 to 2,000 major runways worldwide use an Instrument Landing System, or ILS.

Describing the problem in more detail, the Dutch agency report said the ILS sends out two radio signals, one to "fly higher" and another to "fly lower," which work together to help planes coming in for a landing center on a downward glide slope of 3 degrees.

The study found that planes coming in at a slope of between 3 and 9 degrees are correctly instructed to fly lower. But if a plane approaches above a slope of 9 degrees, instruments are liable to read a false "reverse" signal instructing them to fly up. When a plane is on autopilot, its nose will pitch up, causing it to lose speed or even stall.

The agency said the essence of its recommendation is that "pilots and other professionals in the aviation sector should be aware of the existence of reversed signals ... and of the response to such signals by the autopilot."

The agency added a warning that it is generally worried that overreliance on autopilots is leading to a reduction in pilots' skills.

Nødsklie utløste seg under flyging - Murphy er tilfreds....

Emergency Evacuation Slide Deploys Midair On United Flight


June 30 (Reuters) - A United Airlines flight bound for southern California with 101 people on board was diverted to Wichita, Kansas on Sunday night after an emergency evacuation chute inflated inside the aircraft in mid-flight, the airline said.

United flight 1463, which was carrying 96 passengers with five crew members on board, was bound for Orange County's John Wayne Airport, south of Los Angeles, when the emergency chute accidentally deployed, the airline said.

"The flight diverted to Wichita ... No one was injured and the flight landed safely," United said in a statement. The Boeing 737-700 took off from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

United said all passengers were seated at the time of the incident and added that earlier reports that a passenger had attempt to open the door in flight were false.

It said its maintenance team would inspect the aircraft to determine what happened.

UAV spillefilm

Drones – Film Review

drones
 
 
 
 
 
Drones” is a middling real-time thriller that chronicles a fictive crisis for two Air Force personnel, who find themselves at loggerheads when they spot an apparent terrorist thousands of miles away on surveillance video.
Should they annihilate him with a button-push, no matter the cost in additional civilian lives? Originally conceived as a play by scenarist Matt Witten, the pic is efficiently helmed by veteran Rick Rosenthal (making his first bigscreen feature since 1988), but feels like an action movie struggling to escape being a single-interior two-hander. Limited theatrical launch June 27 will serve primarily to boost awareness of the pic’s simultaneous VOD/iTunes release; cable sales are possible.
Lt. Sue Lawson (Eloise Mumford) aced flight school but has been temporarily grounded due to an eye injury. Ergo, it’s her first day sweltering in a Nevada base trailer where she and more experienced subordinate Bowles (Matt O’Leary) share a shift monitoring the generally dull goings-on at a rural Middle Eastern location where the family of a highly sought-after terrorist lives. That actual target’s whereabouts are unknown, but Lawson guesses, from a flurry of seemingly innocuous activity, that he might in fact be about to arrive for a rare clandestine visit.
Bowles is eager to nuke the mofo, as are their superiors; it would provide a triumph for the U.S. military at a moment when there’s been much bad news amid our seemingly neverending post-9/11 military engagements abroad. Lawson, however, begins to question whether the visitor really is the man they’re looking for — or, even if he is, whether that man is actually the Al Qaeda operative claimed by U.S. intel. Either way, a dozen civilians, including women and children, will die along with him if the drone strike goes ahead.
Lawson’s crisis of conscience and rising tension with the gung-ho Bowles (not to mention their long-distance commanders) should be enough to sustain a drama that lasts just over 70 minutes, not including opening/closing credits. But the screenplay goes overboard piling on too many other late-breaking complications, including a contrived personal tie between Lawson and the target, a role reversal and then a physical fight between the leads. All this “Bourne”-level intrigue feels excessive in a story otherwise so tightly focused in temporal and spatial terms.
Also problematic is the central character dynamic, whether due to writing, thesping or both. (The only other notable speaking roles go to Whip Hubley and William Russ as high-ranking officials who communicate via monitor.) Lawson chafes at Bowles’ jokey belittling of her gender and privilege (as a four-star general’s daughter), yet too soon lives up to the proffered female stereotype of not being “equipped to make cold, strategic decisions.” If she’s been raised in a military family and gotten this far career-wise (with honors), why does she let a self-described “hotshot punk who barely graduated high school” rattle her so easily?
Both pic and performer oversell the queasy greenhorn thing early on, undercutting the punch of the character’s later moral qualms. O’Leary, excellent in the recent indie sleepers “Fat Kid Rules the World” and “Natural Selection,” is OK in a role that doesn’t reveal or require much beyond its first impressions.
Brief breaks in the Nevada desert and frequent views of the unspecified (Afghanistan?) locale transmitted via satellite can only do so much to alleviate the claustrophobic concept. Nonetheless, Rosenthal, his d.p. son Noah, and editor Michelle M. Witten maintain a decent amount of tension, considerably boosted by Cody Westheimer’s anxious score.

F-35B klargjøres for atlanterhavskryssing

Priming JSFs For Transatlantic Trip

F-35Bs head to U.K. to vet logistics and flight operations overseas
Leaving the Hive
A version of this article appears in the June 23 edition of Aviation Week & Space Technology.
While deployment of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to air shows in the U.K. may help to build momentum toward securing Britain’s order for the aircraft, it will also help build an understanding of the logistics requirements needed for the complex fifth-generation fighter.
Plans for the deployment now involve up to four F-35Bs arriving in the first week of July ready to make their international debut, first at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAFFairford on July 11 and then at the Farnborough International Airshow, which opens on July 14.
In addition to appearing at the two shows, a sortie to Scotland to conduct a flyby at the naming ceremony of the new HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier is on the agenda.
The aircraft will be escorted across the Atlantic by a pair of U.S. Air Force KC-10 tankers. They will be joined by a C-17 and at least one Marine Corps KC-130J in support. The F-35s are expected to refuel around 10-12 times each during their crossing, flying direct from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland to Fairford, which will act as their home base during July.
Planning for the visit began in late February and the deployment is expected to involve approximately 80 personnel, including pilots, maintainers and security staff.
“This is a test in the respect that it hasn’t been done before,” says squadron leader Hugh Nichols, the British pilot who will fly the F-35B at the two shows, in an interview with Aviation Week.
“Most people would have thought this [the deployment] was going to happen in a couple of years.
“In the big picture, we are in the relatively early days of the program and this is a big movement, flying aircraft a long way across the world.
“We will be testing the refueling, the security, and the computer system that runs the maintenance. These are of course, all things that we would have had to test anyway, at some point, but this is a great opportunity to gain knowledge now that we will need later.”
The U.S. Marine Corps has selected the aircraft that will make the trip, and Nichols notes that stateside maintainers are already “grooming them” to ensure they are ready to make the journey. The U.K. has fewer options to send on the show circuit. Nichols will be bringing the third British fighter, BK-3, currently the only U.K. F-35B capable of short-takeoff-and-vertical-landings.
Until June 4, the longest flight in an F-35B was just 5.8 hr., so Marine Corps pilots from Yuma, Arizona, carried out a series of endurance sorties up to 8.5 hr. long in preparation for the overwater flight.
Prior to the deployment, the Marine Corps jets will fly from MCAS Yuma, where they will be joined by the British jet flying in from Eglin AFB, Florida. When they meet up, the aircraft will depart with the tankers. Nichols and his Marine Corps counterparts have drawn up a role demonstration of the aircraft. After rehearsing the demonstration in the simulator, Nichols performed his first demo at NAS Pensacola, Florida, on May 30 and was later awarded Public Display Authority by senior USMC and RAF officers during a rehearsal at Yuma on June 10.
Marine Corps pilots have already flown their demos at air shows at Yuma and at Cherry Point, North Carolina. All the pilots have trained to carry out the same display, so any one of them can fly the demonstrations at the two air show locations.
For each display, two aircraft will be started up, one acting as an air spare in the event of a technical problem, which is a standard practice at major air shows so aircraft do not miss their display slots.
“This won’t be a Typhoon display, we are showing the unique aspects of the airplane, but it is not going to be doing 50 Alphas [angle of attack maneuvers] and [pulling] 9gs, because we don’t have that flight clearance,” Nichols says.
“We are not going to do a vertical landing, because the surfaces that we need to have on the deck to conduct such a landing do not exist at Fairford or at Farnborough. Hovering is possible, however, so the role demo will include some maneuvers that show off the potential of the aircraft, along with some high-speed passes.”
The 15-min. flight demonstration will include a short takeoff, high- and low-speed passes and hovering, says Mike Rein, a Lockheed Martin spokesman. At least seven demonstrations are slated for the deployment. 
The air display will culminate with slow-speed landing at around 100 kt.
Consideration is still being given to having one of the aircraft in the static display at Royal International Air Tattoo, but that will not be possible at Farnborough. Indeed the F-35 will not even land at the trade show outside London, operating instead from Fairford.
Despite reports, the Marines will not be constructing hangars or sun shelters for the F-35s, instead they will be housed and operated from permanent structures built to support B-2 operations. As a U.S. airfield, Fairford already has the necessary security measures in place to support the F-35’s operations, while engineers have tested the base’s computer networks to ensure they have the connectivity and security necessary for the aircraft’s support system—the Autonomic Logistics Information System—to reach back to servers in the U.S.
According to officials at Lockheed Martin, lessons learned from the U.K. visit will help to support planning for the first scheduled forward deployment of the USMC F-35B to Japan in 2017.
Lockheed adds that for part of the spares logistics planning for the Fairford visit, precautionary arrangements have also been organized for shipments via FedEx.
Orlando Carvalho, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, which manufactures the F-35, says reliable operations will be the most challenging part of the deployment to the U.K. “I know we can do it,” he says, noting that two F-35Bs operated ship-based trials consistently during in 2011 and 2013. But, he acknowledges, keeping the planes flying continuously for both events will be demanding. 
Reliability is “behind where it needs to be” today, Lorraine Martin, F-35 executive vice president, confirms. But as retrofits are infused into new jets on the line—and eventually added to the earlier ones produced—constancy is increasing. The Navy’s small fleet has been far more reliable, she says, because they are among the most recent to roll off the line and include retrofits to faults identified early in the flight-test program.
For the Royal International Air Tattoo, the international debut of the F-35 is a huge coup, one that the organizers have been working to achieve for the last six years, according to the show’s chief executive, Tim Prince.
“There are many challenges to solve before the aircraft arrive at Fairford, and we have had many meetings discussing issues such as ground support and security, but we have a huge advantage in that the show is held on a U.S. base,” says Prince.
“The Air Tattoo attracts [several] air chiefs each year, but the number who have signed up to attend increased significantly after we announced the attendance of the F-35.
“It goes to show that the world will be watching in July,” he adds. 

Avinor - Molboordning oppheves


 

Forenklet transfer på Oslo Lufthavn fra 2015

Avinor - 30-06-2014 09:52 CEST
- Dette er en svært gledelig melding til våre kunder. Både passasjerene og flyselskapene vil med forenklet transfer få en både enklere og hyggeligere reise. Vi i Avinor er glade for at dette nå endelig har kommet på plass, sier konsernsjef Dag Falk-Petersen i Avinor.
Ordningen gjelder for reisende fra utland til innland. Hvis en for eksempel reiser fra utlandet via Gardermoen og skal til Trondheim, innebærer ordningen at den reisende slipper å hente ut og sjekke inn bagasjen på ny ved Oslo Lufthavn. Passasjeren unngår dermed ny sikkerhetskontroll.
Regjeringen har besluttet å gjennomføre prøveprosjektet med forenklet transfer gjennom ordningen ”One stop security” på Oslo Lufthavn i løpet av 2015. - Vi må gjøre noen bygningsmessige tilpasninger for å legge til rette for den nye ordningen, men Avinor skal sørge for at dette blir gjort så raskt som praktisk mulig, lover Falk-Petersen.
Prøveordningen skal vare i tre år. Regjeringen vil mot slutten av prøvetiden vurdere om ordningen skal bli permanent. Lenke til pressemelding.
-Dette har vi jobbet lenge med, og vi er svært tilfredse med at denne prøveordningen nå kommer på plass. Dette vil styrke vår posisjon og konkurranseevne og gjøre oss mer attraktiv for norske og internasjonale reisende. Ordningen vil være svært positiv for norsk luftfart generelt sett, sier administrerende direktør ved Oslo Lufthavn, Nic Nilsen.

Foto: Tommy Normann 

søndag 29. juni 2014

Su-25 til Irak

Flyene som har ankommet er Su-25 Frogfoot og ikke MiG- 29 slik det har vært rapportert tidligere. Det er rimelig å anta at russerne vil fly disse.

Iraq receives Russian fighter jets to fight rebels


Iraq's defence ministry released footage of the Sukhoi 25 jets arriving on Saturday nightIraq's defence ministry released video footage of the disassembled jets arriving on Saturday night
Iraq says it has received the first batch of fighter jets it ordered from Russia to help it as it fights an offensive by Sunni rebels.
The defence ministry said five Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft would enter service in "three to four days".
The insurgents control large swathes of the north and west after a string of attacks over the past three weeks.
On Saturday, the government said it had retaken the northern city of Tikrit, but rebels dispute this.

lørdag 28. juni 2014

Ryanair - Bakkeuhell

Two Ryanair planes damaged in Stansted collision


The site of this morning's collision. Source: @imhoturenot via Twitter
Two Ryanair planes were damaged in a collision at Stansted Airport this morning.
The incident between a a Warsaw-bound plane and a plane from Frankfurt Hahn that had just landed happened at about 6.50am in the parking area.
The wing tip of one plane and the tail cone of another made contact while one was taxing to stand and the other was commencing pushback, the airline said. A wing of the departing plane was ripped as a result and part of it fell to the ground.

Etihad + Alitalia = sant

Etihad-Alitalia deal in the details

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad agreed to a 49% stake in Italian loss-making airline Alitalia
  • It is the biggest foreign stake of a European carrier, taking it to the limit set by EU
  • Italian officials have indicated that Alitalia is losing about $1.6 million a day
Editor's note: John Defterios is CNN's Emerging Markets Editor and anchor of Global Exchange, CNN's business show focused on the emerging and BRIC markets. Follow John on Twitter.

(CNN) -- Fast growing Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad is spreading its wings again by agreeing to a 49% stake in Italian loss-making airline Alitalia.
The two parties put out a brief, joint statement which said they agreed to "principal terms," although the financial details were not disclosed.
When the Alitalia board gave a green light to the offer on June 15, Italy's Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said that Etihad would make an upfront investment of $760 million and would commit to another $700 million by 2018. There are reports this could be even higher.
John Defterios
John Defterios
This represents the biggest foreign stake of a European carrier, taking it to the 49% limit set by European Commission. Etihad becomes the biggest shareholder.
Etihad is expected to cut up to 2,200 jobs as part of the agreement. The company also want to ensure Etihad will not carry an unfair burden of Alitalia's $1.3 billion in debt.
Alitalia's unionized staff have resisted deep cuts over the past decade even though losses continued to mount for the flag carrier.
The Italian government along with two major banks, Intesa Saopaolo and UniCredit, stepped in with a $680 million recapitalization in 2013.
This reduced the stake of Air France-KLM, which had no desire to pump more money into the operation, to 7%.
Italian officials have indicated that Alitalia is losing about $1.6 million a day, well over a half billion dollars a year.
In April, Italy's Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan told me it was important for the government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to consummate this transaction as a signal the country is open for business.
This deal represents the latest move by the Abu Dhabi carrier and its CEO James Hogan to build its network to more than 400 destinations.
It has taken positions in seven carriers including Air Berlin, Air Serbia and Aer Lingus in Europe.
It has also looked East, with stakes in stakes in Jet Airways of India and Virgin Australia.
Etihad would not comment beyond its joint-statement, but Hogan spelled out his strategy during our interview at the Dubai Air Show last November.
"Having that network offering is key. But why do we all have to duplicate our overhead?" Hogan said.
He pointed to the need for "centers of excellence" with the "lowest unit cost, whether it's reservations, whether it's part of training. Cost reduction is as important as exceeding customer expectation."

The challenge for Hogan is proving his team can turn around loss-makers like Air Berlin and Alitalia, while also picking up passengers for Etihad.

Malaysian - Leteområdet snevres inn

Det er lite å høre om kinesernes søk og registrering av ping fra en håndholdt mikrofon satt ut fra en gummibåt.
Søk etter det savnede Malyasia Airways flyet - Siden 8. mars har malaysiske, kinesiske og australske myndigheter lett etter det savnede Malaysia Airlaines flyet i Indiahavet. - Foto: ABIS NICOLAS GONZALEZ / Afp
Siden 8. mars har malaysiske, kinesiske og australske myndigheter lett etter det savnede Malaysia Airlaines flyet i Indiahavet.
Foto: ABIS NICOLAS GONZALEZ / Afp

Ekspert-gruppe mener de vet hvor MH370 kan ligge

En uavhengig gruppe med eksperter mener australske myndigheter ikke leter etter det savnede Malaysia Airlines-flyet på riktig sted.
Gruppens analyser tyder på at flyet gikk i sjøen tusen kilometer lengre sørvest i Indiahavet.

Søket etter Boeing 777–200 maskinen som forsvant etter avgang fra Kuala Lumpur natt til 8. mars i år er nå i gang igjen etter at det forrige søkeområdet ble oppgitt.
To skip er i ferd med å kartlegge havbunnen omtrent 1800 kilometer sørvest for den australske kysten.
I august begynner undervannsroboter å finkjemme området som nå blir kartlagt.
Arbeidet vil ta minst et år, og vil sannsynligvis koste flere milliarder kroner.
Utfordringen for søkemannskapet er at de ikke kan være sikre på at de leter i riktig område.

Mener de har svaret

– Har vi rett, så søker de omtrent tusen kilometer fra det stedet der vi tror flyet traff havoverflaten, sier astrofysiker Duncan Steel til NRK.
Han organiserer en gruppe som i løpet av de siste månedene har gjennomført en uavhengig analyse av sporene flyet etterlot seg. Nå anbefaler de myndighetene om å bytte leteområde.
Dr. Duncan Steel - Astrofysiker Duncan Steel mener det er viktig å finne flyet for å kunne unngå nye flystyrt.Privat
Astrofysiker Duncan Steel mener det er viktig å finne flyet for å kunne unngå nye flystyrt.
Foto: Privat
– Vi tror at vi har gjennomført en bedre analyse enn myndighetene, sier Steel. – Vår analyse stemmer med all data. Det er en ren matematisk analyse som virker mer fornuftig.

Meninger i motvind

Det tusenvis av meninger der ute om hva som har skjedd med MH370 og hvor flyet er nå. De siste månedene har vært en fest for raringer og konspirasjonsteoretikere. Gruppen som nå kommer med den uavhengige rapporten virker som de har CV-ene i orden.
Duncan Steel er en meget anerkjent astrofysiker med dyp kjennskap til satellittbaner. Han arbeider blant annet for NASA.
Med på laget har han matematikere, radiokommunikasjonseksperter og andre yrkesgrupper.
I de siste månedene har familiene til de etterlatte anbefalt dem å fortsette sitt arbeid.

Først en ren øvelse

– I og med at jeg har god kjennskap til satellitten flyet kommuniserte med, så begynte det som en intellektuell øvelse for meg, forteller Steel.
– Jeg ville se om jeg kunne reprodusere flyets bevegelser ut fra det jeg viste om satellitten. Den beveger seg på en meget spesiell måte. Gjennom min blogg kom jeg i kontakt med andre som hadde spesialkompetanse innen blant annet radiokommunikasjon. Etter hvert fikk vi tilbakemelding om at dette faktisk kunne være nyttig.
Søk etter MH370 - Australske myndigheter har flere ganger brukt miniubåt i søket uten resultat. - Foto: HANDOUT / Reuters
Australske myndigheter har flere ganger brukt miniubåt i søket uten resultat.
Foto: HANDOUT / Reuters

Fant feil

Fra tidlig i prosessen har Dr. Steel og andre medlemmer i gruppen påpekt feil.
– Det første jeg la merke til, var det absurde med at den militære radaren skulle kunne gi sikker informasjon om at flyet foretok store høydeendringer, forteller Steel.
– Grunnleggende fysikk gjør det umulig for en radar å si noe sikkert om det på den avstanden vi nå snakker om.
Først i forrige uke innrømmet letemannskapene at de nå ikke lenger tror at flyet endret høyde etter at kursen ble endret.

Ping til besvær

– Da jeg hørte at skipet Ocean Shield hadde hørt lyder fra det de mente var flyets sorte bokser, trodde jeg det var en spøk, sier Steel.
– Virkelig? I alt det mulige havet som de kunne dytte mikrofonene sine ned i, så traff de den riktige kvadratkilometeren og det innen den første timen av søket?
Steel har også fått rett i dette. Australske myndigheter tror ikke de fanget opp signaler fra de sorte boksene. Lydene ble sannsynligvis produsert av skipet selv, andre skip, annet utstyr i havet eller mikrofonen.

Systemfeil

En annen feil gruppen påpekte, kan ha ført til at letemannskapene ble sendt på villspor tidligere i prosessen.
– Ved å reversere de offisielle beregningene av satellittsignalene fra flyet, fant vi ut at de hadde feil utgangspunkt. I ligningene var bakkestasjonen plassert feil på jordens overflate, forteller Steel.
Noen hadde tastet inn et komma på feil sted, slik at 31,2 ble til 3,12.
En feilplassert bakkestasjon har påvirkning på tiden det tar for et signal å nå fram og tilbake til flyet. Det er denne tidsforskjellen som er avgjørende for å beregne flyets posisjon.
Feilen er nå rettet opp, og er ikke grunnen til at den uavhengige gruppen har et annet resultat enn myndighetenes eksperter.

Annen fart og rute

Gruppens bidrag er på to områder. De mener deres analyse gir et bedre bilde av ruten flyet fulgte fra den siste sikre observasjonen, og de mener deres beregninger gir en høyere hastighet på flyet.
– Jeg forstår ikke hvorfor myndighetenes eksperter kommer til at flyet fløy så sakte. Ifølge dem fløy det nesten 200 kilometer i timen saktere enn normal marsjhastighet for et slikt rutefly, sier Steel.
– Ut fra det vi ser, er det ingenting i dataene som skulle gi en så lav hastighet.

Kan ta mange år

Steel innrømmer at de kan ha tatt feil, men sier at dersom han var en mann som spilte hasard, så ville han ikke ha satt noen penger på at letemannskapene finner flyet med det første.
Området den uavhengige gruppen peker ut, ligger innenfor den sonen der myndighetene mener flyet kan ha styrtet, men godt utenfor området de mener er sannsynlig.
Det mulige området er på 200.000 kvadratkilometer. Det sannsynlige, og med det der søket nå er i gang, er på 60.000 kvadratkilometer.
Først når det sannsynlige er gjennomsøkt om ett år, vil det mulige bli undersøkt.
Det vil si, dersom Duncan Steel og hans folk ikke tar feil.

fredag 27. juni 2014

Sea Harrier i en spesiell situasjon

Pilot lands faulty fighter jet on a stool at sea


5 hours ago

The US military has released video of a fighter pilot landing his jet on a ship faultlessly and without full landing gear on 7 June.
When the front landing gear malfunctioned he had to land vertically, bringing the nose of the aircraft down to rest on a stool.
US Marine Corps Capt. William Mahoney explained that he could not even see the stool underneath his plane.
He later realised the crew of the USS Bataan had evacuated the landing deck in case he crashed.
Video filmed and edited by the US military.

Combat SAR - USA


Sikorsky Finally Lands New U.S. Rescue Helo

AIN DEFENSE PERSPECTIVE » JUNE 27, 2014
Sikorsky will provide the new combat rescue helicopter (CRH) for the U.S. Air Force, based on the UH-60M. (Photo: Sikorsky)
June 27, 2014, 7:15 AM
The long quest by the U.S. Air Force to acquire a new combat rescue helicopter (CRH) appears to have concluded, with Sikorsky’s announcement that it has received an engineering and development (EMD) contract worth an estimated $1.28 billion for a derivative of the UH-60M Black Hawk.
The EMD contract provides for four helicopters, the development and integration of the rescue mission systems and seven aircrew and maintainer training systems. Five more helicopters and training for their crews are on option, for delivery by 2020. Sikorsky said that up to 112 helicopters worth $7.9 billion might eventually be acquired. Lockheed Martin is the major subsystems provider in Sikorsky’s bid.