tirsdag 31. mai 2016

SAR - Første AW101 avduket i dag - Aftenposten video



Sjekk video her: http://tinyurl.com/htnthtj

Foto: Teknisk Ukeblad

Justisministeren avduket Norges nye redningshelikopter


Justis- og beredskapsminister Anders Anundsen (Frp) avduket i dag Norges første nye redningshelikopter AW101 i Yeovil i England. Helikopteret som skal erstatte Sea King, vil ha høyere hastighet og vesentlig bedre rekkevidde.
– Denne avdukingen markerer oppnåelsen av en milepæl. Våre to første redningshelikoptre er ferdig utviklet og produsert, og er nå klare for testing. Helikopteret vil bli en helt avgjørende ressurs i norsk redningstjeneste, sier justis- og beredskapsminister Anders Anundsen.  
I tillegg til økt hastighet og rekkevidde, vil de nye helikoptrene ha en stor og fleksibel kabin som gir plass til mange nødstedte og er velegnet til medisinsk behandling. Bedre navigasjons- og søkeutstyr vil legge til rette for at folk kan oppspores raskere og mer effektivt. Det vil gi mer trygghet for folk på sjøen, langs kysten og i avsidesliggende områder over hele landet.
Justis- og beredskapsministeren i samtale med en pilot i redningshelikopteret.
Justis- og beredskapsministeren i samtale med en pilot i redningshelikopteret. (Foto: JD – last ned/se flere bilder på Flickr)
– Sea King har vært et symbol på sikkerhet langs norske kysten for to generasjoner.  Men Sea King-flåten nærmer seg nå slutten av sin levetid. De nye helikoptrene vil ha en større samlet redningskapasitet enn dagens Sea King-helikoptre, sier Anundsen videre.
Kontrakten innebærer anskaffelse av i alt 16 helikoptre, med tilhørende reservedeler og utstyr, samt opplæring og treningshjelpemidler. I tillegg kommer en driftskontrakt som løper i 15 år etter at siste helikopter er levert. Redningshelikopterkontrakten er omfattende, og det gode samarbeidet med Leonardo Helicopters har bidratt til at Norge vil få et av de fremste redningshelikoptrene i Europa, med en banebrytende radarateknologi. 
Det første av de nye helikoptrene vil bli levert i mars 2017 og det siste i 2020. Da vil den siste Sea King bli faset ut.

Helikopter - S-92A MGB status - Sikorsky

S-92 mockup Farnborough 1992 - Photo: Per Gram


Hi Per, thank you for your patience.  Here is our response:

Question:  In the aftermath of the EC225 accident here, I read that Sikorsky is either heavily modifying or building an new MGB for the S-92A. Does this hold water? I mainly hope you will have the MGB certified for 30 min. dry run and not another waiver to the main rule, i.e. “extremely remote” which per definition is 1: 10 000 000.

Response:
The S-92 helicopter was fully certified by FAA, EASA, Transport Canada and other regulators without waiver.  Since its introduction, it has become the industry standard for off-shore transportation, search and rescue and VIP/VVIP/HOS transport.  With more than one million fleet flight hours of service, and an accident rate of 0.21, less than 1/10 the U.S. Civil Multi-Turbine engine helicopter accident rate, Sikorsky believes that the S-92 helicopter sets the industry standard for safety. The S-92 was certified to FAA/EASA harmonized Part 29 requirements, as amended through Amendment 47. It lead the way by being the first aircraft certified to this rigorous standard and by meeting or exceeding oil and gas industry requirements.

Sikorsky believes in continuous product improvement, and we have been making incremental improvements to the existing gearbox since its introduction.  These improvements are introduced to the fleet as soon as possible and have contributed to the outstanding safety record and availability of the S-92 helicopter.   Since its introduction, Sikorsky has implemented numerous product improvements to the S-92 main gear box, including: a higher strength filter housing with steel studs to better secure the MGB oil filter; stronger MGB housing; automation of the MGB oil bypass system; enhanced chip detectors; super-finished gears; improved oil pumps; enhanced pump retention; and a pump failure indication system.  Currently, we are preparing to field an anti-clog pump inlet in the main transmission module to further reduce the probability of main gear box emergencies. 

Sikorsky will continue to develop new and innovative products and solutions that will both enhance safety and  increase the reliability of the S-92 helicopter.


Callie D. Ferrari, APR
Communications Manager
6 Corporate Drive, Shelton, CT 06484
Please Note New Email Address: callie.d.ferrari@lmco.com
Mobile: 203-360-4819
Fax: 860-660-2508

Hvorfor så kaldt i passasjerkabinene?

Fra en leser har jeg mottatt denne. Har du noen forklaring på dette hører jeg gjerne fra deg.
(Red.)


Har du skrevet noe om temperatur i passasjerenes flykabin? Jeg finner det plagsomt at det ofte er så kaldt om bord. Dette gjelder uavhengig av flyselskap (men Finnair er en versting). På korte strekninger betyr ikke dette så mye, men meget plagsomt på transkontinentale reiser. Er det fordi flyselskapene ønsker å spare penger på oppvarming? Hvem bestemmer temperaturen i passasjerkabinen - kabinpersonalet eller kapteinen? Jeg har et par ganger spurt kabinpersonalet om å skru opp temperaturen - men forgjeves. På reiser til/fra tropiske reisemål finner jeg det rett og slett upraktisk at man må ta med vintertøy for å overleve flyturen med helsen i behold. På transkontinentale reiser har jeg som helsearbeider flere ganger observert at flere reisende snufser og hoster mot slutten av flyreisen. Det er meget dumt at flyselskaper påfører sine passasjerer luftveisinfeksjoner.

Helikopterulykken - Oversikt fra Bergens Tidende i dag

 

Dette er alternativene etter helikopterstyrten

Bolter som løsnet eller tretthetsbrudd i et gir. Dette er mulige svar i mysteriet om hvordan den viktigste delen av et helikopter kan forsvinne.
Det er den ene tingen du ikke vil tro kan skje på et helikopter: At rotoren bare løsner fra resten.
Likevel var det det som skjedde, på ett sekund, litt over 600 meter over Turøy.
Havarikommisjonen har åpnet for tre muligheter etter helikopterulykken der 13 mennesker omkom. Produsenten Airbus mener derimot at det bare er én sannsynlig mulighet.
Uansett pekes det mot en teknisk årsak.
DE TRE STEDENE: Dette er de tre områdene Havarikommisjonen undersøker spesielt etter ulykken på Turøy 29. april.
AIRBUS

1. Ene festet til rotoren løsnet

Siden Airbus legger så stor vekt på denne muligheten, presenterer vi den først. Selve rotorhodet er festet til skroget med tre stag. Disse rundt en meter lange festene har all vekten på seg når helikopteret stiger loddrett. Et av festene er foran, de to andre på sidene bak.
Selv om de ser spinkle ut, skal disse hule stagene tåle enorm vekt. Samtidig er de avhengig av hverandre: Mens de fleste systemene også har en backup på et avansert helikopter som Super Pumaen, vil de tre stagene ikke tåle at ett av de andre faller ut.
Produsenten svarer selv dette:
«I Airbus Helicopters analyse er syv mulige initielle hendelser funnet for å forklare rotorens løsriving på LN-OJF. Av de syv scenarioene, er bare én – feil ved festeanordningen til et stag – regnet som sannsynlig av Airbus Helicopters, basert på informasjon til nå.»
De to bakre stagene var fortsatt festet i rotorhodet da det ble funnet av BT på en holme:

 
Det tredje er ikke funnet, og Havarikommisjonen gikk fredag til det uvanlige skrittet å etterlyse det – og flere andre deler. Staget ser slik ut:

STAG: Dette er tilsvarende løftestag som er savnet av Havarikommisjonen. Det fremre av de tre stagene på LN-OJF er ikke funnet.
Havarikommisjonen
Nederst er stagene festet først med bolt til en hengsling. Bolten er sikret med en sikkerhetsnål, som på bildet nedenfor er kraftig bøyd.
Hengslingen er deretter festet til en forsterket del av skroget med fire bolter. Disse boltene skal festes med et visst trykk – ikke for sterkt og ikke for svakt.

 
Øverst er staget festet med en bolt. Bildet nedenfor viser alt som er funnet av det fremre staget, der det øverste festet ble revet av.

2. Girfeil

Fra motorene i en Super Puma blir det levert 23.000 omdreininger i minuttet.
Siden rotoren ikke skal gå like fort rundt, går omdreiningene gjennom en rekke tannhjul for å gire om, slik denne illustrasjonen viser.
GIRMODUL: Den episykliske modulen ligger ved de gule tannhjulene. Illustrasjonen i seg selv viser hvordan de to motorne leverer kraft inn, som så blir giret ned gjennom en rekke steg.
Airbus
Til slutt blir det levert ut 265 omdreininger i minuttet til rotoren. Det tilsvarer rundt fire-fem omdreininger i sekundet.
Inni den såkalte episykliske modulen (den gule delen på bildet over) er det to lag med tannhjul. På hvert av lagene er det et yttergir som holder flere små på plass.
Et av bildene til Havarikommisjonen viser tre slike smågir. De kalles planetgir, og det finnes totalt 16 av dem.

BRUTT OG PRESSET: Det øverste planetgiret er delt av på midten (og er lagt oppå et annet for referanse). Det til venstre er ovalt i formen og tydelig misformet.
Havarikommisjonen
Verdt å merke seg er at det ene (øverst) er brutt av, mens et annet (til venstre) er tydelig misformet (det er ovalt).
Spørsmålet er om dette kan være en utløsende årsak til styrten – eller bare en følge av at noe annet gikk feil.
Rotoren løsnet raskt, noe som tyder på en fullstendig stopp. Du kan sammenligne det med å putte et metallrør inni et sykkelhjul: I fart fører fysiske krefter til at syklisten blir kastet fremover.
Hva førte i så fall til bråstoppen?
Tannhjulet med brudd kan ha vært utslitt og gitt etter. Samtidig er dette deler som skal bli byttet ut jevnlig.
En annen mulighet er at metallisk spon kan ha blitt slipt av i kulelageret, og ført til bråstopp i et tannhjul. Men slike spon skal bli fanget opp av en magnet. De er vanligvis heller ikke store nok til å føre til en bråstopp, men kan ligge og presse i timer.
Siden rotoren forsvant momentant, kan det tyde på at det ikke var en feil som utviklet seg over lang tid.
Tannhjulene er nå i Frankrike for en undersøkelse av metallet. Forhåpentlig vil det kunne gi svar på hvordan bruddet oppsto.
I 2009 døde 16 personer i en tilsvarende ulykke der rotoren forsvant. Feilen stammet da fra tretthetsbrudd i et av planetgirene. Den gang forble rotoren på i 20 sekunder etter at varsellampene sa at noe var alvorlig galt, ifølge den britiske havarikommisjonen.
Over Turøy ble ingen forvarsel gitt.

3. Kjeglen

«Konisk hus» er en dårlig oversettelse. Men denne kjeglen – conical housing eller flared housing på engelsk – er overgangen mellom girene og selve rotorhodet.
Inni er det blant annet drivaksling, kulelager som holder akslingen på plass og en magnetisk detektor som skal fange opp løsnet metallspon.
Som i den episykliske modulen, kan også her metallspon ha løsnet fra kulelager eller tannhjul, ikke blitt fanget opp, og deretter kilt seg fast.
KJEGLEN: Denne illustrasjonen skal vise hvordan delene av det koniske huset er puslet sammen for å se hvordan brudd kan ha skjedd.
Airbus/Havarikommisjonen
Selve kjeglen gikk i biter i styrten. Airbus har samlet sammen deler for å bygge opp igjen huset, slik at de kan se etter uregelmessigheter.
Havarikommisjonen har så langt kommet med to foreløpige rapporter, og vil trolig oppdatere flere ganger i en så høyprofilert sak.
Vanligvis bruker de et års tid på en fullstendig rapport – og lenger i vanskelige tilfeller.
Den gode nyheten: De finner vanligvis ut hva som til syvende og sist utløste ulykken.
Oppdatering: 31. mai la Airbus ut en ny pressemelding om årsakene, der de tidligere mente at det bare var én mulig grunn.
Der skriver de:
«Airbus Helicopter føler behov for å klargjøre sin posisjon for å unngå misforståelser. Airbus Helicopters utelukker ikke noen av scenariene beskrevet av Havarikommisjonen».
Og videre:
«Selv om det har vært store fremskritt i å analysere stag-festene, er det behov for å gjøre mer rundt scenariene med den episykliske modulen og det koniske huset».

Uroen i Frankrike kan påvirke flytrafikken - BBC

France labour dispute: Hollande digs in as rail strike looms

  • 51 minutes ago
  • From the section Europe
Police clash with protesters in Paris, 26 MayImage copyright AP
Image caption Unrest turned violent last Thursday
President Francois Hollande of France has insisted that a controversial labour reform will not be withdrawn as strike action looms on the Railways.

Rygge reddes - Regjeringen fikk panikk da FrP tapte velgere til AP - DN

Nedsiden er at dette kan gå ut over Gardermoen (Red.)

DN: Regjeringen åpner for å redde Rygge

Oslo (NTB): I en felles merknad fra regjeringspartiene, Venstre og KrF til revidert budsjett vil regjeringen få i oppdrag å vurdere de private flyplassene Torp og Rygges situasjon, får DN opplyst.

Moss Lufthavn Rygge
Nå settes drift av Rygge opp mot bygging av en tredje rullebane på Gardermoen.
Foto: Bengt-Eigil Ruud / NRK
Kilde: NTB

Finanskomiteleder Hans Olav Syversen (KrF) åpner ifølge avisa for at Forsvaret kan få økt kapasitet på Rygge, hvis den sivile delen av flyplassen legges ned.
– Det kommer en merknad til revidert budsjett. Det er en omfattende bestilling til regjeringen om å se på flyplasskapasitet, på samfunnsøkonomisk helhet, og likeens på Forsvaret. Hvis det blir nedleggelse sivilt, kan det hende det blir ytterligere noe på forsvaret, sier Syversen.
Han åpner dessuten for å droppe en tredje rullebane på Gardermoen, slik flere Østfold-politikere har tatt til orde for tidligere.
– Når det gjelder flyplasskapasitet, kan det fort bli et spørsmål om det er bedre å utnytte kapasitet på Rygge enn å bygge en tredje rullebane på Gardermoen, sier Syversen.
Styret i Rygge sivile lufthavn har varslet at flyplassen må legges ned dersom Ryanair holder fast på sine planer om å stenge sin base ved Rygge. (©NTB)

Drone - Affordable Xiaomi on this blog for the second time - UAS Vision

Chinese Smartphone Co to Launch Consumer Drone


XiaomiXiaomi, a company best-known for producing surprisingly affordable, high quality smartphones you can’t buy in the US, has added to its roster a surprisingly affordable, (probably) high-quality drone—that you can’t buy in the US.
The Mi Drone has plenty of impressive specs, but the one that matters most is $460. That’s roughly how much it will cost when it launches in China this July, and well under half of what you’d pay DJI for its ubiquitous Phantom 4.
At least on paper, it’s not like you’re skimping much either. The Mi Drone quadcopter comes with a 4K camera that shoots at 30fps (you can also get a 1080p version for $380), a three-axis gimbal that corrects itself 2,000 times per second, and a remote control that uses a Xiaomi phone as a viewfinder.
The Mi Drone’s 5,100mAh battery promises nearly a half hour of flight time, and it uses GPS and GLOSNASS to ensure accurate positioning. It’s got location-tracking in case you lose it. That location-tracking will also force it to automatically hover when it hits a no-fly zone. Some smart software on board allows for flight path planning, automatic take-off and landing, and autopilot.

Under the Radar

That all sounds a whole like what you’d get from a high-end $1,400 DJI Phantom 4, to say nothing of the $800 Phantom 3 4K. The hardware also throws some modularity into the mix; you can detach the camera and the rotors, or replace the battery without much fuss. The landing gear folds up as well, meaning you can pretty easily disassemble and collapse the Mi Drone to fit into a backpack. (Xiaomi also sells a Mi Drone backpack for $15).
The catch, of course, is that all of this is great news if you live in China, but not particularly helpful stateside. Xiaomi says it has nothing to announce about U.S. availability. But that’s OK! The numbers and features sound good, but we still don’t know how the Mi Drone actually performs. Xiaomi has a good track record, but a drone isn’t a smartphone, a streamer box, or a set of earbuds. This probably isn’t something you’d want to preorder anyway, no matter how promising it sounds (and the price is).
Besides, Xiaomi’s main competitors, DJI and Yuneec, are also based in China, and should feel the pricing pressure exerted by serious new contender. How good the Mi Drone is doesn’t matter nearly as much as that it proves that it’s possible to make a drone with high-end components and a lengthy feature list for lazy-gift money.

Drone - Predator B at ILA Berlin - UAS Vision

GA-ASI to Exhibit Predator B at ILA Berlin

Predator-B_Block-5_Gray-Butte_First-Flight (9)
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA‑ASI), announced that it will have a significant presence at the upcoming ILA show in Berlin, Germany, June 1-4, including a full-scale, company-owned Predator B RPA.
“The ILA Berlin Air Show marks the first time GA-ASI has publicly displayed our Predator B aircraft, and we’re honoured to be featured at this world-class venue,” said Linden Blue, CEO, GA-ASI.  Predator B has become the MALE [Medium-altitude Long-endurance] RPA standard for NATO, is operated by U.S., UK, French and Italian Air Forces, and is being acquired by the Spanish Air Force. This system commonality promotes interoperability between Member States and logistical economies of scale.”
GA-ASI and Spezialtechnik Dresden (STD) GmbH also are positioning Predator B – Guardian Eagle, a Type-Certifiable configuration of Predator B, for the German government. Guardian Eagle will integrate enhanced safety and reliability systems that will enable RPA flight within civilian airspace. Beginning in 2012, GA-ASI has undertaken a company-funded effort to produce Guardian Eagle, which will be fully compliant with NATO’s UAV SYSTEM AIRWORTHINESS REQUIREMENTS (defined in STANAG 4671). The company has collaborated with RUAG and the LufABw (military aviation authority) in Germany to define airworthiness requirements.
Other German collaborations for Predator B – Guardian Eagle include Rohde & Schwarz, through integration of the certified R&S MR6000A air traffic control radios which support both air-to-air and air-to-ground communications. This radio system is now part of the baseline product configuration.
The Predator aircraft family has amassed over 3.8 million flight hours. Predator B can fly up to 240 knots, carry extensive payloads (386 kg internally, 1361 kg externally), and reach 15240 meters in altitude. Aircraft endurance can exceed 27 hours, depending on configuration. This unrefueled airborne endurance and highly capable onboard sensors provide persistent, high-resolution ISR.  The aircraft system can host a variety of sensor payloads and is capable of transmitting video to manned aircraft and ground forces.
GA-ASI will be exhibiting at two different locations at ILA Berlin: U.S. International Pavilion – Hall 2, Stand 231 (Indoor Exhibit/Stand) and in the U.S. DoD Corral (Static Display of Predator B).
Photo: Predator-B Block-5 Gray-Butte First-Flight – GA-ASI

mandag 30. mai 2016

GPS jamming - Cairo - Curt Lewis


Egypt warns of hackers jamming GPS signals in Cairo airport

Egyptian authorities have compared the jamming attacks to those believed to be conducted by North Korea on rival South Korean navigation systems

Concerns over air travel security have been raised following EgypAir flight's recent crash. Pilots were warned by Egyptian authorities about hackers attempting to launch GPS signal jamming attacks at Cairo airport.

An internal alert was sent out to airlines by Egyptian authorities, specifying that signal jamming activity was identified in Cairo airport. The source, however, could not be identified. So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the jamming attacks. It is believed that hackers have attempted to tamper with the electrical equipment of planes, when approaching to land at the airport.

Somalia terror - To får livstid - Curt Lewis


Daallo Airlines blast: Somalia sentences two to life in prison


A military court in Somalia has sentenced two men to life in prison for masterminding a bomb attack on a Daallo Airlines passenger plane in February.

Eight other people, including a woman, were sentenced to between six months and four years in prison.
The blast, shortly after take-off from Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, killed the bomber and left a hole in the plane's fuselage.

Somalia's militant Islamist group al-Shabab said it carried out the attack.
However, it admitted at the time that it had failed in its attempt to bring down the plane.
The verdicts were the first in connection with the blast.

A former security official at the main airport in Mogadishu, Abdiwali Mahmud Maow, was given the life sentence, along with Arais Hashi Abdi, who was tried in absentia as he had evaded arrest.
The two were convicted of being members of al-Shabab.

The other eight were convicted of helping to plan the attack, but not of membership of the al-Qaeda-linked militant group.


None of the plane's 74 passengers or crew was killed.
The explosion on the Daallo Airlines Airbus 321 flight happened about 15 minutes after take-off, when the plane was at around 11,000ft (3,350m) and the cabin was not yet fully pressurised.

It was able to make an emergency landing at Mogadishu airport, aborting its flight to Djibouti.
Daallo Airlines flies regularly from its base in Dubai to Somalia and Djibouti.


Somalian forces have long been fighting al-Shabab which carries out regular attacks in its quest to establish an Islamic state.

Russland og Kina samarbeider om passasjerfly - Curt Lewis


Russian-Chinese passenger jet to take on Boeing & Airbus

Moscow and Beijing are to sign a deal to produce a new wide-body passenger aircraft by end of June, reports Life News citing Russian ministerial sources.

A cabin crew member of Russian carrier Aeroflot poses in front of a Sukhoi Superjet 100 airplane © Pascal RossignolEurope gets its first modern Russian-made airliners

The project is part of a reported $13 billion aviation cooperation deal signed in 2014 during President Vladimir Putin's visit to China.

The long-haul plane will be developed in Russia and assembled in China.

A special engineering center will be created in Russia to undertake technical and electronics production. The plane's engines will be produced by Rolls Royce and GE.

The production of the fuselage and the assembly of the airplanes will take place in China.

The new aircraft will be a development of the Russian-designed IL-96, according to a source from Russia's Ministry of Trade and Industry.

The 250-280 seat planes will have a range of 12,000 kilometers.

The first aircraft are expected to be completed by 2023 and to go on sale in 2025.

The new deal will become a platform for a joint venture between Russia's United Aircraft Corporation and Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, known as Comac.

The cost of the plane is estimated at $200-260 million which is similar to the American Boeing 787 Dreamliner, said Managing Director of Air Transport Observer magazine Maxim Pyadushkin.

According to him, it's too early to talk about what could happen in 2025, but the new plane will face tough competition from Airbus and Boeing.

The competition between Airbus and Boeing has been characterized as a duopoly in the large jet airliner market since the 1990s.

The two rivals are relentlessly struggling over market share. In 2015, Boeing was beaten by its European rival in terms of future orders.

Airbus has claimed 57 percent of the overall market by units ordered, with 1,036 aircraft. The company has enjoyed strong sales in recent years, particularly for the latest version of its popular A320 narrow-body jet.

Meanwhile, in terms of production Boeing was ahead of Airbus. It delivered 762 planes last year making $125 billion compared with Airbus's 635 aircraft, earning the firm $91.6 billion.

EgyptAir update - Curt Lewis


Egypt hires deep-search ship to seek lost airliner

Egyptian authorities hired a deep ocean survey and recovery company to join the hunt for wreckage of the EgyptAir jet that went down over the eastern Mediterranean last week as new satellite evidence emerged to help narrow down the likely crash site.

Egypt's civil aviation ministry signed the agreement Friday with Deep Ocean Search Ltd., according to a statement from France's air accidents bureau, BEA, which is part of the investigation. A DOS's vessel will join the Laplace, a French Navy ship set to arrive in the area over the weekend and deploying specialist technology to pick up telltale "pings" from the Airbus Group SE A320's black-box flight recorders.
European and U.S. satellites captured emergency distress signals from the doomed EgyptAir Flight 804 minutes after it fell off radar on May 19, the U.S.'s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Friday. A device known as an emergency locator transmitter, or ELT, began radioing an automatic distress message at 2:36 a.m. local time, Lieutenant Jason Wilson, an operations support officer at NOAA, said in an e-mail. That could help indicate a crash area with a 5-kilometer (3.1 mile) radius.

Regarded as key to determining what brought down Flight MS804 while en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 people on board, the data and voice recorders - actually colored orange - are detectable only from within a few miles, and are likely to run out of power in about three weeks.

The Egyptian-led committee that's investigating the downed plane has begun studying information from Greek air traffic control about the accident and more information on the radar that tracked the plane before it went down "is expected to be received," the BEA said in a statement. The BEA is involved because Airbus is based in Toulouse and the flight left from Paris.

DOS is based in Mauritius, staffed by veterans of the French Navy and has recovered precious metals from a ship sunk in World War II in the mid-Atlantic at a depth of 5,150 meters (about 17,000 feet), the company said on its website. The area where the EgyptAir flight went down is thought to be more than 3,000 meters deep.

The Laplace, named after celebrated French mathematician and astronomer Pierre-Simon Laplace, will carry three Detector 6000 underwater listening systems supplied by the Alseamar unit of Paris-based search specialist Alcen, a veteran of air-crash searches that also works with defense and oil-industry clients. Two officials from the BEA are traveling on the Laplace.

The probes, shaped like torpedoes and dragged beneath the ship, have an "extremely long detection range," according to Alseamar, being able to detect pings from black boxes 5 kilometers away. Egypt said Thursday the deployment of more specialist gear would "help speed up" the search effort.
Among previous projects, Alseamar worked on the recovery of the black boxes from a Flash Airlines Boeing Co. 737 that crashed into the Red Sea shortly after takeoff from Sharm el-Sheikh in 2004, killing all 148 passengers and crew.

Last year's loss of an Airbus A321 operated by Russia's Metrojet, apparently blown up over Sinai by a terrorist bomb, killing 224, posed relatively fewer challenges, with the flight recorders easily found in the desert landscape.

The Egyptian-led investigation team will still need to narrow down the location of the MS804 wreck to bring the French technology to bear. Previous attempts to find the jet using a submarine were hampered by the lack of a well-defined search area and the depth of the water where it seems to have come down.
Experts remain unclear about what destroyed the Airbus. While human remains so far recovered indicate a catastrophic incident such as a bomb, bodies can also be ripped apart when an aircraft disintegrates following a structural failure, or hits the ground or sea at high velocity.

A string of error messages sent automatically minutes before the A320 plunged into the sea indicated that smoke had been detected beneath the cockpit and in a lavatory, and that windows next to the co-pilot's seat may have been broken, together with unspecified issues with flight computers.
While those readings might be explained in terms of a bomb blast, they could equally have resulted from a fire and associated electrical failure.

Commander Benjamin Chauvet, a spokesman for the French navy, said in Paris Thursday that the search zone remains too wide to quickly home in on the black boxes. Waters in the area are also particularly polluted, forcing searchers to sift through unrelated debris, he said.

Signals from the A320's emergency locator transmitter may have identified an area with a 5-kilometer radius, the state-owned Ahram Gate website said, citing Ayman Al Moqadem, Egypt's air-accident investigation chief.

An aircraft ELF emits a radio signal - separate to the flight recorder pings - detectable by satellite in the event of a crash, though the beacon wouldn't normally function underwater.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20160529/NEWS02/160529092

EgyptAir Crash: Why Don't More Airlines Stream Black Box Data?

In their quest to uncover what caused an EgyptAir jetliner's fatal plunge into the Mediterranean Sea this month, searchers are conducting a costly, time-consuming hunt for the jet's black box data recorders.

But in an age where digital data can be easily transmitted and stored remotely, the use of black boxes to record critical flight data increasingly strikes many experts as antiquated. In fact, the technology already exists to stream the aircraft's information to a ground computer or virtual "cloud" - it just hasn't been widely adopted.

Why are airlines balking? The biggest barrier, industry observers say, is cost.

FLYHT Aerospace Solutions in Canada provides an on-demand black box streaming service at about $100,000 per plane, including hardware and installation. The company says it has over 50 customers and is already installed in about 400 planes. Canada's First Air is the only airline to say publicly it is using the FLYHT system.

The system doesn't continuously send data to ground-based computers. Instead, it activates in the event of an abnormal occurrence, then quickly sends a torrent of data to the airline for analysis and to apply corrective action.

"In the event something goes wrong, we can provide quicker insight into what happened," said Graham Ingham, a former Skyservice Airlines manager who now works for FLYHT. "We can start piecing the puzzle together quicker, so (the airline) can lay to rest some of the conspiracies that are out there."


FLYHT's technology called Automated Flight Information Reporting System is installed in the avionics bay of an aircraft. FLYHT

The streaming devices are similar to the black box hardware that has been used in aircraft for decades. Those devices consist of a cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder - each of which can provide indispensable information, including ambient noises and the flight's airspeed, altitude and direction, in the event of an accident.

FLYHT's program - dubbed the Automated Flight Information Reporting System - essentially duplicates the information that's typically found in the flight data recorder.

Many more commercial airliners are equipped with a technology called Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, which provides some data - though less than FLYHT's system - to the ground in real time.

During an emergency, FLYHT's system will automatically send back crucial flight-related data as well as provide the plane's position in real time - particularly helpful if the flight is on a transoceanic journey where flight control systems can lose track of it.

If a plane does crash, the data can help searchers pinpoint a more specific search location, Ingham said.

It also could help investigators determine whether a catastrophic event such as an explosion occurred, he said, as the data received would likely show a loss of cabin pressure. The plane would continue to send data just as long as the aircraft still had power, he added.

Ingham stressed that streaming copious amounts of data to ground-based computers does not make the technology cost-prohibitive. Airlines must also pay a "few dollars" per minute to access the data, but that would amount to a "minimal" cost, he said, because an emergency doesn't typically last long.

And he doesn't believe the airlines would need to pass the costs on to consumers.

"It is not very often that an aircraft is in a position that would require it to live stream the black box," Ingham said. "Airline travel is very safe these days and continues to get better."

It isn't known how many planes are equipped with streaming technology to provide black box quality data to computers on the ground, but it's believed to be a small fraction of the commercial aircraft fleet, observers say. Qatar Airways announced last year it would introduce the technology into its fleet via the British satellite telecom company Inmarsat.

Other airlines are having to weigh whether the technology makes sense because crashes are so rare and have fallen to their lowest levels in recent years.

In 2015, there was one crash for every 3.1 million flights worldwide - the safest year on record, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Airlines for America, the trade group for the nation's air carriers, declined to comment on the need for live streaming of the data since there is no formal proposal in front of the FAA to require it.

Patrick Smith, an airline pilot and author of "Cockpit Confidential," said real-time tracking of commercial jets is useful, but real-time streaming of data is "fraught with complications."

"It'd be ... not especially useful except in those very rare instances when the black box recorders can't be found," he said in an email. "You have about 16 million commercial flights operating each year, virtually none of which disappear. Is this really the best way to spend our air safety dollars?"

Related: Terrorism Can't Be Ruled Out, Foreign Minister Says

Smith said there are also questions about who would maintain the streamed data and where it would be kept. (In the case of FLYHT, the data is sent to a secure server and belongs to the airline, Ingham said.)

Jim Hall, who served as the National Transportation Safety Board chairman from 1994 to 2001, said black boxes still have a purpose because they can be retrieved by independent investigators without the worry they would be tampered with or altered.

"If there's that much information being streamed, who gets it?" Hall asked. "If it's a black box, it's supposed to be in the hands of the investigators."

In addition to streaming, Hall has suggested getting cameras inside cockpits, which pilot unions have opposed, and using ejectible recorders that would float, making it easier to find and recover them in the event of a crash at sea.

"The biggest problem with the black box now is that they can sink with the plane to the bottom of the ocean," Hall said. "So it can take weeks and millions of dollars to find it."

Investigators are still looking for the fuselage and black boxes of EgyptAir Flight 804 after it crashed May 19 with 66 people on board.

Nor have searchers found the fuselage or black boxes of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 since it went missing in March 2014. The cost of the search operation for the plane in a remote section of the Indian Ocean is reportedly at $130 million, making it the most-expensive search in aviation history.

The Air Line Pilots Association, International, the world's largest pilot union, told NBC News that the two accidents "underscore the importance of equipping all aircraft with tracking technology that can pinpoint location in near real time."

Spurred by the MH370 mystery, more planes are due to get such technology after the U.N.'s aviation agency in March approved a proposal for all newly designed aircraft to carry tracking devices that can transmit their location at least once a minute in an emergency. That won't go into effect until 2021.

The recent uptick in instances of missing planes and black boxes could force airlines to re-examine live data streaming sooner than later, said aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia.

"It'll happen," he said. "The technology change is outpacing regulatory change." 

The modern fighter pilot is a battle manager - Forget stick and rudder - Curt Lewis

 
'Firefox'-Styled Neuro-Avionics Are Likely Still Decades Away


Fighter aircraft avionics have come so far, so fast that it's hard to realize that only a century ago, the first U.S. Army Air Corps was doing battle over northern France in open cockpits equipped with shockingly rudimentary controls. Today, fighters like Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor are so fully-equipped with advanced head-up display technologies that one wonders whether neuro-activated flight controls are just around the next cloud.
For now, however, such neuro-tech remains the realm of the 1982 Clint Eastwood film "Firefox," which features a fictional Soviet MiG-31 stealth aircraft that fires its weapons merely upon the pilot "thinking" such a command.
It's pretty likely that someone is working on something very similar, aviation historian Donald Nijboer, author of "Fighting Cockpits: In the Pilot's Seat of Great Military Aircraft from World War I to Today," tells me. But he says such advanced neuro-avionics are likely still decades away, even if it's debatable whether such tech would actually save time in the cockpit.
Despite uncertainty about the future of warplane avionics, Nijboer's new book offers a fascinating take on the development of such technology. With high-resolution color photos of more than 50 historic cockpits by photographer Dan Patterson, "Fighting Cockpits" successfully gives even a casual reader a real feel for what facing the elements, adversaries and crude technology actually meant for World War I-era pilots.
Wood-and-canvas open-cockpit planes like the Blériot XI cockpit "instrumentation" consisted of a watch and a map of the flight route rolled onto a scroll, a control stick, rudder pedals, and no throttle, Nijboer writes.
"All rotary engines were controlled by means of a "blip" switch, which had two settings: flat out or stopped," writes Nijboer. He notes that airspeed and altitude were left to the pilot's judgment. World War I dogfights subjected pilots to such extremely high G-forces, he writes, they caused blackouts, and in some severe cases burst blood vessels behind the eyes.
"Even when they began to add more controls and instruments later in the war, the pilots still relied more on what they felt through their hands and feet - the sound and smell of their engine and the slipstream on their face," said Nijboer.
Although today's fighter pilots are masters of their universe, they would likely struggle in a primitive World War I-era cockpit.
 
"A well-trained pilot of today would have his hands full trying to fly a World War I Sopwith Camel," said Nijboer.
What has surprised Nijboer most about the evolution of warplane cockpits?
"How the cockpit always seemed to be an afterthought in the design process," said Nijboer. "Most instruments and controls were placed where they could fit and not in any real logical or ergonomic order."
As Nijboer points out in his book, in the 1920s, as aviation horsepower increased so did cockpit instruments and controls for engine throttles, fuel mixtures, oxygen systems, and engine gauges.
These new cockpits were often at odds with the needs of the pilots; since logistics for the aircraft's various systems, writes Nijboer, were prioritized to mechanically-link the plane's vital systems.
"Most cockpits looked as if the instruments and controls had been tossed in to land where they may; forcing pilots to reach and blindly grope for poorly-placed controls," Nijboer writes.
It wasn't until the end of the decade, Nijboer writes, that fighter aircraft had enough instruments to "fly blind." In 1929, Lt. James "Jimmy" Doolittle of the U.S. Army Air Corps flew a Consolidated NY-2 Husky trainer - replete with a gyroscopic compass, an artificial horizon instrument, and a precision altimeter - to successfully perform the world's first "blind-flying takeoff and landing."
Most recently, Nijboer is a fan of the F-22 Raptor which made its combat debut just a couple of years back. With its heads-up display and six liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, the F-22 writes Nijboer, gives pilots a first-look, first-shoot, first-kill capability.
"Modern fighter pilots I spoke with described themselves as more battle managers than stick and rudder fighter jocks," said Nijboer. "These modern jets are designed for beyond visual range combat. There's little need for a tight-turning agile fighter."
The future of over-the-horizon tech in cockpits?
"Today's pilots are limited by how many Gs they can withstand before blacking out; it's around 9," said Nijboer. "In the future a single fighter pilot could control a squadron of drones capable of performing any number of maneuvers a human pilot could not."
Nijboer says neuro-technology research is already underway on hands-free tech to control fighter aircraft. I guess a neurological cockpit would be the ultimate, he says, but as an F-22 pilot told me "the Raptor can outsmart you, it's that good."
Such technology would surely boggle the minds of World War I-era pilots. But perhaps "Fighting Cockpits" is most impressive for reminding us that the continuing development of military aircraft technology may have paradoxically kept us out of a third world war.

ILA Berlin Airshow 1. og 2. juni - Curt Lewis

Emirates returns to ILA Berlin Air Show


Dubai-based Emirates will return with its Airbus A380 to ILA Berlin Air Show 2016, a major trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries.
The Emirates A380 will be the largest aircraft to be showcased and the only A380 displayed at Berlin ExpoCenter Airport in Schoenefeld. It will be on display and open for visitor viewing on the first two show days - June 1 and 2.
At ILA Berlin Air Show 2014, the flagship aircraft was toured by more than 13,000 aviation enthusiasts and this year the iconic aircraft is expected be popular with visitors again.
The aircraft on static display in Berlin will be the airline's 79th A380 aircraft, a brand new delivery directly from Airbus in Hamburg-Finkenwerder. The flight deck crew bringing the brand new aircraft from Hamburg to Berlin will be New Zealand-born Captain Thomas Ziarno and UAE-national First Officer Abdulrahman Mohamed Al Busaeedi.
The Emirates Airbus A380 has been part of ILA Berlin Air Show since 2010, underlining the airline's steadfast commitment to the German market and to the Airbus flagship. All Emirates A380s are being fitted at Airbus in Hamburg including significant cabin interior work and final livery. One in every three A380s in the sky today belongs to Emirates and wherever the Emirates A380 is deployed, the experience continues to generate excitement and fascination amongst passengers and those who come to airports just to catch a glimpse of the aircraft.
As the largest A380 operator in the world, Emirates will have 79 A380s serving its network once this new aircraft joins the fleet. Last month, Emirates placed a new order for an additional two new A380 aircraft, to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2017, bringing its order books for the aircraft to 64.
Emirates A380s currently serve over 40 destinations worldwide - one out of every four destinations on the airline's passenger network. Vienna will become the next A380 destination starting from July 1.
Emirates redefined the First Class experience, led the design of the first private suites in commercial aviation and was first to put them into service. The fully-equipped A380 Onboard Shower Spa was also a first in the industry and has been overwhelmingly popular with First Class passengers ever since. First and Business Class passengers can enjoy the exclusive A380 Onboard Lounge and Business Class passengers can relax in new-generation full-flat seats, each with direct aisle access. Passengers in all classes have access to Emirates' award-winning ice inflight entertainment system, which features over 2,500 channels of on-demand entertainment. The latest technology allows passengers to stay connected throughout the flight with free high-speed wi-fi access as well as mobile phone and data services. - TradeArabia News Service

Thunderbolt havariet - AVweb



A 56-year-old Florida man been identified as the pilot who died when the P-47 Thunderbolt he was flying went into the Hudson River off Manhattan late Friday. William Gordon was flying the aircraft on a photo flight with two other aircraft promoting the American Airpower Museum’s celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Thunderbolt, which was used extensively by the U.S. Army Air Force in the Second World War. The museum, located at Republic Airport in Farmingdale, is hosting a major airshow marking the Memorial Day weekend and there was nothing on the organization’s website suggesting any interruption of those plans.
Witnesses reported seeing smoke coming from the aircraft and hearing “sputtering” before the aircraft hit the water and immediately sank. Video shows a varying plume of spray moving laterally across the surface of the river. The pilot’s body was recovered by divers three hours after the crash and the aircraft was pulled to the surface Saturday afternoon.

søndag 29. mai 2016

E-sigaretter og brannfare - FAA

FrP er i ferd med å bidra til et flysikkerhetsmessig tilbakeskritt dersom slike sigaretter tillates.

The US Federal Aviation Administration warns the popular vapour-creating devices may cause a fire hazard in checked luggage.
07:39, UK, Saturday 24 January 2015

E-cigarette
E-cigarettes which are checked into luggage on aeroplanes may cause a fire hazard, according to a warning issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA has recommended the nicotine replacement devices should be carried in the aircraft cabin, rather than inside checked luggage.
In a safety alert issued to airlines, the FAA said evidence shows the devices could overheat and spark a serious fire during a flight.
"In several incidents both inside and outside the transportation industry, e-cigarettes have overheated or caught fire when the heating element was accidentally activated," the FAA said.
"The agency encourages airlines to communicate this new policy to passengers as widely as possible through their websites, press releases, at ticket purchase, during the check-in process and by other established means to inform passengers about hazardous materials regulations and policies."
E-cigarettes use battery-powered cartridges to produce a vapour that may be flavoured or laced with nicotine.

lørdag 28. mai 2016

Helikopterulykken - It`s all about money - Airbus frikjenner seg selv - Dagbladet

Da Airbus sjefen kom til Flesland og sa at dette ikke hadde skjedd før, var manuset klart: Vi må frikjenne oss selv. Nå er akt to i gang. Girkassa kom fra Airbus` eget vedlikeholdssystem, ikke fra Heli One. Det er derfor viktig for Airbus å arbeide for at de ikke er skurken. At SHT sender deler fra havarihelikopteret til Airbus for undersøkelse skulle aldri ha skjedd. Nå har SHT spesiell grunn til å være årvåkne. Ikke desto mindre, det kan være at fremre suspension bar er skurken. Da kan en muligens henge hatten på HS` vedlikeholdsrutiner. Jeg vil be mine kolleger om korreksjoner, hvis de finnes, om følgende: Da HS hadde en ulykke med en spindel til et hovedrotorblad som røk den 26. juni 1978, 18 døde, ble spindelen først undersøkt av DNV som fant at sprekkdannelse var en produksjonsfeil mens Sikorsky mente den var påvirket av vanlig tjeneste, noe de aldri gikk tilbake på? Er det riktig, slik jeg husker det, at Sikorsky forsøkte å legge skylden på HS fordi havarihelikopteret ble brukt for å øke MTOW fra 19 000 til 20 500lbs? Jeg har fått opplyst at Braathens SAFEs verksted også var med i teknisk arbeid, samt at produksjonen av S-61 serien ble stoppet.
Det er uansett særdeles utidig av Airbus å frikjenne seg selv mens undersøkelsen pågår. Red.) 


 HELIKOPTERULYKKE:  Det var et slikt helikopter fra CHC helikopterservice som styrtet ved Turøy utenfor Bergen den 29. april. Foto: Fotoweb


HELIKOPTERULYKKE: Det var et slikt helikopter fra CHC helikopterservice som styrtet ved Turøy utenfor Bergen den 29. april. Foto: Fotoweb

Airbus: Girkassa ikke årsak til Turøy-ulykken

Airbus Helicopters avviser en av Havarikommisjonens teorier om at feil knyttet til girkassa førte til helikopterstyrten ved Turøy som kostet 13 mennesker livet.




Helikopterprodusenten har sendt ut en uttalelse hvor de mener den sannsynlige årsaken til styrten er en svikt i en festeanordning til et stag.

Denne forbinder rotorsystemet med skroget, kjent som «suspension bars», melder nyhetsbyrået Reuters lørdag.

Alle 13 om bord mistet livet da Super Puma-helikopteret styrtet ved Turøy i Hordaland 29. april.

Sju teorier

Airbus Helicopters skriver i uttalelsen at selskapets egne undersøkelser har kommet fram til sju mulige teorier.

- Ut av disse sju scenarioene er det bare én - svikt i festeanordningen til et stag - som blir sett på som sannsynlig av Airbus Helicopters, basert på informasjonen som er tilgjengelig nå, heter det i uttalelsen.

- Undersøkelser av helikopterets vedlikeholdshistorikk har nettopp begynt og vil trolig gi en bedre forståelse av de mest sannsynlige årsakene, skriver selskapet videre.

- For tidlig å konkludere

Statens havarikommisjon (SHT) vil ikke kommentere Airbus' uttalelse.

- SHT gjennomfører uavhengige undersøkelser. Airbus må stå for egne uttalelser, sier direktør William Bertheussen til NTB.

I en oppdatert, foreløpig rapport om helikopterstyrten som ble publisert fredag, har Havarikommisjonen sett seg ut tre scenarioer.

Det ene er feil i sluttsteget på girkassen (omtalt som epicyclic failure). Nummer to er feil ved stagene som forbinder rotorsystemet med skroget, mens nummer tre er feil ved veksel mellom girkasse og rotormast. Det er teori nummer to som Airbus Helicopters mener er den mest sannsynlige årsaken til helikopterstyrten.

Mangler deler

Havarikommisjonen ønsker fortsatt hjelp etter helikopterulykken.

Kommisjonen har ikke funnet alle delene fra helikopteret - deler som kan gi hjelp i arbeidet med å finne årsaken til ulykken.

- Alle funn av vrakdeler som eventuelt gjøres og kan spores til helikopterulykken, bør umiddelbart skylles med ferskvann og påføres en konserverende olje, heter det i en pressemelding. 

Memorial Day - Another story - Source: Per Tjetland

Subject: Fwd: Bill Overstreet and the Eiffel Tower



 
The fighter pilot who flew through the Eiffel Tower in 1944 has died
In the spring of 1944 Bill and his P-51C, the 'Berlin Express' were near Paris when the scene that is immortalized in the artwork by Len Krenzler of Action Art that leads this article took place. Bill had followed this Bf109 from the bombers he was escorting when most of the German fighters left. The two planes had been in a running dogfight.
The German pilot flew over Paris hoping that the heavy German anti-aircraft artillery would solve his problem and eliminate Overstreet and the 'Berlin Express', though Bill managed to get some hits in at about 1500 feet.
The German's engine was hit, and Bill stayed on his tail braving the intense enemy flak. His desperation undoubtedly growing, the German pilot aimed his plane at the Eiffel Tower and in a surprising maneuver, flew beneath it.
Undeterred, Bill followed right behind him, scoring several more hits in the process. The German plane crashed and Bill escaped the heavy flak around Paris by flying low and full throttle over the river until he had cleared the city's heavy anti-aircraft batteries.

WWII fighter pilot who flew THROUGH the Eiffel Tower to take down a German plane dies in Virginia aged 92
William Overstreet Jr., a former captain in the U.S. Air Corps, passed away on Sunday at a hospital in RoanokeVirginia.
He famously flew his plane beneath the Eiffel Tower in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1944, lifting the spirits of French troops on the ground.

In 2009, he was presented France's Legion of Honor.



Hero: World War II Aviator Bill Overstreet Jr., best known for flying beneath the Eiffel Tower in pursuit of a German plane, is pictured in his military days.
Before the ceremony, Overstreet had previously said that, if he lived long enough to receive the Legion of Honor, he would be accepting it in memory of his fallen brothers.
In particular, he wanted to pay tribute to a friend, Eddy Simpson, who died fighting the Nazis on the ground so his comrades, including Overstreet, could escape.
After the award was pinned to his lapel, Overstreet said: 'If I said, "Thank you," it wouldn't be enough,' before adding: 'What more than "thank you" do you need?'
He was born in Clifton Forge, Virginia in 1921 and after Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Air Corps as a fighter pilot.
By February 1942, he was a private and sent to California for flight training; here, his instructors prepared him for the unexpected mid-flight by cutting the engine as he landed.
 

Remembered: Overstreet was presented with France's Legion of Honour in 2009
 

Aircraft: Overstreet is pictured by his P-51 'Berlin Express', the plane he flew beneath the Eiffel Tower


Proud: Overstreet is pictured in 1943 with his cherished 1938 Buick in California, where he trained



Close call: The wreckage of his Bell P-39 Airacobra which spun out of control mid-air as he completed combat training in 1943. He managed to force his way out of the craft and walked away unhurt




Loss: Bill Overstreet is pictured at an event, Warbirds Over the Beach, in 2013.
'He was always humble. Whenever the press interviewed him, he said, "I didn't do anything, we were a team".'
RIP Bill Overstreet.