onsdag 30. april 2014

Malaysian - Redningsbesetningene og deres utstyr er fotografert

End of the air search: Crews that searched for missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 pose for final photo in Perth as operation is scaled down

Aircrews who participated in the search for MH370 have called an official end to their large-scale operation
They posed for a photo at the Royal Australian Air Force Base Pearce, located north of Perth, on Tuesday
An underwater search will continue to hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet in the southern Indian Ocean
Not a single piece of debris, stretch of oil, or a clue of any kind has been found to pinpoint the location of the plane

PUBLISHED: 09:35 GMT, 30 April 2014 | UPDATED: 11:07 GMT, 30 April 2014

It's a scene that no-one could have imagined when a Malaysian Airlines jet disappeared more than seven weeks ago - a farewell photo by the men and women who have searched in vain from the sky for the missing plane.

They posed with their aircraft in Perth to mark the official end to the huge international air search for MH370, which lost contact on March 8 with 239 passengers and crew.

A scaled down operation, including a few vessels on standby and an underwater search for the Boeing 777, will still continue for an indefinite amount of time.

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All together: Multinational air-crew and aircraft were involved in operation Southern Indian Ocean

So far not a single piece of debris, stretch of oil, or a clue of any kind has been found to pinpoint the location of the plane.

There have been 'pings' that might have come from the aircraft's two black boxes and experts have made their calculations from satellite data, but if the jet is at the bottom of the ocean its whereabouts have remained a mystery.

Eight nations have taken part in the search, either physically or using technical know-how but despite a number of hopeful sightings, the personnel who posed for Tuesday's photo have ended their relentless operation with nothing to show for it.

More...

They have scoured more than two million square miles from the air since the search moved to the Indian Ocean and officials now concede that the area will have to be expanded - but this time entirely underwater.

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No results: Not a single piece of debris, stretch of oil, or a clue of any kind has been found to pinpoint the location of the Boeing 777

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Finished: Japanese officials and members of Japanese and Australian aircrews, who participated in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines plane MH370, pose for a photo on the tarmac at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Pearce, located north of Perth

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has conceded that if anything was left floating after the aircraft had, as experts believe, come down in the ocean, it would by now have become waterlogged and sunk.

Just when a new underwater search will begin has not been decided, with authorities saying the transition from surface to underwater would begin 'over the coming weeks.'

Never in the history of aviation has such a vast search been conducted, with eight nations - Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Malaysia, the US, Japan, South Korea and China - involved in the hunt, flying more than 300 sorties across an enormous expanse of unforgiving southern ocean.

Now the search planes have been stood down, a spokesman for the Australian-led Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre saying: 'Most of the aircraft will have left by the end of today.'

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Farewell photo: Vice Chief of the Australian Defence Force, Air Marshal Mark Binskin, centre, stands on the tarmac during the ceremony on April 29 to mark the end of the air search for MH370

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International effort: Eight nations have taken part in the search, either physically or using technical know-how

But an Australian P3 Orion will remain on standby in Perth.

As well as aircraft, as many as 14 ships from Australia, China and Britain were involved in the search for debris or listening for black box signals. Most of those vessels were today also pulling out.

'Some need to head back to port and refuel and give the crew a rest, while others will go back to doing what they were doing for their respective nations before they joined in the search,' the agency's spokesman said.

'In essence the surface search has been scaled back.

'We will keep a few vessels out there and others on standby, but the large-scale air and sea search has ended.'

The conclusion of the surface hunt will be a distressing landmark for relatives of the mostly-Chinese passengers who were on the aircraft.

Waiting for news in a hotel in Beijing, they have repeated daily that they want closure - to know what has happened to their loved ones.

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Huge mission: Teams have scoured more than two million square miles from the air since the search moved to the Indian Ocean

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Grounded: The personnel who posed for the photo have ended their relentless operation with nothing to show for it

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They tried: Air crew members from China, Malaysia and Japan wait for the official photo to be taken at the RAAF Pearce Base, near Perth

With no result, they now have only an underwater search - with no clues to pinpoint the correct area - to rely on. But first, they have to hear when that search will even begin.

The news of the scaled back search comes as the Chinese families of passengers and crew were played a recording of the finale exchange between the airplane's crew and ground control for the first time.

The families listened to the audio from the plane's cockpit during a public conference in Beijing on Tuesday, more than 50 days after the plane disappeared.

In the audio, a radar controller from the airport in Kuala Lumpur says: 'Malaysia three seven zero contact Ho Chi Min 120.9, good night.'

A male voice, believed to be a male crew member, replies: 'Good night Malaysian three seven zero.'

Officials explained that MH370 crew members did not respond to further requests to contact ground control.

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Grateful: The Vice Chief of the Australian Defence Force thanks members of the international and Australian air crews for their efforts

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It's over: The air crews ended their search on April 29, more than seven weeks after the Malaysian Airlines jet disappeared

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Searching: Australian leading Seaman Aircrewman Joel Young is pictured here manning the doorway of a S-B70-2 Seahawk helicopter during the search on April 21. He is just one of the hundreds of people who helped on the mission

Helicopters Join MH370 Search Mission

Sikorsky Seahawk deployed to Western Australia to join massive fixed-wing effort.

By Emma Kelly, Australia and Pacific Correspondent

A Royal Australian Navy Sikorsky S-70B2 Seahawk has joined the international search mission for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia.
On March 28, a Royal Australian Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster transported the Seahawk from HMAS Albatross, Nowra, NSW, to RAAF Base Pearce in Western Australia, from where the search is being coordinated. The Seahawk was transported to the search area by RAN Anzac-class frigate HMAS Toowoomba, which reached the area on April 1.

Loading the Seahawk. Photos courtesy of Royal Australian Navy

“We know this will be a tough and potentially challenging deployment but Toowoomba is capable and well-suited to this mission and our Seahawk helicopter will help us to maximize our reach,” says HMAS Toowoomba acting commanding officer Matt Doornbos.
Seven Chinese ships involved in the search effort or on their way are also believed to be carrying helicopters.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority is coordinating the search effort, which on April 3 was centered on an area of about 223,000 square kilometers, some 1,680-km west-northwest of Perth.

Yesterday an Australian company said it had located the wreckage of a commercial airliner lying on the ocean floor in the Bay of Bengal - an area located in the northern tip of the original search area, but thousands of miles from where authorities are currently focused.

Tech firm GeoResonance claims its sensor technology has found the wreckage of a plane in the Bay of Bengal, 118 miles south of Bangladesh.

The company said images taken of the same spot five days earlier showed it had appeared between the 5th and 10th of March 2014. The plane disappeared on March 8.

However, these claims have now been dismissed by search coordinators.

The Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC), which is managing the multinational search for the missing plane, said it continued to believe that the plane came down in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia

And it explained that the location in the GeoResonance report was not within the search arc that it has created from satellite information and other data to determine the missing aircraft's location.

'The joint international team is satisfied that the final resting place of the missing aircraft is in the southerly portion of the search arc,' it said, The Telegraph reports.

Etihad ekspanderer hemningsløst

Etihad to hire 22 Jet Airways pilots for a year, offers over 30 per cent pay hike

Neppe flygere.....men pene i tøyet allikevel
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad is hiring around 22 pilots from Jet Airways for its Boeing-777 wide-body aircraft fleet. These pilots, who were previously flying Airbus A330s for Jet, will be based in Abu Dhabi for a minimum contract of one year (excluding four months of training). These pilots will get tax-free income, bonuses and a hike of about 30-40% on the current base salary of about Rs 6-7 lakh a month.

Sources told FE an internal job notice has been sent to the pilots in Jet Airways on April 10. In all, 11 positions have been offered to captains (minimum 6,000 hours) and a similar number for co-pilots (minimum 1,000 hours) as well. The recruitment process is expected to be completed in May.
"Jet has excess pilots for its A330 fleet, so Etihad has offered them these positions. Some of the captains who have applied have 15,000-20,000 hours to their credit. Most likely, these pilots will be absorbed back in Jet once their contract with Etihad is over," said a source.
Jet Airways, however, did not respond to an emailed questionnaire.

The move comes three months after Etihad had offered similar jobs to Air India pilots, with a promise of a fat pay hike. Incidentally, Etihad, which is in the mid of a massive expansion spree, had recently purchased five Boeing 777 LR (Long range) aircraft from Air India and may also buy three more of the same aircraft from the state-run carrier.

"Etihad is rapidly expanding operations and since it takes a long time on new aircraft deliveries, they are growing through acquisitions. In last few months, Etihad had held roadshows for pilots for narrow body and wide body aircraft in Delhi and Mumbai," said an official.

Jet, in which Etihad picked up a 24% stake for over Rs 2,000 crore in April last year, currently has 101 aircraft - 12 aircraft from the Airbus 330 family, 59 Boeing 737s, 10 Boeing 777s and 18 ATRs.
Jet is believed to have 10 Boeing 787 Dreamliners and around 50 Boeing 737 Max aircraft on order. On other hand, Etihad currently has a fleet of 94 planes, with a further 225 on order.

Helikopter - Sikorsky vs. Canada vil ingen ende ta

Sikorsky losses grow on CH-148 contract

By: Stephen Trimble

Washington DC

Source: Flightglobal.com

02:36 23 Apr 2014

United Technologies (UTC) has warned that the Canadian Maritime Helicopter (CMH) programme will face yet another in a long series of cost overruns and schedule delays.
A new agreement reached between UTC subsidiary Sikorsky and the Canadian government includes “additional requirements, retrofit costs and expansion of the programme schedule”, says Gregory Hayes, senior vice-president and chief financial officer, speaking to analysts while discussing first quarter earnings on 22 April.
The negotiations are still in progress, but UTC expects to take a charge on the programme after definitive agreements are signed, says Hayes.
Sikorsky signed a C$1.8 billion ($1.63 billion) fixed-price contract in 2004 to deliver 28 CH-148s – a militarised variant of the S-92 – beginning in 2008.
The aircraft, however, still do not meet the Canadian requirements, with just four aircraft configured to an interim standard so far delivered.

Sikorsky

Last year, the government considered scrapping the deal and finding another supplier to replace its fleet of ageing CH-124 Sea King helicopters.
On 31 December, Sikorsky signed an initial “principles of agreement” with Canadian officials that preserves the CH-148 programme, although at a loss to Sikorsky, including an $88.6 million penalty for late deliveries.
Sikorsky has said that the restructured deal means the company will deliver each aircraft at a loss, and will not reach breakeven on the CMH programme even in the support phase.
More recently, Sikorsky signed a second principles of agreement with the Canadian government that specifies the configuration of the aircraft to be delivered starting in 2015.
Although Sikorsky expects to take another charge, the overall financial impact on UTC will be marginal, Hayes says. The company is standing behind its earlier guidance of net income between $665 million an $685 million, he says, as gains in other areas of the company will offset the loss on the Cyclone programme.

Kina orienterer seg mer og mer mot vest

China Eastern Seeks More Independence From Beijing

One of China’s biggest airlines is keen on budget aviation and more independence

Apr 29, 2014 Bradley Perrett | Aviation Week & Space Technology

China Eastern has traded in its Airbus A340-600s for Boeing 777-300ERs that will soon be the mainstay of its long-haul fleet.

Joepriesaviation.net

Advertisement

This article appears in the April 29 edition of Aviation Week & Space Technology.
Change is in the air at China Eastern Airlines. Though the only move that can be definitely expected is a move into low-cost operations, China’s third-largest carrier says it is in a transformational stage. Most notably, six years after the collapse of a deal with Singapore Airlines, it is talking again about securing a strategic investor, partly to help improve its management.
The state company is looking for more independence, pushing the idea that, in accordance with a new theme in Chinese economic policy, the government does not need to hold most of its shares and—reading between the lines—that managers should have a freer hand in running the carrier.
They have not reached that stage yet, however, and for the moment they seem to be concentrating on the best opportunity that is immediately available to them: budget operations. China Eastern Chairman Liu Shaoyong and other senior executives have lately checked out EasyJet and Ryanair, as well as full-service carrier Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), the Chinese airline says. In an internal report to employees this month, China Eastern’s managers emphasize EasyJet’s great success in online ticket sales, Ryanair’s record of continuous profits and the high loyalty of SAS customers. Like other Chinese state airlines, China Eastern does not have a notably strong record in any of those areas.

tirsdag 29. april 2014

Helikopter - Megasamarbeid mellom Airbus og Kina

Monday, April 28, 2014

Airbus, Avicopter Reach Framework Deal for 1,000 EC175s

Airbus Helicopters has reached a framework agreement with Avicopter covering a thousand EC175. Photo courtesy of Airbus Helicopters

Airbus Helicopters has reached an agreement with China’s Avicopter to jointly produce 1,000 new generation EC175/AC352 rotorcraft.

The production agreement was signed at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Airbus will produce the EC175 for the worldwide market at its facility in Marignane, France, while Avicopter will produce the AC352 mainly for the Chinese market.
France and China first launched cooperation on the EC175/AC352 in 2005. The EASA certified the airworthiness of the EC175 earlier this year.
Li Fangyong, executive vice president of Avicopter’s parent company AVIC, said the agreement allows the two companies to “satisfy the Chinese and worldwide market needs in the medium helicopter segment.”

Tilt Rotor - Pilot report

Det må ha vært for omkring 17 år siden da Randy Padfield fløy Bell XV15 og skrev om det. Randy er tidligere kollega og Editor in Chief i Aviation Intl. News. Randy var også fagspesialist for typen tilt wing/tilt rotor i IFALPA.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Pilot Report: Flying the AW609

Sjekk video: http://tinyurl.com/ptv8dh7

Rotor & Wing Editor-at-Large becomes the first trade journalist to fly both the AgustaWestland AW609 and the Airbus Helicopters (Eurocopter) X3.

By Ernie Stephens, Editor-at-Large

AW609 rotors tilting. Photo by Ernie Stephens

The idea of a flying machine that will take off and land vertically, then achieve airplane speeds, has been around since the development of engine-driven aircraft. Several designs have been toyed with, but arguably the most successful have fallen into one of two categories: a hybrid using a main rotor and propellers, or vectored thrust (i.e., a tilting rotor). In 2012, I conducted an evaluation flight of the Eurocopter (now Airbus) X3 experimental aircraft, which uses the hybrid system. So, it was only fitting that I accept AgustaWestland’s offer to fly the AW609 tiltrotor, which employs vectored thrust. The 609 actually began life in 1998 as a Bell-Boeing project, and later became the Bell/Agusta Aerospace BA609. But in 2011, when Bell Helicopter officially pulled out of the partnership, the rebranded “AW609 tiltrotor” was placed under the control of the newly formed AgustaWestland Tilt-Rotor Company (AWTRC) of Arlington, Texas, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AgustaWestland.

Upon my arrival at AWTRC’s combination headquarters, development facility and hangar at Arlington Municipal Airport (KGKY), I was greeted by experimental test pilot Dan Wells, a former Army helicopter pilot who had also worked for Boeing on the V-22 Osprey program, the only other tiltrotor flying today. Fellow test pilots Pietro Venanzi and Paul Edwards, also former military pilots, joined Wells. The AW609 is simple in concept, but complicated in execution. Its pair of three-bladed, 26-foot in diameter “prop-rotors,” coupled to their 1,930 shp Pratt & Whitney PT6C-67A turboshaft engines, must lift its 16,800-lb bulk into the pure vertical. They must then be able rotate forward and propel the 40-foot-long, 33-foot-wide, 15-foot-tall airframe at forward speeds of 275 KTAS and altitudes of 25,000 feet MSL.
To accomplish this, the engines must simultaneously rotate back and forth between 95 degrees (straight up, plus another 5 degrees aft), and zero degrees (straight forward). The engines must also be able to turn both rotor systems at any tilt angle as a team, or independently.
To make the units tilt as a matched set, the engineers employ one tilt-axis gearbox on each engine nacelle. Lubricating systems and chip detectors are carefully positioned to function throughout their range of motion, and a shaft-driven fan helps cool the engine when the normal ram air intake is rotated up for helicopter mode.
The 609’s rotor mechanism can best be described as a main rotor head that can rotate. So, if you were to look behind the cowling, you would see a set of swashplates with some clever modifications to control blade pitch. Their inputs are tied one engine to the other so that pilot commands will act upon each equally. My AW609 classroom training covered substantially more details, such as hydraulic, electrical, and structural systems, but space prohibits me from sharing it here. I’ll say this, though: The designers of the aircraft did their best to make as much of the aircraft safe, reliable, and simple to maintain by using tried-and-true aeronautical engineering practices found in today’s most sophisticated airplanes and helicopters.
Flight day arrived bringing with it clear skies, winds out of the south at 12 knots, a temperature of 24 degrees C, dew point of 12 degrees C, density altitude of 1,900 feet, and an altimeter setting of 29.99. Our takeoff weight would be 16,200 lbs.
The aircraft, N609TR (serial #0001) had returned earlier that day from its date with the paint shop outside of Dallas. The “BA” had been replaced with “AW,” and the company’s logo now dominated the fuselage.
The interior, like all aircraft under development, was still free of trim panels, so that its wire runs, fasteners and other critical components could be easily reached. A circular escape trunk dominated the center of the floor inside of the single cabin door... just in case.

AW609 in flight. Photo by Ernie Stephens

Today, I would be flying with Venanzi, who took the right seat. I settled into the left one. I immediately noticed that both he and I were able to achieve comfortable flying positions, in spite of a substantial difference in our heights and weights, thanks to seats that could travel forward and back, as well as up and down. They even had the nerve to be rather comfortable.

The windscreen and side windows bear a mild family resemblance to those on the AW139, in that they droop at the corners to give an impressive field of view when looking toward the ground.
Facing me was a well-thought-out instrument panel containing a three-display Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 glass cockpit system. Several switch panels were in customary places, such as center and overhead consoles. Something foreign to me as a helicopter, though, was a cabin pressurization and oxygen control panel. Venanzi was quick to remind me, however, that any experimental aircraft’s cockpit layout is subject to change as the design team makes tweaks.
Like the V-22, the 609 has a cyclic – called a “center stick” – that is held in the pilot’s right hand. But unlike the Osprey’s fighter jet-like thrust lever, the 609 has a conventional-looking collective they call a “power lever.”
The pedals and toe brakes look normal, and control pivoting about the yaw axis. But they are not connected to a tail rotor, and there is no rudder. In a hover, pedal inputs change the pitch on the rotors cyclically, causing one or the other set to drive the aircraft’s nose around its yaw axis. In forward flight, pressing on the left pedal adds thrust to the right rotors, and vice versa. Like the other flight controls, it too is fly-by-wire.
Venanzi handled the start-up procedure, because every operation is recorded and monitored live in the flight test control center on the ground level of the hangar.
As the FADEC brought the first engine to life, both rotors began turning, proving that they are inter-connected. As the second came online I noticed the interior was not as noisy as I would have expected. Venanzi explained that placing the engines and rotors out to the sides creates a relatively quiet cabin.
Once the pre-taxi checklist was complete, Venanzi took the controls and hopped us from the AW ramp across the runway to the taxiway near the tower. Once there, he set it on the ground and gave me the controls.
For takeoff, the nacelles are set for 87 degrees – as indicated on the nacelle angle indicator integrated on the PFD – which is accomplished by pushing one click forward on the nacelle tilt control (NTC), a thumbwheel switch mounted on top of the power lever. But failing to hold the brakes until airborne will cause the machine to slowly drift forward. Shortly after the nacelles hit 87 degrees, and I gently pulled up on the power lever and got the only true scare of my flight. Because even though I had been warned that the 609 did not like to hover below 15 feet, I did not realize how unsettling it would actually be.
The 609 imparts downwash on its own wings, causing the aircraft to be very unstable about its roll axis. Called “darting” by the pilots, the way to avoid it is to pull straight through to a 20-foot hover. Once there, it settles down nicely. And because the counter-rotating disks cancel any yawing induced by power changes, no real pedal work is required.
After a few pedal turns, which felt like a pedal turn in a conventional helicopter, I conducted a standard 609 departure by tilting the rotors to 75 degrees, which vectors thrust forward and up into a helicopter-like climb. But you must remember to use the center stick to keep the deck level.

AW609 serial #0001 is equipped with a Collins Proline 21 avionics suite, as well as a myriad of test equipment. The pilot-in-command sits on the right.

During climb out, I had to monitor the limiting airspeed indicator (LAI). This display reads the angle the rotors have assumed, and adjusts its green arc to show how much power you can pull using the power lever at that setting. As the rotors tilt farther forward, the green arc shifts to authorize higher speeds. And in case you aren’t minding the LAI as closely as you should, the aircraft will impart a gentle vibration through the power lever as a tactile indication that you are about to exceed a speed range. (You can still pull past it, however, if an emergency dictates it.)

As the green arc on the LAI climbs, the nacelles can be rotated farther forward. When they reach an angle of 45 degrees or less, the aircraft is wing-borne and should be controlled like an airplane. Unlike a standard airplane, the flapperons on the wings automatically extend and retract as speeds change, but can be manually overridden. With the nacelles at zero degrees, which is full forward, you may as well be in a turboprop plane. The center stick commands climbs and rolls just like a yoke, and the power lever performs like a throttle in a jet. Flying the 609 like an airplane was... well... like flying an airplane, which is great, considering it recently lifted off the ground at zero airspeed.
At an altitude of about 2,500 feet MSL, I started the nacelles on a rearward rotation to 90 degrees to put us in an out-of-ground-effect hover. It was interesting enough to feel the ship dynamically breaking from 220 KIAS down to zero so quickly, but downright bazaar to look to my left and see a huge portion of the aircraft silently rotating aft. Once in a hover it felt and performed like any other helicopter.
After about an hour executing a variety of maneuvers, we returned to the airport where I practiced normal, steep and run-on landings. Each was followed by either a normal, maximum performance, or running takeoff. We did a normal takeoff when we first departed, so our first landing back at GKY was also normal. We entered it from a right downwind to runway one-six, giving us a 30-degree quartering right headwind.
The secret to landing – or taking off, for that matter – in the tiltrotor is to select the nacelle angle that will deliver the velocity and vertical speed you want for the various phases of your maneuver.
For a normal landing from a 1,000-ft., I reduced and the nacelles to 75 degrees on downwind, which slowed us from 200 to about 120 KIAS. On final, I incrementally stepped the nacelle angles up and brought the power back to put me as about 50 KIAS on the lower half of my final. As I neared the point where I would have flared a normal helicopter, I tilted the rotors back to 91 degrees to really bleed off the speed. I forgot, however, to return the nacelles to 87 degree prior to reaching zero airspeed, which caused the ship to inch backwards instead of holding its place over my touchdown point.
Autorotations, however, are a little different from what one might assume. When power is lost, the pilot must rotate the nacelles back to 95 degrees, which is done by pulling the thumb switch on the power lever all the way back past the detent. As the aircraft descends, the nose will naturally hang at a 5-degree nose-down angle, giving the pilot a better chance of spotting a suitable landing zone. Altitude permitting, the pilot can maintain an airplane configuration long enough to glide to a suitable location before rolling the nacelles back to 95 degrees for autorotation.
When the flying was over, Venanzi let me ground-taxi us back to the hangar. That was accomplished by tilting the rotors forward to about 88 degrees, easing the power lever up an inch or two, and using the rudder pedals and differential braking for steering. Ninety minutes after takeoff, I stepped out of the 609 feeling like I had just sampled a portion of civil aviation’s future. Part helicopter, part airplane, the AW609 Tilt-Rotor is an unusual but fun machine to fly. And if it attains its FAA certification in 2017, as the company hopes it will, you may see a lot of them.

F-35 - Ufattelig tåpelig video

Vel, de som går på denne er temmelig teite...

Sjekk http://tinyurl.com/loe5a4u

Norwegian - Åpenbart press på myndigheter

PLANER: Bjørn Kjos vurderer å flytte langdistanseflyene fra Irland. (Foto: NTB scanpix)

Kjos vurderer å flytte langdistanseflyene fra Irland

Norwegian-sjef Bjørn Kjos er lei av å vente på klarsignal for planene om å fly under irsk flagg til USA, og truer med å flytte langdistanseflyene fra Irland til Norge.

Tekst: NTB

Tirsdag 29.04.2014, kl. 06:36

Oppdatert: Tirsdag 29.04.2014, kl. 07:25

Bjørn Kjos skriver dette i et brev til Irlands transportminister Leo Varadkar, skriver Dagens Næringsliv og VG.
Norwegians nye Boeing Dreamliner-fly har i ni måneder fløyet mellom Skandinavia, USA og Thailand. Planen er å fly under irsk flagg, men fortsatt venter selskapet på klarsignal fra det amerikanske transportdepartementet.
«Dessverre fører den uventede forsinkelsen til at vi kan bli tvunget til å flytte langdistanseflyene fra Norwegian Air International til vår norske virksomhet, der vi allerede har godkjennelse til å fly til USA. Dette har selvfølgelig aldri vært vår intensjon,» skriver Kjos i brevet. Det er Norwegian Air International som flyr med irsk driftstillatelse.
Les også: Kan bli Norwegian-streik fra fredag - disse rutene rammes

– Prøver å presse

Både europeiske og amerikanske pilotorganisasjoner og andre luftfartsrelaterte fagforeninger har protestert kraftig mot Norwegians planer om å fly til og fra USA under irsk flagg.
Lederen for Norsk Flygerforbund, Jack Netskar, mener Norwegian prøver å presse irske og amerikanske myndigheter.
– Innholdet i brevet fremstår som en ren trussel fra Norwegian. De stiller et ultimatum overfor myndighetene og krever å få viljen sin i en bestemt sak. Det er oppsiktsvekkende, sier Netskar til Dagens Næringsliv.
(Det er Petter Førde som er leder for NF, med mindre det har skjedd et skifte nylig. Jack Netskar er International Director. red. anm.)
Kommunikasjonsdirektør Anne-Sissel Skånvik i Norwegian tilbakeviser denne påstanden. Hun toner isteden ned inntrykket av at Norwegian vil forlate Irland.
– Dette handler om at planene for en utvidelse i Irland settes på hold og at vi i en periode må fly med norsk driftstillatelse hvis svaret fra USA drøyer. Planene om å fly på en irsk driftstillatelse består på lang sikt, sier hun.
Les også: Norwgian utsetter Dreamline-ordre på 20 nye fly

Flykjøp på vent

Ifølge VG gir Bjørn Kjos det amerikanske transportdepartementets tidsbruk skylden for at forhandlingene med Boeing om kjøp av 20 nye Dreamliner-fly er satt på vent «inntil vår fremtid i USA har blitt avgjort».
Godkjennelsen som Norwegian har for langdistansedrift i Norge, er midlertidig, og vil medføre mange og mye strengere begrensninger for langdistansedriften. I brevet understreker Kjos at selskapet vil «bli berøvet sitt fremtidige vekstpotensial som et selskap med EU-tilhørighet med tilgang til et betydelig større antall trafikkrettigheter enn som et ikke-EU (norsk) selskap».

mandag 28. april 2014

UAV systemoperatør som neppe kan være helt i balanse

Brandon Bryant meiner amerikanske styresmakter fører folk bak lyset. Foto: frå filmen «Drone»

– Eg har drepe 13 med droner

Brandon Bryant har drepe 13 menneske som dronepilot for det amerikanske forsvaret. No fortel han historia i dokumentarfilmen «Drone».

Tekst:

Atle Berge - Framtida.no

Mandag 28.04.2014, kl. 22:34

Skriv ut 0

Bryant var fredag i Bergen for å presentere filmen saman med regissør Tonje Hessen Schei. Frå scena på Christiekonferansen i Grieghallen, fortalde han om dei ubemanna drapsmaskinene CIA bruker i åtak på blant anna pakistanske og afganske mål, medan soldaten som styrar drona sit over tusen mil unna, i ein base i Nevada-ørkenen:

– Jobben min var å kontrollere kameraet på dronene, og skyte missilet på målet. Me fekk ikkje vite kven me skaut på, berre at det var snakk om «confirmed bad guys».

– Eg har drepe 13 menneske, konstanterte han.

Les også: Vil visa ein kjekk kvardag i Kabul

Namnlause offer

Totalt skal teamet Bryant var ein del av, ha tatt livet av 1626 menneske. Regissør Tonje Hessen Schei fortel kor vanskeleg det har vore å få informasjon om droneoffera.

– Dei blir berre kalla «supekte personar», men me veit jo at barn har blitt drepne.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) i London arbeider med å dokumentere nettopp namn og stauts på drepne i amerikanske droneåtak. Ifølge nettsidene deira har CIA sidan 2004 gjennomført 383 åtak berre i Pakistan, og tatt livet av mellom 2338-3709 menneske. Minst 416 av desse skal ha vore sivile, inkludert minst 168 barn.

Les også: Vil innføre droner i politiet

Dronene kan vera store som store fly eller små som insekt. Foto: frå filmen

Trugslar

Bryant hevda ære og ærlegheit fekk han til å hoppe av droneprogrammet og bli med i den kritiske filmen til Schei. Han kunne også fortelje at han har fått svært mange negative tilbakemeldingar på avgjerda.

– Mange amerikanarar er positive til droneåtaka fordi dei trur det vil føre til at færre soldatar kjem heim i kiste, forklarte han og fortalde at han også har fått trugslar frå det gamle teamet sitt.

– Men dei tar eg ikkje særleg seriøst. Det er berre parodisk. Ingen i det teamet ville bestått ein einaste fysisk test.

Rekruterer spelnerdar

Ei anna avsløring i Drone, er nemleg at det amerikanske forsvaret nyttar dataspel til å rekruttere dronepilotar. Avsløringa har fått mykje merksemd i amerikansk media, fordi det offisielt har vore etterretningsorganisasjonen CIA som har ansvar for alle ledd i droneprogrammet, ikkje spelnerdar tilsett i luftforsvaret:

– Vi var ikkje ærlege med folket vårt, konstaterte Bryant. – Men det mest skremmande var at leiarane var ein gjeng med idiotar.

....men kun en flyger kan også greie brasene når en er av The Right Stuff!

Pilot Copes With Failing Attitude Indicator
The pilot of a Cessna Citation 501 departed in IFR conditions on a clearance that required 6,000 feet as the first level-off point. At approximately 3,000 feet the yaw damper and autopilot in heading mode were both engaged. Air traffic controllers issued a climb to FL230 and a turn on course when the pilot sensed a problem: speed rapidly increasing and the heading indicator spinning too fast for a standard-rate turn. The Citation’s vertical-speed indicator and airspeed indicator showed a rapid descent with increasing airspeed, but the attitude indicator did not tell the same story. The pilot disconnected the autopilot and confirmed that the attitude indicator had failed. The only instrument the pilot felt sure of was the turn indicator, which he used to stabilize the aircraft and pull out of a steep dive. Climbing once again, the pilot managed to break out on top of the clouds and regain full control of the aircraft. The Citation then proceeded to a VFR airport recommended by controllers without injury to anyone on board.

Ryanair får så hatten passer

Court: Ryanair Safety Issues on TV Report Were Proven
An Amsterdam court on April 17 found that contrary to what was claimed in a lawsuit filed by Ryanair, Dutch TV station KRO did provide sufficient evidence in a 2013 documentary to support its claims that the operator applied undue pressure on its flight crew. The show “Mayday, Mayday” investigated three different emergency landings by the Irish airline in Valencia, Spain, that involved concerns about low fuel reserves. The TV program featured Ryanair pilots expressing concerns about a culture of fear in the company that would penalize them or pressure them to fly even when they were sick or fatigued. The pilots said that the company exerted pressure on them to minimize the amount of fuel they carried on board to control costs. The pilots said they believed that policy jeopardized safety. Ryanair denied the allegations, requested that the TV station rectify statements made in the show and finally initiated legal action, accusing KRO of unlawful and negligent conduct. The court held that KRO provided sufficient evidence to support its claims about Ryanair’s company culture, as well as its fuel policy. The documentary won an award last year for investigative journalism.

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onsdag 30. april 2014

Malaysian - Redningsbesetningene og deres utstyr er fotografert