Afghanske analfabeter skal jobbe med fly

Report: Afghans Not Ready for $800M in Aircraft

Illiteracy, inability to maintain equipment among gov't watchdog's concerns

SIGAR recommends the Pentagon suspend its agreement to issue these aircraft to the Afghan military. 

The Afghans will not be able to fly - and perhaps more importantly maintain - their new fleet of Russian helicopters and Swiss planes after the U.S. drawdown next year, according to a new report from a Pentagon watchdog.

The Department of Defense plans to spend almost $554 million on 30 Russian-made Mi-17 helicopters and $218 million for 18 PC-12 planes for the Afghan Special Mission Wing, according to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. Defense contractors currently perform half of the maintenance and repair on these aircraft, and 70 percent of the key maintenance and logistics management.

The Pentagon does not yet have a plan for transferring this capability to the Afghan government, the report states.

"The Afghans lack the capacity - in both personnel numbers and expertise - to operate and maintain the existing and planned SMW fleets," according to the report.

SIGAR recommends the Pentagon suspend its agreement to issue these aircraft to the Afghan military until it can agree on a plan with Kabul.

Qatar på offensiven - mer enn før

 

Qatar Airways Extends Global Reach with 787s, 777-300ERs

AIN AIR TRANSPORT PERSPECTIVE » JULY 1, 2013

by  NEELAM MATHEWS

A Qatar Airways Boeing 787 taxies toward its position on the static display line at Le Bourget. (Photo: David McIntosh)

July 1, 2013, 10:30 AM

Energized by the explosive growth in the Middle East air transport market, Qatar Airways has turned its attention to Scandinavia as it extends Boeing 787 services to Stockholm on August 1, to be followed a month later to both Copenhagen and Oslo.

At the recently concluded Paris Air Show, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker placed a firm order for a pair of Boeing 777-300ERs along with options on another seven in a deal potentially valued at $2.8 billion at list prices. “When we say options, we always make them firm orders,” he said. “Options [simply] give us the flexibility of moving up delivery dates.” He expects delivery of the first two early next year.

“The -300ER is a fantastic [aircraft],” said Al Baker, adding that the additions will allow new long-haul routes to the U.S. Abu Dhabi-based rival Etihad Airways has already replaced its Airbus A340-500s with 777-300ERs to New York, resulting in a capacity increase of 36.6 percent.

Starting June 15, Qatar Airways increased frequency ahead of the peak summer travel season on its Chicago-Doha route to daily flights on a 777-300ER configured with as many as 293 economy seats and up to 42 in business class. Qatar’s top destinations from O’Hare include Hyderabad and Chennai, India; Kathmandu in Nepal; Cape Town, South Africa; and Dubai in theUnited Arab Emirates, all via Abu Dhabi.

At the Paris show, Qatar Airways displayed its sixth and newest of sixty 787s on which it holds firm orders or options. Al Baker told AIN that he will likely convert some of the order slots to positions on 787-900s. “We have a large number of purchase rights,” he said. “We are talking to Boeing on availability of slots.”

Al Baker said the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration acted unfairly in grounding the airplanes after two occurrences of overheated lithium-ion batteries. “A new aircraft program always has teething problems,” he said. “The problem didn’t reappear… [It was] promptly resolved by Boeing.”

Qatar Airways holds 4.4 percent of the Indian market with bilateral traffic rights of 24,000 seats per week; it awaits word on a request to increase that number to 72,000. “India is a large market and a country on the road to being a superpower,” said Al Baker. However, he told AIN he wants no part of a private carrier in India.

Finally, Al Baker confirmed Qatar will join the OneWorld alliance in October, following completion of IT integration.

Pygmeer ligger godt an som cabin crew......

GoAir Flight Attendants: Airline To Employ Only Lightweight Female Flight Attendants (India)

 

Indian airline GoAir is--apparently--doing everything in its power to lighten its aircraft and improve fuel efficiency.

Like (who else?) Ryanair before it, the airline has decided to only hire lightweight female flight attendants in the future, since males are--in general--heavier. Taking a page right out of Ryanair's playbook, the airline will also reduce the size of the in-flight magazine and the amount of water in their fleet's water tanks.

The airline currently employs about 130 male flight attendants, who will not be dismissed. Yet over the next seven years, GoAir plans to induct about 80 aircraft, and the expected 2,000 future cabin recruits will be female only.

But will it actually work? An unnamed former executive with an Indian legacy carrier told the First Post, "There are umpteen number of things an airline can do to reduce weight. For example, it can reduce the weight of food and water that is carried on board, use lighter cutlery, uplift only as much fuel as is necessary depending on flight duration etc. GoAir uses Airbus 320 fleet which means it would have, on an average, four crew members per domestic flight. If even one of them is male, does it make such a huge difference to aircraft weight?"

The physicial characteristics of flight staff has been a concern of airlines in many past instances, too. In August 2010, Turkish Airlines gave 28 flight attendants six months to lose weight or they'd be sacked. In March 2011, Thai Airways provided employees with required BMI and waist line measurements and told them they has six months to lose the weight. And finally, in March of this year, Nok Air released qualifications for its ideal cabin attendant on its Facebook page. She "must have a weight in proportion with their height" and "must not wear dental braces," for example.

Job well done av Hudson River flygeren

NTSB, FAA Investigating Hudson River Helicopter Crash

 
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - An investigation is under way to determine what caused a sightseeing charter helicopter carrying a family of four to plunge into the Hudson River after losing power on Sunday.

Deputy Fire Chief Thomas McKavanaugh said the helicopter had taken off from the Wall Street Heliport and lost power after 12 minutes in the air.

A mayday message was broadcast over air traffic control radio:

"Mayday! Mayday! New York 5 is going down. Boat basin. Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! New York 5 is going down."

Pilot Michael Campbell deployed the craft's pontoons, which it kept it upright and afloat, and landed the helicopter safely in the water.

The passengers were two adults and two children from Sweden, authorities said.

Jetskiers and boaters quickly rescued Campbell and four passengers. No one was injured, but the tourists were taken to the hospital for observation, authorities said.

"The pilot did a terrific job considering he'd lost his engine power," McKavanaugh said.

"This is a pilot that knew exactly what he was doing at the time he was doing it," said NYC Office of Emergency Management Deputy Commissioner Frank McCarton.

But Campbell said he was "just doing my job."

"That's all you can do at the end of the day," he said.

Helikopteruhellene fortsetter i USA

Helicopter crashes in river; Pilots escape without injury

 

 

Missoula County Sheriff's Deputy Robert Kennedy carries rescue rope bags from the scene of a helicopter crash in the Clark Fork River on Friday afternoon northwest of Missoula. Neither of the two pilots were injured.

A firefighting helicopter practicing bucket drops in the Clark Fork River crashed into the water Friday afternoon, requiring one pilot to swim to shore while emergency crews assisted the second to safety.

The Missoula Rural Fire District responded to reports of the downed helicopter shortly after 1 p.m. Witnesses living at the Wagon Wheel Trailer Court - off Big Flat Road northwest of Missoula - saw the aircraft go down behind a bank of cottonwood trees and enter the river.

"There was one pilot still inside the helicopter when we arrived," said Missoula County Sheriff's Deputy Robert Kennedy. "The other pilot was on the shore across the river."

Kennedy said both occupants were safe and suffered no injuries in the crash. Officials said it was unknown what caused the helicopter to go down, although Kennedy said the pilot reported mechanical troubles.

The helicopter, identified as Bell model 206L-3, is apparently owned by a company in Lewiston, Idaho. The pilot was working to earn his annual U.S. Forest Service recertification to conduct bucket work on wildfires.

"The pilot said he was doing a recertification with the Forest Service to keep up his license," Kennedy said. "That's what they were doing today."

Varmen holder seg i SW USA

Heatwave grounds US flights

Several flights have been cancelled due to the record-breaking heatwave affecting parts of the US.

Eighteen US Airways flights scheduled to take off from Phoenix were cancelled on Saturday as temperatures reached 48.3 C (119 F). Planes are certified to take off for temperatures up to 47.8C (118), Todd Lechmacher, a US Airways spokesman said.

Temperatures reached 53.3C (128 F) in Death Valley, California on Sunday and Saturday, while Las Vegas hit a record high of 118F on Saturday, breaking the city's previous high of 47.2C (117 F), according the US National Weather Service.

Brønnøysundulykken

Ny faktainformasjon i forbindelse med luftfartsulykken ved Torghatten den 6. mai 1988 01.07.2013

Statens havarikommisjon for transport (SHT) har blitt gjort oppmerksom på informasjon som ikke synes å ha vært kjent da denne tragiske ulykken fant sted i 1988.

Basert på denne nye informasjonen, vil SHT undersøke om det kan dokumenteres hvorvidt stråling fra mobiltelefon kan ha påvirket den aktuelle flygingen. Undersøkelsen av de nye opplysningene vil bli dokumentert og offentliggjort.