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General Aviation/Helicopter News

Discussion in 'Commercial & General Aviation' started by Jet News, Dec 30, 2012.

  1. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    The Brazilian Air Force will declare no-fly zones over stadiums to prevent terrorist attacks during this year's World Cup tournament, but there's a catch: it can't shoot down intruders, for now. By law, Brazil's military can only shoot at unresponsive civilian planes on drug trafficking routes near its borders, but not over densely populated urban areas where games will be played in 12 cities.

    The Air Force is asking the Brazilian government to change the shoot-down law to allow effective defence of the air space during the 64 games of the June 12-July 13 global football tournament, said Air Force Brigadier Antonio Carlos Egito at a news conference on Friday. In the meantime, the anti-aircraft guns to be deployed near the stadiums cannot be fired at a plane flying into a no-fly zone, said Egito, the military chief of air traffic over Brazil.

    The Air Force and civilian aviation regulator ANAC announced that for security reasons commercial flights will not be allowed to land at eight airports that are within the 7.2 km (4 nautical mile) no-fly radius around the stadiums. The suspension will begin one hour before games kick off and last for 4 to 5 hours, though take-offs will not be restricted. They do not affect the country's main international airports. The suspensions will mostly disrupt flights at Rio de Janeiro's domestic airport Santos Dumont and complicate the logistics of Brazilian carriers that have already sold 3,000 seats on flights that will have to be cancelled.

    PLENTY OF SEATS

    The good news for football fans trying to follow their teams from one game to the next is that only 10 percent of seats have been sold on Brazilian domestic flights during the World Cup, ANAC president Marcelo Guaranys said. Skyrocketing prices for flights during that period came down 25 percent in January from November levels, he said. Officials said that was because seats booked in blocks have been freed up by travel agencies seeing less demand than expected.
    More than 600,000 foreign fans are expected to land in Brazil for the World Cup, joining an estimated 3 million Brazilians who will travel to games in other cities.

    ANAC reported last week that renovation work is behind schedule at three major airports, Guarulhos in Sao Paulo, Viracopos in Campinas, which is 88 km (55 miles) from Sao Paulo, and the airport of the capital, Brasilia. To help reduce the crush at airport terminals and aprons, the Air Force is lending its military bases for the arrival of VIP delegations and the 32 national football teams.

    As an example of the heavy traffic to come, officials said Portugal's team will fly into Campinas, followed by a press plane with 200 journalists and four executive jets carrying their star player Cristiano Ronaldo and his family. Civil Aviation Minister Wellington Moreira Franco told Reuters news agency that Italy has been allowed to fly in and out of the Santa Cruz Air Force base near Rio to avoid travelling to the city's crowded airports. Mexico, Bosnia and Costa Rica have also been authorised to use a military base near their training site in Santos.

    (Reuters)
  2. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    One World Alliance turns 15 years this year...
  3. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    With the MH370 flight confirmed to be gone and those aboard perished it is not simply lives lost. Flight 370 passengers, loved ones span generations. In some cases, entire families were lost.
  4. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    O-Bay Aircraft, a privately owned Chinese firm based in Henan province, has signed a USD$3.5 billion deal with Russia's Sukhoi Civil Aircraft to buy 100 SSJ-100 regional jets, a Chinese executive said on Tuesday. O-Bay Aircraft also plans to manufacture SSJ-100 jets in partnership with Sukhoi and two Chinese companies in Zhengzhou city, Henan province, said the executive, who declined to be named. "We are still in detailed discussions with Sukhoi for the China assembly plant which would be up and running by 2018. Part of the 100 jets would be manufactured in the China plant," the executive told Reuters news agency, without disclosing financial details of the plant. O-Bay Aircraft, the executive said, has conducted a detailed study about the growth potential of the Chinese market. It will set up an airline company flying the SSJ-100 jets and sell the jets to other Chinese carriers in the future.

    However, global regional jet makers, such as Bombardier and Embraer have made little headway in China so far because Chinese airlines, including regional carriers, prefer commercial jets made by Airbus and Boeing. Safety of home-made planes are also called into question after Chinese aviation authority grounded some of China's MA-60 regional planes last month after two consecutive instances of landing gear failure. State-backed Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China is also making a regional jet, the ARJ21, as well as a larger jet, the C919.

    (Reuters)
  5. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Aircraft lessor Avolon is preparing for an initial public offering this year, two people familiar with the matter said, in a bet that yield-hungry investors eyeing growing demand for air travel would sustain a recent boom in aircraft finance. Avolon, which is backed by private equity firms Cinven, CVC Capital Partners and Oak Hill Capital Partners, as well as the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, has been interviewing investment banks in the last few weeks to hire underwriters for an IPO, the sources said.

    CVC and Cinven declined to comment. Representatives of Avolon and its other investors did not respond to requests for comment. The sources asked not to be identified because the matter is not public. Avolon's listing plans come as aviation draws interest from longer-term investors such as insurers and pension funds, who hope to boost weak returns dictated by low interest rates. Avolon, which is based in Dublin, has raised USD$7.2 billion in capital since its launch in May 2010. It provides aircraft leasing and lease management services to airlines and aircraft investors. It has a fleet of more than 190 aircraft serving 46 customers in 27 countries.

    Its customers include American Airlines, Air France-KLM and Ryanair.

    Avolon's focus is on young, fuel-efficient single-aisle aircraft made by Boeing and Airbus. In 2013, it delivered a total of 34 aircraft to its customers valued at more than USD$2 billion. Avalon's shareholders have made equity commitments to the company of USD$1.4 billion since its launch. It has also raised USD$5.8 billion in debt from commercial and specialist aviation banks.

    (Reuters)
  6. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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  7. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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  8. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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  9. Jet News

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    The US FAA has upgraded the civil aviation status of the Philippines to let its airlines operate new direct flights to the United States while the European Union lifted a ban on Cebu Pacific Air.
  10. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Wi-Fi in the sky is taking off, promising much better connections for passengers and a bonanza for the companies that sell the systems. With satellite-based Wi-Fi, Internet speeds on airliners are getting faster, with airlines finding that passengers expect connections in the air to rival those on the ground - and at a lower cost. But the evolution of rival systems and standards, such as Ku band and Ka band, pose a big question for airlines: which one to choose?

    Equipping fleets can cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and airlines don't want to see their investment become outdated quickly due to newer technology. That's made some cautious about signing up. "We don't want to end up with a Betamax," said Peter Ingram, chief financial officer of Hawaiian Airlines, referring to the Sony video format that eventually lost out to the VHS standard, leaving many consumers with obsolete systems.

    Hawaiian is still considering which system to use.

    The drive for in-flight connectivity also has intensified after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370. Search teams are scouring parts of the Indian Ocean for the missing aircraft, and it might have been better tracked if a satellite system capable of streaming cockpit data had been installed.
  11. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Four Seasons have a Boeing 757 in their possession now.
  12. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Underwater drone searching for MH370 has scanned 95% of search area with no sign of jet.
  13. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Rolls-Royce has won a USD$400 million contract with Azul Brazilian Airlines to service Rolls-Royce engines, which it said will be used to power the Brazilian company's aircraft. Rolls, the world's second-largest maker of aircraft engines behind General Electric, said on Wednesday Azul's six Airbus A330-200 and five A350-900 XWB aircraft would be powered by its Trent 700 and Trent XWB engines respectively. Rolls said new customer Azul's USD$400 million TotalCare order would increase its order book by USD$100 million.

    (Reuters)
  14. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    The AW609 TiltRotor program is making steady progress, as the Anglo-Italian OEM states that autorotation trials for the craft have been completed. The AW609 test vehicle flew ten flight hours between the end of March and early April, during which it performed more than 70 power-off conversions from airplane mode to helicopter mode while flying from the company’s Arlington, TX facility.
  15. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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  16. Jet News

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  17. Jet News

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    The US FAA has approved extended operations for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a move that will allow a wider range of routes at a time of renewed scrutiny. The ETOPS approval will allow airlines to fly routes that are up to 330 minutes flying time from a landing field, versus the 180 minute limit in place since the 787 was launched in 2011. "Granting of the expanded operational permission will allow airlines to introduce additional routes after they meet the proof of capabilities requirements and receive approval from their own regulatory agencies," Boeing said. The FAA approval formally applies only to US carriers, and within that group only United Airlines now operates the 787, but regulators in other countries typically follow the FAA's lead. Airlines apply their own rules for extended operations and could take time to actually begin flying those routes.

    "Airline approval is a completely different process and it can vary airline by airline," said a Boeing spokeswoman. Last week, the US National Transportation Safety Board urged further testing for the 787 to ensure that large lithium-ion batteries the plane uses are safe from overheating and fire. The NTSB recommendations came even before it had finished investigating what caused a battery to burn on a Japan Airlines 787 in January 2013. Another battery overheated on an All Nippon Airways plane later the same month, prompting regulators to ground the global fleet until April that year. Boeing redesigned the battery and charger and designed a steel box to contain fires and vent hot gasses outside the plane.

    The NTSB said tests originally devised to ensure the batteries were safe were insufficient, since they did not produce the conditions that occurred in the actual battery incidents. The board also said outside experts should be consulting in designing tests. The NTSB recommendations "are logical because we don't know yet what were the root cause or causes," said Hans Weber, a former FAA adviser and president of TECOP, an aerospace consulting firm in California.

    The FAA approval nevertheless moves airlines an important step closer to tapping the full potential of the 787. But the approval appeared to come sooner than expected and its timing was seen by some as a sign of continuing tension between the two agencies, one charged with investigating accidents and the other with ensuring safety. "It certainly does seem like there's some conflict between the NTSB and the FAA," said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst at the Teal Group.

    (Reuters)
  18. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    A Look at a rendering of an A320 NEO in Norwegian livery

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  19. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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  20. Jet News

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    The fourth of six US test sites chosen to perform research on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or drones, has started operations in Texas to study weather patterns, among other things, the US FAA said on Friday. The main focus of the Texas site will be on safety of operations and data gathering in authorised airspace and airworthiness standards, using an AAAI RS-16 drone weighing about 39 kg (85 pounds).

    Specific projects under the wing of a team at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi include the preservation and restoration of the ocean and ocean wetlands along the Padre Island National Seashore; and research in advance of approaching tropical storms.

    (Reuters)