General Aviation/Helicopter News

The first Eurocopter EC175 that flew for the first time has been now fully painted. Last time I posted a photo here the unit was in primer paint. comparative photos below...

US lessor Air Lease Corp (ALC) has tripled its orderbook for the Boeing 777-300ER type. They are signing a contract for 10 new Triple-3ER valued at $3.2 billion.

The Solar Impulse has arrived in the United States and is expected to fly across the entire U.S. It is a very long-winged solar-powered aircraft that can fly day or night. It's wingspan is around 205-feet and the top of the span is covered in some 12,000 solar cells.

www.solarimpulse.com

First picture of the S-92 in Coast Guard colours to be operated by Bristow Helicopters for the UK's Gap Search and Rescue requirement have arrived in Scotland.

Milestone Aviation signs deal for 30 helicopters for Sikorsky. The order includes 23 of the flagship S-92 (same model pictured in the post above) and 7 of the more popular S-76 models that you may find doing corporate or business work on yachts or otherwise. Milestone Aviation is a lessor company and has leased 79+ helicopters to companies all over. Deliveries for the new order will start this year and run through to 2017.

Looks like the FAA may soon certify an automatic landing system for the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter for operation on Oil rigs in bad weather. This surely would make operation alot safer by reducing the pilot work load by a claimed 60-percent. According to senior programme manager for the S-92, Spencer Elani, eEssentially, a pilot would input the coordinates for the oil rig, and the aircraft would fly itself along waypoints to within a short distance of the landing platform.

Virgin freezes pay as it tries to stay aloft...

UK-based airline Virgin Atlantic has frozen pay for the financial year, (starting March 1st). The carrier reportedly attracted losses to the tune of 119-million U.S or (£80.2 million) for the last financial year. So the new chief executive Craig Kreeger is trying to get the airline back on track by in-part freezing pay. In the mid-term they are looking to get rid of their quad-engine aircraft, the 747-400 and the A340-600 in favour of more fuel-efficient new twin-engine aircraft.

AgustaWestland is expected to deliver the first of a batch of 11 search and rescue-configured (SAR) AW189s in the first half of 2014. They will be going to Bristow Helicopters for operations. The deal costs some 355 million USD.

Sikorsky has an apparent deal to sell two S-76D helicopters to Indonesian charter firm Travira Air. The two new birds are expected to be delivered to them in 2015. These are the first S-76Ds to be sold in Southeast Asia.

Airbus peeps into the lead in the commercial aviation industry. Peeping into the lead against its nearest competitor, Boeing. Boeing has been in the lead but the world-wide grounding of its Boeing 787-8 aircraft and lapsed orders as a result, Airbus has gone ahead. Indonesia's Lion Air record mega Airbus order has alot to do with Airbus forging ahead. It was just late last year that Boeing consolidated their leading position with soaring Dreamliner (787) and Next Generation MAX 737 orders.

FAA delays the closure of 149 control towers

Yep, to me it is madness but I guess cuts in budgets would do that kind of thing.

You can possibly expect that as climate change becomes more pronounced and impacts more on the world that commercial air travel will become a much bumpier process, at least this is according to researchers. Stronger winds are expected to increase in-flight turbulence. Environmental scientists at the UK's Reading and East Anglia universities think this is what is going to happen.

Those involved forecast that, by 2050, turbulence will have become a common passenger experience. To mitigate this some airlines may opt to reroute their aircraft to avoid bumpy air pockets. However, that would more likely burn more fuel in the process. Of course you know more fuel burn will be passed on to the passengers in the form of higher plane ticket prices. Thus a direct link between climate change and increased air fares, the researchers conclude.

Belgium will introduce four NH90s as replacements for its maritime Sea Kings. The rotor-bird below made a 45 minute flight debut from Eurocopter's Donauwörth production site in Germany on 5 April

American Airlines is expected to half its Airbus order for 130 Airbus A320 type aircraft between the A319 and A321 models. The carrier will have 65 A319s with CFM International CFM56-5B engines and 65 A321s with IAE V2500-A5 engines, says Jon Beatty, president and chief executive of IAE -International Aero Engines)

Boeing takes the latest RAF (Royal Air Force) Chinook helicopter for a spin for the first time, below is a photo of the new warbird. Of course it is destined for the RAF.

France's DGA has recieved it's first Eurocopter Tiger military helicopter...see photo for more...

Looks like Qatar Airways will get their first A380 in early 2014. Painting of the vertical tail section for the Doha-based airline's first superjumbo has been completed. Assembly of the aircraft is expected to begin this month. When it is handed over next year, Qatar will become the eleventh A380 operator in the world.

BA will be reducing its Boeing 747-400 fleet over the next few years. The fleet currently stands at 52 of the type and they are just about ready to retire 15 of the older aircraft type. The tentative acqusation of Airbus A350-1000s as announced by IAG (International Airlines Group) for BA, A380s and their 787 orders pretty much is sealing the fate of the BA 747. by 2015, the BA 747 fleet is expected to be reduced to 43 and of course further reduced as A350-1000 and 787-orders are delivered over the coming years.