If you’ve ever peeked into the cockpit while boarding a commercial flight, you might not have realized that the pilots are in the midst of one of their highest times of workload. Many tasks must be accomplished prior to pushing back from the gate, and it takes a great deal of coordination between the pilots, flight attendants, airline operations, and ATC to prepare for flight. In this article, I’ll walk through a typical sequence of events that leads up to your departure. While you’re sitting at… (flightaware.com) More...
This must be something new because the planes never moved across the screen before. No I haven't been hitting the sauce, yet! lol But I sat down to check activity at KMSP and I'm watching the plane icons moving in almost real time. Did I miss an story about Flightaware updating its software? either way I think it's really cool. Nice job Flightaware! :) (flightaware.com) More...
The F-16 that suddenly appears off our left wing is obvious. It wags its wings as it goes by, and its engine, in afterburner, shakes the sky like an aerial earthquake. An identical airplane that trails a few miles behind and slightly above us, however, isn’t visible to us at all. It’s there to intervene if we take some sort of hostile or evasive action. (www.aopa.org) More...
F-16, call sign Stroke 3, dodging 6 SAM launches during Desert Storm. This is some INTENSE footage. Skip to the 3 minute marker for the action. But I would highly recommend watching the entire thing because the launches surprise me just as much as the pilots. (www.liveleak.com) More...
So-called cutover, scheduled for March, carries risks of disruptions for customers, but airline has taken extensive measures to ensure it will go smoothly (www.chicagotribune.com) More...
After passing 23 temporary extensions, the Senate voted 75 to 20 Monday to approve a long-term funding bill for the FAA and sent it to the president for his expected signature. The measure provides about $16 billion a year for FAA operations, airport construction and modernization. (www.cnn.com) More...
MegaDo, an event sponsored by American Airlines and its Oneworld alliance partners to give the hardiest of fliers insight on everything from why flights are canceled to a ride down a plane's emergency exit chute. (travel.usatoday.com) More...
Hired two years ago as a copilot for SkyKing, a small operation with 10 jets, Crowley made his first flight as captain on Jan. 28 from West Palm Beach to Worcester, Mass. His parents rode along. (www.sun-sentinel.com) More...
Now that it is in bankruptcy court, American Airlines' flight plan is unclear. But the airline industry's final destination is pretty much mapped out. Airlines are in the latter stages of a wave of consolidation that, if you are going to put a date on it, began when American's parent AMR Corp. bought TWA out of bankruptcy in 2001. Capacity and costs have been shed, and the number of carriers has dwindled. In the final stage, there will be only a handful of major carriers that control networks… (online.wsj.com) More...
Since 2008, the German Air Traffic Control Authority (DFS) has been working closely with airberlin on the development of the new system. In November 2009, airberlin was the first airline worldwide to receive approval for its Boeing 737 Next Generation fleet to use the GBAS on landings up to a visual range of only 550 metres. (www.aviatime.com) More...
Sen. Charles Schumer Sunday said he will introduce legislation this week that will require the Transportation Security Administration to put passenger advocates in every major airport after three elderly women, including one from Long Beach, were strip-searched by screeners. "Passengers who feel their rights are about to be violated have nowhere to turn," said Schumer, who will introduce the Restoring Integrity and Good Heartedness in Traveler Screening Act this week. "The RIGHTS… (www.newsday.com) More...
These guys listen to an alarm telling them to put their landing gear down and can't seem to remember to do it. They ruin their propeller, the bottom of their plane, and the chance anyone will ever fly with them. (www.youtube.com) More...
Aviation Foundation Of America Applauds New Amendment That Protects The Design Data Of More Than 1,000 Different Aircraft Types. (www.aero-news.net) More...
U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten has ordered Delta Air Lines to pay plaintiffs’ legal fees in an evidence gathering proceedings after it was discovered Delta Air Lines withheld 60,000 documents in a lawsuit (Delta/AirTran Baggage Fee Antitrust Litigation, 1:09-md-02089, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia) which alleges Delta Air (avstop.com) More...
Airline pilots and privacy rights activists are fretting over a provision of the FAA funding bill passed by Congress that would open up the U.S. skies to drones for law enforcement and other domestic use. The Senate late Monday passed a bill authorizing $63.4 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration over four years. The House passed the bill last week, and it now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature. (usnews.msnbc.msn.com) More...
PEOPLExpress will be the name of a Virginia-based start-up carrier that hopes to begin flying passengers as early as this summer. If successful, that would resurrect the brand of one of the first U.S. low-cost carriers to emerge following deregulation. The original PEOPLExpress flew from 1981 through 1987, when it was acquired by Continental Airlines. (travel.usatoday.com) More...
A noted aviation expert engineer with 50 years experience said that the wing crack issues that have garnered so much attention with Airbus’ A380 are fairly normal and that they will be resolved. (airnation.net) More...
IATA DG and CEO Tony Tyler criticized European governments and the European Commission (EC) for instituting aviation policies focused on "restricting and taxing" rather than boosting the competitiveness of the continent's airlines. Europe's carriers are forecast to post an aggregate $600 million net loss this year. (atwonline.com) More...
AS a longtime veteran of the coach cabin and all the horrors therein — the battles for overhead space, the wheelie-bag traffic jams, the knee-numbing legroom — one can only imagine my thrill when I boarded a recent American Airlines flight from San Jose, Calif., to Dallas. There I was, after all, in the first row. My seat was wide, the armrest was enormous, and the guys behind me were talking, businessman-style, about real estate and golf, bankruptcies and bogies. This was the high life, I… (travel.nytimes.com) More...
Chicago-based Boeing Co. said on Tuesday it signed its largest ever commercial airplane order with Indonesia's Lion Air in a deal worth $22.4 billion. Boeing said Lion Air, Indonesia's largest carrier by passenger volume, has ordered 230 airplanes, including 201 737 MAXs and 29 next-generation 737-900 ERs. Lion Air will also acquire purchase rights for an additional 150 airplanes, Boeing said. The announcement was made in a statement at the Singapore airshow. In November, Lion Air announced the… (www.chicagotribune.com) More...
There are few more knowledgeable people on the planet, as far as R9 is concerned, than Trip Taylor and for the better part of a few hours, we had the chance to sit back and enjoy his synoptic descriptions of just a few of the many intriguing features built into one of the most usable glass panel cockpits we've yet flow... now made even more so with the advent of the DFC100 digital autopilot. (www.aero-news.net) More...
Boeing's 787 Dreamliner is set to take center stage at this weeks upcoming Singapore Airshow which opens Tuesday. ANA has already flown one it its two Dreamliners to Singapore.... (www.thefloridanewsjournal.com) More...
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – There is now an investigation underway after sources indicate a security breakdown led to an ordinary driver making his way onto a main taxiway, which is right near a runway. It’s supposed to be a secure perimeter around Philadelphia International Airport. (philadelphia.cbslocal.com) More...
(Reuters) - Air France said on Wednesday it expected to cancel up to 40 percent of its long-haul flights and up to 30 percent of shorter flights as a pilot strike ran into its third day. Air France has had to notify thousands of passengers of axed flights this week via email or text message. (www.reuters.com) More...
Boeing expects the inspection and repair of 787s affected by composite delamination due to improper longeron shimming to slow near-term deliveries, but is unlikely to change its full year delivery forecast. "We don't think it will impact deliveries for the year, it will slow things down initially though," said Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Jim Albaugh at a dual 747-8F and 777F delivery to Korean Air Cargo in Everett, Washington 6 February. (www.flightglobal.com) More...
A Dallas woman says TSA agents repeatedly asked her to step back into a body scanning machine at DFW International Airport. “I feel like I was totally exposed,” said Ellen Terrell, who is a wife and mother. “They wanted a nice good look.” When Ellen Terrell and her husband, Charlie, flew out of DFW Airport several months ago, Terrell says she was surprised by a question a female TSA agent asked her. “She says to me, ‘Do you play tennis?’ And I said, ‘Why?’ She said, ‘You just have such a cute… (dfw.cbslocal.com) More...
Once largely reserved for military use in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, drones will soon be widely available for sale in the U.S.—leaving the federal government to figure out how to deal with the prospect of a multitude of radio-controlled aircraft whizzing through cities, hovering over backyards, and possibly crashing into airplanes and buildings. Some drones are maneuvered with a simple hand-held remote. The most sophisticated models, now used by the military for high-altitude surveillance… (www.businessweek.com) More...
Boeing will match or exceed the range of the Airbus A320neo with its 737 Max family, as the company seeks to firm the configuration of its re-engined narrowbody. The airframer expects the CFM International Leap-1B-powered 737 Max to be "as good or better on range" than the A320neo family, said Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president of marketing, Randy Tinseth. (www.flightglobal.com) More...
Boeing expects to begin major assembly work on the first 787-9 and complete most of the detailed design of the aircraft in the fourth quarter as it moves to achieve first flight in mid-2013. (www.aviationweek.com) More...
Capt. Sean Cassidy, Air Line Pilots Association’s (ALPA) First Vice President, emphasized “the vital importance of the Global Positioning System (GPS) as a key component of [the U.S.] transportation infrastructure” during a House Aviation Subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. GPS is the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) that (avstop.com) More...
Atlanta welcomes the first Southwest flights. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA8501 http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA8502 http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SWA8503 (flightaware.com) More...
AirAsia X pilots flew so low into Gold Coast airport on two occasions that the safety margin from ground and other aircraft could no longer be assured, air investigators have found. (www.theage.com.au) More...
A QANTAS jet carrying 435 passengers has veered off course along a runway at London's Heathrow airport during two aborted take-off attempts because of a steering fault. (www.theaustralian.com.au) More...
According to the Broward County Sheriff's Department, a man stole a Rolex watch valued at $6,500 from another passenger at the security checkpoint of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida. The event was captured on TSA video surveillance.... (www.thefloridanewsjournal.com) More...
