AvNews: 21/10/17

One: You may have noticed we're now posting these posts every Saturday. That's all...

Updates

MH370 search resumes.

3 years ago, Malaysia Airlines flight 370 was a scheduled flight between Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to Beijing in China. The aircraft was a 777-200ER (9M-MRO). The last voice transmission took place on March 7th at 1719Z over the South China Sea. It was only less than an hour after takeoff had the aircraft disappeared off the radars of ATC. However, military radars were still tracking the flight before the aircraft was out of range over the Andaman Sea. The search for this aircraft is the largest and most expensive air crash search worldwide. The main search area was the South Indian Ocean, however, only debris have been found and the blackboxes not recovered. The search was called off at the beginning of this year on January 17, but has now resumed. It'll be resumed by private investigators.

Photo Credits to Faris Manap, taken earlier on the day it went missing

Air Berlin's final long haul flight: Style or Safety?

Air Berlin's final long haul flight from Miami to Dusseldorf took place on October 15th and through to the 16th. However, the take off was quite the pizzazz, but was it risking people's lives? The pilot performed a low pass over the runway then proceeded to bank left sharply over the terminal. At first, passengers marveled at the stunt, but earlier this week an investigation had been launched to if it was a risk rather than a show. The pilot in command had been suspended. An Air Berlin spokesman said, "In aviation, safety always comes first. We are taking the incident very seriously." The pilot of the flight has said, "We wanted to make a mark, a dignified and emotional goodbye." The pilot has even been criticizes by other airline pilots. One said that a go-around should be performed only for operational or safety reasons. "Electing to do one if it is known not to be required adds an unnecessary risk." especially considering how close the aircraft was to the terminal.

As well, one of their aircraft, an A320, has been grounded in Keflavik airport as the airline had not paid its airport charges, Air Berlin has stated that the charge is "unlawful" and "unacceptable." These charges were from before Air Berlin had filed for insolvency.

“We have told Keflavik airport repeatedly that any outstanding demands of payment relating to the time before Aug. 15 must be registered on the insolvency table due to insolvency law,” Air Berlin said. "We have called on Keflavik airport to cease its unlawful actions immediately."

Monarch: Final return flights.

On October 15th the last flights part of the two week return programme from the sudden fall of Monarch had brought back all passengers that had planned to return to the UK. Over the two week programme, set by the CAA, 554 flights were flown to bring back 104,696 passengers to the UK. A lot of cooperation and commitment had to be placed to bring all of the passengers back.

Major News

Malaysia A380 loses nose gear wheel on approach.

Malaysia Airlines flight 3 from London Heathrow to Kuala Lumpur was on approach into Kuala Lumpur, however when it landed, the left wheel of the nose gear was gone. When it dropped we don't know yet, but all we know now is that it landed with the wheel already missing as the other wheel was twisted, presumably due to it scraping along the runway. The A380 (9M-MNB) landed at 0600 MYT (2200Z).

David Dao Incident: Security officers fired.

The security officers in Chicago who had dragged David Dao, a United passenger on his way Louisville, had been fired. Five day suspensions have also been given to two other officers. The first officer violated the Aviation Department's policy of escalating a situation that was non-threatening into a physical violent one. The second officer made misleading statements in reports of the event. The last officer had not given any information on the incident that was needed to investigate the issue. United had also mentioned that they would not allow security officers to remove passengers in overbooking situations. They also said that they would no longer bump passengers off who have already boarded, and crew who need to get to another city will be squeezed into a last minute flight with available seating.

Lufthansa may take a large part of Alitalia too!

The German carrier may be taking over a large part of the bankrupt Italian airline for US $590 million. It's likely most short and medium haul European routes will be integrated into their subsidiary, Eurowings. If Lufthansa were to take over this large part, about 6000 jobs will be lost, but this is the only solid survival choice Alitalia has since Ryanair had pulled its bid for the airline in September. This deal could take up until late 2018 to implement. Alitalia had filed for bankruptcy in May this year due to employees refusing job and loan cuts as well as Etihad pulling out their support. Alitalia's fleet is also ideal for Lufthansa's and can be integrated nicely. Besides this, Lufthansa had also already invested €2.8 billion into it's subsidiary Eurowings and taking over parts of their insolvent rival, Air Berlin.

However, easyJet has also now recently placed a bid on a part of Alitalia. If they were, they would most likely take most of Alitalia's A320 family fleet. Along side easyJet and Lufthansa, five other airlines are reported to be bidding for parts of Alitalia.

Qantas to use biofuel between Los Angeles and Australia.

By 2020, Qantas has announced they will be using biofuels on routes from Australia to Los Angeles. This sort of situation will be the first in Australian aviation history. SG Preston will be providing Qantas with 30 million liters per year over a span of 10 years. The biofuel going to be used is a 50/50 mix of traditional fuel and non-food plant oils, thus reducing emissions around 50%/gallon.

The CEO of Qantas International and Freight has stated:

“The partnership with SG Preston is part of our commitment to lowering carbon emissions across our operations and sees us becoming the first Australian airline to use renewable jet fuel on an ongoing basis."

“As an airline group we are constantly looking for ways to become more fuel efficient and embrace new technologies and this partnership is a significant step on that journey."

“Our agreement with SG Preston allows us to secure a supply for our Los Angeles based aircraft where we have a large fuel demand and where the biofuel industry is more advanced."

“Through our biofuel program we are also exploring renewable jet fuel opportunities in Australia and continue to work with suppliers to develop locally produced biofuels for aviation use.”

Have any doubts? Don't worry this fuel is certified for aviation use and is also chemically equal to standard jet fuel.

Back in 2012, Qantas Group had begun trials for this fuel on domestic routes. The first one was on a Qantas A330 between YSSY -YPAD and back to YSSY. The second one being a Jetstar A320 between YMML and YMHB and back to YMML.

The announcement of Qantas starting to use biofuel came out a week after Virgin Australia who are beginning trials with biofuel on flights out of Brisbane. The Virgin Group airline has partnered up with Gevo who will supply Virgin Australia with biofuel until the trial ends somewhere in late 2018.

Laptops to be banned from checked luggage; fire risk.

The U.S. government is trying to urge the world airline community to ban large personal electronics, like laptops, in checked luggage.

The FAA recently reported in a paper file report with a UN agency that the chargeable lithium-ion battery in laptops, when overheated, and within a close distance of an aerosol spray can, could cause an explosion and disable the aircraft's fire suppression system. The FAA had conducted ten tests involving a fully charged laptop inside a suitcase. A heater was placed near the laptop's battery to force it into overheat.

One of the tests involved the laptop with the heater, and an 8oz. aerosol spray can of dry shampoo, which is permitted to be in suitcases, strapped onto the laptop. As the laptop began to heat, a fire broke out almost immediately, the dry shampoo exploded within 40sec.

The tests showed that the fire suppression system in the cargo hold of an aircraft would be unable to put out the fire before the can exploded. After the explosion, the fire suppression system would've been disabled by the explosion. This as you could imagine would be catastrophic. Other consumer goods that have been tested and are permitted in bags are nail polish remover, hand sanitizer, and rubbing alcohol which all resulted in a large fire, however no explosion.

The ban has been proposed and is on the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) agenda of a meeting being held this week and next week in downtown Montreal.

Aircraft News

787

• Air India has received their last 787 from part of a large Boeing order made more than a decade ago.

• Qantas has taken delivery of their first 787-9 Dreamliner. The 789 (VH-ZNA) was ferried from KPAE-PHNL where is stayed overnight then continued its flight to YSSY where it was then towed to the Qantas hangar and a whole celebration ensued

Video Credits: Lauren McMah on Twitter

Embraer

Embraer has announced they will be delivering the first E2 jet to launch customer Widerøe in April 2018. Widerøe has placed an order for 3 Embraer E2 jets, with an option for 12 more.

Airline News

Delta: MAX or NEO.

Delta has confirmed they are looking at placing an order for either the MAX family or NEO family. One of these family of aircraft will be ordered for fleet renewal. For example their 113 MD-88s are planned to be all retired by 2020 and be replaced by the larger A321 and 737-900ER. The MD-88s are the oldest narrowbody aircraft in it's mainline fleet. Next in line would be their A320s and 757s. As of now, they're evaluating each aircraft and their merits. Both companies offer replacements for the A320, the A320neo and 737 MAX 8. As for their 757s, Airbus has the A321LR, a version of the A321neo, on the other hand Boeing is developing a new Mid-sized aircraft that could be able to carry around 220-270 passengers a distance of 5,000nm. If this aircraft were to be launched, it would replace long hauls 757s and fill the gap between the 737 MAX 10 and Boeing 787-8 along the airframe line. As of now, Delta already has order for 3 types of new generation narrowbody aircraft; the A321, 737-900ER, and CS100.

Island Air files for insolvency.

Hawaii's second largest airline; Island Air, had filed for insolvency. It had planned to ground all of their aircraft, but it risked going down on a sour note, so instead of letting down thousands of passengers, they had decided to continue to fly. Island Air is a regional Hawaiian airline operating across the Hawaiian Islands with a fleet of ATR-72s and Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s.

Airlines take advantage of Berlin's high demand.

Some of Europe's major airlines have decided to put widebody jets on routes to Berlin, following the last long haul flight of Air Berlin and soon its downfall in the coming days. Lufthansa will be using the A330-300, A340-300, and A340-600 on select flights from EDDF and EDDM to Berlin Tegel on October 23rd. On November 1st they will then add the 747-400.

Following Lufthansa, Swiss will be using the A330-300 from Zurich to Berlin on October 24th and Austrian will be using the 767-300 and 777-200 from Vienna to Berlin.

All three of these Lufthansa Group airlines will also use A321s on any other flights to and from Berlin from Octoer 23rd to the 25th. These changes in equipment will continue from the 23rd of this month until November 1st.

China Southern: Places a big Boeing order for Beijing's new airport.

China Southern had recently placed an order for eight more 777-300ERs and 30 more 737-800s to base at Beijing's new airport which is scheduled to open in about 2 years, in October 2019. This order is valued at $5.7 billion. The aircraft are estimated to be delivered between 2019 and 2020. Five 77Ws and 12 738s will be delivered in 2019, the rest of the order is scheduled to be delivered the following year. They are trying to make this new Beijing airport their second hub, part of their "two hub" strategy. Besides this as their new hub, they also have their base in Guangzhou.

The new airport is being built to relieve some passenger traffic off of the existing Beijing-Capital International. Two of the three of China's major airlines, China Southern and Eastern, will be relocating to the new airport.

Emergencies

Turkish flying circles for 7 hours

Turkish Airlines flight 35 was bound for Montreal from Istanbul, however shortly after takeoff, a 16 year old girl starting having an epileptic seizure. The pilots decided to return back to the airport, however the aircraft was above the maximum landing weight, in this case aircraft would begin to dump fuel, however this aircraft did not have the ability to dump fuel and had to circle around Istanbul for 7 hours... Fortunately the state of the girl had stabilized and the aircraft eventually landed where paramedics were took the girl off of the aircraft.

Antonov An-26 crashes into the ocean shortly after takeoff.

An Antonov An-26 crashed into the sea on approach into Abidjanelix Houphout Boigny airport around 0830z. The aircraft (ER-AVB), belonging to cargo charter company Valan Air, was carrying equipment for the French Army. Along the equipment 10 souls were on board, six Moldovan crew and four French Army personnel. Four of the six crew members died. The cause of the crash may have been weather as a storm was passing through the area at the time

Drone hits aircraft: first in Canada

A Skyjet flight was hit by a drone while on approach into Jean Lesage International Airport in Quebec City. This is the first commercial aircraft - drone incident in Canada. Luckily the aircraft had only sustained minor damage and nothing too serious. Transport Canada is in contact with Skyjet, Jean Lesage Airport, and NAV CANADA to discuss the incident. Transport Canada has taken action by prohibiting drones to fly more than 90 metres.

AirAsia Indonesia loses cabin pressure at FL338.

QZ535 from Perth to Despansar is an Indonesia AirAsia flight operated by an A320. Climbing out of Perth, the flight was climbing through FL338 when the pilots had initiated an emergency descent to 10,000 feet after there was a sudden loss of cabin pressure. Oxygen masks were lowered and the aircraft made a return to Perth one hour after taking off. The following day the Australian Transportation Safety Board (ATSB) announced they rated the incident as severe and have opened an investigation on the occurrence.

Virgin Australia bird and rabbit strike.

Virgin Australia flight 319 from Melbourne to Brisbane, operated by a 737-800 (VH-YFX), called a PAN after taking off from Melbourne due to excessive vibrations from the #1 engine. The aircraft safely returned to Melbourne. The pilots had advised that an eagle carrying a rabbit had struck the engine and ATC had positioned the flight for an approach into runway 16 at Melbourne.

Lucky Air coin toss safety scare

An elderly Chinese woman (76 years old) had made a safety scare as she threw coins into the engine of a Lucky Air A319 (B-6198) during boarding. Crew had later found coins lying on the ground by the engine. The flight 8L9960 from Anqing to Kunming was grounded and inspected as a safety precaution. The woman was taken into custody and it has not been specified whether she would face charges. This is was the second report of such incident occurring and caused by a coin-tossing Chinese elder.

Special

A330neo: Maiden Flight

After 3 years of being first announced, the first A330neo had taken flight. The aircraft features new winglets and new engines. Airbus had promised with this new aircraft 14% better fuel economy per seat.

Here are some specifics on each variant.

• -800 can hold 257 passengers in a 3-class layout or maximum seating up to 406.

• -900 can hold 287 passengers in a 3-class layout or maximum seating up to 440.

• Maximum speed at Mach 0.86 (918km/h)

• The -800 can fly 8,200nm (15,190km)

• The -900 can fly up to 7,250nm (13,430km)

• Both variants are powered by two Rolls Royce Trent 7000 engines.

#MH370 #AirBerlin #avnews #aviation #Aviationnews #Luftansa #A380 #Malaysiaairlines #Investigation #pilot #Monarch #Flight #CAA #UK #Geerwheel #Approach #KualaLumpur #Londond #london #London #passengers #Dusseldorf #October #Miami #Germancarrier #European #routes #Ryanair #Eurowings #easyjet #easyJet #A320 #fleet #Embraer #Delta #Max #NEO #MAX #MD88 #A321 #737 #737900ER #A320neo #737MAX8 #757 #Airbus #Boeing #A321LR #A321neo #737MAX10 #7878 #CS100 #Cseries #IslandAir #Insolvency #Bankruptcy #Hawaii #Bombardier #DashQ400 #Dash8 #Q400 #Dash8Q400 #ATR #ATR72 #MD #A330 #A330300 #A340400 #A340 #A340600 #EDDF #EDDM #Berlin #747400 #Swiss #A330300Zurich #Austrian #767 #767300 #777200 #777 #LuftansaGroup #DavidDao #Chicago #Louisville #AviationDepartment #Qantas #Biofuel #Virgin #Virgingroup #YSSY #YPAD #Airport #Jetstar #Qantasgroup #SGPreston #US #Goverment #UN #ICAO #Montreal #explosion #laptop #ban #laptopban #emergencies #emergency #Chinasouthern #777300ER #77W #TurkishAirlines #Antonov #An26 #Drone #Canada #cargo #skyjet #drone #AirAsia #cabinpressure #birdstrike #VirginAustralia #LuckyAir #A330800 #A330900 #A330neo #RollRoyceTrent #RollRoyce