All articles by David Kaminski-Morrow – Page 174
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NewsSubtle thrust-lever shift may have caught out Sriwijaya 737 crash crew
Preliminary findings from the Sriwijaya Boeing 737-500 crash probe increasingly support an in-flight upset scenario in which the crew was suddenly caught out by the insidious development of an asymmetric thrust condition. No conclusions have been drawn over the 9 January accident. But the highly-unusual retardation of a single throttle ...
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NewsIrish MRO firm takes over Flybe A400M servicing division
Collapsed UK regional operator Flybe’s former aviation maintenance service at Brize Norton has been acquired by Irish-based Atlantic Aviation Group. Flybe Aviation Services had been working on the Royal Air Force’s Airbus Defence & Space A400M transports at the facility under a 2014 contract. It stated at the time that ...
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NewsAirbus lines outside Europe delivered most aircraft in January
Airbus’s delivery figures for January were unusual because, as a result of the air transport crisis, the majority of aircraft were handed over from its non-European final assembly lines. The airframer has five sites with assembly lines – in Toulouse, Hamburg, Tianjin, Mobile and Montreal – with the two European ...
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NewsBA eyes UK alcohol-to-fuel plant after sustainability tie-up with LanzaJet
British Airways is the latest carrier to tie up with a sustainable alcohol-to-fuel initiative established last year by carbon recycling and biotechnology firm LanzaTech. Its agreement involves not only the supply of fuel but initial exploration into a possible biorefinery for the airline in the UK. UK long-haul carrier Virgin ...
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NewsIcelandair focuses on cash preservation as pandemic resurgence bites
Icelandair transported just 14,000 passengers during December 2020, but even this figure was more than the October and November totals combined. Fourth-quarter revenues for Icelandair Group amounted to just $60 million to 31 December, down by more than 80%, while pre-tax losses for the period reached $97 million. It attributes ...
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NewsOptimistic Icelandair sees spring return for 737 Max
Icelandair Group is optimistic that it will be able to start ramping-up its network in the second quarter of this year, and intends to return its Boeing 737 Max fleet to service in spring. The company has six 737 Max jets which have been grounded for nearly two years. But ...
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NewsMC-21’s Russian-built engines pass ICAO emissions test
Source: Rostec PD-14 engines are fitted to the MC-21-310 which commenced flight-tests in December 2020
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NewsNo evidence Ukraine aware of threat before MH17 shot down: analysis
Independent analysis has found no evidence that Ukrainian authorities were aware of the threat to high-altitude traffic, and specifically civil aviation, before a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. This is despite Ukrainian national security officials’ openly floating the possibility that high-powered weapons might have ...
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NewsAirbus delivers 21 aircraft in quiet January
Airbus’s activity for the first month of 2021 centred on deliveries, with 21 aircraft handed over during January. The airframer did not record any orders – or cancellations – over the course of the month. Its two long-haul aircraft deliveries comprised an A350-900 for Turkish Airlines and an A330-800 for ...
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NewsAirbus intends ETOPS for BelugaXL to support transatlantic operations
Airbus is to seek extended twin-engined operations (ETOPS) approval for the BelugaXL outsize transporter, in order to support commercial services involving overwater flights. Three BelugaXLs, based on the A330, have been built, the most recent introduced in October 2020. Another three will be manufactured, the last two of which will ...
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NewsRival bidders link up to secure $4.7bn Signature Aviation takeover
Rival bidders for fixed-based operations specialist Signature Aviation have agreed a combined acquisition of the company, prompting the withdrawal of a previously-recommended takeover offer. A newly-formed UK-registered company, Brown Bidco, is being formed by investors Global Infrastructure Partners, Blackstone, and Cascade. GIP and Blackstone will each indirectly hold 35% of ...
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NewsLufthansa repays KfW loan early after €1.6bn bond issue
Lufthansa Group is to pay back early its loan from financial firm KfW following the German airline company’s issuing of €1.6 billion in bonds. The group says it has placed the bonds in two tranches, with terms of four and seven years. Lufthansa’s initial tranche of €750 million runs to ...
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NewsSriwijaya 737-500 'slowly' turned left before entering fatal descent
Components of the crashed Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 including the flight-control computer, autothrottle computer, and autothrottle actuator assembly are undergoing examination, a Indonesian parliamentary commission has heard. The commission held a session on 3 February during which various representatives involved in the inquiry provided preliminary information on the flight and ...
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NewsSpanish long-haul start-up World2Fly plans transatlantic services
Newly-established Spanish operator World2Fly is seeking to open transatlantic services to US destinations. The airline – which has ambitions to operate Airbus A350s – has obtained an A330-300 formerly used by Spanish carrier Air Europa. This aircraft (EC-LXR) is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines and was originally delivered to ...
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NewsNew Belavia chief prepares for 737 Classic withdrawal
Belarusian flag-carrier Belavia is intending to stop operations with its older-generation Boeing 737s as it looks towards taking the 737 Max. Belavia has appointed a new general director, former marketing director Igor Cherginets, to succeed long-term airline chief Anatoly Gusarov. Cherginets says the airline is planning to modernise with the ...
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NewsSine Draco seeks FAA approval for A321 freighter conversion
Airbus A321 freighter conversion developer Sine Draco is formally seeking US FAA approval for the modification, and has recruited Sierra Nevada Corporation support arm 3S to assist with the regulatory compliance process. Sine Draco will be the owner of the supplemental type certificate for the converted aircraft, designated the A321-200SDF. ...
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NewsAirbus separates A321XLR aft-fuselage work to avoid disrupting assembly line
Airbus is establishing a separate production line at its Hamburg Finkenwerder plant which will be dedicated to assembling the aft fuselage of the long-range A321XLR. This fuselage section is heavily modified from the regular A321neo, featuring a newly-designed integrated large rear centre tank and fuel-mangement system which will be specific ...
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NewsPractical thinking behind striking new livery on DC-10 firefighter
Even aerial firefighting aircraft are worth a make-over, but the revamped livery on the distinctive McDonnell-Douglas DC-10-30 of US operator 10 Tanker serves a practical purpose. The company has shown off a more dynamic colour scheme on aircraft N612AX – a 34-year old airframe originally delivered to Thai Airways International ...
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NewsRobin pilots warned over carbon monoxide risk from swapped heater ducts
Operators of Robin DR400 light aircraft are being warned that a possible misfitting of ducts on the type could lead to the pilot becoming intoxicated by carbon monoxide ingestion. One in-service occurrence has emerged of the cabin-heater and carburettor-heater ducts on a DR400/120 model having been wrongly installed on the ...
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NewsSummit amends Dornier 228 ice procedures after dual-engine flame-out
Canadian operator Summit Air Charters has modified icing procedures after an incident in which both engines on a Dornier 228 flamed out just after take-off on a service to Yellowknife. The turboprop had been departing the remote Cahcho Kue in the Northwest Territories on 19 January, according to a Transport ...