All articles by David Kaminski-Morrow – Page 96
-
News
Jolt from runway patch upset BA A319’s inertial reference system
UK investigators believe an uneven surface repair at Edinburgh airport caused jolting shock to the nose-gear of a departing British Airways Airbus A319, which subsequently suffered inertial reference system drift during its domestic flight to London Heathrow. The irregularity on runway 06 induced a sudden vertical load into the nose-gear, ...
-
News
Spain’s Air Nostrum plots introduction of UK airships for domestic services
Spain’s Air Nostrum Group has unveiled an extraordinary provisional agreement to acquire airships to operate commercial services in the country. It is reserving production slots for 10 examples of the Hybrid Air Vehicles Airlander 10, with a view to taking delivery from 2026. Air Nostrum Group, which serves as a ...
-
News
Airbus embarks on A321XLR flight-test campaign with maiden sortie
Airbus has commenced the flight-test campaign for its long-range A321XLR variant after the initial prototype lifted off from Hamburg Finkenwerder. The aircraft, powered by CFM International Leap-1A engines, took off at about 11:05 on 15 June. It is carrying a crew of five, comprising two experimental test pilots and three ...
-
News
Paris airports operator enters joint venture to offer hydrogen transformation services
Paris airports operator Groupe ADP is to tie up with energy technology firm Air Liquide in a joint venture to support development of hydrogen infrastructure for air transport. The venture – which will be equally-owned by both companies – will provide airports in France and elsewhere with the engineering and ...
-
News
Otto Celera push-prop in line for ZeroAvia hydrogen-electric engine
Hydrogen-electric propulsion specialist ZeroAvia is to develop a powertrain for Otto Aviation, which has been test-flying a prototype of its low-emissions Celera 500L aircraft. ZeroAvia says it will collaborate with California-based Otto to integrate the ZA600 zero-emission powertrain on the type. It says the tie-up means the Celera could be ...
-
News
Swiss operations resume after crippling air traffic control failure
Operations within Switzerland have started to resume after the airspace was forced to close, following a technical problem which affected the country’s air navigation service provider Skyguide. Skyguide had stated that it suffered a “technical malfunction” during the early hours of 15 June and the airspace was closed for safety ...
-
News
Airbridge punctured E190 after tractor incident prompted re-attachment
Operators of an airbridge punctured the fuselage of an Embraer 190 at Copenhagen, ironically after re-attaching it to allow the crew to check there had been no damage from a pushback tractor encounter. The aircraft, operated by Finnair’s Nordic Regional Airlines, had arrived on stand A11 on 7 February this ...
-
News
Chipmunk badly damaged in Danish formation-flight collision
Investigators have disclosed that the pilots of two De Havilland Chipmunks escaped injury after the aircraft – part of a formation flight – collided over Denmark. The Chipmunks were among four aircraft taking part in a formation training flight, in daylight and visual weather conditions, on 14 May. They had ...
-
News
Wheel drops off departing Bangladeshi ATR 42 freighter
Investigators are examining the reasons for a wheel detachment from an ATR 42-300 freighter as it departed from Chittagong in Bangladesh. The aircraft involved was operated by local carrier Nxt Air under the Hello Air brand. It was conducting a domestic ferry flight from Chittagong’s Shah Amanat airport to Cox’s ...
-
News
Air France-KLM secures €2.25bn as rights issue oversubscribed
Air France-KLM Group has described its rights issue as successful, after it was oversubscribed by 16%. The company has generated €2.256 billion ($2.35 billion) in final gross proceeds – of which around €1.61 billion is in cash – as a result of the capital increase. These proceeds will be “mostly ...
-
News
Wizz Air safety row with unions re-ignites after Varadi ‘fatigue’ remarks
Budget carrier Wizz Air is insisting that is not jeopardising safety, in response to a video recording of chief executive Jozsef Varadi apparently urging personnel to reduce disruption arising from calling in fatigued. While the European Cockpit Association, which has obtained the video recording, is claiming that Varadi was effectively ...
-
News
Toronto airport using time-based approach sequencing to cut headwind delays
Toronto airport has become the first in North America to introduce a system intended to optimise spacing of aircraft on approach, based on time intervals, accounting for several factors including weather conditions. Air navigation service Nav Canada transitioned to the ‘Intelligent Approach’ system – initially introduced at London Heathrow – ...
-
News
South Africa’s CemAir picks up ex-SAS CRJs
Two former SAS Bombardier CRJ900s have been introduced to South African operator CemAir, complementing the carrier’s regional fleet. Both aircraft – bearing serial numbers 15398 and 15400 – are 2016 airframes and were formerly operated by Ireland’s CityJet and served within the SAS fleet. CemAir has signed long-term operating agreements ...
-
News
Danish government could raise stake in SAS as it backs transformation plan
Denmark’s government has agreed to support Scandinavian carrier SAS through a debt-to-equity conversion, but has also signalled it will invest new capital into the struggling airline and potentially raise its shareholding. The Danish finance ministry says the government will support the ‘SAS Forward’ restructuring programme for the carrier, following a ...
-
News
Fokker 100 crew confused by ‘jammed’ thrust levers during stall-protection incident
Australian investigators have found that an Alliance Airlines Fokker 100 crew was unaware that the aircraft had entered a stall-protection mode after its airspeed fell below a crucial threshold during approach to Rockhampton. The carrier’s initial and cyclic training for the type “did not adequately prepare” its pilots to identify, ...
-
News
Airbus set to fly A321XLR in mid-June
Airbus is aiming to conduct the first flight of its long-range A321XLR from its Hamburg Finkenwerder plant on 15 June. The aircraft, which has been undergoing pre-flight simulation and ground checks, was rolled out in its test-flight livery last month. Airbus has scheduled a first flight event for 15 June, ...
-
News
A320 thrust rollback on serviceability flight traced to overspeed-protection valve
UK investigators believe a thrust rollback on an Airbus A320, after which the affected engine would not respond to control inputs, resulted from inadvertent activation of a fuel-control protection valve. But the inquiry says the issue – which has occurred previously on some International Aero Engines V2500 powerplants – has ...
-
News
Connect Airlines plots expansion with up to 100 hydrogen-powered ATR 72s
Proposed US start-up carrier Connect Airlines is ordering 75 converted ATR 72-600 turboprops, which will be fitted with hydrogen-fuelled powertrains. The firm agreement with Universal Hydrogen also covers an additional 25 converted aircraft. Universal Hydrogen was founded by former Airbus chief technology officer Paul Eremenko, and has an advisory board ...
-
News
Akasa reaches sale-and-leaseback pact for initial 737 Max fleet
Indian start-up carrier Akasa Air has entered a sale-and-leaseback agreement covering five Boeing 737 Max 8 jets. The airline has reached the deal with Griffin Global Asset Management. Delivery of the 737s is scheduled to commence in June and the lessor says the agreement covers several of Akasa’s initial aircraft. ...
-
News
ITA’s latest A350 flags carrier’s sustainability ambitions
Italian carrier ITA Airways will take its operational fleet of Airbus A350-900s to four – half of the eight planned – in June, through the introduction of a twinjet with a minimalist livery intended to highlight sustainability. The aircraft is largely white, in contrast to the distinctive blue which dominates ...