The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have signed a joint agreement to join the Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (Aspire). To mark the occasion they have conducted “the world’s first multi-sector green flight” on an SIA’s flight SQ11 from Los Angeles to Singapore via Tokyo, with the Boeing 747-400...
moreHelicopters can perform a wide array of useful tasks that cannot be done at all or as well in a fixed-wing aircraft, so it probably stands to reason that an unmanned rotorcraft would soon prove its worth alongside fixed-wing unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). Schiebel’s Camcopter S-100 is fast finding acceptance for a variety of applications, such as pipeline...
moreThe Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) will step up plans this year to expand its operations with the delivery of three new helicopters. At December’s LIMA airshow in Langkawi, First Admiral Zammani Mohd Amin, the agency’s director of Air Wing operations, told AIN that it will continue to grow.
Before forming MMEA in 2004, the Malaysians studied...
moreHelicopter manufacturer Sikorsky (Stand L39) is outsourcing more of its civil production to India and China, while scaling down its partnership with Japan-based Mitsubishi Heavy In-dustries (MHI). The company also announced that China’s AVIC subsidiary Changhe Aircraft has delivered the first S-76C++ airframe built in China, and that India’s Tata Advanced...
moreA preview of what future AgustaWestland helicopters’ cockpits will look like was seen in the AW149 mockup exhibited at the Paris airshow last June.
The new approach promises to reduce costs, both in the development phase and in the life cycles of aircraft. The higher degree of cockpit commonality among AgustaWestland models promises to save money on pilot...
moreNow that reduced vertical separation minimums (RVSM) operations have been running smoothly in the U.S. since Jan. 5, 2005, business jet operators are angry about the FAA’s rigid stance on the approval process and FAA inspectors’ inability to process approvals quickly. Of most concern to operators is that even if they already have an RVSM letter of...
moreMore than 60 percent of business jet pilots do not use oxygen masks when required to by FAA regulations, according to a survey conducted by corporate pilot Chris Shaver for his master’s thesis at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Shaver needed a safety-related project for his thesis and he didn’t want to rehash existing research on subjects that have...
moreA new Article 222 of UK Air Navigation Order 2009 makes it illegal “to shine any light at any aircraft in flight so as to dazzle or distract the pilot of the aircraft.” The country’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) hopes the article, coupled with new technology used by police air support units, will increase conviction rates. The CAA introduced the law when...
moreThe University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) was awarded a nearly $50 million six-year research grant from the Air Force to develop advanced fuels and combustion technologies. A key area in the UDRI program will be the development, validation and field testing of synthetic fuels, including biofuels from varied feed stocks. Part of the research will be...
moreThe FAA has grudgingly agreed to delay certain portions of an original April 2010 compliance date requiring installation of cockpit voice recorders (CVR) and digital flight data recorders (FDR) in many U.S.-registered airplanes. But the agency issued a stern rebuke to aircraft manufacturers for their failure to address known technical issues sooner. Boeing,...
moreAIN_Compliance_Countdown_Feb2010.pdf
moreThe comment period for the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed de-ice effluent limitations guidelines has been extended to February 26, thanks to efforts by the National Air Transportation Association, Airports Council International-North America, American Association of Airport Executives and the Regional Airline Association. To comment or view...
moreBanyan Air Service is hosting Bahamas Day on February 20 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., to help pilots and charter customers learn about trips to the Bahamas. During the day, Banyan’s Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport FBO, transformed to look and feel like a Bahamas resort, will offer three seminars: “eAPIS” by U.S. Customs, “Flying to the Bahamas” by the Bahamas...
moreLast month the FAA published a proposed NPRM covering new airworthiness standards for composite structures on normal-category rotorcraft under FAR Parts 27 and 29. A proposed new section in the regulations establishes guidelines for damage tolerance and fatigue testing of these structures. Applicants would need to demonstrate that components that are...
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