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News and updates covering Australia’s airline business & Military aviation sectors
News and updates covering Australia’s airports and aviation infrastructure
News covering safety and regulation issues across Australia
News and editorial from across the Australian general aviation industry
Update your awareness of available new and used aircraft – their performance & capabilities
Dassault has selected Hawker Pacific to provide product support for its Falcon 7X customers based in Asia, following the newly certified high-end business jet’s entry into service later this month.
Through its Singapore Service Centre and soon to be launched joint venture Shanghai Hawker Pacific facility, the company also will aid Dassault in introducing the all-new aircraft into China in the second quarter of this year.
A new group of peak Australian aviation bodies warns that the government’s National Aviation Policy White Paper has “missed a great opportunity to establish more aviation jobs in Australia and to help the industry deliver better services to Australians.”
Boeing today announced that its Sydney based Ken Morton would assume responsibility for company communications across the Asia-Pacific region. He succeeds Mark Hooper, who returns to Seattle from Hong Kong to a senior role in Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Air Force AP-3C Orions have achieved an extraordinary seven years of continuous Middle East operations, providing crucial support to Australian and coalition forces.
Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal (AIRMSHL) Mark Binskin said the Orions had flown more than 1750 missions involving 16500 flying hours supporting Operations Bastille, Falconer, Catalyst and Slipper.
Qantas today launched direct services between Canberra and Darwin, setting up new tourism, government and business links between the National Capital and the Top End.
Group Executive Qantas Airlines Commercial, Rob Gurney, said the new route was a response to demand from the government and business sectors and Darwin’s growth.
In January the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) published a comprehensive report titled Answering the Call to Action on Airline Safety and Pilot Training in response to concerns about growing risk surrounding airline travel – particularly on regional carriers’ services.
In a press release that accompanied the report, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt explained, “The report lays out our initial actions to improve and revise pilot training and to develop an effective pilot fatigue rule. We also share what we have done to begin what must be an ongoing dialogue with airlines and unions to strengthen professionalism in the aviation industry and create mentoring programs for our nation’s pilots. This report is a snapshot of our work, which is by no means finished.”
Search teams are working to recover the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-800 that crashed shortly after takeoff at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport during a raging storm last Monday.
Automated signals from the devices have already helped searchers to identify the exact location of the recorders in water 1300 metres deep, about 10 km west of Beirut Airport, but it has not yet been confirmed whether they are still attached to the aircraft fuselage.
Four major Australian resource companies and the Flight Safety Foundation have developed and launched a unique new program to streamline the flight safety auditing of air operators contracted to transport resource industry workers and executives.
In Western Australia alone. Some 25,000 resource industry workers are transported by fly-in-fly-out contractors, and similar substantial operations are in place in Queensland, South Australia, the Northern Territory and the Bass Strait oil rigs. All these operations involve a range of chartered aeroplanes and helicopters, as well as dedicated airline aircraft on charter to the resource sector.
Victims’ families affected by the May 2005 Lockhart River air disaster are dumbfounded at an Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) decision on January 22. They believe the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has seriously bungled its handling of an application for a foreign aircraft air operator certificate (FAAOC) to PNG-based Trans Air Ltd, the company whose Swearingen Fairchild Metroliner crashed during an approach to Lockhart River in bad weather with the loss of all 13 passengers and two crew.
Hawker Pacific has signed up a sale worth close to US$3 million for seven diamond flight training aircraft, building on its successful 14-aircraft (almost $5m) deal with Massey University last March. Six new single Lycoming-powered Diamond DA-40 four-seat trainers and a twin-engined DA42L, also Lycoming powered, will join the University of New South Wales’ (UNSW Aviation) fleet during the first quarter of this year. The six DA-40s will be powered by the 180HP Lycoming IO-360-M1A Avgas engine, and the DA42L360 by two counter-rotating versions, also of 180HP… READ MORE
Australian Aerospace has lobbed the first public shots in the contest between USA and European aerospace groups for the government’s AIR 9000 Phase 8 program, pushing on-shore manufacture and jobs building the NH90 NFH (NATO Frigate Helicopter) for the RAN’s Navy combat helicopter project. An operational NH90 NFH from the Italian Navy was in Brisbane today for a series of demonstration flights for defence chiefs… READ MORE
Alexandria, VA, January 21, 2010 – The Flight Safety Foundation announced today that the International Society of Air Safety Investigators (ISASI) has signed the Joint Resolution Regarding Criminalisation of Aviation Accidents, a document that was originally jointly published in the fall of 2006.
“The safety of the travelling public is endangered by overzealous prosecutors attempting to criminalize aviation accidents, which can have a chilling effect on cooperation with accident investigators ,” said FSF President and CEO William R. Voss.
Airbus Industrie has just delivered the six thousandth Airbus in its 40-year history. The Airbus A380 was handed over to Emirates Airline in a ceremony in Hamburg, and is Emirates’ eighth A380. With a total order for 58 aircraft, Emirates is the single largest customer for the A380. Established in 1985, the UAE carrier became an Airbus operator from the outset, and its Airbus fleet has grown to 55 aircraft with a further 121 on order. AviationAdvertiser is privileged to have been briefed on what it’s really like to fly one of these aviation behemoths by a senior Qantas pilot who’s actually flying it. It’s fascinating and awesome. More of that within a week.
When Bob Phillips and David Thomas were organising the highly successful “Oshkosh Express” charter flights to the USA, they once had 298 pilots on board their chartered Qantas 747. The pilot who landed the aircraft at Oshkosh’s Wittman Field admitted to feeling a bit intimidated by 297 spectators taking an interest in the quality of his landing. For this year’s Oshkosh event in June Bob and Marya Phillips, the folks who now run Avtours, have again booked a whole Boeing 747-400 and its 367 seats are filling up fast. This time their Jumbo will be in Air New Zealand colours and flying from Auckland, with two Air New Zealand B767s feeding Australian passengers into it from Melbourne and Sydney.
Boeing, the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Etihad Airways and Honeywell’s UOP will jointly establish a major research institution and demonstration project in Abu Dhabi, dedicated to sustainable energy solutions. The Sustainable Bioenergy Research Project (SBRP) will use integrated saltwater agricultural systems to support the development and commercialisation of biofuel sources for aviation and co-products.
Qantas this week launched Melbourne to London A380 services with the inaugural Melbourne to London via Singapore service departing yesterday evening. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, said the airline now offered A380 services on four routes – two from Melbourne and two from Sydney. “We are pleased that as we continue to grow our A380 fleet and offering, customer demand for the aircraft and feedback on the Qantas A380 experience remains extremely strong,” Mr Joyce said.
Hawker Beechcraft has attained both FAA and EASA certification of the latest addition to the Hawker range, the Beechcraft King Air 350i.
What does the lower-case “i” stand for? Serves us right for asking! According to HBC it stands for “intelligent; innovative; impressive; invaluable; iconic; ideal.”
Hawker Pacific’s Senior Vice President, Aircraft Sales & Flight Services Group, Tony Jones said the new model has already attracted a lot of interest from potential customers in the new certifications, which bring the 350i one step closer to availability within the region
Airbus Industrie set a new aircraft delivery record in 2009, handing over a total of 498 aircraft to customers in a single year. The figure is a new company delivery record for and is 15 more aircraft than in 2008. The count includes 402 A320 family aircraft, 86 A330/A340s which are both records for a single year, and 10 A380s. Airbus’ Military Division delivered 16 light and medium transport aircraft. Despite challenging market conditions, Airbus also reached its order intake target, winning a total of 310 orders gross (271 net) valued US$34.9 billion gross (US$30.3 billion net) at list prices, or 54 per cent of the worldwide market share of aircraft beyond 100 seats.
Over-optimistic enroute and terminal weather forecasts seem to have been big contributors to the splashdown of an aeromedical jet in the sea off Norfolk Island on November 18 last year. And it may have been a flash of local awareness on the part of an airport fire officer that saved all its six occupants. In the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s preliminary report, published today, ATSB says that the Pelair Westwind 1124A’s crew had planned the fuel stop at Norfolk Island, 1722 nautical miles (2,771 km) along its route from Apia, Samoa, to Melbourne.
A team that has already delivered 85 unforgettable and unique scenic flights in the last 15 years will set another world’s-first record tomorrow. Just after 6.00 pm tomorrow afternoon, an Airbus A380 super-jumbo operated by Qantas on private charter to international tour operator Croydon Travel, will take off and head directly for Antarctica and views which simply can’t be seen from anywhere else. It’s always been a festive occasion but this one’s a little different again. The party flight from Melbourne – designated as Qantas flight 2903 – will be the first commercial flight by an A380 to the south polar region; so its passengers will participate in the making of some more aviation history.
A Christmas present from John McCormick!
CASA has raised the controversial cap on aeroplane circuit movements at the six GAAP airfields, introduced in mid 2009, from six to eight under the control of one controller.
The higher limit outlined in CASA Instrument 597/09, which revokes instrument 329/09, applies at all six GAAP airports – Archerfield, Bankstown, Camden, Moorabbin, Parafield and Jandakot.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has launched a special audit of two air operators following the ditching of a Westwind jet off Norfolk Island on Wednesday 18 November 2009. CASA says it is auditing elements of the ditched aircraft’s operator, Pel-Air Aviation, as well as the Wagga-based carrier Regional Express Pty Ltd.
Two of Australia’s leading aerospace companies will become part of the US $6.3 billion Mumbai-based multinational …
Fly Synthesis’ fun-flying product range now includes six separate Italian-built light sport and ultralight aeroplane types, the most popular of which is its Texan Top Class 600 LSA. Having won my RAA pilot certificate in a Texan 550, I was more than happy when Australian Director Caz Monteleone invited me to update my Texan experience at his Donnybrook base on Melbourne’s northern fringe.
