AircraftNews.Com

Probably the most important outcome of the ATSB investigation into the Lockhart River Metro crash is the recommendation for a redesign of the RW 12 GNSS NPA. This is a result of recognising that GPWS terrain warnings could still arise even if the approach was flown within correct tolerances. Repeated spurious warnings can lead to crew becoming complacent in the face of such warnings. If they then decide to ignore the warnings the purpose of the system is obviated. The situation could even be aggravated because the crew might well believe they are still protected. This is a good example of the traps of designing your own approach and that is what a crew would be doing if they were to decide to ignore the GPWS alerts.

Should AF 447 prompt a massive rethink?
It seems clear from the AF 447 tragedy that the time has come for a complete rethink about the Black box CVR (Cockpit voice Recorder) and maybe even who is in charge in Modern RPT.
As the story goes a frog being a cold blooded animal can be slowly cooked alive if the temperature of the water in the pot he is swimming in is slowly raised whereas if he is dropped into hot water he will jump out.
It could be that modern aviation is like the frog in the pot with the temperature slowly rising. Something very dangerous might be happening but complacency and inertia are preventing action.
Could it be that the AF 447 episode adequately analyzed will help us recognize that we need to jump out of this pot before many more die?
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Aviation investigators, running out of time to find the “black boxes” with key information on the crash of Air France Flight 447, suspect a rapid chain of computer and equipment malfunctions stripped the crew of automation today’s pilots typically rely on to control a big jetliner.

An international team of experts is building a scenario in which it believes a cascade of system failures, seemingly beginning with malfunctioning airspeed sensors, rapidly progressed to what appeared to be sweeping computer outages, according to people familiar with the probe. The Airbus A330, en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean during a storm 26 days ago, killing all 228 aboard.
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A radical aircraft called the Solar Impulse was unveiled Friday in Switzerland. Its aim is to take off with one pilot aboard and fly day and night propelled only by solar energy, flying around the world without expending any fuel or expelling any pollution.
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At more or less regular if widely spaced intervals in response to a perceived need Aviation design studios or governments or other enthusiasts plan and even at times build large seaplanes. The reasons vary but are usually similar and include statements such as there is said to be a clear need, a significant market and no appropriate offerings. Some splendid aircraft have been built, flown and then more or less never seen again.
The Saunders Roe 100 passenger turboprop Princess flew 46 time for a total of 100 hrs. The American Martin P6M Seamaster long range bomber also flew only a few times. Howard Hughes’ giant wooden 8 engine Spruce Goose machine flew once allegedly illegally and accidentally with Hughes at the helm but very few have had commercial success. The Russian design bureau Berieve seems to have not acquired the ability to give up and have made a number of large and impressive seaplanes but do not look to have won the battle to establish a place for the large seaplane. The Canadair CL415 is a current production twin turboprop firebomber which seems to have found a precarious niche but the category does not seem to have really taken off if I may indulge myself in an atrocious pun.
In light of the above the recent announcement in ZHUHAI, Guangdong by a Chinese company of its intention to build an Amphibian the size of an Airbus A320 must be viewed as courageous and let us hope the time of the giant amphibian has come..
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Those with attention spans longer than a gnat will well remember the triumphant announcement of the Dreamliner was it a century ago? Well the last century anyway. Those who do may well have thought there was a little hubris in it. Now even Boeing must have the message. Did someone break some mirrors or have they not paid enough attention to Feng Shui?
In the words of the Australian sage tell em they’r dreaming. And maybe ask what they were smoking.

Boeing shares fell 9% after the company admitted tests show signs of stress in the aircraft body and the the maiden flight of its Dreamliner aircraft was delayed yet again today after the discovery.

The first airborne test of the 787 had been planned for next week and Boeing had been insisting everything was on schedule as recently as last week’s Paris Air Show.

But the company said today it had identified an area on the side of the aircraft where the new model had shown signs of stress in a static test. It now has to reinforce the aircraft to make it ready for its first flight and delivery, the schedule for which will not be available for several weeks.
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PARIS, June 23 (Reuters) – Signals from the flight data recorders of the Air France airliner that crashed into the Atlantic killing all 228 people on board have been located, Le Monde newspaper said on its website on Tuesday.

An Air France spokeswoman said she could not confirm the report while another official stated the sounds wer not from the AF447 Pinger. The Transport Ministry and the air accident investigation office could not be reached immediately for comment.

Le Monde said French naval vessels had picked up a weak signal from the flight recorders and that a mini submarine had been dispatched on Monday to try and find the “black boxes” on the bottom of the rugged ocean floor.
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Technical problems are degrading the accuracy of signals from the last GPS satellite launched by the Pentagon, sparking concerns among U.S. military and aerospace industry officials that the next generation of the widely used satellites could face similar troubles.

The Air Force’s Southern California space acquisition center on Tuesday announced that a Global Positioning System satellite, manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp. and launched in March, is experiencing performance problems in orbit. It hasn’t become part of the “operational constellation” of more than two dozen other GPS satellites, and is slated to undergo a battery of tests expected to stretch through October to try to resolve the problems, according to an Air Force news release. Read more…

Why are we not surprised. In a classical case of lets find a bogie that can’t defend itself and lets make a huge fuss of how we are going to cope with it GA has been targeted globally with onerous and lets admit it ridiculous security measures that have cost many dearly, caused much aggravation and inefficiency and made our enemies laugh.
A recent report tells us what we all knew and also highlights the not entirely innocent role of sections of the media embroiled in the shock horror end of the industry..

In an important finding The Homeland Security Department’s inspector general said Wednesday the national security threat posed by general aviation is “limited and mostly hypothetical.” Read more…

THE inability of radar on a Perth-bound Qantas Airbus to detect ice crystals will be at the centre of an air safety investigation into severe turbulence that threw passengers out of their seats, injuring up to 12 people.

The A330-300 aircraft plunged suddenly over Borneo early yesterday before landing safely at Perth International Airport just before 8am.

“All of a sudden the plane dropped — I reckon about a 30-storey building — and there was a hell of a kerfuffle in the plane,” passenger Keith Huckstable told ABC radio.

Qantas said crew on the Airbus, which was carrying 206 passengers and 13 crew, were given little notice of the approaching turbulence, four hours after leaving Hong Kong.
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