AircraftNews.Com

After a bizarre scare in Australia where a B 737 narrowly escaped taking off with a nose wheel missing comes a report of further wheel trouble for the Giant company and another report which will not do the 787 any good.

Boeing was not inclined to immediately respond to requests for clarification and in the light of recent behaviour this presumably means the spin masters have yet to issue their decree.

CHICAGO -A contractor on Boeing Co.’s (BA) delayed 787 aircraft program said new software for the plane’s braking system has yet to be completed amid a disagreement over who should pay for the work.
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OSHKOSH, Wis. — Aviation lovers can get their first look at an airplane designed to launch spaceships at an experimental aircraft show in Wisconsin.

Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft is scheduled to arrive at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture gathering in Oshkosh on Monday.

WhiteKnightTwo is designed to carry a spaceship into the upper atmosphere. The spacecraft would then launch from the plane at 50,000 feet and soar into space.

Virgin Group’s billionaire chairman, Sir Richard Branson, hopes to use the system to offer private space rides. Each trip will cost a traveler $200,000.

Company officials say 300 seats have already been sold. Each spaceflight — up and back down without circling the Earth — will include about five minutes of weightlessness.
from http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gLL4Pcu9xZVrUwUKfXpl1UenWKJgD99MTIQ82

Starting next year, Tempe-based US Airways will transform dozens of planes into flying internet hotspots.

According to US Airways’ website, travelers with a Wi-Fi enabled device such as a laptop, smartphone or PDA will have internet access through Aircell GoGo Inflight Internet Wi-Fi.

Cost for the service has not been set yet but current service prices range from $5.95 to $12.95, depending on the length of the flight and type of Wi-Fi enabled device used to access the service.

Passengers will be able to sign up for service even before they board their flight by going to gogo’s website to create an account and sign up for the service.

According to the website, the service will work through a series of cellular towers throughout the U.S. that allow transmission of broadband internet connectivity to Gogo-equipped aircraft.

Three small antennas on the outside of the aircraft receive the signal and send it to the Gogo system aboard the aircraft. The Gogo system then transmits a Wi-Fi signal inside the cabin for passengers’ mobile devices.

US Airways says 50 Airbus A321 aircraft will be equipped with Wi-Fi by early 2010.

From http://www.abc15.com/content/news/southeastvalley/tempe/story/Tempe-based-airline-to-turn-aircraft-into-flying/kZE55Dads0edJSj_Us4WCQ.cspx

Federal regulators propose requiring modifications to engines of Boeing 777s powerd by the RR Trent engine to prevent ice from forming in fuel lines on long flights, a problem blamed for the British Airways crash last year.

The work would have to be completed by January 2011.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed the safety directive after a similar move by European regulators called for redesigning a heat exchanger in the RR Trent engines in which engine oil is cooled and fuel heated.

About 50 such planes operate in the United States.
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American Airlines Inc. is assessing the damage to one of its bigger jets after the aircraft fell on its nose during maintenance work July 15.

American spokesman Tim Wagner said the Boeing 767-300ER airplane was at American’s Alliance base in Fort Worth for a heavy maintenance check.
“The maintenance had been completed,” Wagner said, “and during some of our functional tests before putting the aircraft back into service, the nose gear retracted and put the aircraft on its nose.”

The wide-body jet “has been out of service for repairs since that time,” Wagner said.
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As has been widely reported the Boeing Dreamliner program is in further trouble with the current structural problems turning out to be more difficult of solution than had at first been thought (Or admitted?). It beggars belief that a team of such demonstrated competence could not see this coming so it has to be assumed that some in the company knew full well that they were going to miss the mark and that others dared not let them publicly admit it. When this has happened repeatedly surely the industry as a whole must be starting to doubt the entire public face of the company.
Will head roll? will changes be made or is it case of tough it out and hope as all involved have too much to lose to change directions?
Maybe it is a case of Management to destruction.

It took better than three years of restoration, but the Temora Aviation Museum, in NSW, Australia, completed the project and its rare Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) CA-27 Sabre has taken flight for the first time after 16 years on the ground. A pilot and airshow crowd favorite, this Sabre is A94-983. It took to the air at the hands of Darren Crabb, currently a corporate jet pilot type-rated on 14 aircraft. Crabb is an ex-RAAF Qualified Flight Instructor who has experience in F/A-18 Hornets and Macchi jets. “It was fantastic!” said Crabb, who said the aircraft performed flawlessly on its post-maintenance check flight. Australians will have their first chance to see the Sabre flown at the Temora Aviation Museum Flying Weekend this fall. But for those unable to overcome the obstacles of vast oceans of distance between here and there, the Temora Aviation Museum is giving away rides … though only virtually, on YouTube (sorry)
If you are really enthusiastic there is another CA 27 Avon Sabre lurking at Moorabbin Aviation Museum just waiting for restoration.
In part from From Avweb http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/avflash/1417-full.html#200752

In a welcome proactive step Airbus has announced a program to find better ways of recovering data in Aircraft crashes.

A 2nd of July press release has details

Airbus has launched a study for reinforcing flight data recovery, including, but not limited to, extended data transmission for commercial airliners, so that in the event of accidents, critical flight information can still be recovered and released to the investigating authorities.

Tom Enders, President and CEO of Airbus commented: “Gathering information from accidents is vitally important to further improve the safety of flying. Various technical means for reinforcing flight data recovery and data transmission to ground centres are principally available. We will now study different options for viable commercial solutions, including those where our experience with real-time data transmission from our own test aircraft could support the further development of such solutions.”

The study will be conducted by Patrick Gavin, Head of Airbus Engineering, and Charles Champion, Head of Customer Services, and will need to address technological issues as well as data protection and privacy concerns. Airbus will include industrial partners, research institutions, and international airworthiness and investigation authorities in this study.
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KABUL — A U.S. military F-15E fighter jet crashed in Afghanistan early Saturday, killing two crew members, a U.S. military spokesman said.

U.S. military spokesman Col. Greg Julian said a second fighter aircraft traveling with the jet that went down saw no evidence of enemy fire.

No fighter jets have crashed in Afghanistan in years. Militants are able to shoot down helicopters with rockets, but are not known to have the anti-aircraft weaponry necessary to bring down a high-flying jet.

The military says the F-15E crashed in eastern Afghanistan at about 3:15 a.m. Saturday Kabul time. The military did not immediately say where in Afghanistan the jet crashed. Many areas of eastern Afghanistan, which borders Pakistan, are filled with craggy mountains.

The crash will be investigated by a board of officers, the military said.

Southwest Airlines inspected Nearly 200 Boeing 737 belonging to Southwest airline had to be inspected after a hole in the aft fuselage of one of their aircraft forced an emergency landing.

Federal safety officials at Dallas are investigating how a foot-long hole opened in the top of the jet, forcing the emergency landing in Charleston, W. Va.

The Boeing 737 jet lost pressure in the cabin, but no one was injured on Monday’s Nashville-to-Baltimore flight that carried 126 passengers and five crew members.

The plane was built in 1994, and government records indicated that an inspection in January turned up eight cracks in the frame that required repairs.

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