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Report: Airbus may be asked to ground all long-range jets
French investigators are expected to release Thursday their first report on what happened to Air France Flight 447.
The Airbus A330 crashed into the Atlantic on June 1 en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
The Times UK is reporting a possibility that would be a doozy if it were to happen: Airbus could be asked to ground its worldwide fleet of long-range airliners.
Charles Bremner, reporting from Paris, says:
Airbus is expected to face calls to ground its worldwide fleet of long-range airliners tomorrow when French accident investigators issue their first account of what caused Air France Flight 447 to crash off Brazil on June 1.
It is believed that the accident bureau will report that stormy weather was a factor but faulty speed data and electronics were the main problem in the disaster that killed 228 people.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is likely to be asked why it had never taken action to remedy trouble that was well known with the Airbus 330 and 340 series. Nearly 1,000 of the aircraft are flying and until AF447, no passenger had been killed in one.
Airbus on June 10 denied a report that it was considering grounding its long range A330 and A340s.
AFP reported that an Airbus spokesman denied another newspaper report saying so.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) “has issued a press release that all A330s and other aircraft are safe to operate,” he told AFP. “We will take legal action against such irresponsible reporting.”

Such a highly charged issue often generates much smoke. There is considerable Shadenfreude here but it is very important that rumours not be spread. We report this to emphasise that there is no official statement yet. We await clarification with baited breath.
From http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/archives/172777.asp

Japan Could Be Offered a $290 Million F-22

A letter from Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, to Japan’s ambassador in Washington lists an estimated average unit cost of $290 million per aircraft for a theoretical export sale of 40 F-22 Raptors.

Both Inouye and Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, and other lawmakers in both chambers are pushing both in public and behind the scenes to allow export of the stealthy, fifth-generation fighter.

Read more…

It isn’t quite CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue), but it is a start!
U.S. Marines onboard the USS Bataan, an amphibious ship, got a chance to use the tiltrotor for the medical
evacuation of a sailor on June 25.

The ship ordered two Ospreys enroute back to the ship after a mission to fly at max speed. Once onboard, the sailor, who sustained hip injuries and chest pains after falling, was loaded up. Some medical support equipment was also flown, as shown in the pics. The sailor was then flown 147 naut. mi. in 37 min to a regional airport and then transferred via ambulance to a hospital for more medical attention, the Marines say.

The V-22 has been an on-again/off-again candidate for the USAF Combat Search and Rescue-X (CSAR-X) competition.

Nothing like the endorsement of a customer to try and prove a point. Of course on this mission there was no shooting or searching, but it shows that the speed and versatility of the aircraft are an asset for medical evacuation missions.

The news release of the mission came in the midst of a re-emergence of criticism from lawmakers of the aircraft’s cost and reliability.
From http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense