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News
January 18 -- we've suffered some technical hitches & will be doing a major update shortly -- Editor
Qantas sale back on? (6 December)
It appears the sale of Qantas is back on, after considerable maneuvering in the background. The company recently released a raised profit forecast, which also effectively raised the price, but this was not enough to dissuade the consortium looking at the deal.
To avoid mandatory federal government foreign investment scrutiny, the consortium is proposing 14.9% shareholding each for Macquarie Bank, Texas Pacific Group, Onex Corp and Allco Finance. Other shareholders in the $11 billion deal include Pacific Equity (5%), Qantas senior management (1%) and various superannuation groups.
Want some cheap space? (3 December)
Mangalore Airport in Victoria has some vacant hangars for sole or shared use.
The smallest single occupancy hangar vacant is 81 square metres whilst the largest is 282 square metres with an intermediate of 118 square metres.
Hangars with power are chargeable at AUD$26.90 m² per week whilst non powered hangars are AUD$26.25 m² per week exclusive of GST.
Licence fees are payable quarterly in advance and an unlimited Landing Fee of AUD$200.00 per annum is offered to licensees.
Contact Greg Salan Operations Manager 0428 863 439 or Email mangalore@bordernet.com.au
It’s a long way to the top (28 Nov)
 Would-be commercial helicopter pilots are finding it tough to get a foot in the career door, while would-be employers struggle to find experienced people. Jana Raus looks at what’s going on in this special feature. Click here
Transair grounded (28 Nov)
Qld commercial operator Transair has been grounded because of what the Civial Aviation Authority (CASA) says are credible reports of failing to operate in a safe manner. CASA spokesman Peter Gibson told ABC Radio last night, “We believe there are serious and imminent threats to aviation safety, so they're not being allowed to continue to operate.”
Transair was involved in a controversial crash in far north Queensland last year, in which 15 people perished.
CASA announcement
Euro airlines put environment on agenda (28 Nov)
A recent conference of European airlines has put the EC’s Emissions Trading Scheme close to the top of its agenda. While airline bosses agreed with environment-driven trading schemes in principle, they also said recognition needed to be given to other measures designed to cut emissions, such as better technology and operating rules.
The group highlighted the recent creation of the Single European Sky, which it claims will cut emissions by12%.
See the Association of European Airlines media release
Mustang takes wing (27 Nov)
Cessna’s Mustang very light jet has received production certification (PC) from the US government, and the first demonstrator has been delivered. This puts the company at the head of a growing pack of machines chasing this potentially lucrative market – other notables are coming from Adam and Honda.
The company says: The first Citation Mustang was delivered to Mustang Management Group (MMG), based in Fresno, California, which will allow Cessna to lease the aircraft for 10 months as a demonstrator. MMG then plans to use the Mustang in its Scott Aviation subsidiary for flight training.
The PC authorizes Cessna to produce, flight test and grant airworthiness certificates for the Mustang. Full FAA type certification (TC) for the Citation Mustang was awarded Sept. 8, making it the first in a new category of entry level jets to receive a TC from the FAA.
“All of us at Cessna are ecstatic to have these two significant milestones occur in one day – the delivery of the first Citation Mustang and the awarding of the FAA production certificate,” said Cessna Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Jack J Pelton. “Cessna and the FAA have been working together for months, using our vast jet-building experience as a foundation, and developing new, advanced production and tooling systems to ensure an efficient ramp-up to full production.”
See this link
Composite blades for Sea King (27 Nov)
 A British Sea King helicopter has made a first, brief, trial of composite rotor blades and reports promising results.
NetComposities.com reports: Lasting for around four minutes, the flight was a significant milestone in the evaluation of the Carson Helicopters’ blade for the UK Sea King helicopter with the new blades producing data indicating significant performance gains.
Initial results from the test program, which are supported by theoretical modelling carried out by QinetiQ, indicate that the Carson blades have the potential to significantly increase performance and so greatly increase the operational flexibility of the Sea King.
Full story; Carson Helicopters blade page
Qantas sale in doubt (27 Nov)
The proposed sale of Qantas to Macquarie Bank and the Texas Pacific Private Equity Group has had been put in doubt by the Federal Treasurer, Mr Peter Costello, indicating that he will not allow the company to breach 49% foreign ownership.
The sale of the firm is a potential political headache for the federal government – which has steadily reduced its own stake in the airline over the years – given the iconic status as the national carrier.
There have been arguments for and against the sale. The ‘for’ side says the extra cash would enable Qantas to expand and buy other carriers, while the ‘against’ groups argue the company could just as easily be broken up with even more staff positions going overseas.
Ansett revival (24 Nov)
Ansett, once one of the two Australian domestic airlines and founded by Sir Reginal Ansett many decades ago, is being revived. The work is being done by Will Richards, a grandson of the Ansett patriarch.
Richards’ version of the company is a fixed and rotary wing charter service based in Melbourne that also continues its service on the ground with buses and limousines. See this link.
Jetstar launch (23 Nov)
Jetstar International (the low-cost Qantas offshoot) launches today and the company says its bookings are exceeding expectations.
300,000 watch Red Bull (20 November)
 From the Red Bull air race in Perth: Hungarian pilot and co-creator of the sport Peter Besenyei yesterday won the
2006 Perth Red Bull Air Race. (Pic above: l-to-r Bonhomme, Besenyei, Chambliss.)
Coming in at a combined time of 2:39.78 for both rounds Besenyei was
followed by British pilot Paul Bonhomme at 2:40.37. Coming in at third
place with a time of 2:42.24 was American pilot Kirby Chambliss -- the
overall winner of the 2006 World Series.
In excess of 300,000 spectators including local and national celebrities
lined Perth's Swan River to witness Besenyei's dramatic victory.
Crowds watched in awe as the pilots flew at speeds of more than 350kph,
negotiating air gates just metres above the water. Giant video-walls
positioned along the South Perth foreshore provided spectators with a
pilot's eye view of the course.
Perth was the final leg in the 2006 Series, which has visited nine other
international destinations including nine races held in famous
international destinations including Abu Dhabi, Barcelona, Berlin,
Istanbul, Budapest, Longleat (UK), and San Francisco.
Flybys by the RAAF BAE Hawks, four Naanjang CJ-6As and two T-6 Texans, a
parachute display by the Red Beret Army, a PC9 solo aerobatic display
and a Qantas fly-over were some of the air activities crowds were
treated to as part of the Air Festival.
The Red Bull Air Race will return to Perth in November 2007 and again in
2008. (All pics: Red Bull)
Results - Perth Race - 19 Nov, 2006
1 Peter Besenyei HUN 2:39.78
2 Paul Bonhomme GBR 2:40.37
3 Kirby Chambliss USA 2:42.24
4 Mike Mangold USA 2:47.44
5 Steve Jones GBR 2:49.01
6 Michael Goulian USA 2:49.32
7 Alejandro Maclean ESP 2:51.64
8 Nigel Lamb GBR 2:51.70
9 Nicolas Ivanoff FRA 2:55.02
10 Klaus Schrodt GER 2:59.60
11 Frank Versteegh NED 3:02.46
Click here to see the video coverage
Super Cobra takes off (16 November)
Czech maker Evektor has test flown its new Super Cobra, which boasts a 315-horse Lycoming engine. According to the company: top cruise speed 175 kts, range 1000 nm and useful load 1260 lbs. The SuperCobra is a unique fusion of power, timeless design, elegance and superior cabin comfort. The airplane's luxurious cabin is the widest in its class and includes as standard equipment state-of-the-art glass cockpit avionics. The first deliveries are planned after completion of EASA CS-23 / FAA FAR-23 certification at the beginning of 2008; deliveries of the previous 200 HP Lycoming model VUT100 Cobra which is on its way to EASA certification are scheduled in the second half of 2007.
The Cobra is going to be introduced at the largest GA airshows in Europe and USA next year, including Germany´s Aero in Friedrichshafen and Oshkosh Airventure in the US.
Evektor website
Reb Bull Q&A (16 November)
The Red Bull air race hits Perth this Sunday and will be the final round of this year’s series.
For those lucky enough to be there:
How much are tickets?
The Red Bull Air Race is a free event for all the family.
Where is the best place to watch the Air Race?
The best vantage point is Sir James Mitchell Park, located in South Perth, on the southern side of the Swan River.
What is the Paddock Walk?
The Paddock Walk is an opportunity for the public to see the pilots and the aircraft up close. It will be held on Langley Park on Sunday 19 November between 9.00am and 10.30am.
AOPA backs simpler medical process (15 November)
From AOPA: The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association welcomes the CASA announcement of a review of the Class 2 Medical certificate system. (http://www.casa.gov.au/media/2006/06-11-13b.htm),
and congratulates CASA on listening to the voice of General Aviation.
AOPA would like to highlight the tireless efforts of the late AOPA President Ron Bertram, who, together with Vice President Andrew Kerans, raised this issue with CASA over 18 months ago. This work has been instrumental in CASA's decision to instigate the review.
AOPA has continued to push the need for review of the administration of the medical certificate, and welcomed the release of the Discussion Paper. AOPA strongly supported Option 4 in its submission to the original discussion paper, which returned authority forissue of the medical certificate to the Designated Aviation Medical Examiner (DAME).
AOPA believes that a DAME, already approved and appointed by CASA, does not need to be double checked on each and every case. Where is the cost/risk benefit analysis to justify CASA’s need to double check their appointed medical representatives?
Most DAMEs will be examining many other non-pilot clients and recommending surgery,medication, or lifestyle change. Many of these clients will be driving high performance vehicles on crowded roads, or jet skis near swimmers, or flying RA Aus aircraft faster than a Cessna 172 all without the intervention of an external checker.
It amounts to an unnecessary levy on all non-commercial pilots, being a $4M cost recovery from a group who are mandatory participants.
AOPA website
One rescue service to go in NSW? (16 November)
There is speculation that one of two helicopter rescue services in NSW is likely to face the axe, once the current tendering process is sorted out. Neither the Westpac or NRMA outfits are able to speak publicly on the issue, because of confidentiality requirements dictated by the tender documents. However a considerable amount of disquiet is developing over the issue. They are part of our community and that needs to be preserved," AMA president Dr Andrew Keegan said to NineMSN.
Britain trains new breed of military rotary test pilots (15 November)
 From ETPS: The first of a new breed of Rotary Wing Test Pilots and Flight Test Engineers are currently under training at The Empire Test Pilots’ School (ETPS) at the home of the United Kingdom’s joint Ministry of Defence (MOD) / QinetiQ Aircraft Test and Evaluation Centre, Boscombe Down, Wiltshire.
Launched at Asian Aerospace earlier this year, this 13 week course was developed to provide targeted flight test training for Test Pilots and Flight Test Engineering personnel charged with conducting in-envelope rotary wing flight test activities. In delivering the course, the ETPS team have drawn on the School’s vast experience gained from training world-class flight test teams over the past sixty years on their renowned year long graduate course.
The Rotary Wing Flight Test short course encourages the team to assess systems objectively and identify engineering solutions to problems as opposed to compensating for them. By equipping students with a toolkit of flight test techniques and developing the links between theory and practical application, the course enables students to become integral members of flight test teams. The current students are set to pass-out with flying colours in late November, before returning to Scandinavia to play their part in the NH-90 programme.
The value of the course to military and commercial flight test programmes is clear as the School’s Commanding Officer, Commander Chris Maude Royal Navy, explained, “The Rotary Wing Flight Test Course complements the international requirement for our core Test Pilot and Flight Test Engineer graduate courses. Our short course provides the manager of a flight test organisation with an alternative, cost effective training package which is appropriate to a large proportion of his professional staff. The training is underwritten by ETPS and is delivered to the same quality assurance process as the graduate course.” He concluded by highlighting the benefit of the course: “The course provides a thorough and well balanced grounding in all the basic areas of helicopter flight test”.
ETPS website
Airbus A380 starts world tour (14 November)
 The troubled Airbus A380 has begun a world flying tour to simulate commercial flying conditions in what is hoped to be the last step before formal certification.
Loaded with engineers and test pilots, the 800-plus seat machine left Toulouse on 13 November, to cover around 150 hours of flying with stops at 10 airports across the world. It will be in Sydney on November 29.
Extended production delays have caused considerable controversy for the A380, resulting in a number of cancelled and delayed orders. At the moment, 16 airlines have a total of 149 of the machines on firm order.
Use this link to follow the trip’s progress
Very light jets may be in for turbulent ride (13 November)
From Dailybreeze.com: Only two companies have received Federal Aviation Administration certification for the jets and are set to begin making deliveries. They are privately owned Eclipse Aviation, whose second-largest investor is Bill Gates, and Cessna Aircraft Co, a unit of Textron Inc.
Brazil's Embraer SA, an alliance by Honda Motor Co and Piper Aircraft Inc, and others are seeking certification and deliveries in the next few years.
"They're the greatest growth market the aviation industry has seen in a long time," said Richard Aboulafia, a Teal Group aviation analyst. He believes the market capacity will be 250 to 300 orders a year worldwide, with a heavy concentration in North America.
"The real danger is when a group of people start banking on the market growing at 1000 aircraft a year," Aboulafia said. "Then you get financial carnage."
Dailybreeze home; Story
Nexaer takes wing – just (13 November)
 American fledgling LSA company Nexaer has taken its first tentative steps towards producing its own aircraft, called the LS-1.
According to the firm, “After spending most of Sunday and Monday working on taxi testing and engine testing, we reached the point we had been working toward for so long. One of our pilots, Bill VonDane, steered the airplane onto the runway, eased the throttle forward, and accelerated down the runway. As he pulled back on the controls, the nose wheel lifted from the runway...and then there was air beneath all three wheels! Per the test plan, Bill held the airplane several feet off the ground as he flew down the runway and eventually set the airplane back on the ground at the other end.”
The company is setting up production facilities in Wyoming in the USA and plans to seell aircraft in the US$90,000-120,000 price range.
Nexaer web
India & US sign aviation agreement (12 November)
From Telugu Portal (India): India and the US will sign a memorandum of understanding Monday to expand bilateral cooperation in civil aviation that will build on the existing open skies pact between the two countries.
According to officials in the Ministry of Civil Aviation here, the MoU is a part of the US-India Aviation Cooperation Programme (ACP) that would help the aviation sector in both the countries to come closer on the issues of technical assistance, job training and personnel exchange programmes.
"The MoU between the two countries would help to execute the initiatives related to open routes, capacity, frequencies, designations, pricing, marketing arrangements and code sharing," a senior official in the ministry said.
Telugu Portal
Silent running the future of air travel (8 November)
The vision of quieter and more environmentally friendly flying came a step closer this week as researchers from Cambridge University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) unveiled their revolutionary concept for a silent aircraft. Originally conceived as making a huge reduction in the noise experienced by people in the vicinity of airports, this highly-efficient design also offers improvements of around 25% in the fuel consumed in a typical flight compared to current aircraft.
The design is intended for the generation after next of aircraft for entry into service in 2030. It looked at improving the airframe as well as the engines as half of the noise from a landing plane comes from the airframe.
Its designers predict: A. 149 passenger-miles per UK gallon of fuel (compared with about 120 for the best current aircraft in this range and size). This is equivalent to the Toyota Prius Hybrid car carrying two passengers;l
B. A noise of 63 dBA outside airport perimeter. This is some 25dB quieter than current aircraft. (Click for the full story.)
Mystery Messerschmitt turns up (4 November)
 It’s a story worthy of a crime novel: In World War II, the grateful British gifted a captured Messerschmitt 109 fighter aircraft to the Nizam of Hyderabad (India) for sponsoring two British fighter squadrons.
The machine languished in storage at a college in Gulbarga for decades and eventually became the subject of a squabble between the Indian air force and local collector societies over who was going to be allowed to acquire it.
Somehow, during the scuffle, someone slipped in and ‘liberated’ the plane. It disappeared for a few years and became the subject of an international investigation.
It’s now turned up in Europe, on a British historic log, registered in the name of a mysterious Channel Islands company called Rare Aero Ltd. Apparently the deal to acquire the plane was brokered by a Bangalore scrap metal dealer!
Investigations continue, as no actual person has admitted to ‘owning’ the valuable machine.
See this story in the Indian Express
Industry gossip (4 November)
Virgin Blue has bought 14 Embraer jets to boost its operations over a two-year period from late 2007, in a deal worth over $900 million. It is the first time the Brazilian manufacturer has sold to an Australian airline. The order includes 11 E190s (around 100 passengers) and three E170s (around 75 passengers). “This acquisition is a key step-change for Virgin Blue under our New World Carrier strategy announced last year,” said Virgin Blue CEO Brett Godfrey. “Our current fleet of aircraft provides sufficient capacity to serve key routes in the Australian, trans-Tasman and Pacific Island markets, however it is not optimal.” (Embraer link)
Boeing has completed design of its upgraded 747-8 freighter. The company says: The 747-8 Freighter will be longer than the 747-400F by 5.6 meters (18.3 feet) and enjoy a maximum structural payload capability of 140 metric tonnes (154 tons) with a range of 8288 kilometers (4,475 nmi). It also will feature16 percent more revenue cargo volume than its predecessor. The additional 121 cubic meters (4,225 cubic feet) of volume means the airplane can accommodate four additional main-deck pallets and three additional lower-hold pallets.
From Airbus: Skybus, a new low-cost/low-fare airline based in Columbus, Ohio, has signed a firm contract for the purchase of 65 Airbus A319 aircraft. In terms of number of Airbus aircraft, this is among the largest single orders ever by a U.S. carrier. The airline has not yet announced its engine selection for the single-aisle aircraft. Each of the Skybus A319s will accommodate passengers in a single-class configuration. The number of seats and specific route structure remains confidential while the airline gears up to enter service in early 2007. (The A319 typically seats around 120 people _ Ed.)
Qantas is backing off the flying hours of its flight crews and encouraging them to take leave. A delay in the delivery of the A380, plus the transfer of four A320s to Jetstar has left the company with a short-term over-supply of pilots.
New maintenance regime up for grabs (3 November)
From CASA: Australia's aviation industry is being asked to comment on a set of proposals for new regulations covering aircraft maintenance.
Peter Boyd, head of CASA's Planning and Governance office, says the current rules covering aircraft maintenance and maintenance personnel are complicated and outdated.
“The new regulations being proposed by CASA focus on safety outcomes and will give industry much more flexibility in their operations,” Mr Boyd said.
“What we are proposing are rules that tell the maintenance industry what they need to achieve to be compliant, rather than how to achieve compliance. This means the industry can choose the way they meet the new rules.
“One option is using CASA's suggested methodology - known as an acceptable means of compliance. But some people and organisations may choose to develop their own way of achieving compliance which will better suit their operations. They can present this option for approval.
“As well as providing industry with flexibility and efficiencies this will encourage innovation.”
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