Jet Blue | Leaving on a Jet Plane…!

Leaving on a Jet Plane…!
In just a few hours, I will be on my way to Lotusphere 2008 in Orlando, Florida! Just in time to escape the unforgiving arctic blast New England is about to see. The weather should make the Patriot’s game interesting today. Luckily, I am flying Jet Blue, so I’ll have my own front row seat to all the action. Too bad those mini tv’s are not HD!

In the next few days, I’ll try to find some time for blogging from Lotusphere. If you are heading down there yourself, you can catch me in the Meet the Developers Lab in Asia 1. I’ll also be doing a BoF (Birds of a feather) on Tuesday evening discussing Best Practices for Policy Based Management. Then on Thursday morning I’ll be co-presenting a session on Policy Based Management, where I will be showing off some new policy features for the next release of Domino.
It’s going to be a packed week! ***

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Posted by lab
source: http://labunleashed.com/?p=194
The keywords of jet blue airlines: Lotusphere jet blue 2008, jet blue Orlando, jet blue Florida, jet blue BoF and jet blue New England.
image: http://images.jupiterimages.com/common/detail/85/82/22898285.jpg

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Boeing May Pilot Captive Unit in India

Boeing May Pilot Captive Unit in India
BANGALORE: The $65-billion aerospace and defence behemoth, Boeing, is evaluating a captive centre and defence sub-assembly line in India apart from capturing business across the aerospace spectrum, including manufacturing, engineering, BPO, KPO, maintenance and raw material sourcing. Boeing could take the JV route to set up its captive centre or could establish it independently.

If that happens, Boeing will join a host of multinationals which entered India through partnerships before setting up their captive centres. Boeing has partnerships with several Indian technology majors such as Infosys, TCS, Infotech, HCL and research bodies like HAL and Indian Institute of Science in India.

“Targetting over $50-60 billion opportunity in the long-term across the civil and defence aviation, and with availability of skilled talent pool, I don’t see any reason why we should not have our own Boeing facility in India,” Boeing India president Ian QR Thomas told ET. Mr Ian declined to divulge further details about the nature of the captive centre.

While numbers on investments and scale of operations are still in the evaluation stage and depends to some extent on multi-role combat aircraft order apart from other defence orders, Boeing globally operates an technology integration and design captive centre in Moscow. The captive centre has 1,200 engineers engaged in mission-critical work. “Globally as far as captive centres are concerned, we go for tools, technology and talent. India has the potential to emerge as an aerospace constellation,” added Mr Thomas.

Boeing has gained traction in both Indian commercial aviation and defence space with the US major running for $10-billion order for the purchase of 126 multi-role combat aircraft. Boeing has also submitted a proposal to develop and deliver eight long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft to the Indian Navy. The Boeing P-8I Multi-mission maritime aircraft, a variant of the US Navy’s P-8A, is currently under consideration by the MOD for India’s maritime requirements.

On the commercial aviation front, Boeing has firm orders of around 140 aircraft from various Indian airlines, including Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Air India. It further aims to grab at least 50% of the projected 911 orders for commercial airplanes.

Boeing’s 2007 annual current market outlook study projected that India would need 911 new commercial jet airplanes worth $86 billion for the next 20 years. “On the defence side, we are looking at opportunities worth $10-15 billion over four years and on the commercial side we are targetting orders amounting to over $40 billion, considering we are aiming at 50% of the project need of commercial airplanes in the country,” said Mr Thomas.

Meanwhile, Boeing is in the process of setting up $100 million maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in Nagpur. It also has plans of investing $75 million for setting up training centres. The work on the MRO is expected to begin by year end or early next year. Boeing is in the process of finalising partners besides Air India for setting up the MRO. The MRO is expected to become operational by 2009.

In addition to these investments Boeing has to fulfill $1.8-billion offset obligation that came with Air India’s 68-aircraft order in 2005. As part of the offset obligation Boeing is expected to buy services and goods from Indian companies. Most IT majors like Infosys, Wipro, TCS and HCL are waiting to grab a pie of the business.***

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Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/
10 Sep, 2007, 0201 hrs IST,Urvashi Jha & J Padmapriya, TNN

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Aircraft, Air Force Base: a Match Made on Earth, Enjoyed in the Heavens

Aircraft, Air Force Base: a Match Made on Earth, Enjoyed in the Heavens
Chico gets a vivid reminder that it has an Air Force base to the south when an onyx-colored U-2 swings by the municipal airport for occasional touch-and-goes.

Some people exhilarate in the wash of sound and power as the manned spy plane skims the runway and then thunders upward and away, back to Beale AFB.

By 2012, that scenario could become a distant memory, as the technology of the U-2 is bumped by the next-worldly, unmanned Global Hawk, which now also flies from Beale, outside of Marysville.

Much heralded, the Global Hawk is a remotely piloted aircraft that specializes in high-altitude photography for intelligence gathering. Beale has been home for other intelligence-gathering aircraft, including all the nation's U-2s. It was previously home to the now-grounded supersonic SR-71 Blackbird.

Cruising at 60,000 feet and at speeds of 360-400 mph, the Global Hawk can fly for about 30 hours, its camera zooming to the ground and relaying digital photographs nearly instantaneously.

But the technology doesn't yet allow for capturing extreme details, according to Lt. Col. J. Scott Winstead, the 12th Reconnaissance Squadron commander and a Global Hawk pilot.

But that's just around the corner.

Winstead gave a group of Chico business leaders a tour of the Global Hawk facilities at Beale recently. Beale also hosts the Global Hawk training programs.

While its war-time uses are very much in the forefront, the government sees other functions for the aircraft, including gauging wildfires and natural disasters, and researching global warming.

Tucked into a hangar at Beale, the Global Hawk stands about 15 feet high, with its whale-bulge forehead home to high technology and cameras. An eye-like camera lens tips the nose, and sensors line the belly. Made of extra-light composite material, Global Hawk wings span 116 feet and its body reaches 44 feet.

Operational Global Hawks fly from Beale, while most testing of the aircraft occurs at Edwards AFB in the Mojave Desert, not far from contractor Northrop Grumman's plant in Palmdale.

In July, a first occurred, as the Global Hawk flew from Beale to Andersen AFB in Guam under Beale-only support.

"We're blazing the trail," said Beale commander Brig. Gen. H.D. Polumbo Jr.

Not only technology, but the human factor differentiate the U-2 and Global Hawk. Because the U-2 is manned, its capability is only as functional as its pilot's endurance. Although well-trained and athletic, pressure suit and helmet-clad U-2 pilots fly missions of about 10 hours.

In contrast, guided remotely with autonomous technology, the Global Hawk's only restraints are fuel and technology, pushing the aircraft's capabilities much further. Flights as long as 35 hours have been recorded.

"The U-2 is more capable than the Global Hawk right now, but the next Global Hawk will be much more," Beale's Polumbo said, talking about the photographic abilities.

Commands bounce from Beale's operations antennas to a variety of space-rooted satellites and then to the Global Hawk's navigational system. Its digital photos find a similar route back home.

Programmed to take off and fly automatically, the Global Hawk usually returns to human control as it closes in on a target.

Global Hawk's value is keeping personnel safely on the ground, while transmitting high-quality digital photographs almost instantly via satellites.

Allowing analysts real-time views of ground activity, the Global Hawk is able to sweep an area with radar for detection of movement and then zoom in for digital photographs. The aircraft can be redirected to a site for a series of clarifying swipes of the cameras.

Although two of four prototype Global Hawks have crashed, Winstead offered a litany of examples in which the aircraft earned military respect in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Pulled into operation more quickly than Northrop Grumman intended because of military actions in Iraq, operating the Global Hawk was learning on the go, Winstead noted.

Its worth has been proven many times, said Winstead. When an array of sites were suspected of terrorist activity, Global Hawk's photographs highlighted movement in one. Photograph analysts detected human presence and forces were able to wipe out the site, he said.

In Iraq, a force of wooden decoy tanks was identified by Global Hawk, which was also able to isolate the real tanks for a successful attack, Winstead said.

As sophisticated as the Global Hawk is, the U-2 still offers superior photographs with the highest resolution, according to Winstead. Chemical, "wet film" development is used.

But the government believes the Global Hawk's technology will prevail, ending the U-2's reign by about 2012, Winstead said.

By 2015, about 50 Global Hawks are expected to be flying, and will be deployed to other locations around the world as ground equipment and personnel are moved in.

Winstead said the Air Force is focusing its Global Hawk training program on Beale, which in 2005 was one of the air bases rumored to possibly be closed in the last round of facility trimming.

Having the future of the Global Hawk linked to the base and an outpouring of community and regional support could have played a role in keeping the base off the closure list.

According to a news release on Beale's Web site, limited pilot training with the Global Hawk has occurred, but most of the flights have been under the control of instructors.

Beale expects its Global Hawk training classes to jump from 24 students to 36 per year, and to 48 by 2009, the Web site notes.

Remotely piloted aircraft were used recently to examine a Santa Barbara County fire in a cooperative effort between the U.S. Forest Service and NASA.

Because the smoke was so thick and the fire so remote, information about the fire was impossible to get with the unaided eye.

The aircraft was able to provide fire control personnel with images of where the fire was, while reducing the risk to personnel.

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By: Laura Urseny - Staff Writer
Source: http://www.orovillemr.com
Staff writer Laura Urseny can be reached at 896-7756 or lurseny@chicoer.com.

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Safety Journey Nears End at Last for RAF Hercules

Safety Journey Nears End at Last for RAF Hercules
More than two-and-a-half years after 10 servicemen were killed north of Baghdad when their RAF Hercules C-130 plane was hit by ground-to-air fire, the aircraft which transport troops across the two war zones will now finally be fitted with vital anti-explosive foam.

The move comes after a lengthy campaign by relatives of those who died on 30 January 2005. Flight XV 179 – carrying nine RAF crew from the special forces support 47 Squadron and a Royal Signals soldier – was en route to an American base in Balad that day when a fuel tank was hit by ground fire, exploded and the right wing sheared off. The board of inquiry said a contributory factor was the fact the Hercules' fuel tanks were not fitted with "any fire retarding technology, either foam or inert gas" to prevent an explosive fuel-air mix developing – standard on American planes since Vietnam. It recommended that all C-130s should be fitted urgently.

The Ministry of Defence said that before the crash "it was judged that there was a low risk of a fuel tank explosion" and that priority was given to the threat of missile attacks rather than lighter weapons but promised to fit the device on the aircraft which can carry up to 70 people.

Yet in October last year the families called for "urgent action" after learning the RAF had only upgraded two of its fleet of more than 40 Hercules. Leaked documents showed that RAF pilots had requested the fuel safety device be fitted three years earlier. Sarah Chapman, whose brother Sergeant Bob O’Connor, 38, was killed that day, said the troops were being treated like "expendable assets".

The process which involves fitting 500 different pieces of foam, is a long laborious one and hampered by the need to bring the ageing planes back from operations for the process.

However, The Independent has learned that all Hercules in Iraq or Afghanistan are due to be fitted with the safety device by the beginning of October. It will mean that troops being transported across war zones as well as the RAF crews flying them daily will now have the added protection.

Nigel Gilbert, a former Hercules pilot who flew with 47 Squadron and knew several of the crew killed in 2005, said yesterday: "It is great news but what a nightmare it has been to get there. All the families wanted was that no-one else should got through that again. At least now they know a single bullet won’t bring a plane down."

Meet the aircraft crew training for service in Afghanistan and Iraq

By Terri Judd

Flight engineer Mark "Skid" Brown's most memorable experience in Afghanistan revolves around a group of men who will never know his name or remember his face, soldiers too terribly injured even to be aware they ever met.

"The moments that really stick in my mind are pulling the wounded out of (Camp) Bastion, actually getting them to medical aid in time to save their lives," said Master Aircrewman Brown a crew member on one of the RAF's Hercules aircraft - the workhorses of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. "We could be thinking that our day was over, everybody was going to the showers and we would get a call there was a badly wounded person who needed to get to Kabul. Our work can run into 24 hours but it is a rewarding aspect of the job." The Warrant Officer and the crew of the RAF C-130 Hercules never meet their fragile passengers again but they always check reports on their outcome.

On a spectacularly picturesque and remote beach in south Wales this week, the hulk of the C-130K - nicknamed Fat Albert, "the old lady" to Master Aircrewman Brown - descended from the skies almost silently until the sudden roar when pilots threw the propellors into reverse thrust and deftly touched down in a marked box just 90ft by 500ft. Their runway was soft sand only 3,000ft long.

One landing successfully accomplished, they took off in an equally short distance, banking hard as they became airborne, the 40-year-old plane a surprisingly graceful sight despite her rotund frame. They were the RAF Hercules pilots practising for the harsh and hostile landings strips in Iraq and Afghanistan.

These ancient aircraft cross the countries countless times each day, transporting troops, equipment and the injured. Four have been lost in the past three years. One was shot down north of Baghdad in January 2005. In May 2006 hit a mine on landing in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan, another hit an improvised explosive device on a tactical landing zone in Maysan, southern Iraq, in February this year, while a fourth was destroyed crash landing near Kabul last week.

The C-130s - ageing aircraft due to be replaced over the next few years - and their crews are pushed to their limits but, they insist, not beyond. " I would definitely go on record as saying we"re stretched. We"re busy and it's demanding work but I would not say we are overstretched," said Wing Commander Fraser Spence, officer commanding operations wing at RAF Lyneham.

Their work is rarely recognised until moments like January 2005 when the Hercules was shot down, killing all 10 on board. Flight XV 179 - carrying nine RAF crew from 47 Squadron and a Royal Signals soldier - was en route to an American base in Balad when a fuel tank was hit by ground fire, exploded and the right wing sheared off. The board of inquiry concluded that a lack of explosive suppressant foam was a contributory factor and The Independent learnt this week that all those on operations are now expected to have it fitted by the beginning of next month. "We"ve got to be lucky every single flight. They only have to be lucky once," said Wing Commander Greg Cook, who believes the crews rarely get recognition for the perilous task they perform.

"We don"t get shot at as often as the army but we are getting shot at most days," added the officer commanding 47 Squadron. After 23 years of service, Master Aircrewman Brown, of 70 Squadron, has had to cope with the loss of too many friends.

"Naturally it affects us. We"re all aware of our mortality. It doesn"t impact straight away. It just leaves you dead inside. A few months down the line, that is when it really bites. It impacts when you see the families and the effect on them. You have a hard time getting your head around it but it doesn"t stop you doing the job."***

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By: Terri Judd
Source: http://news.independent.co.uk

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New System Helps Aircraft Avoid Turbulence

New System Helps Aircraft Avoid Turbulence
A new turbulence detection system now being tested is alerting pilots to patches of rough air as they fly through clouds. The system, designed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and tested by United Airlines on commercial flights, is designed to better protect passengers from injuries caused by turbulence while reducing flight delays and lowering aviation costs.

The new system uses a mathematical method developed by NCAR scientists, known as the NEXRAD Turbulence Detection Algorithm, or NTDA, to analyze data obtained from the National Weather Service’s network of Next-Generation (NEXRAD) Doppler radars. The resulting real-time snapshot of turbulence can be transmitted to pilots in the cockpit and made available to airline meteorologists and dispatchers via a Web-based display.

The research is funded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in partnership with the National Science Foundation, NCAR’s primary sponsor.

"Pinpointing turbulence in clouds and thunderstorms is a major scientific challenge," says NCAR scientist John Williams. "Our goal is to use these radar measurements to create a three-dimensional mosaic showing turbulence across the country that can help pilots avoid hazardous areas, or at least give them enough warning to turn on the ‘fasten seat belt’ sign."

NCAR’s NEXRAD turbulence detection algorithm (NTDA) generates real-time maps of in-cloud turbulence to alert airline meteorologists and dispatchers to potentially dangerous areas of rough air. In the cockpit, pilots receive a printout showing areas of turbulence along their flight path.

The NTDA is being tested until October by a group of United Airlines pilots who fly routes east of the Rockies. The pilots, who receive information in their cockpits about turbulence detected ahead, report that the system provides them with accurate information about turbulence that is not available from any other source.

"The messages I’ve received in the cockpit gave a very accurate picture of turbulence location and intensity," says Captain Rocky Stone, chief technical pilot for United Airlines. "The depiction of turbulence intensity provides an unprecedented and extremely valuable new tool for pilot situational awareness."

Depending on the results of this year’s tests, the next step may be to expand the system to additional United aircraft or other airlines. Williams anticipates that, by 2011, the NTDA will provide input to a system over the contiguous United States that will update comprehensive turbulence "nowcasts" for pilots and air traffic managers every 15 minutes.

"We hope this will provide a significant boost to the aviation industry in terms of passenger comfort, safety, and reduced costs," Williams says.

New data from existing radars

Pilots in the past have lacked accurate measurements of turbulence that develops in clouds and thunderstorms, partly because turbulent areas may be small, evolve quickly, and occur outside the most intense parts of the storm. As a result, FAA guidelines suggest that planes avoid thunderstorms by at least 20 miles when possible, even though large sections of that area may contain relatively calm air.

The NTDA captures turbulence in storms by peering into clouds to analyze the distribution of winds. It reprocesses radar data to remove factors that can contaminate measurements, such as sunlight, nearby storms, or even swarms of insects flying near the radar dish. It also averages a series of measurements to improve the reliability of its turbulence estimates.

This year’s tests build on smaller-scale tests with United Airlines in the summers of 2005 and 2006 that showed it was possible to successfully detect moderate-or-greater turbulence more than 80 percent of the time. NCAR scientists have refined the NTDA since then, and expect that this year’s demonstration will show additional improvements to the system’s accuracy.

Impacts of turbulence

The NTDA does not measure clear-air turbulence, such as that caused by the jet stream or by wind flowing over mountainous terrain. But about two out of every three turbulence encounters are associated with clouds and storms, the focus of NTDA detection.

Turbulence has major impacts on aviation. According to a review of National Traffic Safety Board data from 1992 to 2001 by the National Aviation Safety Data Analysis Center, turbulence was a factor in at least 509 accidents in the United States, including 251 deaths (mostly in the general aviation sector). Additionally, the FAA Joint Safety Analysis Team estimated that there are more than 1,000 minor turbulence-related injuries on commercial aircraft annually. Airlines lose millions of dollars every year due to turbulence because of injury claims, delays, extra fuel costs, and aircraft damage.

This research is in response to requirements and funding by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) via its Aviation Weather Research Program. The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the FAA.***

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By: Lockergnome
Source: http://www.lockergnome.com

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Canadian Firm Gives Aircraft Safety a Lift

Canadian Firm Gives Aircraft Safety a Lift
(Updated 'black box' helped Indian Air Force duo set world record)

Bouncing all the way around the planet at about 20 kilometres an hour in a microlight aircraft may not be your idea of fun, but it was the dream of two daredevil pilots from India.

Wing Commanders Rahul Monga and Anil Kumar recently logged 40,497 kilometres in 79 days of flying to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Indian Air Force.

Despite several hair-raising experiences, like a sudden gust of wind that turned a landing at a Chinese airport into an unplanned sudden takeoff, the crew shaved quite a few days off the previous record and landed safely near New Delhi on Aug. 19.

Their "luggage" include some new made-in-Canada technology that may fundamentally change the way airlines operate. It may also improve the passenger experience, even for those of us who would never cross the Bering Strait in a 500-kg craft powered by an engine that's smaller than some people's lawnmowers.
The device is called the automated flight information reporting system (AFIRS), made by Calgary-based Aeromechanical Services Ltd. (AMS).

Think of a flight data recorder - that "black box" that gets recovered and analysed when an aircraft crashes. Now, paint it blue, hook it up to even more systems on the airplane and give it the ability to communicate in real time by an Iridium satellite phone.

Aeromechanical CEO Bill Tempany says his product offers huge advantages to aircraft operators. "Everything on an aircraft is based on the OOOI times, the out, off, on, in times," he says.

These numbers drive aircraft maintenance schedules, how the crew is paid, even how much the company must pay to lease its seats. Right now, most airlines base those numbers on the pilot's logbook, which Tempany says is typically off by two to three minutes and always on the high side.

"It's not that pilots are fraudulent or anything like that," he says. "They're busy flying the aircraft and don't look at their watches as soon as the wheels come up or they touch down."

So they fill the sheets in later, while sitting in the lounge. Even a small discrepancy, multiplied over many flights, can cost the aircraft operator big bucks.

The original customer that ordered this system was Tyrolean Airlines, but the company now serves a range of regional and charter carriers, including Aloha, Skyservices and Canadian North.

Most people just assume that commercial aircraft pilots are in continuous voice contact with someone on the ground, but Tempany says that's just not true on many routes.

"The aircraft knows where it is at all times," he says, "but over the polar region, or the Pacific, or parts of the Caribbean, pilots are unable to communicate with anyone on the ground."

They can't alert the destination airport if a passenger needs medical attention, nor can they get needed information on a timely basis.

Tempany says Canadian North is hooking up laptops to the AFIRS system to beam weather reports and runway conditions to pilots flying in the Far North.

The system also has the potential to revolutionize the way aircraft are maintained. After all, nobody likes to have a flight delayed or cancelled while the mechanics muddle around trying to fix a burned-out light bulb or something.

"Our system looks for discrepancies," Tempany says. "So for example, if a part is about to fail we can alert the ground crew to be ready to fix it. We can also receive 'snag' reports from the cockpit, so if it's something that the pilot noticed it can be flagged."

This can result in fewer delays and happier customers, as well as better use of those expensive flying machines.

One possibly contentious area is the monitoring of how a pilot's flying. Just as truck drivers bristle at being tracked on the road, surely pilots don't like being told that they could have flown more efficiently and saved expensive aviation fuel?

Not so, says Tempany. He notes that airlines are now structured so that pilots are among the owners, either directly or through their pension fund and "that's changed the attitude a lot. People need to be more cognizant of what they do and how they do it if they're going to survive in this business. Our system helps them do a better job."

He also notes that the data can be anonymized so that individual pilots aren't fingered for using an excessive bank angle or putting too much wear and tear on the brake system.

The system is sold like a cellphone, he adds. "We give it away and charge them on a flight-hour basis."

"The payback period is coming in at seven months, with a 10-to-11 return on investment over a five-year contract.?

Asked why we don't see the technology on major airlines like United or American, he laughs. "They don't have any money."

Major carriers have systems and procedures that are part of union contracts and would take a while to change, Tempany adds.

But he cheerily reports that his company has received calls from three of the six major airlines, "who see what we're doing for other companies."

Of course, it would be even smarter to put the device right into an aircraft when it's built. U.K.-based Meggitt PLC was so impressed with the product that they agreed to market the product directly to aircraft manufacturers.

Richard Hayden, vice-president of Meggitt's sensing system division, says that AFIRS "adds immense value to our vibration and on-engine monitoring and health and usage monitoring systems.?

He sees potential in both the civilian and military markets.

As a giant U.K. defence contractor, Meggitt could have partnered with anyone in the world. Why did they choose AMS? Because "they had correctly conceived of the end-to-end delivery of the information," says Hayden. "What AMS did extremely well, that no one else has done in our estimation, is to recognize that once this data got to the ground it needed to be archived, verified and delivered via the Internet."

The flight-tracking system is AMS's major product, but the company also ferrets out other strange but profitable opportunities in the aviation industry.

AMS created a special box to hold the pilot's aircraft operating manuals that fits in the floor of the Dash-8 and CRJ aircraft and allows the manuals to be lifted out.

The company is also working on an "electronic flight bag" system that would allow pilots to avoid hernias from dragging around those legally-required manuals. Instead, they're using a cockpit computer that's kept up-to-date through the AFIRS system.

But there's more. "We're in the process of developing a cabin sterilization system to stop the spread of bird flu, when it comes," Tempany adds, seeing opportunity in what many would consider catastrophe.

Speaking of catastrophe, Tempany says he was kind of worried about those Indian pilots. "Sometimes I questioned their sanity. After all, they might have lasted only a few minutes if they ditched into icy water somewhere."

But he's happy knowing that, if they did have a crisis, his company's technology would allow them, and generations of pilots to come, to phone for help.***

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By: Tom Keenan - Business Edge
(Tom Keenan is a professor at the University of Calgary and an expert on technology and its social implications. He can be reached at keenan@businessedge.ca)
Source: http://www.businessedge.ca

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Lyon Crash Site Not Fossett's Aircraft

Lyon Crash Site Not Fossett's Aircraft
The search for famed aviator Steve Fossett has turned up six previously undocumented crash sites around Nevada and California.
Most recently a crash site above Fort Churchill Road 1:25 p.m. today generated some excitement when emergency personnel did not recognize it as old.

Lyon County Undersheriff Joe Sanford said a Care Flight helicopter crew landed near the site and identified it as an aircraft last registered in Oregon in 1975.

Civil Air Patrol Maj. Cynthia Ryan said there are more than 150 crash sites logged in the search area.
“That we’re finding so many crash sites is an indication of the search we’re doing,” she said. “We’re putting the area under a microscope, so to speak.”

Ryan said investigating the old sites would have to wait until the search for Fossett is complete.
Additional searchers will be available during the weekend to spell the ones who’ve worked through the week.
Sanford said search and rescue agencies from Lyon, Douglas, Mineral, Washoe and Mono counties are coordinating their efforts to provide additional personnel.

A search of Walker Lake will take several days, according to Trooper Chuck Allen of the Nevada Department of Public Safety.

Ryan said about half of the 17,000 square mile search area has been gone over during the five days since Fossett flew a 1980 Citabria Super Decathlon south from the Flying M Ranch in southeast Lyon County.
The ranch is owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton, grandfather of Paris Hilton.

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By: Kurt Hildebrand
khildebrand@recordcourier.com
Source: http://www.recordcourier.com/

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Bombardier Expects Strong Chinese Demand for Small Aircraft

Bombardier Expects Strong Chinese Demand for Small Aircraft
HONG KONG - Plane maker Bombardier expects strong demand from China as domestic air and business travel grows and the need for smaller-sized aircraft rises, executives said Tuesday.

The company expects China to need 1,660 aircraft with capacity for up to 149 passengers over the next 20 years, said Trung Ngo, Bombardier Aerospace vice president for marketing and communications, who was attending the Hong Kong air show.

In June Bombardier, the world's No. 4 plane maker and a specialist in smaller planes, said it would partner with Chinese counterpart China Aviation Industry Corp. I, or AVIC I, to develop a 90- to 149-seat commercial airplane.

The agreement covers AVIC I's own five-abreast ARJ21-900 aircraft and Bombardier's proposed C-Series aircraft.
Ngo said despite Bombardier's technical assistance to AVIC I, demand for smaller aircraft in China is large enough for both companies to thrive.

"The demand from China is very large and the rest of the world's market is big, so we don't see ourselves in conflict at all," he said.

The project to build the ARJ-21 — a passenger jet seating up to 85 that will be China's first homegrown commercial aircraft — aims to make state-owned AVIC I a competitor to other makers of smaller passenger jets, such as Bombardier and Brazil's Embraer SA, while laying the groundwork for the development of a Chinese commercial jet of twice the size.

AVIC I says the ARJ-21 is expected to grab up to 60 per cent of the domestic market for mid-size regional airliners over the next 20 years.

China will need about 900 mid-sized regional jets over the next two decades, AVIC I estimates, as economic growth drives an expansion of air travel and airlines look for planes tailored for feeder routes.

Separately, David Dixon, Bombardier vice president for sales, said he expects demand in China for private jets to grow "exponentially" as Chinese companies expand abroad.

"Instead of being a recipient of inbound investment, now it is going out. They have to go these markets. They are going to see the value of having that flexibility," he told The Associated Press at the air show.

Mr. Dixon said Montreal-based Bombardier has received 200 orders for its private jets worldwide in the first two quarters this year, with seven coming from Greater China, which includes mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

He wouldn't break down how many orders the company received from mainland China.***

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By: Dikky Sinn
Associated Press
Source: http://www.reportonbusiness.com

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Hunt for Fossett in Aircraft ‘Graveyard’

Hunt for Fossett in Aircraft ‘Graveyard’

WHEN Stuart Radnofsky first encountered Steve Fossett at the Le Mans 24-hour endurance race in 1993, the record-setting American sportsman was standing at the back of a garage in his racing suit, reading a biography of Albert Einstein.

“You don’t meet many drivers like that,” said Radnofsky, a former Formula One marketing consultant who went on to become a close friend and business partner in Fossett’s latest quest for competitive glory – an attack on the world land speed record of 763mph, set in 1997 by Andy Green, the British driver.

Like many of Fossett’s friends and colleagues, Radnofsky was both stunned and mystified by his disappearance last week over western Nevada. He had taken off in near-perfect weather for a sightseeing flight in a light aircraft he had flown before.
On Friday, Radnofsky put a brave face on the increasingly gloomy prospects for his friend’s survival. But his voice repeatedly cracked with emotion as he described Fossett as “an extraordinary individual with a great capacity for endurance and a great mental rigour for dealing with bad situations”.

As the hunt for the aviator entered its sixth day yesterday, his situation could not have been much worse. After a difficult start to the search effort amid high winds and severe turbulence above the Nevada desert, conditions improved on Wednesday. Rescuers were then able to check more than half of a search area that expanded to 17,500 square miles of mountain terrain that resembles the more remote battlefields of Afghanistan.

Yet despite at least four credible sightings of Fossett’s plane soon after he took off at around 9am last Monday, officials admitted they were no closer to establishing what route the adventurer had flown or where his aircraft may have gone down. There are now doubts that he was wearing a Breitling watch equipped with a personal emergency transmitter.

A Nevada air force reserve C-130 transport plane with sophisticated electronic listening equipment scoured the area for traces of the watch and a locator beacon attached to Fossett’s plane. But “it did not pick up any signal whatsoever”, said Major Cynthia Ryan of the Nevada Civil Air Patrol (CAP).

Bumping along in a Cessna light aircraft at 3,000ft above the jagged ridges that sprawl across the desert 300 miles east of San Francisco, it was easy to see why the searchers were having such difficulty. Forbidding peaks and empty valleys stretched to the southern horizon. This is one of the most barren corners of America, a rugged wilderness that has swallowed at least 150 light aircraft crashes in the past five decades.

Scarred by deep ravines that never see sunlight, it is also home to some of America’s fiercest thermal currents. The town of Minden, 60 miles from the ranch where Fossett was staying, bills itself as “the world’s greatest soaring site” for gliders.

Yet according to local pilots, the winds that are so friendly to gliders can be deadly for heavier aircraft. As our Cessna crossed a low ridge, it bucked and jolted uncomfortably as it hit a new current of air. If a light aircraft is travelling too close to the ground, a sudden down-draught can slam it against a mountain.

“Down-draughts are not good for us,” explained Lee Elson, a retired Nasa scientist who now gives flying lessons out of Minden’s tiny airport.

Elson happened to be flying on Monday at the same time as Fossett, 63, a multi-millionaire former commodities trader who teamed up with Sir Richard Branson for a series of hot air balloon and aircraft adventures.

“The conditions were pretty benign,” Elson said as he steered our Cessna towards calmer air over a valley. “But there was some wind and where there’s wind there’s turbulence, and where there’s turbulence there’s a chance of getting into trouble if you fly too close to the ground.”

Elson said he saw an aircraft like Fossett’s single-engine Citabria Super Decathlon flying close to the summit of Mount Patterson, an 11,500ft peak close to the Nevada-California border. “As we went around the mountain we could see him for a little while, then we didn’t see him any more. I didn’t think about it until I heard the news reports about Fossett on Tuesday.”

He reported the sighting to the CAP, which has focused its search on a broad swathe of desert and mountain to the south and east of the 1m-acre Flying M ranch, where Fossett spent last weekend as a guest of Barron Hilton, the 79-year-old hotel magnate and aviation buff.

Early reports said Fossett had gone flying in search of dry lake beds as possible sites for the high-speed testing of his jet-propelled land speed challenger, Spirit of America. But Radnofsky and other associates said the “Target 800 (mph)” team had already checked possible sites and settled on options elsewhere.

Radnofsky, who lives in Britain, spoke to Fossett shortly before he left his Colorado home for the Hilton ranch last weekend, and the two men discussed the test runs they had scheduled for later this month on the Bonneville salt flats in Utah. “We think Steve, a bit atypically, decided on a sightseeing flight before leaving the ranch,” said Radnofsky.

With its long private airstrip and its remote yet blissful riverside location in an oasis of greenery surrounded by mountains, the Flying M has long been known as a paradise for aviators. Hilton has turned one wing of the ranch house into his personal retreat; the public areas and cabins scattered around the property have become a kind of invitation-only resort for young pilots who catch Hilton’s eye.

Across the dirt track that provides the only overland access to the ranch is the hangar known to visitors as “Mr Hilton’s toy store”. A passionate aircraft collector, Paris Hilton’s grandfather has acquired a 1941 Stearman biplane, a 1943 Beech Stagger-wing, a McDonnell Douglas helicopter, at least three hot air balloons and his own Cessna Citation executive jet – all at the disposal of his guests.

It was the aerobatic Citabria that Fossett chose for what may prove to have been his last flight. His friends insist he would have had no interest in throwing the plane around the sky – he had always been more focused on feats of endurance, as many of his most remarkable sailing, gliding and flying records attest.

“He was not a fast runner at school, but he just had the greatest stamina,” said Radnofsky. “That’s how he ran across Death Valley, swam the English Channel and skied across the Rockies from Aspen to Vail.”

If Fossett survived the crash, he would need every ounce of that fabled endurance. Although searchers remained resolutely optimistic yesterday, several admitted privately that the chances that he had been able to manage a controlled landing are remote. The most likely scenarios are that he had a heart attack or lost control of his plane when flying too low to recover.

Searchers were buoyed on Friday by news from Oregon that a 76-year-old woman had been found alive after more than a week lost in a mountain wilderness. But local pilots recalled a search for a missing light aircraft in Nevada in 2004. The search was called off after a month and the passengers and wreckage have never been found.***

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By: Tony Allen - Mills Minden, Nevada
From The Sunday Times
Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk

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