"I owe America a global apology. Because John McCain, through all of this, John McCain should be our president."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/12/sarah-palin-apology_n_5810808.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013

NTSB: Crew Mistakes, Fatigue Caused UPS Crash

The August 2013 crash of a UPS cargo plane short of the runway in Birmingham, Alabama, was caused by a combination of crew errors and pilot fatigue, the National Transportation Safety Board said in its final accident report released on Tuesday.

 

UPS disagrees with the findings, saying the carrier provides adequate rest for crews and that fatigue should not have been included as a factor. The cargo airline and its pilots union were both kicked off the accident investigation team last month after publicly sparring about the cause of the crash before the official report was made public.

 

Ultimately, however, the NTSB determined that crew mistakes were the primary reasons for the accident, which killed both pilots when their Airbus A300-600 slammed into the ground less than a mile from the runway during a pre-dawn approach to Birmingham. Specifically investigators faulted the pilots for failing to make proper altitude and descent rate callouts and for not aborting the landing attempt during the unstabilized approach.

 

As they prepared for the flight the pilots can be heard on the cockpit voice recorder complaining of being tired and saying that cargo pilots should have been included in new federal rest and duty-time regulations. 

 

A UPS spokesman, however, rejected the notion that fatigue played a role in the crash.

 

"It is difficult to understand how the NTSB reached its conclusion regarding fatigue related to night flying when the pilot had not flown in 10 days and the first officer was off eight of the previous 10 days," the company spokesman told The Birmingham Courier-Journal.

 

Based on the investigation, the Safety Board issued 20 recommendations, including calls for the FAA to require crews to brief each other on fatigue before each flight and for UPS and its pilots union to work together to develop a better rest-management program.

Read more at http://www.flyingmag.com/technique/accidents/ntsb-crew-mistakes-fatigue-caused-ups-crash#g6TVVsJBS3Rae5Zy.99

Magneto Ignition Systems

The fuel air mixture in the combustion chamber needs to be ignited at the correct moment to ensure efficient combustion and power generation by the engine. This is the job of the ignition system, be that the old fashion magneto of the good old days or a modern fully electronic microprocessor controlled FADEC system we see more and more each passing year.

For obvious safety reasons the ignition system may not rely on the aircraft electrical system and must be dual and each system operates one of the two spark plugs in each cylinder.

These ignition systems apply to AVgas (spark ignited) engines and not to diesels, which are compression ignited engines.

Before we head on to sophisticated electronic ignitions we will discuss the good old magneto ignition from a bygone era. Mainly as you will still find these in the original and certified aircraft engines.

Magnetos are basically small generators with a transformer and a breaker switch and include a distributor to guide the high voltage to the spark plugs, and this will be the subject of this page.

Ignition

The sole purpose of the ignition system is to supply a high energy spark at the right moment thereby igniting the fuel air mixture so that the engine can start its power stroke. Such a system consists of a number of components:

• The source for the spark, either electronic or mechanical (magneto)
• Distributor to direct the spark to the correct cylinder/plug
• High tension leads to conduct the spark
• Two spark plugs per cylinder which ignite the mixture

Magnetos

These use a strong magnet rotating inside a coil. The magnetic field generates a voltage in the coil which is transformed to a higher voltage by a secondary coil with much more windings than the primary coil. A breaker contact in the primary coil circuit interrupts the flowing current and this interruption causes the magnetic field to collapse thereby generating a very high peak voltage in the secondary coil. This peak voltage is then conducted to the correct spark plugs by the distributor and high voltage leads.

Two magnetos are connected in such a way that one drives the top spark plugs and the other the bottom plugs on the engine (LEFT and RIGHT really means TOP and BOTTOM). The magnetos generate power independently of the aircraft electrical system, so that in the event of flat battery during flight the engine will keep running.

Timing

Timing is of the essence here, the breaker points (with parallel capacitor) are driven by a small cam and opening at the correct crankshaft angle. That's usually 25° BTDC (before top dead center). Also parallel connected to the breaker contact and capacitor is the ignition switch, either L or R. Which effectively stops the spark when closed.

Distributor

The distributor is also part of the magneto. Its function is to guide the high energy voltage to the correct spark plug through one of the high tension leads. As each cylinder fires every two revolutions of the crankshaft, the rotor in the distributor must therefore rotate at half the crankshaft speed.

Harness and Spark plugs

The ignition harness shields the high voltage and conducts it to the spark plugs, often bound together. The wires are screened or in a metal braid or conduit to shield the radio against the high frequency ignition interference.

A spark plug has a central electrode and a metal body which are screwed into the cylinder. Ceramic insulation is used to insulate the central electrode from the engine. Built into the spark plug is a resistor giving a short duration spark and protection against corrosion of the electrodes; it also suppression radio frequency interference to some degree.

Two spark plugs and separate ignition circuits are used per cylinder for redundancy, safety and better ignition and combustion of the mixture.

Impulse coupling

During starting of the engine, its crankshaft rotates very slowly (around 120 RPM) and the magnetos at 60 RPM. Generated voltage is very low at that point. The ignition timing is normally fixed at 25° BTDC, and this is too early at this low RPM. Should a cylinder fire it would probably cause a violent kickback (rotates momentarily in the wrong direction) and that will damage the starter and maybe more.

A device called a impulse coupling is used to retard the ignition timing to almost at TDC and an acceleration of the magnet (with a coiled spring) in the magneto to spice up the voltage to help igniting the mixture at TDC. When the engine fires and its RPM rises the timing is set back to 25° for normal operation (between 500 and 2700 RPM). The moment the engine fires and runs idle the impulse coupling detaches and timing is reset to 25° BTDC

On some engines a vibrating system is used to create a shower of sparks with the left magneto when starting during these low RPM operations.

http://www.experimentalaircraft.info/articles/aircraft-engines-ignition.php

A little sunlight, at the perfect angle

A little sunlight, at the perfect angle, can make things look a little unnerving! Amazing!

Dubai Airports approved for $32bn expansion

Dubai Airports today welcomed the announcement by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai endorsing the AED120bn (US$ 32bn) expansion of Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC) which will ultimately accommodate more than 200 million passengers a year.

The development is anticipated to be the biggest airport project in the world and will be built in two phases. The first phase includes two satellite buildings with a collectively capacity of 120 million passengers annually, accommodate 100 A380 aircraft at any one time and will take between six and eight years to complete. The entire development will cover an area of 56 square kilometres.

More than its size, the new airport’s uniqueness lies in a radically new approach to ensure that the latest technology and efficient processes will cut the time spent completing travel formalities and reduce walking distances, enabling passengers to make fast and efficient connections between hundreds of destinations worldwide.

The decision follows months of planning by the key stakeholders in the aviation sector, including Dubai Airports, Dubai Airports Engineering Projects, Emirates airline and dnata, to ensure that a design was selected that facilitates the future growth of Dubai’s aviation industry.

With passenger traffic expected to reach almost 100 million at Dubai International by the end of 2020, the further development of DWC will be a vital step towards providing the necessary facilities to accommodate passenger and cargo growth in the decades ahead and pave the way for Emirates to relocate their intercontinental hub operations to DWC by the mid-2020s.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, thanked Sheikh Mohammed for his visionary support of the project, and described the new airport as a vital investment in the future of Dubai. He confirmed that the aviation sector was projected to remain a cornerstone of Dubai’s economy, and was expected to support more than 322,000 jobs and contribute 28 per cent of Dubai’s GDP by 2020.

“Our future lies at DWC. The announcement of this AED120bn development of DWC is both timely and a strong endorsement of Dubai’s aviation industry. With limited options for further growth at Dubai International, we are taking that next step to securing our future by building a brand new airport that will not only create the capacity we will need in the coming decades but also provide state of the art facilities that revolutionise the airport experience on an unprecedented scale,” said Griffiths.

Source and image: Dubai Airports

Aircell rebrands as Gogo business aviation

Gogo Inc., a global aero-communications service provider, announces that Aircell, the company’s business aviationdivision, has rebranded as Gogo Business Aviation.

The Aircell brand can be traced back 23 years to the company’s original founding in 1991. Gogo Business Aviation will build on the Aircell tradition using the same people, passion and culture of innovation that made it business aviation’s most trusted in-flight connectivity brand. The only company to offer all three of business aviation’s most popular network technologies – Gogo Biz®, SwiftBroadband and Iridium – the company offers solutions to fulfill any customer need, aircraft type or geography.

As Gogo continues to expand its leadership position, its business and commercial aviation divisions now share a single, global brand. Operationally, the divisions will continue exchanging expertise and technologies while remaining solely focused on their respective markets.

“Gogo’s mission is to advance aviation by connecting every aircraft with the most trusted communications services on and above our planet. Having our commercial and business aviation divisions share a brand will make more people aware of the full breadth of our business,” said Michael Small, Gogo’s president and CEO. “The rebranding will also help travelers recognize their favorite Gogo services, whether they’re aboard an airline, corporate, fractional or charter aircraft – anywhere in the world,” concluded Small.

“We’re thrilled to introduce Gogo Business Aviation as the next evolution of our brand,” said John Wade, Gogo Business Aviation’s executive vice president and general manager. “The past five years has seen a remarkable menu of in-flight capabilities emerge for business aircraft operators, including Internet, e-mail, voice, texting, personal smartphone usage, movies, TV episodes, news, weather, cockpit data and more. And at the same time, the onboard equipment has become orders-of-magnitude smaller, lighter and more affordable. These truly are exciting times.”

Source and image: Gogo Inc.

Military plane crashes in Gulu, pilot ejects to safety

GULU – One person on-board a military aircraft escaped with his life after the plane he was flying crashed in the northern Ugandan district of Gulu on Thursday.

 

Colonel Joseph Balikuddembe, the Uganda People’s Defense Forces 4th Division Second-in-Command, said the plane crashed shortly after take-off from the 4th Division’s airbase.

 

The white L39 jet owned by the Uganda People’s Defence Forces was being flown by a trainee pilot, Emmaneul Sajjabi, who ejected the plane when it developed problems, in flight. 

 

“We use the plane for training purposes and routinely test our pilots on the same craft,” said Balikuddembe. 

 

The incident occurred in Patek Parish, Bobi subcounty.

 

The pilot sustained minor injuries and was moments after the crash taken to St. Mary’s Hospital, Lacor in Gulu Municipality.

 

Ambrose Otema who witnessed the air mishap said smoke billowed from the aircraft at around 12.30pm before going down.