Qatar Airways’ first A350 XWB completes its maiden flight

The first customer A350-900 which will be delivered to Qatar Airways has successfully completed its maiden flight. The flight was the first time an A350 XWB configured for a customer has taken to the sky. Following the successful flight, Qatar’s A350 XWB will continue its production phase before delivery; this includes cabin completion as well as further ground and flight tests.

Qatar Airways will become the first operator of the A350 XWB when it takes delivery of its first aircraft later this year. The airline has 80 A350s on order, including 43 A350-900 and 37 of the larger A350-1000 models. With a cross-section of 220 inches from armrest to armrest, the A350’s cabin provides the widest seats in its category, offering its passengers a unique experience of space and comfort.

The A350 XWB is Airbus’ all-new mid-size long range product line and the newest member of Airbus' leading widebody family. The A350 XWB stands out in its class thanks to its combination of passenger comfort, technological innovation and its unique industrial process. Built hand-in-hand with our customers, the A350 XWB sets new standards in terms of passenger experience, operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. At the end of September 2014, the A350 XWB had won 750 orders from 39 customers worldwide.

Source and image: Airbus

Airbus to adjust A330 production rate to nine a month

Airbus has decided to adjust the production rate for its A330 Family from the current rate 10 to 9 aircraft a month in Q4 2015 as it transitions towards the A330neo.

Since 2013, Airbus has been building 10 A330 Family aircraft each month, the industry’s highest ever production rate for this aircraft size category, reflecting the strong success of Airbus’ market leading widebody family.

“Our role as an aircraft manufacturer is to anticipate and adapt our output to ensure we continue to maintain a smooth production flow for Airbus and for our supply chain,” said Tom Williams, Airbus’ Executive Vice President Programmes. “With the recent commercial success we’ve seen following the launch of the A330neo, in addition to the new 242 tonne weight variant and the A330 optimised for regional routes, we are confident we will sustain a steady production towards the A330neo ramp up period.”

The A330 Family, which spans 250 to 300 seats, and includes Freighter, VIP, and Military Transport/Tanker variants, has now attracted more than 1,300 orders, with over 1,100 aircraft flying with more than 100 operators worldwide. The A330 is one of the world’s most efficient aircraft with best in class operating economics. With numerous on-going product enhancements entering service in the coming years, such as the more capable 242 tonne take-off-weight variant, the A330 for regional and domestic routes and the A330neo, the A330 Family remains the most cost-efficient and capable widebody aircraft, averaging operational reliability above 99 percent. The A330 belongs to the successful Airbus Widebody aircraft Family, which comprises the A330, A350 XWB and A380, and uniquely spans the 250 to over 500 seats segment.

Source and image: Airbus

China is stepping up its efforts to help curb the Ebola

China is stepping up its efforts to help curb the Ebola outbreak. Foreign Ministry representative, Hong Lei says it is to send dozens of experts to train 10,000 medical workers and community epidemic prevention and control workers. This comes amid growing anger over the so far limited response from other countries.

World's largest union for flight attendants sues US aviation authority to force passengers to put down their mobile phones

World's largest union for flight attendants sues US aviation authority to force passengers to put down their mobile phones during take-off and landing

• Last month rules changed in Europe regarding use of mobiles on planes
• Now up to 'discretion of airlines' but will have to test thoroughly
• U.S. flight attendants' union took their own case to court
• Said that devices 'distract' passengers and could be 'projectiles' 
• Believes crew and passengers could be 'at risk of injury' 

 
 
 
 
 

15shares

2

View comments

The world's largest union for flight attendants says passengers should be forced to stow their mobile phones during take-off and landing.

The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) is suing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), arguing that the reversal on a long-standing ban is causing passengers to ignore safety announcements and could turn smartphones into dangerous projectiles if not stowed properly.

Laws have been passed that allow the use of mobile devices during flights, but the AFA believes they are inadmissible due to insufficient debate and lack of clarity of what training would be provided.

+4

The European Aviation Safety Agency in Germany has issued new guidelines. They state that passengers can use portable electronics, including phones and tablets, at any time during flights

And, while acknowledging that testing of devices on board is important for navigation purposes, the union's main focus is on the stowage of electronic devices.

A spokesman for the union told MailOnline: 'AFA is only concerned about the stowage issue.

RELATED ARTICLES

• Previous
• 1
• Next

• European safety watchdog gives greenlight to making mobile phone calls IN THE AIRPassengers’ terror as cabin walls CRACKED and plane shook violently forcing emergency landing on...Behind the curtain of North Korea's official domestic airline: Soviet-era planes and censored...Don't cut lettuce with a knife and fork in France, avoid talking to strangers in Italy and don't buy...

'If portable electronic devices can be safely left on during take-off and landing, they must still be properly stowed during take-off and landing so that in a sudden stop or deceleration, they won’t fly out of passengers' hands and injure others in the cabin, including the first responder flight attendants who are needed to conduct the evacuation, or impede and hinder emergency evacuation through the aisles.

'We have significant concerns on this particular topic for crew and passenger safety in the cabin, but it's also a matter of protecting the rulemaking process when considering any future changes to regulations.'

+4

A spokesman for the flight attendants' union says it is only concerned about the stowage issue

+4

British Airways has already decided to let passengers use wifi and send texts

The union highlighted that devices can distract passengers from safety announcements and become dangerous projectiles.

The AFA also says that in letting passengers keep the devices out, the Federal Aviation Administration changed an agency regulation without steps required by law.

'Any time there is a change in aviation safety regulations, the law requires a notice of proposed rulemaking and opportunity for public comment. 

'The FAA announcement that some portable electronic devices no longer need to be safely stowed during take-off and landing changed the existing stowage rule without following a formal rule making process. 

'This announcement, which changed existing practice overnight, failed to consider training for flight crews who would be charged with implementing the new rule and increases the risks of injury to crew and passengers when evacuating an airplane in an emergency.' 

+4

A case brought by the Association of Flight Attendants to ban the use of electronic devices on take-off and landing looks to have failed

But the judges hearing the case suggested they won't be prying portable electronics out of passengers' hands.

'Airlines have always had discretion on how to handle this,' Judge Harry T. Edwards told a lawyer for the 60,000-member union.

Judge Janice Rogers Brown asked about the flight attendants' concern that allowing passengers to keep out electronics leaves 'more things to fly around' the airplane cabin during turbulence. 

But a lawyer for the government, Jeffrey Sandberg, told the judges that cellphones and other small devices are no more dangerous than books that passengers have been allowed to keep out. 

Technology in the air... 

British Airways, who have pushed on with mobile allowances on their flights, have already allow the use of voice calls after landing.

They have no plans to permit the use of mobile phones for voice calls during flights as  feedback from customers has shown the majority of them find them an intrusion and disruptive. 

But customers can use their mobile phones and other handheld devices, to send and receive texts, emails and data on their Club World London City service, which also offers internet access between London and New York. 

BA are in discussions with Inmarsat about leading Europe in a new era of broadband in the air. 

Starting with UK domestic routes we intend to roll-out Europe’s first ground-based 4G broadband network giving customers the internet access they expect on the ground while in the air. 

The FAA does insist that mobiles are put into airplane mode for flights however, but passengers can still listen to music and watch downloaded movies or television programmes. 

The court will issue a written ruling at a later date. 

The case will have provoked interest from Europe after the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) last month relaxed the rules on electronic devices on flights.

Passengers flying into or out of Europe will now be able to use portable electronics including phones and tablets at any time during their flights.

Starting immediately, European-based airlines can, at their own discretion, allow passengers to leave electronics on throughout the entire flight, without putting them into airplane mode.

But airlines will need to certify their planes aren't affected by transmission signals before allowing devices to be used.

Spokesman Ilias Maragakis for the EASA said the plans are a step beyond what's allowed by the US FAA.

‘We're basically opening the door where, in theory, you'll be able to continue making your phone call through the gate throughout the flight, like you would on a train.’

British Airways already lets passengers on its business class flights from London to New York to use wifi and send texts, and is starting to relax the regulations on other flights as well.

A spokesman for the UK's Civil Aviation Authority said: 'The ruling means it's now up to the airlines to what they allow, but obviously they have to go through certain tests and procedures.

'But it could be that you can use your mobile and other devices just like you would in a car, train or other form of transport.

'The ruling is a legally binding document, so it's something that has to be accepted.'

Thomas Eric Duncan

By JOSEPHUS WEEKS

Published: 14 October 2014 05:46 PM

Updated: 16 October 2014 10:07 AM

On Friday, Sept. 25, 2014, my uncle Thomas Eric Duncan went to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. He had a high fever and stomach pains. He told the nurse he had recently been in Liberia. But he was a man of color with no health insurance and no means to pay for treatment, so within hours he was released with some antibiotics and Tylenol.

Two days later, he returned to the hospital in an ambulance. Two days after that, he was finally diagnosed with Ebola. Eight days later, he died alone in a hospital room.

Now, Dallas suffers. Our country is concerned. Greatly. About the lack of answers and transparency coming from a hospital whose ignorance, incompetence and indecency has yet to be explained. I write this on behalf of my family because we want to set the record straight about what happened and ensure that Thomas Eric did not die in vain. So, here’s the truth about my uncle and his battle with Ebola.

Thomas Eric Duncan was cautious. Among the most offensive errors in the media during my uncle’s illness are the accusations that he knew he was exposed to Ebola — that is just not true. Eric lived in a careful manner, as he understood the dangers of living in Liberia amid this outbreak. He limited guests in his home, he did not share drinking cups or eating utensils.

And while the stories of my uncle helping a pregnant woman with Ebola are courageous, Thomas Eric personally told me that never happened. Like hundreds of thousands of West Africans, carefully avoiding Ebola was part of my uncle’s daily life.

And I can tell you with 100 percent certainty: Thomas Eric would have never knowingly exposed anyone to this illness.

Thomas Eric Duncan was a victim of a broken system. The biggest unanswered question about my uncle’s death is why the hospital would send home a patient with a 103-degree fever and stomach pains who had recently been in Liberia — and he told them he had just returned from Liberia explicitly due to the Ebola threat.

Some speculate that this was a failure of the internal communications systems. Others have speculated that antibiotics and Tylenol are the standard protocol for a patient without insurance.

The hospital is not talking. Until then, we are all left to wonder. What we do know is that their error affects all of society. Their bad judgment or misjudgment sent my uncle back into the community for days with a highly contagious case of Ebola. And now, officials suspect that a breach of protocol by the hospital is responsible for a new Ebola case, and that all health care workers who care for my uncle could potentially be exposed.

Their error set the wheels in motion for my uncle’s death and additional Ebola cases, and their ignorance, incompetence or indecency has created a national security threat for our country.

Thomas Eric Duncan could have been saved. Finally, what is most difficult for us — Thomas Eric’s mother, children and those closest to him — to accept is the fact that our loved one could have been saved. From his botched release from the emergency room to his delayed testing and delayed treatment and the denial of experimental drugs that have been available to every other case of Ebola treated in the U.S., the hospital invited death every step of the way.

When my uncle was first admitted, the hospital told us that an Ebola test would take three to seven days. Miraculously, the deputy who was feared to have Ebola just last week was tested and had results within 24 hours.

The fact is, nine days passed between my uncle’s first ER visit and the day the hospital asked our consent to give him an experimental drug — but despite the hospital’s request they were never able to access these drugs for my uncle. (Editor’s note: Hospital officials have said they started giving Duncan the drug Brincidofovir on October 4.) He died alone. His only medication was a saline drip.

For our family, the most humiliating part of this ordeal was the treatment we received from the hospital. For the 10 days he was in the hospital, they not only refused to help us communicate with Thomas Eric, but they also acted as an impediment. The day Thomas Eric died, we learned about it from the news media, not his doctors.

Our nation will never mourn the loss of my uncle, who was in this country for the first time to visit his son, as my family has. But our nation and our family can agree that what happened at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas must never happen to another family.

In time, we may learn why my uncle’s initial visit to the hospital was met with such incompetence and insensitivity. Until that day comes, our family will fight for transparency, accountability and answers, for my uncle and for the safety of the country we love.

Josephus Weeks, a U.S. Army and Iraq War veteran who lives in North Carolina, wrote this piece exclusively for The Dallas Morning News. Reach him at josephusweeks@yahoo.com.

The 1st of 5 737-800s coming home tomorrow ‪#‎KQBirds‬

Jet Aviation Dubai receives Part 145 approval for Dassault Falcon 2000

Jet Aviation Dubai recently received an amendment to its EASA Part 145 certificate, granting approval to provide line maintenance to Dassault Falcon 2000 aircraft.

With this approval, Jet Aviation Dubai holds EASA authorization to provide line maintenance for Dassault Falcon 7X, F900 EX Easy; F900DX; F2000; F2000 EX Easy and F2000 DX aircraft. The company also has FAA approval to provide full line and base maintenance to the entire Dassault Falcon family.

“We are very pleased to expand our service capabilities to meet the needs of our customers,” says Hardy Butschi, vice president and general manager of Jet Aviation Dubai. “This is an important service expansion for all owners and operators of EASA-registered Falcon 2000 aircraft in the region and we look forward to welcoming them to our facility."

Jet Aviation Dubai was recently honored with the #1 Top Line Service level, Falcon Authorized Service Center 2014 Award in the “Go Team Response” category for supporting the most Aircraft-on-Ground (AOG) instances in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). To help ensure minimum ground time for Dassault Falcon aircraft, the company also holds a Dassault Falcon consignment stock in Dubai.

Source and image: Jet Aviation