Snowbirds Airshow Pause Related To A 'Close Call' During Performance

The Canadian newspaper The Star reports that the team was performing a maneuver called the "Double Take", in which for aircraft fly in formation with two inverted at about 300 feet above the ground. One of the aircraft encountered turbulence from the jet in front of it, causing control issues. The pilot of that aircraft managed to recover, but at a very low altitude, according to team commander Lt.-Col. Brad Wintrup.

The team returned to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan for additional training. The team's normal practice time was cut short this spring due to poor weather. Wintrup said that the team needs to fly at least once per day, seven days a week during training periods to build confidence and muscle memory. Often, the team flies as often as two or three times per day.

The team normally begins training in October for the next year's season. This year, several incidents including the one in Ft. Lauderdale led to the stand-down and additional practice.

Airflite Named Newest Piper Dealer

Airflite currently owns 18 Piper Seminoles and Senecas. As a lessor, owner, operator, maintainer and parts supplier, Airflite is uniquely positioned to guide and support current and future Piper customers through the selection, purchasing and operating phases of Piper Aircraft ownership.

 
"For many years Airflite has been a proud and highly satisfied owner of Piper products. Piper's value proposition and desire to engage with Airflite and the Customers in the region is exciting and promising for our future relationship and for aircraft owners and operators in the region. This Agreement represents another important step in building a diverse and robust Aircraft and Helicopter Sales and Brokerage capability at Airflite", said Airflite's General Manager, Kristian Constantinides.
 
Mr Nick Jones, Airflite's Vice President of Aircraft Sales, added "This Agreement provides Airflite with the opportunity to communicate the benefits Piper's wide range of products directly to our aircraft owners in Australia and New Zealand. As an example, we are looking forward to introducing the Piper M600 to the market through demonstration tours later in the year." 

"Airflite has the experience, presence and passion throughout Australia and New Zealand to become a dominant player in the sales of new Piper aircraft," said Piper Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Customer Support Ron Gunnarson. "We are delighted to add Airflite to our global network of Dealers.  The company's reputation, knowledgeable personnel and strategic locations at Perth, Moorabbin, and Jandakot provide an ideal foundation for growing sales of new Piper airplanes in this important region."

Singapore Airlines to retire four A380s by 2Q18

Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) will retire four of its A380-800s by March of next year, ahead of the expected delivery of three new aircraft of the same type. The fleet change plans were highlighted in its annual report which was released last week.

Other aircraft to be removed from the fleet are two A330-300s, two B777-200s and one B777-200(ER). Their removal will make way for the addition of ten A350-900s as well as the afore-mentioned A380-800s.

Presumably, Singapore will be looking to phase out the elder of its A380s. According to ch-aviation fleet data, the oldest of the aircraft in Singapore's fleet are 9V-SKA (msn 3), 9V-SKB (msn 5), 9V-SKC (msn 6), 9V-SKD (msn 8) and 9V-SKE (msn 10) all delivered during 2006 and 2008 and leased from DS Aviation/Doric Asset Finance.

The carrier anticipates that the changes in its fleet will lead to a marginal capacity increase of 0.4%

Nigerian pilot becomes first African to fly solo around the world

Cape Town – A Nigerian born pilot for Air Djibouti Ademilola "Lola" Odujinrin has made history by becoming the first African pilot to fly solo around the world. 

In a statement, the Djibouti Ports and Free Zone Authority (DPFZA) said that Odujinrin had completed the final leg of his historic journey, landing safely at Washington Dulles International Airport. 

"The pilot has completed the entire circumnavigation in a Cirrus SR22, stopping in more than 15 countries on five continents, returning to Washington DC, where his journey began back in September," the statement said.

The flight was part of Project Transcend, a foundation which aimed to inspire young people to achieve their goals regardless of their personal circumstances. 

Odujinrin, who has logged 4 000 hours as a commercial Boeing 737 pilot since his pilot licence six years ago said: "Ever since I was a child, I dreamed of one day flying around the world. We have a responsibility to lead by example and follow our dreams. I want African children to think: 'I can do this too!'. 

"I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Air Djibouti’s Chairman, Aboubaker Omar Hadi, and Cardiff Aviation’s Chairman, Bruce Dickinson, who have supported me throughout this journey. Without them this would not have been possible," said Odujinrin.

Meanwhile, the Chairperson of Air Djibouti Aboubaker Omar Hadi said that with such an initiative the state owned airline was hoping to inspire "a new generation of pilots in Africa and help to pave the way for the aviation industry to thrive in the region.  

"The benefits will be felt within the region, as this will encourage more intra-African trade and sustainable economic development".

American Airlines pilot dies after episode on flight

Albuquerque - An American Airlines pilot has died after becoming ill just before his plane landed in Albuquerque.

During the flight from Dallas-Fort Worth, the captain declared an emergency and landed the plane at Albuquerque International airport.

The plane taxied to a gate and was met by paramedics, who were unable to save William "Mike" Grubbs, 58, a Dallas-based co-pilot.

Passengers were apparently unaware of the gravity of the incident during the last minutes of the flight but said the captain told them after landing that they would not be able to exit the plane immediately because of a medical emergency.

There was no immediate word of the cause of death.

Land the plane

Grubbs joined the airlines in 2010 as a pilot of Boeing 737s after flying smaller planes for American Eagle.

The pilots' union said Grubbs lived in Lebanon, Tennessee and said it was offering help to his family. He was married and was the father of a son, who will graduate from college in May.

Pilot deaths during flights are rare. In most cases, the other pilot in the cockpit has been able to land the plane without further incident.

Pilots must pass regular medical exams. In 2009, the Federal Aviation Administration raised the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots from 60 to 65 and some have suggested raising it again to help deal with a shortage of pilots.

Forensic expert suggests explosion downed EgyptAir jet

Cairo - Body parts recovered from the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804 showed signs of burns and were so small that they suggested the jet was brought down by an explosion, a member of the team examining the remains said Tuesday. But the idea of a blast was promptly dismissed by the head of Egypt's forensic agency as "baseless" speculation.

The cause of Thursday's crash of the EgyptAir jet flying from Paris to Cairo that killed all 66 people aboard still has not been determined. Ships and planes from Egypt, Greece, France, the United States and other nations are searching the Mediterranean Sea north of the Egyptian port of Alexandria for the jet's voice and flight data recorders, as well as more bodies and parts of the aircraft.

Egypt's civil aviation minister has said he believes terrorism is a more likely explanation than equipment failure or some other catastrophic event. But no hard evidence has emerged on the cause, and no militant group has claimed to have downed the jet.

Leaked flight data indicated a sensor detected smoke in a lavatory and a fault in two of the plane's cockpit windows in the final moments of the flight.

An Egyptian forensic team was examining the remains of the victims for any traces of explosives, according to a team member and a second official, both speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to reporters.

The team member said the fact that all 80 body parts recovered so far were very small and that some showed signs of burns suggested an explosion.

"There isn't even a whole body part, like an arm or a head," said the forensic official, who examined the remains.

He said at least one part of an arm has signs of burns - an indication it might have "belonged to a passenger sitting next to the explosion."

"The logical explanation is that an explosion brought it down," he said, adding that if there was a blast, the cause was not known.

Mere assumptions

But Hisham Abdel-Hamid, head of the Egyptian government's forensic agency, dismissed the suggesting, telling the state-run MENA news agency: "Whatever has been published is baseless and mere assumptions."

France's aviation accident investigation agency would not comment on anything involving the bodies or say whether any information has surfaced to indicate an explosion.

Other experts were divided on whether the state of the remains necessarily suggested an explosion.

Philip Butterworth-Hayes, an aviation systems expert, said such damage was unlikely if the plane was intact when it hit the water.

"Normally an impact is not going to do that to a human body in a seat belt," he said, adding that in some aircraft hit the water, bodies are found relatively intact.

"Normally the human frame can withstand quite severe deceleration, which is what happens when a plane hits the water," Butterworth-Hayes said.

But David Learmount, a consulting editor at the aviation news website Flightglobal, said a water impact could have such a devastating effect on those in the plane.

"Hitting water after a fall from that height is like hitting a cliff face," he said.

There also have been contradictory reports over the last moments of Flight 804.

Greece's defence minister said radar showed the aircraft turned 90 degrees left, then a full 360 degrees to the right, plummeting from 38 000 feet (11 582 meters) to 15 000 feet (4 572 meters) before disappearing at about 10 000 feet (3 048 meters).

Controversy

But the head of Egypt's state-run provider of air navigation services denied that, saying the plane did not swerve or lose altitude and disappeared from radar while at its normal altitude of 37 000 feet.

A Greek military official insisted that all radar data available to Greek authorities showed the plane swerving and losing altitude. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to reporters.

Egypt's investigative team said 18 batches of wreckage have been brought to Cairo's criminal investigation units for examination.

It added that priority was to locate the flight data and cockpit voice recorders - the so-called "black boxes" - and to retrieve more bodies.

A French patrol boat is carrying a doctor to help with the search for remains. Anything it finds would first be reported to Egyptian authorities and French justice officials, the French Navy said.

Relatives of the victims were giving DNA samples to the forensic team in Cairo to help identify the remains, a security official said. The official also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to reporters.

Plane in Chicago had 'uncontained engine failure'

Chicago — Pilots were forced to abort a take-off and evacuate passengers from a burning American Airlines flight on Friday on a runway at Chicago O'Hare International Airport after the airliner experienced what a federal official said was a rare and serious type of engine failure.

American Airlines Flight 383 to Miami experienced an "uncontained engine failure," in which engine parts break off and are spewed outside the engine, the official said. The official wasn't authorised to speak publicly about the incident and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The danger of such a failure is that engine pieces effectively become shrapnel and can cause extensive damage to the aircraft.

Flames and heavy black smoke poured from the side of the Boeing 767 jet as it sat on the runway after the aborted take-off. Officials said the incident left 21 people injured. Footage from the scene showed passengers coming down emergency slides and hurrying across grass next to the runway as emergency vehicles surrounded the plane. The right wing was drooping toward the ground and appeared to have partially melted.

Passenger Sarah Ahmed told WLS-TV the plane was speeding down the runway when she heard an explosion and saw flames and black smoke. She said everyone on the right side of the aircraft jumped from their seats and moved to the left side.

"People are yelling, 'Open the door! Open the door!' Everyone's screaming and jumping on top of each other to open the door," Ahmed said. "Within that time, I think it was seven seconds, there was now smoke in the plane and the fire is right up against the windows, and it's melting the windows."

Video of incident Involving an American Airlines flight at Chicago O'Hare ? pic.twitter.com/k51a0kJ9Jc

— Flight Alerts ? (@FlightAlerts777) October 28, 2016

Mechanical issue

The pilots reported an engine-related mechanical issue and aborted the take-off, according to American Airlines spokesperson Leslie Scott.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the plane made an emergency stop around 14:35 after experiencing a problem during take-off. An earlier FAA statement said the plane had blown a tire, but officials later deleted that information from the statement.

Chicago Deputy Fire Commissioner Timothy Sampey said 20 passengers suffered minor injuries as they used the emergency chutes to evacuate. American, which had earlier said eight people were injured, later confirmed the 20 figure and added that one flight attendant was also injured.

In this photo provided by passenger Jose Castillo, fellow passengers walk away from a burning American Airlines jet that aborted takeoff and caught fire on the runway at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. ( Jose Castillo via AP)

Buses were sent to pick up the passengers and bring them back to the terminal, Scott said. The passengers were to be placed on another flight to Miami Friday evening.

The National Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigation into the incident, with investigators expected to arrive on the scene Friday evening, spokesman Keith Holloway said.

Uncontained engine failures are unusual thanks to improvements in designs and the metallurgy. There are many possible causes, including overheating, runway debris or large birds that get sucked into the engine or parts that break when they wear out but aren't replaced during maintenance checks.

Tom Walsh, an airline pilot who also works as a security consultant, said that engines that break apart can be especially serious if the parts end up cutting fuel lines or damaging other vital components of the aircraft.

But he said even such catastrophic failures don't necessarily doom a plane — even if a pilot runs out of runway and must take off.

"Planes are meant to fly with one engine," said Walsh, who has also flown Boeing 767s. "We are trained so that we can lose the engine at the worst possible time ... and then still successfully take off and land."

One of the best-known incidents of uncontained engine failure occurred in 1989, when 111 people were killed when a United Air Lines DC-10 crashed while making an emergency landing at Sioux City, Iowa. There were 185 survivors.

Blades ‘like firing a bullet’

Such engine failures are taken "very seriously" in the aviation industry, said John Cox, a former airline pilot and aviation safety consultant. It's mandatory that airlines report the failures to the NTSB, he said.

"It's something everyone in aviation safety tracks very carefully," said Cox, president of Safety Operating Systems.

Engines are especially vulnerable to overheating that can cause parts to fail during take-offs when they are already operating at very high temperatures, said John Goglia, a former National Transportation Safety Board member and expert on aircraft maintenance.

The giant blades inside the engines are revolving at about 13 000 rpm, he said. When one comes loose, it's like firing a bullet, he said.

The aircraft involved in Friday's incident was built in 2003 and is among American's youngest planes of that model. According to data from FlightGlobal, an aviation news and industry data company, at the start of this year, the plane had flown more than 47 000 hours and made more than 7 500 cycles — each take-off and landing is one cycle. American is flying 767 aircraft that have more than 100 000 hours and 18 000 cycles.