Civil Aviation News

by Adam Hadhazy – Terrafugia’s Transition flying car and its chase plane during testing in May, 2009.

US-based freight forwarder Givens Air Freight, operating under the name Superior Air, is being prosecuted for allegedly bribing Pentagon managers to win contracts.

Prosecutors say Daniel Whitehurst, national accounts manager, and Mark Lamb, vice-president and general manager, gave 402 ‘items of value’ totalling US$44,000 to primary contractors between 2000 to 2006. In return Givens/Superior won subcontracts worth $2 million. The items included “gifts, cash, entertainment, free accommodations in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and travel expenses”.

The government is looking for restitution of at least $88,000.

Airlines grounded as volcano ash spreads

• Passengers use any means to get home
• Weather service says ash could last all week

MILLIONS of people face worsening travel chaos as a volcanic ash cloud from Iceland moves further south and east, forcing European countries to extend flight bans.

Iceland’s Eyjafjoell volcano erupted on Wednesday, sending ash drifting towards Europe at an altitude of about eight to 10 kilometres.

Europe’s three biggest airports – Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt – were closed. The ash cloud is now spreading towards Greece.

With flights grounded all over Europe, stranded holidaymakers and business travellers sought any means possible to get home – or contented themselves with just staying put.

An official for the Eurostar Channel tunnel rail service said thousands more passengers than normal were set to travel on its trains between London and continental Europe on Saturday.

British businessman Tom Noble said he had to buy a women’s bicycle to board a ferry home from France as the operator had no foot passenger tickets left and would only allow him on if he was a genuine cyclist.

Sky News reported comedian John Cleese paid £3000 for a taxi from Norway to Brussels so he could get the Eurostar home to England.

Airport closures
France has shut the three airports in the Paris area and others in the north of the country until 8am (4pm AEST) on Monday due to the ash cloud that has caused the biggest airspace shutdown since World War II.

Italy will not allow any flights in the north of the country until 6am (4pm AEST) Monday, while Britain, Ireland and Germany have shut their airspace until 12pm GMT (10pm AEST) Sunday.

British Airways has also cancelled all flights due to have arrived in and departed London today.

Other European nations also moved to extend their flight bans, including Austria to midnight GMT (10am AEST) today and Belgium to noon GMT (10pm AEST) tpday.

Poland says it’s shutting its airspace “until further notice”.

The closure of Poland’s airspace has stopped world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, from flying to the southern city of Krakow for Sunday’s funeral of president Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria.

The Kaczynski couple were among 96 people, most of them Polish dignitaries, killed in a plane crash in Russia last Saturday on their way to a World War II memorial service.

About 17,000 flights in European airspace yesterday were cancelled due to the cloud of volcanic ash, said Eurocontrol, which coordinates air traffic control in 38 nations.

A normal Saturday would see 22,000 flights in Europe. Eurocontrol said only about 5000 were able to operate.

Out of 337 scheduled flights by US carriers to and from Europe, 282 were cancelled yesterda, according to the Air Transport Association.

The impact is likely to exceed the airspace shutdown after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the International Civil Aviation Organisation said.

Justifying the widespread airport closures, aviation officials have explained that aircraft engines could become clogged up and stop working if they tried to fly through the ash.

In the past 20 years, there have been 80 recorded encounters between aircraft and volcanic clouds, causing the near-loss of two Boeing 747s with almost 500 people on board and damage to 20 other planes, experts said.

Ash could stay all week
Winds blowing the massive cloud eastward from Iceland to Russia will continue in the same direction for at least two days and could go on until the middle of the week, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said today.

“The ash will continue to be directed towards Britain and Scandinavia,” Teitur Arason, a meteorologist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office said.

“That’s the general situation for the coming days… more or less for the next two days or maybe the next four or five days,” he said.

The volcanic ash cloud is heading towards Greece as it moves further south as well as east into Russia, Britain’s meteorological group the Met Office said.

Economic fallout huge
The International Air Transport Association meanwhile has warned of the economic fallout from the volcano eruption in southeast Iceland.

According to their figures it’s costing airlines more than $US200 million ($A214.04 million) a day.

EVERGREEN is suing Boeing over the abrupt cancellation of its contract to operate the Dreamlifter.

“Boeing committed bad faith and breached its contractual promises to conduct its business fairly, impartially and in an ethical and proper manner,” Evergreen claims. “Boeing’s bad faith and breach of contract have caused lost profits to Evergreen in excess of US$175 million.”

Boeing has thus far refused to comment.

Boeing unexpectedly chose not to renew Oregon-based Evergreen’s five-year contract to operate the manufacturer’s four 747-400 Dreamlifters last month. It instead awarded the contract to New York-based Atlas Air for nine years starting in September.

Boeing chose Evergreen in 2005 and even up to the New Year, according to Evergreen’s chairman, Tim Wahlberg, Boeing was happy with its service and had given no hint to suggest that the contract review would be anything but routine.

“We were on time all the time. We ran a perfect operation,” says Wahlberg. “We’re very price-competitive. We believe [the switch] was unrelated to our operation. We’re really disappointed that Boeing hasn’t come clean on what the deal is. It hurts our reputation.

“We don’t know the facts. We thought it would be nice if Boeing would have explained the facts to us. I don’t know what to say.”

In fact, Evergreen now alleges that Boeing transferred the contract as compensation to Atlas because of the delayed delivery of 12 747-8 freighters that Atlas has on order. The compensation would have cost Boeing nearly US1$ billion.

“Boeing dropped Evergreen in favour of Atlas to avert the multi-million dollar disaster that was looming over the 747-8 program,” Evergreen says. “Atlas has 12 747-8 freighters on order, with options for another 14. A Boeing employee informed an Evergreen employee that Boeing’s liability for penalties to Atlas approached $1 billion. By at least October 2009, Atlas had made a claim with Boeing for refunds resulting from Boeing’s failure to meet delivery guarantees to Atlas.

“Beginning in the fall of 2009, Boeing secretly negotiated with Atlas to trade the Evergreen contract for Boeing’s enormous exposure to Atlas’s refund claim based on late delivery [of another airplane],” the company claims.

“At the same time, Boeing lied to Evergreen, asserting that it was merely conducting a review that was standard procedure, and rebuffed Evergreen’s offers to engage in a good faith appraisal of both parties’ performance of the LCF Contract.”

source: aircargonews

EVERGREEN is suing Boeing over the abrupt cancellation of its contract to operate the Dreamlifter.

“Boeing committed bad faith and breached its contractual promises to conduct its business fairly, impartially and in an ethical and proper manner,” Evergreen claims. “Boeing’s bad faith and breach of contract have caused lost profits to Evergreen in excess of US$175 million.”

Boeing has thus far refused to comment.

Boeing unexpectedly chose not to renew Oregon-based Evergreen’s five-year contract to operate the manufacturer’s four 747-400 Dreamlifters last month. It instead awarded the contract to New York-based Atlas Air for nine years starting in September.

Boeing chose Evergreen in 2005 and even up to the New Year, according to Evergreen’s chairman, Tim Wahlberg, Boeing was happy with its service and had given no hint to suggest that the contract review would be anything but routine.

“We were on time all the time. We ran a perfect operation,” says Wahlberg. “We’re very price-competitive. We believe [the switch] was unrelated to our operation. We’re really disappointed that Boeing hasn’t come clean on what the deal is. It hurts our reputation.

“We don’t know the facts. We thought it would be nice if Boeing would have explained the facts to us. I don’t know what to say.”

In fact, Evergreen now alleges that Boeing transferred the contract as compensation to Atlas because of the delayed delivery of 12 747-8 freighters that Atlas has on order. The compensation would have cost Boeing nearly US1$ billion.

“Boeing dropped Evergreen in favour of Atlas to avert the multi-million dollar disaster that was looming over the 747-8 program,” Evergreen says. “Atlas has 12 747-8 freighters on order, with options for another 14. A Boeing employee informed an Evergreen employee that Boeing’s liability for penalties to Atlas approached $1 billion. By at least October 2009, Atlas had made a claim with Boeing for refunds resulting from Boeing’s failure to meet delivery guarantees to Atlas.

“Beginning in the fall of 2009, Boeing secretly negotiated with Atlas to trade the Evergreen contract for Boeing’s enormous exposure to Atlas’s refund claim based on late delivery [of another airplane],” the company claims.

“At the same time, Boeing lied to Evergreen, asserting that it was merely conducting a review that was standard procedure, and rebuffed Evergreen’s offers to engage in a good faith appraisal of both parties’ performance of the LCF Contract.”

source: aircargonews

BRITISH Airways (BA) is to close its cargo operation at John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York this summer.

According to a BA spokesperson, the move is part of the airline’s cost-cutting campaign and the 74 cargo employees, affected by the subsequent job cuts, were notified last November.

“Everyone knows that airlines have not been doing very well since the economic downturn, and that doesn’t exclude British Airways,” the spokesperson said. “We’ve found that we can save a lot of money by outsourcing the actual handling of the freight, the taking it in from trucks and putting in on the airplane.”

British Airways is looking for a cargo operator to take over its JFK freight operations and expects to have found one by July.

“The cabin crew industrial dispute has nothing whatsoever to do with this particular move of shifting cargo operations,” the spokesperson said. JFK was the last cargo station still run by the airline in the US.

Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria arriving in Slovenia in 2008.

POLISH President Lech Kaczynski and some of his country’s highest military and civilian leaders died when the presidential plane crashed while landing in thick fog in western Russia yesterday, killing all 96 people on board.

Russian and Polish officials said the Soviet-era Tupolev was taking the President, his wife, Maria, and staff to events marking the 70th anniversary of the massacre of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police.

Army chief of staff General Franciszek Gagor, National Bank president Slawomir Skrzypek and Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer were also on board, the Polish Foreign Ministry said.

Russia’s Emergency Ministry said there were 96 dead, 88 of whom were part of a Polish state delegation.

Poland’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Piotr Paszkowski, said 89 people had been on the passenger list but one person had not shown up.

”We still cannot fully understand the scope of this tragedy and what it means for us in the future. Nothing like this has ever happened in Poland,” Mr Paszkowski said. ”We can assume with great certainty that all persons on board have been killed.”

Russian television showed footage from the crash site, with pieces of the plane scattered amid trees. Small fires burnt in woods shrouded with fog. A tail fin with the Polish red-and-white colours stuck up from the debris.

”The Polish presidential plane did not make it to the runway while landing. Tentative findings indicate that it hit the treetops and fell apart,” regional governor Sergei Anufriev said. ”Nobody has survived the disaster.”

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted an unnamed official from Smolensk as saying: ”The cause of the plane crash was apparently an error by the crew during the approach to landing.”

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev offered condolences to Poland and vowed a thorough investigation would take place.

Mr Medvedev appointed Mr Putin to head a commission to investigate the crash and sent his emergency situations minister, Sergei Shoigu, to the site.

The aircraft crashed a few hundred metres short of the runway at the Severny airport outside Smolensk. Mr Kaczynski was on his way to attend commemorative ceremonies for the Katyn massacre, which decimated Poland’s military and intellectual elite 70 years ago.

Mr Putin and his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, attended a memorial for the victims of the massacre at Katyn three days ago.

The Putin-Tusk meeting there was seen as a huge symbolic advance in Russia’s often thorny relations with Poland.

In Warsaw, Mr Tusk called an emergency meeting of his cabinet and the national flag was lowered to half-mast at the presidential palace, where people gathered to lay flowers and light candles.

Black ribbons appeared in windows in the Polish capital.

Mr Kaczynski, 60, won office in December 2005.

The California high court has ended a long-running legal battle by barring the Hare Krishnas from seeking public donations at Los Angeles International Airport.

The unanimous ruling written by Justice Carlos Moreno upheld the Los Angeles ordinance barring solicitations as a reasonable security measure to protect hurried passengers rushing to make travel connections at the airport known as LAX.

California’s other major airports supported Los Angeles’ legal position, and the religious group and other organisations will be barred from requesting donations in California airports.

“Soliciting the immediate receipt of funds at a busy international airport like LAX is particularly problematic,” Moreno wrote for the court.

“The problems posed by solicitations for the immediate receipt of funds that arise in any public place would be exacerbated in the often crowded and hectic environment of a large international airport.”

The Hare Krishnas are still free to preach on airport property and ask passengers to send in donations later.

The ban applies to others groups, too.

AP

Pilots will soon be allowed to fly if they are taking antidepressant medications under new a US government policy that takes effect today.

The Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday it was lifting a ban on antidepressants for pilots with mild to moderate depression. To be cleared to fly, pilots who take the drugs must pass screening tests to show they have been successfully treated for at least a year.

Officials said they believed the ban had caused pilots to forego treatment or hide the fact they were taking medication to treat depression. The FAA is offering a six-month grace period for pilots to come forward without penalty if they are currently suffering from depression or are under treatment.

“We need to change the culture and remove the stigma associated with depression. Pilots should be able to get the medical treatment they need so they can safely perform their duties,” FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said.

Officials said they did not know how many pilots would be affected but noted that about 10 percent of the population suffers from depression.

Pilots who take antidepressants will be monitored for the length of their careers, the FAA said.

The policy applies to four antidepressants — Eli Lilly and Co’s Prozac, Pfizer Inc’s Zoloft, and Celexa and Lexapro from Forest Laboratories Inc.

Dr. Fred Tilton, the FAA’s federal air surgeon, said other medications may be allowed if pilots are being effectively treated with them.

Tilton said antidepressants were originally banned because older medications carried risks such as sedation that were considered unacceptable in the cockpit. Newer medications have side effects that can be manageable, he said.

Reuters

SERVICE, not price, will be the key for airlines when trying to win pharmaceutical business, according to Dave Brooks, president cargo for American Airlines.

“When we are working with customers on this product, price is the last thing they talk about,” he says. “Instead they want to be convinced that they can have as much confidence in you as their customers have in them.

“That is not something you can do by just sending a brochure. You have to spend a lot of time with both forwarders and shippers going over your operating procedures, where the shipment will transit and whether employees are trained.”

For this reason, he is not too worried by the fact that more and more airlines are offering pharmaceutical products. “Those who come in and think they can get traffic on price won’t succeed,” he says. “But for those who can produce the right level of service, there will be enough business to go round.”

SCARE … A Qantas A380 Airbus sits on the runway at Sydney Airport after blowing out two tyres during a landing. Picture: Bill Hearne

FLAMES shot out from the undercarriage of a Qantas A380 when two tyres burst as it landed at Sydney Airport last night – the second emergency involving the airline in the past 48 hours.

A worker at the airport told The Daily Telegraph he heard a huge roar and then saw flames coming from under the plane.

“I thought there was a serious crash, there were sparks and flames shooting out everywhere,” he said.

“And the noise was deafening, like cannons going off. I really thought something catastrophic had happened.”

The 244 passengers on board QF32 from London via Singapore were stranded on the tarmac for nearly two hours before being bussed to the terminal to meet anxious relatives.

“We saw from the observation deck . . . when it touched down the left wheel burst into flames and there were sparks and fire from the left-hand side and there was black smoke and when it went down the runway it stopped,” Wayne Morris, 

58, from Queanbeyan, who was waiting for his wife Maria to arrive home from a London holiday, said.

“The control tower said over the radio that all the tyres were blown. I was very concerned because you don’t expect to see flames from a plane and after the engineers went on strike it makes you ask the question about safety.”

The incident comes after a Singapore-bound Qantas 747 was forced to return to Sydney Airport on Tuesday evening because of engine troubles and as Qantas engineers plan strike action for the Easter long weekend.

At meetings yesterday, Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA) members voted to extend overtime bans through the four-day break beginning tomorrow.

Qantas group executive of government and corporate affairs David Epstein said the union industrial action had not affected services.

APESMA senior industrial officer Alison Rose said there was concern that the substitute managers had little or no experience with Qantas’ fleet of double-decker superjumbo Airbus A380 aircraft — the aircraft which was stranded on the tarmac last night.

Passengers on last night’s flight said the landing seemed routine at first. Ramy Filo, 48, said it was only after the landing he realised that the situation could have been dangerous.