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A NEAR disaster involving an Emirates jet at Melbourne Airport was the result of human error by two apparently alert pilots, air safety investigators believe. The March 20 scare, when an Airbus A340 struggled to get airborne, was caused by an "inadvertent" keystroke on a flight computer. The error meant the Dubai-bound aircraft was flown on the basis that it was carrying 100 tonnes less than it actually was, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said. Its tail hit the runway five times during a botched takeoff. The ATSB's interim report said the first officer "inadvertently inserted a takeoff weight of...

Since the publication of the first Interim Report on 2 July 2009, the investigation has continued, still in close association with foreign investigation organisations and the companies involved and in coordination with those responsible for the judicial investigation. The working groups have continued their work of gathering and analyzing information useful to the investigation. Their activity has focused on * the elements of wreckage recovered, * the meteorological situation, * the maintenance messages transmitted by ACARS, * the certification and the continuing airworthiness of the Pitot probes, * events where speed inconsistencies were encountered in cruise. This second interim report...

Boeing released the first artist's conception of what it then called the 7E7 on Jan. 29, 2003. The company's board green-lighted the project that December and Japan's All Nippon Airways placed the jet's launch order on April 26, 2004, with first deliveries expected in 2008. Boeing now has orders for 840 787 Dreamliners -- a record for a new aircraft. And Tuesday's scheduled first flight is key to showing the composite jet is on track for delivery to All Nippon Airways in the fourth quarter of 2010 and other customers soon after that. That delivery date, however, depends on an...

Airbus/Northrop Threat Revealing by George Landrith Human Events, 12/04/2009 The Air Force has issued a preliminary Request for Proposal (RFP) specifying how companies can bid on the $35 billion contract to build the next fleet of air refueling tankers. A final RFP is due out soon. The two bidders reviewing the preliminary RFP are Chicago-based Boeing, and a team made up of Airbus, based in Toulouse France, and Northrop Grumman, based in Los Angeles. Boeing has proposed building a tanker on its medium-sized B-767 commercial jetliner platform, while Airbus and Northrop have proposed building a tanker on Airbus’s larger A-330...

Boeing's busy day on the ground kicked off at 6:30 AM with a flight readiness review that finalized receipt of the Experimental Airworthiness Certificate from the FAA. This regulatory clearance now puts the 787, with clearance to operate Part 91 operations, the same regulatory category as aircraft like the Cessna 172. Once the Experimental Airworthiness Certificate had been obtained, the aircraft was cleared for final taxi tests.

SEVILLE, Spain — The A400M military transport plane that has been causing Airbus and European defense ministers budgetary and logistical headaches finally took to the skies for its maiden flight on Friday. But even as the hulking gray airlifter took off from the Spanish city of Seville, defense officials are meeting on the sidelines of the event to decide how to continue with the much delayed and over budget project. Louis Gallois, head of Airbus parent EADS, said he found the takeoff "more moving than I expected. It's enormous. We've been waiting a long time." [...] The 127 ton (140...

Taking advantage of down market prices, United Airlines said on Tuesday it placed a $10 billion-plus order for 50 wide-bodied jetliners divided between Airbus and Boeing Co, in a bid to slash fuel costs and emissions. United, a unit of UAL Corp, has letters of intent to order 25 of Boeing's 787 Dreamliners and the same number of A350 planes from its European rival Airbus, part of EADS, following a six-month contest. The carrier also has future purchase rights for 50 of each aircraft.

Northrop Grumman’s potential withdrawal from a competition to build Air Force refueling aircraft would be a “blow” to the program, according to the House’s top defense appropriator. “I can’t imagine they can do it without competition,” said Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee. Murtha said he is scheduled to meet with Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter on Thursday to discuss several issues, including Northrop’s threat to pull out of the tanker competition. If Northrop pulls out, Boeing would be the only company bidding for the contract. That would run afoul of congressional preferences for...

Northrop Grumman has warned it won't bid for the massive Air Force refueling tanker program unless the Pentagon's draft request for proposals is rewritten. Northrop CEO Wes Bush wrote to Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter on Tuesday that since the Pentagon has declined to alter the request for proposals (RFP), "I must regrettably inform you that, absent a responsive set of changes in the final RFP, Northrop Grumman has determined that it cannot submit a bid." ~snip~ Bloomberg News quoted an e-mail from Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman stating that "the Department regrets that Northrop Grumman and Airbus have taken themselves...

As if Airbus and Boeing didn’t have enough to worry about already, the looming debt crisis in Dubai has cast a shadow over a backlog of aircraft orders, worth more than $60 billion, from Dubai, Inc. The biggest – but by no means the only – example is Emirates, Dubai’s government-controlled carrier. It has more than $30 billion worth of planes on order from Airbus, including 53 of the double-decker A380, for which Emirates is by far the largest customer. Emirates also has placed 70 orders for Airbus’s forthcoming A350 widebody. And Airbus has outstanding orders from state-controlled leasing outfit...

HONG KONG - CATHAY Pacific said on Wednesday it has endured a spate of mysterious toilet blockages on its Airbus fleet, with one packed plane forced to make an unscheduled landing because it had no working lavatory. Toilets on the Hong Kong airline's Airbus A330 and A340 planes have been blocked in three separate incidents over the past 11 days, Cathay spokesman Carolyn Leung told AFP, confirming a report by the South China Morning Post. One Nov 17 flight from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia to Hong Kong carrying 278 passengers was forced to divert to Mumbai, when flight attendants discovered...

“Fly by Wire” isn’t muckraking, exactly. Mr. Langewiesche doesn’t dispute the events of Jan. 15, 2009, when US Airways Flight 1549 successfully ditched on the Hudson River. Nor does he dispute that the flight’s pilot, Chesley B. Sullenberger III, a k a Sully, is,...a “superb pilot.” But Mr. Langewiesche does bang a few light dents into Sully’s hero aura. What the public doesn’t understand, he writes in “Fly by Wire,” is the extent to which advances in aviation and digital technology have made pilots almost superfluous, perhaps even “the weak link in flight.” Mr. Sullenberger’s airplane, an Airbus A320, was...

Tanker Wars: Round 3 Starts by Jed Babbin, Human Events, 11/19/2009 Last year, the Government Accountability Office overturned the Air Force’s decision to buy the replacement for its aged KC-135 airborne tanker from the European Air Defense Systems (EADS)-Northrop Grumman consortium that offered the French Airbus-330. The GAO’s decision, as I wrote extensively then, was based in large part on the Airbus’s physical limitations. The aircraft simply cannot fly the tanker mission in accordance with longstanding Air Force requirements (read why). The Air Force’s decision to buy the Airbus despite those failures was such an incident of intellectual whoredom that...

S.Africa cancels deal for Airbus military planes (AFP) – 3 hours ago JOHANNESBURG — South Africa has cancelled a deal to buy eight Airbus A400M military transport planes due to hefty cost overruns and delivery delays, the government spokesman said Thursday. "The cost escalation would have placed an unaffordable burden on the taxpayer at a time when the national fiscus (Treasury) is under pressure due to the economic downturn," government spokesman Themba Maseko said in a statement. "Cabinet believes that the interests of the South African taxpayer will be best served by not proceeding with the contract," Maseko added. The...

In a strongly worded internal memo, Air France has warned its pilots to be more vigilant about safety procedures and upbraided those blaming flight equipment for the crash of Flight 447 into the Atlantic in June. No one knows what caused the accident, which killed all 228 people aboard and was Air France's deadliest crash. Pilots' unions said Saturday the company is trying to distance itself from blame — and shift attention to the possibility of human error — as the investigation drags on. "Enough Scandals and False Debates about Flight Security!" reads the memo, sent to pilots Tuesday and...

WASHINGTON — The Air Force is poised to reopen a troubled $35 billion contract competition for mid-flight refueling tankers between Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. "After eight years, we can finally get on with this program," Rep. John Murtha, D- Pa., said Thursday. Murtha chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense. He was one of several lawmakers briefed by Air Force Secretary Michael Donley and other Pentagon officials on the latest request for bids — due out Friday — on the tanker competition. Washington Democrat Rep. Norm Dicks, a Boeing supporter, said the Air Force is seeking to reduce...

BRUSSELS (AFP) – The World Trade Organisation has judged European subsidies paid to Airbus illegal, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing a source "familiar with the matter". But European sources who declined to be named told AFP that the interim ruling released by the WTO indicated that the US complaint was only partially upheld. The Journal reported from Brussels that the WTO concluded that every launch-aid package given to Airbus for the development of its A380 double-decker long-range airliner was an illegal subsidy. The conclusion was contained in a report of around 1,000 pages, with hard copies only...

Two hours and seven minutes into its journey to Perth, Qantas Flight 72 from Singapore cruises serenely at 37,000ft. . . . snip . . .

<p>RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — An American colonel says two ships searching for the black boxes of Air France Flight 447 are ending their hunt.</p> <p>A French nuclear submarine is continuing to look.</p> <p>U.S. Air Force Col. Willie Berges is the Brazil-based commander of American military forces supporting the effort. He says one ship towing a U.S. Navy listening device stopped searching Friday.</p>

I have attempted to remain open minded throughout the investigation of Air France Flight 447. I had hoped that the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) would come forward and present the facts as known. The evidence shows this is not the case and as a matter of fact, the only reason Thales pitots are still on the Airbus airplanes is for the protection of European companies and their European labor/workers. One would think that Boeing might want to update their complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO)? The European aviation industry is more concerned with their own business interest and...

The airline Yemenia has said it may reconsider an order for 10 Airbus A350s because it has received "no support" from the manufacturer. Yemenia chairman Abdul Khaleq al-Qadi said Airbus had jumped to conclusions after the crash of a Yemenia plane off the Comoros Islands last week. Without any proof, he said, Airbus had told the media the crash was the result of technical problems.

The BEA press conference has finished in Paris. I watched on TV however I don’t speak French and I’m not sure at this time what they have told us. If anything new? I did not hear any mention of the toilet leak? Sounds like total BS out of Air France and BEA? As first reported on this site on June 21, 2009 from Le Post: Was Air France Flight 447 Disaster Caused By Leaking Toilet! As shown below, we need to be careful on translation from one language to another... The aircraft was not destroyed in flight, “said Alain Bouillard,...

PARIS (Reuters) - The state of the wreckage from Air France flight AF 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, which crashed on June 1 with 228 people on board, suggest the plane was not destroyed in mid-air, French investigators said on Thursday. Alain Bouillard, who leads the investigation on behalf of France's BEA air accident board, said the search for the flight recorders, or black boxes, from the Airbus A330 aircraft would continue until July 10.

Airbus is expected to face calls to ground its worldwide fleet of long-range airliners tomorrow when French accident investigators issue their first account of what caused Air France Flight 447 to crash off Brazil on June 1. It is believed that the accident bureau will report that stormy weather was a factor but faulty speed data and electronics were the main problem in the disaster that killed 228 people. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is likely to be asked why it had never taken action to remedy trouble that was well known with the Airbus 330 and 340...

According to several sources, including Folha Online: (English Translation: Since the beginning of the search for the black box of Airbus, the French Navy have detected several beeps, but after further analysis, these tracks were discarded for not registering the technical parameters of the signals... The BEA has the wrong blood to do it! Le BEA a du mauvais sang à se faire!... The BEA announced a «factual report» would be presented on July 2nd at 3pm. EuroCockpit could publish a synthesis on this accident the same day, just before the BEA conference. No doubt that journalists will then have...

Yemeni airliner crashes in Indian Ocean 150 people reportedly on board; fate unknown BREAKING NEWS o MORONI, Comoros - An airliner belonging to Yemeni state carrier Yemenia Air crashed in the Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean with 150 people on board, a senior government official said Tuesday. "We don't know if there are any survivors among the 150 people on the plane," a senior government official told Reuters.

The Brazilian Navy and Air Force have announced the termination of the SAR mission for Air France Flight 447. All hope for solving the mystery of Flight 447 now rests on finding the “black boxes”. Very few noticed the Le Figaro article late Thursday night which stated: According to several sources contacted Thursday, French forces have captured a signal, “they revolve around the past few days to locate it,” said a military source. “The question now is rather whether the issuer is still attached to the black box view of the circumstances of the accident,” says a close source. As...

In the interest of caution, the NTSB advisory appeared earlier yesterday evening in my RSS feed however the advisory was not published on the NTSB website until this morning and I wanted to wait until official confirmation. As Eurocockpit says: “This initiative of the NTSB is more than welcome: almost a month after an accident for which no one can say that the probes did not play a major role, no airworthiness directive (AD) has been issued (yet?) by Europe. If the NTSB was to “discover” an anomaly in the AA type probes, the U.S. Administration of Civil Aviation (FAA)...

The bodies of Captain DuBois and a steward of Air France AF447 have been identified according to Air France-KLM Group in a statement on their Web site. So the question still remains – Was Captain DuBois in the cockpit and who made the “forte turbulence” radio call? BEA is not scheduled to provide an update until July 2, 2009, which will be after the estimated 30 days that the “block boxes” batteries’ transmit a signal? The French government still has not discounted terrorism, the Brazilian Press seems to think there was an explosion, and now, the Brazilian Intelligence Agency Director...

Unreliable speed is one of the difficult situations that a pilot has to face. Once the failure has been identified, a procedure, based on pitch angles and thrust settings, will assist the pilot in safely flying the aircraft... ...the main difficulty is to rapidly detect an unreliable speed situation. Reaction time is crucial, since the aircraft may stall and overspeed conditions could cause aircraft damage. ...‘We’ were already aware of what the problem was the morning of the accident (the famous erroneous airspeed). There are passed records that display the exact ACRAS messages sent by the AF477. The same causes...

SAO PAULO — A weak signal from the flight data recorders of the Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic killing all 228 people on board have been located, French newspaper Le Monde reported on its web site Tuesday. According to the report, French naval vessels picked up a weak signal from the flight recorders on Monday and that a mini submarine has been dispatched to try and find the "black boxes" on the bottom of the rugged ocean floor. An Air France spokeswoman told Reuters she could not confirm the report. The Transport Ministry and the air accident...

The first Chinese-assembled A320 is set for delivery, symbolizing the importance of future demand in Asia. PARIS -- Will emerging markets make or break the aerospace industry? Though the airline industry is suffering across the world, executives from Boeing and Airbus talked up the prospect of future demand from China as one bright spot at this month’s Paris Air Show. And on Tuesday, Airbus will deliver its first China-assembled A320, part of a joint venture that could help the plane-maker take more market share from its American arch-rival. The Airbus A320, which was assembled at a plant in Tianjin that...

Starting on Sunday, June 21, 2009, I expect more news coming out of Paris and the le Bureau d’enquêtes et d’analyses (BEA). The “big tent” for the “le cirque” came down on the Paris Air Show Saturday night and the French press/media restrictions on Air France Flight 447 will be most likely be lifted by the Euro/French government. The Brazilian Air Force (FAB) and Navy have been doing a great recovery operation under difficult sea conditions. I don’t expect the additional recovery of any significant wreckage or remains. Brazilian families of Flight 447 are sequestered in the Guanabara Hotel in...

Air France Airbus jets experienced at least nine incidents in which airspeed probes iced over in the past year, according to an internal company report obtained by AFP Friday. A probe into the June 1 crash of AF 447, in which an A330 jet flying from Rio to Paris plunged into the Atlantic with the loss of all 228 people on board, has focused on contradictory readings from its "pitot" speed probes. The probes, made by aerospace company Thales, were found to be faulty on flight AF 447. But French aviation investigators have played down the significance of the discovery...

Internet Hoax - Posted in Bloggers Forum. For Freeper's Awareness Only! On Monday I warned of the many hoaxes out there on the Internet. My post, Russians Solve AF Flight 447 Mystery – A Link With “Another World” contained the TV series “Lost” video clearly showing the pictures from the Ukraine News Agency that were alleged to have been taken from baggage aboard Flight 447. I have also included below in this post the notes on the Concord investigation since we have the same BEA investigators involved with the Flight 447 investigation.

Following the EuroCockpit article published June 17, we received letters which shows abundantly [clear] that even if the debate is highly technical, many of our readers are interested in ACARS messages. But as everyone knows, the ACARS messages in question since the day of the accident were never broadcast. Only a [main line code vs sub-code lines] list of these messages (in different versions) has been distributed to the press - France2 in log 20h of June 4. ...We should not rely on the BEA to have full knowledge of the ACARS messages. According to our information, "official version" of...

...The new Administration is handing out Billions of dollars on “windmill technology” and “golf cart battery improvements” (i.e. green technologies) for “shovel ready” projects. What about American industry? I understand that when the American population votes into office a new “socialist” government, the “guns” will receive less, and “butter” will receive more. However, while Airbus is to received over 2.5 Billion dollars from European governments to fund their new aircraft systems, should the US Government be doing more assisting the American industrial worker while maintaining our National Security?... “History is repeating itself again!” When the next World War starts, will...

Some details of a US carrier running one of the crash cause scenarios through its Airbus A330 flight simulators are being circulated on several private airline forums and on the public Pprune or Professional Pilots Rumour network. It has been a long standing habit of airlines with a serious interest in flight standards to do flight simulations based on probable causes or using factual data as it comes to hand. This is what happening in what is believed to have been a US flight simulator. Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, The scenario was conducted several times and the results at the...

Holy crap. That is about the only response I have to this Airbus A380 being developed for Saudi prince al-Waleed bin Talal. Of course, the prince has not officially announced that this will indeed be his new home on the road, but enough news has been pieced together to link him to the purchase. Not only is this the first Airbus A380 sold to a private owner, it is the most expensive private plane ever put together. For comparison - one of the most popular large private planes in the world is the Boeing Business Jet, which starts at "just"...

...the bodies of some passengers of flight discovered the emergency services were at a distance of about 100 kilometers from each other...the reanalysis of recent messages sent by air to the automatic mode, showed that the system breaks down alternately, and many were denied long before the plane fell into the ocean.... Pitot tubes used to simultaneously determine the velocity and flight altitude, did not work for several hours until the plane was in the air...The families of the dead want to get answers to their legitimate questions. For example, the last message from the plane was sent in 4.10...

The U.S. Coast Guard assisted the French authorities with the search for Air France Flight 447 by applying their new, advanced SAR software system called the Search and Rescue Optimal Planning System (SAROPS) that generates optimized search area predictions for objects missing at sea... There is “still no link” between the Pitot probe measures speed equip the A330 and the crash of the aircraft of Air France between Rio and Paris on 1 June, reaffirmed on Thursday a spokeswoman Bureau of Investigations Analysis (BEA)... The drainage of water from Pitot was not properly calibrated. Standing water. Everyone knew the weak...

Air France plane broke up over 'number of minutes' New evidence suggests the Air France jet which crashed into the Atlantic with 228 on-board broke up over a number of minutes, rather than in one catastrophic incident. By Henry Samuel in Paris 11 Jun 2009 The Brazilian Air Force said bodies from flight AF 447 had been picked up from locations more than 50 miles apart – supporting the theory that the plane did not simply plummet into the ocean. A reanalysis of the plane's last automatic transmissions also indicates that many parts had malfunctioned before it disappeared, and that...

The mystery of the cause of the Air France Flight 447 disaster continues to grow each day due to the conflicting Government leaks in Paris. This is what happens when the Government owns part of the Airline. How can the French Government investigate itself? They has lost all credibility into the investigative process. Why is no one investigating the possible Rio airport security breaches and its relationship to this disaster? Is it not time for the NTSB to consider grounding all affected Airbus model flying into US airspace?... ...French investigators suggested that the cockpit was empty when the plane dropped...

The Spanish airline Iberworld says one of its Airbus jets developed engine trouble Wednesday and had to make an emergency landing in the Canary Islands. Flight 6201 had just taken off from the Atlantic Ocean islands Wednesday morning en route to Norway and had to quickly double back. The plane landed without incident.

SYDNEY (AFP) — An Australian budget flight from Japan was forced into an emergency landing on the Pacific island of Guam after a fire broke out in the cockpit, company officials said on Thursday. Nobody was hurt among the 203 passengers and crew, mostly Japanese, who were travelling to Australia's Gold Coast from Osaka aboard the Jetstar Airbus A330-200. Crew scrambled to put out the blaze after the right cockpit window began smoking and then caught fire about four hours into the flight, prompting the emergency landing at about 2:20 am (1620 GMT Wednesday).

PARIS (AFP) — Airbus on Thursday denied a press report that it was considering grounding all long-haul A330 and A340 jets to change airspeed sensors after an Air France plane crashed into the Atlantic. The French newspaper Le Figaro said in its Thursday edition that the aircraft manufacturer "does not rule out grounding its fleet of 1,000 A330s and A340s to change the (speed) sensors." An Airbus spokesman denied the report, telling AFP "This is wrong." The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) "has issued a press release that all A330s and other aircraft are safe to operate," he said, adding:...

Jetstar says all 203 passengers and crew on a flight from Japan to the Gold Coast are safe after a fire broke out in the cockpit four hours into their trip. Flight JQ 20 left Kansai International Airport in Japan just before 11pm (AEST) on Wednesday carrying 186 adult passengers, four infants and 13 crew including nine cabin crew and four pilots. Simone Pregellio from Jetstar says 44 of the adult passengers and the 13 crew members are Australian - most of the others are Japanese nationals. 'There was smoke in the cockpit and small flames were seen on the...

le cirque “Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey” à Paris The U.S. Department of Defense is sending 19 specialists in Natal, Brazil… The American team will consist of professional soldiers and under contract, it has been noted in a press release from the army... On Monday, the U.S. Navy sent equipment from the airport in Dulles, Virginia, to the Brazilian Natal... Airbus Industries said in an internal e-mail leaked to the public, that there is no evidence of any electrical failure as had been initially claimed by Air France, no evidence of loss of flight instrument displays and no evidence...

Two passengers with names linked to Islamic terrorism were on board the Air France flight that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board, it has emerged. French secret servicemen established the connection while working through the list of those who boarded the doomed Airbus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 31. Agents are now trying to establish dates of birth for the two dead passengers, and family connections. There is a possibility that the name similarities are simply a "macabre coincidence," the source added, but the revelation is still being "taken very seriously." A source working...

Two passengers with names linked to Islamic terrorism were on board the Air France flight that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 on board, it has emerged. French secret servicemen established the connection while working through the list of those who boarded the doomed Airbus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 31.