The weird, the wonderful, and the wicked

Wow, this is superb control in adverse shear

A Shorts 360 aircraft operated by Skyway, crashed moments after takeoff from St. Maarten yesterday. The aircraft was enroute to Puerto Rico and crashed about 3 miles from the Princess Juliana International Airport.

Virgin Galactic's Space Ship Two suffers what they are terming as an in-flight anomaly during testing.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Oct 31 (Reuters) - A suborbital passenger spaceship being developed by Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic crashed during a test flight on Friday at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, the company said.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102142074

Most persons would have heard about this but still some might not have.

Following an epic journey of more than 4 billion miles spanning 10 years, a tiny lander the size of a washing machine made history by being the first spacecraft to touch down on the surface of a distant comet and start beaming back pictures to researchers on Earth.

A Robinson R44 apparently broke apart in flight and crashed into a the roof of a building in North Salt Lake, Utah, on Tuesday, bursting into flames and killing the two men on board. Witnesses reported seeing the helicopter break into several pieces midflight. Debris was found over a widely scattered area, according to local news reports. Officials said the helicopter had taken off from a heliport just north of the building, but it was unclear whether it was departing or returning at the time of the mishap.

A Las Vegas bound Boeing 747-400 operated by Virgin Atlantic developed landing gear problems while performing flight VS43. The aircraft landed safely at Gatwick without incident.

Thirteen flight attendants are fighting back after being fired by United Airlines for refusing to fly on a 747-400 with mysterious messages written on the tail section. The attendants were scheduled to fly from San Francisco International Airport to Hong Kong when finger drawings depicting the words "Bye Bye" along with a smiley face and a menacing face were found on the airplane's tail cone.

The group has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor alleging that the attendants were illegally terminated after refusing "to let an airline bully them into flying because of what they believed, correctly, was a security threat," says attorney David Marshall, who is representing them. The complaint alleges that United refused the flight attendants' request that the company have the more than 300 passengers onboard deplane and conduct a sweep of the aircraft for potentially threats. The incident came just a week after the airline implemented heightened security measures due to the elevated risk of on-board explosives.

A US Airways Embraer ERJ-190, registration N953UW performing flight US-1825 from Philadelphia,PA to Houston Intercontinental,TX (USA) with 53 passengers and 4 crew, was on approach to Houston's runway 27 when upon being handed off to tower the crew requested to maintain 2000 feet to "troubleshoot this". The approach clearance was cancelled, the aircraft overflew the runway. About 5 minutes later the crew reported they had done the alternate gear extension but weren't sure whether all gear was down and requested to perform a low approach to have the gear inspected from the ground. The crew reported that they briefly had a green nose and green main but the nose turned red afterwards, now they had all red, but some of the gear was down, there was quite some drag. On the first low approach to runway 27, about 1300 feet, tower was unable to sight the nose gear, crew and tower decided to a low approach to 500 feet runway 27 might be better. Five airport vehicles were dispatched to the parallel taxiway to have a look at the aircraft during the low approach, subsequently tower reported he did not see any nose gear down, so did the airport vehicles. The crew declared emergency at that point. The crew worked another couple of checklists then positioned for approach to runway 27 and landed the aircraft on runway 27 coming to a stop on the main gear and aircraft nose. The crew advised so far everything looked good, they were evacuating. One person received injuries, the damage to the aircraft is being assessed. The FAA reported in the afternoon of Feb 9th 2015, that one person received injuries when the aircraft landed with the nose gear retracted. (Av Herald)

That's quite a shot you have there Kevin! I see you made it to the Concorde Experience.

Last year was by some measures the safest in the history of commercial aviation, despite two high-profile crashes involving Malaysia Airlines aircraft in which hundreds of people were killed, IATA said on Monday. While more people died in air accidents in 2014 than the average in recent years, the number of fatal accidents compared with the total number of flights was a record low, according to IATA. "While aviation safety was in the headlines in 2014, the data show that flying continues to improve its safety performance," said Tony Tyler, IATA's director general, in a statement.

IATA, which represents about 250 airlines, said in an annual safety report that there were 12 fatal accidents in 2014 with 641 fatalities, versus 19 fatal accidents and 517 fatalities per year in the five-year period between 2009 and 2013. That translated into an accident rate, measured in "hull losses" per 1 million flights, of 0.23, or the equivalent of one for every 4.4 million flights. The 2013 rate was 0.41 and the five-year average rate 0.58 per million flights. IATA's 2014 statistics did not include the loss of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down by a missile in Ukraine last June and so not classified as an accident. All 298 people on board were killed.

Three categories of civil drone should be created to regulate unmanned aerial vehicles now used in everything from filming to farming and parcel deliveries, Europe's aviation safety body has proposed. The proposals would allow the new industry to grow whilst at the same time protecting people and goods, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said. Drones in Europe are currently subject to a patchwork of regulations in each country and the European Commission wants a basic regulatory framework put in place by the end of this year. In France, where flights over Paris without approval from aviation authorities are illegal, drones flying over major sites such as the Eiffel Tower and the US Embassy caused alarm earlier this month.

In Germany, drones must weigh no more than 25 kg while in Britain, drones of above 20 kg are subject to the same regulations as manned aircraft. In the United States, the FAA bans most commercial drone flights, though companies can apply for exemptions while new rules are formulated. Under the rules suggested by EASA, the lowest risk category would cover low-energy aircraft, including model planes, and would not require any license. Such drones must be flown within line of sight, away from areas such as airports and nature reserves.

Flights above crowds would not be allowed in order to reduce the risk to people, EASA said. As soon as operations pose more risks to people or the drone needs to share airspace with other vehicles, a risk assessment must be carried out and permission given. The highest category would be akin to current regulations for commercial manned aircraft, with multiple certifications required for operation, it said. "These rules will ensure a safe and fertile environment for this much promising industry to grow," EASA executive director Patrick Ky said in a statement.

However the agency said the privacy risks posed by drones would need to be addressed at national level, for example by installing SIM cards. "They raise concerns if citizens feel that drones intrude in their private lives; if they illegally gather data; or if drones become flying nuisances," EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc said at a conference on drones last week. The Commission is expected to present a draft law for the lowest-risk category by December 2015, so that businesses could operate drones across the EU by next year.

(Reuters)

Passengers were pretty scared after they heard a loud noise. They didn't realize the damage done until after they landed.

http://www.weather.com/news/news/li...l_News_JKo_Article_No_2_20150409_nontwcplayer

Immediately after takeoff, the pilot of Alaska Airlines flight 448, bound for Los Angeles, reported hearing banging from beneath the aircraft. The captain immediately returned to Seattle, declaring an emergency for priority landing. The aircraft was in the air for 14 minutes. After landing, a ramp agent was found inside the front cargo hold, which is pressurized and temperature controlled. The ramp agent appeared OK, and was transported to the hospital as a precaution. We are actively investigating the matter. (Alaska Airlines Blog)

U.S. Capitol Police said that a small gyrocopter with one occupant landed on the West Lawn of the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon. He was quickly arrested and taken away. The guy is apparently a 61 year old U.S Postal Service worker.

The B-29 bomber is rolled out of a Boeing Wichita hangar, nearing the end of a restoration project to return the Superfortress to flying condition. About 200 volunteers and supporters attended the rollout ceremony commemorating the 15-year restoration project to restore the historic 1945 aircraft known as “Doc.” The plane was found in 1987 in a California desert where it had become a sanctuary for birds and other creatures for 40 years. The aircraft was rescued and arrived in Wichita for restoration in 2000.

A 27-year-old man was taken into police custody during the early morning hours on Saturday after he allegedly stole a Piper Seminole from North Las Vegas Airport and went on a joyride over the city. It is still unclear how this guy got access to the Piper Seminole. ATC was eventually able to convince the man to return to North Las Vegas Airport where he was apprehended by police.