Flightglobal contributor Peter Clark was given the opportunity to fly in one of the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s (RNZAF) newly-operational Beechcraft T-6C trainers, during a 42min sortie from Ohakea air base. Eleven T-6Cs are being used to deliver initial training to students, with the new capability due to deliver 15 graduate pilots and 12 qualified flying instructors annually over the...
Tell us about your career I started out in corporate finance, running my own businesses around commercial property, debt financing and providing financial advice to ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWI). However in the early 1990s I saw the potential of the internet and moved on from finance to create Global Beach, one of the first UK digital agencies. Global Beach grew quickly. Clients i...
Air India has reported a modest operational profit for the first time in a decade, two years ahead of the target as per its turnaround plan. This is significant since any profit, even if it is at the operational level, has been generated for the first time since the erstwhile Air India and Indian Airlines merged to create the present behemoth. Lower fuel prices coupled with improved operational...
Epic Aircraft is building the first production-conforming E1000 test aircraft, in preparation for the high-performance, single-engined turboprop’s first flight, in the third quarter. The six-seat aircraft will join a first test aircraft, tail number N331FT, which made its maiden sortie at the end of 2015. “We have been working hard with FT1 to prove the aircraft’s handling qua...
Air pressure changes can cause passengers to experience build-ups of gas which lead to bloating, constipation and stomach pains. If you’ve ever flown on a plane before, chances are you’ve suffered a few unpleasant symptoms. A new infographic shows exactly how cramped conditions and constant pressure can create an environment that leads to dehydration and other illnesses. Compi...
Air New Zealand refused to let a woman board her flight to Tonga because the aircraft had reached its upper weight limit. Auckland woman Alex Catchpole-Ozpınar was supposed to board her 9.30am flight to Tonga on Monday for a five day holiday but was turned away at the Air NZ check-in counter because her aircraft had reached its weight limit. Catchpole-Ozpınar said sh...
Severe turbulence on an Etihad Airways flight to Indonesia left 31 passengers injured on Wednesday. Flight EY474 from Abu Dhabi to Jakarta encountered severe and unexpected turbulence about 45 minutes before its arrival at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, the airline confirmed in a statement. he A330-200 Airbus landed safely at the airport in Jakarta, where nine passengers were taken to...
Before he was recaptured in January, Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán ran the largest airborne operation in Mexico. Between 2006 and 2015, Mexican authorities seized 599 aircraft — 586 planes and 13 helicopters — that the cartel used to ship drugs throughout Mexico and Latin America, according to information from the Mexican defense ministry (...
European regulators have mandated a number of “precautionary” checks covering the main gearbox of the Airbus Helicopters H225 rotorcraft in the wake of the 29 April fatal crash in Norway. The European Aviation Safety Agency says that although the investigation into the root cause of the accident – in which 13 passengers and crew lost their lives – remains ongoi...
Working with NASA, Honeywell recently flight-tested new cockpit displays that help pilots see sonic booms before they happen. As part of a joint study, Honeywell is looking to prove that the displays could allow pilots to reroute and reduce the effects of aircraft noise over populated areas. Honeywell was awarded a two-year contract in 2015 as part of NASA’s Commercial Supe...
Air navigation service providers (ANSPs) for Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey implemented a “significant airspace project” at their interfaces to address the handling of traffic in the Black Sea area, Eurocontrol announced late last week. This improvement is intended to provide “extra options at those interfaces and has the potential for allowing these ANSPs to safely and effici...
The Norway helicopter crash, which killed 13 people including a British oil worker, was caused by technical failure and not human error, according to investigators. Eleven passengers and two crew were killed after the aircraft came down near the city of Bergen on Friday. British oil worker Iain Stuart, from Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire, was among those who died in the crash. Norway&rsquo...
