German flag carrier Lufthansa is flying empty Boeing 747-8 jumbo jets more than 2,000 kilometers in order to pick up extra fuel due to an ongoing shortage of jet fuel at South Africa’s largest airport in Johannesburg. The issues at Johannesburg OR Tambo International Airport started on January 4 when a fire at a large…

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Air India on Flakey Financial Footing


Newspaper articles in July promised compensation to Air India crash victims, and here it is September, and they’re still arguing about compensation, which is still unpaid.

Perhaps this is partly due to financial circumstances, as independent sources say all Indian airlines are barely keeping afloat, due to competition, low fares and rising wages and fuel expenses,(not to mention corruption, and failed safety efforts) but in the worst shape are Kingfisher Airlines and the state-owned Air India. Liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya who controls Kingfisher, denies rumors of Kingfisher nearing its demise.

In mid-August, the government said it planned to take three months to financially restructure Air India. The turnaround plan is described as a hub-and-spoke route model. Costs will be cut by redeploying staff and unloading real estate.

According to Moody’s any loan to Air India is ‘credit negative’. Air India has incurred heavy losses and has been in the red since its the 2007 merger with Indian Airlines.

In the meantime, who knows when, or how much suffering families will be paid in compensation.

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Lithium Ion Batteries Remain a Point of Concern

Both Airbus and Boeing say the designs for their litium-ion systems are safe, in spite of known risk of flames, explosion, smoke and leakage.

Those are some pretty hefty “known” risks.

Now ANA says that prior to the fire, it had replaced batteries on its 787 aircraft some 10 times because of low charges.

Now the Kanto Aircraft Instrument Co whose system monitors voltage, charging and temperature of lithium-ion batteries is also under scrutiny, in addition to GS Yuasa who makes the batteries.

The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting a chemical analysis of internal short circuiting and thermal damage of the battery.

NTSB ISSUES SIXTH UPDATE ON JAL BOEING 787 BATTERY FIRE INVESTIGATION

January 29, 2013
WASHINGTON – The National Transportation Safety Board today released the sixth update on its investigation into the Jan. 7 fire aboard a Japan Airlines Boeing 787 at Logan International Airport in Boston.

The examination of the damaged battery continues. The work has transitioned from macroscopic to microscopic examinations and into chemical and elemental analysis of the areas of internal short circuiting and thermal damage.

Examination and testing of the exemplar battery from the JAL airplane has begun at the Carderock Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center laboratories. Detailed examinations will be looking for signs of in-service damage and manufacturing defects. The test program will include mechanical and electrical tests to determine the performance of the battery, and to uncover signs of any degradation in expected performance.

As a party contributing to the investigation, Boeing is providing pertinent fleet information, which will help investigators understand the operating history of lithium-ion batteries on those airplanes.

An investigative group continued to interpret data from the two digital flight data recorders on the aircraft, and is examining recorded signals to determine if they might yield additional information about the performance of the battery and the operation of the charging system.

In addition to the activities in Washington, investigators are continuing their work in Seattle and Japan.

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Survivor of Azal plane crash describes harrowing experience

Survivor of Azal plane crash describes harrowing experience

“They always said that those who God protects won’t be burned by fire. This time I saw with my own eyes how the Almighty protected us,” Azernews reports citin Nurullah Sirajov, a survivor of the plane crash near Aktau city in Kazakhstan, said in a video interview with local media Report.

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Dubai UPS Crash Update

The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has issued its preliminary report on the Boeing 747 – 400 cargo airplane had departed from Dubai International Airport at 14:53 UTC (6:53pm local time) headed to Koln-Bonn (Cologne) – Germany.

Here are some of the big questions on the crash which the investigation will focus on regarding the crash that caused the death of Capt. Doug Lampe of Louisville, Kentucky, and First Officer Matthew Bell of Florida.

Which “general” cargo was located just forward of the starboard wing, where the fire started? Were there batteries there among the electronic goods?

Some additional issues: Pilots reported smoke in the cockpit 20 minutes after leaving Dubai. They had difficulty getting the correct frequency to ATC. After the fire broke out, the smoke was too thick for the pilots to read the instruments. What can be done to give the pilots options for extinguishing a cargo fire? What changes can be made to instruments to make them visible under these conditions?

The cockpit recorder was recovered in”reasonable” condition just hours after the Boeing 747-400 went down and will be sent to the US for analysis.

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