Even as the domestic aviation sector is undergoing a financial crisis, world’s top plane makers are optimistic about the Indian civil aircraft market. Almost all top airplane makers, such as Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, Gulfstream and Dassault, are expected to showcase their new products in Hyderabad next month. Eurocopter, Bell Helicopter and Cessna are also going to unveil some of their flying machines in the country’s first civil aviation airshow in the IT city.
 
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A new software tool that allows pilots to easily adjust altitude settings based on a visual display of wind data is helping aviators to reduce fuel use and mission time.
VVO retrieves wind data at user-defined altitudes from defense weather sites and other sources and then graphically displays head and tail wind speeds on a desktop, laptop or knee-board computer so that pilots can quickly adjust altitude settings that take advantage of favorable winds.
The altitude adjustments and wind data can then be used in an aviator’s mission planning system, resulting in an immediate update to the mission plan.

Unmanned flight record is set for Zephyr. It flew for 82 hours and 37 minutes from the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
The previous record for an unmanned flight was 30 hours and 24 minutes. A Northrop Grumman Global Hawk set that record in 2001.
Launched by hand, Zephyr is an ultra-lightweight carbon-fibre aircraft. By day it flies on solar power generated by amorphous silicon solar arrays no thicker than sheets of paper that cover the aircraft’s wings. By night it is powered by rechargeable lithium-sulphur batteries, supplied by SION Power Inc, which are recharged during the day using …read more

First airline in U.S, American Airlines will offer in-flight broadband to it’s customers. It will be available in long haul domestic flights. This is very good news as customers have been without phones and internet, not that I know who really needs it but yes, who does, it is a good news. Will it be some sort of combination of companies, like Google, yahoo etc. That may take passengers to only see emails and global news.

The PFD4000 brings Avidyne’s industry-leading Entegra glass flight deck capability to an expanded list of General Aviation aircraft.
 
PFD4000
The PFD4000 is Avidyne’s new compact big-glass primary flight display system that is designed with the flexibility to be installed in a number of different aircraft types and configurations.
Designed as a “6-pack” replacement, the PFD4000 adds all the enhanced situational awareness and reliability benefits of an all-glass flight deck to virtually any general aviation aircraft.
The PFD4000 fits in virtually any panel space, conveying traditional primary flight instrumentation as well as a pilot-selectable moving map presentation of flight plan data and …read more

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Aviation regulators in eastern China have told airlines not to let pilots quit or change jobs before the end of the Beijing Olympics, fearing that job-hopping by pilots could undermine air safety, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China’s (CAAC) eastern branch also secured an agreement from local courts not to rule on cases related to pilot resignations before or during the Games, which run from August 8 to 24, the source told Reuters late on Thursday.
State-backed carriers such as China Eastern Airlines face a worsening shortage of pilots due …read more

A former executive with Scandinavian airline SAS has agreed to plead guilty to charges of price fixing as part of a US antitrust investigation into the air cargo industry, the Justice Department said on Monday.
Timothy Pfeil, formerly the highest-ranking cargo executive in the United States for SAS Cargo Group, agreed to serve six months in jail for participating in the price-fixing conspiracy, the Justice Department said.
The government charged that Pfeil conspired to fix the rates charged to US and international customers in 2005 and 2006 when he was SAS’ area director of sales and marketing for North America.
Pfeil’s plea agreement …read more

Boeing company announs that British Airways is ordering six jetliners, two from Boeing and four others as leased from the third party.
This “long-term relationship” brings the option to BA for four more 777s delivery.

Students from Northwest Polytechnic University, Wuhan University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology earned the top three prizes in the 2008 Boeing Shanghai Challenge for their concepts about how to operate an aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility in a more environmentally progressive fashion.The Boeing Shanghai Challenge, hosted by Boeing [NYSE: BA], Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services, …read more

ATLANTA, July 25, 2008 – Delta Air Lines’ (NYSE: DAL) maintenance division – Delta TechOps – has inked a seven-year contract with Alaska Airlines to provide exclusive engine overhaul and repair services for the CFM56-7 engines that power Alaska’s fleet of Boeing 737-700 and 737-900 aircraft. The deal, worth more than $200 million, leverages Delta’s unique partnership with Chromalloy Gas Turbine Corporation to provide Alaska with a comprehensive engine maintenance solution with industry leading quality and economics.
“We are very pleased to enter into this agreement with Delta TechOps, and look forward to the operational and financial benefits it will bring …read more