Very rarely do I get an opportunity to combine my two passions of aviation and wine and write about it. A very special thanks to the In-flight Supervisor on a recent Singapore Airlines flight who went in to the first class cellar and served me a superlative Chateau Leoville Poyferre, St. Julien, Bordeaux. Even at 35,000ft, it was one the …

On February 9th, there was a near miss incident at Mumbai airport which involved the President of India. The Indian Air Force is at the receiving end of an article by 737 instructor pilot Captain A. Ranganathan, who complains that poor navigation, lack of communication with the control tower and non-conformation with procedures on the part of the navy pilots …

The natural tendency during a recession is to batten down the hatches, freeze all spending, and ride out the storm. There is also a school of thought which advocates increasing investments and advertising spend during a recession to increase market share, when customers are looking to change in an effort to obtain better value for their spend. Quite evidently, Sheikh …

This photograph by Digital Airliners taken just two days ago at Toulouse shows two Airbus A340-500’s. One is still painted in Kingfisher Airlines’ colours. Kingfisher had ordered five A340-500s, but defaulted on taking delivery last year. Three were diverted to Nigeria’s Arik Air, but it appears the balance two have become the dreaded white tail for Airbus, i.e. a jet …

A Northwest Airlines Boeing 747-400, registration N676NW performing flight NW2 from Manila, Philippines, to Tokyo Narita, Japan, with 408 passengers and 14 crew, was in a holding pattern near Chiba, 40nm south of Narita, about 30 minutes before landing with seatbelt signs turned on, when the airplane encountered severe turbulence and suddenly dropped from its assigned altitude of 15000 feet. …

An Antonov AN-12, belonging to Aerolift a cargo operator in Windhoek, Namibia, registration S9-SVN freight flight LFT-1015 from Entebbe, Uganda to Nikolaev, Ukraine with 5 crew on board, had diverted to Luxor (Egypt) due to shortage of fuel. After refuelling the airplane caught fire and burned down while taking off Luxor, killing all 5 occupants. According to the Egyptian Civil …

Boeing delivered the company’s first 777 Freighter (777F) to launch customer Air France Cargo in a ceremony at the Future of Flight Aviation Center Tour near Paine Field yesterday. The contractual delivery and airplane departure are scheduled for Friday, and Air France will land F-GUOC, at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport tomorrow, 21 February, to join the airline’s fleet. This video …

A passenger on Qantas flight QF032 from London to Singapore, went berserk, on Wednesday, after being caught smoking in the toilet as per news reports from Australia and Singapore. Believed to be in his 40s, the man set off a smoke alarm in the toilet of the plane. When the Qantas cabin crew tried to restrain him, he ran amok, …

A Super Puma helicopter with 18 people on board crashed in the North Sea off the coast of Scotland Wednesday. The helicopter ditched about 120 miles east of Aberdeen while approaching an offshore platform in the ETAP field. Four helicopters, including three in-field aircraft and a Sea King from RAF Lossiemouth, took part in the rescue. The Royal Air Force …

The United States Federal Aviation Administration today issued a final airworthiness directive (AD) instructing operators of most Airbus A330 and A340 models to power down suspect air data inertial reference units (ADIRU) using one specific rotary dial on the panel. The mandate follows EASA Emergency AD 2008-0225-E of December 18, 2008, which superseded EASA Emergency AD 2008-0203-E of November 19, …

Qatar Airways has launched an innovative Economy Class in-flight service on all flights operating to and from the UK, which sees all onboard meals served in a new presentation style using recyclable materials, with see through trays, bright meal cartons and cutlery packs, as well as a personal table mat in a variety of different colours. which are 99% recyclable. …

In a bid to strengthen the financial position of Air India, the Indian government yesterday substantially increased the allocation for its holding company, National Aviation Company of India Ltd. (NACIL), by about Rs 4,029 crore (approx $806 million) in the interim Budget 2009-2010. Almost the entire increase in allocation for the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) was cornered by NACIL, …

Last week Air France unveiled its new logo and livery. The current livery which was changed way back in 1975, i.e. 34 years ago. Due to the current cost pressures, the new scheme will be gradually introduced as new planes are inducted or as existing aircraft come in for maintenance. Air France is now just one word, and the tail …

The Indian Government yesterday gave post-facto approval to the formation of following Joint Venture Companies (JVC) between the National Aviation Company of India Limited (NACIL) which is the combined Air India and Indian Airlines entity, but branded Air India now, and Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATS). The joint venture companies are more commonly referred to AI-SATS or Air India-SATS: For …

Eurojet is to propose a thrust-vectoring version of the Eurofighter Typhoon’s EJ200 powerplant to meet India’s requirement for up to 150 engines to equip the first squadrons of its indigenously developed Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). The Aeronautical Development Agency – which is leading development of the Tejas – is expected to issue a request for proposals in the next …

Singapore Airlines (SIA) on the most profitable airlines in the world, announced today further route adjustments as part of the 11 per cent reduction of capacity from April 2009 to March 2010. While Bangalore remains unaffected, for now, most other gateways of New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad have already been or are being affected by this latest …

The Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation reported that the domestic airline passenger traffic in January 2009 has remained virtually unchanged at 3.326 million when compared to 3.323 million in December 2008. Kingfisher took the top spot from Jet group (Jet Airways and JetLite), with 0.919 million passengers and 28% market share. The steep fare cuts and sales announced by airlines …

Video clip from CNN showcasing Steven Chealander of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) discussing the last moments of the crash of Continental flight 3407. The NTSB indicates the plane rolled violently before the crash in Buffalo, New York, USA.

Was present to photograph Iron Maiden’s departure earlier this morning, after their smash hit concert in Bangalore. A one on one interaction with pilot and Ed Force One Captain Bruce Dickinson during the bus ride to the airplane. Really nice guy. He said he absolutely enjoyed coming to Bangalore, the fans, and the city. Being an aviator, he really missed …

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