Vacation Time

ANT will be on vacation for the rest of August. See you soon

Air Force Training More Pilots for Drones Than for Manned Planes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/10/AR2009081002712.html?hpid=sec-nation

Officials Demand Tighter Control, or Even a Ban, of Hudson Air Traffic

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/nyregion/11collide.html?_r=1

Two arrested for airplane laser attacks

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25907501-5005961,00.html

Calls to restrict flight corridor over Hudson

http://www.metro.us/us/article/2009/08/10/04/5137-82/index.xml

Fatal midair crash over Hudson raises questions

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-08-09-aircollision_N.htm

Nine believed dead in Hudson River crash

http://www.newsday.com/news/nine-believed-dead-in-hudson-river-crash-1.1357113

Former Beijing Airport Director Is Executed

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/08/world/asia/08china.html?_r=1

Aeroflot to convert fleet to Boeing, Airbus jets

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/boeingaerospace/2009606796_aeroflot06.html

Eight hurt on Spanish jet at Paris airport

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSL530698720090805

FAA Chief Vows Rewrite of Pilot-Safety Rules

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124950069377208687.html

Study proposes pan-European common transition altitude

Representatives of the Nordic and Baltic countries have carried out a feasibility study that recommends adopting a common regional transition altitude (TA) of either 10,000ft or 18,000ft instead of the disparate and much lower TAs that they use now. The civil aviation authorities of Estonia, Finland, Norway and Sweden have worked with Eurocontrol to examine the feasibility of adopting a common regional TA, and perhaps extending it eventually across all of Europe.

Transition altitude is a published height above sea level at which pilots climbing to their cruising level change their barometric altimeter datum from the regional pressure setting to the common international standard setting of 1013.2hPa, so that all altimeters above that altitude give identical readings. Above the TA, altimeter readings are communicated as common flight levels. During descent, pilots change the altimeter datum back to the regional pressure setting when passing through the transition level, the lowest flight level above the TA. Transition altitudes are local, regional or national, and vary considerably between about 3,000ft and 18,000ft.

The USA and Canada have a common TA of 18,000ft. Eurocontrol has itself conducted a study looking at the issues that such a change would involve. The main arguments for changing the system of national or regional TAs include the benefits of commonality, and the elimination of the need for pilots to adjust their altimeter pressure settings at low levels - notably during climb and descent, where workload is high and collision with terrain is a greater risk. Having a low TA that affects most standard instrument departures and arrivals is also undesirable, the study notes.

The report says that ICAO guidance, recommending TAs should be set as low as possible above 3,000ft, is based on the fact that aircraft performance was much more modest at the time. The International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations and the UK Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators backs a TA of at least 10,000ft in Europe, which is also the altitude recommended by the Nordic feasiblity study, with 18,000ft as the alternative if 10,000ft is not judged acceptable.

Michigan man says he was hit by piece of airplane

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/item.aspx?type=blog&ak=68496193.blog

Severe turbulence hits Detroit-bound flight

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-08-04-turbulence_N.htm

ΥΜΕ - Aλλαγή στη διοίκηση της ΥΠΑ

http://www.google.com/hostednews/epa/article/ALeqM5j8QAttkcxbJYJi57-F8hduSNy2Jw

Plane Hits Control Tower on Thai Island, 1 Dead

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,536542,00.html?test=latestnews

Status: Preliminary

Date: 04 AUG 2009

Time: ca 14:30

Type: ATR-72

Operator: Bangkok Airways

Registration:

C/n / msn:

First flight:

Crew: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 4

Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 68

Total: Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 72

Airplane damage: Substantial

Location: Koh Samui Airport (Thailand)

Phase: Landing (LDG)

Nature: Domestic Scheduled Passenger

Departure airport: Krabi Airport (KBV/VTSG), Thailand

Destination airport: Koh Samui Airport (USM/VTSM), Thailand

Flightnumber: 266

Narrative:

A Bangkok Airways ATR-72 passenger plane was substantially damaged when it skidded off the runway at Koh Samui.

METAR about the time of the accident (07:30 UTC):

VTSG 040700Z 32005KT 9000 SCT020 BKN300 30/23 Q1008/A2977 RWY 32 INFO I=

VTSG 040800Z 32004KT 9000 SCT020 BKN300 28/25 Q1007/A2975 RWY 32 INFO J=

Turbulence hurts 26 on US flight

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8181765.stm

National Transportation Safety Board

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSB

Federal Aviation Administration

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAA

European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EUROCONTROL

International Civil Aviation Organization

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Civil_Aviation_Organization

European Aviation Safety Agency

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Aviation_Safety_Agency

European Civil Aviation Conference

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Civil_Aviation_Conference

Single European Sky

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_European_Sky

Functional Airspace Block

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_Airspace_Block