Isreal's El Al airlines cancels orders four B777

El Al airlines has canceled orders of 4 B777-200 which was placed in 2008 before the global recession. The dipping passenger traffic has prompted the airline to cancel the order. The airline also confirmed that the advance payment made for the order of these aircraft will be adjusted in future deliveries.
Also LAN airlines was reported saying that it would not take deliveries of 4 B767 which they had ordered, instead differ it to B787's and is expected to receive 2 in 2011, 3 in 2012 and 5 in 2013.

NASA space balloon crashes

A NASA space balloon has crashed on take off, tipping over a car and destroying its pay load. The multi million dollar space balloon crashed despite calm conditions at the Alice Springs airport. A eye witness of the crash was reported saying that the space balloon carrying scientific equipment hit the fence before hitting a stationary car. It was reported that no one was injured in this crash. NASA's balloon launching center has reported that it will go ahead with another launch of a space balloon by the end of May.

Pilot error cause for the 2007 Cameroon crash

Investigators have found the probable cause for the May 2007 crash of a Kenyan Airways B737 in Cameroon. The aircraft with 114 passengers on board crashed on a stormy night just after take off from Douala en route to Nairobi. The investigation team has ruled that the aircraft crashed due to loss of control of the crew due to spatial orientation. The report said that the after a long slow roll during which no instrument scanning was done by the crew and with no external visual reference in a dark night the aircraft crashed. The report said that the crew had failed to notice that the aircraft was banking slowly to the right as it gained altitude and just as the alarm sounded to warn the crew the Captain grabbed the controls and made erratic movements of the control column, putting the aircraft into a steeper bank of more than 90 degrees. The CVR had the final moments of the cockpit in which the first officer was calling 'left left captain' as it just hit the ground. 

Boeing close to securing a deal with IAF

The Indian Air Force is negotiating talks with Washington for the order of 10 C-17 Globe Master aircraft. If the talks go well then Boeing is set to bag an order worth $5.8 billion. This deal would mean a double boost to the US aerospace and defense group. India has become a focal point for the European and US contractors as it has plans for modernizing its Air Force fleet in the next decade and it is expected that India is ready to spend $100 billion in acquiring around 125 new fighter aircrafts and is considering bid's from US, Europe and Russia.

Securing

Crack discovered inside the Emirates plane

The DGCA has found cracks inside the Emirates flight that took a plunge on sunday loosing almost 18,500 feet.
The flight which was carrying 350 passengers and 14 crew was hit by a Clear Air Turbulence (CAT). The incident had almost lasted for 15 seconds, the investigators in this incident think that the gravitational force and the oscillation the B777 experienced during the CAT might be the key reason for the cracks developed.

Hot air ballon crash kills two

A hot air balloon carrying 14 people crashed in Abu Dhabi on Sunday killing two. Two others were injured and one seriously injured. Among the two killed one was a French and other was an Indian citizen. The civil aviation ministry has probed an investigation into the crash and hasn't revealed the identity of the people who were killed.
The crash happened over a desert.

Emirates Kochi flight had a close call

A major air disaster was on the cards on Sunday morning, thanks to the pilot. A B777 Emirates flight bound to Kochi from Dubai with 350 passengers and 14 crew on board was hit by an air pocket. Passengers and the crew on board suffered anxious moments, it is learnt that the plane hit an air pocket at 20,000 feet and it went into a free fall and lost 18,500 feet before the pilot could regain controls of the aircraft at 1500 feet AGL and landed the aircraft safely at Kochi Intl airport.
The DGCA has launched an inquiry into the incident and has also grounded the aircraft. All passengers where examined by doctors at the Kochi airport and it was reported that 23 passengers were injured.

Man with weapon arrested at Asheville regional airport

A man allegedly carrying a gun, who came to drop off a car at a car rental company at the Asheville regional airport was arrested by the cops on Sunday afternoon. Shortly before the man was arrested the US President Mr Barack Obama was at the airport and the Air Force one had just then taken off. The police claim that the airport's runway was visible from the car rental company's drop off place and they are interrogating the man with a suspicion that he was there for the US President.

Jordanian B767 makes emergency landing in Poland

A Jordanian Royal Airlines B767 was forced to make emergency landing at the Warsaw airport on Sunday. The flight en-route Sweden - Iraq developed a cockpit windshield crack which forced the Pilot to declare an emergency and land immediately at Poland. This is the second of this kind in a very short interval where a same kind of issue was faced by Qantas Airline's Jumbo last month. All passengers on board both the flights where reported safe with no injuries.  

Passenger jet makes an emergency landing after a pressurization scare

An American Airlines B757 with 95 passengers on board, en route from Vancouver to Dallas made an unscheduled landing at the Seattle-Tacoma Intl airport. It seems that the crew had detected a cabin pressure leak and had immediately descended down for a landing at the Sea-Tac airport. All passengers on board were safe with no reported injuries.    

Air France flight 447 still a mystery

The three week search for the Air France jet that crashed June last year in the Atlantic proved to be unsuccessful. The AF 447 an A330 with 228 passengers crashed due to bad weather on-route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil killing all passengers and crew on board. The investigators are still in the hunt for the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) that could possibly explain how the plain went down.
It has been estimated that so far the French Government, Air France and Airbus have together spent nearly $40 million in search of the wreckage, where they have been searching approximately 1,200 square miles.

US Airways ends merger talks with United Airlines

The merger talks between the two major airliner's in US has come to an end. The US airways reported that after some serious consideration it has decided to discontinue the merger talks with the United Airlines. On the other hand the United Airlines has refused to comment on this issue.

Aircraft almost lost an engine in volcanic ash

A Thomas Cook Pilot had to divert back to Manchester airport shortly after take off. The B767 which took off from the the Manchester airport after the ban on airspace was revoked, suffered in the volcanic ash and was safely landed. It seems that there were no passengers on board the flight. The pilot reported that he smelt ash and a bad running engine when the aircraft was at 20,000 ft climbing to 39,000 ft its cruising altitude. Experts fear that the volcanic ash might have clogged the engine values.When asked by the ATC if the pilot wanted to declare an emergency, the pilot had not declared an emergency instead requested priority for landing without being put on holding pattern.

Few flights resume services in Europe

3 flights bound to New York, Dubai and Shanghai left Amsterdam on Monday night with at least 800 passengers. The EU Transport Commissioner is confident that some more flights might resume services on Tuesday. The Volcanic ash cloud over the Europe has crippled all major airlines and has stranded 1000's of passengers in different parts of the world. British Airways and Lufthansa had carried out test flight's and see no problems in resuming services. The British Airways sent a B747 for its test flight, on board the test flight was their CEO.
The bad news is that the volcano eruption in Iceland has strengthen and is moving East towards UK. IATA sees losses worse than post 9/11 because of this airspace closure in Europe

Kingfisher adds Bangkok to its International destination

The only India's five star airlines Kingfisher Airlines starting from 17th April has added Bangkok to its International destination. Daily flights from Delhi to Bangkok and excluding Tuesdays daily flights from Mumbai to Bangkok.
The Delhi - Bangkok will depart 0130 hrs and will reach 0730 hrs, in return departing Bangkok 2025 hrs and reaching Delhi 2325 hrs daily. The Mumbai - Bangkok will depart Bangkok 0830 hrs and arrive in Mumbai 1125 hrs in return depart mumbai 1315 hrs and arrive at 1505 hrs at Bangkok. The airline has deployed A320 in both the routes.

Black Box reveals break in communication language protocol

The black box of the crashed Polish President's plane reveals that the communication between the Air Traffic Controller (ATC)  and the pilot where in Russian and not in English. Meanwhile a senior air traffic controller at the air base has claimed that the Polish crew did not give the controller with enough information and when asked to divert to another airport they had refused to do so and expressed intention to land at the same airport where the weather was too bad to attempt a landing.

UFO Spotted over Motorway in UK

 An Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) was spotted flying over a motorway in UK. A mystery video footage was released, which shows two fighter jets in pursuit of the UFO.

Click for video footage

Polish President and Army Chief Killed in a crash in Western Russia

The plane carrying the Polish President  Lech Kaczynski,his family, and other senior officials from Warsaw had crashed on approach to Somolensk airport in Western Russia. Polish State Agency reported that there were no survivors killing all 130 onboard.The plane reportedly caught fire after the crash.

737 lands safely after reporting hydraulic fluid leak

A Southwest Airlines B737 with 100 odd passengers and 5 crew on board bound to Oakland Intl Airport from San Diego landed safely at Oakland airport with out any incident. The crew had noticed that the gauge was indicating a fluid leak when the aircraft was on its finals at Oakland, how ever the crew immediately notified the tower about the problem and the fire trucks where ready if something went wrong. But the aircraft landed safely without any incident.   

4 die as an United States Air Force aircraft crashes in Afganistan

An U.S Air force aircraft crashed killing all four on-board. It was reported that 3 where American service members and one was a civilian, and the aircraft was a CV-22 Osprey which is a hybrid aircraft with rotors. It can land and take off as similar as an chopper would do as well as like a fixed wing. The cause for the crash is still unknown.

Blown engine strands United Airlines on the runway

With more than 300 passengers bound to Chicago from Honolulu, United flight 2 a B777 on Wednesday blew its left engine out before takeoff on the runway. The engine blew out with a big bang, where the Pilot thought that the tyres had gone flat. There were no causalities reported.

Series of Qantas Jumbo's being grounded

A Qantas Airlines B747 bound to Melbourne from Los Angles developed a crack on its windscreen, the first officer noticed it during flight. The aircraft landed safely and was grounded for a windscreen replacement before it got back to service
A week before this happened a Qantas A380 was grounded as two of its tyres exploded when it landed at the Sydney airport..

Airbus bags 60 orders

It was reported that the European aircraft manufacturer has received 60 orders this year and have delivered 122 aircraft's this year. On the other hand Boeing's website claims that it has received 83 orders since January. The Airbus latest orders include 25 A350's from United Airlines and 17 A330's from Malaysian Airlines. Airbus has also claimed that it hasn't received any cancellation of orders so far this year.  

Embraer to put a new division for larger planes

Embraer is considering building larger planes which puts it in direct competition with Boeing and Airbus. The division will be called New Program for Commercial Aviation and will be headed by M Kern. Embraer CEO F Curado has said that the company will eventually decide if to manufacture the bigger jets or to stay focused on their current products.

Evergreen sues Boeing

Evergreen Airlines based out from McMinnville has sued Boeing. In 2005 Evergreen was awarded the contract to fly Boeing's Dreamlifter, the super jumbo freighter, 747's converted to freighters to carry large sections of jumbo aircraft. Evergreen expected to hold the contract for 25 years, with a review once in 5 years. Boeing recently axed out Evergreen and awarded the contract to Atlas Air based in New York.
Evergreen in its suit claims that Boeing owes' Atlas Air $1 billion for the late delivery of its 747-8's, as one of the reason for Boeing's move to award Atlas Air the contract. Evergreen expects to loose $175 million in profit with this contract coming to an end.

Boeing bags an order of 50 737 series from Virgin Blue

Virgin Blue the Australian second biggest carrier has placed orders for 50 Boeing 737 aircrafts with the industry seeing a increase in passenger traffic after the recession.
It is also said that Virgin Blue has taken options on another 25 aircrafts and a future purchase rights for another 30. This takes the total to 105 Boeing 737's, this is the biggest order Boeing Co has received in the last 18 months.The deliveries of these aircrafts will start June 2011.