Exapt pilot's medical reqirments in India - a cause of worry

The crash of the Air India Express flight IX 812 at Mangalore International airport has brought the DGCA's medical requirement for expat pilots in the country is under the scanner. It seems like the Indian pilots are put under a very strict medical requirement to fly for airliners, on the other hand DGCA does not force the expat pilots to prove the medical fitness at the same standards as the Indian pilots are asked to do.
There have been few incidents involving expat pilots which is scary. There was a French national who was flying with Jet Airways and had collapsed at his hotel room just after his duty, in another terrifying case a first officer had to take control of the flight as the expat captain had become unconscious all in a sudden, lucky that the first officer was quick to act and he had landed the aircraft safely.
In another incident involving a South African pilot were he was arrested by the cops at Dubai, his wife had claimed that the pilot was suffering from hyper tension and diabetes which pose a high risk for pilots.
Was it something like this that caused the fatal Mangalore crash? Is DGCA gonna be sticking with the same relaxed requirement for expat pilots? Will there be another crash same as the Mangalore, if the captain's health had played a vital role in this crash. Will these questions be answered by the DGCA?

Crew highly experienced on flight 812 - AI chief

What went wrong with the Air India Express flight IX 812 is still a mystery as the DGCA has started probing into the accident. Expertise from Boeing and the NTSB  has been sought to help the investigation. There have been rumors that the pilots did have enough training to fly into the tricky runway of Mangalore. The Air India chief had called for press meeting earlier this evening and had clarified that those were just rumors.
He claimed that the Cockpit crew had enough rest as per the DGCA regulations and he had proof for the same. He also dismissed that the pilots did not have enough training, he said that the Captain had flown in and out of Mangalore several times and infact he had completed 19 successful landings at the same runway and the first officer had made 66 landings in the same runway. The crew was highly experienced, the Captain had more than 10,000 flying hours under his belt and the first officer had more than 3,000 hours of flying experience.

He refused to comment on the speculation that the aircraft might have touched down way beyond the touch down zone which made it hard for the crew to stop it within the available runway. He has asked the media "not to speculate any such thing as the investigation team is probing into the accident and lets wait patiently for them to come up with the cause of accident." The Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) will play a vital role in finding the cause for the fatal crash killing more than 150 with just 7 survivors, as the FDR can give important information on what the aircraft systems were doing during the final seconds and the CVR could explain what the crew was going through before the tragedy. This could explain was it a human error or a mechanical/electrical or any sort of catastrophic failure that had caused the crash.  

Passenger plane crashes in Afghanistan

A passenger plane carrying 44 passengers which include 6 foreign nationals has crashed in Afghanistan. Officials reported that it was a domestic flight and it had crashed in the Salang pass. There has been no official word on the casualties of the crash. It was reported that the aircraft was operated by Pamir Airways a private airlines in Afghanistan which had started its operation in 1995, since then it has been operating many domestic flight and flights to Dubai and Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrims as well. The immediate cause of the accident is still unknown but aviation experts in Afghanistan suspect poor weather could have been the cause for the disaster. The crash site is 12,400 feet the Salang pass, it is expected that the search and rescue could have problems in reaching debris of the crashed aircraft.

Volcanic ash plays it part again - air space might be shut again

Parts of UK airspace might be shut again on Sunday and if it happens so it is expected to be shut until Tuesday. It is expected that the parts of south east are likely to be affected by the fresh volcanic eruption in Iceland and with the winds bringing it over the UK. Heathrow is expected to be shut, this is sign of worry for all major airlines who fly their passenger across the world through Heathrow. Heathrow is one of the world's busiest airports.

No traces of fire before the crash - Tripoli crash

The plane that crashed on landing in Tripoli did not catch any fire or there wasn't any sort of explosion before the it crashed, reports suggest. The A330 with more than 100 people on board, killing all and leaving a sole survivor a nine year old Dutch boy who lost his family in the crash.
The reports also suggest that the pilot did not report any sorts of trouble to the air traffic controller. The black box and the flight data recorder are expected to be sent to Europe or USA for decoding the data and the conversation that happened during the final seconds of the fatal crash.

flydubai to launch flights to India

flydubai the low coast carrier in Dubai on Tuesday announced its first destination in India. It said that it would commence its flight to Lucknow from 2nd June. The announcement  has come after a 10 month wait from initial plans to commence flights to India. It was reported that flydubai had some operational issues which took it 10 months to come out with the announcement. The low cost airline is also eying Coimbatore and Chandigarh as other destinations in India.

ANA pilots test fly the B787

Two of the senior All Nippon Airways (ANA) pilots flew the B787 Dreamliner on Wednesday. The flight happened over the Washington state airspace. Boeing had obtained a special airworthiness certificate from FAA to conduct the flight. The two ANA pilots were B777 rated. Boeing's test pilot for B787 showed the difference in cockpit layout between the B787 and B777 for the pilots. ANA has ordered for 50 B787's of which their first aircraft is expected to be delivered in late 2010. The two ANA pilots had performed different sorts of landing and take off and had a good feel of the aircraft, the flight lasted for 2 hours and 40 minutes.  

Aircraft crashes minutes before landing killing more than 100 on board

An Airbus A330 bound to Tripoli from Johannesburg has crashed just minutes before making it to the runway. The cause of the crash is yet to be determined, but there have been reports that suggest that there could have been an explosion just before the aircraft crashed. The aircraft was owned by Afriqiyah Airways, most of the passengers on board were Dutch people who were flying to other European countries connecting from this flight.
It was reported that the rescue team had rescued one 8 year old boy alive. The rescue team are are still doing their best to find few more alive. It is also believed that the Airbus officials have rushed a team to the crash site to find out what could have gone wrong.

Pilots to practice in simulated rain

The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in India has called upon all airlines and airline pilot to go through a simulated rain training. This additional simulator training is to handle adverse weather condition, a move aimed to improve passenger safety in monsoon. Despite issuing such instructions every year the airlines in India have not seemed to implement it yet, said a DGCA spokesmen hence forth this has been made mandatory from this year and has to be followed strictly regardless of what ever the pilots previous flying experience is, and special attention should be paid to first time commanders during monsoon.

Russian pilots removed from cockpit for being drunk

 A flight with three passengers in Russia was canceled on Friday while on the runway after the airport dispatchers became suspicious that the pilot was drunk. The Tu-134 was owned by Kosomos airline, and the three passengers where sent to hotel. The small airline operators in Russia have a reputation for frequent violations of flight safety rules. The owners don't give the crew a much needed break as per the law and keep pushing them to fly, so the crew at times try to fight fatigue with alcohol. 

Hunt for the crashed Air France jet extended

The French investigators on Tuesday said that the under water hunt for the wreckage of the crashed jet, an A330 killing all 228 people on board has been extended through late May. But the hunt will resume with fewer resources, the French accident investigation agency BEA is still confident enough to zero in on the location of the crash site. The BEA also confirmed that only one of the previous two ships will hunt for the black box as one vessel is carrying US Navy owned equipment and is unavailable. Air France and Air Bus the manufacturer of jet will sponsor euro 1.5 million each for the search operation that will carry on until May 25th.

Russian pilots can no longer fly in Iran

It was reported that the Iran transport minister has said that the Islamic Republic is sending home all Russian pilots and they can no longer fly for Iranian Airlines. The minister has said that terminating all foreign pilots flying in Iran was on their agenda. It seems in March the Iranian President had asked to expel all foreign pilots flying in the country. Following this the transport minister had also hinted that their current fleet of Russian made Tupolev 154 will also be replaced very shortly, but did not reveal any details of which make are they looking to replace with.

Ireland, Britain eye new ash cloud flight ban

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has said that it may have to impose a airspace closure on Tuesday due to a new volcanic ash cloud moving south. The IAA has confirmed that it is based on the alert from Volcanic Ash Advice Center (VAAC). The Irish carrier Aer Arann has canceled few flights on Monday night. A small area of British air space is also expected to be shut down. It is also expected that the major airports in Europe will not be affected this time. 

Jet Airways makes a single engine landing after mid air scare

A Jet airways aircraft just after take off had to make a priority landing due to a instrument false alarm at the Kolkata airport on Sunday. Soon after take off of the Bagdogra bound aircraft the 'reversal anti lock system' indicator started to lit up, and the crew had to react quickly, as per procedures the crew shut down the right engine and decided to land back in kolkata. The aircraft with 42 passengers on board landed safely on single engine.
As soon as the aircraft landed the engineers examined the engine and the instrument and found out that the engine was in good shape and there were no problems with the engine, it was the instrument that gave false alarm. After the examination the same aircraft was flown in the route. The aircraft was a 50 seater CRJ which Jet Airways had  dry leased in 2003 for a period of 7 years.

Air India cancel orders with Boeing

Air India the national carrier of India wants to cancel the order of three Boeing 777-300ER. But it is learn t that Boeing has offered Air India 10 single aisle aircraft's in lue of three long haul aircraft's, Boeing is ready to deliver 10 B737-800 instead of the three B777's. Differences in the pricing remain the main obstacle between Boeing and Air India, as AI wants the aircraft's to be priced at a post dated price when the orders were initially placed. AI had placed an order of 68 aircraft's with Boeing in 2005  which includes 23 B777, (8 B777-200LR and 15 B777-300ER) 18 B737-800, 27 B787-800. Air India has already taken deliveries of  18 B737-800, 8 B777-200LR and of the 15 B777-300ER 10 aircraft's have been delivered and the remaining 5 were about to be delivered over a period of next 15 months. It is estimated that Air India will have to pay Rs22,000 crore for aircraft deliveries this year, were it paid Rs 12,000 crore last year.

United Airlines flight 148 receives bomb threat

United Airlines flight 148 bound to Philadelphia from Chicago received a bomb threat while in flight on Saturday evening. As per procedures the crew had informed the Philadelphia tower about the bomb threat, around 1830 hrs the plane landed safely and the 112 people on board where disembarked safely. FBI and TSA are investigating the issue and all 112 passengers on board and 5 crew were questioned about the bomb threat.

Southwest jet and a Copter on collision path in Houston

A Southwest jet that just took off from the Houston airport had almost collided with a helicopter. The jet which just took off was at 100 feet AGL when the pilot spotted a helicopter on collision path. Both the pilot's had to take evasive action to avoid a crash. The Southwest jet's pilot eased back on the power and slowed down the rate of climb and the helicopter pilot had to bank very steeply to stay away from flight path of the jet. The jet and the helicopter missed each other by 100 feet vertical and 125 feet lateral distance. FAA has probed an investigation.

Angola Airlines confirms' order of two B777

Boeing and Angola Airlines announced the order of two B777-300ER at Washington. The 2 B777 are valued at about $550 million and the airlines have also got purchase rights for two more 777-300ER in future. The flag carrier of Angola is expected to use these two new aircrafts' for route expansion and add new destinations in Europe.
The Boeing 777-300ER is 19 percent lighter than its closest competitor, which reduces its fuel requirement. It produces 22 percent less carbon dioxide per seat and costs 20 percent less to operate per seat. The airplane can seat up to 365 passengers in a three-class configuration and has a maximum range of 7,930 nautical miles (14,685 km). The 777 family is the world's most successful twin-engine, twin-aisle airplane. Sixty customers around the world have ordered more than 1,100 B777s.