General Aviation Thread

[Sandhi Yudha]

The wings and tyres of the MC-21 seems to be sanction-proof now. The development of tyres started actually already in 2016.

Today a KLM Boeing 777 had to RTB/return to the airport of departure, Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS), because of a technical problem on engine nr.1. On the other side of the world, another Boeing of KLM, this time a 787, had also technical problems and was also forced to do the same and return to Tokyo.

Vliegtuig KLM maakt voorzorgslanding op Schiphol vanwege vlammen uit motor

Een vliegtuig van KLM moest zaterdagmiddag een voorzorgslanding maken op Schiphol omdat er vlammen uit de motor kwamen. Het gaat om vlucht KL877 met als bestemming de Indiase stad Mumbai. Niemand raakte gewond.

www.nu.nl

This is really a disgrace if this is all true.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtube.com

 

[swerve]

This is really a disgrace if this is all true.

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtube.com

This can be complicated. I remember many years ago there was a coffee maker, IIRC in an AWACS, which was supposedly massively overcharged for. It turned out that the USAF had written a specification for it that took many thousands of words, specifying that it should remain functional in conditions that might have destroyed the aircraft. Boeing had to design such a coffee maker & test it. Most of the crazily high price was in the very expensive design & testing, spread across a very small production run.

I have no difficulty in believing that Boeing overcharges, but US military procurement can make things that one would expect to be cheap very expensive indeed. They can demand extreme performance, whether it's needed or not, so a unique product is needed, & exhaustive testing for everything, & often, only buy small numbers.

P.S. I've just noticed something else. Imagine a custom-designed piece of equipment, made in one small batch. You have to buy all the spares you're ever going to need in one go, or make provision for manufacture of new spares. Either is costly. In 2020 the USAF issued a requirement for a new coffee maker for the E-3, because spares for the old one were no longer available.

 

[MARKMILES77]

Glad to know that if Nuclear War breaks out I won't have to cancel my trip to Bali!

Airlines update nuclear war plans as escalation threats grow

Operators are looking at workarounds to 1950s-era insurance policies that would ground all airliners in the event of a single nuclear explosion.

www.theage.com.au

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

In this article we can see a short video of a Mandarin Airlines ATR 72-600 which was forces to make an emergency return landing at Kaohsiung International Airport in Taiwan after the engine cover from its left PW127 became loose.

VIDEO: Mandarin Airlines ATR 72-600 Makes Emergency Landing in Kaohsiung After Engine Cover Incident | Cedar News

Mandarin Airlines ATR 72-600 makes an emergency return landing at Kaohsiung International Airport in Taiwan after its engine cover became loose on departure.

cedarnews.net

Last week on 15 May, a new airline had its inaugural flight. It was a remarkable flight with only 95 passengers, and the passengers, paying $2300 for the ticket were not really impressed by the service and facilities.

Global Airlines Limited is a British airline with a planned fleet of four Airbus A380 aircraft. The company purchased its first aircraft in May 2023 and claims to be the first new Airbus A380 owner in eight years. Until now, that aeroplane, 9H-GLOBL which is a former China Southern A380-841 with registration number B-6140 and serial number MSN0120 is the only one in the fleet.

 

[Ananda]

https://jakartaglobe.id/business/indonesia-revives-boeinggaruda-deal-amid-tariff-talks

Is Trump manage to give Boeing edge on certain market ? I can't answer toward other ASEAN market, but in Indonesia, the government already give 'strong suggestion' to all Airlines to prioritise Boeing on further procurement.

While Tu-214 seems got long awaited two person crew cockpit. Something that SSJ and MC-21 already design from begining, in lime with modern airliners standard.

At least this video claim that Kazan (Tu-214) manufacturer already sign agreement with Aeroflot for initial batch of 11 Tu-214 with two crew cockpits. This move with delate the need for Flight Engineer and their equipment can reduce overall weight up to 200 Kg. Perhaps it will then can make Tu-214 as 757 replacement.

 

[John Fedup]

Apparently Canada has some of the oldest jets still flying passengers. Most are 737-200s, 40-50 years old. The 737-200 has a unpaved runway kit consisting of a gravel deflector and a compressed air blower to blow debris away from its engines. Most runways in the Arctic are unpaved for the reasons mentioned in the article, permafrost and environmental. The 737-200 ceased production over 20 years before the MD bean counters could ruin Boeing's engineering expertise. Clearly the 737-200 was and still is a great performer.

Why Canada hosts more old passenger jets than any other country — by far

 

[StevoJH]

Apparently Canada has some of the oldest jets still flying passengers. Most are 737-200s, 40-50 years old. The 737-200 has a unpaved runway kit consisting of a gravel deflector and a compressed air blower to blow debris away from its engines. Most runways in the Arctic are unpaved for the reasons mentioned in the article, permafrost and environmental. The 737-200 ceased production over 20 years before the MD bean counters could ruin Boeing's engineering expertise. Clearly the 737-200 was and still is a great performer.

Why Canada hosts more old passenger jets than any other country — by far

They are also cheap to procure due to their age, which may allow smaller carriers to afford them. And they can presumably offset the increased running costs because they are the only operators into their respective area’s.

And the “newer” turboprops would be more expensive to purchase and carry less cargo/people, though presumably at lower cost per flight hour.

It does make me wonder how many hours/cycles these old jets have left before they have to be sent to the scrap yard though.

 

[John Fedup]

It does make me wonder how many hours/cycles these old jets have left before they have to be sent to the scrap yard though.

Not sure if any B-52s are older. There must be a cycle limit.

 

[Sandhi Yudha]

Not sure if any B-52s are older. There must be a cycle limit.

Airliners fly an average 4-6 flights a day, i not under maintenance. Military transporters fly less, other military aircrafts like strategic bombers even less, maybe only a couple of times each month. So i would not be surprised if B52s can survive 10 × longer than most airliners.