I had gone to Bengaluru International Airport for a meeting, and took my camera along. Got some great shots of Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways at the field. Hope you enjoy. Visit my photo album on Flickr.

VT-VJK (the first KFA A330), performing flight IT2 coming in from London Heathrow. Sorry about the heat haze. The flight comes in the afternoon.


VT-VJN performing flight IT001 takes off for its ten hour trip to London.


Observe the lack of winglets on this Jet Airways Boeing 737-800 Next Generation


A nice northerly wind ensured all the planes showed me their belly while taking-off


One of Kingfisher's newer ATR72-500s (model AT72-212A)



I wonder who came or departed on this Cessna 525B Citation Jet 3?
Please do leave a comment, and spread the word.

At the start of this month, Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair announced it has invited proposals from both its sole vendor till date, Boeing, and competitor Airbus for 200 to 300 new single-aisle aircraft in the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 category, for delivery between 2012 and 2017.

I had a chance to interact with senior Airbus executives during the recently concluded Aero India show in Bangalore, about the RFP from Ryanair. I was told that Airbus had an "unpleasant history" with the carrier, and that they were least interested in pursuing any deal.

The angst of Airbus can be felt in the words of Airbus chief commercial officer John Leahy, “We don’t plan a sales campaign with Ryanair, which would be very expensive and very time consuming,”.

This despite production cutbacks recently announced at the European plane maker.

Ryanair has a known history of ordering extensive capacity at discount prices and then re-negotiating outstanding orders for even lower prices than originally agreed upon.

Going by statistic compiled by Aviation International News, since 1998, if we count the order announcements between Boeing and Ryanair it adds up to almost 540, whereas in reality, Ryanair has placed firm orders for 338 airplanes.

Its now over to Boeing.

A preliminary report into a crash of an Air New Zealand Airbus A320 jet last November off the coast of France, is pointing the cause toward its aircrew who were performing low speed tests, claiming “the flight crew’s failure to adhere to standard operating procedures”.

As a result of the interim finding air safety regulators have issued urgent advice on tightening up procedures on non-commercial or “non-revenue” flights.

France’s Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses (BEA) released an interim report which shows why the plane crashed but not what caused it.

Read the full report here.

It was a routine afternoon on January 15th, New York TRACON La Guardia departure (L116) was handling outbound flights, including the US Airways Flight 1549, known by its radio call sign as Cactus 1549 (an America West flight).

The routine was rudely interrupted at 15:27:36 EST (20:27:36 UTC) by a terse transmission :

"Ah this is uh Cactus fifteen thirty nine, hit birds we lost thrust in both engines we're turning back towards La Guardia."

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has released a recording and transcript of the period seven minutes before the bird strikes for 20 minutes, and includes all the conversation from the TRACON, the various airports, and the flights in the airspace including the US Airways flight.

I am impressed by the calm in cockpit expressed by the short terse transmissions of Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III. He is fighting the ultimate emergency and still communicated his situation. Equally impressive is the complete understanding of the Air Traffic Controller, and the way he anticipates and reacts to the needs of Captain Sullenberger.

Thanks to Terry Maxon for breaking the story.

JetLite Boeing 737-300
A JetLite Boeing 737-800 performing flight S2-361 from Kolkata to Guwahati, India, returned to Kolkata airport, after the crew declared an emergency after the left hand engine caught fire shortly after take-off at 0629 local 0059 GMT, January 17, 2009.

The crew shut the engine down, activated fire extinguisher, and stopped the fire. The plane landed 0648 local.


The entire incident was handled in such a smooth and practised manner, that emergency services attending the aircraft did not need to jump in to action. All 38 passengers and 8 crew disembarked normally. Kudos to the JetLite crew.

The flight was cancelled, the passengers were rebooked onto another flight four hours later.

The cause of the engine fire has not yet been determined.

Update 1 - January 18, 2009

Similar to the US Airways A320 crash in New York, a bird hit has been held responsible for the engine failure.

A kite was sucked in to the left side engine before the aircraft reached an altitude of 500ft AGL. Smoke starting billowing from the engine. An air traffic controller alerts the flight crew, who must have also received in-flight alarms by that time. With alacrity, the crew led by Captain Ajay Keri, goes through the emergency procedures, extinguishes the fire, turns the aircraft around, and lands.

From news photos, the aircraft appears to be VT-SJI. Construction Number: 34399, Line Number: 2030, Aircraft Type: Boeing 737-89P; Engines 2 x CFMI CFM56-7B24, First Flight: August 16, 2006, delivered to Air Sahara: August 24, 2006. Air Sahara was acquired by Jet Airways and renamed JetLite.

On Friday, January 16, 2009, in a very similar incident occurred halfway across the world.

An Interjet Airbus A320-200, flight 4O-809 from Guadalajara to San Jose Cabo, Mexico, with 106 passengers, struck a vulture with its left engine while departing from Guadalajara forcing the crew to shut the engine down and return to Guadalajara. The airplane landed safely about 20 minutes after lift-off.

Be it geese in New York, kites in Kolkata, or vultures in Guadalajara, for the third time in this incident laden week-end, pilots across three countries and three airlines, have calmly done what they repeatedly train for, and completed their primary duty, by safely bringing back the people in their charge.

Kudos.

A video of the US Airways A320 crash on the Hudson river, New York, from the Coast Guard camera. The plane hits the water around 2 minutes in to the video.

I reproduce the report from Aviation Herald, which I find to be on the best in terms of facts.

A US Airways Airbus A320-200, registration N106US performing flight US-1549 from New York La Guardia, NY to Charlotte, NC with 150 passengers and 5 crew, performed a controlled emergency landing into the Hudson River after losing engine power shortly after takeoff from runway 04 of New York's La Guardia Airport. The airplane had reached a maximum altitude of about 3000 feet. All people on board got out of the airplane. 78 people received injuries and were treated by paramedics, most of them minor injuries. One man suffered broken legs, a number of people had to be treated for hypothermia. Several ships and ferries helped to collect the people which got out to the wings and slides, which served a life rafts.

A New Jersey Coast Guard video shows the last few seconds of slow down and the evacuation of the airplane, covering the time between 3:29pm and 3:39pm local (20:29Z-20:39Z). The camera catches the airplane 2:02 minutes into the recording at the time time stamp of 3:31:02pm (watch the most left middle section of video).

The FAA reported, that the airplane hit a flock of birds (geese) causing both engines to lose power shortly after takeoff. The airplane took off runway 04 and was airborne for about 3 minutes.

Passengers reported, they had barely time to prepare for the ditching from time of impact with birds to impact with water. The airplane was airborne, when one loud bang was heard, the airplane shook, both engines flamed out and emitted smoke.

In radio transmissions to Air Traffic Control the pilot reported bird strikes to both engines and wanted initially to divert to Teterboro,NJ before turning onto the Hudson River.

The NTSB confirmed the registration of the airplane to be N106US and dispatched a go-team consisting of 20 investigators on site. The French BEA joins the investigation with 4 investigators, EASA with one specialist and Airbus Industries with 6 engineers. On Jan 16th the NTSB reported, that one of the airplane's engines is missing but they can't tell yet, which one is missing. (Editor's note: an images of the airplane just before touchdown - see below - shows both engines attached). The airplane has been secured south of Manhattan, attempts are underway to get the airplane fully recovered out of the water. The FAA later added, it is the left engine missing. Again later the NTSB clarified their previous report, that both engines are missing from the airframe and both apparently detached after hitting the water.

In a press conference on Jan 15th the Mayor of New York cautioned, that they only believe everybody got out of the airplane. The number of 155 souls on board is not yet entirely ensured as well. So far they don't have reports of any serious injuries. Only a few were actually delivered to the hospitals. The captain walked the airplane twice after landing to ensure, nobody was left on board.

The radar track by New York's La Guardia Airport has the airplane appear on the radar screen at 20:25:52Z, reaching the highest point at 3400 feet MSL overhead the Bronx Park at 20:27:30Z, entering the left hand turn on 20:27:51Z. A Helicopter (registration N461SA) is at that time tracking north over the Hudson River at 1000 feet MSL. The A320 leaves the turn at 20:28:27Z, reaches the George Washington Bridge at 20:28:53Z at 1300 feet, while the helicopter at that point descends to 800 feet and starts to turn right onto Manhattan, the Airbus also swerves right for a moment. At 20:29:10Z the aircraft are clear of each other. The last radar return of the aircraft is received at 500 feet MSL at 15:29:50Z.

There are large bird sanctuaries underneath the departure path of runway 04 respective approach path runway 22 like Rikers Island, Clason Point Park, Hunts Point Riverside Park or Barretto Point Park.

A marvelous article about the ditching including an extensive statement by Eric Moody, captain of the British Airways Boeing 747-200 flight BA-009 losing all 4 engines while flying into volcanic ashes overhead Indonesia in 1982, has appeared in the regional Scottish newspaper "The Scotsman".

On Sep 15th 1988 an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737-200 registration ET-AJA collided with a flock of pigeons at about 200 feet AGL while taking off from Ethiopia's airport Bahar Dar. Both engines failed some time later resulting in a belly crash landing. 35 of the 104 occupants lost their lives.

Another very similiar accident happened to Scandinavian Airlines flight 751, a MD-81 registration OY-KHO on December 27th 1991, when during takeoff from Stockholm both engines failed as result of ice coming off the main wings and hitting the engines. All 129 people on board survived, 2 of them with serious injuries and 23 with minor injuries.

At least temporary total power losses (incomplete list):
Dec 28th 1978: United DC68 registration N8082U near Portland,OR (USA), fuel starvation
Jun 24th 1982: British Airways B742 registration G-BDXH over West Java (Indonesia), volcanic ashes
Jul 23rd 1983: Air Canada B762 registration C-GAUN ("Gimli Glider") near Gimli (Canada), fuel starvation
Mar 31st 1986: United B762 registration N609UA near San Francisco,CA (USA), dual flame out
Jun 30th 1987: Delta B762 registration N103DA near Los Angeles,CA (USA), fuel inadvertently turned off
Sep 15th 1988: Ethiopian B732 registration ET-AJA at Bahar Dar (Ethiopia), multiple bird strikes
Sep 03rd 1989: Varig B732 registration PP-VMK over Brazil, wrong heading
Dec 15th 1989: KLM B744 registration PH-BFC near Anchorage,AK (USA), volcanic ashes
Jan 25th 1990: Avianca B703 at New York,NY (USA), fuel starvation
Dec 27th 1991: Scandinavian MD81 registration OY-KHO at Stockholm (Sweden), ice ingestion
Nov 15th 1993: Indian Airlines A30B registration VT-EDV near Tirupati (India), fuel starvation during diversion
Nov 23rd 1996: Ethiopian B762 registration ET-AIZ at Comoros (Union des Comores), hijack
Jan 13th 2000: Avisto SH36 registration HB-AAM at Marsa Brega (Lybia), ice ingestion
May 21st 2000: East Coast J31 registration N16EJ at Wilkes Barre,PA (USA), fuel starvation
Jul 12th 2000: Hapag Lloyd A313 registration D-AHLB near Vienna (Austria), cruise with extended landing gear
Aug 24th 2001: Transat A332 registration C-GITS ("Atlantic Glider") near Azores (Portugal), fuel leak
Aug 16th 2005: Tuninter AT72 registration TS-LBB near Sicily (Italy), wrong fuel gauge
Jan 17th 2008: British Airways B772 registration G-YMMM at Heathrow,EN (UK), yet unexplained engine roll down

It is also suspected, that a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 registration EI-DYG lost all power following multiple bird strikes on approach into Rome Ciampino (Italy) on Nov 10th 2008.

Congratulations to the pilot for a great landing on water.

According to a report by DNA, on January 3, 2009, a Kingfisher Airlines Airbus A320, flight IT 335 with 86 passengers on board, landed at New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) with just about 20 minutes fuel on-board, a mere 5 minutes short of a "Mayday".

As per standard aviation practice, flights always carry enough fuel for it's planned route to the destination airport, plus some hovering time, and for a diversion to an alternate airport. The flight left Mumbai at 19:45 with enough fuel to reach its scheduled destination of New Delhi by 21:30 and the immediate alternate diversion airports of Jaipur or Lucknow.

Winter fog is a problem for the Delhi area, and normally, airlines in India assign a CAT-III licensed pilot for flights that land in Delhi after 21:00, since these pilots are licensed to land in much poorer visibility, typically 100 meters. (A detailed explanation of CAT is below in this article).

However the pilot on this flight, Tariq Khan was licensed for only CAT-I, i.e. minimum 550 meters of visibility.

Seeds are sown
As per the article, minutes before landing, the air traffic control (ATC) at Delhi airport informed the pilot that visibility had dropped to CAT-III conditions, which meant the pilot would not be able to see beyond 100 metres. The source said Khan sought a landing at Jaipur, but permission was denied due to lack of parking space. Khan then decided to divert the flight to Lucknow as he had already consumed a lot of fuel hovering over Delhi.

When Khan was halfway to Lucknow, which is 55 minutes flying time from Delhi, the Delhi ATC informed him that the fog had lifted and he could return, the source said.

The big risk
The aircraft would have consumed nearly 45% of its additional fuel by this time. Instead of opting to land at Lucknow, refuel, and fly back to Delhi, Khan decided to head back to the capital.

Once he reached Delhi, he was ninth in the landing queue. By now, the plane was dangerously low on fuel with just a few kilolitres left in the tank.

The incident
Other sources indicate that the flight landed with only 940 kilograms of fuel on-board, which translates to about 20 minutes flying time.

When usable fuel remaining is less than 30 minutes endurance, pilots declare a "Pan Pan" or urgency. When fuel remaining is less than 15 minutes endurance, pilot MUST declare "Mayday" or distress/emergency.

A crisis was averted only after the pilot Tarig Khan requested the ATC, and obtained, a "fuel priority" landing, allowing him to jump the other planes ahead in the queue.

What Kingfisher says
Confirming the incident, Kingfisher spokesperson Prakash Mirpuri told DNA on Monday that the pilot did ask for preferential landing at Delhi as he was running low on fuel. The aircraft was in the queue for landing when visibility at Delhi dropped. The captain then requested a diversion to an alternate designated airfield, which was Jaipur. As the parking bays were full, the aircraft was diverted to Lucknow, Mirpuri said.

"En route Lucknow the weather deteriorated. Consequently, the aircraft was turned back to Delhi and the captain requested priority sequencing for landing," Mirpuri said in his written communication to DNA.

Kingfisher's flight safety department summoned captain Khan to seek an explanation on Sunday. Mirpuri termed it a "routine enquiry" by the department whenever there was a deviation from the assigned route.

Your view
Hindsight is always 20-20, but what is your opinion on the pilot's actions ?

Share your thoughts via a comment.

My view

1. While I agree the pilot took some risks, we must consider the following Weather at Delhi was clear when the flight took off from Mumbai
2. 9pm-12mid night is rush hour at Delhi, obviously the flight must have been in a hold. The visibility dropped during this time
3. The pilot has diverted to Lucknow as per procedure. Half way there, he is informed Delhi is back to Cat-I visibility. Was he explicitly informed of the queue ? If yes, he deserves to be hanged, but no commercial pilot I know, is that reckless.
4. So that will imply the pilot was informed about the queue, only when he reached Delhi a second time.
5. At this point he has no choice. As per procedure, he declares a PAN PAN PAN, requests and is given a priority landing. Perfectly as per operating procedures.
   

Explanation of ILS (instrument landing system) CATegories
There are three categories of ILS which support similarly named categories of operation. In each case a suitably equipped aircraft and appropriately qualified crew are required.

• Category I - A precision instrument approach and landing with a decision height not lower than 200 feet (61 m) above touchdown zone elevation and with either a visibility not less than 800 meters (2,625 ft) or a runway visual range not less than 550 meters (1,804 ft).
• Category II - Category II operation: A precision instrument approach and landing with a decision height lower than 200 feet (61 m) above touchdown zone elevation but not lower than 100 feet (30 m), and a runway visual range not less than 350 meters (1,148 ft).
• Category III is further subdivided
• Category III A - A precision instrument approach and landing with:
• a) a decision height lower than 100 feet (30 m) above touchdown zone elevation, or no decision height; and
• b) a runway visual range not less than 200 meters (656ft).
• Category III B - A precision instrument approach and landing with:
• a) a decision height lower than 50 feet (15 m) above touchdown zone elevation, or no decision height; and
• b) a runway visual range less than 200 meters (656 ft) but not less than 50 meters (164 ft).
• Category III C - A precision instrument approach and landing with no decision height and no runway visual range limitations. A Category III C system is capable of using an aircraft's autopilot to land the aircraft and can also provide guidance along the runway surface.

Source: Wikipedia

Both the European EASA and US FAA have issued emergency Airworthiness Directives ADs for operators of CFM56-5B engines, typically operated on the Airbus A320 family of aircraft, which include the A318, A319, A320 and A321.

Snecma Image
EASA Emergency Airworthiness Directive 2008-228 and the FAA Airworthiness Directive AD 2009-01-01, requests operators of CFM56-5B engines, to monitor Exhaust Gas Temperatures (EGT) for deterioration. If both engines show deteriorations of 80 or more degrees, at least one engine must be replaced according to the new directive. EGT monitoring is a crucial aspect of flight operations.

The emergency directives come after an incident, in which an Airbus A321-200 experienced compressor stalls on both engines during initial climb out on December 15th 2008. While not disclosed, it is suspected, this is the incident involving Air France Airbus A321-200, F-GTAJ, flight AF 2585 from Tunis to Paris CDG, where the flight had to return to Tunis 14 minutes after take-off due to "unspecified engine problems".

The CFM56-5B is a very popular engine with over 60% of Airbus A320 family operators, selecting them.

In India, Indian (now Air India) operates the CFM engine on the new series of Airbus aircraft, part of the 43 ordered by them in 2006. Indian had ordered 20 Airbus A321s, 19 Airbus A319s and four A320s. The older series of Indian's A320 fleet use engines from IAE, as do most of India's private operators, Kingfisher Airlines, Kingfisher Red, and IndiGo, which are not impacted by these ADs.

I must stress that there is no need for passengers to treat these ADs as negative, and Air India has an excellent maintenance record.

Air New Zealand, the launch customer, of the much awaited, and much delayed, Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, in a statement announced

"Boeing confirmed yesterday a further 12 month delay could be expected with the first 787-9 aircraft to be delivered to Air New Zealand in the first quarter of 2013,"

Air New Zealand has eight 787-9 on order. Originally deliveries were expected to commence towards the end of 2010. Thanks to the various problems at Boeing, deliveries were delayed to early 2012, and now 2013.

Boeing photo

Jon Ostrower of FlightBlogger, explains in an analysis of an internal Airbus dossier, the 787-9 is the killer application for the Dreamliner project. Many customers are expected to switch to, or order, 787-9's.

Naturally, the airline is incensed. Both Reuters and Bloomberg report, the airline is seeking compensation from Boeing.

On the positive side, Boeing's maintenance plan, a key component of the Dreamliner's economic positioning, has been approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Boeing has been promoting the 787 as

requiring less maintenance, less often than comparably sized jets, which allows the 787 to be more available for revenue service for airlines, leading to significant financial and scheduling opportunities for airlines.

In related airline news, Air New Zealand announced it will proceed with its bio-fuel test, along with Boeing, on December 30th, originally scheduled for December 3rd, but delayed due to the crash of its Airbus A320 off the coast of France.

As per the announcement

The two-hour test flight is scheduled to take off from Auckland airport on Tuesday morning 30 December, with the jatropha biofuel blend powering one of the Air New Zealand Boeing 747-400's Rolls-Royce RB211 engines.

The pilot in command of the test flight is Air New Zealand 747 Fleet Manager Captain Keith Pattie. During the flight Captain Pattie and his crew will undertake a number of fuel tests confirming and measuring the performance of the engine and fuel systems at various altitudes and under a variety of operating conditions.

The test flight is a joint initiative between Air New Zealand, Boeing, Rolls-Royce and UOP, with support from Terasol Energy, as part of commercial aviation's drive for more sustainable air travel for future generations.

Read more Bangalore Aviation articles on the 787, bio-fuel, Air New Zealand, Boeing.

Is this the shape of new Airbus A320 family aircraft to come ?

Jon Ostrower at FlightBlogger has the report with more pictures.

Click here to read it.

December 17th update.

Airbus press release.

Airbus has started flight-testing of Blended Winglet devices on an Airbus A320. The Blended Winglet technology, developed by Aviation Partners Inc. (API), has been specially adapted for these tests on the A320 Family.

The objective of these tests and the subsequent evaluation is to identify both the performance and economic benefits that these devices could offer for Airbus aircraft. In conjunction with follow-up analyses, they will provide data on the overall viability of the devices and help to determine whether API's technology could be considered for an integrated Airbus programme.

Furthermore, this evaluation is being carried out as part of our wider goal of extending the market-leading eco-efficient credentials of Airbus aircraft. Research flight testing of two different winglet designs was performed two years ago and valuable experience was gained. Since that time, Airbus has been working to absorb and build on these lessons.

Patrick Gavin, Airbus' Executive Vice President Engineering says, "We continue to work on further improving the eco-efficiency of all our aircraft. These early evaluation tests are a milestone that need to be achieved long before implementation. The A320 Family is the most efficient in its class, and we continuously study potential improvements to keep it unmatched for the years to come."

In this latest initiative, tests will be performed on the flight test A320, MSN1 - the same aircraft that hosted flight tests of previous winglet proposals. In this way, Airbus continues its work on evaluating wing-tip designs for the A320 Family and assessment of innovative ways of reducing the impact of the higher structural loads, without incurring major structural weight increases.

Airbus leads the way in wing-tip design with every current Airbus product, including the A320, fitted as standard with drag-reducing wing-tip devices.

Also check out the A380 panoramas of Qantas, Singapore Airlines and the A380 cockpit.

Airbus reported completion of the largest civil aircraft deal of the year, a 51-plane order from Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways worth over $10 billion.

The order includes 6 A380 superjumbo, 25 A350XWB and 20 single-aisle A320 aircraft.

The order was first announced at the Farnborough air show in July. However, Etihad's financial woes, and speculation of a merger with fellow United Arab Emirates carrier, Dubai based Emirates, led to months of uncertainty on the order.

The order was finally confirmed last week and made it into the official Airbus backlog, as reported by Reuters on Friday.

Airbus will produce some composite parts in the emirate as part of an industrial deal with Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala Development.

Airbus has net orders of 756 aircraft this year, against a target of 850 plane sales in 2008.

Rival, Boeing, which also won a 45-plane order from Etihad this year, has reported 646 gross orders and 640 net orders for 2008 as of Dec. 2.

Airbus also said it had delivered 46 planes in November, bringing deliveries so far this year to 437, against a targeted 470 deliveries in 2008.