How difficult is it to film a running car sitting in another car? Pretty difficult. But this video mission has crossed all levels of precision and perfection by capturing the launch and the flight of India’s nuclear-capable sub sonic cruise missile called Nirbhay. The missile is being developed by India’s DRDO with features like wing development and a turbofan engine. It carries either conventional or a nuclear payload while flying to the target.
This video uploaded by Anantha Krishnan M. is from the last successful test and is shot from an IAF Jaguar plane. We salute the pilot and the camera person for a brilliant footage!
Last weekend, Singapore Airlines Flight 836 was traveling from Singapore to Shanghai when the twin-engine Airbus A330-343 lost power on both engines over the South China Sea.
Image of Airbus330-343
Fortunately, the pilots were able to restore power to the engines, and the flight was able to continue on to its destination.
No injuries have been reported.
Modern turbofan engines are very robust pieces of engineering and tend to be incredibly reliable.
That makes last weekend’s incident an exceedingly rare event.
In fact, experienced A330 pilot Karlene Petitt told Business Insider that in her years flying the popular jet, she has never encountered, in pilot parlance, a “dual flameout.”
So what is an airline pilot thinking when the engines on his or her plane inexplicably lose power?
“What would go through my mind is fly the plane and do everything I can to get the engines started,” Petitt said in an email. “That would be the only thing to think about.”
In the cockpit, pilots are equipped with reference guides which provides guidance and checklists for a wide variety of operational situations – including the loss of power on all engines.
At cruising altitudes – 39,000 ft. in the case of the Singapore jet – the air is very thin and there may not be enough oxygen to get the engines to relight.
However, according to Petitt, “Normally when you get down around 24,000 feet you should be able to get one started because of the denser air at that altitude.”
In the case of Singapore Flight 836, the airliner lost 13,000 feet of altitude before the pilots were able to get the engines going again.
According to Petitt, she would only think about looking for a landing location after realizing she wouldn’t be able to get the engines going.
Depending on how high and how far the airplane is from an airport, the pilot would then determine what would be the appropriate course of action
In past incidents, pilots have chosen a variety of strategies.
In 1983, Air Canada Flight 143 going from Montreal to Edmonton ran out of fuel midway through the flight after the ground crew miscalculated the amount needed for the trip. The pilots were able to glide the twin-engine Boeing 767-200 jet to safety at a retired Canadian military runway that had been turned into a race track.
In 2001, an Air Transat Airbus A330 traveling from Toronto to Lisbon developed a fuel leak while flying over the Atlantic Ocean. The widebody jet lost all power, but the pilots were able to glide to an airport in the Azores Islands.
Miracle on the Hudson
Most famously, US Airways flight 1549 lost both of its engines after colliding with a flock of geese while taking off from New York’s LaGuardia Airport. Due to the low altitude, the pilots didn’t have time to complete the engine restart procedure. Miraculously, Captain Sully Sullenberger was able to successfully guide the Airbus A320 down in the middle of the Hudson River.
In these instances, the pilots were able to safely land their planes with few injuries to the passengers and crew.
“Pilots never stop flying the plane,” Petitt reiterated. “No matter what, we will do what it takes.”
The state-run airline’s sole shareholder, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, has this week appointed an Administrator to facilitate the transfer of selected assets and liabilities from the existing Malaysian Airline System Berhad to new company Malaysia Airlines Berhad. The current business will continue to operate through to August 31, 2015, with the new operator, effectively a start-up, taking to the air from September 1, 2015.
Troubled Asian national carrier Malaysia Airlines will be completely revamped as a business through the remainder of the year as its new boss takes drastic action to return the loss-making operator to profitability. Christoph Mueller, who recently joined as chief executive officer from Aer Lingus has played important roles in the restructuring the Irish carrier and other European flag carriers.
The state-run airline’s sole shareholder, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, has this week appointed an Administrator to facilitate the transfer of selected assets and liabilities from the existing Malaysian Airline System Berhad to new company Malaysia Airlines Berhad. The current business will continue to operate through to August 31, 2015, with the new operator, effectively a start-up, taking to the air from September 1, 2015.
The voluntary administration follows the passing of a special Malaysia Airlines administration act by both houses of the Malaysian Parliament last year to provide for “an effective, efficient and seamless means to transition the business, property, rights, liabilities and affairs”.
The transition of the business is a key component of the 12-point MAS Recovery Plan, which was announced on in August last year to restructure the national carrier and set it on a path towards sustainable profitability. The process also includes conditional investment funding by Khazanah of up to RM6 billion ($1.66 billion), disbursed on a staggered basis and subject to the fullfillment of strict conditions.
Christoph Mueller, Chief Executive Officer Designate of the new airline, said: “This appointment does not affect our daily operations or existing reservations. All Malaysia Airlines flights, schedules, and reservations continue to operate as normal. I assure you our operations are very much business as usual.”
The ‘new’ Malaysia Airlines is expected to operate under a new brand and livery and there are certain to be changes to its network and fleet strategies, including the departure of some, if not all, the Airbus A380s in its fleet and which are used on its routes to London and Paris from Kuala Lumpur.
In this first official interview since taking over at Malaysia Airlines on May 1, 2015, Mueller has outlined more details of his management brief to Reuters. He said the ‘new’ Malaysia Airlines will operate like a “start-up” and would not be “a continuation of the old company in a new disguise,” but that “everything is new”.
“I’m hired to run the new company entirely on commercial terms and there’s very little margin for error,” he told Reuters in this week’s interview in the downtown Kuala Lumpur office of Malaysian state investor Khazanah. The airline is expected to cut its 20,000 workforce by around a third through the switch of airlines, with all those keeping employment with the state-run business doing so on revised contracts. .
Queenstown Airport in New Zealand was voted the world’s number one.Source: Getty Images
SOMETIMES flying into a destination can be just as spectacular as when on the ground.
sometimes what a pilot sees in a day, people won’t see in their lifetimes..
amazing Queenstown, New Zealand.
I invite people of the world to come visit this beautiful country and its people.
Every year PrivateFly.com asks travellers around the world to vote for their favourite airport landings before a panel of judges picks the best 10.
Of the 147 airports that received nominations this year, these were voted the Top 10 Most Stunning Airport Approaches for 2015.
1. Queenstown, New Zealand
Flying into Queenstown airport was considered the most spectacular in the world.
A world class approach to a world class destination. The snatched panoramas as you descend into this hitherto barren-looking landscape makes you realise that pilots do get the best views,” said judge Bill Prince.
2. Las Vegas Mccarran Airport, USA
The bright lights of Vegas make it one of the most exciting airports to fly into.
“Arriving at night makes the Las Vegas strip look like some type of miniature recreation. It is always worth a window seat,” said judge Doug Gollan.
3. Nice Cote D’Azur Airport, France
Landing on the water’s edge in Nice.Source: Getty Images
“Nice, Cote d’Azur has to be one of the most spectacular places to arrive and depart with this breathtaking coastline as far as the eye can see,” said judge Tiffany Dowd.
4. Barra Airport, Scotland
Not your usual runway.Source: Getty Images
“Where else in the world can you fly over majestic mountains, stunning coastline and turquoise seas before descending over a historic harbour castle and landing on a large silver sand beach? Totally stunning and totally unique. Nothing comes close,” said judge Carol Cork.
5. St Maarten Princess Juliana International
Just scraping past beach goers. Picture: Ivan Wong Rodenas.Source: Flickr
“I chose the landing strip at St. Maarten for its proximity to the beach, giving a beautiful view for passengers on landing planes, and a prime photo op for beachgoers, as incoming jets fly overhead,” said judge Chloe Pantazi.
6. Saba (Juancho e Irausquin)
Teetering on the edge of this Caribbean island. Picture: Richie Diesterheft.Source: Flickr
“A simply unforgettable and thrilling landing on the world’s shortest runway, flanked by cliffs and ocean with a striking view of its active Volcano, Mount Scenery,” said judge David Scowsill.
7. Billy Bishop Toronto City, Canada
Sitting parallel to the city is Toronto’s Billy Bishop airport.Source: Getty Images
“A dramatically short island runway, surrounded by city and water. Just moments away from the centre of Toronto,” said judge Adam Twidell.
8. Gibraltar
Flying in next to the towering 450 metre “Rock” is no easy feat.Source: Getty Images
“Not for those with faint hears. Landing at ‘The Rock’ requires a lot of skill (and adverse weather conditions redirect flights to Malaga too often), but if you are lucky it is stunning. Also very interesting to see the geographic differences between nearby Spain and this British territory,” said judge Ana Silva O’Reilly.
9. London City Airport, UK
Surrounded by history on one side and modernity on the other.Source: Getty Images
“For its steep approach and its short runway in the heart of the city,” said judge Frédéric Beniada.
10. Cape Town, South Africa
Beautiful Cape Town provides spectacular views on approach.Source: Getty Images
“Spectacular views of Table Mountain as you approach. One of the most beautiful cities on earth,” said judge Adam Twidell.
Today I found out why those aboard planes and ships use the word “Mayday” to indicate they are in extreme distress.
In 1923, a senior radio officer, Frederick Stanley Mockford, in Croydon Airport in London, England was asked to think of one word that would be easy to understand for all pilots and ground staff in the event of an emergency.
The problem had arisen as voice radio communication slowly became more common, so an equivalent to the Morse code SOS distress signal was needed. Obviously a word like “help” wasn’t a good choice for English speakers because it could be used in normal conversations where no one was in distress.
At the time Mockford was considering the request, much of the traffic he was dealing with was between Croydon and Le Bourget Airport in Paris, France. With both the French and English languages in mind, he came up with the somewhat unique word “Mayday”, the anglicized spelling of the French pronunciation of the word “m’aider” which means “help me”.
Four years later, in 1927, the International Radiotelegraph Convention of Washington made “Mayday” the official voice distress call used only to communicate the most serious level of distress, such as with life-threatening emergencies.
When using Mayday in a distress call, it is traditional to repeat it three times in a row, “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday”. This is to make sure it is easily distinguishable from a message about a Mayday call and from any similar sounding phrases in noisy conditions.
In situations where a vessel requires assistance, not from grave and imminent danger, a distress call of “pan-pan” can be used instead. Essentially, it means you need aid, but you don’t need support personnel to necessarily drop what they’re doing right that instant and come help you, as with a Mayday.
Like Mayday, pan-pan is the anglicized spelling of a French word, in this case “panne”, which means “broken/failure/breakdown”. Also, as with Mayday, one should state it three consecutive times: “pan-pan pan-pan pan-pan”, followed by which station(s) you are addressing and your last known location, nature of your emergency, etc.
If there is no reply to a Mayday or pan-pan call by the Coast Guard or other emergency agency, and a couple minutes have passed since the last one, some other radio source, such as another ship or plane that received the call, should transmit their own Mayday call, but on behalf of the ship or plane that first made the call, repeating the pertinent information they heard when they received the Mayday message.
The capital’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has been adjudged the world’s best airport for the year 2014, under the category of handling 25 to 40 million passengers per annum, officials said on Saturday.
Airports Council International (ACI) presented the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) award to IGIA at a ceremony of the ACI Asia-Pacific/World Annual General Assembly on April 28 in Jordan.
“We are honoured to represent an Indian airport at a highly acclaimed international forum as ACI. Our IGI Airport partners and employees have consistently delivered a memorable and distinct experience to our customers, enabling us to achieve the coveted world number one position,” said I. Prabhakara Rao, CEO of Delhi International Airport Pvt. Limited, which manages IGIA.
The Delhi airport scored 4.90 on a scale of 5 points measured by 300 members of the ACI ASQ benchmarking programme.
IGIA bettered its ranking from second position for the years 2011, 2012 . and 2013 to emerge on top in 2014.
Their score was 3.02 in 2007.
ASQ is the key to understanding how to increase passenger satisfaction and improve business performance, said Angela Gittens, director general of ACI World.
As many as 40 million passengers used IGIA to reach 58 domestic and 62 international destinations in 2014-15.
During the period, the average flight movements were 885 per day while 696,000 metric tonnes of cargo was handled.
IGIA hosts six domestic carriers, 56 international carriers and also has the capacity to handle the gigantic Airbus A380 aircraft.
The airport serves as a hub for leading Indian airlines Air India, IndiGo, Vistara and SpiceJet.
Delhi International Airport Private is a joint venture between the GMR Group, Airports Authority of India, Fraport and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad.
The airport was developed under the public-private partnership mode with the mandate for DIAL to finance, design, build, operate and maintain the Delhi airport for 30 years, with an option to extend it for another 30 years.
ACI, founded in 1991, is a trade association of the world’s airports.
You’re most likely to have your luggage stolen at Venezuela’s main airport in Caracas.Source: Getty Images
THIS is one airport you won’t want to fly into.
There are reports that Maiquetía “Simón Bolívar” International Airport in Caracas, Venezuela is a hub of criminal activity.
In the first four months of this year, 42 workers were arrested for stealing from tourists’ luggage according to a report published by the Maiquetia International Airport Institute (ICMI). And another 24 criminal gangs have been “dismantled” who were involved with theft of passenger luggage as well as stealing from cars in the parking lot.
To date a total of 144 arrests have been made for theft, fraud and drug trafficking.
It warns travellers to be wary of all strangers including those who claim to be airport officials with reports of criminals posing in official uniforms.
It advises travellers not to pack valuable items or documents in checked bags and says there are reports of airport officials attempting to extort money from travellers as part of the check-in or boarding process. As well as airport shuttles operated by major local hotels being robbed by armed individuals.
Australia’s Smart Traveller website also warns travellers about travel to and from the airport.
“The Maiquetia Simon Bolivar Airport area and the road between the airport and Caracas is particularly dangerous due to violent crime. There have been reports of muggins and kidnappings by criminals posing as taxi drivers.”
A statement on the Simón Bolívar International Airport says it has taken steps to curb crime adding another 129 airport security officers as well as a permanent prosecutor’s office at the airport.
“The Airport Terminal is the only airport in the country with a public prosecutor’s office inside its buildings, which allows the authorities to take penal actions in a more effective manner to continue to strengthen the overall security of the airport’s customers and goods.
“The airport administrator’s office recommends that customers make a formal complaint to the security forces inside the terminal whenever they are witness to any illicit act that might interfere with the normal functioning of the airport, in the interest of strengthening the fight against crime.’
For now, this might be one airport you may like to avoid.
A FLIGHT attendant has been praised for “going the extra mile” to help a passenger.
Approximately three hours into a Turkish Airlines flight from Osaka to Istanbul, a Japanese passenger fainted, hitting her head. Her glasses shattered, cutting her cheek.
That’s when crew member Burcu Kirmaci sprung into action, according to local news site Bgnnews.com.
She applied first aid and looked after the passenger until the flight landed in Istanbul 10 hours later, but didn’t stop there. Ms Kirmaci escorted the passenger to hospital to get stitches, after realising the difficulty she would have
experienced there without knowing the local language.
“I knew I was the only one who could fully help the passenger given that I speak Japanese,” Ms Kirmaci said.
The woman was injured on a Turkish Airways flight.Source: Getty Images
She liaised with the Turkish doctor and the passenger, and took charge of the rest of the injured woman’s itinerary. She refused to leave her side, accompanying the passenger back to her final destination at approximately 10.30pm that night.
Fellow Japanese passengers from the flight voiced their appreciation and tried to offer Ms Kirmaci gifts.
She said her decision “was not an act of responsibility but rather an act of empathy”.
news.com.au has contacted Turkish Airlines for comment.
A man has been arrested over an incident on an Air India flight. Source: Getty Images
A PASSENGER attempts to chat up a flight attendant, but she resists his “charms” and walks away. What could possibly go wrong?
As it turns out, a lot!
Yousuf Sharif, 35, allegedly sparked hijacking fears on board an Air India flight from Dubai to Hyderabad, India on Tuesday. And it was all because of a very bad prank he decided to play on a flight attendant, the Times of India reports.
Sitting in business class, the Indian resident asked the crew member if she would take a selfie with him on his phone. He also asked if he could photograph the cockpit.
“He was requesting the crew member to pose for a selfie and tried to engage her in a conversation, to which she objected,” Police officer T Sudhakar, who works for Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, where the plane landed, told local news website the DeccanChronicle.
Police allege the man had been trying to flirt with the staff member and when she refused to talk to him, he decided to scare her with a hijacking prank.
“When the air hostess rejected his request and started walking away, Yousuf told her that he will hijack the flight,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Shamshabad AR Srinivas said. “She immediately alerted the pilot.”
The man was questioned once the flight touched down, no charges have yet been laid.
news.com.au has contacted Air India for comment.
He allegedly threatened to hijack the plane as a prank. Picture: Stefan KrasowskiSource: Flickr
Take off with Natarajan 