Airport – Page 4 – Take off with Natarajan

” Why My 92-Year-Old Grandfather Left the City to Build a School in His Village…” ?

February 1, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

Shalini Narayanan’s 92-year-old grandfather has started a school for children in Sikhra village of Uttar Pradesh. He left behind the comforts of a city life, and decided to go back to his native place to help students get access to quality education. Amidst several challenges, and the problems of living in a village, this is how he did it all.

Seven years ago, my grandfather decided to give up the comforts of urban life to return to his native village and start a school there. He is 92 years old today – his dream school is up and running, and he has been changing many lives for the past few years.

Located in Sikhra village in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh, this school has been built with the aim of providing easily accessible education to children living there.

My grandfather at the school reception

My grandfather had left his village and lived in the city for about half a century. But when he looked behind after having spent several years of life working for his family, he realised that he had enough money, but there was no one around him who needed it. That was when he decided to set up a school. Sikhra already had a government school for students till Class 8. But after that, children had to travel for about 7km to reach the school where they taught students of Class 9 and beyond. That is why most of the girls and several boys dropped out after class 8.

So he started the Tikaram Smarak Inter-College, an English-medium high school affiliated to the State Board, where students from Class 9 to 12 would study. But he realised his mistake within a couple of years. Students coming from government schools were not qualified enough for higher classes. Unless he thought of something else, there was no way he could get them ready for the board exams. That was when he started the primary wing in the school, which has around 200 children now.

While his age makes it very difficult for grandpa to live in a village, but he continues to stay there even during the winters. I can picture him sitting in his dark, cold room during the nights, thinking about the past and the present. But each morning comes with some hope.

His inspiring spirit defies his age, as he gets ready to welcome the little ones for their lessons.

Some students at school

Not many have the courage to wish him good morning or interact with him. People in the village respect him a lot, and everyone calls him ‘Baba’. One angry rebuke and the entire class is silent. I think this is what keeps him glued to the project – the way he inspires respect, the way students touch his feet, and how everyone greets him when they see him.

But even after the school building was ready, and it received the affiliation, there was still no time for him to rest on his laurels. Who would manage the school after him – that was his biggest worry. In the last four years, he approached many institutions and missionaries that are running schools in Delhi, corporate organisations working in rural India and other education trusts, but nothing materialised. Nobody is interested in his project because the school is located in a very remote area. He is still trying to negotiate with different organizations.

Additionally, there are other daily occurrences that add on to the pressure – like many children don’t come to school during the harvesting season, parents keep asking him to excuse their child from some classes, and more. The school makes no profit and barely manages to run with the funds coming from my grandfather’s fixed deposits. But it is operational. Children now have an option to attend a school that actually provides education.

I remember visiting the school two years ago and meeting a little girl who had won the school essay competition. Her parents were so proud! That same girl went on to score 88 percent in high school.

Thinking about my grandfather reminds me of a quote by my Hindi teacher – “Be your own guru, your own teacher. Light the lamp and march on without fear.”

Source……Shalini Narayanan in http://www.the betterindia.com

Natarajan

NASA Research Could Save Commercial Airlines Billions in New Era of Aviation….

January 5, 2016January 5, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

Researchers with NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation project coordinated wind-tunnel tests of an Active Flow Control system — tiny jets installed on a full-size aircraft vertical tail that blow air — to prove they would provide enough side force and stability that it might someday be possible to design smaller vertical tails that would reduce drag and save fuel.

Credits: NASA/Dominic Hart

The nation’s airlines could realize more than $250 billion dollars in savings in the near future thanks to green-related technologies developed and refined by NASA’s aeronautics researchers during the past six years.

These new technologies, developed under the purview of NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project, could cut airline fuel use in half, pollution by 75 percent and noise to nearly one-eighth of today’s levels.

“If these technologies start finding their way into the airline fleet, our computer models show the economic impact could amount to $255 billion in operational savings between 2025 and 2050,” said Jaiwon Shin, NASA’s associate administrator for aeronautics research.

Created in 2009 and completed in 2015, ERA’s mission was to explore and document the feasibility, benefits and technical risk of inventive vehicle concepts and enabling technologies that would reduce aviation’s impact on the environment. Project researchers focused on eight major integrated technology demonstrations falling into three categories – airframe technology, propulsion technology and vehicle systems integration.

By the time ERA officially concluded its six-year run, NASA had invested more than $400 million, with another $250 million in-kind resources invested by industry partners who were involved in ERA from the start.

“It was challenging because we had a fixed window, a fixed budget, and all eight demonstrations needed to finish at the same time,” said Fayette Collier, ERA project manager. “We then had to synthesize all the results and complete our analysis so we could tell the world what the impact would be. We really did quite well.”

Here is a brief summary of each of the eight integrated technology demonstrations completed by the ERA researchers:

Tiny embedded nozzles blowing air over the surface of an airplane’s vertical tail fin showed that future aircraft could safely be designed with smaller tails, reducing weight and drag. This technology was tested using Boeing’s ecoDemonstrator 757 flying laboratory. Also flown was a test of surface coatings designed to minimize drag caused by bug residue building up on the wing’s leading edge.
NASA developed a new process for stitching together large sections of lightweight composite materials to create damage-tolerant structures that could be used in building uniquely shaped future aircraft that weighed as much as 20 percent less than a similar all-metal aircraft.
Teaming with the Air Force Research Laboratory and FlexSys Inc. of Ann Arbor, Michigan, NASA successfully tested a radical new morphing wing technology that allows an aircraft to seamlessly extend its flaps, leaving no drag-inducing, noise-enhancing gaps for air to flow through. FlexSys and Aviation Partners of Seattle already have announced plans to commercialize this technology.
NASA worked with General Electric to refine the design of the compressor stage of a turbine engine to improve its aerodynamic efficiency and, after testing, realized that future engines employing this technology could save 2.5 percent in fuel burn.
The agency worked with Pratt & Whitney on the company’s geared turbofan jet engine to mature an advanced fan design to improve propulsion efficiency and reduce noise. If introduced on the next-generation engine, the technology could reduce fuel burn by 15 percent and significantly reduce noise.
NASA also worked with Pratt & Whitney on an improved design for a jet engine combustor, the chamber in which fuel is burned, in an attempt to reduce the amount of nitrogen oxides produced. While the goal was to reduce generated pollution by 75 percent, tests of the new design showed reductions closer to 80 percent.
New design tools were developed to aid engineers in reducing noise from deployed wing flaps and landing gear during takeoffs and landings. Information from a successful wind-tunnel campaign, combined with baseline flight tests, were joined together for the first time to create computer-based simulations that could help mature future designs.
Significant studies were performed on a hybrid wing body concept in which the wings join the fuselage in a continuous, seamless line and the jet engines are mounted on top of the airplane in the rear. Research included wind-tunnel runs to test how well the aircraft would operate at low speeds and to find the optimal engine placement, while also minimizing fuel burn and reducing noise.

As part of the closeout work for the ERA project, information and results regarding each of these technology demonstrations were categorized and stored for future access and use by the aerospace industry, and will be discussed at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Sci-Tech Conference in San Diego this week.

For more information about NASA aeronautics research, go to:

http://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics

Source……….www.nasa.gov

natarajan

Unusual Airport Runways Around the World….!!!

December 30, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

1. Gisborne
Airport, New Zealand

This North Island airport is one of the few in the
World that has a railway line running through its runway. Both the railway
And the airport are active, so let’s hope they are precise about their
Scheduling.

2. Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport, Saba Island

Blink and you might miss it. With only 400m in length, this Caribbean island has the shortest commercial

air strip on the planet. Obviously, this tiny runway is only suitable for small aircraft.

3. Courchevel Altiport, France

This airfield high in the French Alps is a convenient yet treacherous drop-off point for wealthy skiers

at the chi-chi Courchevel slopes. In fact, there are ski runs no far from the 1,762 ft (537 m) mountaintop

runway. Frequent fog, snow, ice and low clouds make it even more extreme. You’ll want to make sure your

small plane or helicopter pilot is well trained.

4. Don Mueang Airport, Thailand

There aren’t many airports in the world that have an 18 hole golf course right amongst the runways. Fore!

5. Tenzing-Hillary Airport, Nepal

If you’re planning on trekking to Mount Everest, chances are you’ll arrive via this small Nepalese airport

in Lukla. It has a short runway with a 9,334 feet (2900 meter) drop off the edge. Not for the faint of heart.

6. Agatti Aerodrome, Lakshadweep, India

This 4000 feet long island runway doesn’t leave much margin for error. A few more inches, and passengers

are going to be swimming sooner than they bargained for.

7. Barra International Airport, Scotland

Barra International Airport, on a remote northern island in Scotland, has the only beach runway for scheduled

flights in the world. At high tide, some of the runways are underwater..

8. Gibraltar International Airport

These are red lights you don’t want to run..

9. Gustaf III Airport, Saint-Barthélemy

This runway is so tiny, only planes with a maximum of 20 people can land here. That helps keep St. Barts

an exclusive upscale Caribbean haven for the rich and famous.

10. Kansai International Airport, Japan

With land at a premium in Japan, they decided to build this major airport on an artificial island offshore in

Osaka Bay. If its ocean setting doesn’t give you chills, its also regularly subjected to earthquakes, typhoons

and storm surges. Oh, and the island is also sinking. This airport’s construction and constant reinforcement

makes it the most expensive civil works project in modern history.

11. Madeira Airport, Portugal

The previous airport on this Portuguese archipelago was notoriously challenging due to its short runway

surrounded by high mountains and the ocean. So, they extended it with an impressive – yet frightening –

platform supported by 180 columns off the edge of the land.

12. Narsarsuaq Airport, Greenland

This runway is short and sweet whether you’re coming or going. It is considered one of the world’s most

challenging approaches.. Pilots have to fly up a fjord known for its turbulence and wind gusts.

13. Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport

A pair of grave makers are embedded into Runway 10 at this airport, in remembrance to the Dotson Family who

used to own the land. One of the graves dates back to 1857. The law states that next of kin need to authorize

the moving of family graves, and when they couldn’t be located, the airport engineers let them be.

14. Wellington Airport, New Zealand

This airport in New Zealand’s capital city has a short runway, so only smaller aircraft can land there.

It’s known for turbulent landings due to the channeling effect of the Cook Strait creating gusty winds.

15. Princess Juliana International Airport, Sint Maarten

This beachside airport on the Dutch side of Saint Martin is right across the street from Maho Beach. It is

known for its extremely low-altitude flyover landing approach, and tourists flock here to experience the rush

of the planes overhead. Definitely one of the craziest airport runways you got to see to believe.

16. Ice Camp Barneo, North Pole

This snowy strip not far from the North Pole is open for just 4 weeks per year. Built on a drifting ice

base, it’s a fully functional runway suitable for cargo planes like the Antonov AN-74. Perhaps Santa

Claus uses it too.

The Incredible Story of Neerja Bhanot – Indian Flight Attendant Who Saved 360 Lives…

December 17, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

On the morning of September 5, 1986, Pan Am Flight 73 landed in Karachi. It had arrived from Mumbai and, had nothing gone wrong, would have departed for Frankfurt and onward to New York City. The flight was carrying, among members of other nationalities, Indians, Germans, Americans, and Pakistanis.

Unfortunately, the flight was hijacked while it was parked on the tarmac at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi.

Photo for representation purpose only. Source: Wikipedia

Four heavily-armed terrorists, dressed as airport security guards, entered the aircraft while firing shots from an automatic weapon and seized control of the plane.

This is the story of Neerja Bhanot, the senior flight attendant on board, who helped a number of passengers escape. She was murdered while shielding three children from terrorist fire, less than 25 hours before her 23^rdbirthday.

After the terrorists boarded the plane, Neerja alerted the cockpit crew, who escaped through an overhead hatch in the cockpit. As the senior-most remaining crew member on board, this left Neerja in charge. One of the terrorists asked the flight crew to collect and hand over the passports of all passengers on board. When Neerja realised that the primary targets of the terrorists were American passengers, she hid their passports – even discarding some of them down the rubbish chute. From a total of 41 American passengers, only 2 were killed.

After holding the passengers and crew members hostage for 17 hours on the runway, the terrorists opened fire. Neerja stayed on the plane to help passengers escape, even though she could have been the first to leave. She was shot while shielding three children from the bullets that were being fired by the terrorists.

Most of us will never find ourselves in a high-pressure situation, facing life or death the way Neerja did. True bravery emerges in the face of fear. We might never know what Neerja was thinking or feeling during those terrible hours of the hijacking, but we do know that she chose to respond to the actions of the terrorists with exceptional grace, courage, and grit. Of the 380 passengers and crew members on Flight 73, 20 were killed.

While many others were injured, they did survive – in no small part due to the actions of a 22-year-old flight attendant who chose compassion over cowardice and performed her duty till the very end.

source,….Facebook

Neerja Bhanot’s family suffered an unbearable loss when they lost their only daughter.

“Neerja was the ‘laado’ of the family, the youngest and most pampered. My parents had wished for her, and in a news article after her death, my father had mentioned how, when she was born on September 7, 1962, the maternity ward matron here at Chandigarh hospital rang up to inform, it’s a girl. To her surprise, he gave her double thanks, for Neerja was a prayer answered after two sons,”recalls Aneesh, her brother.

As her father remembers her,

“Neerja was a very sensitive, deeply affectionate and an extremely decent person who believed in sharing with her people all her joys but not the jolts. She had well defined principles and there was little room for compromise in that area.”

Despite their irreplaceable loss, her parents, Rama and Harish Bhanot, soldiered on, and even found a fitting way to honour Neerja’s memory. With the insurance money that they received after her death and an equal contribution from Pan Am, they set up the Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust. Through the Trust, they present two awards of Rs. 1,50,000 every year – one to an Indian woman who faces social injustice but overcomes it and helps other women in similar situations, and one to honour an airline crew member who acts beyond the call of duty. There could hardly have been a better way to keep Neerja’s memory alive.

For her actions on the day of the hijacking, Neerja Bhanot was posthumously awarded the Ashok Chakra, India’s highest peacetime military decoration for the “most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent valour or self-sacrifice”, and the Tamgha-e-Insaniyat, awarded by the Pakistan government for showing incredible kindness. She also posthumously received multiple awards for her courage from the United States government.

Source……..Vandita Kapoor in http://www.the betterindia.com

Natarajan

Inside the world’s most dangerous airport….

December 15, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Flying into Nepal’s Lukla airport demands courage and precision.

FLYING into Nepal’s Lukla airport — the gateway to Mount Everest — demands courage and precision, thanks to its tiny, treacherous runway perched on a steep cliff.

For half a century pilots have needed to navigate snow-capped peaks and endure erratic weather to land on a runway just 500 metres long that has been carved into a mountain ridge and sits by a perilous three-kilometre drop.

A litany of deadly crashes, including one in October 2008 that killed all 18 on board except the pilot, has earned Lukla the nickname of the “world’s most dangerous airport”.

But when a massive earthquake hit Nepal eight months ago, triggering Everest’s deadliest avalanche and leaving hundreds of climbers and trekkers stranded, the tiny airfield faced its toughest test yet.

Helicopter pilot Nischal KC says that even on an average day constant “weather changes and the steep terrain sometimes make landing impossible”.

“It’s high-stakes work and there’s very little room for error,” he added.

Also known as Tenzing-Hillary Airport after the first men to summit Everest, it has no radar system because of the high cost of installation, forcing officials to rely on an outdated voice communications system to track movements in the air.

“The pilots tell us when they are approaching, we give them updates on wind and traffic, then as the aircraft enters Lukla valley, we warn choppers to steer clear for the landing,” said air traffic controller Dinesh Koirala.

People stand around the wreckage of a Yeti Airlines plane in 2008.Source:News Limited

Things became even tougher in the aftermath of the April 25 earthquake, which killed nearly 8900 people across the impoverished Himalayan nation.

Rescue pilots seeking to reach Everest base camp, where an avalanche set off by the 7.8-magnitude quake killed 18 people, were held back for a day because of hostile weather.

When they were finally able to fly, rippling aftershocks raised the threat of further damage.

“Aftershocks kept coming that day but I was more stressed out by the weather. I knew that unless it cleared up, we could not send any choppers to rescue people injured by the avalanche,” air traffic controller Koirala said.

Pilot KC, who has been flying in the Everest region for 14 years, recalls starting the day with a prayer.

“My first priority was to get the injured out of base camp but people higher up the mountain were panicking because of all the aftershocks,” the Manang Air pilot said.

He made dozens of trips that day to rescue terrified climbers desperate to get off the mountain, and to base camp to rescue the injured.

Things became tougher after the earthquake earlier this year.Source:Supplied

The frequency of aftershocks and the precarious terrain made landing even more difficult than usual, prompting the pilots to hover overhead and haul climbers up with ropes instead.

As rescuers carried dozens of quake victims into Lukla on sleeping bags doubling as stretchers, the tiny airport began to swell with hundreds of tourists haggling with airline officials for a ticket out.

Back in the control tower, Koirala and his colleagues embarked on the busiest week of their lives, closely monitoring the movement of planes and helicopters to ensure no accidents occurred midair.

“The whole week was a blur of flights — the fact that there were so many more aircraft than usual in the air made the job very stressful,” Koirala said.

Before the airport’s construction in 1964, porters would spend days walking from Kathmandu to Lukla, carrying hundreds of kilos of expedition gear on their backs.

The wreckage of a plane.Source:AFP

Mountaineering legend Sir Edmund Hillary originally planned to build the airfield on flat ground — but local farmers refused to part with their fertile land.

Undeterred, he bought a steep slope for $US635 ($871) and recruited scores of Sherpa villagers to cut down scrub with knives. The climber then plied villagers with local liquor and asked them to perform a foot-stomping traditional dance to flatten the land.

“A very festive mood prevailed and the earth received a most resounding thumping. Two days of this rather reduced the Sherpas’ enthusiasm for the dance but produced a firm and smooth surface for our airfield,” Hillary wrote in his 1998 memoir, View from the Summit.

As the number of climbers taking on the world’s highest mountain has boomed in recent decades, so has traffic at Lukla airport, which can be accessed by helicopter or small aircraft.

Spring and autumn tourist seasons are the busiest, but closures are common since clear skies are essential for safe landing on the clifftop runway.

Despite the challenges, some say its reputation for danger is undeserved.

“It’s unfair to call Lukla the most dangerous airport when there’s not much we can do about the terrain or the weather,” said Koirala.

“I have no doubt many lives were saved because this airport remained open after the quake.”

It’s busier here these days.Source:News Limited

Source………Ammu KannampillyAFP in http://www.news.com.au

Natarajan

How two IAF pilots saved the day….

December 11, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

In a precarious mission, Wing Commander Charles Simon and Squadron Leader S Venkatramanan and crew rescued a woman in the final stage of pregnancy from atop a water tank in Chennai. She delivered twins the next day!

Archana Masih/Rediff.com spoke to the pilots about that dramatic day.

IMAGE: Wing Commander Charles Simon and Squadron Leader S Venkatramanan rescued the pregnant lady from atop a water tank in flood-ravaged Chennai.

When Wing Commander Charles Simon and Squadron Leader S Venkatramanan launched their Cheetah helicopter from the Tambaram Air Force base on December 3, they had no idea what lay ahead that day.

Chennai had received its worst rainfall in 100 years on December 1-2 and the two Indian Air Force pilots along with several other helicopter pilots had been flying rescue missions from sunrise to sunset since December 1.

In the five days of the Chennai deluge, WinCo Simon and Sqn Ldr Venkat flew 30 sorties and did 36 rescues — but what they did on day 3 was not only unusual and praiseworthy but humanly touching.

With all communication lines broken down, the pilots received instructions from their operational control centre to rescue a young woman in the final stage of pregnancy. She was marooned on the roof of her home.

Armed only with approximate GPS coordinates, the pilots flew out in search of the pregnant woman. But what they encountered was a sea of houses with 10 to 12 people atop each roof.

It was the proverbial needle in a haystack kind of situation.

IMAGE: The pilots with Corporal Arun Singh, left, and Corporal Rahul Kumar, right, who were part of the rescue team.

“We literally flew roof-to-roof in search of her. Since the sound of the chopper drowns all other sounds, we had to communicate in sign language with people on the roofs,” says Wing Commander Simon, a Category-A flying instructor at the IAF’s Flying Instructors School.

The very best of pilots make it to Category-A; they are entrusted with the task of training future instructors.

“There were around 1,000 people on different terraces and it was hard to spot her. We were circling for 10, 15 minutes and it seemed there was no hope of finding her,” adds co-pilot Squadron Leader Venkatramanan, a Chennai native who will complete ten years in the IAF next week.

“I was on the left side of the chopper and looking at every woman if she had a bump,” he says with good humour on the phone from Chennai.

Just then they spotted Deepthi Velchamy, the lady they had set out to rescue. Since her pregnancy would not permit her to be winched up, the pilots indicated that she be brought to the top of the water tank on the terrace.

Some personnel wearing orange overalls, indicative of the National Disaster Relief Force, were also on the terrace. They put Deepthi in a chair and positioned her on the tank.

The pilots, accompanied by Corporals Arun Singh and Rahul Kumar, meanwhile, circled around and made the approach. As WinCo Simon maouvered the chopper, Sqn Ldr Venkat seated on the side of the water tank, provided vital verbal navigation.

“Left… Left… Lower… Steady… Stop… Stop…” Sqn Ldr Venkat’s instructions must have sounded somewhat like this.

The chopper hovered low, its left skid (the Cheetah has sleigh-like landing gear) gently touched the water tank; its right skid was in the air. Deepthi was helped into the aircraft; tears were running down her face.

Sqn Ldr Venkat gestured to her that all would be okay and ten minutes later, they brought her to the Tambaram Air Base, where an Air Force lady gynaecologist awaited her. According to the rules, rescued civilians are flown to the air base and handed over to the civil administration.

It was here that Deepthi revealed that she was due for delivery that day itself and hers was a complicated case. Her medical papers were not with her and she needed to be urgently admitted to the Ramachandran Hospital that was aware of her medical history.

Since the roads were blocked and water-logged, the pilots were given clearance to airlift her to the hospital. At the medical college hospital, WinCo Simon was lucky to find a basketball court to land the chopper.

Deepthi delivered twin girls the following day. With all communication lines down, her request for rescue was conveyed to the authorities by her concerned sister in America.

Overwhelmed by the circumstances, her husband Karthik told the Press Trust of India, ‘I salute these brave men.’

But the two pilots say they are trained for situations like this.

IMAGE: Stranded people waiting to be transported to safer places from the Tambaram Air Base.

“Hovering with a skid on a rooftop and with limited reference is challenging,” says WinCo Simon who was part of the team that rebuilt the Car Nicobar Air Force base after the 2004 tsunami.

“It was team work of pilots and crew. We are trained for such ops and the IAF is always geared up for any mission as the situation demands.”

The IAF operated 13 helicopters in torrential rain and marginal weather, flying 195 sorties, airlifting 450 stranded people, including women, infants and senior citizens. They rescued some other pregnant women too. Transport aircraft airlifted 30 National Disaster Relief Force teams, five Indian Army columns and also evacuated 770 stranded civilians.

“Personally, it was a very satisfying task, while professionally every helicopter pilot is trained to accomplish these kind of tasks,” says Sqn Ldr Venkat, who has flown rescue ops in Kashmir in the winter snowfall of 2008-2009.

IMAGE: WinCo Simon, left, has been involved in rescue and relief ops after the 2004 tsunami in Car Nicobar. Sqn Ldr Venkat, right, flew rescue missions in the Kashmir snowfall of 2008-2009.

“Once you are in the cockpit and start flying, you need all your skills and follow the rules. That is what we keep in mind while flying without getting too emotional about what we achieve,” he adds.

Both the pilots have done stints with the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Congo and are the first ones in their families to join the armed forces. They are quite surprised with the interest their mission has elicited, and attribute it to a video that one onlooker shot and uploaded on YouTube.

“My parents were quite thrilled because I am the only one in the family to make to the TV news,” laughs Sqn Ldr Venkat.

After the IAF wound down its ops in Chennai, the two pilots visited the hospital to meet the new mother and twin girls. They carried two bouquets on behalf of Air Chief Marshal Arup Kumar Raha. Since the babies were in the ICU, they could not see them, but were inundated with thank yous from the family.

“Saving somebody’s life is unparalleled,” says Wing Commander Simon, “It is something that will last a lifetime.”

Archana Masih / Rediff.com

Source……www.rediff.com

Natarajan

“Malaysia searches for Boeing 747 owners…” !!!

December 8, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Boeing 747-200F planes parked on the tarmac at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

STILL puzzled by the mystery of missing flight MH370, Malaysian airport authorities now have the opposite problem: three Boeing 747 planes left unclaimed at the country’s main airport.

The operators of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) have placed a bizarre advertisement in a Malaysian newspaper seeking the owners of three 747-200F aircraft apparently abandoned there.

“If you fail to collect the aircraft within 14 days of the date of this notice, we reserve the right to sell or otherwise dispose of the aircraft” under Malaysian regulations, said the ad which ran in Monday’s edition of The Star.

The notice was addressed to the “untraceable owner” of the planes.

Zainol Mohd Isa, general manager of Malaysia Airports (Sepang), which operates the facility, said the airport had been trying to contact the planes’ last known owners.

He said they were “international” and not Malaysian, but declined to give further details.

“I don’t know why they are not responding. There could be many reasons. Sometimes it could be because they have no money to continue operations,” Zainol said.

The ad placed in The Star.Source:Supplied

In addition to wanting the planes to be claimed, he said the airport is seeking payment from the owners for landing, parking and other charges.

If no payment is received by December 21, the planes will be auctioned or sold for scrap to recoup the outstanding charges. The notice gave the planes’ registration numbers as TF-ARM, TF-ARN, and TF-ARH.

Two are passenger jets.Source:AFP

Zainol said two are passenger aircraft and one is a cargo plane. It is not the first time this has happened at the airport, Zainol added.

Whose are they?Source:AFP

In the past decade a few other planes, mostly smaller aircraft, were abandoned.

He said an aircraft that was abandoned in the 1990s was eventually bought and turned into a restaurant in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.

KLIA was the origin of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared after taking off on March 8, 2014 with 239 passengers and crew aboard in what remains one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

Malaysia earlier this year confirmed that a wing part found on the French island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean was from the plane.

But no further wreckage has been found despite an intensive Australian-led oceanic search.

Source…….www.news.com.au

Natarajan

” They Said his Life was Over. He Became India’s First Paraplegic in the Aviation Industry Instead…”

December 4, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Sandeep Kumar was just seven when doctors gave him an expired penicillin injection. It left him in a coma for a year followed by paralysis in the lower half of his body. Today, this 24-year-old man, who is the first paraplegic to be employed in the aviation industry, glides around on a wheelchair at Delhi airport – helping other people with disabilities.

Sandeep Kumar woke up from a year-long coma at the age of seven and found that he could not move the limbs in the lower half of his body. The incident changed his entire life. Confined to a wheelchair, he began to struggle to do everyday things. There were no access ramps in his school, children and teachers there would treat him differently, and his condition restricted him from doing many activities that he wanted to do.

“In small towns, people tend to believe that once you are disabled your life is over. They told my father to discontinue my studies and open a small shop for me. When I joined the school again, many people told him not to waste his money on me. It was disheartening but I did not let this affect me. I had my family’s support and a positive mind. I continued my life with the same enthusiasm,” says Sandeep.

Most people would be demotivated with this sudden setback in life, but Sandeep dealt with the situation with a great attitude and determination.

Sandeep became paraplegic at a young age of seven.

“I had no other choice but to accept it and deal with it. Nothing would have changed my situation. So I thought I should channelize my energy into something else and not think about what I was missing,” he says.

He did not blame the doctor, nor did he question his fate. Sandeep continued his life with the same passion and will that he had always exhibited. He completed his engineering degree in computer science and was selected for a job by an MNC during campus placements.

But this was not his goal. Not willing to restrict himself to a cubicle, Sandeep wanted to explore the world, meet new people, and do much more.

He gave up the opportunity of working at the MNC and decided instead to work in customer service to help people in need. He joined one of India’s leading aviation groups, IndiGo Airlines. And today, this 24-year-old enthusiastic man is India’s first paraplegic to be employed with the aviation industry.

“Working in an MNC would have restricted me to one location. Here, I am a wheelchair-bound person helping others. I find this empowering at so many levels,” he says.

Powered by a wheelchair, Sandeep glides across the Delhi airport terminal to assist people in need. His job requires him to be always active.

He completed his engineering and then joined the aviation industry.

He helps people with special needs with their boarding passes and gets them through security check. He also addresses other queries by passengers and helps them get resolved.

“Up until now, the aviation industry did not hire people with disabilities. When I applied for the job I did not expect to get selected. I just thought I’d give it a try anyway. After three-four months I got a call from the airline that I had been selected and I joined them in October 2014,” says Sandeep.

Originally from Jhansi, Sandeep has been living alone for several years now and is completely independent.

He recalls an incident when a friend in school told him that he would not be able to become an engineer. “I got bad grades in my 10th class. That was the first time I heard of IIT and felt that I would like to get admission in this prestigious institute. My friend told me that I would not be able to do so because of my disability. That incident triggered in me a desire to pursue engineering. Though I could not get into any of the IITs, I managed to get admission in a government college in Kanpur. What is amusing though is that the friend who told me I could not do it failed to become an engineer while I went on to become one,” chuckles Sandeep.

Having faced various challenges in his life, Sandeep now understands the plight of people with disabilities. He trains the loaders at the airport to treat the disabled and the elderly with care and respect.

“The transfer from a chair to the aircraft seat is a painful process for someone who is old and/or disabled but it can be minimised with proper training,” he says.

In just a year’s time, Sandeep has become an inspiration to many at his workplace. “They always praise me for the way I dress up and behave in the office. It feels good when my efforts are recognised,” says Sandeep.

Having faced discrimination for most of his life, Sandeep feels a sense of normalcy now.

“I go to office like a regular person. I don’t feel that I am missing my legs. There are so many things that I can do. People have started treating me normally too. They don’t stare at me or give me special attention. This is what I want – a regular life,” he says.

Sandeep is also a good singer – he was part of a band during his college days and still performs occasionally. “My job keeps me occupied these days and music has taken a back seat but I still enjoy singing whenever I am free,” says Sandeep.

Sandeep now wants to set an example for people with special needs so that other companies in the aviation industry hire people with disabilities too. He runs an NGO called Ally Foundation, which focuses on empowering the disabled.

In addition to this, he has also set his eye on participating in the national Paralympics in powerlifting. “I want to write a book too,” he quickly adds, before signing off.

Source…..Shreya Pareek …www.the betterindia .com

Natarajan

Pilot explains what it really means when there’s turbulence during a flight….

November 30, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Turbulence is far and away the top concern of nervous flyers.

If you’re among those seeking reassurance, please refer to my earlier essay on the topic, a version of which also appears in chapter two of the my book. Many anxious passengers have found this discussion helpful.

READ IT HERE.

In the meantime, I’ll go ahead and reiterate some points:

Turbulence is far and away the top concern of nervous flyers.

In the meantime, I’ll go ahead and reiterate some points:

1. First and foremost, turbulence is, for lack of a better term, normal. Every flight, every day, will encounter some degree of rough air, be it a few light burbles or a more pronounced and consistent chop that sometimes gets your coffee spilling and the plates rattling in the galley. From a pilot’s perspective, garden-variety turbulence is seen as a comfort and convenience issue, not a safety issue per se. It’s annoying, but it is not dangerous.

2. In rare circumstances, however, it’s worse, to the point where a plane’s occupants can be injured or, even more uncommonly, aircraft components can be damaged. How rare? Put it this way: The type of encounter that United and Cathay ran into is the sort of thing even the most frequent flyer will not experience in a lifetime. And of the small number of passengers injured each year, the vast majority of them are people who did not have their seat belts on when they should have.

3. Can turbulence occur unexpectedly — or, as the news people have been embellishing it, “out of nowhere”? Yes. Pilots receive weather and turbulence forecasts prior to flight; once aloft we get periodic updates from our dispatchers and meteorologists on the ground. We have weather radar in the cockpit, as well as our eyes to see and avoid the worst weather. And perhaps most helpful of all, we receive real-time reports from nearby aircraft. With all of these tools at our disposal, we have a pretty good idea of the where, when, and how bad of the bumps. But every so often they happen without warning. Almost always it’s a mild nuisance, but the lesson here is to always have your belt fastened, even when conditions are smooth.

4. Do pilots keep their belts fastened in the cockpit? Yes, always. Is this one of those things that, well, hey, we sometimes ignore and get lackadaisical about? No, and neither should you.

5. For what it’s worth, thinking back over the whole history of modern commercial aviation, I cannot recall a single jetliner crash caused by turbulence, strictly speaking. Maybe there have been one or two, but airplanes are engineered to withstand an extreme amount of stress, and the amount of turbulence required to, for instance, tear off a wing, is far beyond anything you’ll ever experience.

6. During turbulence, the pilots are not fighting the controls. Planes are designed with what we call positive stability, meaning that when nudged from their original point in space, by their nature they wish to return there. The best way of handling rough air is to effectively ride it out, hands-off. (Some autopilots have a turbulence mode that desensitizes the system, to avoid over-controlling.) It can be uncomfortable, but the jet is not going to flip upside down.

7. Be wary of analogies. You might hear somebody compare turbulence to “driving over a rough road,” or to “a ship in rough seas.” I don’t like these comparisons, because potholes routinely pop tires, break axles and ruin suspensions, while ships can be capsized or swamped. There are no accurate equivalents in the air.

8. Be wary of passenger accounts in news stories. Not to insult anyone’s powers of observation, but people have a terrible habit of misinterpreting and exaggerating the sensations of flight, particularly if they’re scared. Even in considerably bumpy air — what a pilot might call “moderate turbulence,” a plane is seldom displaced in altitude by more than 20 feet, and usually less. Passengers might feel the plane “plummeting” or “diving” — words the media can’t get enough of — when in fact it’s hardly moving.

9. Will climate change increase the number of severe turbulence encounters? Possibly, but in the meantime remember there are also more airplanes flying than ever before. The worldwide jetliner fleet has more than doubled in the past 20 years, and it continues to grow. It stands to reason that as the number of flights goes up, the number of incidents will also go up, regardless of changes in the weather.

Source…….Patrick Smith…ask the pilot.com ….www.businessinsider .com

Natarajan

Boy pens letter to airline, is thrilled at the response……

November 23, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

A YOUNG plane enthusiast received a welcome surprise from an airline executive after sending in a series of suggestions on how to improve safety in the event of a crash.

Laura Treider and her son Ben, 8, were watching a show about how planes mysteriously disappear, which included a segment about the disappearance of Malaysia’s MH370.

“I felt a little sad,” Ben told FoxNews.com. But right away this young inventor got to work, designing an emergency aircraft system he believes would make it easier to locate planes in the event of an ocean crash.

Treider helped her son pen a letter to Delta CEO Richard Anderson.

“We could have a system that has neon orange balloons that rise up to the surface when the plane crashes in the sea,” reads the letter. “And there would be stones at the bottom so they would stay there. The balloon wouldn’t be light enough to float up into the air, and it would have reinforced rubber to withstand a lot of pressure.”

The letter penned by Ben. Picture: Consumerist

His design. Picture: Consumerist

Treider, who served in the air force with her husband, says her son has been fascinated with planes from an early age.

“He’s always been interested in aviation, particularly in the design of military aeroplanes,” she said.

Treider says Ben also enjoys meeting pilots when the family flies. And when they do take a trip, Delta is their airline of choice.

A few weeks after Ben sent out his letter he received a special package from John E. Laughter, Delta’s Senior Vice President of Safety, Security and Compliance. In addition to sending two model aeroplanes — which Ben says he quickly assembled — the young inventor got branded pencils and pens and a personal note commending his design.

“ … I work with many Delta people, The Federal Aviation Administration, and aeroplane manufactures to solve problems such as airline tracking in an emergency. There are lots of experts thinking about ideas just like you send us. I will make sure to share your planes with them!” wrote Laughter.

Treider says her son was ecstatic with the executive’s response.

“At first we thought it was a birthday gift because he’s turning nine next week but when he saw who it was from he started jumping up and down saying “I got Delta! I got Delta!”

This story originally appeared on Fox News.

Source…..www.news.com.au

Natarajan

Located in Sikhra village in Hathras district of Uttar Pradesh, this school has been built with the aim of providing easily accessible education to children living there.

His inspiring spirit defies his age, as he gets ready to welcome the little ones for their lessons.

1. Gisborne Airport, New Zealand

This North Island airport is one of the few in the World that has a railway line running through its runway. Both the railway And the airport are active, so let’s hope they are precise about their Scheduling.

Unfortunately, the flight was hijacked while it was parked on the tarmac at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi.

Photo for representation purpose only. Source: Wikipedia

While many others were injured, they did survive – in no small part due to the actions of a 22-year-old flight attendant who chose compassion over cowardice and performed her duty till the very end.

Most people would be demotivated with this sudden setback in life, but Sandeep dealt with the situation with a great attitude and determination.

Powered by a wheelchair, Sandeep glides across the Delhi airport terminal to assist people in need. His job requires him to be always active.

Having faced various challenges in his life, Sandeep now understands the plight of people with disabilities. He trains the loaders at the airport to treat the disabled and the elderly with care and respect.

1. Gisborne
Airport, New Zealand

This North Island airport is one of the few in the
World that has a railway line running through its runway. Both the railway
And the airport are active, so let’s hope they are precise about their
Scheduling.