The News Review:
- Indian airlines plan one-day no-fly protest over fuel taxes
- USAPA Champions Introduction of House Bill on Aviation Safety
- NTSB plan aims to shield planes from bird risks
- The Digital Ramble | Summer Aviation
Indian airlines plan one-day no-fly protest over fuel taxes
USA Today
The group has been lobbying the government to cut fuel taxes which it says are far higher than international norms. “If we are bleeding what do we do? Tell me” FIA Secretary General Anil Baijal told reporters adding that airlines “just want to express their difficulty. Kapil Kaul chief executive of the India unit of the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation — an independent aviation market research group — said India has the highest cost structure for aviation in the world largely because high taxes means fuel costs 60 to 70% more than international averages. He estimated that Indian carriers have collectively lost at least $3. 5 billion in the last five years due to high taxes over-expansion poor airport infrastructure and falling demand. “You cannot create a viable business model with the cost structure these airlines have” Kaul said. He called the planned boycott a “symbolic gesture.
USAPA Champions Introduction of House Bill on Aviation Safety
Business Wire (press release)
“USAPA has received a copy of the proposed bill and our appropriate Safety and Training committees will review it in its entirety” said Captain Mike Cleary president of the US Airline Pilots Association. “We are pleased that the House Aviation Subcommittee is taking an active role in demanding that America’s airliners have qualified pilots at the controls pilots who are properly licensed to do the job and possess at a minimum an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) license. Although I cannot speak for all I imagine that the 90000 pilots who were represented at the subcommittee roundtable are acutely aware of the demands the industry places on them and the need for experience in our cockpits. ” Currently pilots can be hired on a flight deck with an FAA Commercial license which requires 190 flight hours in an approved school or 250 hours from an unapproved school. Conversely an ATP license will require significantly more aeronautical knowledge and 1500 hours of flight experience. With regional airlines flying sophisticated aircraft in our nation’s busiest airports pilot leadership was unanimous in its belief that an ATP license should be a minimum requirement for both pilots.
NTSB plan aims to shield planes from bird risks
USA Today
The NTSB ruled that the jet struck one or more American white pelicans at about 3000 feet altitude shortly after takeoff. The impact crushed the plane’s wing. The case is the latest this year to highlight the danger that birds pose to aviation including airliners. In what has become known as the “Miracle on the Hudson” a US Airways jet struck a flock of Canada geese above New York City in January. The impact crippled its engines and forced it to splashdown in the Hudson River where everyone aboard escaped. The pelican that the klahoma City jet struck was likely twice as large as the average goose. White pelicans weigh up to 20 pounds.
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The Digital Ramble | Summer Aviation
New York Times
Stealth bomber posters competed with Kathy Ireland for wall space when I was 12 back when balsa-wing gliders were prizes given out at school. Aviation had both sex appeal and simple wonder which means that when James Fallows describes. First I should probably get a garage.