Monday, May 21, 2012

Bingo Airways hits jackpot with international charter destinations?


Jarosław Juszkiewicz reports from Katowice

Katowice International Airport has become the main operational base for a new private Polish charter airline, Bingo Airways.

Bingo Airways will provide charter flights for Polish passengers mainly to Mediterranean destinations. The airline's inaugural passenger flight took place last week, with a service from Warsaw to the Silesian hub of Katowice.

Our Silesian correspondent JarosÅ‚aw Juszkiewicz observed the airline’s debut from close up…

Watch the "low pass" from onboard the Bingo Airways flight:  http://www.thenews.pl

Indonesia's Trigana Airlines Yet to Resume Flights to Mulia After Shooting

More than a month and a half after gunmen strafed a Trigana airplane right after it landed at Mulia airport Papua, the airline has yet to resume serving the airport, one of its executives said on Monday.

“I do not know when we will reopen the route to Mulia because we are awaiting the psychological condition of our pilots and crew,” Irwan Rochendi, Trigana’s assistant manager for Papua, told Antara news agency.   He said that although the aircraft involved in the incident has already resumed flights to Jayapura’s Sentani airport, the pilots and crew were still traumatized by the shooting that killed one passenger and wounded four others aboard the plane.

The incident took place on April 8.

“Our pilots and crew are still traumatized, still carrying the burden of the shooting incident,” Irwan told Antara.

The airline was losing money from not flying to Mulia, Irwan said.

Read more:   http://www.thejakartaglobe.com

San Mateo County, California: Sheriff wants new plane

Crime may not pay for those on the wrong side of the law but more than $700,000 nabbed in drug forfeitures will help the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office buy a new plane for in-air law enforcement.   On Tuesday, Sheriff Greg Munks will ask the Board of Supervisors to approve the purchase and modification of a 2012 Cessna 206 plane. The aircraft, including tax, is valued at $682,731 with $31,013 in modifications. The $713,744 total purchase price will be completely covered by asset forfeiture funds which have already been approved by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The new plane will replace the 1980 Cessna 206 currently used by the all-volunteer Sheriff’s Air Squadron. The 32-year-old plane is electronically outdated and too noisy for suburban, semi-rural surveillance, Munks wrote to the board in his request.  The plans are used for counter drug surveillance, search and rescue and other types of investigative missions. Unlike ground surveillance, the planes are virtually undetectable which make them “an invaluable asset” in surveillance of drug traffickers, according to Munks.

Read more:  http://www.smdailyjournal.com

Skyhawk Spin Training

 
May 16, 2012 by Ryten182 
 "Filmed using my camera phone. Spin training for my spin endorsement."

Chesapeake Bay slowly swallows up Tangier Island, Virginia


TANGIER ISLAND -- From the air, this fishing outpost in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay for centuries resembled a giant fishing hook, a curved barb completing the picture on the northern tail of the island. 

 But no more. The barb is gone, swallowed by a rising bay and fast-eroding land.

Now, Tangier Island just looks like a big oval teardrop.

Locals here worry that the one-two punch of higher sea levels and sinking land will doom them, too, drowning their homes and way of life, along with about 400 years of Virginia history and culture.

In the 1980s, a seawall of boulders was erected along a stretch of the western shore of the island, and it has succeeded in keeping a small airport and the town's sewage-treatment plant from being lost to the Bay.

Read more:  http://www.delmarvanow.com

Sky Aviation: Partial Payment Already Made For Sukhoi Purchase

Monday, 21 May, 2012 | 15:30 WIB 

 TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Sky Aviation has not decided on the purchase of the Russian made plane, Sukhoi Superjet 100. "We don't know yet whether to go ahead or cancel it. All are focusing on the victims now. We are also awaiting the investigation results,” said Sky Aviation's General Manager Marketing, Sutito Zainuddin, to Tempo on Friday, May 18.
In July 2011, Sky signed a purchase contract to buy 12 units Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft. The planes are scheduled to arrive in batches starting August or September 2012 till 2015, with three arriving around end of the year. The contract is at the verge of being canceled after the similar type of aircraft crashed during a promo flight from Halim Perdanakusuma airbase to Sukabumi last week.

Read more:   http://www.tempointeractive.com

Unions slam Qantas for axing 500 jobs

 Australia's aircraft maintenance and engineering capacity will be decimated by Qantas' decision to axe 500 jobs, unions say.

Qantas on Monday announced it would shed the jobs as part of a restructure of its heavy maintenance facilities in Victoria and Queensland.

Unions reacted angrily, saying the job cuts would adversely affect the maintenance of Qantas aircraft and even threaten national security.

The Qantas Engineers Alliance, which is made up of members from three unions, urged the federal government to intervene to safeguard Australia's capacity to maintain aircraft.

Alliance member and Australian Workers Union Victorian branch secretary Cesar Melham said there were fears even more jobs could be axed by Qantas.