Civil Aviation Development & Discussion

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 06 Dec 2014 22:40

Is it because Dubai is centrally located? If you look at it, India is not badly located either and we could be a hub too. How many actually fly into or out of Dubai? They are making money out of everybody else both by being a hub and a tourist centre, resort, shopping centre while they do not make anything of value.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 07 Dec 2014 23:34

Rare formation flying with 5 Airbus A350.

http://youtu.be/gI4jWYZLeHQ

[youtube]http://youtu.be/gI4jWYZLeHQ[/youtube]

Ameet · Post by **Ameet** » 09 Dec 2014 23:52

Raju acts tough, denies Air Arabia, Emirates' requests for expansion into India

http://firstbiz.firstpost.com/corporate ... 12357.html

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 10 Dec 2014 01:02

Good move on the part of Civ Av minister. We should be demanding our own pound of flesh.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 10 Dec 2014 01:11

yes their stealth takeover of 9W and hence the domestic market has already happened under congis.
now they want even deeper claws. they already fly to some 15 places in india to directly suck traffic.

our pound of flesh could be codeshare aggrements for all our AI+Pvt operators to fly pax from india into DXB ? instead of them flying to umpteen indian cities and making $$ short haul as well.

they are already the worlds #1 long haul airline and DXB the worlds #1 long haul hub and gap with Luft/Sia/BA is increasing day by day as they lay in hordes of latest ER widebodies

there are jaw dropping nos of flights from DXB even in middle of the night.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 10 Dec 2014 01:22

That's exactly what I felt GoI should be targeting, earlier in the thread. They can't have their cake and eat it too, They're free to run all the outbounds out of DXB/AUH. The routes between there and India should be progressively taken over by our carriers, who sell them codeshare capacity and make money on that.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 10 Dec 2014 09:11

Suraj wrote:Good move on the part of Civ Av minister. We should be demanding our own pound of flesh.

Pure motivated rubbish, saar. This is just like ajit singh angling for his pound of flesh. No reason why TDP should have been given such an ATM ministry and allowed to make withdrawals too.

This ministry should have remained with some committed and firmly under control BJP walla

change will come when ajit and praful are tihar bound.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 11 Dec 2014 16:17

Yesterday while travelling from Mumbai to Chennai noticed 8 more flights added by Indigo from Kozhikode including 2 for daily to and from Dubai. Looks like the new policy is working and Indian (not Air India) will fly passegers from Indian cities to international locations.

Why ccant emirates, Eithad etc keep some of thier aircraft maintenance hubs in India.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 12 Dec 2014 04:11

Aditya_V wrote:Why ccant emirates, Eithad etc keep some of thier aircraft maintenance hubs in India.

Because they're not here to do us a favor but to squeeze us for their benefit. We're talking about a city state built on the back of slave labor.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 12 Dec 2014 04:44

do these states have income tax on personal salary?

i would imagine most if not all the a.c maintainence mechanics servicing the emirates/etihad planes out there would be asians, americans and euros and not locals. so other than kickbacks from vendors who feed into these repair hubs, what else is the ruling elite gaining from having it all onsite....? quicker turnarounds and high level skills always on call?

the emirates service area is the size of a small town and features endless rows of widebodies wingtip to wingtip just as their main terminal.

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 12 Dec 2014 11:28

Since they're the hub, wouldn't it make sense to keep their maint services done there itself?

darshhan · Post by **darshhan** » 12 Dec 2014 16:32

chetak wrote:
Suraj wrote:Good move on the part of Civ Av minister. We should be demanding our own pound of flesh.
Pure motivated rubbish, saar. This is just like ajit singh angling for his pound of flesh. No reason why TDP should have been given such an ATM ministry and allowed to make withdrawals too.

This ministry should have remained with some committed and firmly under control BJP walla

change will come when ajit and praful are tihar bound.

Namo is well aware of the above pitfalls as mentioned by you. One of the reasons he has deputed Mahesh Sharma as MOS for ministry of aviation is to keep a close watch over the activities of Cabinet minister.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 14 Dec 2014 19:36

SSJ-100 business version made its first international flight

MOSCOW, December 14 - RIA Novosti. The aircraft "Sukhoi Superjet 100" business version made its first international flight on the route Moscow - New Delhi, the press service of the Industry and Trade Ministry on Sunday.

Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Denis Manturov as part of his working visit to India said that "Sukhoi Superjet-100 business" made its first international flight. "The aircraft first flew nonstop from Moscow - New Delhi. The flight was 6:00 05 minutes at 4738 km range," - said in a statement.

Head of Industry and Trade of Russia is in Delhi to participate in the activities of the official visit to India by Russian President Vladimir Putin. One of the events that took place on the sidelines of the visit was the presentation of a business version of the aircraft, "Sukhoi Superjet-100".

Manturov noted that the construction of SSJ 100 in the business version will be developed: range aircraft "Sukhoi Superjet-100" in the future will reach 8,000 kilometers, and customers can get individual equipment.

"The Indian colleagues and partners will have the opportunity to evaluate our civil aircraft" Sukhoi Superjet-100. "India for us is not only one of the priority markets, but most importantly - one of the most important partners for joint projects in the aviation industry. We are ready to discuss with Indian partners SSJ licensed production or production of individual components for this aircraft, "- said the Minister.

http://ria.ru/economy/20141214/1038167024.html

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 18 Dec 2014 00:47

Now Spice Jet wants a govt bailout. What's ailing these airlines exactly? Just fare wars and high ATF prices? Clearly the market is attractive enough for new airlines to start up (Air Asia India, now Vistara), so what's wrong with the current crop?

As SpiceJet seeks bailout, govt says ‘no assurance’ - Indian Express

Treading the path taken by Kingfisher Airlines, debt-laden SpiceJet, owned by the Chennai-based Sun Group, on Monday called for a bailout from the government. The airline approached minister of state for civil aviation Mahesh Sharma, seeking urgent financial help to continue its operations.

Incidentally, the plea from SpiceJet came on a day when the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) granted the Air Operator Permit to Vistara – the joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines – which would allow the carrier to begin commercial operation in India.

As senior company officials of SpiceJet approached Sharma requesting “urgent relief”, the minister said that any decision on government support would be taken at the “highest level”. He said the airline’s request would be put before the Prime Minister’s Office, the finance ministry and the ministry of petroleum and natural gas.

Asked about the government’s response to the airline’s plea, the MoS said, “No assurance has been given to them.”

The no-frill carrier, burdened with a debt liability of Rs 2,000 crore, has in the recent past cancelled more than 1,800 flights. Over the past three months, it has brought down its daily flights from 332 to 239.

The DGCA had given the airline time till Monday to release pending employee salaries and submit a schedule on paying vendor dues of close to Rs 1,600 crore. It is, however, expected that Airports Authority of India, which had threatened to put the airline on “cash and carry” mode soon if the airline failed to furnish bank guarantee of up to Rs 200 crore against its dues, would not press for immediate clearance and give the carrier some more time.

In the Lok Sabha on Monday, Sharma said that all private Indian airlines were suffering from financial stress. “It has been found that all private airlines are in varying degrees of financial stress,” said the minister, taking note of the DGCA audit of all airlines on the impact of financial stress on aviation safety. He further said that the airlines have been asked to optimise their operations and reduce financial burden without compromising the safety of aircraft operations.
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/busine ... 5iopE.dpuf

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 18 Dec 2014 01:01

It gets more interesting - GoI is helping out Spice Jet by forking over public money. Can't the MoCA ask the owners of SpiceJet to plonk in some cash first - they definitely have the werewithal to do so. Why use public money at the outset?

It will be interesting to see what funding SpiceJet can line up within 2 weeks. I hope the govt does not extend the credit again after that time period, it will be KF all over again. I am worried about this becoming a pattern - people get into aviation without any long term commitment, and then play the drama of 'no money' with the govt trying to help (the owners won't put in theirs), and then one day shut down the airline with all the employees left in the lurch.

Now, govt comes to SpiceJet's rescue - Business Standard

The government has approved a series of measures to bail out cash-strapped airline SpiceJet, which is in danger of having to suspend operations. After hectic discussions that ran late into the night on Monday, the ministry of civil aviation said on Tuesday that banks could be requested to give working capital loans based on assurances by the promoter.

"Banks or financial institutions to lend up to Rs 600 crore backed by a personal guarantee of the chairman, SpiceJet. This should be paid immediately after securing the long-term investment which will take around 8 weeks to consummate," the ministry said in a statement.

Civil aviation ministry officials further said the finance ministry would be requested to permit external commercial borrowings (ECBs) for working capital as a special dispensation, as had been done in 2012 when a similar crisis had arisen in the aviation sector. The government had at the time raised the ceiling on ECBs for the sector to offer a reprieve to Kingfisher Airlines (KFA). KFA, however, could not raise any resources at the time and had to shut operations eventually.

The suggestions were approved by Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju Pusapati "to tide over the crisis and to keep SpiceJet from shutting down, as it would be a major setback to the Indian civil aviation sector". The reprieve, however, has been granted on the condition that SpiceJet give a commitment of raising sufficient capital within a short period of time.

Overturning directions issued by the regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the ministry of civil aviation also lifted the 30-day booking restriction imposed on the ailing carrier. The ministry said airport operators would be requested to give 15 days to the airline to make payments. SpiceJet has dues of around Rs 200 crore towards the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and another Rs 80 crore towards other airport operators. The airline could be put on cash-and-carry mode if it fails to settle dues.

Public sector oil companies will also be requested to give credit for up to 15 days. "The Public Sector Oil Companies would be requested to give credit for upto 15 days. (The daily off-take of the airlines is about Rs 5 crores. This would amount to about Rs 75 crores. The dues pending is only Rs 14 crores as on 15-12-2014)" the ministry said in a statement.

Raju and minister of state Mahesh Sharma held a meeting with the petroleum minister and officials from the finance ministry on Monday following large-scale disruption of SpiceJet flights.

On Tuesday afternoon, Sharma had said government departments were working to find a solution to the issue.

"Something is being worked out to resolve the SpiceJet crisis in the larger interest of passengers. All departments are working to find a solution. The government cannot take out solutions for an individual airline but for the entire industry," said Sharma.

Kapil Kaul, CEO of Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, said, "I welcome the government's overall response, which is now helpful after a couple of bad decisions earlier. However, I am not certain and clear about the government's stand. Seven to 10 days time given, if true, is unlikely to change things. Not sure how such large funding will be secured in such short time, especially as the promoter seems unwilling. Not sure how long oil companies and AAI will offer unsecured credit. Without immediate and significant funding, I see this as a closed case. SpiceJet needs to come clean on the funding prospects, including timelines."

On Tuesday morning, the airline was unable to fuel its aircraft in Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad, resulting in cancellations and rescheduling of flights. "There was some temporary operational issue. Flights have now resumed," a SpiceJet spokesperson said in response to a query.

The stability of operations now will depend on whether the airline is able to secure investments quickly to make payments to suppliers and vendors. Bookings have been hit following daily flight cancellations. SpiceJet has cancelled 1,861 flights between December 8 and December 31, 2014.

Kannan · Post by **Kannan** » 18 Dec 2014 08:52

arshyam wrote:I hope the govt does not extend the credit again after that time period, it will be KF all over again. I am worried about this becoming a pattern - people get into aviation without any long term commitment, and then play the drama of 'no money' with the govt trying to help (the owners won't put in theirs), and then one day shut down the airline with all the employees left in the lurch.

Unfortunately it's been a pattern for the past three decades if not more across the world. Even now in the US you'll see a low cost carrier pop up to some idilic midwestern city, screw them out of subsidies and bolt for another town. It's done in a more subtle manner, but other than the majors, the smaller guys and the feeder contracts come and go.

As the old saying goes, how do you make a small fortune in aviation? First you start with a big fortune...

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 18 Dec 2014 09:52

The lenders want tangible collateral from the marans' before lending them any money.

kalanidhi maran thinks that he is being oh so very very clever by offering his shares in spice jet as collateral for govt loans.

Once you have your ugly snout in the public trough, you will never let go of it.

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 22 Dec 2014 11:36

Portfolio of firm orders for Superjet-100 at the end of 2014 increased 5.5%

12/12/2014

http://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/56520/

"At the end of 2014 the total portfolio of firm orders for SSJ-100 is 192 aircraft. Currently operates 36 aircraft, of which "Aeroflot" - 13 cars in the Mexican airline Interjet - 11, the Russian "Yakutia" - 2 aircraft, the airline "Center-South" - 3 liner in "Gazpromavia" - 7 aircraft, the Interior Ministry - 1 aircraft in service, "- said Nedosekin.

According to him, total flying machines since the beginning of operation is about 70 thousand hours for the entire fleet, holds 47.108 thousands of flights in more than 100 airports in 50 countries.

ManjaM · Post by **ManjaM** » 26 Dec 2014 23:56

MONTHLY SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF OCTOBER, 2014.

A tidy 7.55% growth in passenger traffic between Jan-Sep,2014 as compared to the corresponding period in 2013.

Passenger carried by domestic airlines during Jan-Sept.,2014 were 491.47 lakhs as
against 465.95 lakhs during the corresponding period of previous year thereby registering a
growth of 7.55 %.

Despite the ongoing infrastructure expansion at various locations, I am yet to see big policy movements in the MinofCivA. It appears that Swachh Abhiyan is percolating down and slowly working the system loose.

A special cleanliness campaign was conducted as a part of “Swachh Bharat
Abhiyan” in October, 2014 in the Ministry and its subordinate & attached offices
and PSUs. Special drives were also undertaken to weed out of the old files/record
from 4.00 to 5.30 P.M. on every Wednesdays by all the Divisions under this
Ministry. Punctuality has improved considerably with the installation of Biometric
system.

Surya · Post by **Surya** » 28 Dec 2014 09:43

the run of bad luck for Malaysia continues

Air Asia flt from surabaya to singapore goes missing

http://abcnews.go.com/International/air ... d=27856490

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 28 Dec 2014 09:56

thats not malaysian

Surya · Post by **Surya** » 28 Dec 2014 19:07

Air Asia is Malaysian -

check it

Austin · Post by **Austin** » 28 Dec 2014 19:11

While Air Asia, as a whole is a Malaysian company, the one affected is the Indonesian branch of Air Asia, even the flight uses Indonesian aircraft registration number.

Surya · Post by **Surya** » 28 Dec 2014 19:18

yes they have branded it - some of it is ownership requirements

there is thai airasia, indonesian , japan etc

but all go through one website when I last used them

sunilUpa · Post by **sunilUpa** » 28 Dec 2014 20:50

this is bad ....poor families.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 30 Dec 2014 13:04

Being reported in the press.

It's almost certain that the wreckage of the missing Air Asia flight has been spotted. Debris consistent with the aircraft and proximity to it's last known location along with the prevailing local current and sea conditions.

At least some closure is there for the victim's families.

For all the passengers and crew, RIP.

shyamm · Post by **shyamm** » 30 Dec 2014 16:32

Not sure if its the right forum:
Ixigo is offering a cashback of Rs.2015 on Jet Airways booking before 31st Dec, with travel valid up to Nov 2015. The only requirement is one should have a bank account in india and the minimum transaction amount is Rs.2500 We need to email our bank account number and IFSC code along with the PNR confirmation email.
So even if ticket is about Rs.2600, i will get back Rs.2015 a month after the flight
How does Ixigo gain by this. Their tweets says no catch and the above are the only two conditions.

Hope its not some scam.

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 03 Jan 2015 23:56

Tenders (RFQ) for privatizing Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmd, Jaipur airports in PPP mode out (source livemint/SSC).

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 16 Jan 2015 19:19

Air India pops into the profit column. Rs 16 crore only net. But immediately goes into price war...

Good time to sell it off IMHO. We might even get a few bucks for it, though never getting back the Rs 40,000 crore of subsidized losses...

http://www.travelbizmonitor.com/Top-Sto ... sses-26362

pgbhat · Post by **pgbhat** » 17 Jan 2015 15:45

Air India Pilot Locks Himself Up in Cockpit After Allegedly Assaulting Flight Engineer

CHENNAI: An Air India pilot allegedly assaulted a flight engineer inside the cockpit of Chennai-Paris flight AI 143 this morning. Initial reports suggest that pilot Manicklal and the engineer Kannan had an argument inside the cockpit over delay in flight departure following which the pilot assaulted the engineer.

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 22 Jan 2015 02:11

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/govern ... 33031.html
Varinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 21
International flights at the upcoming Mohali international airport will take off by August-end. The Rs 475 crore airport (minus land cost) is likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources in the Punjab government said.

Air India, Indigo and Spicejet have secured permission for operating flights between Chandigarh and Dubai and Chandigarh and Sharjah. “Air Arabia has also applied for permission to operate flights from Chandigarh to Sharjah. The issue of night operations is almost sorted out,” said Viswajeet Khanna, Principal Secretary, Civil Aviation, Punjab.

“Everything is going as per the schedule and 86 per cent work on the new airport terminal building has been completed. We will hand it over to our testing unit by the end of June,” said DK Kamra, General Manager, Airport Authority of India (AAI).

After direct flights to the Gulf countries in the first phase, connecting flights to European and North America countries would be started in the second phase. While the airport infrastructure is with the AAI, the runway and flight operations are still under the Indian Air Force. The Chandigarh domestic airport, that handles 26 flights, will be closed down and the domestic flights will be shifted to the new airport. The domestic airport could be used for cargo operations or could be used as a flying club, said sources.

The new international airport will have the capacity to handle more than 1,600 passengers at a time at its international and domestic terminals.

Taking wings

Flights to Gulf countries likely to start in August or Sept
3 airlines get nod to operate flights to Dubai, Sharjah
86 % work on the new airport terminal building completed

Main features

Handling capacity of 1,600 passengers at a time
53,000 sq m terminal building, including basement
Parking capacity for 500 vehicles
48 check-in counters; six escalators, 14 lifts
A 200-KW solar power plant on service yard rooftop

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 28 Jan 2015 14:35

NRao wrote:Not military related, hwoever .......................

Lives (and loves) of India’s wealthiest

Private jets proliferate

The ultimate status symbol, private jets are a must-have accessory for India’s high flyers. Indian consumers constitute 12% of the global private jet market, according to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. According to statistics provided by Ravinder Kaur, manager of corporate communications for Frost & Sullivan's South Asia region, wealthy Indians own a total of 142 private jets — ranging from $4.5m light jets to $310m heavy jets. Owners include top business barons such as brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani, Vijay Mallya, Lakshmi Mittal, Ratan Tata, and Gautam Singhania.

Canadian business jet maker Bombardier expects to deliver 1,215 jets to India between 2014 and 2033. “The current generation of Indian billionaires fully realises the benefits of using a private jet,” said Atiesh Mishra, general manager, flight operations at Taj Air, a Mumbai-based air charter company. “For India’s ultra-high-net-worth individuals, time is of great importance. A private aircraft also affords them privacy and the flexibility of making their own schedules.” (Gautam Singhania/SajjadHussain/Getty Images)
A rather large market, one that Indians themselves should get into. That works out to be about 63 jets (from Bombardier alone) per year!!!!

The "private jet" is mostly aircraft bought and registered under Non Scheduled Operations Permit (NSOP) with very few aircraft under purely 'Private' category. I know this because I worked in Mumbai from 06-09 for similar operations. Taj is the best of the NSOP operators and it is part of the Tata conglomerate. The gentleman quoted, Ateish Mishra is an old friend.

The numbers being flashed around for future purchase should be taken with a very big ocean of salt. The happy days of 06-07 when money seemed unending did not see that kind of import. It went badly downhill from 09 with many orders cancelled. My company was also involved in selling Bell Helicopters in India and we had ~75% Indian market. Our best year was 2007 when we delivered less than 10 machines across India. Similarly, the market in the fixed wing category added less than 20 machines that year.

In 2007, our company bought a B1900 D under NSOP (pre owned) and a big part of the market is pre owned. Except Reliance (MDAG and ADAG), Ruias (Essar), Bhartias (Jubilant) + Bhartis (Airtel), Tatas, there are very few buying new jets today. Blue Dart cargo was doing well but then things have not continued on a great path and I am not updated on their status since 2007.

Kingfisher had a few aircraft under NSOP which Vijay Mallaya used for private and guest hosting. That hosting has reduced now.

New entrants in this field were IndiaBulls (not doing so well now), Ranbaxy as RanAir.

Deccan Aviation, UHPL, Global Vectra, Heligo, King Air, Taneja Aerospace and some more are into Helicopter Operations. Deccan Aviation was the root from where Air Deccan was born later to be acquired by Kingfisher. Deccan Aviation and Poonavala operate fixed wing aircraft but I have not heard any new purchases from them.

The other problem is: Import Control. Buying or Importing Civil Aircraft uses up a lot of Foreign Exchange and hence very regulated. An operator also needs parking space. Most Operators / Owners are based in very few cities with Mumbai and Delhi being base to most (my guess 80%) of the Operators / Owners. These cities already have airfield space shortages with respect to Parking Stand allotment. Without an assigned Parking Stand, there are hurdles in importing or buying an aircraft.

Next is maintenance: Very few private Maintenance Agencies exist with main examples being Airworks India (owned by Punj Loyd) and Indamer. Most major NSOP operators like Taj, Essar, UHPL, Global Vectra, Taneja have their own maintenance. Reliance has only partial set up in both cases of MDAG and ADAG. Full maintenance facility is also limited to Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi(Palam) etc.

Newer airfield in Hyderabad and Bangalore have not really developed hubs for Private operators till today though folks are trying.

Hence, if you really view it, 63 aircraft per year from all manufacturers consolidated is a big ask. From Bombardier alone, 63 looks really stretched. Maybe Bombardier is looking at NSOP, Scheduled and Govt sales all together.

NRao · Post by **NRao** » 28 Jan 2015 19:30

Thanks.

Here is the latest from bombardier:

http://businessaircraft.bombardier.com/content/dam/bombardier/en/ownership/whitepapers/BBA_2011_Market_Forecast_English.pdf

They have cut the numbers for India but still they are rather strong. ??????

deejay · Post by **deejay** » 28 Jan 2015 20:40

NRao ji, Thank you for that Bombardier report. Their numbers for India from 2011 to 2030 is 1330 aircraft which means 66.5 aircraft per year. Wow! I do not see that happening. They seem to agree with me on the bottle necks though:

India’s business aviation sector has not lived up to its full potential due to lack of aviation infrastructure, stringent government regulations, high import taxes and duties, long procedures for aircraft imports. There are signs of improvement, as the Airports Authority of India announced plans to modernize many airports, and bring 32 existing unused airports into operation over the next 10 years. As the current installed base of business jets in India is small and relatively young at 9.5 years old at the end of 2010, retirements will not be a major factor in this market.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 31 Jan 2015 19:42

‘AirAsia captain left seat before jet lost control’

The captain of the AirAsia jet that crashed into the sea in December was out of his seat conducting an unorthodox procedure when his co-pilot apparently lost control, and by the time he returned it was too late to save the plane, two people familiar with the investigation said.

Details emerging of the final moments of Flight QZ8501 are likely to focus attention partly on maintenance, procedures and training, though Indonesian officials have stressed publicly that it is too early to draw any firm conclusions.

The Airbus A320 jet plunged into the Java Sea while en route from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore on December 28, killing all 162 people on board.

It had been suffering maintenance faults with a key flight control computer for over a week, and one person familiar with the matter said the captain had flown on the same plane with the intermittently faulty device just days before the crash.

AirAsia said it would not comment while the matter was under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) of Indonesia.

Reuters reported this week that maintenance problems on the Flight Augmentation Computer (FAC), and the way the pilots reacted to them, were at the heart of the investigation.

After trying to re-set this device, pilots pulled a circuit-breaker to cut its power, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

People familiar with the matter told Reuters it was the Indonesian captain Iriyanto who took this step, rather than his less experienced French co-pilot Remy Plesel, who was flying the plane.

The outage would not directly upset the aircraft but would remove flight envelope protection, which prevents a pilot from taking a plane beyond its safety limits, leaving the junior pilot to fly the jet manually in delicate high altitude conditions.

The decision to cut off the FAC has surprised people following the investigation because the usual procedure for re-setting it is to press a button on the overhead panel.

"You can reset the FAC, but to cut all power to it is very unusual," said one A320 pilot, who declined to be identified. "You don't pull the circuit breaker unless it was an absolute emergency. I don't know if there was one in this case, but it is very unusual."

It is also significant because to pull the circuit breaker the captain had to rise from his seat.

The circuit breakers are on a wall panel immediately behind the co-pilot and hard or impossible to reach from the seated position on the left side, where the captain sits, according to two experienced pilots and published diagrams of the cockpit.

Shortly afterwards the junior pilot pulled the plane into a sharp climb from which investigators have said it stalled or lost lift.

"It appears he was surprised or startled by this," said a person familiar with the investigation, referring to the decision to cut power to the affected computer.

The captain eventually resumed control, but a person familiar with the matter said he was not in a position to intervene immediately to recover the aircraft from its upset.

Data already published on the plane's trajectory suggest it may have been difficult for someone to move around the cockpit in an upward-tilting and by then possibly unstable aircraft, but there is so far no confirmation of the cockpit movements.

"The co-pilot pulled the plane up, and by the time the captain regained the controls it was too late," one of the people familiar with the investigation said.

Tatang Kurniadi, chief of Indonesia's NTSC, told Reuters there had been no delay in the captain resuming control but declined further comment.

Airbus declined to comment.

Lawyers for the family of the French co-pilot say they have filed a lawsuit against AirAsia in Paris for "endangering the lives of others" by flying the route without official authorisation on that day. Investigators have said the accident was not related to the permit issue.

AirAsia did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

Although more is becoming known about the chain of events, people familiar with the investigation warned against making assumptions on the accident's cause, which needed more analysis.

Safety experts say air crashes are most often caused by a chain of events, each of which is necessary but not sufficient to explain the underlying causes of the accident.

VishalJ · Post by **VishalJ** » 04 Feb 2015 07:11

My Latest Photo:

The Inaugural Singapore Airlines A380 to Mumbai ✈ http://www.airliners.net/photo/2586130/L/

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 04 Feb 2015 07:51

despite its vast size, it is a very nimble plane when doing pre-landing manouvers. looks balanced and well made. lots of room near the toilets to stand and stretch legs.

its the A330-ER that looks a bit odd, fairly slim fuselage, but tall landing gear and very long wings...kind of like a starving albatross.

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 04 Feb 2015 09:40

A small taiwan plane crashlands in a river.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/f ... s-in-river

hanumadu · Post by **hanumadu** » 04 Feb 2015 12:29

VishalJ · Post by **VishalJ** » 06 Feb 2015 17:41

Singha wrote:despite its vast size, it is a very nimble plane when doing pre-landing manouvers. looks balanced and well made. lots of room near the toilets to stand and stretch legs.

its the A330-ER that looks a bit odd, fairly slim fuselage, but tall landing gear and very long wings...kind of like a starving albatross.

330ER? You mean the A330-200 or the A330-300?

Anyways, here's My Latest Photo:

The Inaugural Vistara flight to Mumbai ✈ http://www.airliners.net/photo/2587446/L/