Civil Aviation Development & Discussion

[Singha]

Making domestic parts and buying out a decent but orphaned design like DO238 would get our ecosystem of parts vendors, test infra and QC in place while more ambitious larger designs can proceed. but it needs vision to make such a call and push it through. NAL can do never do this , they are scientists depending on govt for work and funds. someone maverick like Elon musk or Bezos would fund it, but all we have are Mota bhai types not exactly focussed on national power or STEM.

even if a desi billionaire funded it like that turkish mogul did, HAL and its SJW bands would howl that why they were not given all the work for free on a platter and ask for a ban on domestic airlines buying it. some of these PSUs believe they are not here to serve the country, but the country exists to serve their soft existence.

[Austin]

instead of never ending promises and EGOMs for the RTA, why dont we make a start by buying the rights and start producing, while in parallel looking to upsize this sound design? but then our NAL gods probably want to design the last nut and bolt inhouse! ... as a never ending science project than a shippable product....which they will enjoy working on until retirement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_328

Following the bankruptcy of Fairchild Dornier, AvCraft Aviation acquired the Dornier 328/328JET rights, however this company entered bankruptcy itself less than three years later.[25][26] In June 2006, 328 Support Services GmbH acquired the type certificate for the Dornier 328.[27] It provides maintenance, repair and overhaul services to the existing in-service fleet.[28]

In February 2015, US engineering company Sierra Nevada Corporation acquired 328 Support Services GmbH.[29][25] Shortly thereafter, Sierra Nevada's owner, Turkish-American Engineer Fatih Ozmen, established a private corporation named Özjet Havacılık Teknolojileri A.Ş. at Technopark of Bilkent University, Ankara and signed a Memorandum of understanding with the Transportation Ministry of Turkey in order to manufacture the 328 at Ankara.[30] In June 2015, the Turkish government launched the Turkish TR328 and TRJ328 regional aircraft project, a modernized 328/328JET, with either turboprops or jets for civil and military use [31] and a larger TR628/TRJ-628[32] forecasting a break even level and market of 500–1000 for each type.

While first flight was anticipated in 2019, Turkey abandoned the program in October 2017, after facing increasing costs and no longer confident of market demand forecasts. Believing in the sub 40-seat market, Sierra Nevada Corporation and 328 Support Services GmbH are searching for other means to revive the aircraft, hoping to follow through by the end of 2017 or early 2018.

The thing is a Do 328 or ATR72 will help you build an aircraft and perhaps even let you build an ecosystem to support it over a period of decade with good investment but it won’t let us know why the aircraft was designed in that way and what did they learn in the thousand of wind tunnel test they did to come to a solution Perhaps they were right perhaps they were wrong perhaps they were more right on some things than wrong , what was the so called crequirwment to build the aircraft etc

There are things which you learn designing your own aircraft and learn things to do 1000 different things in wrong way before you do right and gain experience if we are to move in the direction to become a aviation powerhouse or one of it

GOI has to fund nal and be prepared for any outcome they need to also find a initial customer for RTA and long term plans on how many they plan to build and who are the potential customer who they can sell reliastically , a business plan which all civil aircraft come with by doing research in market and speaking to potential customers , with the risk that it could fail for any number of reason beyond their control , it has happend to many players in past

It should not be the case they build an aircraft for commercial purpose and then no one buys or backs out and then its thrust down on the armed forces

Right now GOI has no intent to fund these civilian program and just let nal do R&D work on shoe string budget just to keep nal civil design wing busy and occupied

For a greenfield project goi has to accept all the risk even spectacular failure and persist on , a spectacular failure will still teach you how not to do 1000 of things which went wrong and the go to something else without repeating these mistakes

[SBajwa]

Indigo airlines starts a direct flight from Varanasi to Bangkok. People are calling it Paap and Prayashchit route.

[chola]

Indigo airlines starts a direct flight from Varanasi to Bangkok. People are calling it Paap and Prayashchit route.

LoL. Bangkok is forever tagged as the eternal Sin City. The name itself sounds horrendously bad and naughty in street English.

[Singha]

unless we start producing aircraft, even if not our original design we will never be a civilian aerospace power, already we are lagging way behind japan , china and brazil. south korea is probably next.

>> Right now GOI has no intent to fund these civilian program and just let nal do R&D work on shoe string budget just to keep nal civil design wing busy and occupied

this is a train to nowhere. to what end will this science serve our country. the NAL people will work and retire and next gen will also work and retire. unless we produce products and deploy at some scale its all going to remain inside ivory tower and research papers. in russia while TsAgi/gromov does the science, its the HAL type agencies who also produce something of that science,

atleast for a ATR72 sized ac they can both buy a DO328 design to work on production aspects and in parallel get NAL to design a C130 sized plane that GOI will fund, a dual role austere airline and military cargo plane like the DC3 dakota used to be

[chola]

unless we start producing aircraft, even if not our original design we will never be a civilian aerospace power, already we are lagging way behind japan , china and brazil. south korea is probably next.

We’ll be behind Saudi Arabia too when the An-132 takes off:




Saudis were smart enough to pick the bones of the Ukrainian aviation industry.

We used the An-32 in large numbers for many years. Why did we not partner in this? We should have been the beter and more obvious choice if we had pursued it imo.

[Vips]

Bengaluru Kempegowda International Airport to have new terminal, runway and more.

Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport in Karnataka is all set to receive a major infrastructural upgrade. A Rs 13,000 crore programme has been envisioned which will include the development of a new terminal, a second runway, access roads, internal road infrastructure, airport service utilities and a multi-modal transport hub. The airport authorities, while expecting a surge in traffic, are planning to undertake a big expansion programme of the airport to accommodate the high demand of passengers. The expansion programme planned for the airport, which is expected to be completed by the year 2021 is likely to provide jobs to 45,000 people, and will increase the manpower to about 25,000 from the existing 20,000 employees.

The new terminal will be constructed in a cost-effective way.Some of the other salient features about the project are as follows:

The terminal will be built at the most affordable cost and in a responsible way.
The terminal will be world class in all aspects, as it will be built in a sustainable manner including its design, operation and performance.
It will be environmentally sustainable as there will be inclusion of solar energy, which is a renewable form of energy. With this, there will be zero electricity consumption during the day time.
Arrangements have also been made for self sustainability in terms of water requirements for the terminal.
It will be built keeping in tandem with environmental sustainability

Hari Marar, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bangalore International Airport Infrastructure Limited (BIAL) has said that the Phase-2 development programme of the airport involves Rs 13,000 crore, which includes a component of Rs 2,000 crore interest. The cost of the new terminal itself is roughly about Rs 3,500 crore. BIAL owns and operates the Kempegowda International Airport and is responsible for the operations, commercial activities and infrastructure development of the airport, in terms with growing air-traffic.

The infra boost will efficiently handle the growing air passenger traffic
The Kempegowda International Airport is the third busiest in the country recording 27 million passengers in the year 2017-2018, and is expecting passenger traffic to increase three-folds over the next 10 years. The Bengaluru airport is expecting a surge of nearly 70 percent passenger traffic over the next two years due to several multinational companies located in Bengaluru, also known as the Silicon Valley of India, attracting professionals day by day.

[Austin]

atleast for a ATR72 sized ac they can both buy a DO328 design to work on production aspects and in parallel get NAL to design a C130 sized plane that GOI will fund, a dual role austere airline and military cargo plane like the DC3 dakota used to be

Indeed , there is no will or desire among any goi to fund civilian program , simply happy to buy it out ... even Saras was funded with great reluctance and delay and other than IAF no one has committed to buy not even in single digit

[Singha]

Bial is expected to grow by 15-20% per annum for next decade. From 27mil now the 50 mil will come fast

They need to construct the airport metro fast

[Austin]

Few pilots I have interacted with spoke about lack of Cat 2 and Cat 3 being a hindrance for BIAL , They would rather have this first than any other thing there. Again this is just an informal conversation with them cant really confirm

[Austin]

Will Jet’s 737 MAX 8 make your flight more comfortable?

[Zynda]

The 2nd runway at BIAL is supposed to be of CAT-3B standards and the first runway will be upgraded as well. But in the press release articles, I could not find what the upgrade of 1st runway entails (apart from expansion mentioned) i.e. if they will be upgraded to CAT-3 as well. I suppose installing & maintaining 2 runways with CAT-3 standards may be expensive and hence they might retain existing Cat-1 systems for the first runway.

[Singha]

a 50 million pax airport ought to be able to maintain 2 runways with the best equipment. big hubs worldwide have upto 6 runways.

the L1 least cost approach will be a disaster for BIAL.

with land only for 2 runways, beyond 50 mil its better that Hosur airport be developed as the 2nd airport for the greater blr region. people from TN krishnagiri/ambur side will also benefit.

local politicians will oppose it saying all the money will go to TN. they will instead try to suggest an airport in the west on mysore road where there is no free land available to pocket profits from the realty boom.

TN should just go ahead and offer Hosur as a gateway airport to south Blr.

BIAL should acquire land in the north side if possible for 3rd runway. south side is a higher plateau area where a huge SEZ with road grid is now open

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kempe ... 77.7065928

[manish]

a 50 million pax airport ought to be able to maintain 2 runways with the best equipment. big hubs worldwide have upto 6 runways.

the L1 least cost approach will be a disaster for BIAL.

with land only for 2 runways, beyond 50 mil its better that Hosur airport be developed as the 2nd airport for the greater blr region. people from TN krishnagiri/ambur side will also benefit.

local politicians will oppose it saying all the money will go to TN. they will instead try to suggest an airport in the west on mysore road where there is no free land available to pocket profits from the realty boom.

TN should just go ahead and offer Hosur as a gateway airport to south Blr.

BIAL should acquire land in the north side if possible for 3rd runway. south side is a higher plateau area where a huge SEZ with road grid is now open

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kempe ... 77.7065928

BIAL with ~4,500 acres of land and minimum 2 independent parallel runways can easily be scaled up to 80+ million annual traffic, although the original planners couldn't really foresee that kind of demand in what was essentially an aviation blackwater of a country in late 1990s.

It would be less efficient operationally and commercially to split the traffic across 2 airports in the Indian context at 40-50mil traffic.

[Singha]

the top 6 airports score 2/3 of traffic @ 200 mil while rest of pack add another 100 mil

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... er_traffic

problem with 2 runways @ 50+ mil will be hitting limit of takeoff and landing slots in the peak periods of morning and evening, leading to less convenient times.

still given that hosur apt is only a small land parcel, we have no option but to keep going with BIAL upto 80-100 mil levels.

east and south of blr is TN
west is densely populated mysore road
only NW tumkur road and north of BIAL toward AP border offer sparser tracts for a peking type airport with 4 runways

the eventual huge new airport (HNA) will need minimum 4 runways and be located north of BIAL imo.

[chetak]

Few pilots I have interacted with spoke about lack of Cat 2 and Cat 3 being a hindrance for BIAL , They would rather have this first than any other thing there. Again this is just an informal conversation with them cant really confirm

sirji,

why would any pilot bother about Cat 2 and Cat 3??

They get paid, whether they take off or not.

OTOH, the airline management would worry a lot about Cat 2 and Cat 3.

[chetak]

the top 6 airports score 2/3 of traffic @ 200 mil while rest of pack add another 100 mil

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... er_traffic

problem with 2 runways @ 50+ mil will be hitting limit of takeoff and landing slots in the peak periods of morning and evening, leading to less convenient times.

still given that hosur apt is only a small land parcel, we have no option but to keep going with BIAL upto 80-100 mil levels.

east and south of blr is TN
west is densely populated mysore road
only NW tumkur road and north of BIAL toward AP border offer sparser tracts for a peking type airport with 4 runways

the eventual huge new airport (HNA) will need minimum 4 runways and be located north of BIAL imo.

guess which humbling farming, père et fils own an obscene amount of land in these areas and things are proceeding just according to plan??

[Austin]

It is not just about their pay in low viability condition they would want to have that facility at the airport.

[Singha]

in a few years the individual ILS systems for each end of each runway could get replaced by GBAS systems that are maturing fast though not yet in service @ cat3 level

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local-are ... ion_system

One of the primary benefits of LAAS is that a single installation at a major airport can be used for multiple precision approaches within the local area. For example, if Chicago O'Hare has twelve runway ends, each with a separate ILS, all twelve ILS facilities can be replaced with a single LAAS system. This represents a significant cost savings in maintenance and upkeep of the existing ILS equipment.

[JayS]

Min of Civil Aviation realeased Vision 2040 document. Some ultra ambitious goals like 70% local assy of all airliner and even some exports.

Most interesting of all is possibility of our own leasing industry. We have had discussions on this part here.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... ma-455019/

[Neshant]

Min of Civil Aviation realeased Vision 2040 document. Some ultra ambitious goals like 70% local assy of all airliner and even some exports.

Most interesting of all is possibility of our own leasing industry. We have had discussions on this part here.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... ma-455019/

If it's anything like the way military aviation purchases have been incompetently negotiated, the country is set to hemorrhage forex like a river.

[Austin]

If they consolidate the purchase into one type lets say Airbus then they can negotiate for local assembly or CKD types plants here in India to deliver to AI and private player but if they split the deal and each goes its own way then there wont be much number or incentive for Boeing or Airbus to do local assembly here. They need numbers in 1K plus to make it viable long term. They can start with Narrow Body type A320/321 would be good to aim at.

[Austin]

OPINION: New Delhi's 'Lease in India' delusion

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... on-455056/

[JayS]

I am yet to read the actual report but from the pointers seen in news reports, the entire report looks delusional to me rather than being realistic.

[hnair]

OPINION: New Delhi's 'Lease in India' delusion

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... on-455056/

Another NYT type article with definitive judgements on what India’s prospects are - “injun can’t make it”

The report lacks any analysis of the global air finance market, and solid, workable suggestions for how India could gain a seat at the table against the likes of Singapore, Ireland, Hong Kong and China.

forget any high tables, India won’t even get a seat in a table of such stalwarts

The Modi administration’s ‘Make in India’ policy sounds great in theory, and ‘Lease in India’ also has a nice ring to it. But from this point, it looks nearly impossible to achieve over the next two decades

There you go - India, a country with monthly space launches and nuke subs on deterrent patrol can’t do this thing over next TWO DECADES

Now, which scaredy poo loses the most if India does this leasing ecosystem and made this bugger write this piece?

[hnair]

JayS, looks like this is driven by someone in the industry as well as financial sector

[Supratik]

We need to start working on our own passenger aircrafts like Cheen.

[Austin]

IndiGo, GoAir restricted from operating P&W engines-powered A320 neo planes

https://www.theweek.in/news/biz-tech/20 ... nes.html[b]

In a communication, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said restriction has been "imposed on flight operations to Port Blair with A320 Neo aircraft".[/b]

[Austin]

Sukhoi Superjet 100: on-ground and flight tests – first person view

[jaysimha]

GLOBAL AVIATION SUMMIT & KUMBH MELA 2019 reports
15 – 16 January 2019 | The Grand Hyatt, Mumbai
https://www.globalaviationsummit.in/reports

[Austin]

One more time with PW1100G-JM engines and NEO.........Looks like they are testing DGCA nerves

IndiGo Plane Engine Stalled Mid-Air, Flew Back To Lucknow

[sum]

Are they waiting for an actual crash before some action is taken?

[Austin]

DGCA is giving P&W and Indigo time to rectify the issue , they are rechecking some engine component after every flight and rejigging maintenance procedure. So far So good. DGCA has stopped long distance flight i.e port blair with the new NEO with P&W engine

But this issue has happened multiple times and they have huge fleet with P&W engines.

What if one engine failure causes flame out or the vibration issues causes some kind of secondary explosion in engine and wings carrying fuel gets impacted ?
What if God forbid both engines fail

So far nothing of this sort has happened but if this continues DGCA will ground all the NEO P&W engine fleet

[chola]

^^^ What the hell is wrong with P&W? If I were them, I would put every resource into fixing this. This is a top three aviation market. If something actually happens and lives are lost, they will lose the market for a generation if not more.

[JayS]

JayS, looks like this is driven by someone in the industry as well as financial sector

Yep FICCI and KPMG.

Good news from the report is a SPV is soon to be established for National Civil Aviation Development program with initial investment of $1.4B. Previously when NCAD started in 2012, it was stymied of any funds and silently buried after about 3yrs of work the team did which was hired for NCAD specifically. Hope this time around it will be a different story.

The National Civil Aviation Policy NCAP 2016 will form the base for upcoming things I think. Should be an interesting document to study.

[Austin]

Bangalore puts technology at the core of growth strategy

http://www.janesairport360.com/article/ ... Yg.twitter

[Singha]

ibnlive

India probably retained the tag of the fastest-growing aviation market in 2018 as well, as the country added almost 22 million domestic fliers to take the total number of people in the skies last year at 138.97 million (117.16 million). That’s a jump of 18.6%, as per latest data by India’s aviation regulator, DGCA.

In fact, the growth in domestic aviation was a robust 18.86% between April-March 2017-18 and 21.77% in the same 12 months of 2016-17. It is evident that the Indian market has been witnessing unprecedented growth since at least 2016, but the same cannot be said of its airlines and their profitability. Booming passenger numbers have not been converted into profits by India’s airlines.


Any correlation between high passenger growth bringing in profits has been negated, as a high-cost and intensely competitive environment meant almost all domestic airlines are finding it tough to make money as fares remain ridiculously low and costs continue to surge. A surge in crude oil prices for much of 2018 hurt airline bottom-lines further and the three listed airlines had posted a combined loss of Rs 2,340 in one quarter (July-September 2018) alone

[Singha]

UID based passenger checkin, security check and boarding to be activated at BLR and HYD followed by others

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/in ... 639932.cms

also the mmw whole body scanner trials are done, BARC has certified some variant that is non-harmful radiation and will start rolling out soon.

https://www.thequint.com/news/india/all ... -from-2019

As per the report, full transmission scanners did not get clearance from India's Atomic Energy Regulatory Board due to harmful radiation, unlike the safer active and passive millimeter-wave body scanners.

A spokesperson for the Airports Authority of India spokesman told TOI that “all airport operators shall strive to install full body scanners conforming to (BCAS) standards/specifications.”

Spokespersons of Bangaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad airports said they will take action as soon as the rules are out.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cit ... 518005.cms

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/ai ... id/1671542

The manufacturer was recently asked to change the specifications after flyers, especially women, raised privacy and cultural issues during the trial run last year,” a home ministry official told The Telegraph on Tuesday on the sidelines of a two-day international seminar on aviation security organised by the Central Industrial Security Force in Delhi. The CISF guards the majority of the country’s airports.

“The new machines are configured to project only a generic stick figure image and show an outline of the passenger’s body on the screen, rather than an image of the passenger’s body,” the official said.
................
During the trial run last year the full-body scanners had raised false alarms whenever women wearing saris passed through them, fooled by the dress’s multiple pleats.

Passengers had also objected to the removal of all metal objects such as belts and watches — even mangalsutras — before being subjected to the scan.

The machines had also failed to detect the 56 capsules of heroine that a drug trafficker from Afghanistan had gulped down. After completing the security check he had boarded the flight when he fell unconscious and was offloaded. Later he complained of severe abdominal pain and dizziness and was rushed to AIIMS, where the concealed capsules were detected in an USG test.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/De ... 014366.ece

not foolproof feels CISF

[manish]

The machines had also failed to detect the 56 capsules of heroine that a drug trafficker from Afghanistan had gulped down. After completing the security check he had boarded the flight when he fell unconscious and was offloaded. Later he complained of severe abdominal pain and dizziness and was rushed to AIIMS, where the concealed capsules were detected in an USG test.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/De ... 014366.ece

not foolproof feels CISF

The airport security checks are all designed with a single purpose - aircraft security. Prevention of smuggling etc are merely unintended benefits. From that perspective, can't really fault the machines. CISF is not responsible for catching smugglers, hawala couriers etc.

As long as all known weapons, ammunition and explosives are caught, things are fine.

[Singha]

twice in past week, gold smugglers caught in BIAL with large capsules inserted where the sun does not shine.

https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/3 ... ctum-95090