Civil Aviation Development & Discussion

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 13 Feb 2009 05:33

New but incomplete Vizag terminal to be opened

However, going by past experience, it is doubtful whether the terminal will be fully ready from the day of inauguration, even though the opening has been advanced in view of elections.

For instance, the new runway was commissioned with the night landing facilities and other pre-requisites long ago, but till now there are no night flights. With a three-hour break in the afternoon, flights are being operated only till 7 p.m.

Dileep · Post by **Dileep** » 13 Feb 2009 07:07

In India, everything is owned by the govt, and certain portions are permitted for peoples use. The airspace is no different. IAF owns the airspace, and some portions are permitted for civil use. That element of arrogance exists in everything related to the forces.

Incidentally, the navy owns the airspace in DMA, and I know what all they did when the use of it comes. The last was the (ridiculous) objection to the new airport, about crossing flight paths.

SriniY · Post by **SriniY** » 13 Feb 2009 07:27

I have a question regarding the Air India/ Presidential Helicopter incident. Why does a helicopter need to land anywhere near the runway. Dont airports have a helipad or two just in case. Even if they did not why land on/near the runway

Nayak · Post by **Nayak** » 13 Feb 2009 09:44

Srinagar airport is declared open by Maino-doll, I hope the bumbling babooze keep a tight reign on security and don't allow the repeat of IC 814 episode. I would be happier if a contingent of NSG was also set up near by.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 15 Feb 2009 00:26

So I read that Mahindra is looking to get into aerospace, and is investigating possible acquisition of an Australian aircraft maker for this purpose. Apparently, Mahindra would like to get into manufacturing small aircraft, which they feel they could do at a cost advantage.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/motoringA ... 2120090210

http://www.livemint.com/2009/02/1000012 ... trali.html

Tell me, who are major Indian players in aerospace manufacturing already, and who else is looking to get into aerospace?

What are the market prospects? Which is the best space/niche to target?

Which foreign companies might be good acquisition targets for Indian players to bring in new expertise and technology?

Could Indian manufacturers move beyond serving the local market to becoming an export hub for the developing world, as with small cars?

JaiS · Post by **JaiS** » 21 Feb 2009 02:50

Joint probe into near-miss against global rules

MUMBAI: The Ministry of Civil Aviation’s decision to conduct a joint investigation along with the Indian Air Force (IAF) into the February 9 near-miss incident in Mumbai goes against internationally mandated accident investigation rules and risks compromising the independence of the investigation, safety experts say.

A Ministry spokesperson said the decision to conduct a joint inquiry was to ensure greater accuracy and effectiveness in the process.

“Reconstituting the investigative board along with two interested parties blatantly violates ICAO’s Annex 13,” said air safety expert Capt. A. Ranganathan, who has worked with the DGCA. According to Annex 13, the accident investigation authority – in India, the responsibility lies with the DGCA — “shall have independence in the conduct of the investigation,” implying that any interested parties cannot have any role in the process to ensure impartiality.

V. Krishnan, former Deputy Director of Aerodromes, the AAI and general secretary of the Air Traffic Controllers Guild between 1982 and 1988, said involving the IAF in the process went against normal procedure, especially because the incident took place in a civilian aerodrome.

“It is unprecedented that an interested party is involved in the process,” Mr. Krishnan said. “The IAF can be present as observers, but they cannot be part of the investigation.”

John Snow · Post by **John Snow** » 21 Feb 2009 03:37

What are "AERODROMES" in the age of aiports?

Dileep · Post by **Dileep** » 21 Feb 2009 08:04

British legacy onlee saar, like the legendary amby.

Neela · Post by **Neela** » 21 Feb 2009 14:31

Is anyone aware of the pricing policies of domestic airlines.
Tickets seem to rise and fall in sync across all the domestic players. The government issued a warning for cartel like behaviour to them and I have my suspicions too!

JaiS · Post by **JaiS** » 22 Feb 2009 06:23

Some excerpts from a detailed article about the helicopter incident

CAPTAIN A. RANGANATHAN

The author is an Airline Instructor Pilot on Boeing 737 with a flying experience of 20,000 hrs. He is also a Consultant for Wet Runway Operations Training and Accident Prevention

The Air India aircraft that was involved in the Mumbai incident had the TCAS “ON”. If the Air force helicopter too had the transponders “ON”, the Air India aircraft would have received a “TRAFFIC ALERT”. The major question is: “Why were the VVIP helicopters flying the President of India into a major airport, flying without the transponders ON?” If the transponders were ON, the Approach Control radar would have known the exact position of the aircraft, both in the vertical as well as the horizontal plane. This is a major safety and security lapse.

The first helicopter came in formation up to the three mile point. There after, it appears to have deviated to the left and approached the airport in a bearing of 210 degrees (from the southwest). The aircraft did not follow the laid down procedure of approaching from the east for landing. The time was approaching 09:17 a.m.! A good three minutes ahead of the estimated time given by the team leader. This is very poor navigation considering the total distance of the flight was just 10 miles and an error of three minutes on such a miniscule flight is appalling.

The helicopter could have stopped moving at any point in the sky. Instead, he kept approaching for landing, without contacting the control tower, without obtaining the mandatory landing clearance and without conforming to the procedures.

The real hero of the situation was the man on duty at the control tower. After clearing the Airbus for take-off, it is but natural for the officer’s vision to follow the aircraft until it is safely airborne. He has demonstrated exemplary initiative in observing a helicopter intruding from a direction where it should never have been. The promptness with which the tower controller called for the Airbus to “Stop immediately” is something to be appreciated. The controller called “Stop immediately, I say again Stop immediately,” twice, with a gap of nine seconds. For reasons best known, the captain rejected take off only after a gap of almost 16 seconds from the first call. It was fortunate that he did respond in time, albeit slow.

If the controller had not noticed the intruding aircraft and the captain had taken off, the flight path of the Airbus would have intercepted the helicopter approaching over the runway, almost in front of the terminal building. The resultant crash could have caused a major catastrophe. We had aircrafts parked on the tarmac, full of passengers. The terminal building full of passengers and people working in the airport and airlines. And, in the northwestern end of the airport, we have the HP fuel storage tanks. The impact of the crash could have ended up in any of these areas and the casualty would have been something that one cannot imagine.

The main helicopter with the President on board contacted the tower when just over the runway and landed without obtaining landing clearance. This happened a couple of minutes after the drama that took place earlier.

Nayak · Post by **Nayak** » 22 Feb 2009 20:21

Cricket-Helicopter stops play in Indian cricket match

MUMBAI, Feb 22 (Reuters) - A helicopter stopped play in a domestic cricket game in India after the pilot mistook the pitch for a landing pad, local media reported on Sunday.

Players were forced to abort Saturday's one-day game and scurry for cover when the hapless pilot set the chopper down on the letter 'H' painted in the corner of the cricket ground.

The 'H' stands for the name of the Himachal Pradesh team in the north-west Indian state.

A fire near the stadium also added to the confusion of the pilot, who misinterpreted it for smoke signals, according to the Hindustan Times.

The unscheduled arrival of the helicopter, owned by a private airline, halted play for almost half an hour before the red-faced pilot buzzed off again.

"It landed suddenly. No one knew what was happening," the competing Punjab team manager told the paper after his side won the interrupted game. "There was chaos. Everyone ran for cover."

(Writing by Sanjay Rajan; Editing by Alastair Himmer)

sum · Post by **sum** » 22 Feb 2009 20:22

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 01 Mar 2009 09:37

Aviation's long & winding road - Capt. Ranganathan

While China has progressed to using state of the art aviation technologies like RNP that enable its flights to handle the most difficult terrains with ease and safety, we in India are still using outdated procedures.

Shivani · Post by **Shivani** » 02 Mar 2009 18:59

Sanjay M wrote:So I read that Mahindra is looking to get into aerospace, and is investigating possible acquisition of an Australian aircraft maker for this purpose. Apparently, Mahindra would like to get into manufacturing small aircraft, which they feel they could do at a cost advantage.

It must be the new trend. Vijay Mallya also purchased a small aircraft manufaturer some months ago. Needless to say, there has been no news on that particular "initiative" since. The market for small aircrafts has collapsed in US and worldwide.

Personally I do not like this trend of Indian companies buying their way into the aerospace club. It is a very 'Arab' approach: buy what the elites in west have because you sure do not have the brain capacity to build it yourself.

I would find it admirable if someone spent the money on engineering an aircraft and then manufactured it in India. Something like a Cirrus SR22 should not be too difficult for a regional superpower! If it is, focus on subsytems like Avidyne or Garmin do. Software and system integration is our strength, right?!

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 02 Mar 2009 19:18

well buying up struggling small cos can get useful tech and people if you can retain them.

RonyKJ · Post by **RonyKJ** » 06 Mar 2009 22:24

Saras aircraft crashes

Saras crash near Bangalore

Unfortunately all on board were killed. We don't hear much about the Saras program any more. As far as I know there
are 2 prototypes flying, now one is gone.

Prabhu_K · Post by **Prabhu_K** » 08 Mar 2009 11:18

GMR forms joint-venture for MRO facility in HYDERABAD

http://www.thehindu.com/2009/02/28/stor ... 512000.htm

GHIAL has entered into a joint venture with MAS Aerospace Engineering, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, for setting up the facility.

Being launched with a timeframe of 18 months for the first phase and 24 months for completion, the 25-acre facility would be equipped to service about 60-80 aircraft annually. Besides, GHIAL was in discussions with various other players for offering aviation training, aerospace engineering and high value services, including design at the special economic zone adjacent to the airport.

JaiS · Post by **JaiS** » 10 Mar 2009 05:46

Probe hangs fire even a month after president’s chopper incident

But the civil aviation watchdog is yet to make the probe report public, even as it says that the director general himself, Naseem Zaidi, will investigate the incident.

“We are looking into the matter,” is all Zaidi said, when queried by reporters on the sidelines of an aviation conference here Friday.

The regulator has been on the back foot ever since Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Fali H. Major, defended his pilots who were commanding the entourage of helicopters and put the blame on air traffic controllers (ATC).

“The air force choppers were not at fault and were given clearance to land on the runway by the ATC. The IAF helicopters were not told to change the frequencies and no pilot can change it without being asked to do so,” he had said.

Collision scare: DGCA probe finds fault with IAF pilots

The IAF blamed

IAF pilots flouted the landing rules
The helicopters landed without proper permission from the control tower
The chopper landed before time and was not available on the given frequency
The chopper landed at the end of the runways when the IC 866 was seen approaching from the other end

IAF blamed DGCA

Earlier, the Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major had rejected reports that pilots of the Indian Air Force were responsible for the near miss incident at Mumbai airport.

An Air India jet with 150 onboard nearly collided with VVIP helicopters being used to transport the President and her family

JaiS · Post by **JaiS** » 10 Mar 2009 08:53

Helicopters to get separate corridors for landing

NEW DELHI: After the recent security breach involving helicopters of President Pratibha Devisingh Patil's entourage and a domestic aircraft, the Civil aviation ministry has decided to build separate corridors at airports for helicopter landing in four major cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 10 Mar 2009 21:13

Concerns have grown for three primary reasons. Pilots log twice as many flight hours now as then, while flight attendants typically log more hours than pilots. Epidemiological studies have shown this type of exposure to be more damaging than previously thought. And, the number of polar flights is increasing, Mertens said.

Airlines prefer polar routes – for instance, for certain U.S.-to-northern Europe or U.S.-to-Asia routes – because it's a shorter route with reduced head winds, creating fuel savings of tens of thousands of dollars per flight.

Preliminary research indicates that passengers and crews are being exposed to more radiation than previously thought, especially during significant solar events. Mertens analyzed data from a strong solar storm around Halloween 2003 and found that passengers on polar flights – for example from Chicago to Beijing – were exposed to radiation higher than the limit recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. In addition, not including new features in the model such as magnetic storm effects on Earth's magnetic field underestimated the exposure during that storm by a factor of four.

"People on that flight exceeded their radiation exposure limit, and they don't even know it," Mertens said.

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/featur ... AIRAS.html

Nayak · Post by **Nayak** » 18 Mar 2009 14:38

Airhostess commits suicide in Mumbai

MUMBAI: A tiff over smoking a cigarette between an airhostess and her pilot companion took a tragic turn with the 20-year-old girl allegedly
committing suicide by jumping from a building in a northeast suburb here.

Anupama Acharya, who was working with Jet Airways, allegedly had an argument with her companion in the wee hours after which she jumped from the fifth floor of Dil Darshan apartments in suburban Powai, police said.

"The couple allegedly had an argument which started over her companion, a pilot with Jet Airways, smoking a cigarette. Acharya had become very agitated during the argument and at one point she went out and jumped into the stairwell of the building," a senior police official from the Powai police station said.

Acharya, who had been working with Jet Airways for about a year, was taken to a nearby hospital where she was declared dead on arrival, he said.

The statement of her companion has also been recorded and further investigations are on.

These pilots dudes have a good time boinking all the available air-hostess babettes.

Hitesh · Post by **Hitesh** » 20 Mar 2009 03:10

No way it is a suicide. It was murder. She jumped after the couple had an argument? My BS meter is gravitating wildly on that one.

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 20 Mar 2009 10:50

Doesnt make sense, either the truth is something else, or she is plain dumbass, committing suicide for such issues.

Vasu · Post by **Vasu** » 21 Mar 2009 13:33

Its disappointing to see such insensitivity here. This news didn't even warrant posting here, it has nothing to do with the motive of this thread.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 24 Mar 2009 21:03

Airbus plans manufacturing base in India.

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus Industrie on Tuesday said it plans to have a manufacturing base in India in the next three-four
years following a strong presence in areas such as engineering, research, design and training.

The airplane maker said that it is bullish on the emerging market like India and see a double-digit growth in the region in the long-run.

"We will continue to grow our supply base in India with focus on six key areas which include engineering and design. Airbus currently employs 200 highly-skilled at its design centre in Bangalore. The headcount will double to 400 in the next few years," Airbus executive vice president and head of strategy and future programs Christian Scherer said.

Airbus expects an expenditure of about $ 1 billion in India over the next 10 years provided it gets right partners and right projects. As part of its globalisation plan, the company plans to build up to 20% of aero-structures and 30% of engineering sub- contracting offshore by 2020.

"India will get a large chunk of this business," Mr Scherer said.

Airbus currently has an order book of 347 aircraft from Indian airlines. In spite of the turbulence in the aviation sector, the company has maintained its earlier forecast and said that India would require 992 aircraft till 2026. Out of these nearly 60 would be large-size jets like A380.

Asked if Indian carriers have cancelled orders due to slowdown, Mr Scherer said that a few of Kingfisher Airlines' order for A-340s were shifted to Nigeria. "We are carrying out some adjustments with some customers worldwide, redirecting and rebooking aircraft orders," he added.

manish · Post by **manish** » 24 Mar 2009 22:05

FlightGlobal did a special on the future course of the Civil Aviation biz. The report has a PDF page of an image where they have painted an aggregate picture of the timeline for new ac/engine intros till 2020 or so:

Check out the renderings on the top right corner of the expected the Open Rotor design(expected 2019) and the Next Gen Narrow Body(to replace the 737NG/A320 class, expected 2020) - radical departures from the present designs.
Will be interesting to see how far this will be realised.

Rumours have been floating around for the so called NSR(New Short Range - Airbus) and the Y1(Boeing) but nothing confirmed seems to have come out as yet since they do not want to scare away potential customers of the existing lines.

The below link leads to the PDF.
http://www.flightglobal.com/assets/geta ... emID=28055

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 24 Mar 2009 22:23

imo the next gen will be a porting 787/A350 techs down to 737/A320 family and next-to-next will be
the radical departure. Antonov had some huge ducted turboprop flying iirc. another was using LNG.

something like the sonic cruiser shape could make a comback - mashallah..for the economy class and smaller
"waverider" concepts for 100% buziness class that would travel at trisonic speed at 100,000ft.

manish · Post by **manish** » 24 Mar 2009 22:33

Singha wrote:imo the next gen will be a porting 787/A350 techs down to 737/A320 family and next-to-next will be
the radical departure. Antonov had some huge ducted turboprop flying iirc. another was using LNG.

something like the sonic cruiser shape could make a comback - mashallah..for the economy class and smaller
"waverider" concepts for 100% buziness class that would travel at trisonic speed at 100,000ft.

I think a lot would also depend on the success of new engine initiatives like the Geared Turbofan(GTF) which seem to be the only way to bring in really sizable efficiency gains into airliner designs. Both Airbus and Boeing seem to have pretty much thrown in the towel wrt any further drastic improvements on the aerodynamics front without something vastly superior coming in on the engine front. The propfans may also make a comeback I am told, but I am not knowledgable enough in these matters to weigh one against the other, although GTF as a definite and concrete progress to show the world.

The GTF will debut on the Bombardier CSeries (which I am not too sure will be all that successful, only Lufthansa has signed up as of now) around 2013-4. Let us see.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 24 Mar 2009 22:45

Ivchenko has the Progress D27 engine on AN70 prototype and GE has this engine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_GE-36

inshallah, if mounted on rafted pylons in the rear, cabin noise could be controlled.
said to have superb fuel consumption gains.

RRJ/ATR-72/EMB145 sized a/c could benefit ?

manish · Post by **manish** » 24 Mar 2009 23:10

Singha wrote:Ivchenko has the Progress D27 engine on AN70 prototype and GE has this engine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Electric_GE-36

inshallah, if mounted on rafted pylons in the rear, cabin noise could be controlled.
said to have superb fuel consumption gains.

RRJ/ATR-72/EMB145 sized a/c could benefit ?

Possibilities are said to be huge. The GE engine was reportedly trialled on an MD-8X to test its effectiveness as an engine option for a planned(and later cancelled) MD-9X model. I read somewhere that the sfc figures showed a massive improvement, but at the cost of the noise levels shooting through as you mentioned.

Any further interest probably died along with the sale of MD to Boeing later on.
edit:
Here's the flightglobal article where I had first read about it. Now realised it is linked from the wiki article that you posted above anyways:
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/20 ... pfans.html
It even has an image of the GE-36 on the testbed:

Something unrelated, but I often wondered how the most successful US non-civvie ac models in use today weren't created by their current manufacturers: F-15(M-D), F-16(GD), F-18(Northrop/M-D),B-1(Rockwell).....LM and the Boeing have inherited all of these today and added to the already pre-eminent place in civilian market(where the players like Douglas, Convair, LM all failed once the venerable 707 came out).

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 28 Mar 2009 07:23

I wonder what kind of engine this thing uses:

http://hotelicopter.com/

I think there could actually be a market for something like this in India.
Just make it 5-star...

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 28 Mar 2009 07:52

Since this is out in the open. My source tells me that Kingfisher was about to default on lease payments for 6 aircraft last week.
Mallya meets SBI top brass, seeks credit line for Kingfisher Airlines

Ashwini Phadnis

New Delhi, March 27 Kingfisher Airlines has approached State Bank of India for a credit line to meet its operational needs, sources privy to the development said.

The airline is reported to be seeking a facility in the range of Rs 1,500-3,000 crore. Sources indicate that the Kingfisher Airlines Chairman, Mr Vijay Mallya, met with the top brass of the bank in Mumbai last Tuesday where a presentation on the company’s business plans and credit requirements was made.

The bank is said to be “favourably inclined” to disburse the loan, sources indicated, and added that though the terms of the loan were yet to be worked out, they may not be onerous.

The airline has been facing problems with various vendors over payment of outstanding dues. In January, it had to submit a bank guarantee and provide post-dated cheques to the Airports Authority of India to clear its dues.

The meeting between the bank and the airline comes in the backdrop of Kingfisher, like many others in the industry, facing mounting losses. The airline said that its performance in the current fiscal was affected by a variety of factors, including the initiation cost of international operations and the impact of exchange fluctuation in dollar denominated costs. Besides, lease rental, including payments for aircraft on the ground and interest expenses too hurt its operations, the company had said.

While Kingfisher’s latest financial position is not available, the balance sheet as of March 31, 2008, showed that its current liabilities and provisions exceeded the current assets by Rs 6.9 crore. Its accumulated losses as of March last year amounted to Rs 967.76 crore.

Between 2005-06 and 2007-08, Kingfisher reported a cumulative loss of Rs 1,219.99 crore, the Aviation Minister, Mr Praful Patel, informed Parliament in February. Kingfisher has initiated steps to cut costs by reducing capacity deployed and deferring delivery of aircraft.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 29 Mar 2009 00:03

[quote="Sanjay M"]I wonder what kind of engine this thing uses:

Quote wiki

4× Soloviev D-25VF turboshafts, 4,048 kW (6,500 shp) each

The V-12 features the only two-rotor transverse scheme ever built by Mil, eliminating the need for a tail rotor. The twin engines were taken together with the rotors from the Mil Mi-6 and duplicated on the V-12.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 29 Mar 2009 08:12

Safe Skies: Fatigue, the enemy within

Excerpts

I am very tired. After this flight, I am going to take a week off”. These were the last few words of the captain of Indian Airlines flight from Bombay to Madras (As Mumbai and Chennai were called) on the night of October 12, 1976, just before he began the take off. A few minutes later the aircraft reached a fiery end, killing all on board. The captain had operated an early morning flight from Bombay to Delhi and back on a Boeing 737 aircraft. He was attending to the office work the whole day after arrival from Delhi. Late in the evening, he opted to operate the delayed Caravelle flight to Madras. He had been awake for more than 20 hours. Earlier in the week, he had been flying everyday and attending to office work. He was not tired. He was under extreme fatigue. His wrong actions to contain an on-board fire resulted in the crash.

The incident involving Air India flight on the Dubai-Delhi-Jaipur-Mumbai route last June is a perfect example of this study. The crew had operated to Dubai via various airports, arriving at Dubai around 11.30 p.m. local time. The crew reached their hotel after clearing customs and immigration around 3.30 a.m. This equates to 6 a.m. in India. Their body clock, due to the circadian rhythm, would result in their sleep being curtailed. The crew had their call time around 9.30 p.m. to reach the airport to operate the flight. Both the pilots slept on the last leg, resulting in the aircraft overflying Mumbai by several miles. Fatigue overtook the crew. Did the airline, the pilot or the authorities learn from this? The answer is NO.

On January 8, 2009, the same captain had gone as an additional crew member to Dubai by the night flight from Delhi. He operated AI 690 from Dubai to Pune, departing at 1.35 a.m. and landing at Pune at 4.35 a.m. While landing, the aircraft fouled the arrester barrier at the landing end of the Pune runway. If was fortune, again, that saved another disaster. As it happens in Indian aviation, these are swept under the carpet. Lessons are not learnt or actions taken to prevent a recurrence. The effect of fatigue on aircrew is the least important aspect for our airline owners. This flight could have had a similar ending like the Korean Air 801.

During the last four years, violations of flight and duty time and rest period have been blatant. On March 8, 2006, a private airline flight on the Delhi-Mumbai-Bangalore-Chennai-Kolkata route, reached the destination at 9.30 p.m. The crew had been on duty for 11 hours and had flown for seven hours. The minimum rest that the crew required as per the rules was 16 hours. The pilots reached the hotel at 11.30 p.m. At 4 a.m., the co-pilot was woken up to operate the return flight, leaving Kolkata at 5.30 a.m. He had less than three hours rest as against the mandatory 16! The DGCA waived the rules to accommodate this serious breach of safety. What is shocking is the fact that there were several other instances when such waivers were issued to accommodate airline operators.

An aspect that is often ignored is the fatigue of maintenance crew and Air Traffic controllers. In India, we do not have any duty time limits or rest periods for any category other than pilots. Domestic operators do the maintenance of aircrafts between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., when the circadian rhythm places the body at the lowest level of performance. Complacency is an off shoot of fatigue. Accidents have occurred because of a forgotten or incorrect maintenance action. A few seconds’ error by the ATC can result in a mid-air collision. These are issues that need to be addressed to make the sky safer.

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 29 Mar 2009 08:47

chetak wrote: Quote wiki

4× Soloviev D-25VF turboshafts, 4,048 kW (6,500 shp) each

The V-12 features the only two-rotor transverse scheme ever built by Mil, eliminating the need for a tail rotor. The twin engines were taken together with the rotors from the Mil Mi-6 and duplicated on the V-12.

I don't see why someone wouldn't just make a bigger Chinook-style design.
That to me seems to be the most stable type of configuration.

Perhaps this thing has the laterally-arranged rotors so that it can use wings for lift.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 30 Mar 2009 12:07

Radar shutdown once again at Chennai

Chennai airport is really becoming a dangerous airport where radar shutdowns due either to failure or maintenance have become too frequent. It is really ridiculous to see that the IAAI has not taken any step to upgrade the navigation facilities at such an important airport as Chennai.

Most international airports have stand-by radars for times like this. “But in Chennai, the main radar itself is obsolete,” a pilot told Express, ruling out using a stand-by radar.

putnanja · Post by **putnanja** » 07 Apr 2009 00:46

Poll bonanza awaits Air India

New Delhi, April 6 In less than four weeks Air India (domestic), previously known as Indian, could earn the equivalent of flying 52,000 passengers, or the equivalent of operating 300 Airbus A-320 flights.

This is because the airline will be transporting more than 1.37 million electronic voting machines (EVMs). Besides, indelible ink phials, symbol blocks, paper for printing ballot papers and other election materials too will be airlifted by the airline through the length and breadth of the country.
...
...

Sanjay M · Post by **Sanjay M** » 19 Apr 2009 14:04

Wow, this thing looks impressive!

My understanding is that this thing will soon be operational. Has anybody been there?

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 19 Apr 2009 16:17

Sanjay M wrote:
chetak wrote: Quote wiki

4× Soloviev D-25VF turboshafts, 4,048 kW (6,500 shp) each

The V-12 features the only two-rotor transverse scheme ever built by Mil, eliminating the need for a tail rotor. The twin engines were taken together with the rotors from the Mil Mi-6 and duplicated on the V-12.
I don't see why someone wouldn't just make a bigger Chinook-style design.
That to me seems to be the most stable type of configuration.

Perhaps this thing has the laterally-arranged rotors so that it can use wings for lift.

More details in

Y.Gordon - Mil's Heavylift Helicopters: Mi-6/Mi-10/V-12/Mi-26
Midland | 2005 | ISBN: 1857802063

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 19 Apr 2009 17:15

T3 will be operational in April 2010. It will be an integrated terminal for both domestic and international operations.The newly opened Terminal 1D will be for low cost airlines only.