Civil Aviation Development & Discussion

ManjaM · Post by **ManjaM** » 13 Jun 2012 22:07

Kannan Saar, you have your transport or CPL? Now(April, 2012 onwards), DGCA is asking for a skills test in India. That might have something to do with the confusion?

Kannan · Post by **Kannan** » 15 Jun 2012 02:17

ManjaM wrote:Kannan Saar, you have your transport or CPL? Now(April, 2012 onwards), DGCA is asking for a skills test in India. That might have something to do with the confusion?

No sir not a transport though I wish

India does not have any agreement with the FAA so FAA holders have always had to take all the written and practical tests to get a DGCA certificate. There was no point to me taking five written tests if I couldn't find an instructor certified to give me the practical tests, so I gave up - this was maybe in 2009.

http://forums.jetcareers.com/threads/fa ... on.114563/

As that thread points out, all I needed to do was make some money go around

No big deal, I'm settled into a career as a chemist now, but man, being paid a decent salary to fly would be a dream job. If Air India opened its pocketbook now, there are easily a few hundred people with thousands of hours in wide body ahead of me in line, no point. Nevertheless, Air India should have zero problem finding expat pilots.

I appreciate the note though, I didn't notice they changed the rules for everyone now.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Jun 2012 19:41

this article says that while Delhi and Hyd are running 1000cr losses per annum and loading users with fees to survive, the plain jane BIAL is making profits of 150 cr / annum due to its minimal style and strong growth in business traffic

http://www.businessworld.in/businesswor ... ?print=yes

unlike the other two private airports (Delhi and Mumbai), BIAL gives only 4 per cent of its topline to AAI whereas Mumbai and Delhi give a substantial part of their revenues. This is due to the Bangalore airport being a greenfield facility where all the initial investment was done by the promoters. At Delhi and Mumbai, the assets have been given on lease to private developers.

There are other reasons why facilities such as Hyderabad have lagged behind. The Telangana issue has taken a toll on business and business travel to Andhra Pradesh, harming the airport’s interests. Then again, Hyderabad sees a much larger volume of one-time fliers whereas Bangalore, being an information technolgy hub, has many more frequent fliers.

The traffic profile at the two cities also varies with the average flier in Bangalore willing to spend a lot more at the airport than the one at Hyderabad. The passenger volume in the two cities is also quite at variance with that at Bangalore at around 13 million last year while Hyderabad’s traffic stood at somewhere between 7.5-8 million.

hnair · Post by **hnair** » 15 Jun 2012 21:44

I always was a huge fan of the new BLR airport - no nonsense architecture and quite functional like a oiro-khan airport. Everything from airport connectivity to check-in to security is pretty usable. They did not waste time in making traffic flyovers for incoming/outgoing at terminal entrance or put up massive bronze hands showing the freudian finger at you etc. You use the airport and get out asap.

Am glad they are doing well. It is a great model to follow everywhere, IMO.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Jun 2012 21:48

but even delhi T1 has traffic flyover *whine* we want shakinah *whine*

hnair · Post by **hnair** » 15 Jun 2012 21:55

A few piers/concourses to fan out and add more aerobridges. Shakinat-e-bliss will be achieved along with great utility.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 15 Jun 2012 22:05

Acharya wrote:Indians are deeply status conscious — the country’s ancient caste system includes thousands of categories — so the battle within the pilot ranks at Air India is no small matter to them.

They have no clue on the Indian social scene.
This is social engineering and a new one.

I agree it has nothing to do with status and everything to do with seniority and pay.

Still the point is correct. AI is unviable just for the amount of free stuff it gives away to ex-pilots and employees. Should be privatized or shut down pronto.

Dileep · Post by **Dileep** » 16 Jun 2012 11:21

The only private airport that seems to be doing rather well is the Bangalore International Airport (BIAL), which was initially considered the ugly duckling among private airports.

Hello!! Don't forget the very first private airport, CIAL. They made close to 100Cr profit last FY, without any user fees. They are doing very well, and currently in big expansion mode.

ManjaM · Post by **ManjaM** » 25 Jun 2012 07:50

Gents, any update on the NAL Regional Transport Aircraft? Nothing in the news, the NAL website or frequent gupshup forums on the webz. Any inside info on specs, price, any orders etc?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Jun 2012 09:17

I am not sure the money is sanctioned, or that any of the numerous alliances with global vendors needed are even in talks stage. the way we trickle fund things dont expect from much from it.

ManjaM · Post by **ManjaM** » 25 Jun 2012 15:59

Sigh.. Sri Madhavan Nair was heading that earlier, before he got caught up in the middle of the Antrix-Devas fracas. I guess if at all the RTA is being worked, it is in extreme secrecy

On another note, The Mahindra - Gipps Aero site talks about product line expansion in 2012, so I wonder if the Mahindra-CSIR-NAL NM5 is expected to join Mahindras product range in 2012.

neerajb · Post by **neerajb** » 26 Jun 2012 11:54

And the tamasha continues....

Air India pilots on 48-hour hunger strike

Cheers....

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 26 Jun 2012 14:07

vikrant wrote:And the tamasha continues....

Air India pilots on 48-hour hunger strike

Cheers....

Cabin crew will serve fresh lime juice and other nourishing liquid refreshments during the hunger strike as per laid down AI procedures. Cheers, hic!

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 28 Jun 2012 07:12

Poor little delicate darlings, do they really expect the traveling public to give a rats a$$?

A few hours of "hunger strike" and kidneys have started to "fail"

Are then these delicate darlings, really fit to fly??

The medical certificate industry will continue to thrive.

Several Air India pilots on hunger strike taken ill

An IPG statement issued on Wednesday said Capt Manish Choudhry, Capt Yashima Singh and Capt Tejveer Singh were diagnosed with critically low blood glucose levels that can cause hypoglycaemic shock resulting in brain damage.

Capt Hari Shankar was diagnosed with critically high ketone levels indicating partial kidney failure. If left untreated, it can cause permanent kidney damage. His blood pressure is fluctuating, too, indicating unstable vital parameters.

...........

Air India's response, too, shocked pilots. The airline's deputy chief medical officer went to the hunger strike venue at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. "On the instructions of Vineeta Bhandari, AI executive director industrial relations, the airline doctor medically examined only those pilots who have not been terminated. So, for Bhandari, the terminated pilots who are on hunger strike may be left to die," said the IPG statement.

"Perhaps, the fact that Bhandari was an employee of erstwhile Indian Airlines explains her lack of compassion towards the pilots belonging to the erstwhile Air India," the statement said.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 28 Jun 2012 07:20

'Average domestic air fares in India lower than other nations'

Average domestic air fares in India have been found to be lower than some major world aviation markets, including US and Britain, according to a study based on IATA data.

The finding has come in the backdrop of aviation regulator DGCA asking Indian carriers to make ticket prices more rational and reasonable following recent outcry over a major fare hike on various domestic sectors.

A comparison of average domestic fares prevailing in some countries for air travel above 2,000 km showed that those in China were higher than in India by 87 per cent, those in Australia by 182 per cent, in Canada by 162 per cent and in the US by 119 per cent.

Industry sources said while it was evident that Indian domestic fares were the lowest among the major domestic aviation markets, there was a "complete mismatch" between the fares and costs of operation in India.

They said the operating costs in India were much higher than these countries due to high taxation on jet fuel, rupee depreciation and airport charges, which were contributing to significant losses for the Indian carriers.

However, due to the recent hike in airfares, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation last week directed domestic carriers to have a "relook at route-wise fares and make them rational and reasonable".

member_23626 · Post by **member_23626** » 28 Jun 2012 09:27

chetak wrote:Poor little delicate darlings, do they really expect the traveling public to give a rats a$$?

A few hours of "hunger strike" and kidneys have started to "fail"

Are then these delicate darlings, really fit to fly??

The medical certificate industry will continue to thrive.

Several Air India pilots on hunger strike taken ill

An IPG statement issued on Wednesday said Capt Manish Choudhry, Capt Yashima Singh and Capt Tejveer Singh were diagnosed with critically low blood glucose levels that can cause hypoglycaemic shock resulting in brain damage.

Capt Hari Shankar was diagnosed with critically high ketone levels indicating partial kidney failure. If left untreated, it can cause permanent kidney damage. His blood pressure is fluctuating, too, indicating unstable vital parameters.

...........

Air India's response, too, shocked pilots. The airline's deputy chief medical officer went to the hunger strike venue at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. "On the instructions of Vineeta Bhandari, AI executive director industrial relations, the airline doctor medically examined only those pilots who have not been terminated. So, for Bhandari, the terminated pilots who are on hunger strike may be left to die," said the IPG statement.

"Perhaps, the fact that Bhandari was an employee of erstwhile Indian Airlines explains her lack of compassion towards the pilots belonging to the erstwhile Air India," the statement said.

If it was china or even US , everyone would have eaten bullets for their hunger nautanki that too from the other opening

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 01 Jul 2012 08:46

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.......

Paying passengers inconvenienced once again.

Why was mama not flown as cargo??

Airline captains or creeps??

Any other country and this would have earned an automatic and very long jail sentence.

No seat for ‘ailing’ mom, Air India pilot flies her in cockpit of Pune-Delhi flight

He had made an advance request for a seat — on a “staff on leave” (SOL) free ticket entitlement — on the morning flight he was operating on April 9, sources said.

The airline’s rules state that an SOL passage, which is transferable to a staff’s family, is subject to the availability of a seat.

When his mother reached the airport, the pilot was told that there was no possibility of fulfilling the request because the flight was full and, in fact, a passenger had to be put on a Jet Airways flight departing around the same time, the sources said.

“When the pilot insisted on taking his mother on board, the operations and commercial departments were informed.

The pilot threatened that he would not fly without his mother,” a senior airport official said.

ManjaM · Post by **ManjaM** » 02 Jul 2012 17:08

Chetak saar, isnt the captain allowed to take a staff on the jump seat? I qonder if the staff priviledge is available to moms too.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 06 Jul 2012 15:22

IBNLIVE:
Kingfisher at present has only 15 aircraft flying, including eight ATRs, while 15 of its aircraft are grounded due to non-availability of spares on account of fund crunch.

Its lessors have reportedly taken back as many as 34 aircraft after the company allegedly defaulted on the rentals amounting to around Rs 1,000 crore.

neerajb · Post by **neerajb** » 09 Jul 2012 13:17

Air India plane makes emergency landing in Pakistan

NEW DELHI: An Air India Airbus A-319 made an emergency landing at Pakistan's Nawab Shah airport in Sindh province while flying from Abu Dhabi to New Delhi.

The A-319, operating as Flight AI 940, with over 120 passengers on board, made an emergency landing around 3 am (IST) after the aircraft developed a technical snag. Passengers spent the night inside the airport terminal building.

The commander decided to make the unscheduled stop in Pakistan after suspecting hydraulic failure in the Airbus, which was an endemic problem in its old generation A-320s.

All the three hydraulic systems are learnt to have failed on this aircraft. Luckily the plane landed safely and all the 122 passengers and 6 crew members are learnt to be unhurt.

"We are sending a relief aircraft to bring back the passengers to Delhi. A technical team is also being sent to Pakistan to assess the aircraft and bring it back to Delhi as a ferry flight," said AI spokesman GP Rao.

The A-319, operating as AI 940 on the Abu Dhabi-Delhi sector, left Gulf at about 5 am and made the emergency landing at 5.45am (all local timings), said Rao. There is no clarity on whether the passengers spent the night inside the aircraft or were allowed to go to the terminal building.

The DGCA is probing the incident.

AI officials told TOI that the Air India flight is expected to reach Delhi around 4 pm.

The officials said that the rescue flight took off from New Delhi around 11.30 am. "The flying time from Delhi to Sindh is 1.5 hours so we are expecting the flight to return with the stranded passengers by 4 pm. The aircraft is also carrying a team of engineers who will inspect the other aircraft to see what went wrong with it," said an official.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 766088.cms

neerajb · Post by **neerajb** » 10 Jul 2012 14:04

Air India flight makes emergency landing at Pak airport, returns

A Delhi-bound Air India flight from Abu Dhabi with 128 people on board made an emergency landing at a Pakistani airport when pilots detected warning lights on the cockpit panel indicating hydraulic failure. It later turned out to be a "false alarm" after Air India engineers flown by a special flight to Nawabshah airport in southern Sindh province found nothing wrong with the hydraulic system. The problem was with the emergency indicator lights in the cockpit panel.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed ... 85840.aspx

Cheers....

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 10 Jul 2012 15:39

Is it common for indicator lights to give false alarm esp for such an important component ???

rgsrini · Post by **rgsrini** » 10 Jul 2012 22:51

^^Krishnan,
I am not trying to be a smart a.ss. If it is common, then we would have seen a lot more emergency landings similar to this. Overtime, the pilots would have also grown a thick skin (if it is common) and would not have panicked. I believe it is quite abnormal.

sanjaykumar · Post by **sanjaykumar** » 11 Jul 2012 09:07

More interestingly, Air India apparently did not let Paki engineers anywhere near that flight.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 12 Jul 2012 23:35

Gujarat shortlists Ventura Aviation, Deccan Charters and Meher Air Service for intra-state aviation service.

Gujarat government has shortlisted three companies to provide offshore and onshore civil and cargo aviation service within the state. These include Ventura Aviation, Deccan Charters and Meher Air Service. The government will now decide on allotment of routes to these companies.

"Earlier, nine companies had expressed interest in the project; six for onshore and three for offshore connectivity. Of these six companies that complied with the technical criteria, three have been finalised to offer service," Saurabh Patel, minister of state for industry, told ET.

Ventura and Deccan are selected for onshore service, while Meher will provide offshore (amphibious sea-planes) service. The move is expected to boost trade and tourism in Gujarat. It will also provide better connectivity to the visiting NRIs. The state government will handhold these companies for three years by providing tax incentives and viability gap funding.

"Gujarat Airways, Deccan Airlines, Spicejet, Dwarkadheesh and Kingfisher had explored the possibilities of regional connectivity in the 1990s. But they wound up their operations in a few months for want of traffic. Moreover, there were other issues like taxation and regulation. From the past experience, the government insisted this time for 9-19 seater aircraft," Captain Ajay Sharma, director of Civil Aviation in Gujarat told ET.

Madhya Pradesh was the first state to start regional aviation service. However, its model is based on seat-sharing agreement with the government, while the Gujarat model is based on distance. The state Civil Aviation department had conducted a study and found that these operations will be feasible. It is working on a strategy to ensure long term sustainability of the service.

The department has also identified 5 circuits and 11 airstrips across the state for offshore and onshore service. The circuits include Ahmedabad-Surat-Bhavnagar, Bhuj-Rajkot-Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad-Porbandar-Jamnagar, Kandla-Mandvi-Amreli-Ahmedabad and Ahmedabad-Keshod-Diu. The airstrips include Ambaji, Palitana, Ankleshwar, Dwarka, Mandvi (Kutch), Morbi, Rajkot, Parsoli, Rajpipla, Dholavira and Dahej.

All these routes are within 50-190 nautical miles of each other. According to government data, the air cargo traffic grew 19% in fiscal 2011-12 compared to the growth of 10% in shipping and 9% in railways. The state government is also encouraging the private sector to build tourist infrastructure near airports.

These include transport services from airports to nearby cities, golf courses, amusement parks, business centres, duty free shopping complexes of international class, aviation recreation activities, adventure aviation, hang-gliding, micro light aircraft and parachuting. The Gujarat government had floated Gujarat State Aviation Infrastructure Company Limited (GUJSAIL) to facilitate infrastructure requirement of the airlines.

Most of the future greenfield airport projects within the state will be developed as a joint venture company, which would become a subsidiary of GUJSAIL under Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework. In May last year, the government had slashed the Value Added Tax on ATF from 30% to 4% for non-scheduled flights, bringing parity with VAT on ATF for scheduled flights.

Earlier, Deccan Charters of Deccan Airways fame Captian Gopinath was to start intra-state service but had to shelve the plan as it could not get approval from Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the regulatory body for the aviation sector in the country. Now the state government has come out with a bidding process and a policy.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 22 Jul 2012 13:25

IndiGo alleges tinkering with policy to help select airlines .

sum · Post by **sum** » 22 Jul 2012 18:43

sanjaykumar wrote:More interestingly, Air India apparently did not let Paki engineers anywhere near that flight.

The on-board cameras on the aircraft were being used for some snooping when flying over TSP?

rohitvats · Post by **rohitvats** » 22 Jul 2012 22:52

^^^Most of the flight paths are allotted in a way so that civil airlines do not overfly any sensitive areas...so, unless a plane is carrying a really powerful sideways looking SAR, I don't think the above is possible. One of the reasons given for downing the Korean Airlines by USSR was that it was too way off the route...and this deviation from route was said to be because Korean Airline was on a spying mission and deviation was intentional.

Dileep · Post by **Dileep** » 23 Jul 2012 12:24

What are you going to see with an airliner's camera that Google Earth don't show already?

sum · Post by **sum** » 23 Jul 2012 12:28

^^ True....Thats the only reason i could think of about why AI wouldn't allow TSP folks near the aircraft since it is just a normal civilian B-737 or A-330 with nothing to hide.

Cant think of any other credible reason.

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 23 Jul 2012 13:54

they were paki's, wasnt that enough reason not to allow them near the A/C

neerajb · Post by **neerajb** » 23 Jul 2012 14:20

It was A319 with 128 pax.

Cheers....

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 23 Jul 2012 18:29

pakis would like have tried to steal anything not nailed down (even safety critical items) and sell them on black market to local airlines.

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 23 Jul 2012 19:01

And don't forget they could have tried to put something in the Aircraft in the hope some of thier contacts in Indian airporyts could pick up, why give an opportunity?

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 23 Jul 2012 20:15

most likely it was more mundane concerns like alcohol, cutlery, linen and such stuff getting stolen.

Suppiah · Post by **Suppiah** » 23 Jul 2012 20:24

Would have faced tough competition from our unionised AI staff though..

Kannan · Post by **Kannan** » 24 Jul 2012 10:09

sum wrote:^^ True....Thats the only reason i could think of about why AI wouldn't allow TSP folks near the aircraft since it is just a normal civilian B-737 or A-330 with nothing to hide.

Cant think of any other credible reason.

Most airlines won't let a non network or outsourced provider touch the plane. You need very specific manuals to do most operations. I never get why BR loves crazy conspiracy theories in the absence of an understanding of common truths

It would also be incredibly dumb to use a civilian plane to spy on an overflight.

Dileep · Post by **Dileep** » 28 Jul 2012 15:59

Kochi could be supersonic hub: expert

Kochi could cash in on the opportunity to become the supersonic capital of the world in future, argues an eminent academic in aerospace

The game changer in civil aviation will be the inevitable advent of liquid hydrogen-fuelled supersonic airliners.

Kochi, by way of its geographical position, could cash in on the opportunity to become the supersonic capital of the world in future, argues an eminent academic in aerospace.

Thrissur-born Narayanan Komerath, professor at the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering under the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta who has three US patents and over 250 publications to his credit, believes that eastern hemisphere demographics, economics, energy and carbon issues have titled the future of aviation heavily in favour of supersonic airliners, but hydrocarbon-fuelled supersonic flight is no doubt unviable.

The next frontier

“It is the next frontier as everything else is saturated,” Mr. Komerath told The Hindu during an interaction.

He was in the city on Thursday to endorse Cochin International Airport (CIAL) as the future supersonic junction at the Sree Narayana Gurukulam College of Engineering, Kolencherry.

Mr. Komerath maintains that the successful migration of commercial aviation to point-to-point architecture has brought about the need for faster air travel in a cost-effective, eco-friendly way.

The skyrocketing price of jet fuel coupled with the urgent need to cut down hydrocarbon emissions indicates that the recourse is to embrace liquid hydrogen-fuelled supersonic aviation, which is economical, efficient and green.

“The issue of sonic boom [deafening noise caused by supersonic flight that led governments to ban supersonic flights over populated areas] can be addressed by restricting the speeds in the range of mach 1.2 to 1.6. Studies have indicated that the use of liquid hydrogen as fuel would reduce the weight of the aircraft, reduce the drag and the sonic boom drastically, while cutting the flight time by 40 percent…. Once the aviation sector is brought into the ambit of the Kyoto Protocol which is imminent, air transportation industry will have to cut CO2 emissions by 50 percent. This makes immense sense to switch over to liquid hydrogen; and mass production of hydrogen fuel for the automobile industry [futuristic hybrid cars and the like] can make it the cheapest,” says Mr. Komerath.

He thinks that the need of the hour is for research and development institutions in India to take up projects on this ultra-modern green technology.

Kochi well-poised

There should be work on the development of technologies for liquid hydrogen infrastructure; production of hydrogen from solar and bio sources that are abundant in the country; and creation of ground infrastructure such as handling facilities at airports and feeder requirements.

“It could be a watershed for Kochi, which is well-poised for the role. And once we have created a market with supporting infrastructure, global airline majors will make a beeline for the city,” he concludes.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 28 Jul 2012 17:42

Singha wrote:pakis would like have tried to steal anything not nailed down (even safety critical items) and sell them on black market to local airlines.

PIA does not operate A319's but a private paki operator Airblue does.

There would have been license issues for the engineers to clear an Indian registered airbus.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 28 Jul 2012 17:47

Singha wrote:most likely it was more mundane concerns like alcohol, cutlery, linen and such stuff getting stolen.

The AI crew would have freely given the alcohol if simply asked.

No one would have grudged such minor stuff.

The pakis were after all in their best CBM mode and looking to make a PR success of the entire operation.