Topics

31

Aviation News / 2nd Concorde powered up

« on: September 06, 2011, 12:15:29 pm »

Following on from last years work by the French "Olympus 593" group to conduct engine runs of F-BTSD at Le Bourget, the UK's Heritage Concorde has released details of their "Project Flagship" to breath life back into G-BOAC at Manchester.

http://heritageconcorde.com/?page_id=10055

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32

Irish Air Corps / AW139 ops suspended

« on: August 25, 2011, 08:46:34 pm »

Story from RTÉ, 25th August 2011

The Air Corps has temporarily suspended operations of its six Agusta Westland 139 helicopters.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0825/aircorps.html

Outside of the Air Corps, the 139 is proving to be slightly problematic around the back end.

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33

European Air Shows / MAKS 2011

« on: August 18, 2011, 09:33:40 am »

For those who are interested, Russia Today (RT) are carrying coverage of MAKS 2011 on their free to air TV service avilable on the Astra satellite plaform (the same one that the Sky services are on) and also on their website

http://rt.com/on-air/maks-2011-air-show/

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34

Aviation Waffle / Attempt to recover RAF WWII Spitfire from Donegal bog

« on: June 28, 2011, 09:13:30 am »

From the BBC. Some background to the history of the pilot.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13924720

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35

Aviation News / Ex EI A330 (EI-DUB), clips fence when landing

« on: June 08, 2011, 01:25:42 pm »

From AVHerald, Vladivostok A330 VQ-BEU, ex EI Flagship EI-DUB (St. Patrick), involved in a minor incident while landing.

http://www.avherald.com/h?article=43dbd86f&opt=0

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36

Aviation News / USN: Pilots do €500,000 damage to HM-60R

« on: May 19, 2011, 02:55:21 pm »

Story from KTLA back in December 2010.

Navy personnel did more than a half million dollars' damage to their helicopters while trying to shoot photos for their Facebook page over Lake Tahoe, military investigators revealed.

By the looks of the video, they were extremely lucky in the end.

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-navy-tahoe-helicopters,0,7163429.story

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37

Aviation News / AW139 throws tail rotor

« on: May 04, 2011, 03:40:23 pm »

Reports on another site, along with pictures, suggest a failure of the tail rotor assembly on an AW139 in the Gulf.

http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/450392-yet-another-aw139-tail-incident-gulf-helis.html

They do seem to be a little temperamental in warmer climates.

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38

Irish Air Corps / Light twin into Bal, 27th Apr

« on: April 27, 2011, 12:33:49 pm »

Saw what appeared to be a light twin, looking suspiciously like a b200 flying into Bal earlier today.

Didn't get a close look but I assume it wasn't 240.

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39

Aviation Waffle / EI-ORD

« on: April 06, 2011, 11:14:15 pm »

If anyone's interested, here's some pics from another site showing Aer Lingus A330-300 EI-ORD with her logos and lettering removed prior to her final flight to Greenwood-Leflore Airport (GWO/KGWO) for scrapping.

http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/EI-ORD.html

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40

Irish Air Corps / Baldonnel Runway "Vandalised"

« on: April 03, 2011, 12:54:44 pm »

RTÉ is reporting that one of the runways has "pock marks".

http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0403/baldonnel.html

Worrying, that if access to the base can be gained, how secure are the aircraft that, are being flown over built up areas?

The UK has witnessed a number of overnight attacks on police air assets while they were hangared or on the ramp.

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41

Aviation Waffle / 162 marks 75 years since first Spitfire flight

« on: March 05, 2011, 04:42:59 pm »

Former Irish Air Corps Spitfire (IAC 162) now the 'Grace Spitfire' has performed a flyby to mark the 75th Anniversary of the first test flight of the type (I'm pretty sure at that stage it was still being planned to be called the Shrew).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-12655848

some history of '162' for those intersted;

http://www.uk-warbirds.net/operators_grace.html

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42

Aviation Waffle / 70 years on; the RAF's "less than finenst hour"?

« on: September 21, 2010, 03:34:22 pm »

From The Register (so all a little tongue in cheek)

The RAF was left eggfaced in recent weeks as its entire force of fighters - nowadays made up of new and horrifyingly expensive Eurofighter "Typhoons" - was grounded following discovery of faults in their ejector seats. The grounding was particularly embarrassing as it came into force on Battle of Britain Day, the 70th anniversary of the RAF fighter force's greatest victory. Fortunately, Blighty was not left completely defenceless: WWII-vintage Spitfire and Hurricane fighters remained operational for flypasts and displays as their expensive successors became hangar queens.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/21/eurofighter_battle_of_britain_debacle/

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43

Aviation Waffle / Air Defence

« on: September 20, 2010, 01:42:24 pm »

I was watching the BBC last night, who were showing a programme with Ewan McGregor and his brother, Colin, who is/was an RAF pilot, recounting the Battle of Britain, meeting surviving plots and flying in a two seater Spitfire (not ex-161 as far as I could gather).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00txy2q

One interesting clip, was a visit to the current RAF command and control centre (can't remember the location mentioned),  showing computerised 'radar' screens displaying tracks for all aircraft flying around Britain and Ireland and all approaches. It appeared as through the RAF were getting radar feeds from the IAA.

Now, personally, I don't have a problem with that, but does anyone know how long that arrangement has been in place?

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44

Aviation Waffle / RTE - "Rescue 117" Airing in September

« on: August 30, 2010, 01:25:58 pm »

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N3GJGy6iz8[/youtube]

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45

Aviation News / PSNI get EC145

« on: August 03, 2010, 04:03:40 pm »

From The Belfast Telegraph, 3rd August 2010

The aircraft, which will use the callsign Police 45, will work in tandem with the PSNI's existing helicopter, an EC 135.

It is a larger version which can carry up to 10 people and has space for two stretcher casualties in emergencies.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/police-unveil-hitech-helicopter-14896926.html#ixzz0vYV4P1nO

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