Aviation News December 24

Ajaccio, Corsica, France, Airport Closed Due to Storm Fabian
Airport authorities were forced to close Ajaccio Airport, France for the entire weekend after heavy rainfalls hit south Corsica. The airport's sole runway has been completely flooded. ... Tropical storm Fabien also hit Bordeaux airport, where winds of 141 km/h forced some flights to divert to Toulouse.
https://www.aerotelegraph.com/en/ajaccio-airport-closed-after-flooding

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London City Airport
Final Approach on Europe's steepest descend on a SWISS Airbus A220
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6ZLrtiO4nU#action=share
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Cessna 408 Sky Courier
Textron Aviation is making progress on the development of its new high-wing, twin-turboprop Cessna SkyCourier 408 and expects the utility airplane to make its first flight in early 2020.  FedEx is the launch customer for the SkyCourier, with 50 firm orders for the airplane and options for 50 more.
https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2019-10-21/textron-plans-skycourier-first-flight-early-2020

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Turkish Airlines Preps Lawsuit Over Boeing 737 MAX Uncertainty
This news comes just days after Irish aircraft lessor Timaero Ireland Ltd filed its own lawsuit against Boeing about the 737 MAX. Are other airlines going to follow?
https://simpleflying.com/turkish-airlines-737-max-lawsuit/

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Which Airline Alliance Offers The Most Global Coverage?
There are three major airline alliances in the world; Star Alliance, Oneworld, and SkyTeam. Star Alliance is the largest of the three in terms of scheduled traffic, accounting for 23% of the total in 2015. This compared with 17.8% and 20.4% for Oneworld and SkyTeam respectively.
https://simpleflying.com/best-alliance-global-coverage/

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Airline Bankruptcies in 2019: A Long List
How They Happen and What Can You Do
Last year was very rough for the aviation industry. Many airlines had gone bust in 2018. However, 2019 doesn’t seem to be better.
Credit cardholders may be privileged in this case
https://www.skycop.com/airline-bankruptcies-how-.they-happen-and-what-can-you-do/

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Air Canada takes delivery of its first A220
Air Canada has taken delivery of its first A220-300, designed, built and delivered from the Mirabel Airbus A220 program facilities in Canada. The first aircraft out of an order of 45 will enter service in January 2020, making Air Canada the first airline to operate the A220-300 in North America.
The Airbus will be unveiled to the public and media during a ceremony at the airline’s headquarters in Montreal on January 15, 2020.
https://www.airbus.com/newsroom/press-releases/en/2019/12/air-canada-takes-delivery-of-its-first-a220.html

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Books by Doris Daily:

TO LIVE IS TO FLY: Memoirs of an Executive Pilot

(English language)

https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/suggestartikel/ID142447093.html

https://www.amazon.de/dp/1988664349

https://books2read.com/u/mKYpGd

TRAUMBERUF PILOT? 

Piloten Ausbildung, Jobsuche und Berufsalltag

(in deutscher Sprache - print und ebook)

https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/artikeldetails/ID81994834.html

https://www.amazon.de/dp/1988664330

https://books2read.com/u/4DoxPr

Aviation News October 2019

Boeing 737 MAX test pilot grappled with simulator flaws, too 
https://reut.rs/31tyi2c
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United Airlines launches a new pilot recruitment program
http://m.atwonline.com/training/united-airlines-launches-new-pilot-recruitment-program
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Southwest pilots sue against Boeing
The US low-cost airline is Boeing's most important 737 Max customer. The airline's pilots are now taking the aircraft manufacturer to court and accusing him of deception.
https://www.aerotelegraph.com/southwest-piloten-klagen-gegen-boeing
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Retirement until 2021: Fedex retires MD-10 and A310 https://www.aerotelegraph.com/handelsstreit-china-amazon-fracht-airline-fedex-schickt-mcdonnel-douglas-dc-10-und-airbus-a310-in-rente
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Consolidation
With Wow Air, Germania, BMI Regional, VLM, XL Airways and most recently Adria Airways and Thomas Cook, an unusually large number of established airlines have had to discontinue their flight operations this year. Other airlines, such as Condor, were only just past bankruptcy thanks to a state transitional loan.
Since capacity has hardly disappeared in absolute terms, it is, therefore, more a question of consolidation in the aviation market at the expense of less efficient airlines than of a real crisis. The real losers are the regional airports.
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La Paz, Bolivia:
Older 737s banned at La Paz after landing incidents
The ban takes effect immediately, on 10 October, and takes into account recommendations following the occurrence of "events", says the Bolivian civil aviation regulator DGAC.
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/older-737s-banned-at-la-paz-after-landing-incidents-461385/
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Southwest Airlines removes Boeing 737 Max from the schedule until February
The Boeing 737 Max has been grounded worldwide since mid-March after the second of two deadly crashes. Over the summer, Southwest had delayed the date of the planes’ expected return until January 5.
The airline has now removed the aircraft from its schedule through February 8.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/southwest-airlines-removes-boeing-737-max-from-schedule-until-february.html
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NEWS IN EUROPE

Flüge nach Djerba betroffen
Condor droht Flugzeug-Pfändung in Tunesien
Ein Hotelier will Flugzeuge von Condor in Ketten legen, um Guthaben bei Thomas Cook einzutreiben. Darum muss der deutsche Ferienflieger umplanen.
https://www.aerotelegraph.com/fluege-nach-djerba-condor-droht-flugzeug-pfaendung-in-tunesien
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Edelweiss erweitert im Sommer 2020 ihr Streckennetz mit zwei neuen Zielen: Mahón und Agadir. Ab dem 17. Mai 2020 fliegt die Schweizer Ferienfluggesellschaft saisonal jeweils am Sonntag von Zürich nach Mahón auf Menorca. Ab dem 3. September 2020 steuert Edelweiss jeweils am Donnerstag von Zürich aus Agadir in Marokko an.
https://www.aerotelegraph.com/edelweiss-setzte-auf-menorca-und-agadir-statt-inverness


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Thoughts About The Boeing 737 MAX

Guy Leitch explained in his Daily Maverick article:
The 737 MAX uses bigger engines which changed the handling characteristics of the 737 MAX compared to the previous generation. 

To save Boeing from having to re-certify the aircraft because of the handling differences, and to save airlines buying the MAX from having to spend money on expensive pilot training, the FAA agreed to Boeing’s request to install a system called MCAS (a stabilator-trim system) to automatically lower the nose at low speeds to prevent the plane from stalling.

Airlines always like to claim that safety is not negotiable. 

When the Lion Air MAX crashed into the sea off Jakarta the ‘black box’ data recorder showed that the airspeed indicator was wrong and this had caused the MCAS to constantly try to lower the nose of the aircraft, despite the pilots’ best efforts to raise it.  And judging from the radar and satellite returns, this is also what happened to the Ethiopian MAX 8.

Profits vs Safety
What these two tragedies have done is shine a spotlight on the age-old conflict between profits and passenger safety. And some airlines have failed the scrutiny.

What is, however, hard to swallow is that South African Comair and all the American Airlines initially refused to ground the MAX. For American Airlines, such as South West with 31 MAX 8s already flying, a grounding is a financial catastrophe.  But Comair has only one MAX 8 flying, (with another to be delivered shortly).  And yet even with the exposure of a single MAX, Comair chose to put profits ahead of passenger safety. 

Read the whole article here: http://bit.ly/2W7QFrA

Spiegel Online wrote:
"Several pilots of American and Southwest have filed complaints earlier about the jet in the "Aviation Safety Reporting System", a US authority database on flight safety. According to one entry, the flight manual is "inadequate and almost criminally inadequate".

Boeing had developed the MCAS technology because otherwise, the flight characteristics of the aircraft would have changed due to a new type of engine placement. Pilots were unlikely to notice the change - probably also because the change to the new model was to require as little effort as possible. In some cases, the pilots were only trained on the iPad with an hour's training program."

Another Must-Read: 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/how-the-faa-allows-jetmakers-to-self-certify-that-planes-meet-us-safety-requirements/2019/03/15/96d24d4a-46e6-11e9-90f0-0ccfeec87a61_story.html

and this one:
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/failed-certification-faa-missed-safety-issues-in-the-737-max-system-implicated-in-the-lion-air-crash/



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