On January 11, when IndiGo Airlines’ flight 6E 333 had a bumpy touchdown at Goa International Airport, it was a close brush with disaster for over 100 passengers aboard the A 320. The woman pilot in command landed the plane on its fragile nose wheel — an erroneous manoeuvre that could have even led to the flying machine disintegrating and catching fire.

Alarmingly, an inquiry conducted later by the Director General of Civil Aviation ( DGCA) revealed that on 15 to 20 earlier occasions, Captain Parminder Kaur Gulati landed the aircraft at an angle indicating that the nose wheel may have touched the tarmac first. This is unheard of in aviation circles. Aircraft normally land on the main landing gear ( MLG), comprising the two sets of rear wheels. After these bigger — and sturdier — wheels touch the runway, the speed of the plane is reduced. This is followed by the already opened nose landing gear ( NLG) — the smaller front wheel just below the cockpit of the aircraft — coming in contact with the surface.

Flight 6E 333 took off from Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi and was bound for Goa. Abhas Gupta was Gulati’s copilot aboard the aircraft. Captain Gulati appeared to have been so oblivious to the abnormal and highly risky touchdown at the Goa International Airport that she just reported the incident as a “rough landing”. Not only did the steep descent leave the passengers’ hearts in their mouths, it went against the recommendations of aircraft manufacturer Airbus, too. This was not the end of the matter.

After the rough landing in Goa, Gulati and the engineer concerned merely carried out an inspection of the aircraft and reported that everything was normal. The airbus was, therefore, cleared to fly back to Delhi. The Indigo flight 6E 332 — with passengers on board — started its return journey to Delhi. But midway through, the plane’s electronic systems signalled a problem in the landing gear. The warning related to the nose undercarriage being internally damaged.

Is India Ready for A380 ???

New Delhi' s swanky Terminal 3 has only had a fleeting visit
from the world' s largest and most modern passenger aircraft, the A380
super jumbo.
So what' s stopping airlines from flying the big bird to India?
The simple answer is India' s Ministry of Civil Aviation, which is doing the
equivalent of flashing the dreaded
yellow and red lights that keep aircraft
on hold, interminably.
The ministry has held back permission
without citing any reasons, but aviation circles are rife with
speculation that the motive is to
protect Indian carriers. Some domestic
airlines that fly to Europe are worried
that the A380 would take away
passengers from their routes, with travelers lured by the new aircraft and
attractive fares that are possible with
the larger, more economical plane.
If true, such a deliberate delay would
be short-sighted and ultimately
against India' s own interests. Indian carrier Kingfisher has five A380s on
order and the option to buy five more.
Air India, which has a strong
partnership with Lufthansa, could also
make the A380 available to its
customers through its existing code- share agreement with the German
carrier on the Delhi-Frankfurt route.
Lufthansa was expected to start flying
the A380 on the Delhi-Frankfurt route
with the opening of T3. The airline
announced as much, but then it wasn' t allowed to fly the super jumbo to India, and instead had to deploy it
elsewhere.

AK Antony inaugurates BEML's Aerospace Manufacturing Facility in Mysore

Mysore: Defence
Minister Shri AK Antony inaugurated the Aerospace
Manufacturing Facility at the Mysore
Complex of BEML Ltd. The new facility
will manufacture gears for helicopters including the Light Combat Helicopter,
jigs for aircraft structures, machining
of aerospace components, fabrication
of structural sub-assemblies for Su-30
fighter jets and an array of Ground
Support and Ground Handling Equipment.
"Get ready to deliver more quality
products, assure deliveries on time
and I can assure you the government
will give you all support," said Antony
while calling on the management and the employees to take full advantage
of the Defence Offset Policy.
The Aerospace Manufacturing Division
of BEML was launched two years ago
during Aero India 2009. The division
is already AS-9100B certified. "It will eventually undertake manufacture of
complex Gears and Gear Boxes for
helicopters and aero engines, landing
gears for aircraft and upgrades of
aircraft and choppers," said Kallol Roy,
Asstt. General Manager (Quality Control).
BEML has also acquired 25 acres of
land worth Rs 360 crores at the
Areospace Park SEZ near the New
International Airport in Bangalore for
setting up an exclusive Aerospace Manufacturing Complex.

Aero India 2011: Bangalore airshow takes off,global firms eye deals

South Asia's top airshow, Aero India
2011, took off on a impressive
notetoday with global defence majors
eyeing lucrative deals and India
vowing to modernise its armed forces
to meet the challenge posed by 'violent disturbances' in the
neighbourhood. A two-hour flying display held the
centre-stage at Yelahanka Air Force
Station after defence minister AK
Antony declared open the five-day
biennial airshow, the biggest to date
with strong domestic and international participation. Antony said the event would further
enhance India's emergence as an
attractive market and a key
outsourcing hub for global aerospace
firms. He said India had always been a
votary of peace but "violent
disturbances" in its immediate and
extended neighbourhood posed
security challenges to it and the
region.

Non- destructive Testing Applications in Commercial Aircraft Maintenance.

INTRODUCTION In aircraft maintenance programme it
is important to inspect the mechanical
damage and assess the extent of the
repair work. But in schedule
maintenance it is a difficult to finding
the defects rapidly, as the maintenance of aircraft must be accomplished
within scheduled time and same to be
released in time for commercial
operation. During aircraft maintenance
'NONDESTRUCTWE TESTING' (NDT) is the
most economical way of performing
inspection and this is the only way of
discovering defects. In simply we can
say, NDT can detect cracks or any other irregularities in the airframe
structure and engine components
which are obviously not visible to the
naked eye. Structures & different assemblies of
aircraft are made from various
materials, such as aluminium alloy,
steel, titanium and composite
materials. To dismantle the aircraft in
pieces and then examine each component would take a long time, so
the NDT method and equipment
selection must be fast and effective. In the present trend of NDT application
on aircraft 70-80% of NDT is
performed on the airframe, structure,
landing gears and the rest carried out
on engine & related components.

Types Of Flaps

Flaps are the most common high-lift devices used on aircraft. These surfaces, which are attached to the trailing edge of the wing, increase both lift and induced drag for any given AOA. Flaps allow a compromise between high cruising speed and low landing speed, because they may be extended when needed, and retracted
into the wing’ s structure when not needed. There are four common types of flaps: plain, split, slotted, and Fowler flaps.

FLYING BULLS TO DEBUT AT AERO INDIA

The Flying Bulls' aerobatics team, whose breathtaking displays are a
regular feature at various aviation and
motor sport events across the world,
will make its debut at this year ' s Aero India. The event to be held at the Air Force
Station Yelahanka, between February
9 and February 13, will witness the
Flying Bulls team performing on all five
days. Among the stunts which the four-
member Czech Republic-based team
will perform during the air show,
include the signature mirror flight
manoeuvre. While performing this manoeuvre, the
leading aircraft flies upside down,
immediately above a second aircraft
flying right side up, mirroring the
leading aircraft' s flight figures. The team, led by a woman pilot
Radoslava currently flies four Zlin 50LX
aircraft.

Boeing 787 Test Priority Shifts to ETOPS

Boeing' s 787 certification focus is shifting from aircraft tests to
qualification for long-range ETOPS at
entry-into-service in the aftermath of
last November' s electrical fire, says Boeing CEO James McNerney. Despite the delays caused by the fire
on ZA002, the 787 program has
completed 75% of the flight testing
required for delivery, but the redesign
of software prompted by the incident
is threatening the timing of Boeing' s ETOPS qualification program. Without
FAA approval for ETOPS at entry-into-
service, early long-range operations
by launch customer All Nippon
Airways (ANA) and others will be
severely limited. Speaking to analysts on a 2010
earnings call, McNerney adds that as
787 flight hours pass the 2,500 flight-
hours mark, qualification testing for
ETOPS at entry-into-service is the
growing priority.