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GAGAN Readiness: G1000 with GIA 63W (Diamond DA40NG)

With the Indian GAGAN (GPS-aided geo-augmented navigation) system expected to be fully operational by year end, The Flying Engineer visited a Diamond DA40NG today, at Bangalore, to check if the aircra

Radu BalasUpdated 19 Oct 20263 min read

Airlines

Rodrigo David: The Man Behind Some of the Best A320 Flightdeck Videos

An interview with Rodrigo David, an Avianca Brazil A320 captain whose cockpit videos such as SAIL and Higher drew millions of views and quietly marketed his airline.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas3 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Airlines

Cathay's Young Cabin Crew!

A light hearted post about Cathay Pacific dressing six staff children, aged 4 to 10, in miniature cabin crew uniforms for a day in their parents' shoes.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas1 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Airlines

Interlysis with Shyson Thomas: Air Pegasus, Unplugged

Our August 2014 interview and analysis with Shyson Thomas, MD and CEO of Bangalore start up Air Pegasus, on its ATR 72-500s, launch plans, funding, routes and the man himself.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas7 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Airlines

AirAsia India, and the competition, gets real

We flew AirAsia India's first commercial flight, i5 1320 Bangalore to Goa on 12 June 2014, and looked at the in flight product that made the new airline a real threat to IndiGo and SpiceJet.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas4 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Airlines

National Civil Aviation Policy 2015: Route Dispersal Guidelines

Our 2015 look at how the proposed Route Dispersal Guidelines would raise the number of CAT I routes by 166% and force airlines to fly more regional capacity while paying 2% towards a fund they could not draw from.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas2 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Airlines

GPS to the Rescue!

How the author used a handheld Garmin eTrex GPS and a Jeppesen chart to follow an airliner flight from taxi to touchdown, with what each phase reveals.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas3 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Careers & crew

Orient Flight School (OFS)

A profile of Orient Flight School in Pondicherry, part of the Hindustan Group: fleet, airfield, CPL course structure, instructors, maintenance, fees, BSc option and plans for Mysore, as of early 2014.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas6 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Airlines

A Glimpse of Tony's AirAsia India, and His Success Mantra

A report on the 3 July 2014 AirAsia India launch press conference: Tony Fernandes' more cautious tone, mixed messages on break even and fleet size, and his five point recipe for a low cost airline.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas5 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

News

In Photos: Aero India 2009

A photo record of Aero India 2009 at Yelahanka, Bangalore: the Su-30 MKI, F-16, F/A-18, Eurofighter, MiG 35, C-17 and more on a rather empty apron.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas1 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Airlines

SpiceJet: Estimated Q1 FY2016 Financial Performance

An estimate of SpiceJet's April to June 2015 quarter: unit costs of about INR 3.65 per seat km, an operating profit of INR 80 to 110 crore or less, and a net profit near INR 100 crore.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas5 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Airlines

Airbus A320 Experience

A first hand account of a 2009 jump seat flight on a Mandala Airlines A320 from Jakarta to Surabaya, explaining the systems used on each phase: fuel, engines, flexible thrust, cost index, fly by wire, bleed fault, FMS and landing.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas6 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Airlines

Interlysis: AirAsia India and Mrithyunjaya Chandilya

An interview and analysis of AirAsia India CEO Mrithyunjaya Chandilya, held on the airline's first commercial flight to Goa on 12 June 2014: fleet plans, fares, turnaround times and break even.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas5 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

News

Team Details for the Financial Accounting Project

A registration page used by a class of about 66 students to record team details for a financial accounting project comparing two companies.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas1 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Careers & crew

Familiarization Flights for ATCOs

Why The Flying Engineer argued that air traffic controllers should ride in airline cockpits, what Indian rules and officials said about it, and how the FAA runs a similar programme.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas4 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

Careers & crew

Student Details Registration Portal

A password protected registration page for student details, from the GMAE section of the old Flying Engineer site. Its content was never public.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas1 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

News

About ATR 9X

ATR9X was an open, academic only project to study and design a 90 seat turboprop of the kind ATR was expected to build.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas2 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

News

Pneumatics (A320)

An explainer on the Airbus A320 pneumatic system: bleed air sources, bleed valves, leak detection, fault lights and the dual bleed fault procedure.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas4 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

News

Doors (A320)

An explainer on A320 door and escape slide indications, door opening from outside, cargo door operation and slide raft numbers on IndiGo aircraft.

Radu Balas · 18 Oct 2026

By Radu Balas1 min read

Updated 18 Oct 2026

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