A twisted tale of Air and India: Pax Exp

09 Saturday Nov 2013

Posted by theflyingengineer in Operations

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787, A320, Air, Airbus, Cost, Experience, fare, Flight, In, India, Passenger, Service

A paying passenger’s experience of a mix of the good and bad of Air India, and thoughts on what gives passengers enough to talk so much about the airline, and how the airline makes things difficult for itself.

4^th November saw me flying Bangalore to Bhopal via Delhi, with confirmed tickets for my return on the 8^th of November.

On the 3^rd, I had web-checked in, and changed my assigned 20J to 17J. The nine abreast cabin promised me the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and although I have been on board, I hadn’t got airborne on one. I was excited with the thought of experiencing the cabin’s low noise levels and comfort.

The next day, at the check in counter, the check-in staff cleared my e-ticket with seat 17J. Upon a friend’s insistence, I asked the staff if we had a Boeing 787 operating as Air India 505 to Delhi. “Yes sir, it’s a Boeing 320”. “Excuse me?”. “Wait sir….it’s a…sorry…Airbus”. “How did you issue me seat 17J, then?” “Sorry sir (taking my boarding pass and scratching out my seat)…it’s 12F for you!”.

VT-EDD, a 3 year 8 month young Airbus A320 flew us from Bangalore to Delhi. The in flight meal was not palatable, and that left the tray untouched and me hungry. The cabin was tidy, but some of the in-flight entertainment screens weren’t working. Most of the seats were empty: the loads were very low, and that allowed me a “54” inch wide seat in economy: 3 X 18” seats all for myself. Upon landing at Delhi, I quickly grabbed a sandwich at Costa Coffee, and proceeded to board AI634 to Bhopal.

AI634 was operated by VT-SCI, a 6 year old Airbus A319 that was kept in a very bad state. The cabin was dirty, the wings had paint chipped off at places, and fluid stains running across the wing. The male cabin crew wasn’t very pleasant, and the “snacks” served on board wasn’t great, either.

Both flights operated on time, but the food, aircraft cleanliness (or the lack of it), and the attitude of the cabin crew left a bad taste.

On the 8^th, I was at Bhopal airport, and a scheduled 18:00 local departure on AI633 to Delhi was revised to 18:35. The Bhopal-Delhi flight has a planned block time of 01:15hr. All passengers had boarded VT-PPX, a 3year 6 month old Airbus A321 part of the “Praful Patel” series of Airbus airplanes. At 18:52, cargo was still being loaded. My connecting flight to Bangalore from Delhi was scheduled to depart at 20:10: earlier than we could reach Delhi, and I was braced for some chaos at the airport.

The in-flight “snacks” consisted of two butter cookies (very good, I must say), and tea/coffee. The staff was very, very courteous. The Cabin Crew in charge managed the show very well, coordinating between the pilot and anxious passengers who had connecting flights that were scheduled to depart before we could land at Delhi. Extreme patience was shown, and nobody: neither the passengers nor the cabin crew had an opportunity to lose their cool.

Upon landing at Delhi, ground staff very clearly called out for those who were headed to Bangalore. Three ground personnel coordinated very well, taking care of 10 of us who had to make it to the Bangalore flight that was waiting just for us to board. Over the radios, the baggage’s were discussed, and although tension prevailed in their voice, they got us through service stairs out of the terminal, onto the apron and into an apron shuttle, and back up via service stairs to the airbridge that led us to VT-EDC, aged the same as VT-EDD, operating as AI504 to Bangalore.

We got in, the doors closed, the cargo was loaded, erasing all apprehensions of leaving my bags behind, and at around 20:40, we pushed out of the gate, picking up 30 minutes of delay.

On board, the staff was very patient and courteous. My IFE was working, but my earphones were missing, so I called them once. I had a terrible ear block, so I troubled the crew many a time thereafter for water that allowed me to gulp fluids and help equalize the pressure in my eustachian tube.

And oh, the meal. I was hungry like crazy, and the paneer-rice-dal combination seemed fresh and was at the right temperature. This was accompanied with vegetable salad, and an Indian sweet dish: kheer. The bun was soft, and the butter softer, making the spread easy. It was a classic AI spread, but the spread was good.

The IFE worked well. There were about 4 channels: News, A retro-Hindi film playing, the 2013 “Kai Po Che”, and the 2010 “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”.

I was woken by a cabin announcement. My seat, 15A, gave me a good view. Visibility at Bangalore was excellent, and I could see the airfield (identified by the white / green beacon) flashing in the distance. A Boeing 737 could be seen on short finals, as we were somewhat on the downwind leg. There was something magical about the combination of engine noise, great visibility, and clear skies.

We landed at 23:04, with a 20 minute delay. The flight crew had enroute made up for about 10 minutes of the delay.

This time, I walked out of the airline feeling real good about the aircraft cleanliness, service, and on-board meal.

Giving food for talk.

This got me wondering: The reason my client put me on an Air India flight was because of its fares: it was the lowest, and the airline still offers some of the lowest fares. While that should be a reason to smile and not bother about anything else, the very fact that one is “entitled” to a complimentary meal / snack on board results in expectations, and if it turns out to be bad, it leaves a bad impression. When a passenger sees an in-flight entertainment screen in front of his seat, his expectation is that it must work and entertain him. The same passenger wouldn’t mind staring at a blank seat on a low-cost carrier, but when his IFE isn’t working while his co-passenger enjoys a nice movie, it leaves a bad impression. When the aircraft is dirty, the windows greasy and the seats in a bad shape, it leaves a bad impression.

Making it difficult for itself.

Air India offers some of the lowest airfares, provides in-flight meals to all at no extra cost, usually has a very courteous cabin crew (many others find them to be the best in the country, in terms of approachability and service attitude), and has a good safety record. Yet, when the freebies fail to met expectations, anti-airline sentiments set in. These freebies cost the airline money, and the passenger nothing; yet expectations are very, very human. India is a cost-conscious market: Almost all domestic passengers do not buy an airline ticket for the in-flight entertainment, cabin service, the on-board meal, or the aircraft cleanliness. What matters most, to most, is something simple: on time performance.

Probably another way in which the airline can turnaround, make money and improve passenger satisfaction? Give them lesser to expect. Knock off the IFE, and the in-flight free meals. Passengers will soon get accustomed to paying for a meal and having nothing but sleep to engage themselves with. And they will continue to fly for the low fares. If the airline competes with low cost carriers and offers low fares, it may as well change its operations to low cost.

Like IndiGo, which has nothing to offer on board, yet has absolutely clean aircraft and flies with one eye on the watch. And nobody complains.

After all, when there is nothing to expect, there is nothing to disappoint.

Airbus A350 MSN 5 enters FAL

06 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by theflyingengineer in Manufacturer

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5, A350, Airbus, Assembly, cabin, Campaign, Flight, MSN, Production, Program, test

Airbus states that the assembly of MSN5, the fifth and final member of the A350 XWB flight test fleet in the test flight campaign is now underway with the fuselage joining process. This follows the recent arrival of the three fuselage sections at the A350 XWB final assembly line (FAL) in Toulouse, France.

MSN5 is the second of the A350 flight test aircraft that will feature a passenger cabin. MSN 2 and MSN 5 will have the cabin fitted, where Airbus will put passengers on board, with cabin crew. It is for the first time in the history of Airbus that so early in the campaign 2 aircraft have been dedicated to the cabin. Earlier, aircraft would be dedicated about 2 months before the entry into service. Associated with that are delays, a lot of complaints from passengers, and a difficulty of entry into service. This was witnessed in the A320 and the A340 programs.

This aircraft will fly for the first time in Spring 2014 and will be used essentially to perform cabin related flight tests. It will also participate in the Early Long Flights where the “passengers” are Airbus employees. This allows the cabin and related systems to be submitted to near realistic operations in order to ensure a mature cabin at entry into service. In addition, MSN5 will carry out Route Proving flights to demonstrate to the certification authorities that the aircraft performs perfectly in airport operations.

To date the two A350 XWB test aircraft, MSN1 and MSN3 have clocked up over 500 flight test hours in more than 100 test flights. The A350 XWB has already won more than 760 firm orders from 39 customers worldwide. First delivery will be to Qatar Airways in the second half of 2014.

Air Asia India: Ready to earn its AOP, and learn from Air Asia Japan

23 Wednesday Oct 2013

Posted by theflyingengineer in Operations

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Air, AOP, Asia, Certificate, Fleet, Flight, India, Indonesia, japan, Operations, Permit, Philippines, Proving, Thai

Highlight: AirAsiaIndia to receive AirAsia Japan’s aircraft; First aircraft expected in a few days, in India, for proving flights; Air Operator Certificate to be awarded soon; AirAsia Japan: The cause for its failure and why AirAsia India may not follow the same downpath.

AirAsia Japan

On the 21st of July, 2011, 2 years and 3 months ago, ANA Group, Japan’s largest airline, and AirAsia, the world’s best low cost airline, announced that they were teaming up to form AirAsia Japan, a new low-cost carrier.

ANA was, for a while, seeking opportunities to launch a new low-cost business based at Narita. The Japanese are known to enjoy the finer, more expensive things in life, and to offer the population a new product: low cost, no frills air travel, while still managing to draw the crowds wasn’t, singlehandedly, going to be an easy thing to do. After much study, ANA concluded that partnering with an existing low-cost carrier was the most efficient, strategically advantageous option.

With the Air-Asia partnership, and success almost guaranteed, the joint venture established Air Asia Japan Co. Ltd. in the August of 2011, with ANA holding 51% and AirAsia 49% of the capital. However, Air-Asia’s voting right share was only 33%. The schedule was to apply for the Air Operator’s permit in September-October of the same year, with the first flight planned for the August of 2012, almost a year after applying for the AOC, also known as the AOP (Permit).

In June 2012, the airline took delivery of its first new A320: MSN 5153, followed by another new A320 in July. True to its word, the airline commenced operations on the 1st of August, 2012. 3 more new A320s followed over the next few months, of which 2 are equipped with fuel-saving Sharklets.

11 months after starting operations, Air Asia called off the joint venture, and ANA acquired AirAsia’s entire stake in Air Asia Japan for 2.45 billion yen.

The downfall

AirAsia Japan booked an operating loss of about US$ 36 Million, for the financial year ending March 2013. This was a shock for Air Asia, as quoting Tony Fernandes, CEO of AirAsia Berhad, “All our other affiliates have made money”. The other affiliates are Indonesia AirAsia, Philippines AirAsia, and Thai AirAsia.

AirAsia had a meek voice in the joint-venture, with only 33% voting share, with the decision making power in the hands of a full-service, world class yet inefficient airline: ANA. Two other low cost carriers (LCC) that kicked off in 2012 are Peach and Jetstar Japan, both of which are run by the larger voice of partner airlines that have been solely in the LCC Business.

AirAsia couldn’t implement the strategies that have proved successful in other JVs. This resulted in load factors not more than 70%, and as low as 56% in April 2013. Japanese aviation is known for its sky-high landing fees and fuel taxes, and this would have only resulted in Break Even Load Factors (BELF) that are high, making AirAsia Japan bleed with its poor load factors.

One of AirAsia’s key strategies is the large reliance on online bookings. This was a sudden change in the way in which an airline works in Japan, contrasting the population’s familiarity and comfort with booking through agents. This was a contributory reason for the airline’s poor acceptance. Complicating the matter was an online booking system that wasn’t completely translated to Japanese.

In January 2013, to control damage, the airline introduced “Other Payment options available for flights departing from Japan”. “It means that you can make payment via selected Convenience Store, ATM and Internet Banking.” Such flexible options aren’t available in all countries.

The problems with partnering with a Full Service Carrier (FSC) was evident. For example, ANA needed the cabin door to be opened by an engineer, and not by a cabin crew member. This, like other practices only added to costs. Both the partners squabbled over the airline’s strategy: running a LCC in a non- low-cost mode.

What AirAsia Japan means for AirAsia India

AirAsia Japan, although now without AirAsia involved, is operating under the Airasia Japan brand, but only till the 26th of October, 2013. 1st November onward, the airline, rebranded as Vanilla Air, will take flight with Airbus A320s from ANA. AirAsia’s A320s will be returned to AirAsia.

Of the 5 Airbus A320s received by AirAsia Japan, one has been sent to Air Asia Indonesia. Of the remaining 4 new Airbus A320s, two will make their way to AirAsia India, probably MSN 5547 and MSN 5657, the ones with the Sharklets, a necessity for operations in a country with very high fuel prices.

One of these Airbus A320s is expected in India in late October 2013 for proving flights. (see next section)

AirAsia Japan possibly suffered from a de-focused Tony, who had too much in his hand, in the light of massive A320 orders and the launch of Air Asia Philippines, which commenced operations in March 2012. While one of the failures for AirAsia Japan was the high fuel prices, it does not mean that AirAsia India will walk down the failed joint-venture’s path.

AirAsia India is a three-member JV in which AirAsia holds 49% stake, Tata Sons hold 30% and Arun Bhatia holds the remaining 21% stake. This gives Tony and his team the much needed voice for the success of his airline, which, after his AirAsia Japan experience, is something he will not compromise on.

Even more essential for success is the co-operation required by partners to fall in line with most of AirAsia’s proven strategies, as demonstrated by its other profit making AirAsia joint ventures. Tweeted Tony, in late September 2013,“First AirAsia India board meeting. Superb cooperation between partners.”. Not having an airline in the joint venture will mean that AirAsia can pretty much run the show in the way it deems best.

Another lesson learnt is the limited distribution system that had impacted Air Asia’s performance. AirAsia has spent considerable effort with online and offline travel agents throughout India. Although the country is not new to website bookings, having ticketing agents boosts sales, roping the otherwise tech-shy or tech-challenged traveller.

Proving Flights

The DGCA (India) Air Operator Certification Manual, CAP3100 Revision 0 August 2013 stipulates that during the demonstration and inspection phase prior to certification (Air Operator Certificate), “the applicant needs to demonstrate to the DGCA that the applicant is in a position to conduct the proposed operations in accordance with the procedures detailed in the documents/manuals reviewed during the previous phase utilizing the personnel/facilities/equipment identified in the formal application.” If the DGCA is satisfied with the airline’s personnel, staff, equipment and arrangements, “proving flight(s) will be conducted to one or more destinations of intended operations, as determined by the DGCA.”.

A proving flight is a flight, for demonstration purposes to the authority, and must be treated as a scheduled flight and conducted in a manner similar to a revenue flight, with full services and personnel in accordance with the procedures spelt out in the airline’s Operations Manual.

A proving flight is the last stage before the review and award of an Air Operator Certificate / Permit.

Start of Operations: AirAsia India

AirAsia Japan took a year to start operations, after applying for the AOP. AirAsia India filed for its AOP on 6th October, 2013, and is expected to receive the permit by mid-November. On starting operations, Tony said, “I would anticipate maybe April or May next year (2014) but I don’t really know”. Going by AirAsia Japan’s timelines, Air Asia India may start operations no later than July 2014. Philippines AirAsia commenced operations almost 2 months after receiving its Air Operator’s Permit.

In control of the venture, Tony is “confident we will make profits in the first year and change aviation”. So confident is Tony that, “I know when we go in, it would be great and change Indian aviation forever”.

Although the team is sailing on choppy waters due to Tata’s decision to partner with Singapore Airlines to start an international airline, the outcome of a continued disagreement, which may witness Arun Bhatia buying out Tata’s stake, will not hamper operations and strategies of the airline due to the large share of Tony-controlled AirAsia Berhad. Arun Bhatia’s Telstra Tradeplace is neither an airline, nor was in the airline business, until now.

Said Tony, reflective of possibly never again partnering with an airline, “ANA looked like one sexy woman: really nice, said all the nice things. And when we got to bed, it was a horrible experience. So we had a quick divorce.”

C-Series Program Update: One Month after the first flight

18 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by theflyingengineer in Manufacturer

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aircraft, Bombardier, C, Certification, Chief, CS100, CS300, Engineering, Flight, ground, Pilot, Progress, Series, Shimmy, Simulator, Stability, test, Vehicle, Vibration

Robert “Rob” Dewar, Vice President and General Manager, C-Series, Bombardier Commercial Program, gave a brief insight into the certification program of the C-Series, one month after it’s first flight on the 16th of September, 2013.

The C-Series is poised to usher in a new era for Bombardier, while posing as a market threat for popular Airbus and Boeing single aisle aircraft.

There have been a total of 3 test flights till date.

The landing gear and certification tests have been completed for the shimmy. Shimmy is an unstable lateral (yaw) vibration, typically in the range of 10 to 30Hz, which can lead to structural damage and/or collapse of the landing gear. Landing gear as seen on aircraft such as the Airbus A320 family, Boeing 737NG family and the C-Series, among others, are twin wheeled cantilevered, and such landing gears may experience shimmy stability problems at low speeds, and must be tested to validate the design of the landing gear against shimmy.

The ground vibration test of the aircraft is in progress. This testing is part of the plane’s certification program. Selected parts of the aircraft are excited with an external oscillatory force. By observing the aircraft’s response to these vibrations, engineers can model the aircraft’s transfer functions and determine the airplane’s in-flight stability.

These tests results will be compiled and will determine when the airplane takes to the skies for the fourth time, when the test flight envelope will be further opened up. The last three flights have witnessed the C-Series reaching an altitude of 25,000ft, landing gear extension and retraction cycles, tests of both high lift devices: the slats and flaps, and other in-flight manoeuvres.

The aircraft’s performance an handling closely matches the predicted flight model in the simulator. Bombardier is using a Engineering Flight Simulator (ESIM),built by CAE, from the last one year to test actual flight systems and system controllers when integrated in the aircraft, such as the slat-flap computer, fly-by-wire computer, landing gear computer, APU-simulator, brake computers, the PW1500G Engine FADECs (Full Authority Digital Engine Computer), and so forth. Using this ESIM, the flight test program can rely a lot on the simulator to do a lot of the system and integration tests while also preparing flight test crew for various flight test exercises. This builds the confidence of the crew in the aircraft, while also helping complete real flight test exercises with higher success rates and lower risks. System testing has entered the certification testing phase.

Bombardier find the structural test results, in the certification phase, very pleasing. Testing on the cabin management system as well as the environmental control system are in progress.

The CS100 Flight Test Vehicles (FTV) 2, 3, 4, and 5, as well as the first production aircraft are in very advanced stages of final assembly at Mirabel. The larger CS-300’s first major fuselage section is being transported, expected to arrive at the presently non-optimised-for-the-C-Series Mirabel facility.

Which is why the construction of a new 667,000 sq-ft plant, located close to its current facilities in the vicinity of the airport in Mirabel, Quebec, entirely dedicated to the assembly of the CSeries family of aircraft, is progressing well.

According to Charles “Chuck” Ellis, Chief Flight Test Pilot C-Series, emphasising on the need for so many flight test vehicles, “We say it’s (certification program) a one year program but within that one year we’ll probably be doing 5 years of work. We can take one year and 5 airplanes, or 5 airplanes and one year”

Now that the ESIM’s flight and system model has been verified, it will making the certification easier and faster by offering a lot of flexibility and bandwidth in the C-Series certification program, as it is almost like having a 6th airplane in the fleet.

Finally, the first flight: Air Costa

15 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by theflyingengineer in General Aviation Interest

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Air, Costa, First, Flight, registration, spotter

Air Costa has inaugurated their flight services by landing at Bangalore (BLR, VOBL) at 07:45IST, operating as flight LB601 from Vijayawada (VGA, VOBZ). This marks a new chapter in the history of Indian Regional Aviation.

The flight was operated by VT-LNR, An Embraer 170AR, with manufacturer serial number MSN 293. Reportedly, LB601 did not operate with an airline call-sign, but rather the registration itself. Radio calls were made as “Victor Tango Lima November Romeo”, not the shortened “Victor November Romeo”. Bangalore International Airport (Kempegowda International Airport) does not yet list the flight or the airline on their website.

We congratulate Air Costa on inaugurating their scheduled regional services. This marks the beginning of a new chapter in Indian regional aviation.

Note to spotters: Not being visible on FR24, Tracking MSN 293 may be difficult as the aircraft does not seem to have an ADS-B out enabled Mode-S transponder.

A350: About Test Flights, Pilots, Engineers, and the Second Airframe to take to the skies

15 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by theflyingengineer in General Aviation Interest, Manufacturer, Technical

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A350, Campaign, Certification, Engineer, Flight, Pilot, Program, test

A350 MSN3 took to the skies on 14th October, 2013. Photo: Airbus

A350 Test Flight Program

On October 14th, exactly 4 months after the 1st A350 took to the skies amidst much media coverage, the second A350 test vehicle, Serial number 003 (MSN 3), took to the skies, allowing the program to not inch, but take confident strides towards an early certification and hopefully, and early introduction into service. Till date, the A350 has flown about 330 flight test hours over almost 70 flights.

With Airbus hoping to contain the flight test campaign within 12-13 months, to enable deliveries by mid 2014, a lot of flight testing needs to be compressed in this period, possible only with 5 test flight airplanes. This aggressiveness is to get to the market early, to “overtake its US rival Boeing to become the world’s biggest producer within four or five years”, as envisioned by Airbus chief Fabrice Bregier.

MSN1, the first A350 to take to the skies, is followed by MSN 3 and will be followed by MSN 4. These will be used for avionics, noise testing, and various other systems work through the flight test program. MSN 3 will have a greater focus on the Rolls Royce engines, and is similar to MSN 1: no cabin but equipped with heavy flight test installation. MSN 2 and MSN 5 will have the cabin fitted, where Airbus will put passengers on board, with cabin crew. It is for the first time in the history of Airbus that so early in the campaign 2 aircraft have been dedicated to the cabin. Earlier, aircraft would be dedicated about 2 months before the entry into service. Associated with that are delays, a lot of complaints from passengers, and a difficulty of entry into service. Thsi was witnessed by the A320 and the A340 programs.

MSN 1 had the most important role: freezing the aerodynamic configuration, being subject to minor changes to make sure the airplane is exactly how it should be, fine tuning the handling qualities, and making accurate performance measurements. The goal is to have something that handles very similar to the A330, as it is very important in the certification campaign to get a common type rating for pilots to fly the 330 and 350 in parallel, to allow mixed fleet flying.

The world of test flights

Flight test pilots preparing for the first flight of the A350 on June 14th, 2013.

At Toulouse, Airbus has 25 test pilots, of which 15 are developmental test pilots and 10 production test pilots. There are more test pilots at Hamburg, and about 2 at China.

Says one of Airbus’ former developmental test pilots, Pierre Baud, who was with Airbus for more than 30 years, being part of the maiden flights of the A310, A300-600, A320, A340 and A321, “When we talk about pilots, we have to divide the pilot population in two. Airline pilots do not generally dream to be experimental test pilots. They will dream to be a captain on the A380 or Concorde, but they don’t expect to be experimental test pilots. Airline pilot and test pilot are two jobs that are very different. All the pilots walking in the environment of the aircraft manufacturer wish to be one day be an experimental test pilot. Which means that they have all the qualifications to perform a first flight. Because there are a lot of test pilots which are essentially production pilots in that case they wish to be upgraded to an experimental test pilot. Most pilots employed by an aircraft manufacturer dream to be an experimental test pilot.”

Flight Test Pilots and Flight Test Engineers

Engineers from Airbus checking-out the Sharklet test station aboard A320 MSN 5098. The first new-production A320 jetliner equipped with Airbus’ fuel-saving Sharklets – which rolled out from the final assembly line in April 2. Photo: Airbus.

Pilots are responsible for the safety of the aircraft. They fly the aircraft and carry out the various manoeuvres that are required. The test flight engineer has a very special role as usually he is very familiar with the aircraft as it’s gone through the build process. He knows intimately its limitations, and modifications. He’ll be the third pair of eyes, really, in the cockpit, to make sure that everything is running smoothly, with all the systems in the background working as they should. In addition, there are the flight test engineers down at the back, at their stations where they can monitor all the systems in much more detail , directing the flight test process itself.

Pilots tend to multitask, not dedicated to specific tests. The flight test engineers tend to be more specialized, and are called upon according to their specialty. It is important to have many pilots fly the aircraft because one the fine tuning of the flight controls may be very satisfactory for a small set of pilots, but the need is to expose the aircraft to a large number of pilots, including those of the training center, who are not test pilots. In the development process, certain flights aren’t too difficult, allowing training pilots to fly the aircraft, thereby exposing the fly-by-wire and handling to a large number of people, as it finally needs to be satisfactory for the entire pilot community.

There are test pilots who have the capacity to quickly learn, understand and fine tune flight control laws (handling qualities), and those who are better suited to develop a complex system such as a Flight Management System (FMS).

“The best is to be able to do both!”, says Jacques Rosay, Chief Test Pilot, Airbus.

Air Costa: Operational Costs, Market & Inaugral Flight Pushed to 15th October

14 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by theflyingengineer in Operations

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Air, Bangalore, Costa, Costs, fare, First, Flight, market, Pricing, Vijayawada

An Air Costa EMB 170 prepares for its test flight at Chennai (14th October 2013)

This article talks of Air Costa’s peculiarities, as well as the costs on a particular sector and the market potential associated with that sector.

Peculiarities and Image-damage

Air Costa’s newspaper advertisement that appeared in leading dailies, on October 13th

Air Costa, which has been making the waves as a regional carrier with many peculiarities, including first class seats, added one more today, by achieving a 0% on time performance, on it’s launch date.

As was conveyed to the media a week ago, and published on their website, Air Costa was to have both launched and inaugurated its services today, by flying the Vijayawada-Bangalore sector. All other sectors have been mentioned as starting from 15th October, 2013.

Air Costa planned to inaugurate its regional air connectivity on the 14th of October, 2013, to coincide with the supposedly auspicious day of Dussehra. The usual 06:45IST departure and 07:45IST arrival was changed to a 10:30IST departure and a 11:30IST arrival to stay clear of a particular inauspicious time of the day.

But to the dismay of many spotters, who made their way to BIAL to catch the Embraer through their lens, it didn’t turn up. Bangalore briefing was contacted, and a spotter was told that there was no flight plan received for an “Air Costa flight 601”.

While start-up hiccups are understandable, calling for a press-meet and then changing plans without notification is operationally acceptable but image-damaging.

We do sincerely hope that this doesn’t reflect the future of an airline that had initially planned for turboprop Q400s and then switched to turbofan Embraer E-Jets (nothing wrong with a switch, as the E-jets opens up much longer routes, but reflects poor homework on the part of the airline), wants to offer low fares but doesn’t have the cabin of a low cost carrier (dual class cabin), publishes routes on its timetable, while the route map misses out those very routes, has been pushing the launch date far too many times, and promises the first flight only to revise that as well.

Sector Costs and Market Potential

How Air Costa is going to manage their costs is uncertain. The Embraer 170 on a 60 minute flight (Vijayawada-Bangalore) consumes, on average, approximately 900 liters of ATF. At the present ATF prices at Bengaluru, and 4% sales tax, this translates to INR 60,000. Including fuel, the operational cost is estimated at a very conservative INR 300,000 – 400,000, which will actually be much higher for a start-up airline. If we are to divide this by the 66 seats on board the airplane (60 economy + 6 first class), this translates to about INR 4,600 – 6,000 per seat, or INR 5,000 – 6,700 per seat neglecting the first class seats. Being regional, seldom will their aircraft fly with a 100% load factor, which further pushes up the cost per seat. It is further unlikely that there will be many takers for the expensive “Economy Plus” seats: the economy seats on an Embrarer are very comfortable, both in pitch and width, and upgrading to a first class seat on a 60-minute flight does not make much sense.

For a flight one month from today, Spicejet’s direct flight from Vijayawada to Bangalore is priced at INR 3,172, all-inclusive, per person. Air India, with an inconvenient stop, offers seats for 3,671 per person, and Jet Airways’ direct flight INR 5,187 per person. However, based on the fact that the Jet Airways’ 08:15 departure is the most convenient, there is a higher demand for that flight. If a person from Vijayawada wishes to wrap up business at Bangalore, in a day, he may pick Air Costa’s early morning 06:45 departure, reach Bangalore at 07:45, reach the heart of the city by 10:00am, wrap up business by 13:30, and pick the only convenient return flight at 16:40. But Air Costa will have to price economy at no less than INR 6,000 per economy seat, to break even at 90% economy-cabin load factor (54 seats), to prevent themselves from bleeding.

Air Costa’s Vijayawada-Bangalore economy all-inclusive fares start at INR 2,284 and progresses through 2,798, 3,323, 6,314 and upward based on demand, but still staying lower than the competition. How this pricing pattern covers operational costs, if ever, will be interesting to observe, as these are inaugural fares priced at INR 9, adding up to the above mentioned figures due to surcharges, fees and taxes.

Air Costa’s Bangalore-Vijayawada and Vijayawada-Bangalore may have the highest passenger loads among all carriers, simply because of the convenient timing, and pricing, if the fares continue to be priced the way they are.

It will be interesting to watch the growth of this regional airline, in the hands of an aviation first timer. You may notice a stark difference between the way Air Costa handles things and the way in which Air Asia India will manage their show.

Flight Planning: Unusual Local Flights

10 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by theflyingengineer in General Aviation Interest

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ADC, FIC, Filing, Flight, Glider, India, Motor, Para, Plan, Powered, Unusual

Flight Planning registered aircraft, with departures and arrivals at recognized airfields is easy. But filing a flight plan for an aircraft that isn’t even registered with the local aviation authority (or any authority the world over), and flying into and out of mere patches of land is something else.

When flying for the State Election Commission (Karnataka, India), the need to file plans for the powered paragliding activity stemmed from a document issued to us by the Indian Air Force that needed us to obtain a ADC (Air Defense Clearance) before flying. To obtain a ADC, one must file a plan, with a copy reaching the concerned Air Force Surveillance Unit. In the process, we also obtained a FIC (Flight Information Clearance).

Although AIP ENR 1.12-1 as issued by the Airport Authority of India states, “Except local flights conducted within 5NM radius centered at ARP (Airport Reference Point) and vertical limits of 1000ft AGL of aerodrome; aircraft when operating to, through or within the ADIZ shall obtain Air Defense Clearance before takeoff, through the ATC concerned”, our instructions from the Indian Air Force clearly mentioned that we obtain a ADC for every flight, irrespective of whether we used an aerodrome or not, and despite the fact that we never climbed above 300ft AGL, and never flew beyond a 5NM radius from our departure point. There were instances when we used the aerodrome, such as that at Belgaum.

During the fag end of our pan-Karnataka powered paragliding campaign, when filing the plan for a local flight at Tumkur, the gentleman (truly one) at the other end of the phone line at Bangalore Briefing, informed me of the right order of information to be filled in the “Other Information” field of a flight plan form. Sharing this may be of help to anyone wishing to file a non-standard flight plan.

Most of our fields, including type of aircraft departure aerodrome, destination aerodrome and alternates were marked “ZZZZ”. When such is the case, here is the order:

1. Departure. (Departure location coordinates. Filled as DEP/ AABBCDDDEEF, where AA=Latitude Degrees, BB= Latitude Minutes, C=N or S for hemisphere, DDD= Degrees Longitude, EE=Minutes Longitude, F= E or W for hemsphere. It is also advisable to follow the above field with the name of the departure location in brackets, if the field has a name. Example, “KMC CRICKET GROUNDS, MANIPAL, UDUPI DISTRICT”)

2. Destination. (Destination location coordinates. Filled as DEST/ AABBCDDDEEF, where AA=Latitude Degrees, BB= Latitude Minutes, C=N or S for hemisphere, DDD= Degrees Longitude, EE=Minutes Longitude, F= E or W for hemsphere. It is also advisable to follow the above field with the name of the destination location in brackets, if the field has a name. Example, “SSM COLLEGE GROUNDS, TUMKUR”)

3. Date of Flight. (Filled as DOF/AABBCC, where AA=last two digits of the present calendar year, BB= month of the calendar year, and CC= Day of the calendar month)

4. Registration. (Only if applicable. The powered para-glider, having a soft wing, needs no registration, and hence the field is left empty. Doubts raised will be answered by the next field: type of aircraft).

5. Type of Aircraft. (Filled as TYP/PARAMOTOR. Usually, the Type of Aircraft is a globally recognized 4 letter identifier, for example, B732 implying Boeing 737-200.)

6. Operator. (Pretty evident. To be mentioned as OPERATOR/XXXX, where XXXX (not limited to 4 characters) is the body / person flying the aircraft. We used OPERATOR/MEGHALAYA PARAGLIDING ASSOCIATION (MPA) (ON ELECTION COMMISSION DUTY) )

7. Alternate. (When you have no airfields, mention ALTN/ALL OPEN FIELDS. This means that the paraglider (very commonly) can land at any place deemed suitable.

8. Remarks. (Other essential information. We started filling this when the Air Force units kept asking of our nationality. So, we had, REMARKS/ NATIONALITY OF OPERATOR AND ALL CREW: INDIAN)

When calling up the Air Force Units to receive the ADC, be ready to be asked many questions. Sport Aviation is looked upon with suspicion in the country. Although we had mentioned the departure and destination coordinates, we were many times asked the departure and destination location in terms of radial and distance from the closest airfield. For example, when had determined from Google Earth that Tumkur was at BIA 280°/40NM (radial 280, 40 nautical miles out). This makes it easier for them to locate, at times.

With every shift, we landed up interacting with a varied set of people, who had unique demands. Following what we’ve mentioned should help you get through 99.9% of them. Attached is a sample flight plan (click on the flight plan image on top) for reference. Happy landings!

Simulator & Training Insight: India (CAE’s new Centre and FFS Census)

31 Saturday Aug 2013

Posted by theflyingengineer in General Aviation Interest

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A320, Airbus, CAE, Delhi, Flight, India, Indigo, Interglobe, Simulator

CAE 7000 series simulators

IndiGo’s parent company, Interglobe Enterprises, and CAE-Airbus had “broken ground” in the November of 2011 to establish a new pilot and maintenance technician training centre in Delhi. The new centre, located specifically in the Greater Noida Industrial Area, about 40 kilometers southeast of Delhi, is not for the exclusive use of IndiGo airlines, but rather for airlines in India and the neighbouring region.

The focus of the new Delhi training centre will be to provide “wet” and “dry” type-rating, recurrent, conversion and jet indoctrination training for commercial aircraft pilots. Programs will also be offered for maintenance technicians. The Delhi training centre was planned to initially house four full-flight simulators and was planned to accommodate eight simulator bays. Training technology such as CAE Simfinity multimedia classrooms, computer-based training and brief/debrief facilities are used.

Although planned to house 8 full flight simulator bays, the new centre has only 6 full flight simulator bays, with which it plans to “train 5000 professionals per year”. The Full Flight Simulator facility at Bangalore has 3 simulator bays (Two A320 and one B737NG), with the capacity to train 1500 crew members annually. This figure boils down to 500 crew members per FFS per year, leading the Delhi centre to train a maximum of 3000 crewmembers annually.

Of the six simulator bays, only 2 are occupied, at the moment, by two CAE Series 7000 A320s level D simulators, which can handle a maximum of 1000 crew members, annually, until more simulators are added.

This simulator facility marks CAE’s 5^th training centre in India, after the CAE FFS centre and CAE “Hatsoff” Helicopter Simulator facility at Bangalore, Praful Patel’s flight school: National Flying Training Institute NFTI bat Gondia, in which CAE has 49% stake, and IGRUA, which is doled out a step-motherly treatment by CAE considering its low stake and low control over operations at the premier flight institute in India.

This new facility at Delhi has begun operations 2 months after Airbus and CAE concluded their training services cooperation, which was done to provide “more flexibility for both companies to serve their respective stakeholders directly”. Airbus assures that “There will be no impact on any airline customers training with Airbus or with CAE following the conclusion of the existing cooperation agreement.”

The new simulator facility takes the total fixed wing Full Flight Simulator count, in India, to 13, comprising of eight A320, four B737NG, two B777, one B747, one B787, and one A330. These simulators are spread out across India, at CAE Bangalore (2 A320, 1 B737NG), CTE Hyderabad (3 A320), FSTC Delhi (1 A320, 1 B737NG), Jet Airways Mumbai (2 B737NG, 1 A330, 1 B777), and Air India Mumbai (1 B737NG, 1 B747, 1 B777, 1 B787).

The new centre takes CAE’s total to about 70 Airbus full-flight simulators in more than 20 locations worldwide. CAE operates the largest network of Airbus simulators.

Watch the A350’s first flight: Live!

13 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by theflyingengineer in General Aviation Interest

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A350, Airbus, First, Flight, India, Live, Webcast

Airbus has hosted a dedicated website, http://www.a350xwbfirstflight.com, which will webcast live the first flight of the A350XWB. According to Airbus, the “Live Webcast will begin approximately one hour before take-off and continue past landing.”

As mentioned in the previous post, the first flight is scheduled for 13:30hrs IST (0800UTC) on 14th June, 2013, with the webcast starting at 12:30 IST (0700 UTC). The first flight is a once in a lifetime experience, both for a spectator, and the aircraft!

Set your calendars, and enjoy the first flight! Click on the image on the left to lead you to the webpage!

Airbus A350 MSN001: First Flight and Developmental Photo-Timeline

12 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by theflyingengineer in General Aviation Interest, Manufacturer, Technical

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A350, Airbus, Development, First, Flight, History, Production

Airbus has planned the first flight of the A350 on the 14^th of June, 2013: 2 days from now. The scheduled time of A350 MSN001’s first flight is 0800hrs UTC (1000hrs Toulouse 1330hrs IST). Airbus claims, with this announcement, that the A350 program is on schedule, with entry-into-service expected in the second half of 2014. This is an interesting statement, considering that in the September of 2010, Airbus had expected the delivery of the first A350 in 2013.

The Airbus A350 is a result of the pressure exerted by airlines on Airbus, in the face of the Boeing 787’s “threat” to the Airbus A330. The A350 program was formally announced towards the end of the end of 2004, but it was only in mid 2006 that Airbus, after facing criticism for a derivative of the A330 rather than a whole new clean sheet design, announced the A350XWB: an all new airplane. In essence, the A350XWB project is a forced response from Airbus to Boeing’s 787 program.

MSN001 is an A350-941, bearing registration F-WXWB. The A350-900’s Rolls Royce Trent XWB Engines are the largest that will be fitted on an Airbus airliner, producing 374kN (almost 37,500kg force) of thrust, each. The A350-900 has the typical seating capacity of the Boeing 777-200 (314 pax in a 3 class layout), and the range of the 787-9 (~8100NM), serving as, what seems now to be the plug between the two. Observed Lufthansa’s CEO Christoph Franz, “Because of pressure mainly by the fast growing Gulf carriers, both Airbus and Boeing are being pushed to design aircraft with more range capabilities and engine power than needed by most other operators. European airlines therefore have to deal with over designed aircraft that carry additional unneeded weight”.

Here is the timeline of major developments in the life of MSN001:

January 2009: A350 XWB Design is “frozen”.

November 2010: The longest fuselage panel for Airbus’ A350 XWB completes its curing process.

March 2011: The largest composite fuselage panel for Airbus’ A350 XWB completes its curing process.

July 2011: Production on a key component in the A350 XWB’s initial horizontal tail plane begins, at Airbus’ centre of excellence in Puerto Real, Spain.

August 2011: The first A350 XWB centre wing box is delivered from Airbus’ site in Nantes, France to Airbus’ St Nazaire, France facility where it eventually is assembled into the first A350 XWB fuselage.

September 2011: Wing upper cover manufactured at Airbus’ Stade, Germany is transported to Airbus’ wing assembly site in Broughton, UK. The lower wing cover made in Illescas, Spain arrives in Broughton. The first A350 XWB nose section is transported to Airbus in St Nazaire from partner company Aerolia’s site in Méaulte. Airbus aerostructures partner Premium Aerotec puts together the first forward fuselage for the A350 XWB at Nordenham, Germany.

October 2011: Airbus completes installation of the first Rolls-Royce Trent XWB flight test engine on the A380 “flying-testbed” aircraft. Airbus starts the assembly of the first A350 XWB’s horizontal tailplane (HTP) in Getafe, Spain.

November 2011: Assembly of the first A350 XWB’s 32-metre-long carbon fibre wings begins at Airbus’ recently-opened North Factory in Broughton, UK. Pre-assembly of ribs, upper and lower covers and fixed leading and trailing edges already has taken place.

December 2011: Airbus starts joining the first 21-metre long front fuselage section for the A350 XWB in Saint-Nazaire, France.

February 2012: The A350 XWB’s Rolls-Royce Trent XWB successfully makes its maiden flight aboard Airbus’ dedicated A380 “Flying-Test-Bed” aircraft.

March 2012: Structural assembly of the first A350 XWB aft fuselage destined for the first flying A350 XWB (MSN1) is completed at Airbus’ manufacturing site in Hamburg (Germany).

July 2012: Airbus delivers the front fuselage for the first flyable A350 XWB (MSN1) to the Final Assembly Line (FAL) in Toulouse (France).

August 2012: A350 XWB “MSN1” flight-deck comes to life. Flight-deck power-on is an important step on the route to complete aircraft power-on and first flight, because it enables most systems functional checking to be undertaken.

October 2012: The vertical tail plane of the first flyable A350 XWB (MSN1) has comes out of the paint hall in Toulouse.

November 2012: The wing join-up started in the Roger Béteille Final Assembly Line (FAL) in Toulouse. The wings are attached to the fuselage and other finishing activities such as the spoilers are installed.

December 2012: Airbus successfully completes the main structural assembly and system connection of A350 XWB ‘MSN1’ – the first flight-test aircraft.

February 2013: A350 XWB’s Trent XWB engine achieves EASA type certification. First A350 XWB with wings complete emerges for outdoor testing.

March 2013: Airbus installs Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines and Honeywell APU on A350 XWB MSN001.

May 2013: First A350 XWB painting completed in Toulouse

June 2013: First A350 XWB’s engines powered up.

June 14^th, 2013: First Flight Expected with 6 member flight crew.

Govt. Flying Training School (Jakkur): Poised to take to the skies, again.

02 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by theflyingengineer in General Aviation Interest, Operations

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Bangalore, Flight, Jakkur, School, VOJK

VT-EHA, the 1981 produced and only Cessna 172 at the school.

Yet another attempt is being made at restarting the operations at GFTS (Government Flying Training School –Jakkur – VOJK-, Bangalore). There have been positive changes: The vacant post of a Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) has been filled up, and an Assistant Flight Instructor (AFI) is employed by the school. GFTS also got a 1981-produced Cessna 172, and along with two mid 1980’s Cessna 152s, has a decent operational fleet size of 3 airplanes. Multi-engine airplanes are planned to be inducted into the fleet.

On the 7^th of May, 2013, the flight school witnessed a low-key religious ceremony, marking the revival of flight operations at the field. The flight school has started offering “Joy Rides on Aeroplanes” for a nominal fee. This follows the “joy rides” offered to the public at Mysore, in the October of last year, during Mysore’s peak tourist season: Dusshera.

The school will also train students towards a PPL, and a CPL. The published rates for the Cessna 152 is INR 10,000/hr, and for the Cessna 172 is INR 11,500/hr. The rates are very steep, considering the age (1980s) and equipment (analog cockpit) on board the airplane. At a reputed private flying school, the rate for a new Cessna 172 with a Garmin G1000 glass cockpit is INR 12,500/hr: a lot more value for your money.

In the March of 2011, GFTS had advertised the re-opening of the flight school after 9 long years. That never happened. This time, the school seems to be a lot more serious, but only time will tell if the school really takes to the skies again, and goes beyond joy rides, in doing what it was established for: Flying Training.

And if it does, which is hoped, it will be after 11 long years. The official website may be visited by clicking HERE. The application form, published on 20th May 2013, may be viewed HERE. The school is looking for a Chief Ground Instructor.

Left to Right: VT-EHA (C172), VT-EIB & VT-EMY (C152)

Chimes Aviation Academy

07 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by theflyingengineer in General Aviation Interest

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172, Academy, Aviation, CAA, Cessna, Chimes, CPL, Flight, Honeywell, IV, Piper, PPl, Recency, School, Seneca

A Flight Instructor entering the twin engine Piper Seneca IV

A Flight Instructor entering the Piper Seneca IV, a twin engine.

I am at Chimes Aviation Academy, (Dhana, Madhya Pradesh; ICAO: VA1J) and the weather, skies, airplanes and people have made possible some very beautiful photographs. Here are a few shots, for your enjoyment!

Chimes Aviation Academy boasts off the largest G1000 equipped Cessna 172R fleet in the country (Fleet: 7 Cessna 172R + 1 Piper Seneca IV), as well as having the distinction of being the flight school where aerospace-major Honeywell sends its engineers for flying training, for a Private Pilot’s License.