http://planenews.com Your aviation news and services. en-us gil@keskydee.com 2008-05-09T19:37:47-04:00 hourly 1 2008-05-09T19:37:47-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9356 From - www.jetwhine.com If I were a United Shareholder …Still trying to recover its corporate composure after a stinging slap in the face last week from Continental, United Airlines is now turning its focus on US Airways as a potential partner to reach the holy grail of corporate success … increased shareholder value.Continental would have been a good fit, at least for United. Luckily for Continental, their managers were smart enough to run while they still had the chance however, because I think they smelled the blood in the water. 9356@http://planenews.com Airlines 2008-05-09T19:27:20-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9355 SEATTLE The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and Asiana Airlines have completed an order for two 777-200ERs (Extended Range). The order is valued at $438 million at list prices. The South Korean airline holds rights to substitute the larger 777-300ER which features increased payload and range capability, if needed, in the future. 9355@http://planenews.com Business 2008-05-08T18:14:52-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9334 BAGHDAD, Iraq: Boeing [NYSE: BA] and the Government of Iraq today announced an order for 30 Boeing 737-800 commercial airplanes, the first step in re-establishing that country’s scheduled commercial aviation operations. Iraq has also contracted options for 10 additional 737s. 9334@http://planenews.com Business 2008-05-05T18:11:47-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9317 EVERETT, Wash.: Final assembly began today on the third flight-test airplane for the all-new Boeing [NYSE: BA] 787 Dreamliner. This is the fifth Dreamliner to be loaded into the first position of the 787 production system. The static test airframe moved April 25 from the Final Assembly to its test rig in another bay of the Everett, Wash.-based factory. Both the fatigue test airframe and the second flight-test airplane have advanced to the next position in production, where assembly and systems installation work continues. 9317@http://planenews.com Engineering 2008-05-01T23:07:53-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9310 SEATTLE: Progress continues on the first Boeing 777 Freighter as the company’s newest cargo airplane was towed out of its factory in Everett, Wash. and onto the flight line Tuesday night. Work will continue on the 777 Freighter to prepare for flight test this summer and to paint the airplane in the Boeing livery. 9310@http://planenews.com Business 2008-04-30T22:37:17-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9309 ATLANTA: Thirty years ago today, Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) Flight No. 10 took its maiden flight from Atlanta to London’s Gatwick International Airport taking Delta customers across the Atlantic for the first time. The departure from what was then known as Original poster for Delta’s London inauguralHartsfield Atlanta International Airport marked a significant milestone in the growth of the airline, the city of Atlanta, and what is now the world’s largest airport. 9309@http://planenews.com Airlines 2008-04-30T22:36:51-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9297 By Robert Mark (www.jetwhine.com): AOPA ran a Town Hall meeting in Chicago the other night and Phil Boyer asked the group a penetrating question. How do we convince more people to learn to fly? Despite being a flight instructor and a communicator all my life, I didn’t have a good answer. Phil was nice enough to find me at the end of the evening and tell me he’s a Jetwhine reader which was quite the compliment. Now I felt really motivated to give him an answer to his pilot population expansion question, but my mind was simply a blank. After a trip I took this weekend though, I think I might have one of the many right answers to Phil’s question. 9297@http://planenews.com Aviation News 2008-04-30T15:46:55-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9285 Russia and Ukraine have agreed to integrate the former country’s United Aircraft Building Corporation (UABC) and Ukrainian aircraft makers, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko said following today’s meeting of the two countries’ economic cooperation committee. 9285@http://planenews.com Business 2008-04-28T13:54:25-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9278 EVERETT, Wash.: Boeing [NYSE:BA] moved the 787 Dreamliner static test airframe from its Final Assembly facility in Everett to its structural test rig this evening. The test rig is located only 1,000 feet away from Final Assembly at the Everett factory. 9278@http://planenews.com Engineering 2008-04-27T13:47:41-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9273 Deregulation was suppose to benefit the flying public. It did for a while but unfortunately the negative side of human nature quickly reared its ughly head and airlines started to pop up all over the place. In a mad dash to make a buck management people, who did not know anything about running an airline, started cutting corners where ever possible to increase their profits. Their blind lust for every cent found and pocketed has lead to the "Follow me off the cliff" mentality. The worse example of this mentality is the outsourcing of aircraft maintenance. 9273@http://planenews.com Airlines 2008-04-27T12:47:44-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9261 By Robert Mark on April 23rd, 2008 - www.jetwhine.com  Posting anonymous comments to a blog could be on its way out of the social media spectrum if some recent legal action is found to have any teeth. Aviation International News reported last night that aircraft builder Eclipse Aviation had subpoenaed Google in an attempt to uncover contact information for a number of anonymous blog posters to the Eclipse Critic blog hosted by the the online giant. Since its inception a few years ago, the Eclipse Critic blog has been, well … upset at what posters see as insincerity at best by Eclipse and at worst downright fabrications about the shortcomings of the company’s only product, the Eclipse 500 Very Light Jet. 9261@http://planenews.com Politics 2008-04-23T17:52:23-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9257 DHAKA, Bangladesh: Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Boeing [NYSE: BA] today announced the airline's order for four 777-300ER (Extended Range) and four 787-8 Dreamliner airplanes at a signing ceremony in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. 9257@http://planenews.com Business 2008-04-22T21:26:45-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9235 HOUSTON: NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, the first female commander of the International Space Station, returned to Earth at approximately 4:30 a.m. EDT Saturday, ending a mission during which she conducted five spacewalks and set a new record in American spaceflight. 9235@http://planenews.com Space 2008-04-19T14:22:48-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9234 By Scott Spangler (www.jetwhine.com): When talking to him for a previous post, Ercoupe is Affordable Solution to School’s Sport Pilot Needs, Mitch Williams said he had several private pilots with the desire and necessary 150 flight hours who wanted to become sport pilot instructors. Williams said only one thing kept them from joining the teaching staff: 9234@http://planenews.com FAA 2008-04-19T13:03:38-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9233 by Robert P. Mark (www.jetwhine.com):The withdrawal of US Airways from the Air Line Pilots Association yesterday should be recognized as more than simply a disgruntled group of aviators in search of someone to plead their case about integrating an airline seniority list. 9233@http://planenews.com Airlines 2008-04-19T12:57:25-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9229 Continental Airlines Inc. said Thursday that soaring fuel costs pushed it to a loss for the first quarter, and it plans to retrench by mothballing planes and reducing flights. 9229@http://planenews.com Airlines 2008-04-18T13:17:46-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9228 Under fire for lapses in oversight of airline safety, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration defended yesterday its close cooperation with airlines. 9228@http://planenews.com FAA 2008-04-18T13:16:30-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9219 WASHINGTON: NASA has completed the first full-scale rocket motor test for the Constellation Program's Orion spacecraft, a test of a solid rocket that will be used to jettison the craft's launch abort system. 9219@http://planenews.com Orion 2008-04-16T15:35:19-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9217 Crew error and fatigue by the captain probably caused a jet to skid off a runway at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport during a snowstorm last year, a federal board ruled Tuesday. 9217@http://planenews.com NTSB 2008-04-16T12:52:29-04:00 http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9216 Four passengers have filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines, saying the company broke its contract with travelers by carrying them on planes that missed safety inspections over a period of about six years. 9216@http://planenews.com Law and Rights 2008-04-16T12:51:20-04:00