Volcanic ash posing a threat to flight safety

Sunday 5/22/2011 – Breaking news:

The Grimsvötn volcano began erupting yesterday. It is located underneath the uninhabited Vatnajokull glacier in southeastern Iceland. As it has been sending ash into the skies up to flight level 650 i.e. 65,000 ft or around 20 kilometers or 12 miles.

The European fleets might be grounded due to the spreading of an ash cloud which is forecast to drift over Scotland on Tuesday – May 24, 2011 – and expected to reach France and Spain by Thursday or Friday. Here is an interesting short documentary about how the scientists examine the volcanic ash, and how they determine that it can pose a threat to aircraft.

Watch the video:

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Solid-as-a-rock A380 aircraft struck… by lightning!

It is not uncommon for aircraft to be struck by lightning but this super heavy Emirates Airbus A380 got hit by a jagged bolt of lightning right over the pilot’s seats.

A huge amount of electric energy must have passed through the airframe of the aircraft during its approach at London Heathrow last week. Amazingly the commercial aircraft escaped damage, and nobody was hurt.

Is it any wonder this airplane may sustain such a stress in a clap of thunder? The size and the nature of the A380 airframe seems to be the right solution to such hazards. Thanks to its thick metal structure, the plane behaved as a perfect Faraday cage:

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Charges of forgery in alleged fake pilot licenses

The Indian DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) is getting through a major crisis – following a nose-wheel landing performed by an Indian pilot last January, investigators have found out a string of fraudulent grade sheets since late 2010.

Twenty-nine pilots have been arrested, and twelve other pilots have been held under arrest. However, the vast majority of the Indian pilots – around 8,000 – are deemed to be genuine pilots i.e. officially certified.

Watch the video:

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Extraordinary video at JFK airport – AirFranceA380…jostles…Bombardier CRJ700 while taxiing !

cours anglais aviation Toni Giacoia FCL .055 OACI en ligne à distance

Cours d’anglais aéronautique sur FCL ANGLAIS

This video has become a buzz since yesterday night. The Airbus A380 super-heavy jumbo jet wingtip would have clipped the tail of the CRJ700 according to some reports. The passengers were violently shaken in the cabin of the smaller plane as the Bombadier airplane was instantly pivoted around its yaw axis while… taxiing!!!

Here is the ATC voice communication when the Airbus A380 took out the CRJ700:

 

 

… and here is an – outdated – aeronautical chart to understand what happened and where on JFK International’s tarmac:

 

 

New-York City JFK international airport chart runways October 2016
Carte périmée, NE PAS UTILISER POUR LA NAVIGATION – Outdated chart, DO NOT USE FOR NAVIGATION

 

 

Special thanks to Lady E and Xavier for passing the news on 😉

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Deborah Hersman – NTSB chairman – about what happened on Southwest Airlines B-737

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