Alan F.

Looks like the Air Asia 'Bank Rakyat' A320 (9M-AHQ) is on its way TLS-SHJ-KUL - departed today from TLS.....Skyliner.de (Registrations)

Malaysian DCA notice no:66 (came out in 1996) is the directive that requires all registered aircraft (only civil 9M-*** I assume) have the Malaysian flag and the wording 'MALAYSIA' painted both sides of the fuselage, preferably towards the front of the aircraft and in a size appropriate to the size of the aircraft.

A little off-topic, but: According to Malaysian customs regulations, only receivers capable of receiving between 68-87MHz and 108-174MHz are prohibited (I believe most airports have this clearly marked on the customs boards at the arrivals halls). My recollection is Mode-S receives around 1.2GHz. The MCMC department would likely 'ban' the use of the SBS1 even though it is only a receiver!! One other prohibited customs schedule states "all radio communications apparatus capable of being used for telecoms in the freq band below 3000GHz (which covers eveything imaginable) or their motherboards". The SBS1 is not capable of communicating - only receiving. Customs wouldn't even know what an SBS1 is or what it does and judging by its size and weight would easily pass off as a piece of computer gear - it weighs only a few hundred grams and comes with a USB port!! I've spoken to MW's big boss about posting the daily KL area air-traffic from the SBS1 - still working out how best to do it.

According to the SBS1, the C17 was Australian reg A41-208 (Mode-S code: 7CF86B) using callsign ASY793.

The Eurocopter helicopter choice over Sikorsky could be from higher level decisions in various Malaysian Ministries over the fact that GE (General Electric) of US has been returning military aircraft engines that had been sent by Malaysia for overhaul/repair and have been returned un-touched, or as was received. This is inevitably linked to US/Malaysia tit-for-tat press headlines over Anwar and ISA related issues (Condoleeza Rice's intervention perhaps??). Perhaps the 'RM250m sweetener' from Eurocpter clinched the deal - published in NST July 08 (RM250m copter sweetener) If the Nuri replacement should be considered to have been linked to political wrong-doings during the tendering phase, then the recently announced intention to purchase 21 new police helicopters (IGP approves police helicopters) will also be worth watching.

According to this web-site (Skyliner - aviation news) in their 'New Registrations' section 9M-FYC is en-route now (routing at the moment TLS-LCA). Should be here in the next day or so.

A rich woman in the UK is about to splash out around 9 million ringgit for a back seat ride with the Red Arrows. In fact she's paid to take seats in the remaining 8 aircraft too. The money is going to charity, but I'm sure there are people attached to the Reds who could see these 'charity' auctions as a way of helping to fund their expensive annual bill for flying around the world. Red Arrows flights sold for £1.5m The wife of a multi-millionaire ex-miner has paid £1.5m to charity for a chance to fly with the Red Arrows. Julie Heselden, whose husband Jimi founded defence equipment group HESCO Bastion, placed the winning bid for nine seats on the display team. It was the star lot at a ball organised by Help for Heroes, a charity which supports injured service personnel. This was the first time seats with the Lincolnshire-based RAF display team had been put up for auction. Originally just one seat with the Red Arrows was to be auctioned but on the night that was increased to nine - one in each of the display aircraft. A charity spokesman said the bidding went "beyond my wildest dreams" and the money would be used wisely. Former Army officer George Hewson, chairman of the Heroes' Ball committee, said: "I woke up this morning and still couldn't believe it. "We had hoped to raise over £250,000 from the ball but thanks to our sponsors HESCO Bastion and everyone who attended and dug deep into their pockets we raised around £1.65 million. "A fantastic achievement for everyone involved. The Red Arrows bidding went beyond my wildest dreams." Jimi Heselden had worked as a miner before losing his job in a wave of redundancies in the 1980s. But the founder of the Leeds-based company, HESCO, went from strength-to-strength as the firm firstly worked on sand blasting buildings and metal structures. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the firm diversified into manufacturing the bastion wire cages which made Mr Heselden a multi-millionaire. From the company's Cross Green industrial estate base the metal baskets have been used across the globe for military defence work and other projects. Mr Heselden is estimated to be worth £205m and was awarded an OBE in 2006 (article from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lincolnshire/7603779.stm)

MD-82's flaps not extended? Spanish investigators have not confirmed a report which claims that the Spanair Boeing MD-82 which crashed during departure from Madrid Barajas had not been configured for take-off, and that a cockpit alarm did not activate to alert the crew. The report from the Wall Street Journal, citing preliminary analysis of flight-data and cockpit-voice recorder information, says that both Pratt & Whitney JT8D-217 engines on the aircraft were functioning properly - contradicting early suggestions of an engine fire or other powerplant malfunction - but that the MD-82's flaps had not been extended. Flight JK5022 to Las Palmas crashed on 20 August killing 154 of its 172 occupants. Just before take-off the aircraft had undergone rectification of a technical problem affecting an external temperature probe, but investigators have yet to clarify whether this bore any relation to the subsequent events. Spanair states that, although a replacement aircraft was made available as per standard operating practice, the carrier deemed a switch unnecessary, and likely only to delay the flight. While the configuration information remains uncorroborated by official sources, such circumstances have previously been linked with a fatal MD-82 departure accident. The US National Transportation Safety Board determined that the loss of a Northwest Airlines MD-82 at Detroit, almost exactly 21 years before the Spanair crash, was due to the crew's failure to use the taxi checklist to ensure that the flaps and slats were extended prior to the take-off roll. NTSB investigators also found that the central aural warning system, which should have alerted the crew to the unsafe condition, had not activated because electrical power to the system had been interrupted at a circuit-breaker, for undetermined reasons. Coincidentally the 16 August 1987 accident also killed 154 passengers and crew. There was a sole survivor from the jet, and two fatalities on the ground. (from http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/...onfigured.html)

Flight Internationals blog with how the A320 model was installed... Flight Int'l blog

Spotted this new A320 model (9M-AFF) on top of the new Air Asia training academy roof this morning....Tony F could have done something like the Emirates Heathrow A380 model!!!

Dear All Just recently set-up base in KL with a recently purchased Kinetics SBS-1 radar box (customs didn't seem bothered about it when I brought it in!!). Was surprised to catch A380 9V-SKB over the last week, particularly in the early hours of the morning. Those interested can catch a glimpse of some of the tracks at www.openatc.com and entering the tail number at the top of the page. Activity on the SBS-1 isn't as good as expected due to my location on the lower floors of a condo block. Luckily I face south towards KLIA but the north view is blocked. For those of you who haven't heard of the SBS-1 - its just fantastic, providing tail number, type, altitude and speed etc. I'm not sure how legal it is in Malaysia as its receives around 1.2GHz. I've managed to find some interesting links to web-sites which should be of interest to 'spotters' and hopefully aiding them. http://www.klia.com.my/index.php?ch=1&...st=1&nh=400 - Arrivals at KLIA. This url tweak gives a complete days listing instead of the multi-page scrolling required on KLIA's web-site http://www.klia.com.my/index.php?ch=1&...st=1&nh=400 - Departures at KLIA. The following link is interesting on the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission website - http://www.mcmc.gov.my/registers1/aa.asp?aa=AAAero - it lists a considerable amount of aircraft 'tail numbers' and their owners, however, the list is not complete. I can only think it relates to licensing of aircraft radios etc. Keep up the good work Alan