CV Thian

AAPA WELCOMES EASING OF RULES ON INFLIGHT ELECTRONIC DEVICES Passengers set to experience greater freedom in choice of personal entertainment Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – The US FAA has announced that it is relaxing previous rules restricting the inflight use of portable electronic devices, such as tablets, smart phones and e-readers. Inflight cellular communications including voice calls and electronic messaging will still be prohibited. In terms of international implications, FAA rules apply to all US registered carriers. International airlines are similarly subject to regulatory oversight by their respective national governments. Individual national regulators will need to make their own evaluations and decide if and when to modify their own requirements in this regard. Airlines are also required to operate in accordance with agreed guidelines, consistent with applicable safety management systems. Mr. Andrew Herdman, Director General of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), commenting on these developments, said, “Airline passengers will certainly welcome more clarity about the use of their personal devices on board aircraft, and the reassurance that it is safe to do so. In an ideal world such requirements would be more or less standardised worldwide. This was a point recognised by the expert group which carried out the evaluation, which indeed recommended that efforts should be made to work with other international stakeholders to harmonise such rules.” Mr. Herdman added, “Passengers want a consistent flying experience, but given the number of individual regulators involved worldwide it will take some time to implement the necessary changes. Asian airlines will certainly be encouraging governments to agree on harmonised global standards, preferably on a multilateral basis working through he International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).” http://goo.gl/Tn3ewH

Hey guys, it was a great pleasure meeting the Mwingers who were at KLIA today. I managed to record a short video of V8-DLA taxiing in. Enjoy!

Flight Safety Foundation Statement on Approaches to SFO Due to recent events at San Francisco International Airport, the FAA has instituted additional landing guidelines for foreign carriers. FSF is concerned that the FAA is singling out foreign carriers unnecessarily due to an increased number of go-arounds. This increase is not reason enough to implement these new guidelines. A go-around is a standard operating procedure to be used as a result of an unstabilized approach and should not be used to single out foreign air carrier pilots. This can set a precedent to single out these pilots for performing a necessary risk-mitigation strategy. If the FAA believes that additional landing guidelines are necessary at a certain airport, than those guidelines should apply to all airlines, not just foreign carriers. http://flightsafety.org/blog/fsf-statement-on-approaches-to-sfo

Whether its the crew's decision to go-around or an ATC induced go-around, standard procedures have been adhered to by executing a missed approach when the runway is occupied. Crew have been trained for this many times and it is nothing unusual. No doubt it can cause some worries to passengers as well as inconveniences due to delays but safety is and should be the number one priority for airlines.

Indeed, in the past 5 years there have been 7 MA60 accidents, 4 of which resulted in hull-losses. Another fact to note is 6 of these accidents took place in ASEAN (2x Philippines, 2x Indonesia, 2x Myanmar) and the other in Bolivia. Specific details on each accident can be found here: http://aviation-safety.net/database/dblist.php?Type=511

From the AV herald: Accident: Merpati MA60 at Kupang on Jun 10th 2013, landed short of runway and broke up A Merpati Nusantara Airlines Xian MA-60, registration PK-MZO performing flight MZ-6517 from Bajawa to Kupang (Indonesia) with 46 passengers and 4 crew, touched down short of Kupang's runway 07 at 09:40L (01:40Z), sheared off all landing gear, the propellers and engines contacted ground causing the wing to break apart and tilt. The aircraft came to a stop with the fuselage broken up in two parts just past the western threshold of the runway (07). One passenger was taken to a hospital with injuries. http://avherald.com/h?article=46399869&opt=0 Sorry! Just realised this link has been posted by member Mulyadir Fitri in post #7

The AV Herald has picked this up: Incident: Malaysia B734 at Medan on May 18th 2013, approached wrong airport http://avherald.com/h?article=4629f832&opt=0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgMI0xJbtjE

Port side from front 1 Cristiano Ronaldo 2 Wayne Rooney 3 Alan Smith 4 Ruud van Nistelrooy Starboard side from front 1 Park Ji Sung 2 Alex Ferguson 3 Rio Ferdinand

In related news: Jetstar CEO Bruce Buchanan departs the airline and joins Vanessa Megan Announced 22 May 2012 Vanessa Megan, an Australian organic skincare company, is thrilled to welcome Bruce Buchanan, Group Chief Executive Officer of Jetstar, into the fold. As one of the youngest and most revered CEO’s in Australia today, Bruce will bring a wealth of business experience to Vanessa Megan and will make a major and positive impact on its future. Vanessa Megan has spent the past six months on the product’s readiness to launch into key markets in Asia including China, Korea, Hong Kong and Japan. Bruce’s experience at Jetstar, successfully taking an Australian business into the Pan-Asian region will be invaluable for Vanessa Megan in taking this great Australian product to the world. “I am excited to be able to help another business, Vanessa Megan, realise its potential through-out Asia. I have used the product over the last twelve months and have fallen in love with the product and brand. When I drink wine (a hazard of building a business involving many partners) I can react with a rash around my eyes, which I used to treat with a steroid cream – I have now happily replaced this with the natural eye cream from Vanessa Megan. I know that once you have the opportunity to try Vanessa Megan, you will also fall in love with this product and brand. It’s a fantastic business that I am very proud to be part of”, said Bruce. “Having spent significant time in Asia, I recognize the wonderful opportunity Australia has to fulfill a strong demand for a clean and green product. Australia is quite unique in the way it is perceived around the world and Vanessa Megan has tremendous potential to meet the needs of an increased awareness by consumers about the benefits of using products from a pure environment like ours” added Bruce. Vanessa Megan produces skincare for Women, Men, Home, Pregnancy & Baby with currently 56 lines in the range. The products are manufactured by hand in Sydney, Australia using only natural and organic ingredients sourced from Australia (wherever possible). It is a premium skincare range, appealing to women and men who are accustomed to buying high end department store brands but who now want products they know are also completely safe. Vanessa Megan is organic food for skin, built on the belief that you ‘should never put anything on your skin you wouldn’t eat’ – as the skin is the body’s largest organ and will absorb anything you put on it into the bloodstream so should be safe. Vanessa Megan believes skincare must be beautiful, must be natural and absolutely must work. The range is presented in amber glass bottles for shelf-life longevity, recyclability and beauty. Vanessa Megan is organic food for your skin. Recently Bruce and his wife Elizabeth Buchanan invested in the business to take a 50% ownership in partnership with Vanessa Gray who began developing the range more than 12 years ago. www.vanessamegan.com

22 May 2012 THAI president hits back after being dumped Thai Airways International has fired Piyasvasti Amranand as president of the national carrier. Board chairman Ampon Kittiampon said the reason it discharged Piyasvasti was his lack of ''unity in communication'' with the board and failure to push ahead some of the airline's projects. Piyasvasti, quoted by local media, said the board had the right to end his employment "but it must explain why clearly to the public". He said it was also possible that his firing resulted from someone who wanted his position, from his investigations into graft at THAI, and from his punishment of corrupt THAI staff "who might have sought help from some powerful figures". He pointed out that he had brought THAI back from a loss of more than 20 billion baht to profits in two years. Piyasvasti said that in his two years and seven months in office, he had organised a huge aircraft acquisition programme to improve the airline that had suffered from old planes. http://www.travelmol...news_id=2001549

I was taking a flight out to Melbourne in T2 (Qantas Domestic) so I snapped a few shots!

I was flying out of T1 (Qantas Domestic) on Saturday so I decided to take a few shots.

8 December 2008 Two killed in San Diego jet crash A US military F-18 fighter jet has crashed into a residential area of San Diego, killing two people on the ground, the city's mayor has said. The San Diego Fire Department described the scene of the crash as "a heavily populated area" near Interstate 805. TV footage showed plumes of white smoke rising from several houses. The Federal Aviation Administration said the jet had crashed as it prepared to land at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and that the pilot had ejected. The crash occurred two miles (3.2km) from the base, it added. Personnel from Air Station Miramar, famous for its role in the movie Top Gun, have been dispatched to the crash site to investigate. The Marine Corps said the jet, a two-seater F/A-18D Hornet, had been on a training mission with only one pilot on board. Mayor Jerry Sanders and a military official sent out their condolences to the families of the victims, whose identities have yet to be released. 'Out of control' FAA spokesman Ian Gregor said the supersonic fighter had gone down in the University City area of San Diego at about 1200 (2000 GMT). Kurt Miller, who lives a few blocks from the crash site, told the BBC he had seen the jet coming in and thought it "seemed a little low". "I did not notice billowing black smoke from the engines or anything, however there were some noticeable fumes, which I originally just thought was exhaust," he said. "I did not realise until about 40 minutes later, on my way back to work, that they jet had actually crashed... barely missing the local high school." Donny James, who was visiting the area, said the jet had "spiralled out of control, just like out of Top Gun" before coming down. He said he was unable to get closer to the scene because two houses were on fire. One was destroyed and another was badly damaged, he added. "Both houses were totally engulfed in flames. I saw a pilot walking around and he was dazed. The police were telling everyone to get out of the way," Mr James told CNN. Debris from the aircraft, including one of its engines, is strewn around the neighbourhood, reports say. Officials have urged anybody who finds any parts to leave them and report them to authorities. Witnesses said the pilot had landed in a tree close to the crash site. He was later taken to Balboa Naval Hospital with injuries, officials said. The BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani in Los Angeles says there have been concerns voiced by local people in the past about the frequency of flights by military aircraft over residential areas in California. Extracted from <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7772344.stm>

Hey Wilson, Jetstar has indeed ceased operations from SYD to KUL since September this year. Their reasoning was to "free up" Airbus A330's in order to serve their Japan routes. As for the 787's, Jetstar does have plans to restart SYD-KUL flights but judging from more delays to the production line at Boeing, it would not happen in the near future.