The Week in Brief 25 August 2011

ATR has delivered the first two of its new ATR 72-600 turboprop to launch operator Royal Air Maroc. The -600 obtained EASA certification in May this year. The smaller 42-600 is expected to be certified by the end of the year and to enter service in 2012.

Travel Daily reports that the Tourism Industry Council of NSW is vigorously in favour of a second Sydney Airport, with the body's XO saying that, "A second Sydney airport will provide the marketplace with more competition, lower airfares and greater choice and convenience...". He also believes that another airport will make the city more attractive to LCCs.

Speaking of Sydney Airport, SACL is commencing construction of s $47 million car park this week. The eight-storey building, which will be built by Abigroup Contractors, will hold an additional 2300 cars and be in operation early next year.

BEAK RAST Engineering has acquired Dytecna Asia Pacific and will operate the business from the same Keysborough, VIC, site as BEAK GSE. Dytecna supplied ground power equipment to the aviation industry for many years; and recently branched out into power cable handling solutions.

BITRE numbers released this week show that Rex had the best on-time performance last financial year at 86.2 per cent, followed by Skywest at 85.8 per cent. Qantas was thirs (83.8 per cent), followed by Virgin Australia (79.9 per cent) and QantasLink (78.5 per cent).

Virgin Australia's long-haul tech and cabin crews have voted overwhelmingly in favour of an EBA offered by management. The three-year agreement puts VA in a very diffferent position from its rival Qantas. The contrast in morale between the two camps is much remarked on.

Bristow Helicopters in the UK is using TCAS on some of its newer aircraft. The collision avoidance equipment operates the same as with fixed-wing aircraft, but the rotary industry needs to know if helicopters have sufficient manoeuvring capability to respond effectively to a potential conflict with a fast-moving fixed-wing aircraft.

An official US report has recommended that pilot training include simulator-based upset recovery skills, amongst other recommendations related to training. The report insists that pilots should have strong manual flying skills, even though the aircraft they fly these days are pretty much fully automated. "Pilots should perfect these tasks under conditions as realistically simulated as possible while under the effect of stress that will accompany them."

A Pacific Blue pilot charged after allegedly compromising the safety of his passengers while taking off from Queenstown has chosen a trial by jury. The man, who has interim name suppression, pleads not guilty to an indictable charge of operating a B737 in a manner that caused unnecessary danger to passengers and crew on board, and a summarily-laid charge of operating the aircraft in a careless manner. The alleged incident took place in bad weather and in darkness on 22 June last year. The flight had been scheduled to depart for Sydney at 4.30pm, but it’s alleged the plane didn’t
take off till 5.25pm, 20 minutes past the 5.05pm cut-off in mid-winter. The pilot, who has reportedly been stood down by Pacific Blue since July last year, reappears on 7 October.

The British military aerobatics team, the Red Arrows, lost its No 4 last weekend in a crash near Bournemouth.