October 29, 2010 – 6:08 pm
A Senate inquiry into airline flight crew training and standards in Australia has turned into a last ditch stand by ‘the old Qantas’ culture of life time highly experienced company pilots against ‘the new’ Jetstar culture of low experience short term piloting ‘solutions’. The Qantas Group had already completed a major and detailed rebuttal of [...]
October 29, 2010 – 2:26 pm
Sorry to have to break the bad news, but the rumour about a 787 Dreamliner attending the Qantas 90th anniversary celebrations on November 16 is untrue. Word is that Qantas did ask for such a visit, but has been told none is available. Besides, the ones that might have been available, but for the odd [...]
October 28, 2010 – 9:40 pm
The major pilot union in Australia has urged a Senate inquiry to recommend actions to reverse what it argues is a dangerous degradation of pilot training and airline safety standards by low cost carriers. The submission, which addresses each of the terms of of the inquiry into pilot training and safety standards set up on [...]
October 27, 2010 – 10:19 am
The rude mechanics and evil management stooges at Qantas are at it again at Qantaslink, this time with folded boarding passes and paddle pop sticks. They really are. (For overseas readers, a paddle pop stick is normally stuck into a frozen confectionery, see exhibit B and lower inset). According to the Australian Licenced Aircraft Engineers [...]
October 25, 2010 – 2:36 pm
The rocket riders gathered at Spaceport America, New Mexico, on Saturday for the dedication of the runway from which Virgin Galactic plans to begin sub orbital flights in 9-18 months time. The pterodactyl like ‘beautiful beasts’ that Richard Branson refers to in the YouTube below are the White Knight 2 lifter and Spaceship 2 rocket [...]
October 25, 2010 – 1:48 pm
Serious deficiencies in Qantaslink are understood to have been drawn to the attention of the forthcoming Senate Inquiry into pilot training and standards. Three incidents are involved. The 3.6 g hard landing of a Qantaslink 717 of a Darwin on February 7, 2008 which required the substantial reconstruction of part of the jet The near [...]
October 22, 2010 – 7:16 pm
Australia’s largest pilot union has warned that the indifference of airline managements and young pilots to training standards and experience is dragging down safety from its previously high level in this country. It has sent a Statement of Concern on Diminishing Flight Standards to senators in advance of the impending Senate Inquiry into these matters. [...]
October 20, 2010 – 7:57 pm
Two very different developments in Europe should lead to some deep thinking among Defence and Foreign Affairs advisers in Canberra. The first is the consequences for the Joint Strike Fighter or F-35 from the cuts to military spending announced in the UK last night. An analysis by Bill Sweetman on the Aviation Week Ares blog [...]
October 19, 2010 – 2:56 pm
A glimpse of the outline of the 828 metres tall Burj Khalifa tower can remind those landing at Dubai airport that this is a city which has made some phenomenal investments in cutting edge design and technology. However near neighbour in the UAE, Abu Dhabi could be about to do something rather more subtle but [...]
October 19, 2010 – 7:57 am
A Canberra resident, Ray Edmondson, has written this report on recent Qantas experiences which certainly reflects other comments made to Plane Talking in recent months. I’ve just experienced a return Canberra –Melbourne flight where in BOTH directions the reading light in my seat didn’t work – and It was apparent, on the return flight, that [...]
