Aircraft News - Asia / Pacific

AirGuide Business, Sept 8, 2008

Sep 8, 2008

Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority has established a new Flight Training and Testing Office at Sydney Bankstown airport as part of its program to standardise the country's flying training industry. The new office iszone of a number of initiatives announced earlier this year following concerns that flying training standards in the country have slipped. The office will improve the standards of flight testing and approved testing officers across Australia, says CASA. The authority has appointed five fixed-wing examiners to form the core of the office, while the first round of initial issue flight-instructor rating tests have already been conducted.

In addition, a Flight Training and Approved Testing Officer Management Program is being implemented. This will provide professional development support for approved testing officers. Seventeen two-day professional development programs are being held across the country over the next 10 months. The first has already taken place in Sydney. The Flight Training and Testing Office also plans to refine entry control processes for approved testing officers and conduct comprehensive surveillance of approved testing officer activity, says CASA. Sep 4, 2008

Australian aviation regulator the Civil Aviation Safety Authority has made it easier for charter operators to upgrade their fleets by removing the need for operators to make an application when they add new single-engine piston-powered aircraft. Operators will no longer need to apply to CASA to change their air operator's certificate if the aircraft has a maximum take-off weight below 5,700kg (12,550lb), unless the aircraft is equipped for floatplane operations. The move makes it quicker and simpler for small charter operators to add new aircraft, without paying fees to vary their air operator's certificate, says CASA. The move follows prolonged criticism of the bureaucracy involved in upgrading fleets at a time when the country's GA single-engine fleet has an average age of 30 years reported Flight. Sep 2, 2008

Boeing, Mitsubishi Aircraft

Boeing has agreed to provide support in marketing, development and customer service for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' regional jet business, Mitsubishi Heavy said on Thursday. The deal will enable Mitsubishi Aircraft to utilize Boeing's know-how in production of composite fuselages and other areas, Junichi Miyakawa, executive vice president of Mitsubishi Aircraft, told reporters after a news conference. He declined to reveal further details of the contract. "This will be a big boost for our sales activities," said Yosuke Takigawa, senior vice president of Mitsubishi Aircraft. Mitsubishi Heavy had said it would seek the assistance of Boeing in its USD$1 billion Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) project to build Japan's first passenger jet, but it had not revealed details. Mitsubishi Aircraft plans to launch 70- and 90-seat passenger jets in 2013, going head to head with Canada's Bombardier and Brazil's Embraer. Sep 4, 2008

Boeing, Mitsubishi Aircraft

Mitsubishi Aircraft, owned 68 percent by Mitsubishi Heavy, aims to sell 1,000 jets in 20 to 30 years, grabbing one-fifth of expected new demand in a market forecast to roughly quintuple to more than 5,000 planes by 2026. The company has so far received an order for up to 25 MRJs from All Nippon Airways. Takigawa said the company planned to sign a definitive sales agreement with All Nippon soon. Sep 4, 2008

China Airlines, Boeing

A Japanese investigation, into a China Airlines (CAL) Boeing 737-800 that had a fuel tank fire last year, has said it is highly possible CAL maintenance personnel failed to attach a washer to the bolt on the right wing slat and that is why the bolt moved, puncturing the fuel tank. Japan's Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission made the remark in its preliminary report into the CAL 737-800, local registration B-18616, that caught fire on 20 August last year soon after landing at Naha airport on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. The commission disclosed last year that it had found a bolt on the 737-800's right wing slat that had pierced the fuel tank creating a 2-3cm hole. The fuel leaking from the tank then ignited creating a fire that completely destroyed the aircraft and led the 165 people on board to disembark quickly to safety. But until the release of the preliminary report, the reason for the bolt moving had always remained unexplained. The Aircraft and Railway Accidents Investigation Commission says since the incident Boeing has changed the design of the bolt nut to make it larger. Sep 1, 2008

Emric Aviation

India's Emric Aviation is planning to launch a helicopter charter service to cater to the needs of the fast-growing tourism industry in the south Indian state of Kerala. Sep 4, 2008

Hero Motors

Hero Motors, India's largest manufacturer of motorcycles, plans to move into the production of light aircraft as part of a joint venture with an unidentified German company. Its subsidiary Hero Aviation is spearheading the move into the aerospace business, and it hopes to set up the facility at the company's proposed 120Ha (300 acre) aerospace park in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Sep 1, 2008