AVIATION MEGAFORCE

  The Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) has put in place all the necessary logistics for the US FAA Category one re- assessment of the Nigerian aviation industry. NAMA had before now identified every open item that needed to be closed as part of its safety measures in the provision of air navigation services. The agency will use the ongoing re-assessment to ascertain its status as one of the leading air navigation service providers in the world. The managing director of the agency, Engr. Ibrahim Abdulsalam remarked that NAMA‘s huge investment in new technologies and technical     competence of personnel will definitely contribute to the expected sustenance of FAA CAT-1 status for the country.        

      Airspace managers at the nation's airports have been charged to sustain the current drive for high quality air navigation service delivery to airlines inline with the transformation agenda of the federal government. The managing director of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA),Engr.Ibrahim Abdulsalam,made the charge on Thursday in Ilorin, Kwara State at the quarterly meeting of the airspace managers from 26 airports  across the country. The NAMA boss told the managers that the agency as an air navigation service provider in the West African sub- region ,could not afford to lack behind  in the provision of quality services if the agency must be relevant in the 21st century. Engr.Abdulsalam stressed that the management  would do everything possible  to ensure that most of the glaring operational challenges at the various stations  are  tackled systematically to enhance effective operations. He assured the ai...

The race is now on to find the flight data and cockpit voice recorders from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 after an analysis of satellite data determined the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 "ended in the southern Indian Ocean," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Monday. Bad weather is hampering the search for the wreckage of the aircraft but the U.S. has sent specialized gear to hunt for the signals that should still be emanating from the devices, which will hold the key to why the aircraft went down. The batteries that supply power to the transmitters will likely only last another week or so. So far, it's anyone's guess why the Boeing 777 went dark, did a U-turn and flew seven hours before it's now presumed to have gone down far from any sort of landing opportunity. The U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch and Inmarsat, the satellite company, used a type of analysis never used before to perform further calculations on the available data and co...

Friday, March 21, 05:30 PM MYT +0800 Malaysia Airlines MH370 Flight Incident - MH370 Press Briefing by Hishammuddin Hussein, Minister of Defence and Acting Minister of Transport Introductory statement Malaysia continues to work on the diplomatic, technical and logistical challenges involved in the search for MH370. We are still awaiting information from the Australian search and rescue operation as to whether the objects shown in the satellite images released by Australia yesterday are indeed related to MH370. In the meantime, we are continuing search and rescue operations in the rest of the southern and northern corridors. I will now give you a brief operational update. 1.    Operational update Search efforts southwest of Perth continue, and the Australian authorities are intensifying their efforts in the area. HMAS Success is due to reach the vicinity of the objects tomorrow. China has deployed 5 ships and 3 ship-borne helicopters, which are currently hea...

  Search aircraft are investigating two objects floating in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia that could be debris from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, officials said on Thursday. Australian officials said the objects were spotted by satellite in one of the remotest parts of the globe, around 2,500 km (1,500 miles) southwest of Perth in the vast oceans between Australia, southern Africa and Antarctica. The larger of the objects measured up to 24 metres (78 ft), and appeared to be awash over water several thousand metres deep, they said. "It's credible enough to divert the research to this area on the basis it provides a promising lead to what might be wreckage from the debris field," Royal Australian Air Force Air Commodore John McGarry told a news conference in Canberra. No confirmed wreckage from the Boeing 777 has been found since it vanished from air traffic control screens off Malaysia's east coast early on March 8, less than an hour after taking...

  Satellites have captured images of several large objects in the ocean south-west of Perth; Australian and US aircraft deployed to locate the debris have returned to Perth without spotting debris; If Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 did crash into the ocean, the recovery option could take years.   (0)        

  Hishammuddin, Malaysia's public face of the search efforts, has repeatedly said that little is likely to be established about the mysterious flight until the plane is found. But in the Indian Ocean, where Australia and Indonesia have taken the lead in the hunt, some of the depths that searchers are dealing with are significant. The Bay of Bengal, for example, which lies between Myanmar and India, has depths of between about 4,000 and 7,000 meters (13,000 feet and 23,000 feet), according to McCallum. Wreckage and bodies of passengers from Air France Flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, were found at depths of around 12,000 feet by unmanned submarines. It took four searches over the course of nearly two years to locate the bulk of the wreckage and the majority of the bodies of the 228 people on board Flight 447. It took even longer to establish the cause of the disaster. Right now, authorities don't even know for sure if the missing Malaysian ...

Turkish Airlines allegedly ships arms to Nigeria, tape reveals   Istanbul (AFP)  — Turkish Airlines allegedly shipped weapons to unknown groups in Nigeria, which has been ravaged by violence between the army and Boko Haram militants, a new incriminating phone call revealed on Tuesday. The leaked conversation is the latest blow to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been hit by a corruption probe ensnaring his key allies and a widening phone-tapping scandal. In a tape posted on YouTube, Mehmet Karatas, an assistant executive of the airline, allegedly tells Mustafa Varank, an advisor to Erdogan, that he feels guilty over national flag carrier's arms shipment to Nigeria. "I do not know whether these (weapons) will kill Muslims or Christians. I feel sinful," Karatas is allegedly heard saying. The leaked call has the potential to harm the airline's image -- which is 49 percent state-owned and is in an aggressive push to become a global player. It is t...

. Two-thirds of the 239 people on board the flight are Chinese and their loved ones feel they are not being given the full story by Malaysian officials. According to the Malay Mail Online Wen Wancheng, whose son is missing, said: "Relatives are very unsatisfied. So you hear them saying 'hunger strike'." He added: "Now we have no news, and everyone is understandably worried. The relatives say they will go to the [Malaysian] embassy to find the ambassador.                                                               "The Malaysian ambassador should be presenting himself here, but he's not."

  Written by Lena Yang                         To celebrate Skymark’s first flights with ten new Airbus A330-300s, the airline has introduced a temporary royal blue miniskirt stewardess uniform–that’s right, a miniskirt. This new uniform will be worn by female crew members for six months, starting on May 31st. But it’s been far from celebratory thus far. The airline’s been criticized since the donning of this new attire, which “barely covers” flight attendants and may instigate sexual harassment. The Japan Federal of Cabin Attendants argues that the miniskirt is too short to be practical . As the pictures show, the new uniform is pretty short even when the attendants are standing. Part of their job requires stretching up and bending  down, which will make the skirt even shorter as it rides up. This may interfere with their duties as they’re consta...

    by Ben Sclair -Specific Daylight Time    The Wings Club and International Aviation Women’s Association (IAWA) will honor Bob Hoover with the fifth annual Outstanding Aviator Award. Created to recognize pilots whose actions have made major contributions to aviation and/or security and serve as leadership role models, the presentation of this year’s award will take place at The Wings Club’s Annual Meeting, to be held on the evening of Wednesday, March 26, at The Yale Club in New York City. Hoover will accept the award remotely from his home in California. Hoover is considered one of the founding fathers of modern aerobatics, having thrilled millions of men, women and children over the past five decades with his acrobatic flying maneuvers. Additionally, he has flown over 300 types of aircraft and flight tested or flown nearly every kind of fighter aircraft. Referred to as “The Pilots’ Pilot,” Hoover was a fighter pilot during World War II. After flying 58...

  (155)   By Clive Williams <iframe id="dcAd-1-3" src="http://ad-apac.doubleclick.net/N6411/adi/onl.smh.news/news;cat=news;ctype=article;cat1=comment;sz=120x50;tile=3;ord=5.9059507E7?" width='120' height='50' scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"> </iframe&g        Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s announcement that the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) and transponder on Flight MH370 were deliberately disabled and the plane diverted towards the southern Indian Ocean or north towards Kazakhstan suggests that one (or both) of the pilots or one (or more) of the passengers was responsible for the loss of the aircraft. It has created hope among relatives of the crew and passengers that survivors could be found somewhere on l...

  By Catherine E. Shoichet , CNN   Tracking Malaysia Air flight 370 STORY HIGHLIGHTS The search area for the plane covers sea and land, including 11 countries The plane's pilots are a main investigation focus Details have emerged about some key moments during the flight (CNN) -- As investigators search for clues to unravel the mystery of where Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went, there were several key developments over the weekend. But major questions still remain. Here's a cheat sheet to help you get up to speed on the latest developments: Where are investigators searching now? The search has expanded to cover large swaths of land and sea , including 11 countries and deep oceans. Where the plane went is anybody's guess. As 26 nations help try to find the missing plane, there's also a process of elimination in which investigators try to piece together where the aircraft isn't. Pakistan said Sunday that the plane ne...