The Coronavirus has already killed over 560 people in China and there are now over 7,000 confirmed cases around the world. Cases have been declared in Vietnam, the Philippines, South Korea and now even Australia and the United States. On 30 January 2020, the World Health Organisation declared that the Coronavirus outbreak is now a public health emergency.

At the time of writing (6 February 2020), there have been fifteen confirmed cases of the Coronavirus in Australia. There are currently four in NSW and four in Victoria, whilst there are five in Queensland and two in South Australia. The most recent case being a Chinese national travelling as part of a tour group in Queensland.

Both Australia and New Zealand have now banned travelers from China, with Australia now updating its travel advice to level four signalling that Australians should not travel to China.

What is the Coronavirus?

The Coronavirus outbreak we are experiencing today is a virus that has never been seen before in history. It is being referred to as the Novel Coronavirus (nCoV) as it appears to be a new strain of the Coronavirus family.

The Coronavirus is contagious and many people are wearing face masks to prevent becoming infected.

The virus spreads through both human beings and animals. It can cause diseases such as the common cold but also SARS and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Symptoms of people who are suffering from the Coronavirus include fever, cough, pneumonia, kidney failure and, in the most extreme cases, death.

It’s also known as the ‘Wuhan’ Coronavirus because of the first identified case in Wuhan, China.

What is the impact of the Coronavirus on the aviation industry?

The Coronavirus is having a tremendously negative impact on the aviation industry. Airlines, in particular, is the sector which has arguably been the most badly hit. When SARS broke out in China in 2003, international airlines lost approximately $7 billion. Financial analyst Ivan Su commented that the Coronavirus will “definitely” surpass that figure.

Suspended flights

In North America alone, American Airlines have suspended their flights to and from China until 27 March. United Airlines have done the same thing until 28 March. Delta has also suspended their flights until 20 April. Air Canada, furthermore, has done so until 29 February.

Across Europe, British Airways have suspended their flights until the end of February, as has Turkish Airlines. Qatar Airways have completely suspended their flights until further notice, while Lufthansa has suspended flights to and from Beijing and Shanghai until 28 February.

In Australia, Qantas has completely suspended its Sydney-Beijing and Sydney-Shanghai flights to mainland China from 9 February until 29 March. Qantas announced that this was due to “entry restrictions imposed by countries including Singapore and the United States, which impact the movement of crew who work across the Qantas International network”. The restrictions, Qantas say, “pose significant logistical challenges for rostering crew to operate mainland China services, leading to the need to temporarily suspend these flights”.

Hit to tourism

Furthermore, Chinese travelers contribute a significant amount of money to the aviation and in the tourism industry.

This is especially concerning for the Australian economy, with Chinese visitors contributing up to $20 billion to the national economy each year. Chinese tourists, furthermore, spent around $250 billion internationally in 2017.

Chinese tourism has boosted since the SARS outbreak in 2003, so it’s likely that the financial hit to the aviation sector will be far worse because of the Coronavirus.

Passenger traffic

International passenger traffic fell by around 18.5 per cent in April 2003 due to the SARS outbreak. This will likely be much worse during the 2019-2020 Coronavirus outbreak, with the epidemic hitting as soon as China was preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday season.

This is certainly not surprising given that millions have cancelled their flights due to fear of flying.

Travel plans were cancelled by millions of people in China when Beijing placed several cities on lockdown to ensure the virus did not spread any further than it already had. The impact of this looks even more serious considering that China boasts the world’s second largest civil aviation market (following the United States), generating US$151 billion in revenue in 2019. Air China (AIRYY), China Southern (ZNH) and China Eastern (CEA) are no longer small airlines, with China Southern earning around US$6.2 billion revenue in the third quarter of 2019.

Cathay Pacific announced that it will reduce flights by 30 per cent for a period of about two months. They had did something similar in 2003 when SARS broke out, with daily passengers falling from 33,000 to around 10,000.

Given the strong impact of the Coronavirus on the aviation industry and international travel, it is strongly advised to keep updated on Coronavirus developments so you know how to protect yourself from becoming infected. We recommend readers look at the WHO advice on how to keep yourself safe.

The post The Impact of the Coronavirus on the Aviation Industry appeared first on Avlaw Pty Ltd, trading as Avlaw Aviation Consulting.

In 2019, the BAR Standard was recognised by GASP, which is established by ICAO to target certain safety goals and initiatives in the world of aviation. The BAR Standard is a program developed by not-for-profit organisation Flight Safety Foundation, which sets an internationally recognised standard for the safety of aviation-related activities. You can read more about BARS in our BARS audit blog.

ICAO’s GASP is the organisation’s strategy to support “the prioritisation and continuous improvement of aviation safety”. It works alongside the Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP) to create the framework in which national and regional aviation plans are supposed to evolve. The aim is to ensure uniformity and co-ordination of the efforts to improve global civil aviation. ICAO says that the fundamental aim of GASP is to “continually reduce fatalities, and the risk of fatalities, by guiding the development of a harmonised aviation safety strategy, regional aviation safety plans and national aviation safety plans.”

In it plan for 2020-2002, GASP promotes implementing a state oversight system for each member State. This is a risk-based method of managing safety. The idea is that each member State is to develop its own national aviation safety plan (NASP) to align with the GASP.

How is BARS implemented in ICAO’s Global Aviation Safety Program?

BARS is specifically recognised in GASP’s Target 5.2, which aims to increase the world’s service providers participating in industry assessment programmes that are recognised by ICAO.

Amongst these programs include Airport Council International’s Airport Excellence (APEX) in Safety programme, the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) Standard of Excellence in Safety Management Systems, the the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and – now – the Flight Safety Foundation’s BAR Standard.

The Program recognises “the benefits of these programmes, which have a positive effect on operational safety among service providers”.

BARS is specifically mentioned again in Phase 2 of the Program’s component of developing a safety oversight framework for industry, where BARS is seen to play an important role in improving industry compliance with aviation regulations.

BARS will therefore play an critical part in moving towards GASP’s aspirational safety goal, which is to “achieve and maintain zero fatalities in commercial operations by 2030 and beyond”.

You can download the full 2020-2022 GASP on ICAO’s website.

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On 8 January 2020, an Iranian Tor-M1 missile brought down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, a Ukrainian passenger jet, near Imam Khomeini International Airport in the Islamic Republic of Iran, killing all 176 crew and passengers onboard.

According to the Iranians, the military mistook the passenger jet for a “hostile target” due to the position and posture of the plane. In particular, they say the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps observed the object’s sharp turn toward a sensitive military base in Iranian territory and thought the worst.

The admission from Iran was a striking reversal, with the country first denying any fault and claiming that the Boeing aircraft crashed due to mechanical problems.

What happened to the Ukrainian Airlines plane?

Taking off from Runway 29R at 06:13 on the morning of 8 January, the Ukrainian aircraft commenced its climb to 26,000 feet. It lifted off from the Iranian capital of Tehran at Imam Khomeini International Airport, on route to Boryspil International Airport in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.

The flight was originally delayed (having supposed to have taken off at 05:15), and it was scheduled to land in Kiev at about 08:00 local time.

However, contact with the flight was lost at about 06:18 during the climb.

A recently released video appears to show the moment that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps launched two missiles as the plane was climbing and those two missiles colliding with the aircraft.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for the incident.

Photo by Khamenei.ir.

Iran’s Ministry of Road and Transportation initially claimed that pilot error was responsible, saying that the aircraft burst into flames, one of the engines caught fire and the pilot lost control. Iran released a preliminary report of the incident which said the aircraft changed direction after discovering a technical problem, perhaps trying to return to the airport. However, U.S. intelligence expressed the opinion that a  Russian-built Iranian Tor missile had shot it down based on reconnaissance satellite images.

Iran claimed that the U.S. were lying, but then on 11 January, the Islamic Republic said they shot down the aircraft by “accident” and that the Revolutionary Guard takes “full responsibility”. An officer had made a severe misjudgment by shooting down what he thought was a hostile target.

82 passengers onboard were Iranian, while 11 were Ukrainian, 10 were Swedish, 3 British, 4 Afghan and 3 German. Most passengers had been travelling to Canada via the Ukraine.

What does the Ukrainian Airlines plane crash over Iran mean for aviation?

The downing of the Ukraine Airlines plane shockingly resembles the crash of Malaysia Airlines 17 on 17 July 2014, when a Buk surface-to-air missile fired by pro-Russian separatists shot down a civilian airliner over Ukraine killing all 298 people on board.

Not only was it similar because the plane was a civilian airliner shot down by a missile or because of a Ukrainian element. Importantly, both aviation incidents occurred in a geopolitically charged environment. Only the week prior to the Ukrainian Airlines plane crash, the U.S. had launched drone strikes over Iran killing Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, a highly influential Revolutionary Guard commander.

Since the missile strike, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has banned U.S. carriers from operating over Iraq, Iran and the Gulf of Oman. The waters between Iran and Saudi Arabia are also off limits. Europe’s aviation regulator, the European Aviation Safety Agency, also recommended that EU-based commercial airlines steer clear of Iraqi airspace.

As opposed to 2018’s staggering amount of over 500 deaths as a result of passenger airline crashes, 2019 experienced almost half of that with 283 deaths. While it appeared that 2018 was simply an unlucky year for flying, 2020 is off to a rocky start with the Ukrainian Airlines plane crash over Iran occurring so early into the new decade.

Call for regional accident investigation bureaus

In the wake of the Iranian incident, the Flight Safety Foundation has now called for the establishment of a regionally based aircraft crash investigation team to bring “impartiality and expertise” to aircraft accidents investigations that occur in tense geopolitical situations where “politics, bias and technical inexperience” hamper the quality of investigations.

The Foundation’s general counsel Kenneth Quinn argues that an independent cross-border international accident authority is very much needed. Such an idea could possibly be recommended to the International Civil Aviation Organisation. He said that current accident investigation authorities “are too slow, … too biased and are too inexperienced, and they don’t have enough resources”.

There have indeed already been concerns of whether an unbiased investigation will occur for the Ukrainian Airlines plane crash over Iran. This is especially the case given Iran had initially denied that it shot down the aircraft.

Main photo source: Aero Icarus on Flickr, posted on Wikimedia Commons.

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On 5 August 2019, a Qantas A330-200 almost collided with a Qantas 737-800, when the former was departing for Perth and the latter was en route to arrive from Brisbane on the same runway.

An air traffic controller, who was a trainee, was managing the fights under an instructor’s supervision. Realising that there was not enough space between the two aircraft, he told the 737 to go-around (a standard move whereby a pilot stops landing an aircraft due to unsafe circumstances). The A330 travelled a mere 152 metres below, and 796 metres laterally of, the 737 in a couple of seconds.

The ATSB, Australia’s transport safety bureau, released a preliminary report of the incident on 16 January 2020.

What did the ATSB report uncover about the near-miss at Sydney Airport?

The report found that there was a “loss of separation” between the planes. It happened when both aircraft turned right after the 737 was instructed to do so by the air traffic controller (who had missed an approach procedure).

The controller had been training to hopefully take up a position at Sydney Airport. Unfortunately, his instruction to the 737 to turn was in conflict with the A330’s departure path.

The ATSB’s investigation will look at whether fault over the incident lies with a trainee air traffic controller.

Photo by Maksym Kozlenko. Published on Wikimedia Commons.

The aircraft’s last-resort collision avoidance system was activated as a result of this event. The crew of the A330 then proceeded to adjust the angle of their ascent in an effort to further avoid the 737, who adjusted their course to turn further right in order to complement the A330’s left turning. The 737 and the A330 ascended, with both aircraft reaching safety.

From the A330 taking off to the safe division of the two planes, the entire event took a deceptively short, but intense, amount of time that clocked in at 81 seconds.

Qantas assured in a statement that the planes were “not in danger of colliding” even if they had both maintained their flight paths. This is perhaps because of the anti-collision technology installed in both planes.

However, Avlaw Aviation Consulting founder Ron Bartsch, quoted in the Daily Telegraph, called it a “very serious incident” that “certainly posed a significant risk to all on-board both the aircraft and the densely populated suburb of Mascot over which the incident occurred”.

The ATSB are yet to release a final report of the incident in the conclusion of their investigation.

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Aviation is a dynamic international industry, with thousands of factors affecting the operations of large and small airlines, airports, pilots, flight crew, the International Civil Aviation Organisation and many more players. 2019 in aviation saw large-scale global aviation projects, mergers, business deals, new beginnings, new opportunities and new endings.

Below, we’ll take a look at some of the key events that made their mark in 2019, the year that closed the decade, and the events that formed an integral part of the aviation landscape.

In it for the long haul: Sydney to London and New York flights

In October and November 2019, Australian airline Qantas continued its ‘Project Sunrise’ ventures by launching two of the longest test flights in aviation history.

From 18-20 October, Qantas flew a non-stop 19-hour flight from New to York to Sydney. The experimental journey in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner took off from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport with 50 passengers, who undertook a range of medical tests about a week before commencing the flight. It then safely touched down at Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport.

The plane flew about 16,200 kilometres and landed with about 70 minutes of petrol still remaining. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce called the event a “historic moment for Australian aviation and a really historic moment for world aviation”.

In November 2019, Qantas flight QF7879 broke another record by flying non-stop from London to Sydney (a huge 17,800 kilometres), a journey which lasted just over 19 hours. Taking off at London’s Heathrow Airport on 14 November, it landed in Sydney after experiencing two sunrises. Whilst the service is not available to passengers quite yet, it’s expected to reach a regular schedule by 2022 or 2023.

But work will need to be done in order to ensure that such flights adequately take into account the fatigue levels of pilots, who’ve expressed concerns that flying non-stop for 19 hours poses a great risk to aviation safety.

Just before the year came to a close, Qantas announced that they would select the Airbus A350-1000 (over the rival Boeing B777-200) for its Project Sunrise operations. The Airbus aircraft had indeed been a promising contender. No orders have yet been placed but negotiations over contract terms will soon commence.

Boeing 737 Max 8 Crisis: Inherent Design Flaws with the Max

One of the most talked about events in 2019 was the tragic March 2019 air accident in Ethiopia, when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed near Addis Ababa killing all 157 people on board. The aircraft that crashed was a Boeing 737 Max 8, which was also the model that crashed in the 2018 Lion Air disaster.

Following the Ethiopian disaster, the 737 Max 8 was the subject of a worldwide grounding as scores of airlines took their Max 8s out of the sky. The Chinese aviation regulator ordered the Max 8 to be grounded, as did Australia, Britain, the European Union and, eventually, the United States.

It soon became apparent that the device that looked at least partially responsible for the crashes was the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), a device that acted as an automatic flight control system. It would instruct the aircraft to point downward in circumstances when pilots weren’t given all the proper information.

The 737 Max 8 crisis gave rise to swathe of legal issues, ranging from passenger lawsuits and pilot class actions to shareholder claims and claims from airlines who had placed orders for the aircraft. Court hearings commenced and several investigations were launched into Boeing as well.

Boeing hopes for their Max 8 to fly again by the New Year, but time will tell if this eventuates.

End of the Airbus A380

Airbus announced that they would cease production of the much-loved A380, the largest passenger aircraft in the world. This was a result of disappointing sales levels and global airline Emirates reducing their orders for the beast of an aircraft.

Despite the company’s best efforts, Airbus’ then CEO Tom Enders said that there “no basis” to sustain production with “no substantial A380 backlog”. Large international airlines are now shifting their focus on smaller and lighter wide-body aircraft which operate more efficiently.

Emirates did however finalise a deal at the November 2019 Dubai Air Show to purchase fifty A350-900s from Airbus.

Opening of the Jewel Changi Airport

The most beautiful airport in the world, as it is called by many, stunned the world when Singapore’s Jewel Changi Airport opened in April 2019 after four years of construction.

Photo source: Wikimedia Commons.

The airport features an exterior the shape of a massive donut, framed in steel and glass. Inside is a huge space of 135,700 square metres which connects three of the airport’s four terminals.

What is most amazing about the airport is the 40 metre tall ‘HSBC Rain Vortex’ (pictured), which flows bang in the middle of the Jewel. Some are calling it Earth’s tallest indoor waterfall.

The airport is so beautiful that Singapore was forced to introduce fines of up to AUD$20,577 (or two years in jail) for anybody purchasing airline tickets without intending to fly. People have been purchasing tickets and forging boarding passes just so that they could spend long periods of time in the airport.

Qantas the world’s safest airline

For the effectively seventh year in a row, Qantas took the cake for being the world’s safest airline in 2019. The factors taken into account include audits from aviation authorities, crash records, the age of the airline’s fleet, pilot training, safety culture, financial status and so on. Serious incidents are looked at, but not minor incidents.

The safety ranking was provided by AirlineRatings.com, which closely monitors over 400 airlines around the world and produces an airline safety list. Also making the list of top 20 safest airlines were Air New Zealand, American Airlines, Emirates, Qatar, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, Virgin, Lufthansa and KLM.

Design and construction of new airports

Around the world we are seeing the design and construction of many airports.

In September 2019, we witnessed the opening of China’s “starfish” airport, Beijing Daxing International Airport. This airport cost around AUD$16.5 billion to build and extends to about 700,000 square metres. The airport intends to take some pressure of Beijing’s Capital International Airport, which is the second busiest airport in the world according to the Airport Council.

We also saw the beginning of the construction of a brand new international airport in Peru, right near the legendary Machu Picchu. The construction intends to make Peru’s Sacred Valley more accessible to those who wish to visit. However, the decision to build the airport generated a significant amount of controversy as many believe it would ruin, or even destroy, the surrounding landscape.

Turkey also impressed us with the opening of a new international airport in Istanbul. It’s being called Europe’s largest and most technologically advanced airport and is said to become the world’s largest airport. It spans a massive 760 million square kilometers and has a capacity for 90 million passengers per year. With Turkey being a prime destination for tourists now, it’s no surprise the country is making such a large investment in its airport sector.

Delay of the Boeing 777X but a possible 767X

U.S.-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing was hoping to shine with the release of its Boeing 777X aircraft but setbacks unfortunately meant they had to delay it before unveiling it. Following problems with its GE9X engines and then its fuselage, the aircraft was finally unveiled only to its employees.

It was anticlimactic moment, given that Boeing had a tough 2019 with its focus being on resolving its Max 8 crisis.

But 2019 also saw some details for the potential release of a new Boeing 767, called the ‘767X’. The aircraft would carry much larger GEnx engines and feature new taller landing gear. It will potentially compete with Airbus’ new A321XLR and A330neo, and might be Boeing’s contribution to the ‘middle of the market’.

Aviation Safety

The Aviation Safety Network reported a death count of 283 in 2019, with 20 deadly air accidents. There were fewer amounts of deaths, but more fatal accidents. More than half of air accident deaths was caused by one incident – the Ethiopian Airline crash that was discussed above.

But, the number of aircraft accidents causing deaths did jump up to 20, which is a 30 per cent increase from the five-year average being 14. More than 50 per cent of the accidents that occurred this year also occurred on the North American continent.

Anniversaries

There were some important anniversaries to mark in 2019 in the world of aviation.

2019 marks exactly 100 years of transatlantic flights, with the first being the journey of John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown in June 1919.

They flew a Vickers Vimy bomber aircraft from Newfoundland to Ireland, and were awarded a prize by Winston Churchill (who was the Secretary of State for Air at the time) for crossing the Atlantic Ocean in less than 72 hours.

2019 also marked the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landings. On 20 July, 1969, NASA astronauts landed on the moon providing one small step for man, and one giant leap for mankind.

2019 marked fifty years of Airbus. In May 1969, the government of West Germany and France formed an agreement to build a new airliner (the Airbus A300) that would be Earth’s very first wide-body twin engine airliner. Today, that model has turned out to be one of most popular types of models for airlines.

In 2019, we also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Concorde. The Concorde’s first flight showed the world that supersonic flight was a real possibility.

It’s been a fascinating journey for aviation in 2019. Our staff at Avlaw Aviation Consulting wish all our clients and friends a happy and safe 2020.

The post 2019 in Aviation: Year in Review appeared first on Avlaw Pty Ltd, trading as Avlaw Aviation Consulting.

Believe it or not, turbulence is a quite common occurrence. The simplest definition would be that it represents an irregular motion of air. Meaning, an irregular motion of air in regard to the aeroplane. Once the aeroplane faces different air temperature, different airflow or finds itself in the near proximity of another aeroplane, it can cause slight jolts and shakes of the aircraft.

However, chances of any serious accidents are of an incredibly small-scale. 

Types of Turbulences

Depending on their strength, turbulences can be light, moderate, severe or, very rarely, extreme. They cause changes in the aeroplane’s altitude and passengers can feel the “bumps”. Unsecured objects can fall, so do obey the pilots’ instructions about packing your laptop and other equipment since it can unintentionally harm you or somebody else on the plane.

There are several causes of turbulences according to which we differentiate between four types:

1. Mechanical turbulence: Mountain ranges and buildings are the main causes of this type of turbulence when a plane gets close to them.
2. Thermal turbulence: Temperature changes in the air can cause slight shakes and tumbles of the aircraft. This especially happens during summer when the aeroplane flies over desserts.
3. Wind shear: These are changes in wind direction and speed and they are caused by atmospheric conditions.
4. Thunderstorms: In some cases, thunderstorms can cause turbulences, so that is why pilots fly around them if it is possible.

How Dangerous Are Turbulences?

Nervous fliers may think of the worst, but turbulences are not posing a threat when it comes to the safety of the aeroplanes. Even though these phenomenons are known to cause injuries to passengers, and mostly to flight attendants due to the nature of their jobs. The injuries happen mostly when passengers do not oblige to fasten their seatbelts. In most cases, you only just need to tie your seatbelt and wait until the turbulence passes. 

All pilots know how to navigate the aircraft when turbulence occurs and they often steer a bit of the course to avoid them when possible in hopes of not disturbing the passengers. Aeroplanes are built to withstand much stronger disrupts than typical light turbulence. Though they can be unpleasant, turbulences are just a minor hitch on the “road”.

Before each flight, weather reports are checked and the weather conditions are taken into consideration. Pilots are informed before the takeoff, and they are also maintaining constant communication with other pilots and air traffic controls. 

A Few Turbulence Statistics

According to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), from 2010 until today a very small percentage of people got injured during a flight due to turbulence. For example, in 2013 only 6 persons in total sustained injuries, while only two of them were passengers. Usually, the flight crew is the one who is often injured since they are mostly on their feet during the journey.

Additional relief is that these numbers are minor when looking at the bigger picture. Since the number of fliers is now yearly surpassing a billion passengers, the number of injuries is negligible. 

Follow the Instructions and Fasten Your Seatbelt

What to do went you encounter the dreaded tumbles? Most important thing is to buckle your seatbelt once the message to do so lightens up. The best advice is to actually keep your seatbelt on during the whole flight. That way you will be absolutely secure.

Listen to the flight attendants and oblige their instructions. They want to make sure you are safe, so pack your phone, laptop and secure your things when they tell you to do so.

Additional precautions that you can take if you wish to avoid turbulences is to try to catch a morning flight and to reserve a seat near the aeroplane’s wings.

If you wish to find out more about this phenomenon, read what Avlaw Aviation Consulting founder Ron Bartsch had to say on this topic in this article.

So you might as well relax and enjoy your flight!

The post What Causes Turbulence and How Dangerous It Really Is? appeared first on Avlaw Pty Ltd, trading as Avlaw Aviation Consulting.

Helidecks are platforms for helicopter landings and takeoffs on large ships, cruisers and on oil platforms far away in the oceans. While helipads are located on land. Helipads can also be a part of a bigger heliport, where a bigger number of helicopters can fluctuate. 

Who Is Building Helipads?

It seems that hospitals and private homeowners are the ones who need helipads the most. In the case of emergencies, transporting injured people is much easier and faster than sending out the ambulance vans. In some cases, flying a helicopter is the only way to reach persons who are in need of medical help. Same goes for evacuations during natural disasters.

Hospital helipads are usually built on rooftops for easier access to the building and much-needed help. 

However, hospitals are not the only ones with helipads. Some residential buildings built helipads which can help during fire emergencies and similar events. Some even have helipads for air taxi services. 

Today, more and more people wish to build a helipad on their private property due to easier transportation. Expensive homes which have a helipad in their backyard are a great investment in secluded areas and especially in areas where airports are not close. Neighbour complaints can be the only reason building a helipad would be restricted, but that didn’t stop anybody so far!

Helipads Characteristics

Each helipad needs to be marked according to its purpose. This is not applicable for temporary emergency constructed helipads about which we will talk more later.

Standard helipad marking is a large letter H, which can be easily noticeable from the air. For hospitals, H is painted with red colour and it also has a cross outline in the background. For all other helipads, the letter H is painted white.

Usually, helipads have also painted the maximum gross weight which can be supported. There should also be information about the maximum helicopter dimensions that can be allowed to land. Sometimes there are also painted arrows present which indicate arrival and departure paths. Depending on its purpose, many helipads have also company logos or hospital names indicated next to the helipad.

Besides mandatory markings, helipads need to have lighting installed for nighttime flights which need to be placed according to official recommendations. More recently, pilot-controlled lighting (PCL) is being incorporated. This is a system that allows pilots to control lighting as they seem fit and in a way that will not interfere with their night vision during landings and take-offs. 

Helipads can be constructed in various surroundings for different emergencies. They can even be made out of timbers in wildlife for a temporary landing. 

There are also portable helipads which can come in handy when a helicopter needs to land somewhere without a flat surface, such as hillsides or riverbeds. 

Helipad Construction

Concrete and steel were for years a go-to material when it came to helipad construction. However, aluminium proved itself as a better, lightweight and less corrosive material. Also, no painting of the aluminium helipads is necessary during the span of its lifetime, which makes such helipads much easier to maintain. 

The building of the aluminium helipads is also a much quicker process than constructing steel or concrete ones.  

Another innovation when it comes to helipads is the Deck-Integrated Fire Fighting System (DIFFS). This fire suppression system can extinguish the fire on its own without any human assistance. 

In case you are thinking of building a helipad, contact us and we can guide you from design to commission. Our partnership with Aluminium Offshore brought to us many satisfied customers who are now proud owners of helipads all over Australia. 

The post What Does It take to Build a Helipad? appeared first on Avlaw Pty Ltd, trading as Avlaw Aviation Consulting.

This November, the Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP), the trade union representing pilots employed by Qantas subsidiary Jetstar, successfully applied for a protected action ballot in the Fair Work Commission. The ballot will ask Jetstar pilots whether they want to go on strike.

Members of the pilots’ union are considering ceasing work in the middle of December, right when people have scheduled to fly as part of their Christmas holidays.

Pilots will vote on whether to commence 24-hour stoppages, whether to refuse to work overtime and a range of other types of industrial action. AFAP director Simon Lutton said that this wasn’t “something we take lightly” and that they are “still hopeful” to achieve an outcome that does not involve going on strike.

Why are Jetstar pilots considering industrial action?

Jetstar pilots are planning to go on strike because negotiations over pay rises in their new enterprise agreement have broken down. Jetstar have offered an annual three per cent pay rise, and allege that AFAP’s claim would see ‘pilot costs’ escalate by 15 per cent. Pilots have been bargaining with Jetstar for nearly 12 months.

Planning strikes during Jetstar’s busy Christmas period is no doubt a tactic to place maximum industrial pressure on the airline to concede to the pilots’ claims.

The union says that pilots are dissatisfied that they are paid less than pilots employed by Tiger, Qantas and Virgin. Mr Lutton said that Jetstar pilots are currently the “lowest-paid jet airline pilots” and are “tired of not being valued as highly as their peers at other airlines”.

A representative of Jetstar said that the airline is still committed to negotiating a new agreement with their pilots, “but not at any cost”. The airline claims that it is paying wide-body aircraft captains on average around $323,274 a year.

Possible strikes at Jetstar may cause disruption to Christmas plans.

Pilots are not the only ones planning to go on strike. Baggage handlers employed by Jetstar who are members of the Transport Workers Union also successfully applied for a protected action ballot. They will soon vote in a ballot as to whether they also want to stop work during the Christmas period.

The pilots’ industrial action follows action taken by pilots employed by Tigerair. Those pilots performed a range of actions including slowing down their in-air travel and refusing to start working within 90 minutes of being called in on standby.

When will we know if Jetstar pilots actually take industrial action?

The protected action ballot closes early December. This means that Jetstar’s pilots have until then to vote on whether to take industrial action.

If the ballot succeeds, by law, the pilots must give at least three working days notice to Jetstar of the type of action they will take and when the action will start.

Jetstar and the pilots have scheduled their next bargaining meeting for 29 November, where a resolution may be reached.

The threats of industrial action recently led British Airways to reach a favourable agreement for their pilots. Pilots achieved a 11.5 per cent pay rise for over the next three years, after what was called “one of the most bitter industrial rows” in British Airways’ history. Those pilots had previously taken strike action in September, causing over 2,000 flight cancellations and losses escalating up to €137 million for the airline.

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The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA), the union for aircraft engineers in Australia, is calling for these planes to be grounded pending Qantas’ ability to determine which planes are safe to fly and which planes are not.

The alleged danger stems from cracks in the pickle fork. The pickle fork saga has been occurring since October, when the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration required inspections of some Boeing 737 aircraft after cracks in pickle forks led to aircraft being overhauled in China.

What is a pickle fork?

The pickle fork is a component of an aircraft that attaches the body of the plane to its fuselage/wing structure. It helps manage stress and the forces that bend the connection between the wings and jet body. It’s called a ‘pickle fork’ because it looks like a kitchen utensil. Much more detailed information can be found in Boeing’s patent document.

Photo source: Leeham Co.

It is unusual for pickle forks to have cracks. One former Boeing engineer said that pickle forks are “designed to last more than 90,000 landings and takeoffs without cracking … and there could be dire results if the system fails”. The secretary of ALAEA said that the pickle fork is “a primary structure which takes the load off the wing”. If the system fails, it could “cause loss of control of an aircraft, and Qantas shouldn’t be flying them”.

The first crack on a Qantas plane that was discovered was about one inch long. It was relatively small, but such cracks can expand quickly especially when they come up against aerodynamic forces.

Boeing and Qantas might have found themselves in a pickle.

Qantas announced that they would inspect their fleet, but have not made the announcement that they would ground their Boeing 737 aircraft.

Should pickle fork cracks in Qantas planes have travellers worried?

Qantas stated that it removed the three aircraft where cracks were found and that they would be repaired. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) believed that those steps were enough to take.

The pickle forks are not the only component holding the aircraft to the body. If the crack fully expanded, the wing would not just simply fall off.

The cracking is certainly a problem, but CASA representative Peter Gibson said that there isn’t enough evidence to support grounding Qantas’ entire 737 fleet.

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Project Sunrise is Qantas’ plan to introduce non-stop international flights from the east coast of Australia to as far as London and New York City.

Airbus management says that the Airbus A350-1000 will be ready by the end of 2022, when Project Sunrise is expected to launch.

Airbus A350-1000 has “excellent economics and fuel burn”

An Airbus marketing representative commented that the aircraft has “excellent economics and fuel burn”, and is Airbus’ last offer to the Australian airline.

It features a maximum range of 8,700 nautical miles and has the capacity to carry 375 passengers. Qantas does require an amount larger than 375, although Airbus suggested that “fine-tuning” will remedy any issues.

The A350-1000 plans to have extra fuel capacity compared to the older A350-900 model. The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) will also jump from 316 to 319.

What is noteworthy is that the 8,700 nautical mile range will probably cover the distance between New York and Sydney. But it does not meet the 9,200 nautical mile distance between London and Sydney. Airbus has not mentioned if they plan to introduce any specific changes to meet Project Sunrise’s requirements.

Airbus A350-1000 compared to Boeing 777X

Airbus’ aircraft will be competing against the Boeing 777X for Project Sunrise.

In 2021, Boeing is due to launch the Boeing 777X-9. It seats over 400 passengers and has a range of about 7,660 nautical miles.

The release of the 777X-9 will reportedly allow Qantas to start operating Project Sunrise flights earlier than the expected beginning date of 2022 or 2023.

Despite this, Marisa Lucas-Ugena, from Airbus marketing, said that the A350 is the more suitable option. She claims that it is lighter and saves more on fuel. It is also a brand new design.

Qantas to make its choice in December 2019

The aviation industry awaits Qantas’ final decision on selecting either the Airbus A350-1000 or the Boeing 777X-9 in December 2019 for its long awaited Project Sunrise.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce commented that he knows “Boeing and Airbus have aircraft that can do the job, and we have their best-and-final offers on the table – including a compelling offer from Boeing …”

Qantas, meanwhile, is busy with its research. A ‘research flight’ took off in October (a Boeing 787-9) from New York to Sydney. Totaling 19 hours and 16 minutes, the flight is the next step towards the airline commencing its first official flight.

Main photo by New York-air. Published on Wikimedia Commons.

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