USAir is in serious trouble.

I saw an article yesterday that they may not have enough cash to make it through the winter.

If I remember correctly, the USAF didn’t want the A-10 either. Seems they have come in very handy the last 8 years or so.

An engine problem on a Singapore Airlines A380 superjumbo airliner was a “non-event” in technical terms, the chief executive of the company that built it said yesterday.

Singapore Airlines said the plane carrying 444 passengers from Paris to Singapore was forced to return to the French capital on Sunday when the as-yet unspecified problem was detected two and a half hours into the flight.

The A380 is the world’s largest passenger airliner and Singapore Airlines (SIA) is the first to take delivery of it, having ordered 19 with an option for six more.

Speaking in Paris, Louis Gallois, chief executive of Airbus manufacturer EADS, called the incident “a complete non-event”.

“Engine failure on a four-engine aircraft does happen and nobody should think of it as a drama,” Gallois told journalists. “In technical terms, it is not an event.”

“This airplane would have been able to reach its destination with three engines out of four with no difficulty.”

Singapore Airlines and Rolls-Royce, the British manufacturer of the engines, both said they were investigating.

“We are in the process of examining the problem,” said Singapore Airlines spokesman Jerry Seah, adding that the Paris-Singapore route was being maintained by another Airbus A380.

Singapore Airlines said the A380 could have continued the flight on its three remaining engines.

A spokeswoman for Rolls-Royce said the company was “working closely with Singapore Airlines to investigate the reasons behind the engine error message reported on the flight.”

“The engine has been removed and is currently undergoing detailed investigation,” she said. “The aircraft is being fitted with a replacement engine and will continue in service.”

Airport sources said the plane took off at 12.30 pm (1030 GMT) on Sunday and landed back at Charles de Gaulle airport at 5.39 pm.

The A380 began its first commercial flights from Europe in early June. Singapore Airlines hopes to have 11 A380s in operation by the end of March.

AFP

ALL engine failures on transport category aircraft in actual revenue service are “an event.” Such incidents are monitored very closely and the resultant investigations are the subject of intense interest to airlines, manufacturers, and regulators alike.

Ok…if you didn’t like the other graph I posted, how about this one, which someone else posted on another thread on this forum:

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=163562

This is floating around the internet…..

Nope, the F-104 might achieve those heights, but will not sustain it for long. A trick, not more, in a normal mission without any relevance. What should an F-104 do up there?

I think Schorsch is correct. I have a book on the X-15 program, and it states that the F104 was rarely used as the launch chase aircraft because it could not cruise alongside the B-52 for longer than a few minutes. As mentioned earlier, they usually dropped at around 45,000 feet and the final checkout prior to launch apparently took some time, time which the 104 could not sustain.

The 104 was apparently used frequently for the landing chase due to it’s ability to more closely mimic the X-15 descent than the other airplanes.

No one has mentioned that the reason he can’t get a job is that almost all major world airline pilots are in very strong unions, and their employment is governed by seniority, not ability.

The pilots at large airlines have effectively created a cartel for pilot labor. “Heroes” like the one described in this thread and the oft mentioned Sully chose to participate in the cartel, and it might be argued, for many years benefitted from it. When a pilot becomes a high profile individual post incident, the public becomes aware of some of the negatives of hyper-involvment by the union, but the positives aren’t mentioned in the same articles.

BTW, I’m always very cautious about using the “hero” title with regard to a pilot. To me, the BA pilot was simply another case of a professional doing what he was trained to do….admittedly in this case with very few options. In my experience, the real “heroes” are the ones you never hear about.