Jet engines are so expensive, because they are getting more and more sophisticated and fuel efficient. Some engines are reliability wonders, have logged between 30 000 hours up to 50 000 hours time on wing without having to visit the engine workshop.(CFM56) They are so reliable, it is very difficult to shut them down, as […]

Landing Gear system is one of the critical subsystems of an aircraft and is often configured along with the aircraft structure because of its substantial influence on the aircraft structural configuration itself. The purpose of the landing gear in an aircraft is to provide a suspension system during taxi, take-off and landing. It is designed […]

A prosecutor in Marseille has said the Germanwings plane may have been deliberately crashed by the co-pilot, with the pilot locked out of the cockpit. How could this situation arise? After 9/11, changes were made to the security of cockpits in an effort to make hijackings more difficult. According to the US Federal Aviation Administration, […]

Photo Credit – Youssef BAL

What is a PDA or TOFA ? What is the safety implication ? Who is responsible to limit their occurrences ? ✈A PDA (Parts Departing from Aircraft), also called TFOA ( Things Falling-Off Aircraft ) is any piece of equipment falling from an aircraft, ranging in size from a simple rivet up to a fan […]

Strategic Lateral Offset Procedures (SLOP)SLOP are approved procedures that allow aircraft to fly on a parallel track to the right of the center line relative to the direction of flight. An aircraft’s use of these procedures does not affect the application of prescribed separation standards. SLOP allows pilots to fly either the centreline, 1NM or […]

Sidesticks are spring-loaded to neutral. When the autopilot is engaged, a solenoid-operated detent stiffens both sidesticks in the neutral position.If the pilot applies a force above a given threshold, the autopilotdisengages and the sidesticks operate under normal artificial feel loadsand sends an input to the computers. The hand grip includes 2 P/Bs: An autopilot disconnect/sidestick […]

To start the engines a sequence of events is required to allow fuel flow, to rotate the engine and to provide ignition energy.During the starting cycle the engine needs to be rotated until the fuel has ignited and the temperature of combustion is sufficient for the engine to rotate without assistance.At this point the engine […]

MAJOR RISK FOR AVIATION: Volcanic ash and impact on aircraft  Over the past twenty years, there have been 80 cases of planes caught in clouds of volcanic particles: the ashes nearly led to the loss of two Boeing 747s, with nearly 500 people on board, and damaged 20 others.  devices, with repair costs reaching hundreds […]

How significant is a simple aircraft equipment/computer reset ? Why reset has become a part of certain AMM (Aircraft Maintenance Manual) procedures ? ✔Though AMM may not tell you, it’s a ‘Reset’, its instructions to ‘Switch OFF/ON’ or ‘Pulling a CB(Circuit Breaker)’ is a form of system reset apart from electrical equipment safety aspect of […]

Bonding is simply the act of joining two electrical conductors together. These may be two wires, a wire and a pipe, or these may be two Equipments. Bonding has to be done by connecting of all the metal parts that are not supposed to be carrying current during normal operations to bringing them to the […]

#Fuel Starvation is the state in which the fuel supply to the engine is interrupted, although there is adequate fuel on board the aircraft. #Fuel starvation and fuel exhaustion share the same possible outcomes: •Engine failure •Forced landing •Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) #The difference is that in the exhaustion case there is no fuel […]

What is a Runway excursion ? What are different types of Runway Excursions ? What are the common contributing Factors ? ✔Runway Excursion is the event in which an aircraft veers off or overruns the runway surface during either takeoff or landing. ✔One of the world’s most common reported event can end up either being […]

The purpose of torque loading is to make sure the correct and efficient clamping together of two surfaces.This prevents #over-stressing, distortion, and shearing of bolts, studs, nuts etc. Torque load_values are normally determined by friction, type of thread, material, lubrication and finish of the surfaces of the fasteners. Before even start to use torque wrench […]

Talk of the Town is Elon Musk backed SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft launches. Now SN11 is getting ready to be Launched using ‘Raptor Engines’, What are these Raptor engines ? ✔The Raptor is a ‘Re-usable’ methalox (methane & liquid oxygen) staged combustion engine that power the SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft. ✔SpaceX Raptor sea-level & SpaceX Raptor vacuum […]

What is an “Ice Ridges Phenomenon” ? How can this affect flying of an aircraft adversely ? ✔We can define the phenomenon as, the build-up of ice ridges on the lower nose fuselage in front of the Pitot probes, that can create airflow perturbations & causes airspeed computed value to be lower than the actual […]

How does Engine Flow simulators work ? How are they promising smart engines with cutting edge technology for power hungry Airframers ? ✔Wind tunnels used to be just fine for airframes, engine flow simulation used to struggle, but with advent of Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), both found a mirror to keep their attributes under check. […]

How ‘Sutter Twist’ saved the Boeing 747 Programme in 1960s ? Why ‘Sutter Twist’ was no more needed for Models Like Boeing B747-8 ? ✔While building the first prototype of B747, Team Lead Joe Sutter & his team members found that the outer section of the wing was bearing too much load. ✔This Load would […]

Today, NTSB said, possibly “metal fatigue” caused the engine of the B777 jet of United Airlines Flight 328 to break apart, spewing parts on suburban Denver on saturday. Was LCF (Low cycle Fatigue) involved in this case ? 👉On 13th Feb 2018, a similar case had happened. One of the ‘United Airlines’ B777-222 aircrafts suffered […]

How an airframe Vibration in the Forward Fuselage area can be isolated to the Nose landing gear wheels ? What preventive maintenance actions help? ✔ Fuselage Vibration can have multiple contributing factors, Nose wheel & tyre assemblies are amid most prominent. ✔ How to isolate , if the vibration is due to MLG or NLG […]

An aircraft’s flight recorders are an invaluable tool for investigators in identifying the factors behind an accident. Recorders usually comprise two individual boxes The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) it provides far more than just the voices of the pilots. In fact, it creates a record of the total audio environment in the cockpit area. This includes crew […]

✔Each aircrash is Unique & reaching till the centre of the Cause during investigation always brings multi-dimensional challenges along. ✔The factors that influence the Aircrash investigation are : 👉 Human Factors Involved. 👉 Photography of the Process. 👉 Witnesses (Direct /indirect). 👉 Records (Operations, Maintenance, Safety, Administrative, Weather Reports). 👉 Material Factors. 👉 Evidence Gathering. […]

The noise of jet airplanes in flight comes from two components: noise from powertrains and aerodynamic noise. THE NOISE OF POWERTRAINS Noise from the rotating parts of the engine (upstream and downstream blowers, compressor and turbine), It’s about : jet noise (combustion noise and internal noise) The jet noise is caused by the generation of […]

Few days back , Etihad Airways got a technical license for ‘GE’s 360 Foam Wash’ for GE90 engines. what is it all about ? How important is it to use the approved wash chemicals ? ✔Using a specially-formulated, proprietary solution, GE’s 360 Foam Wash is an alternative to the water wash method that restores engine […]

The CRAIC CR929 , formerly known as Comac C929, is a planned Long range aircraft by the joint-venture between Chinese Comac & Russian United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) ✈The aircraft will be designed for a capacity of 250-to-320-seats to challenge the Airbus & Boeing. ✈China-Russia Commercial Aircraft International Corporation Limited (CRAIC) 50-50 joint venture was launched […]

Icing can be defined as a form of contamination consisting of a coating of ice on the surface of an object. In aviation, this will consist of the formation of ice on the surface of an aircraft or inside an engine. Icing is characterized by the presence of super cooled water droplets in the air […]

✈A concept enabling globally consistent performance-based 4D trajectory management by sharing & managing trajectory information. ✈TBO will enhance planning and execution of efficient flights, reducing potential conflicts and resolving upcoming network and system demand/capacity imbalances early. ✈It covers ATM processes starting at the point an individual flight is being planned through flight execution to post […]

These tests come just weeks after unblended SAF was successfully used for the first time in engine ground tests on a Trent 1000 engine in Derby, UK. RR says,engines for civil & business jet applications can operate with 100% SAF as a full “drop-in” option. At present, SAF is only certified for blends of up […]

✔SAF is used by blending (50/50 blend) conventional ATF (fossil-based) with Renewable hydrocarbon. ✔They are certified as “Jet-A1” fuel & can be used without any modifications to aircraft/engine. ✔SAF term is preferred by the aviation industry because unlike SAFs, Biofuels are produced from unsustainable biological (plant/animal) resources like palm oil or crops that require deforestation. […]

Thanks to dynamic pressure, the pilots of an airplane know the relative wind: it is the wind experienced by the moving aircraft. You can compare it to the feeling you would have when you put your hand out of the open window of a moving car. Relative wind is essential for pilots to keep the […]

Hard landing & extensive damage to Center fuselage- West Atlantic Boeing 737-400 freighter [G-JMCY] suffered a hard landing at Exeter airport ,EN (UK) at 02:34Z. Cargo could not be offloaded due extensive damage . Freighter was performing a flight NPT-05L from East Midlands to Exeter, (UK). No injuries reported yet. Author – Tanmay PaleiSr. Aircraft […]

Questions without being Judgemental – Today, Indonesia’s transportation ministry Revealed that the ill Fated Sriwijaya Air aircraft didn’t fly for nearly 9 months last year (2020), due to pandemic. ✔The 26 years old jet (MSN27323) got grounded in late March-20 & re-started flying on 19th Dec Non-commercially & flew passengers on 22nd Dec again. ✔So, […]

From the Vault -Lessons Learned from Aircrash Investigation ! ✈On April 17th, 2018, Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 operating as Flight 1380 suffered uncontained engine failure, when a fan blade broke off from it’s turbofan engine on the left side of the jet. ✈The failure threw engine shards/Cowl FOD against the side of the jet causing […]

Below steps are life Saver at the first indication of a stall ( stick shaker, stick pusher, buffet or aural or visual warning) during any flight phases except at lift off. 🛩Autopilot & autothrottle–DisconnectReasoning: While maintaining the attitude of the aircraft, disconnect the autopilot & autothrottle.Manual control is essential to recovery in all situations. 🛩Pitch […]

What is WFD (Widespread fatigue damage) ?How is it keeping Aircraft manufacturer & Airlines always under watch ? ✔WFD in an aircraft structure is known by simultaneous presence of cracks at multiple structural areas that are enough in size & density so that structure will no longer be under damage-tolerance limits & could catastrophically fail. […]

✈The 200-lb ejection seat , with its 3,500 or so parts, is a remarkable piece of technology that not only gets pilots out of a crashing plane but also ensures they survive the experience more or less unscathed. ✈If the pilot ejects above 16,400 feet where oxygen is scarce, sensors on the chair will let […]

After every flight, pilots fill out a form, called a gripe sheet which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems; document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. […]

When you’re in flight-deck, the only thing separating pilots from the minus 56 degrees centigrade and unbreathable, thin air outside is an airplane cockpit windshield. On one side, there’s a warm, pressurized cabin where you can work and on the other, a world that would kill you in minutes if you were exposed to it. […]

An autopilot is a flight control system that allows a pilot to fly an airplane without continuous hands-on control of the airplane. It allows the pilot to focus on higher-order tasks such as navigating, communicating with air traffic control, planning for weather contingencies and rerouting associated with any kind of emergency circumstance.   An autoflight […]