50 SKY SHADES - World aviation news

United Kingdom aviation news

Ashley Bryant’s Olympic hopes in doubt after airline loses his pole vaults

The Rio Olympic ambitions of Great Britain’s top decathlete Ashley Bryant could be dashed because his pole vaults failed to arrive in Götzis due to an airline cock-up. The 25-year-old finished the two days of competition in Austria with 8,056 points – an agonising 44 short of the 8,100 required to make it to Rio. The pole vault proved to be the difference as Bryant struggled to...

Plane crushes tow truck

A Vueling flight had to be evacuated when an airplane crashed into a tow truck that was guiding it away from the terminal.  The Airbus 320 bound for Barcelona was full of passengers when the incident happened on May 28 (local time) at Manchester Airport. It was thought that a pin connecting the tow truck to the plane snapped while the aircraft was still on...

MoD poised to award £2bn Apache deal to Boeing in new blow to UK defence industry

The Ministry of Defence is poised to hand another major deal to a US company, with a £2bn contract for new Apache helicopters set to be awarded to Boeing. Leonardo, the Italian aerospace manufacturer until recently known as Finmeccanica, had been battling to land the deal, which would have seen the refitted helicopters produced at its base in Yeovil, Somerset, where 3,700 staff are e...

How long can Britain's combat aircraft industry fly high for?

The silhouette of one of the British Army’s Apache attack helicopters in the skies over Afghanistan is a reassuring sight for coalition forces on the battlefield. Its ungainly shape projects a menacing power that foes are unlikely to stand up to – if they haven’t already fled at the sound of its approaching rotors. But this symbol of British military power won’t be quite...

Drone flew 30 metres from airliner at Manchester airport

A drone was flown just 30 metres from a Boeing 757 jet near Manchester airport, according to an official near-miss report. The pilot of the airliner “expressed his surprise” after spotting the object shortly after take-off, the UK Airprox Board (UKAB) said. He was turning right at an altitude of 450 metres (1,500ft) – a “critical phase of flight” – wh...

LEA CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY AS PART OF LUXAVIATION JOURNEY

London Executive Aviation (LEA), the UK’s largest business aviation charter operator, is this month celebrating 20 years in business and looking forward to the next stage of its journey as Luxaviation UK, the name change being completed in the coming weeks. Founded in 1996 with a post-war hut in Stapleford, UK and a two-aircraft air taxi service to ferry jockeys between races, founders Pa...

EasyJet flight to Mallorca is diverted due to disruptive passengers

An easyJet  flight from Glasgow to Mallorca had to be diverted because of a disruptive group of passengers, the airline said. The group of 24 people were marched off the plane by police after the jet was diverted to Toulouse, France, on Saturday night. The plane then carried on to the island’s capital, Palma, but the delay meant the return flight could not leave on time and p...

British Airways' Cardiff Maintenance Team Welcomes the Dreamliner

British Airways’ team of expert engineers at Cardiff has welcomed one of the airline’s 16 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft for the first time for planned maintenance. The aircraft recently arrived at British Airways Maintenance Cardiff (BAMC), the airline’s long-haul aircraft heavy maintenance facility in South Wales, for a planned 12 day ‘B’ check, conducted every t...

MEDAIRE shares latest on ZIKA-RELATED travel risks at EBACE

MedAire, the world’s leading provider of medical, travel and safety services for the aviation industry is hosting an educational pop-up session on the Zika virus. Dr. Michael Braida, MedAire Medical Director for Central Europe, will speak about the spread of the Zika virus and its impact on security protocols, regulations and disinsection. The pop-up session will be on Wednesday, 25 May at 1...

Babcock-Lockheed JV awards Airbus 500 million pounds UK contract

Airbus Group SE  said its UK helicopters unit got a 500 million pound ($728 million) contract from Ascent Flight Training Ltd to provide aircraft and support to the UK's Military Flying Training System. The contract from Ascent, a joint venture between Babcock International Group Plc. and Lockheed Martin Corp., is spread over 17 years, Airbus, Europe's largest aerospace compan...

British Airways announces longest long-haul to Santiago, Chile

British Airways is launching the only direct flight between London and Santiago in Chile from January 3, 2017. Santiago will become the airline’s lengthiest long-haul route, taking 14 hours 40 minutes, nearly an hour more than the current longest flight of 13 hours 50 minutes service to Buenos Aires. The four-a-week flight will be served by the airline’s newest aircraft, the four-cabin...

Gama Aviation joint venture with Cotswold Helicopter Centre.

Gama Aviation have entered into an agreement with Cotswold Helicopter Centre (“Cotswold”) to offer training courses to new helicopter pilots at our rotary base in Fairoaks, Surrey. The joint venture will start operating with one helicopter, the innovative Guimbal Cabri G2, with access to the rest of Cotswold’s fleet, further Cabris G2’s, an R44, an Airbus AS350...