Aviation News

READING

Directions: Read the following passage carefully.

Hospitals treated 22 people after the crash, which involved an Indonesian Lion Air plane carrying 101 passengers and seven crew. Reports suggest the plane missed the runway when landing and landed in the ocean. Initial debriefings, witness comments and weather reports have focused attention on the possibility of "wind shear" or a downdraft from storm clouds known as a "microburst". Experts say such violent and unpredictable gusts are rare but can leave even the most modern jet helpless if they are stronger than the plane's ability to fly out of trouble – with the critical moments before landing among the most vulnerable.

"If you have a downdraft which exceeds the performance of the plane, then even if you put on full thrust you will go downhill and you can't climb out," said Hugh Dibley, a former British Airways captain and expert on loss-of-control events.

Photos showed the jet with its fuselage cracked, sitting in water. It has been reported that the Boeing 737 was on a domestic flight from Bandung in West Java.

Lion Air has been expanding rapidly over the last few years.  It started operations in Indonesia in 2000 with just one plane and now is thought to have around 100. It currently serves more than 36 destinations around Indonesia and Asia. The growth of Lion Air matches the growth in the country's aviation sector. But analysts have cautioned that this rapid expansion must be matched with adequate training for pilots, many of whom complain they are overworked and underpaid.

PRONUNCIATION: AH

Directions: Practice Pronouncing this sound by saying the word pairs and example sentences and words from this reading

Word Pairs but-bet, gut-get, touch-tack, us-use

Example sentence: Cut luscious butter.

Examples from this reading: Expansion Aviation Rapid Performance Adequate Attention Ability Vulnerable Treated

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

Directions: Read the following questions and answer each one to the best of your ability.

1. Make a list of the main events.
2. Do you think budget airlines offering opportunities to low-hour pilots is a good or a bad thing?

FOCUS ON GRAMMAR

The simple present is used in 3 cases.

1. General truths: "The sun rises in the east."

2. Habits: "I drink coffee every morning."

3. Conditions: "Today is sunny."

How is the simple present used in the sentence(s) below?

Directions: Identify how the simple_present is used in the sentence(s) below

• It currently serves more than 36 destinations around Indonesia and Asia.

• Reports suggest the plane missed the runway when landing and landed in the ocean.

• If you have a downdraft which exceeds the performance of the plane, then even if you put on full thrust you will go downhill and you can't climb out.

• Experts say such violent and unpredictable gusts are rare but can leave even the most modern jet helpless if they are stronger than the plane's ability to fly out of trouble.

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An American Eagle pilot who police said showed up for a flight out of a Minnesota airport smelling of alcohol was charged with attempting to operate a plane while under the influence.

The pilot, Kolbjorn Jarle Kristiansen, 48, of Raleigh, North Carolina, was charged on Tuesday in a complaint filed at the Hennepin County court in Minneapolis. He was arrested January 4 on a jetway at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport after exiting the cockpit of a plane scheduled to leave for New York, according to a police detective’s statement filed with the complaint.

Airport police had followed him and three other pilots after one officer smelled alcohol as he exited an elevator and the pilots were entering it. Kristiansen admitted that he intended to fly the plane, the detective said.

“There will be an issue as to whether he made any attempt to fly an aircraft,” Kristiansen’s lawyer, Peter Wold, said today in a phone interview. No court appearance has been scheduled, Wold said.

American Eagle is a regional carrier of Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR, which also operates American Airlines.

“The pilot involved in this matter continues to be withheld from service,” Matt Miller, an airline spokesman, said in a statement. “American Eagle has a well-established substance abuse policy that is designed to put the safety of our customers and employees first.”

Kristiansen had a blood-alcohol level of 0.09, or more than twice the limit allowed for commercial pilots under Minnesota law, according to Patrick Hogan, a spokesman for the state’s Metropolitan Airports Commission.

Kristiansen is charged with three counts relating to attempting to operate an aircraft with an alcohol content of 0.04 or more, each punishable by as long as one year in jail and/or a $US3000 fine.

His arrest came less than a year after a JetBlue Airways pilot’s erratic behavior during a New York to Las Vegas flight caused his co-pilot to bar him from the cockpit and have him restrained. The pilot, Clayton Osbon, was released in November after having been found not guilty by reason of insanity of interfering with his flight crew.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-incidents/american-pilot-charged-over-drunkeness-20130410-2hkht.html#ixzz2Q2eMd5ov

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Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN) expects to get approvals to start a budget carrier out of Hong Kong by the end of the year as Australia’s biggest airline seeks to tap travel demand in China with its low-fare unit Jetstar.

Jetstar Hong Kong, set up in partnership with China Eastern Airlines Corp. (670), will focus on flying to secondary Chinese cities, Qantas Chief Executive Officer Alan Joyce said in a Bloomberg Television interview at the Boao Forum in Hainan, southern China on April 7. The airline will have about 18 aircraft, he said.

The first Hong Kong-based budget airline will help Qantas challenge Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. (293) for passengers in the financial hub as Joyce tries to turn around unprofitable international operations. Airlines in China carried 319 million people last year, a number Jetstar had previously predicted would more than double to 800 million by 2020.

“We’ve a successful model with Jetstar out of Singapore going into a lot of secondary cities in China and we think that’s where the focus of this expansion with China will go,” Joyce said. “The scale of such cities are massive, and there is huge population, and a huge potential to get people there.”

No budget carrier has a hub at Hong Kong Airport. Hong Kong Express, an affiliate of Hong Kong Airlines, has said it will convert to a low-cost model. Oasis Hong Kong Airlines Ltd., which operated budget long-haul flights, collapsed in 2008 after racking up losses of about HK$1 billion ($129 million) in less than two years.

Qantas and Singapore Airlines Ltd. (SIA) are among carriers that have started low-fare airlines to tap the boom in air travel amid economic growth in China, India and Southeast Asia. Singapore Airlines started Scoot and is the largest investor in Tiger Airways Holdings Ltd. (TGR)Scoot and Tiger both fly to China.

“China is a very important market for the group,” Joyce said. Qantas has expanded its China operations, he said.

Qantas said in February it reduced losses at its international unit by 65 percent in the six months ended December after dropping unprofitable routes and retiring older planes.

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India’s Jet Airways has voiced “sincere regret” and offered a lengthy public apology to the owner of a pet cat that was run over before boarding a flight from New Delhi to Singapore.

The contrite statement of more than 1000 words was posted on Facebook, explaining the circumstances around the “sad and tragic demise” of the cat called James Dean and promising a review of the airline’s handling of animals.

The feline and its owner were to take a flight on Saturday, but James Dean leapt onto the tarmac and was run over by a vehicle before being loaded on to the plane.

The airline “minutely scrutinised and retraced the entire sequence of events” to ascertain the cause of the incident, according to the statement posted on Wednesday.

After going though closed-circuit camera footage, the airline “inferred that the pet forced itself out of the container by pushing the wire mesh and thereby creating a gap for it to come free”.

“By the time our teams arrived at the accident site, the pet had passed away,” said the airline, which added that it is trying to contact the owner personally to express its sorrow.

The distraught owner, who cancelled her flight, wanted to be taken to the accident site but security restrictions meant she had to make do with CCTV footage of the entire incident, the statement said.

“We wish to assure all our guests and animal lovers, that we have always benchmarked processes with international best practices and follow global handling procedures,” said the airline.

“The demise of James Dean is indeed sad and tragic.”

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/airline-apologises-after-cat-run-over-20130401-2h27y.html#ixzz2PEBm9bbz

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