Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia (NKW/FJDG)

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Diego Garcia is the largest and only inhabited island in the British Indian Ocean Territory, usually abbreviated as BIOT, an overseas territory of the United Kingdom.

The tropical footprint-shaped coral atoll, located south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean, is 3,535 km east of Tanzania's coast, 1,796 km south-southwest of the southern tip of India and 4,723 km west-northwest of the west coast of Australia. Diego Garcia lies in the Chagos Archipelago at the southernmost tip of the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge—a vast submarine range in the Indian Ocean, topped by a long chain of coral reefs, atolls, and islands comprising Lakshadweep, Maldives, and the Chagos Archipelago.

The United States Navy operates Naval Support Facility (NSF) Diego Garcia, a large naval ship and submarine support base, military air base, communications and space-tracking facility, and an anchorage for pre-positioned military supplies for regional operations.

History

Originally colonized by the French, Diego Garcia was ceded, along with the rest of the Chagos Archipelago, to the United Kingdom in the Treaty of Paris (1814) at the conclusion of a portion of the Napoleonic Wars. Diego Garcia and the Chagos Archipelago were administered by the colonial government on the island of Mauritius until 1965, when the United Kingdom purchased them from the self-governing government of Mauritius for £3 million, and declared them to be a separate British Overseas Territory.

In 1942 the British established RAF Station Diego Garcia as an advanced flying boat unit. Both Catalina and Sunderland aircraft were flown during the course of World War II in search of Japanese and German submarines and surface raiders. In February 1942 the mission was to protect the small Royal Navy and Royal Air Force base stationed on the island from Japanese attack. The station was closed in 1946.

In the early 1960s, the UK was withdrawing its military presence from the Indian Ocean and agreed to permit the United States to establish a Naval Communication Station on one of its island territories there. The United States requested an unpopulated island belonging to the UK to avoid political difficulties with newly independent countries, and ultimately the UK and United States agreed that Diego Garcia was a suitable location.

Purchase by the United Kingdom

In 1966, the United States and the UK executed an agreement which permits the United States to use the BIOT for defense purposes for 50 years (through December 2016), followed by a 20-year optional extension (to 2036) to which both parties must agree by December 2014.

Arrival of the U.S. Navy

In March 1971, United States Naval construction battalions (Seabees) arrived on Diego Garcia to begin the construction of the Communications Station and an airfield. By 1973, construction of the NAVCOMMSTA was completed.

In the early 1970s, setbacks to United States military capabilities in the region including the fall of Saigon, victory of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, the closure of the Peshawar Air Station listening post in Pakistan and Kagnew Station in Eritrea, the Mayaguez incident, and the build-up of Soviet Naval presence in Aden and a Soviet airbase at Berbera, Somalia, caused the United States to request, and the UK to approve, permission to build a fleet anchorage and enlarged airfield on Diego Garcia.

Following the fall of the Shah of Iran and the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979–1980, the West became concerned with ensuring the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, and the United States received permission for a $400 million expansion of the military facilities on Diego Garcia consisting of two parallel 12,000-foot-long (3,700 m) runways, expansive parking aprons for heavy bombers, 20 new anchorages in the lagoon, a deepwater pier, port facilities for the largest naval vessels in the American or British fleet, aircraft hangars, maintenance buildings and an air terminal, a 213,000 m³ fuel storage area, and billeting and messing facilities for thousands of sailors and support personnel.

In 1977 Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia was established as the senior United States Navy command on the island. At the time the NAVCOMMSTA was the primary tenant, but as new major facilities were completed, most notably the expanded anchorage and mooring area and the extended airfield, other tenants were commissioned.

In 1985 the new port facilities were completed and the USS Saratoga (CV-60) was the first aircraft carrier to tie up.

B52s parking on the apron

The Strategic Air Command began deploying Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers and aerial refueling aircraft to the newly completed airfield facilities in 1987.

Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, B-52G bombers, deployed to the airfield, flew more than 200 17-hour bombing missions over 44 days and dropped more than 730,000,000 kg of bombs on Iraqi forces in Iraq and Kuwait.

Beginning on 7 October 2001, the United States again commenced military operations from Diego Garcia using B-1, B-2, and B-52 bombers to attack enemy targets in Afghanistan following the attacks on New York City and the Pentagon. Combat operations resumed in the spring of 2003 and bombing operations began again, this time against Iraq. Bomber operations ceased from Diego Garcia on 15 August 2006.

Rendition flight refuelling admission

Diego Garcia is rumoured to have been one of the locations of the CIA's black sites. Several groups claim that the military base on Diego Garcia has been used by the United States government for transport of prisoners involved in the controversial extraordinary rendition program, an allegation formally reported to the Council of Europe in 2007. In 2008, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband admitted that two United States extraordinary rendition flights refuelled on Diego Garcia in 2002. No reference was made to whether prisoners were on board the aircraft at the time. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is one of the "high-value detainees" suspected to have been held in Diego Garcia.

ETOPS emergency landing site

Diego Garcia may be identified as an ETOPS (Extended Range Twin Engine Operations) emergency landing site (en-route alternate) for flight planning purposes of commercial airliners. This allows twin-engine commercial aircraft (such as the Airbus A330, Boeing 767 or Boeing 777) to make theoretical non-stop flights between city pairs such as Perth and Dubai (9,013.61 km), Hong Kong and Johannesburg (10,658 km) or Singapore and São Paulo (15,985.41 km), all while maintaining a suitable diversion airport within 180 minutes' flying time with one engine inoperable.

Space Shuttle

The island was one of 33 emergency landing sites worldwide for the NASA Space Shuttle. None of these facilities were ever used throughout the life of the shuttle program.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Garcia

Robinson Crusoe Airfield (- / SCIR)

Flight Planner at SkyVector.com

885m long paved runway heading 14/32

Robinson Crusoe Island (Spanish: Isla Robinson Crusoe), formerly known as Más a Tierra (Closer to Land), is the second largest of the Juan Fernández Islands, situated 670 km (416 mi) west of San Antonio, Chile, in the South Pacific Ocean. It is the most populous of the inhabited islands in the archipelago (the other being Alejandro Selkirk Island), with most of that in the town of San Juan Bautista at Cumberland Bay on the island's north coast.

The island was home to the marooned sailor Alexander Selkirk from 1704 to 1709, and is thought to have inspired novelist Daniel Defoe's fictional Robinson Crusoe in his 1719 novel about the character. To reflect the literary lore associated with the island and to lure tourists, the Chilean government renamed the location Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966.

The main airstrip on the island is near the tip of the island's southwestern peninsula. Two airlines offer weekly flights from Chile which take 1:50  minutes.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe_Island

Flight To the Graveyard

The last -but hopefully not least- flight of a Qantas B767 named 'City of Rockhampton'..

Kegworth Air Disaster

The Kegworth air disaster occurred on 8 January 1989 when British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737-400, crashed onto the embankment of the M1 motorway near Kegworth, Leicestershire, UK. The aircraft was attempting to conduct an emergency landing at East Midlands Airport. Of the 126 people aboard, 47 died and 74, including seven members of the flight crew, sustained serious injuries.

History

The aircraft was a British Midland operated Boeing 737-400, registration G-OBME, on a scheduled flight from London Heathrow Airport to Belfast International Airport, Northern Ireland, having already flown from Heathrow to Belfast and back that day.

Incident

After taking off from Heathrow at 7:52 pm, Flight BD 092 was climbing through 28,300 feet to reach its cruising altitude of 35,000 feet when a blade detached from the fan of the port (left) engine. While the pilots did not know the source of the problem, a pounding noise was suddenly heard, accompanied by severe vibrations. In addition, smoke poured into the cabin through the ventilation system and a burning smell entered the plane. Several passengers sitting near the rear of the plane noticed smoke and sparks coming from the left engine. The flight was diverted to nearby East Midlands Airport at the suggestion of British Midland Airways Operations.

After the initial blade fracture, Captain Kevin Hunt had disengaged the plane's autopilot. When Hunt asked First Officer David McClelland which engine was malfunctioning, McClelland replied: "It's the le... No, the right one". In previous versions of the 737, the left air conditioning pack, fed with compressor bleed air from the left (number 1) engine, supplied air to the flight deck, while the right air conditioning pack, fed from the right (number 2) engine supplied air to the cabin. On the 737-400 this division of air is blurred; the left pack feeds the flight deck but also feeds the aft cabin zone, while the right feeds the forward cabin. The pilots had been used to the older version of the aircraft and did not realise that this aircraft (which had only been flown by British Midland for 520 hours over a two-month period) was different. The smoke in the cabin led them to assume the fault was in the right engine. The pilots throttled back the working right engine instead of the malfunctioning left engine. They had no way of visually checking the engines from the cockpit, and the cabin crew—who did not hear the commander refer to the right hand engine in his cabin address—did not inform them that smoke and flames had been seen from the left engine.

When the pilots completely shut down the right engine, they could no longer smell the smoke, which led them to believe that they had correctly dealt with the problem. As it turned out, this was a coincidence: when the autothrottle was disengaged to shut down the right engine, the fuel flow to the left engine was reduced, and the excess fuel which had been igniting in the jet exhaust disappeared; therefore, the ongoing damage was reduced, the smoke smell ceased, and the vibration reduced, although it would still have been visible on cockpit instruments.

During the final approach to the East Midlands Airport, more fuel was pumped into the damaged engine to maintain speed, which caused it to cease operating entirely and burst into flames. The flight crew attempted to restart the right engine by windmilling, using the air flowing through the engine to rotate the turbine blades and start the engine, but the aircraft was by now flying at 185 km/h, too slow for this. Just before crossing the M1 motorway, the tail struck the ground and the aircraft bounced back into the air and over the motorway, knocking down trees and a lamp post before crashing on the far embankment and breaking into three sections approximately 519yd (1/4-mile or 475 metres) short from the active runway's paved surface and approximately 689yd (1/3-mile or 630 metres) from its threshold. Remarkably, there were no vehicles on that part of the motorway at the moment of the crash.

Casualties

Of the 118 passengers on board, 39 were killed outright in the crash and eight were fatally injured and died later, for a total of 47 fatalities. All eight members of the crew survived the accident. Of the 79 survivors, 74 suffered serious injuries and five suffered minor injuries. No one on the motorway was injured, and all vehicles in the vicinity of the disaster were undamaged. The first person to arrive at the scene to render aid was a motorist—a former Royal Marine who helped passengers for over three hours—who subsequently received damages for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Causes

Shutting down the wrong engine

The Captain, Kevin Hunt, believed the right engine was malfunctioning due to the smell of smoke in the cabin because in previous Boeing 737 variants bleed air for cabin air conditioning was taken from the right engine and also because the right engine fire warning light was flashing. However, starting with the Boeing 737-400 variant, Boeing redesigned the system to use bleed air from both engines. Several cabin staff and passengers noticed that the left engine had a stream of unburnt fuel igniting in the jet exhaust, but this information was not passed to the pilots because cabin staff assumed the pilots were aware that the left engine was malfunctioning.

The smell of smoke disappeared when the autothrottle was disengaged and the right engine shut down due to reduction of fuel to the damaged left engine as it reverted to manual throttle. In the event of a malfunction pilots are trained to check all meters and review all decisions, and Captain Kevin Hunt proceeded to do so. Whilst he was conducting the review, he was interrupted by a transmission from East Midlands Airport informing him he could descend further to 12,000 feet (3,700 m) in preparation for the diverted landing. He did not resume the review after the transmission ended, and instead commenced descent. The vibration indicators were smaller than on the previous versions of the 737 in which the pilots had the majority of their experience.

The dials on the two vibration gauges (one for each engine) were small and the LED needle went around the outside of the dial as opposed to the inside of the dial as in the previous 737 series aircraft. The pilots had received no simulator training on the new model as no simulator for the 737-400 existed in the UK at that time. At the time vibration indicators were known for being unreliable (and normally ignored by pilots) but unknown to the pilots this was one of the first aircraft to have a very accurate vibration readout.

Engine malfunction

Analysis of the engine from the crash determined that the fan blades (LP Stage 1 compressor) of the uprated CFM56 engine used on the 737-400 were subject to abnormal amounts of vibration when operating at high power settings above 25,000 feet (7,600 m). As it was an upgrade to an existing engine, in-flight testing was not mandatory, and the engine had only been tested in the laboratory. Upon this discovery all 99 Boeing 737-400s (since G-OBME had crashed) were grounded and the engines modified. Following the crash, it is now mandatory to test all newly designed and significantly redesigned turbofan engines under representative flight conditions.

This unnoticed vibration created excessive metal fatigue in the fan blades, and on G-OBME this caused one of the fan blades to break off. This damaged the engine terminally and also upset its delicate balance, causing a reduction in power and an increase in vibration. The autothrottle attempted to compensate for this by increasing the fuel flow to the engine. The damaged engine was unable to burn all the additional fuel, with much of it igniting in the exhaust flow, creating a large trail of flame behind the engine.

Aftermath

The official report into the disaster made 31 safety recommendations.

Evaluation of the injuries sustained led to considerable improvements in aircraft safety and emergency instructions for passengers. These were derived from a research programme funded by the CAA and carried out by teams from the University of Nottingham and Hawtal Whiting Structures (a consultancy company). The study between medical staff and engineers used analytical "occupant kinematics" techniques to assess the effectiveness of the brace position. A new notice to operators revising the brace position was issued in October 1993.

There is a memorial to "those who died, those who were injured and those who took part in the rescue operation", in the village cemetery in nearby Kegworth, together with a garden made using soil from the crash site.

Captain Kevin Hunt and First Officer David McClelland

Captain Hunt and First Officer McClelland were seriously injured in the crash, and were later dismissed following the criticisms of their actions in the AAIB report. Hunt suffered injuries to his spine and legs in the crash. In April 1991 he told a BBC documentary: "We were the easy option—the cheap option if you wish. We made a mistake—we both made mistakes—but the question we would like answered is why we made those mistakes." BM later paid McClelland an out-of-court settlement for unfair dismissal.

Alan Webb, the Chief Fire Officer at East Midlands Airport, was awarded an MBE in the 1990 New Year Honours list for the co-ordination of his team in the rescue efforts that followed the crash.

Graham Pearson, a man who assisted Kegworth survivors, sued the airline and was awarded £57,000 in damages in 1998.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegworth_air_disaster

Brace for impact!

To assume a brace or crash position is an instruction that can be given to prepare for a crash, such as on an aircraft; the instruction to brace for impact is often given if the aircraft must make an emergency landing over land or water.

Types of brace positions

There are many different ways to adopt the brace position, with many countries adopting their own version based on research performed by their own aviation authority or that of other countries. There is commonality among all brace positions despite these variations. For a forward seated passenger wearing only a lap belt, common recommendations for the brace position include:

• Placing the head on, or as close as possible to, the surface it is most likely to strike. (For example, the bulkhead or seat in front.)
• Having the passenger lean over to some degree to avoid jackknifing or submarining.
• Placing the feet flat on the floor.

In the United Kingdom, following the Kegworth air disaster in 1989, the UK Civil Aviation Authority contracted an engineering consultancy, Hawtal Whiting Structures, to perform computer based analytical investigation to optimise the brace for impact position for forward-facing passengers. This was supported by medical information from the University of Nottingham and testing at the Institute of Aviation Medicine.

The brace position as set out to airlines in the UK for passengers in forward-facing seats is based on extensive analytical work arising from Kegworth. It is subtly different from that in the United States and some other countries. Passengers should place their feet and knees together with their feet firmly on the floor (either flat or on the balls of their feet) and tucked behind the knees to prevent shins and legs from being broken against the base of the seat in front. They should bend as far forward as possible, resting their head against the seat in front if it is within reach and place their hands on the back of their head, with the hands one on top of another (rather than interlocked). Their elbows should then be brought in. This prevents both flailing of the arms in the crash sequence and protects the head from flying debris. The head should be as far below the top of the seats as possible to prevent injury from any collapsing overhead compartments.

The brace procedure for the forward-facing seat in the United States is similar to that of the UK, but rather than placing the hands on the back of the head, passengers are advised to place them on the top of the seat in front, one hand holding the other wrist and resting the head in the space between the arms. If the seat in front is not within reach then passengers are advised to either grab their ankles or place their hands under their legs and grab the opposite forearm.

Most experts will say that maximum protection for a forward-facing seat is when the passenger is able to pre-position their head on the surface they are likely to impact (e.g., seat back or bulkhead), as the risk of head trauma is significantly reduced during the crash. Reducing head trauma may also help the passenger stay conscious, which is also essential for rapid evacuation after the crash.

Flight attendant brace positions are somewhat different due to the design of aircraft jumpseats. So far, there has been little research into the best brace position for flight attendants, though airlines have adopted positions that are very similar to one another.

In rear-facing seats, the attendant should be sitting with their back and head firmly against the back of the jumpseat, their knees and feet together and slightly in front of or behind the knee (depending on the individual airlines procedures) - commonly referred to as "toes to tail". In European carriers, the hands can be placed behind the head and hands one on top of the other and the elbows brought in to meet, taking care that the forearm does not cover the ear and restrict hearing. This position provides the flight attendant protection to the face from any flying debris (as it will impact their elbows) yet still provides them with the ability to view the cabin and not muffle their commands. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) does not recommend placing the hands behind the neck as their research suggests such actions can cause unnecessary loading on the neck and spine during an impact. Instead, US flight attendants are typically taught to sit on their hands, palms facing the ceiling, underneath their upper legs. Other variations include clasping the hands on the knees or using one arm to "hug" the opposing arm.

For forward-facing jumpseats, the position is exactly the same but with the feet behind the knees, with some airlines requiring flight attendants to tuck their chin in to their chest ("bow to the captain") to reduce the likelihood of whiplash injuries.

There is also a third brace position for flight attendants, and that is the "normal" brace position. This is adopted by the attendant for every take off and landing and provides them with protection from any sudden emergencies and allows them to adopt the full brace position quickly should they need to. The only difference between the normal brace and the full brace position is that the attendants will either fold their arms across their stomach or immobilize them by placing their hands under their thighs with the palms up. This position forms part of every flight attendant's "sixty second review" - a technique being adopted by airlines whereby the attendant will go over various factors in their head during the take-off and landing sequence. Things such as "how do I open my door?", "where is the next nearest exit?", "am I over land or water?" and "what commands will I shout" are just a few of the questions an attendant will ask themselves. The belief is that this mental review focuses the attendant on the safety-critical role they have during take-off and landing and will result in faster decision making and adaptation to the scenario.

Newer brace positions are being adopted by many U.S. airlines in which the flight attendants do not sit on their hands. Instead, they place their hands flat on top of their thighs. This new position is being adopted because in the event of a crash, sitting on hands can cause injury and/or crushing.

Infants

If carrying an infant on a lap, it is generally recommended that above positions should be adopted as best as possible, cradling the child with one arm and using this to also protect the child's head. In the UK, lap children are instructed to wear an infant safety belt which is a separate seat belt with a loop that connects to the parent's belt; however, in the United States such belts are not permitted by FAA regulations. The FAA believes that such baby belts significantly increases the risk of injury to the child. In the early era of commercial aviation, the recommended brace position for children was on the floor against a bulkhead; this has since been amended due to the position's lack of protection. The safest position for an infant is in an aviation certified child safety seat.

Myths

There have been myths surrounding the use of the brace procedure, namely that adopting the brace procedure is only useful for preserving dental integrity for identification after a crash. Another myth is that the position is designed to increase the chance of death to reduce insurance-paid medical cost. Instances where the brace procedure has been adopted have been shown to save lives. In one accident, passengers were asleep on an aircraft that was about to collide with trees. One passenger, out of the sixteen, awoke and adopted the procedure, and he was the only survivor. All passengers aboard Scandinavian Airlines Flight 751, which crashed, survived: an outcome which it has been suggested was largely thanks to the passengers' universal adoption of the brace position.

During the "Miracle on the Hudson" flight on January 15, 2009, there were fewer than three minutes to land U.S. Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River and the only words the passengers heard from the pilot were "Brace for Impact". Flight attendants chanted, "Brace! Brace! Heads down! Stay down!" and all 155 people on board survived with no life-threatening injuries.

Safety cards

Many government aviation administrations or regulatory bodies mandate the depiction of how to adopt the brace position on aircraft safety cards and in-flight safety demonstrations, such as a 1993 ruling by the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (issued in a Notice to Air Operator Certificate Holders 1993) or, for example, in CAO 020.11 (section 14.1.3), issued by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia.

The depiction of how to adopt the brace position is not a basic standard set forth by the International Civil Aviation Organization. While many regulatory bodies have adopted this addition on their own (as noted above), the FAA has not required it on flights to, from, or within the United States.

Planned or unplanned crash landings

In an unexpected emergency on a passenger aircraft where an impact may be possible, cabin crew are trained to recognize such situations (e.g., flight attendants sense that the take-off is not going as usual) and shout commands to passengers, such as "Bend over! Stay down!", "Brace for impact! Prepare for Crash- Landing,Prepare for Crash- Landing! Heads down! Stay down!" or "Brace! Brace!" In a developing emergency, the cabin crew can first give a briefing to passengers on how to properly adopt the brace position. Before the emergency landing, the flight deck usually gives a pre-arranged signal (such as the command, "Brace for impact." over the public announcement system or flashing the fasten seat-belt sign several times), whereupon the cabin crew will shout commands to passengers to adopt the brace position, such as "Brace, Brace! Stay down!" or "Get your heads down, stay down!", Which the cabin crew is required to chant repeatedly in a loud voice until the aircraft comes to a complete stop or they receive an "evacuate" command. Every airline has their own command when commanding passengers to take the brace position.

Kegworth

In the 1989 Boeing 737-400 Kegworth air disaster crash, the pilot was able to announce "Prepare for crash landing" 10 seconds before impact; the resulting injuries—from both those who did and did not adopt the brace position—would later be studied to provide further research on this topic. A CAA-funded engineering–medical joint research team was established, led by Nigel Rock of Hawtal Whiting (HW) Engineering Consultants and Prof Angus Wallace of the Nottingham University Hospital. The team was aided by Wg Cdr David Anton of the Royal Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine. The work used mathematical modelling derived from the automobile industry to analyse the human body under crash conditions. (See "Further reading" below.)

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brace_position

Smooth Operation

KLM Operational Control Centre - the heart of KLM..

..and how it goes with a pretty young but highly motivated crew at Air Baltic:

Cargolux - luxury for your cargo

Wizzair low-pass

Íme a 2014. máj. 1-jei Duna feletti Wizzair-áthúzásról készített videó hosszabb változata.. :)

After V1

Cesar Meloni csodálatos videója egy MD-80-as ill. egy EMB-190-es elemelése utáni pillanatairól.. :)