Aerospace Diary

AIN DEFENSE PERSPECTIVE  »  OCTOBER 24, 2014 by    NEELAM MATHEWS The Indian air force fleet of some 200 Sukhoi Su-30MKI combat jets has been grounded after a crash. (Photo: Chris Pocock) October 23, 2014, 1:36 PM The crash of an Indian Air Force ( IAF ) Sukhoi Su-30  MKI  on October 14 has led to the temporary grounding of the entire fleet of some 200 jets. The  IAF ’s safety record is again under scrutiny, with concerns about training and maintenance being voiced unofficially. The aircraft crashed approximately 20 km from Pune airbase, near Mumbai, after both K- 36DM  zero-zero ejection seats inadvertently fired. The pilots survived the ejections. “A Court of Enquiry is in progress and certain specific checks are being conducted on the aircraft,” said a Ministry of Defense (MoD) statement. A senior former  IAF  maintenance officer told  AIN , on condition of anonymity: “It is like...

Aerospace Diary learns Kingfisher Airlines is operating 14 of its aircraft instead of the "holding plan" with 20 aircraft that promised "service integrity". While this is not confirmed, TV Channels are reporting many cancellations today already that points in this direction. One does hope that once again KF is not taking its people for a ride. This is a letter addressed to the founder of KFA by its employees. April 2, 2012 To Dr. Vijay Mallya Honorable chairman Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. Dear Sir, With reference to your mail sent on 1 April, 2012 all the undersigned KFA employees have come to a point where operations have become unsafe due to stress caused by our financial constraints. In the past we have received similar E-mails assuring us that salary would be paid on certain date. However, none of the assurances have been met. The resulted salary payments being overdue for four months has left employees feeling cheated and deceived resulting...