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SP's Aviation - ISSUE No 10-08

Issue Features

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  India Aviation 2008: Brilliant Take-Off
  By Air Marshal (Retd) B.K. Pandey, Hyderabad

  Organised jointly by MOCA and FICCI, with Farnborough International for promotion abroad and the US as a partner, India Aviation 2008 attracted aviation companies the world over.

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  NBAA: Business As Always
  

  Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center opened its doors to the 61st National Business Aviation Association meeting and convention from October 6 to 8. While financial markets and banks may be in disarray, the world’s business aviation economy seem to be unaffected. PHIL NASSKAU reports on the key highlights of this year’s NBAA.

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  Eurojet Will Transfer EJ200 Technology To India
  

  Talking to SP’s, Eurojet’s team comprising Vice President Sales Paul Herrmann, Executive PR and Political Affairs Jessica Schulte and Director Engineering EJ200 LCA Wolfgang Sterr outlines the EJ200’s bid to power India’s LCA Tejas.

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  US Navy-Funded Upgrades For Super Hornet
  

  Dr Vivek Lall, Boeing IDS India Country Head, talks to SP’s Aviation on the company’s strategies and collaborations to capture the Indian market.

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  Code Word Hudia
  By Group Captain (Retd) A.G. Bewoor, Pune

  The then Commanding Officer of 44 Squadron that spearheaded Operation Cactus—the IAF’s airborne assault in the Maldives to rescue President Gayoom in 1988—gives a poignant account of the determination and dare that snatched victory within 24 hours.

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  Typhoon: A Step Forward
  

  First air-to-air refuelling from Airbus A310 MRTT conducted.

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  Honeywell On A High
  

  Wins first production contract for T-HawkT micro air vehicle.

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  Zipping Through Turbulence
  By Group Captain (Retd) Joseph Noronha, Goa

  Constrained by red tape and high taxes, business aviation in India is no cakewalk. However, most operators are optimistic. This, after all, is a sunrise sector.

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  Celebrating: 76 Year of Air Force
  

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  Indo-US Nuclear Deal - Realistically Speaking
  By Air Marshal (Retd) A.K. Trikha, Pune

  Does the 123 deal with the US mean India can never test again? Of course, it can. Testing is its sovereign right. But Delhi must be ready to pay the price. And that would be so irrespective of whether the deal was in place or not. So, what’s all the fuss about?

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  Archie League (1907–1986)
  By Group Captain (Retd) Joseph Noronha, Goa

  At age 22, Archie was officially hired as an ATC. His first control tower was a garden wheelbarrow on which he mounted a beach umbrella to shelter from the sun. In it he carried a beach chair, his lunch, water, a note pad and a pair of signal flags. In winter, a padded flying suit helped keep him snug.

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  A Word from Editor
  By Jayant Baranwal - Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

  Financial expediency makes room for strange bedfellows. So even as arch rivals Jet Airways and Kingfisher engineered a prickly embrace, the former made the conscionable decision to reinstate the 850 employees it had axed. All in all, a Bollywood potboiler.

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  C-to-C Deal Settles BBJ Row
  By Air Marshal (Retd) V.K. Bhatia

  Media reports, especially the ones emanating from across the border in Pakistan, suggest India has yielded to US pressure to allow annual inspection by American technocrats of its Boeing BBJ VIP jets fitted with Special Protection Suits (SPS).

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  Reaching for the Moon
  By Air Marshal (Retd) B.K. Pandey

  On the successful launch of Chandrayaan-1 on October 22, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh hailed India’s space mission to the Moon as a significant step forward in the country’s space programme, describing it as a historic milestone. He congratulated all the scientists associated with this mission for the successful completion of the launch.

• New Lease of Life
  

  Competitors-turnedcohorts Kingfisher and Jet Airways compel public carriers to mull possible betrothals and even mergers to weather the current crisis. The brilliant blue tapestry of clear sky cloaking Hyderabad on October 15 offered sharp contrast to the mix of gloom and despair at the inauguration of the first India Aviation 2008 Exhibition, organised to project and promote the country’s civil aviation sector.

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  Quantum of Solace
  By Air Marshal (Retd) V.K. Bhatia

  Just when the Indian aviation sector seemed to be soaring, global financial calamity and surging crude oil prices conspired to clip its wings. Now, even as airlines scramble to find ways to mitigate the crisis, industry pundits sound a positive note.

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  Missing: Sense & Sensibility
  By Air Marshal (Retd) B.K. Pandey

  Private airlines cannot hope to survive without the prerequisite of sound professional management and financial prudence. October has been a bone-rattling month for the airline industry with events occurring in bewildering succession.