Protest against India’s Kozhikode Airport’s Runway Extension

Kozhikode Airport in South India has been recommended to extend the runway. But for many residents of the surrounding area, this means severe restrictions on any construction activity around the airport. Although the runway has not yet been expanded, some local residents have spoken out against the project.

To build anything within the specific limits of the airport, residents have to first get a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which has been quite challenging to get lately.

It was on August 7, 2020, that the Dubai-Kozhikode Air India Express flight carrying 190 people onboard overshot the Kozhikode tabletop runway and then plunged 35 feet into a gorge.

The Air India Express plane, skidded off the tabletop runway while landing, in Kozhikode.

The crash killed 21 people including the two pilots and left 84 people injured. The tragedy brought back into the spotlight the issue of the long-pending runway expansion.

Kozhikode is one of three tabletop runways in India and is considered especially tricky for landings. This is because, unlike runways which are on the plains, a tabletop runway is constructed by chopping off a hill or is located on a plateau or a raised platform.

Aviation experts have noted that on tabletop runways, aircraft landings require both precision and skill as it creates an optical illusion for the pilot - making it seem that the runway extends into the distance, presenting a real risk of overshooting.  

AAI recommends runway extension for Kozhikode airport.

ALSO READ - The final report out on the Kozhikode air crash hints at human error and non-compliance to SOPs

The Air Accidents Investigation Bureau (AAIB) found pilot error to be the likely cause of the crash, along with system problems at AI Express. However, the incident raised the question of an extra layer of security around the airport’s runway to prevent such incidents in the future.

In May, a special government committee observed that the end of the 90-metre runway end safety area (RESA) in Kozhikode should be covered with sand or soil 15 cm deep to stop aircraft from flying beyond the limits. While the expansion of the runway at Kozhikode appears to be a necessary step to ensure aviation safety, the authorities may face more protests.

ALSO READ - AAI recommends runway extension for Kozhikode airport

The people of Palakkaparambu in ward 30 of Kondotty Municipality are up in arms against the Airport Authority of India’s (AAI) move to expand the Calicut airport runway further. They say they have surrendered their land for the airport and its expansion several times, and any further acquisition of land will render them homeless.

"We have surrendered our land 11 times for the airport and its multi-phased expansion. As many as 30 hillocks in the area were levelled for this tabletop airport. We sacrificed our land and many facilities that we had for the airport, which we considered as ours. Now we are being pushed against the wall in the name of further expansion, and there is no way that we will surrender our last piece of land.The airport, in which the people used to take pride, had become an irritant for the people who surrendered land for it. We need the permission of the AAI for any construction now."K.P. Firos, Municipal Councillor from Palakkaparambu

A ten-day protest against the move for a fresh round of land acquisition for Runway End Safety Area (RESA) expansion on the eastern side of the airport concluded on Tuesday with a human chain. The Palakkaparambu Agitation Council is spearheading the protest against the land acquisition.

During the rains, dozens of women and children joined the human chain held as part of the protest. They took a pledge not to give any more land to the airport.

Air India has decided to allow its pilots to fly till they are 65, internal documents of the Tata Group-owned airline show, as it works on its fleet expansion plans.

"DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) allows pilots to fly till the age of 65 years, compared to the Air India retirement age of 58 years. Allowing pilots to fly till the age of 65 is a practice followed by most airlines in the industry," the airline's document dated July 29 stated.

Air India plans to let its pilots fly until the age of 65

ALSO READ - Air India prepares to add more than 200 aircraft; the most significant order in a long time

Tata Group-owned Air India is considering buying more than 200 new planes with 70% of them being narrow-bodied aircraft, according to aviation industry sources. The airline's document said that considering the future expansion plans for its fleet, it is imperative to meet the workforce requirement.

"To meet our requirement, it is proposed to retain our current trained pilots at Air India post-retirement on a contractual basis for five years extendable to 65 years," it mentioned.

Air India is considering buying more than 200 new planes with 70% of them being narrow-bodied aircraft

It said that a committee comprising officials of the human resources department, operations department and flight safety department will be constituted to examine the eligibility of pilots retiring in the next two years.

The committee will be responsible for reviewing the past records of the pilots concerning discipline, flight safety and vigilance. After a detailed review, the committee will recommend the shortlisted names to the human resources department's chief for issuing them post-retirement contracts.

"The contract would be issued for a period of five years extendable up to 65 years," it mentioned. Upon completion of five years of satisfactory service at the age of 63, a comprehensive examination of their performance will be considered by the committee for further extension till 65 years of age.

The Tata Group took control of Air India on January 27 after successfully winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year.

Additionally, for airport entry passes and company ID card purposes, the pilots’ application forms will reflect their date of retirement as and when they achieve the age of 65 years so that there can be timely AEP renewal/issuance at the time of post-retirement engagement.

The Tata Group took control of Air India on January 27 after successfully winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year.

Air India's newly appointed CMD Campbell Wilson had asked the airline's integrated operations control centre (IOCC), which is the "nerve centre" of any carrier, to report directly to him and give recommendations on how to improve the on-time performance.

Cofounded in 2018 by Jean-Christophe LAMBERT, Benoit FERRAN, Clément DINEL and Thibault BALDIVIA , Ascendance Flight Technologies is located in Toulouse - at the heart of Europe's aeronautical industry.

Comprising a dedicated team of engineers and experts with a passion for the environment and technology, the company has revealed an updated design for a VTOL, dubbed "ATEA"- which would reportedly kickstart the decarbonisation of air travel right away.

Representative

ATEA-The future of Vertical Mobility

Designed as a clean, quiet and efficient advanced air mobility solution, Atea is a vertical take-off and landing aircraft with a range of 400km+ and a turn-around time of only 10min, thanks to their unique hybrid propulsion system.

Ascendance

The Atea is to be powered by Ascendance’s proprietary Sterna hybrid-electric powertrain. The company says that Sterna’s modular design and “embedded intelligence” will allow it to support various energy sources, including sustainable aviation fuel or hydrogen.

The hybrid propulsion system uses a mix of kerosene and batteries for optimized fuel consumption and is touted is to fly cleaner with a reduction in carbon emissions of up to 80%.

 It will use electrical power for takeoff and landing, with a turbine engine powering the cruise phase of flight when less power is needed. This approach is mainly for reducing noise and emissions.

Reduced acoustic signature

The integration of the vertical rotors in the wings with a disruptive duct shape and powered by the hybrid-electric propulsion system brings a drastic improvement in the noise signature of the aircraft with 4 times fewer noise emissions than a helicopter.

Ascendance

This, in turn, unlocks an entirely new range of missions with flights closer to cities, previously inaccessible due to noise constraints.

Safety margins

According to Ascendance, a mix of two energy sources in the hybrid propulsion system provides redundancy by design to further improve the safety and operational range of the aircraft. It is also touted to meet the same level of safety requirements as current conventional aviation and can continue a safe flight and landing in the event of any single failure.

User-cases of Atea

access remote and isolated placescreate a decentralized aviation network from city to citydirectly link major cities between one another on a regional scale

Additionally, it also aims to provide a sustainable air mobility solution to many other sectors- Medical Emergency Services for instance. Atea can be fully equipped with medical equipment and carry medical staff for this kind of emergency while being a safe, efficient and cleaner mobility solution.

Source

In its cargo version, the Atea cabin layout will be adapted to carry parcels up to 450kg that will be then delivered to a more local distribution hub which will take care of the final distribution.

Reportedly, the last version of the aircraft will be made for coastal surveillance.

The company aims to get the Atea hybrid-electric VTOL aircraft certified by 2025.

About the company's founders

eVTOL

The four partners, all graduates of France’s top aerospace engineering and business schools, have 26 years of combined experience and expertise working on hybrid and electrical aircraft - from Airbus on the E-FAN all-electric aircraft to Atea today.

Driven by a common goal to transform aviation to fly cleaner, quieter, and further, they focus on leveraging the vast potential of electric technologies to develop sustainable flight solutions for today and tomorrow.

SOURCE(s)

COVER: Ascendance Flight Technologies

A Dubai-based lessor of SpiceJet Ltd has asked India's aviation regulator to deregister three of the budget airline's planes as SpiceJet struggles with high costs and maintenance challenges.

The United Arab Emirates aeronautics firm AWAS did not specify why it was seeking to deregister the three Boeing 737s in the notification, published by India's aviation regulator.

The aircraft - VT-SYW, VT-SYX and VT-SYY were former Jet Airways aircraft which SpiceJet had taken in 2019 after Jet's closure. The aircraft in question are between 11 and 13 years old.

The aircraft - VT-SYW, VT-SYX and VT-SYY were former Jet Airways aircraft which SpiceJet had taken in 2019 after Jet's closure.

VT-SYW was delivered to Jet Airways in 2010 as VT-JBQ and has flown 43,024 hours across more than 19,000 flight cycles. According to FlightRadar24.com, it is scheduled to fly from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi on July 30.

VT-SYY joined Jet as VT-JBS in 2010 and has flown 41,764 hours in 11.82 years. It was in flight at the time of writing, flying from Delhi to Goa. VT-SYX was originally VT-JBR under Jet and has accumulated 44,136 hours.

SpiceJet told Reuters it was returning older aircraft in a phased manner, including these three aircraft, as a part of a modernization plan.

Dubai-based SpiceJet lessor asks DGCA to de-register 3 planes

"These returns have been planned and will not have any impact on our operations," a company spokesman said by email. SpiceJet returned 12 old Boeing aircraft to lessors last year, the statement said. AWAS did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

After the lessor files a request under IDERA, the DGCA checks if the aircraft has any pending dues from tax authorities and airports, and if none are found, the de-registration is allowed.

The government has been trying to improve the ease of doing business for lessors to attract them to India. As part of that faster deregistration process by the regulator has been one of the demands from lessors, many of whom are backed by top global banks.

SpiceJet returned 12 old Boeing aircraft to lessors last year

India's director general of civil aviation ordered SpiceJet to halve its departures for eight weeks after technical problems raised safety concerns.

Lessors typically apply for deregistration when lease agreements are terminated for reasons including nonpayment of lease rentals.

AWAS filed its request under Irrevocable Deregistration and Export Request Authorisations provisions, which are typically filed after payment negotiations between a lessor and airline fail.

ALSO READ - SpiceJet and De Havilland reach an agreement over Q400 aircraft

Previously, SpiceJet has been in disputes with aircraft company De Havilland for Bombardier Q400 planes

Previously, SpiceJet has been in disputes with aircraft company De Havilland for Bombardier Q400 planes and lessor Avolon for Boeing planes.

Shares of SpiceJet skyrocketed 11% to INR 42.5 per share on BSE in Monday's intra-day trade after the airline operator assured 'absolutely normal' flight operations.

In the past month, SpiceJet has remained flat, while the frontline indices Nifty50 and the S&P BSE Sensex have gained around 8.5% each. On Monday, August 1, the private airline operator asserted that all flights departed on time as per schedule, without any cancellations.

ALSO READ - Shares of SpiceJet fell 9.3% after DGCA halves capacity; hits 52-week low

Shares of SpiceJet skyrocketed 11% to INR 42.5 per share on BSE in Monday's intra-day trade after the airline operator assured 'absolutely normal' flight operations.

Over the weekend, the aircraft occupancy or passenger load factor remained steady in the range of 81 to 82%. This comes after the airline regulator Director General of Civil Aviation (DCGA) curtailed flight operations to only 50% for eight weeks.

ALSO READ - DGCA orders SpiceJet to operate only 50% of approved flights

Meanwhile, the airline launched 26 new domestic flights in July. Under the UDAN scheme, they introduced direct flights like Nashik from Delhi, Hyderabad to Jammu, Mumbai to Guwahati, Varanasi to Ahmedabad and Kolkata to Jabalpur. The airline operator deployed Boeing 737 and Q400 aircraft along these routes.

So far in the calendar year, shares of SpiceJet have tanked nearly 44% - the most amongst its peers. Meanwhile, shares of Interglobe Aviation slipped 7%, whereas, Jet Airways gained 15.7%, during the same period.

Two pilots of leading Indian airlines failed dope tests this week, becoming the first aviation personnel to do so since India started testing flight crew and air traffic controllers for psychoactive substances on a random basis starting January 31, 2022. 

As this is the first time they have failed the test, the two are being sent for de-addiction or rehabilitation. After undergoing the programme successfully, they can return to work with a negative dope test and a fitness certificate from their airline doctor. 

 The two pilots were the first couple of aviation personnel to have failed the drug test since it was inducted six months ago.

It was only recently when the DGCA began mandatory testing flight crew and air traffic controllers for psychoactive substances on a random basis starting on January 31 this year. The drugs to be tested include amphetamine and amphetamine-type stimulants, opiates and metabolites, cannabis, cocaine, barbiturates, and benzodiazepine.

ALSO READ - DGCA orders pre-flight alcohol tests for 50% of pilots and cabin crew daily

"The two pilots failed the dope test in the last 4-5 days. As per protocol, their urine samples underwent a confirmatory test after the initial test was positive. The samples were sent abroad for the confirmatory test. Due to sensitivity and privacy issues and the stigma attached, the identity of the pilots and the two prominent Indian airlines they work for is not being disclosed."Said people aware of the development.

Personnel who test positive would have to be reported to the DGCA within 24 hours of detection, and a confirmation test would have to be done for double confirmation.

After that, the DGCA will immediately suspend the positive cases until a confirmatory report is received. As for the two pilots who failed their drug tests, they were immediately suspended from flight duty, as confirmed by the DGCA.

All constructive instances should be reported to the DGCA within 24 hours of detection.

Those who fail the test for the first time have to successfully undergo de-addiction/rehabilitation and are then allowed to return to duty. Those who fail for the second time will have their license suspended for three years. And failing the third time would mean cancellation of the license. 

While breath analyser (BA) tests are conducted for several years to ensure aviation personnel are sober when they report for work, the DGCA had for the first time made dope tests mandatory for pilots, cabin crew and air traffic controllers (ATCOs) earlier this year. At least 10% of the personnel in an organisation have to undergo dope tests annually. 

ALSO READ - A dozen airport and airlines maintenance staff reported working drunk in India

ALSO READ - 9 pilots and 32 cabin crew fail the pre-flight breath analyser test in the last 4 months

Beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations are touted to be the next big advancement that would ensure an effective and successful unmanned aircraft system (UAS) industry, especially commercial UAS operations.

Most commercial UAS operations today are conducted under 14 CFR Part 107, highlighting limitations on minimizing air and ground risks. A maximum altitude of 400 ft AGL, visual line of sight of the aircraft and operations only during the day are some of the limitations outlined and a recent rule allowing limited operations over people.

Representative | Unmanned Systems Technology

The ability to fly drones Beyond the Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) represents the next ample opportunity for commercial drone operators. Most commercial drone applications are poised to benefit immensely from BVLOS  while some applications would remain impossible to execute without BVLOS.

It is also to be noted that BVLOS operations are prohibited at the moment unless special permissions are obtained from the concerned regulations.

Visual Line of Sight (VLOS), Extended Visual Line of Sight (EVLOS) and Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) etc are some of the commonly used terms within the drone industry. So, what exactly do they mean?

VLOS (Visual Line of Sight)

ScaleFlyt

Visual Line of Sight (‘VLOS’) operations are a type of UAS operation in which the remote pilot maintains continuous, unaided visual contact with the unmanned aircraft.

The person operating the drone UAV needs to maintain a visual line of sight with the aircraft at all times, be able to see the surrounding airspace in which the aircraft is operating and operate the aircraft below the cloud base or fog, or smoke etc. In other words, the aircraft must always be visible to the pilot. 

The Regulations in the UK and Europe create an offence to operate an Unmanned Aircraft outside of permitted rules and procedures- a breach of which could carry significant penalties.

EVLOS (Extended Visual Line of Sight)

Mode of operation where a pilot is always present on a location with one or more external observers keeping the UAV in their line of sight.

Representative | Airborne Drones

These observers communicate critical flight information through radio to assist the pilot in maintaining a safe distance from other air users, both manned and unmanned, as well as structures, terrain and other hazards.

BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight)

In BVLOS, the UAV is allowed to operate away from the visual range, based on instrumentation such as onboard cameras and detect-and-avoid technologies.

In this mode of operation, the aircraft no longer has the protection of the pilot or observer to avoid terrain, obstacles or other aircraft (called ‘See and Avoid’ or ‘Detect and Avoid’ (DAA)).

BVLOS Ops require meticulous planning by the operator with a definite framework process in place with most Aviation Authorities.

In May 2020, the SOARIZON by Thales team collaborated with drone deliveries provider Skyports, to perform a ground-breaking, first of kind, BVLOS medical drone delivery trial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBr-_TTjBX4&t=91s

This trial has proven tangible, real-world, value to the NHS, during its most challenging time in living memory.  We have proven that by working collaboratively with the Government and Regulator that BVLOS drone services can be conducted in a safe and secure method and applied to time-critical use-cases across a number of sectors.  We are looking forward to continuing to develop the service and capability to define future serviceKarim Cosslett, Head of Growth, SOARIZON by THALES

BVLOS is also crucial to operating at a higher aircraft-to-pilot ratio, which is an essential economic component of the future feasibility of the industry.

Existing rules basically don’t fit the requirements for full implementation of commercial UAS capabilities. The current regulations still limit UAS use casessaid Jon Damush, CEO of Iris Automation, Inc., a safety avionics technology company pioneering detect-and-avoid systems and aviation policy services

The FAA was scheduled to hold a public meeting on UAS BVLOS on June 22 through its YouTube channel and Facebook page to provide the public with an opportunity to submit written comments or request a timeslot to provide oral comments.

Currently, BVLOS operations are trapped in a regulatory Catch-22. Data must show BVLOS operations can be conducted safely in order to operate, but the only way to obtain that data at scale is to allow BVLOS operations to occurJON HANLON, Director of UAS Maintenance and Airworthiness, Zipline

The way forward should be to leverage the value of what already exists – 100 years of commercial aviation experience while finding pragmatic approaches to enable UAS operators to begin BVLOS quickly-he added further.

The Indian Scenario

The Ministry of Civil Aviation replaced the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Rules 2021 last year and although the rules were liberalised, they didn't open up to BVLOS or “beyond visual line of sight” drone operations.

Before BVLOS operations begin formally, a UTM policy will have to be in place- UTM, an acronym for "Unmanned Traffic Management"- basically an air traffic management system for drones, except that it is an automated tool so that they can communicate while in flight.

Representative | Airosspace

The operating drones must be connected to the internet at all times to ensure that UTMs work accurately. The connection to the internet can happen in three different ways - on a 4G network or an unlicensed 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz frequency band.

Some notable BVLOS trials

In May of 2021, the Government of Telangana received a conditional exemption for conducting experimental BVLOS drone flights for the delivery of vaccinesThe National Health Mission, Mumbai, received a conditional exemption for conducting experimental BVLOS drone flights to deliver essential healthcare items in tribal areas of Jawhar in the Palghar district of MaharashtraLed by Throttle Aerospace Systems in collaboration with the Bengaluru-based e-commerce platform Udaan and under the supervision of the DGCA, a BVLOS trial for drone delivery of medicines was successfully completed in Bengaluru ( 20 August 2021)

BVLOS trials will help create a framework for future drone deliveries and other major applications using dronesThe Ministry of Civil Aviation

On successful completion of the BVLOS project with regards to safety, security, and viability, the restrictive clauses on these Ops may be lifted.

SOURCE(s)

COVER: Aviation Today