Aero Contractors to resume flight Ops.

Aerocontractors Nigeria sometime last week sacked all its workers, except its pilots and engineers. After they revolted the managements decision to sack its drivers and contract the job to an outside company. The management told all its sacked 600 employees that they would have to apply through the company website to be considered for reemployment.

The airline decided to begin scheduled operation this week but was denied operational rights by the NCAA. the Acting DG of the NCAA Mr. Nkemakolam Joyce Daniel, said that grounding the airline is necessary because at the time the airline sacked its workers some of them still had there On-Duty Card ODC which is still valid. this actually still posses a risk to the airline as some of these workers could go to any lengths to sabotage the airline. meanwhile Dana air resumed flight operations on Tuesday

Federal Government Suspends Dana Air's AOC

On the 11th, monday evening Dr Harold Demuren was sacked by the federal government stating that NCAA was the cause of the Dana crash which happened june of last year due to negligence and as well as giving the said airline back their Airline Operating Certificate AOC. Captaions of various aviation agencies and guru's in the country saw the federal governments decision to sack the former DG of NCAA as wrong.
On wednesday 13th the Federal Government appoints a former Nigerian Airways pilot and engineer Captain Fola Akinkuotu, the rector of International aviation college, Ilorin as the new DG of NCAA.
On friday or so, Dana's AOC got suspended for the second time, after Dana reported to the NCAA about a minor problem in one of there aircrafts. (I saw that coming!)
 Dana made a statement:
"We regret to announce the temporary suspension of our flight operations following a directive from the Ministry of Aviation through the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on Saturday, 16th March, 2013. No specific reason was given for the action. A meeting is, however, scheduled between the management of Dana Air, the Ministry of Aviation and the NCAA on Monday 18th March and we will update you as we get more information".
My Question is Why do government meddle with the business of aviation when there are to focus on developing aviation infrastructures? smh!

Aero Contractors employees on Strike.

On Wednesday the employees of Aero Contractors Nigeria carried out their threat of grounding the airline’s activities, forcing it to cancel flights and leaving hundreds of passengers stranded in all over the Nation. Its not known how long the strike would last for but the reason behind the strike was that the airline management about three weeks ago introduced a policy that outsourced most of the blue collar jobs, especially the drivers in the airline. This prompted the workers to demand the sack of the Head of Human Resources, otherwise they would go on strike, a threat the carried out yesterday. Thank God o, i was already trying to book a seat online this morning but aero site wasn't going through and there i was thinking it was network. I already started insulting my modem network. lol!

There website has been closed due to the strike action. According to aero contractors website the Head of Human Resources and Administration is Feyi Akinbile. There has been presence of  Armed policemen from the Airport Police Command on the airport premises to provide security, as they mounted a barricade at the entrance of Aero Airlines office and desk, at the airport,

Aero management in a statement apologised for the inconvenience suffered by their customers,

“our highly esteemed customers due to an abrupt industrial action by our staff which has led to grounding of all our scheduled operations. We are engaging with the Unions to find a quick and amicable resolution. Further details will be given in due course. Thank you for your understanding.”

Aero Management are currently trying to reslve issues with there staffs. Funny enough i heard that Feyi Akinbile HR/admin of Aero was HR at the time Air Nigeria had issues and decided to go under.

Federal Government Appoints Acting DG For NCAA

The Federal Government, on monday sacked Dr Demuren and on Tuesday, appointed the Director of Aerodrome Services, Mr. Joyce Nkemakolam, as the acting Director General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA. Stakeholders of the Aviation industry expressed dismay for sacking Dr Demuren, saying the excuses provided for sacking him were ‘’flimsy.’’ and the Federal Government was wrong to have sacked  Dr. Demuren, describing  the action as being politically motivated. They were not happy over the decision to sack Demuren, as they contended that he deserved better treatment instead of being humiliated.  A few of them expressed their view over th governments decision which were mostly against the governments decision.
Capt. Dele Ore, President of Aviation Roundtable Nigeria said,

 "We kill and bury our heroes in this country. This is a man that the whole world has acknowledged as an achiever, this is one of our heroes, Dr Demuren needs the support of every Nigerian because he has done a very good job. I don’t know the offence he has committed. This is the greatest inhumanity of man to man,” 

Mohammed Tukur, Assistant Secretary General, Airlines Operators of Nigeria, AON, said the sack is very unfortunate.

“ Demuren has done a lot for the aviation industry in Nigeria. He has brought tremendous transformation into the aviation industry in the country, Those who orchestrated this are celebrating his sack but must know that governments come, and government go,”

 Sam Akerele, General Secretary, Aviation Round Table, the sack of Demuren came as a shock.

"His passion and contributions will be remembered by the nation. The Federal Government must have good reasons for the sack. Hopefully, it is not a power play,”

 Meanwhile the Federal Government has apointed Mr. Joyce Nkemakolam, as the acting Director General of Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA. Not much is know about this man, i cant even get his pictures. Would work on that. Meanwhile a few rumored names have come up to take up the post of the DG of NCAA like Captain former NCAT rector Folashade Odutola, Dr Olumuyiwa Aliu a former top excutive of NCAA, Captain Kiddy Dare.

NCAA DG Dr Demuren Sacked!

Last Night the office of the Secretary General of the Federation served a letter to Dr Harold Olusegun Demuren reliving him as the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). signed by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

His Excellency, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, has approved the removal of Dr. Harold Olusegun Demuren from Office as the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) with effect from 12th March 2013. This is consequent to a careful consideration of Dr. Demuren’s unsatisfactory response to the numerous concerns of stakeholders in the aviation sector. Mr. President wishes him well in his future endeavours.

This decision was reach after the some members of the House of representatives went on an uproar over the issuance of Dana Air's Airline Operation Certificate (AOC), some members claimed that Dana should not have been given AOC and sort out Dr Demuren's resignation for negligence.
Noteable Achievements:
Dr Demuren was recruited from the United States of America to join the Federal Ministry of Aviation, Nigeria in 1976 as Senior Airworthiness Surveyor and rose to become Assistant Director, Airworthiness in June 1989. On the creation of the defunct Federal Civil Aviation Authority in 1990, he was appointed Deputy Director Air Transport, Economic Regulations and Licensing. He rose to become the Director Safety Services in 1991. In August 1995, He was "forced" into retirement because of his strict adherent to Safety after a Government "restructuring" exercise.
After retirement, he worked as Aviation Consultant and later formed Afrijet Airlines in 1998. Afrijet Airlines became one of the biggest Cargo Airlines in the country by 2005 servicing various cargo destinations on the African Continent.
He was the Managing Director/Chief Executive of Afrijet Airlines until he was appointed Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority in late December 2005. His appointment was later confirmed by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in February 2007 in accordance with the Civil Aviation Act of 2006 that stipulates the tenure of 5 years for the Director General of NCAA. After his appointment, Demuren immediately took on the challenge of reforming the Nigerian Aviation sector and restoring the lost confidence to the Industry drawing up a strategic short, medium and long term plan anchored on Safety, Security and Satisfaction (consumer) in that order of priority. Dr. Demuren introduced a safety reform Agenda which enthroned professionalism, integrity and transparency in the conduct of Aviation business. On August 23, 2010, under the leadership of Dr. Demuren, Nigeria attained American Federal Aviation Administration International Aviation Safety Assessment (FAA IASA) Category One Certification. This allows direct flights from Nigeria to Continental United States (USA). He Launched the IATA E-ticket / Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) regime which revolutionized the Air travel industry in Nigeria in 2008. His most recent achievement was the implimentation of Automated Flight Information Reporting System (AFIRS) on all Nigerian commercial Aircrafts.
He is also the President, Flight Safety Foundation-West Africa, currently serves in the International Advisory Committee (IAC) of Flight Safety Foundation, the only African member in the Board of Governors of the Flight Safety Foundation, the foremost international aviation organization with headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.A. On September 28, 2010, Demuren was elected as the President of the 37th General Assembly of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) held in Montreal, Canada from 28 September to 8 October 2010. The appointment was unanimously endorsed by all the delegates of the 190 contracting states of the ICAO. His emergence made history as the first time an African was elected to preside over the ICAO General Assembly, the United Nations global aviation agency. Cool Achievements!

Great Aircrafts with Great designs

As an airplane ethusiast and wannabe pilot, I assumed i had seen it all when it came to aircrafts and airplane designs. Sometimes i try to imagine what these aircraft engineers are thinking, airplane designs has evolved since 1903 trying to meet up with demand of the growing technological advancement as well as customer demands.The design of aircrafts helps one identify these airplanes just by looking at them generally there are airplanes that have vary similiar design feature with very little distict patterns, some cannot even tell the difference between a Boeing 767 from an Airbus A330, or A320 from B737. Only aviation enthusiats can tell the deifference by the design of these airplanes. However you don't have to be an aviation geek to be able to tell, when you see a Boeing 747 or the Airbus A380, and to some extent the new B787. Theses aircraft have unique designs that enables any person identify these aircrafts, the designs and purpose of these airplanes puts them on the spotlight.
Aircrafts are designed to meet a certain aviation criteras and customer demands, as well as being environmentally friendly. The A380 and B747-8I were designed to carry more passengers as well as provide comfort and luxuary, fuel efficient.

The Antonov-225 and C5 Galaxy designed to carry more tons par trip. The An225 aka Mriya which means "Inspiration" is the heaviest and biggest airplane in the world. She has 32 wheels in total 14 wheel bogis on each side of the main landing gear and 2 nose bogies, each bogie has two wheels a crew of 6. 2 pilots, 2 Flight Engineers, Navigator and Radio Operator.

B2 Spirit for stealthy missions (it cost over $700million a piece), Space Shuttle for space travels and orbital movement,

Boeing Phantom X-48B used by NASA as an experimental unmanned aerial vehicle, The Concorde for passeger flight capable travelling faster than the speed of sound,

Tupolev Tu-22M just like the concord its a supersonic swept-wing jet, not for passenger use but rather a Russian bomber.

SR-71 Blackbird, a strategic reconnaissance aircraft holds the record of the fastest jet aircraft today at Mach 3. This fantastic aircraft was designed by Clarence Leonard Johnson

Airbus Beluga aka Super Transporter is an airplane designed totransport aircraft parts for airbus from its various plants across Europe. Hamburg germany, Sevilla Spain and Final Assembly in Toulose France. Something About its Gigantic Hump tho. Ugly! Lol

Billionaire Buys Hawaiian Airline

Hawaii. One of the best vacationing places in the World. A typical multi-millionaire would buy 1st class tickets or lets say rent a private jet. You get to Hawaii and pay for the best hotel just bye the beach, with spar treatments and first class services with the best view. Thats the life!
Well how about this. Oracle co-founder and billionaire Larry Ellison, bought his own Hawaiian island in june last year, 98 percent of the 141 square mile (365 square kilometer) island of Lanai for a reported $600 million! Relax thats not all, he now has an airline to go with it. Island Air, a regional carrier based in the Pacific island state, According to usatoday he bought the airline for an undisclosed amount. Island air announced on Wednesday that it had closed its sale to a newly formed holding company owned by Ellison. (I can't shout!)

 "This is another major investment and commitment to Hawaii," said a statement by Paul Marinelli, vice president of Lawrence Investments, LLC, the Ellison-owned holding company.

Les Murashige, Island Air president, said in the statement, "We are excited Mr. Ellison has acquired Island Air. He has the vision and resources to literally take Island Air to new heights."

Island Air operates some 224 weekly flights between the islands of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kauai. The airline operates mostly Dash 8 (100 & 200series), about 8 twin otters. Island air offers code-sharing with United Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines.
Larry Ellison isworth an estimated $41 billion by Forbes magazine, which ranks him third wealthiest American, behind Microsoft's Bill Gates and investment guru Warren Buffett.

Nigeria Gets 1st Bell 429 Helicopter in Africa

Bell Helicopters has delivered two 429s to the Nigeria Police Air Wing (NPAW) and Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Nigeria is actually the first Country to have the 429s delivered in the continent of Africa. Impressive! 
Nigeria is the fifteenth country in the world to approve the gross weight increase for the 429 from 7,000-7,500 lbs. FAA and EASA have not approved the weight increase, but Bell has submitted a "petition for reconsideration" with the FAA decision in the U.S. Nigeria's validation of the 429 and its endorsement of the gross weight increase is very exciting for us as the country continues to expand its aviation services and infrastructure.
Bell 429 is a light, twin-engine helicopter First flight of the Bell 429 was February 27, 2007 and received type certification on July 1, 2009. The Bell 429 delivers 155kt/287kph speed with a glass cockpit configuration. It is capable of single-pilot IFR and Runway Category A operation. The Bell 429 costs about $5 million. I want one. lol! 

Crew: 1 pilot Capacity: 7 passengers (six in passenger compartment; one beside pilot)
Length: 41 ft 8 in (12.7 m)
Rotor diameter: 36 ft (10.97 m) Height: 13 ft 3 in (4.04 m)
Empty weight: 4,245 lb (1,925 kg)
Useful load: 2,755 lb (1,250 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 7,000 lb (3,175 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PW207D1
turboshaft, 625 shp (466 kW); 730 shp (545 kW)
Cabin volume: 204 ft³ (5.8 m³)