The Grumman American AA-5 Traveller ZK-XRE , c/n AA5 0282 , joined the register on Monday the 9th.

This was first registered as VH-ETT in early 1973 and arrived at Rangiora earlier this year still owned by Robyn Edwards and previously based at Lesmurdie, West Australia.

Our family patriarch (on the other side) had his 70th birthday during the weekend.
The surprise for the day was his arrival into the back paddock and then rides for those interested over a snow covered Christchurch & Port Hills.
ZK-HUG/2 is a AS350BA , c/n 2038 , from Garden City Helicopters.

Noted at Garden City Helicopters in Christchurch on Monday the 9th was this relatively new Robinson R44 Raven II ZK-INP , c/n 11524 .

It was listed to Barrington Charters Ltd of Queenstown on 12-04-2007.

It carries the http://www.nuggetpoint.co.nz/ web site address on its tail boon.

The submission of offers for Serbia’s national carrier Jat Airways’ technical branch Jat Tehnika will be open on Monday, June 16. Currently the most interested company for the purchase of Jat’s technical base is the Singaporean company “Singapore Technologies Aerospace” which is one of the largest third-party, independent aviation repair and overhaul companies in the world. It is looking at setting up a new base in Europe and geographically Jat Tehnika’s hangers at Belgrade’s airport would be ideal.

Jat Tehnika is the largest technical base in the former Yugoslavia. It broke off from Jat Airways unofficially in 2005 after its technicians staged a two month strike paralysing Serbia’s national airline however only a few days ago the company was officially recognised as an independent company by the Serbian government. Tehnika made a profit of 18.7 million Euros last year and is currently servicing aircraft from Jat Airways, CSA Czech Airlines. Jet2.com, Palmair, S7 airlines and Transaero.

Of the senses, vision is the most important for safe flight. However, various terrain features and atmospheric conditions can create optical illusions. These illusions are primarily associated with landing. Since pilots must transition from reliance on instruments to visual cues outside the cockpit for landing at the end of an instrument approach, it is imperative they are aware of the potential problems associated with these illusions, and take appropriate corrective action. The major illusions leading to landing errors are described below.

Runway Width Illusion
A narrower-than-usual runway can create an illusion the aircraft is at a higher altitude than it actually is, especially when runway length-to-width relationships are comparable. The pilot who does not recognize this illusion will fly a lower approach, with the risk of striking objects along the approach path or landing short. A wider-than-usual runway can have the opposite effect, with the risk of leveling out high and landing hard, or overshooting the runway.

Runway and Terrain Slopes Illusion
An up-sloping runway, up-sloping terrain, or both, can create an illusion the aircraft is at a higher altitude than it actually is. The pilot who does not recognize this illusion will fly a lower approach. Down-sloping runways and Down-sloping approach terrain can have the opposite effect.

Featureless Terrain Illusion
An absence of surrounding ground features, as in an over-water approach, over darkened areas, or terrain made featureless by snow, can create an illusion the aircraft is at a higher altitude than it actually is. This illusion, sometimes referred to as the "black hole approach," causes pilots to fly a lower approach than is desired.

Water Refraction
Rain on the windscreen can create an illusion of being at a higher altitude due to the horizon appearing lower than it is. This can result in the pilot flying a lower approach.

Practice Makes Proficient
Through training and awareness in developing absolute reliance on the instruments, pilots can reduce their susceptibility to disorienting illusions.

Optical illusion: (in aircraft flight)
A misleading visual image of features on the ground associated with landing, which causes a pilot to misread the spatial relationships between the aircraft and the runway.

Haze
Atmospheric haze can create an illusion of being at a greater distance from the runway. As a result, the pilot will have a tendency to be high on the approach. Conversely, extremely clear air can give the pilot the illusion of being closer than he/she actually is, resulting in a long, low approach. The diffusion of light due to water particles can adversely affect depth perception. The lights and terrain features normally used to gauge height during landing become less effective for the pilot.

Fog
Penetration of fog can create an illusion of pitching up. Pilots who do not recognize this illusion will often steeped the approach quite abruptly.

Ground Lighting Illusions
Lights along a straight path, such as a road, and even lights on moving trains can be mistaken for runway and approach lights. Bright runway and approach lighting systems, especially where few lights illuminate the surrounding terrain, may create the illusion of less distance to the runway. The pilot who does not recognize this illusion will often fly a higher approach.

Four airlines are interested in purchasing the 49% share in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s national air carrier B&H Air. The Bosnian government will soon invite companies to register thir offers for the carrier. Currently Turkish Airlines has shown the most interest although the national carrier of neighbouring Croatia, Croatia Airlines, has also shown interest. CEO of the BH Airlines Nudžeim Rečica said that the company won’t be able to make a profit if it does not have a strategic partner. BH finished 2007 in the minus by 100,000 KM (Convertible Marks) which is one of the best results in the last couple of years and is enabling the airline to slowly approach a positive zero. There is also one airline from Italy and one from Malaysia interested in the purchase of BH. B&H is set to be the third airline to have shares sold this year as both Montenegro Airlines and Jat Airways are also up for sale and their sale will be realised late this year.

Slovenia’s Adria Airways has posted such strong passenger results so far that it has humiliated all west European low cost carriers which recently started services to the country after the liberalisation of Slovenian skies in 2004. The results are so strong that 80% of low cost carriers have now dumped Slovenia from their destination lists. Although easyJet with its single daily route to London Stansted has an almost 5% share of the scheduled market its attempts to serve Berlin were less successful. Daily services were begun in November 2004 but the route was abandoned at the end of March 2006. Wizz Air has tried and withdrawn two routes to Ljubljana. Both London Luton and Brussels Charleroi services were started in May 2006 but Luton was dropped after one year and the Brussels route ended in mid-January 2008.
Even Ryanair has struggled. Last June it began thrice-weekly flights from London Stansted to Maribor in the north-east of the country. However, despite carrying 33,800 passengers in 10 months at an average load factor of 71%, the route was axed at the end of March. In August Ryanair had carried 4,431 passengers at 90.2% load factor but this fell to 2,971 passengers at 56.1% load factor in January.

Meanwhile Adria dominates all outbound traffic from Slovenia. Its frequency share stands a 77% while its capacity share stands at 76.5%. Easyjet is second, Air France thirs followed by Turkish Airlines and CSA Czech Airlines in term of passenger numbers. Germany is the biggest country market from Adria’s hub Lljubljana is to Germany with Adria serving the Lufthansa hubs of Frankfurt and Munich with four daily flights. The airline’s fleet consists of three A320s, one B737-500, six CRJ200s, two CRJ900s and a single CRJ1000. A Fokker 100 is being wet-leased for the summer season from Carpatair bringing the fleet to 14 aircraft. Adria recently started servicing the city of Oslo in Norway with its CRJ900.

Statistics source: OAG Max and Anna Aero