New headquarters for Serbian air traffic control

The multi million Euro state of the art air control centre in Belgrade has been completed. Its opening this evening will mark a landmark change in air traffic control in the region. The new building, located next to Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, has 9.500 square metres and construction on the building began in March 2009. The building has been completed six months ahead of schedule. A total of 500 controllers will be able to work at the same time inside the building and 4.000 aircraft will be handled per day. Belgrade control takes care of Serbia’s and Montenegro’s airspace, as well as 55% of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s airspace and the airspace above international waters of the Adriatic Sea.

The new building will be opened today at 18.00 CET by the Serbian Prime Minister, Mirko Cvetković. Also attending the grand opening are Serbian President, Boris Tadić, 20 directors from various European air control centres and high ranking officials from the Montenegrin Government.

The construction cost of the new air traffic control centre in Belgrade amounts to 19 million Euros while, together with the new equipment, the entire project tops 90 million Euros. According to the project manager, Belgrade now has the most up to date air control centre in the world and the largest control centre in the Balkans.

Meanwhile, in another show of keeping up with the times Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport will, from January 1, 2011, begin using an ePassport gate. The gate will allow Serbian passport holders to scan their passports and leave their fingerprint. If the fingerprint sample matches the one in their passport, passengers can proceed without any further passport control checks. Citizens from other countries that are holders of a biometric passport will also be able to use the gate instead of proceeding to passport control.

     Everyone interested in electric flight will want to know that the E-Spyder electric-powered ultralight is poised to enter the marketplace.A few days ago Tom Peghiny invited me out to Woodstock, CT, about 3 hours drive from my house, to fly the latest prototype (v. 3) of the venerable FlightStar ultralight.
I had to pass since I was prepping for a family visit to Germany.

photo courtesy Yuneec Aircraft and Flying Pages

Checking in from Hamburg, I found a post on his website from my pal and LSA colleague Dan Johnson, who scooped me on the following info:
The E-Spyder will be marketed by Yuneec, which bought the rights to produce the design from Tom and continues development on several other projects: the graceful E430 S-LSA which has won several prizes already; E-PAC power backpack for paragliders; and electric motor systems for a variety of aviation applications.
Originally tabbed for around a $25,000 price tag, latest word is the E-Spyder will price out under $30,000.  It's a single-seater that qualified for Part 103 ultralight status.

Dan also reports the production prototype comes with longer wings (33 ft.) and a dresser drawer-like battery tray to completely enclose the power pack in the fuselage fairing.
Other battery notes: fewer cells but greater overall capacity, simplifying the balancing process during charging (2-2.5 hours) which is important with lithium polymer (lipo) batteries.
Weight-reducing modifications include thinner-wall 7075-T6 tubing, a carbon fiber sandwich fairing and a Mylar-laminate Dacron wing envelope.
Refinements to the motor include a lower max RPM which allows it to spin a longer prop at greater torque.
Tom wrote, "We have been flying a lot since finishing the plane in mid September."
So far Tom and team have taken 15 flights on the upgraded version. Flight testing so far has brought these numbers: a top speed of 52 mph; stall of 22 mph - you can almost run that fast!; 35mph cruise; flight duration of 20-35 minutes, less than the hour originally expected...but Dan quotes Tom as saying "We've been able to soar it in light thermals as it really wants to go up."
And since Tom's place of business (Flight Design USA) gets its power from a company that generates 80% of it from windmill and some hydroelectric sources, you could say the E-Spyder almost literally flies on air.

Spied at Stillwater yesterday was the Aerospatiale AS 350 B2 Ecureuil ZK-HKA3 , c/n 2887 , of Anderson Helicopters of Hokitika. Imported and upgraded by Heliquip International Ltd out of Nelson and first registered here on 03-12-2002 following six years in the French Pacific colonies and the Philippines.

AS 350 B2 ZK-HKA3 photographed at Stillwater by Matt Hayes on 25-10-2010

Sweet 16

Montenegro Airlines announced yesterday that its fourth Embraer E195 jet will arrive soon and will be welcomed into the existing fleet of 5 Fokker F100s and 3 E195s. Zoran Djurišić, the airline’s CEO, made the announcement at the airline’s 16th birthday party in Podgorica. The new aircraft will be accompanied by the launch of two new routes from Podgorica. The airline will inaugurate flights to Milan in Italy and the European capital, Brussels. Neither the launch date of the new flights nor the arrival date of the new aircraft has been specified, although they are not expected until next year.

As the airline turns 16, Djurišić noted that it had carried 4.5 million passengers so far. Montenegro Airlines was registered on October 24, 1994. The airline’s founder and CEO, Zoran Djurišić, presented the airline’s plans to the Government of Montenegro and Yugoslavia in 1993. However, it wouldn’t be until 1996 that the airline’s first aircraft would be purchased. Due to political and economic circumstances at the time, Montenegro Airlines took off to the sky on May 7, 1997 on route from Podgorica to Bari in Italy. The aircraft in question was a Fokker 28Mk 4000 and the second aircraft of this type was received the following year in 1998. In late 1999, Montenegro Airlines launched new flights, most notably to Frankfurt. The first Fokker F100, the airline’s signature aircraft, was purchased in 2000. In 2007, the airline purchased new Embraer jets in another wave of fleet modernisation. Earlier this month, the Montenegrin Government put 30% of the airline’s shares up for sale.

In fact you probably all remember when  - Cessna 172R ZK-OUI went Splat into those same oxidation ponds at Thames.

It was on 27-10-2008.

The aircraft was recovered and went to Aeromotive at Hamilton and was flushed out to become ZK-JZM on 13-05-2009 - returning to duty with CTC Aviation at Hamilton.

ZK-OUI at Hamilton on 23-02-2009.

Ardmore Flying School's Cessna 172R ZK-VAT unceremoniously ended up in a sewage pond off the end of the runway at Thames 25Oct while conducting a touch and go.

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/two-injured-plane-crashes-into-pond-3852472

At Ardmore January 2007, Mike Condon photo

The recent Lawson Field reunion at Gisborne presented the perfect opportunity for the entire NZ based airworthy De Havilland Beaver fleet to be on hand and carrying out a formation flypast.
For more on the recently returned ZK-AZB check out http://design-plane.blogspot.com/2010/10/beaver-zk-azb-ready-to-go.html.

Thanks to Wayne Grant for providing these images.