Tag: emergency (Page 2 of 4)

Rolls-Royce Signs MoU with Fermi Energia for Compact Nuclear Power Stations

March 2, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Rolls-Royce (London: RR.L) and Fermi Energia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to study the potential for the deployment of affordable, compact nuclear power stations, known as small modular reactors (SMR), in Estonia. The study will cover all aspects of deployment including grid suitability, cooling, emergency planning, human resources, licensing feasibility, economics and supply chain.

Rolls-Royce is leading a consortium that is designing a low-cost factory built nuclear power station, known as a small modular reactor (SMR). Its standardised, factory-made components and advanced manufacturing processes push costs down, while the rapid assembly of the modules and components inside a weatherproof canopy on the power station site itself avoid costly schedule disruptions.

Fermi Energia is a company founded by nuclear scientists, energy experts and entrepreneurs to bring small modular reactors to Estonia to meet its climate goals, help the economy develop and gain energy security.

The consortium led by Rolls-Royce is working with its partners and UK Government to secure a commitment for a fleet of factory built nuclear power stations, each providing at least 440MW of electricity, to be operational within a decade, helping the governments around the world net zero obligations.

The consortium members feature the best of nuclear engineering, construction and infrastructure expertise in Assystem, Atkins, BAM Nuttall, Jacobs, Laing O’Rourke, National Nuclear Laboratory, Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, Rolls-Royce and TWI. The current phase of the programme has been jointly funded by all consortium members and UK Research and Innovation.

The power stations will be built by the UKSMR consortium, before being handed over to be operated by power generation companies.

Shell Selects H160 for Operation by PHI in Gulf of Mexico

February 19, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

Marignane, France, 15, February, 2021 – International energy group Shell has selected leading US offshore helicopter operator PHI to operate four Airbus H160’s to service a support contract in the Gulf of Mexico. The contract marks the entry into the oil and gas market of the H160 with a wealth of design features promising new levels of safety, comfort and schedule reliability in offshore operations.

The three companies – Airbus, PHI and Shell – are cooperating in a unique partnership. In a pioneering move, Airbus will provide one H160 ahead of final deliveries to PHI and Shell for a year-long route-proving programme to enable the operator and the final customer to familiarize themselves with the type’s advanced features and mitigate the normal challenges around entry into service.

At PHI it will be based at Houma, Louisiana and join a large company fleet of H125’s and H135’s deployed in emergency medical service throughout the United States, as well as two H145’s operating for Shell on pipeline survey work in Louisiana, and two H145’s flying the world’s longest harbour pilot shuttle in Mackay, Australia.

With 68 patents, the H160 is the world’s most technologically advanced helicopter and features an unprecedented suite of pilot aids delivered through its Helionix avionics which substantially reduces crew workload and decreases the risk of pilot error.

They include the world’s first ground helipad assisted take-off procedure, a vortex ring state pre-alerting system and a recovery mode to automatically regain steady flight in difficult circumstances.

The H160 is powered by two of the latest Arrano engines from Safran Helicopter Engines and incorporates an embedded monitoring system and a redundancy of sensors, and can be maintained autonomously far from base. The design emphasises robust corrosion defence specifically envisaging offshore missions.

JAL Group Announces Domestic Network Plan through March 11

February 15, 2021 / WIL BALDWIN

The JAL Group (OTC: JAPSY; Tokyo: 9201.T) today announced further reductions on its domestic network plan through March 11, 2021. With the state of emergency in effect through March 7, travel demand is expected to decline. As such, the JAL Group will reduce additional flights within the month of February and the beginning of March. For flights between March 12-31, the carrier plans to announce details on February 18, 2021.

The JAL Group has implemented key measures against COVID-19 to provide our customers with a safe and secure travel experience. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience, but would like to ask for our customer`s understanding during this unprecedented time.

10FEB21 - Press Memo Domestic Reductions Summary Chart FNL.png

Note – Figures Include JAL Group Operated Flights (JAL, J-AIR, JAC, HAC, JTA, RAC)

Norwegian Air Ambulance Receives First 5-Blade Airbus H145 Helicopter

October 1, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

Airbus Helicopters has delivered the first five-bladed H145 to the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation. This new version of its best-selling H145 light twin-engine helicopter brings a new, innovative five-bladed rotor to the multi-mission helicopter, increasing the useful load by 150 kg while delivering new levels of comfort, simplicity, and connectivity. It received certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency in June and is now ready to take on a wide variety of missions.

The Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation, founded by Norwegian doctor Jens Moe in 1978, is the mother company and owner of the Norwegian Air Ambulance. It brought HEMS to Norway by opening a first base near Oslo, using a BO105 helicopter rented from Germany. Today, Norwegian Air Ambulance operates all 13 HEMS bases in Norway and all 4 bases in Denmark using a 100% Helionix-equipped fleet of H135s and H145s. This helicopter is dedicated to support the Foundations important work to improve the HEMS operations.

The new version of Airbus’ best-selling H145 light twin-engine helicopter was unveiled at Heli-Expo 2019 in Atlanta with launch customers announced for all civil and parapublic mission segments.

Certification by the Federal Aviation Administration is under review and expected soon. The certification for the military version of the five-bladed H145 will be granted in 2021. The H145 is developed jointly with Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The first delivery by the Japanese cooperation partner is scheduled for early next year.

Powered by two Safran Arriel 2E engines, the H145 is equipped with full authority digital engine control (FADEC) and the Helionix digital avionics suite. It includes a high performance 4-axis autopilot, increasing safety and reducing pilot workload. Its particularly low acoustic footprint makes the H145 the quietest helicopter in its class.

Leonardo Adding Airport Ground Operations Safety Technologies

September 30, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

– Leonardo’s U.S. subsidiary Selex ES Inc. launches AeroBOSS solutions to prevent runway incursions and protect global air travelers

– AeroBOSS provides a common operating platform enabling command and control of airport operations, maintenance and emergency resources

Leonardo’s U.S. subsidiary, Selex ES Inc., developer of en-route navigation, precision approach and landing, and surveillance systems, recently added airport surface management technologies to their air traffic control solutions.

Marketed under the name AeroBOSS, the technologies offer real-time, collaborative decision-making, flight and ground vehicle tracking, and runway safety systems that allow all surface vehicles to operate safer and more efficiently. AeroBOSS provides an airport-wide common operating platform enabling command and control of airport operations, maintenance, and emergency resources. One of the core AeroBOSS solutions is the AeroBOSS Runway Incursion Warning System (RIWS) that prevents runway accidents by alerting vehicle drivers of hazards before entering the runway area.

There are nearly thirty-one hundred airports in the world with commercial air carrier service, but only a small percentage have runway incursion prevention systems. Selex ES Inc. AeroBOSS technologies, developed for Air Navigation Service Providers and airports is able to improve airport safety efficiently and cost-effectively.

The addition of AeroBOSS solutions to Leonardo’s portfolio comes as the result of collaboration with U.S.-based INDMEX. The timing is critical, as the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization and Flight Safety Foundation have expressed concerns regarding the risks of airport runway incursions as air travel begins to return to normal following the sharp declines due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

DHL Shows How Delivery of COVID-19 Vaccine Partners for Success

September 7, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

– In the paper, DHL evaluates how the transport of vaccines as highly temperature-sensitive product can be managed effectively.

– Global delivery of 10 billion doses of serum needs scaled-up medical supply chains

– White paper identifies critical challenges in COVID-19 logistics

– A framework is provided to tackle future health emergencies beyond COVID-19

With first emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines expected to be effective in the last quarter of 2020, logistics providers are challenged to rapidly establish medical supply chains to deliver serums of unparalleled amounts of more than ten billion doses worldwide. DHL, working with McKinsey & Company as analytics partner, is therefore publishing a white paper on delivering stable logistics for vaccines and medical goods during COVID-19, and future health crises.

Currently, more than 250 vaccines across seven platforms are being developed and trialed. As COVID-19 vaccines have leapfrogged development phases, stringent temperature requirements (up to -80°C) are likely to be imposed for certain vaccines to ensure that their efficacy is maintained during transportation and warehousing. This poses novel logistics challenges to the existing medical supply chain that conventionally distributes vaccines at ~2-8°C. In the paper, DHL evaluates how the transport of vaccines as highly temperature-sensitive product can be managed effectively to combat the further spread of the virus. The scope of this task is immense: To provide global coverage of COVID-19 vaccines, up to ~200,000 pallet shipments and ~15 million deliveries in cooling boxes as well as ~15,000 flights will be required across the various supply chain set-ups.

Future public health crisis management to include public-private partnerships

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, demand for medical supplies has surged. For example, UNICEF sourced 100 times more face masks and 2,000 times more medical gloves than in 2019. Bringing medical supplies from their distant sources to use at the frontline has been one of the most crucial activities in pandemic response management in the first phase of the health emergency. For PPE specifically, inbound logistics were a major challenge due to geographically concentrated production, limited airfreight capacity and a lack of inbound quality checks. To ensure stable medical supply in a future health crisis, a comprehensive setup of public health crisis strategies and structures needs to be established by governments with partnerships from both public and private sectors.

To kick start the dialogue among the different actors and improve pandemic resilience in medical supply logistics, DHL provides a framework for the cooperation of logistics companies with authorities, politicians, NGOs as well as the life sciences industry. The framework helps to establish measures to ensure the most stable and safe supply chains possible. Besides an emergency response plan, this includes a partnership network, strong physical logistics infrastructure and IT-enabled supply chain transparency. Lastly, a response unit with a clear mandate should be put in place to implement all critical activities at short notice.

Garmin Autoland Achieves EASA and FAA Certification on Daher TBM 940

August 6, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), today announced European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification of Autoland in the Daher TBM 940. The Garmin Autoland system is available as part of the G3000™ integrated flight deck and is capable of taking control and landing the aircraft without human intervention¹ in the event the pilot is unable to fly.

In the event of an emergency, the pilot or passengers on board the aircraft can activate Autoland to land the aircraft with a simple press of a dedicated button. Autoland can also activate automatically if the system determines it’s necessary. Once activated, the system calculates a flight plan to the most suitable airport, while avoiding terrain and adverse weather, initiates an approach to the runway and automatically lands the aircraft – without pilot or passenger intervention.

Autoland takes into account a breadth of information and criteria during an activation, including a wide range of performance, operational and environmental factors. The availability of a GPS approach with lateral and vertical guidance to the runway is also required when the system is considering various airports and runways. Even further, the system will automatically communicate with air traffic control (ATC), advising controllers and pilots operating near the aircraft of its location and its intentions.

Throughout an Autoland activation, the G3000 integrated flight deck provides passenger-centric visual and verbal communications in plain language so passengers in the aircraft know what to expect. The flight displays show the aircraft’s location on a map alongside information such as the destination airport, estimated time of arrival, distance to the destination airport and fuel remaining. Airspeed, altitude and aircraft heading are also labeled in an easy-to-understand format. Passengers also have the option to communicate with ATC by following simple instructions on the display using the touchscreen interface on the flight deck.

The Garmin Autothrottle system is used to automatically manage aircraft speed, engine performance and engine power so the aircraft can climb, descend or maintain altitude as needed during an Autoland activation. On approach to land, the system initiates a controlled descent to the airport. If the aircraft needs additional time to descend or slow down during the approach, the Autoland system initiates a standard holding procedure. When aligned with the runway, the landing gear and flaps are automatically extended and the aircraft continues its descent. On the runway, automatic braking is applied while tracking the runway centerline to bring the aircraft to a full stop. Engine shutdown is also automated so occupants can safely exit the aircraft.

At any time, a pilot can easily deactivate an Autoland activation. With a single press of the “AP” autopilot key on the autopilot controller or the autopilot disconnect button on the controls, an Autoland activation can be canceled. The flight display shows a message that confirms Autoland has been deactivated and in the event of an accidental deactivation, the system shows passengers how to reactivate Autoland if needed.

Embraer Delivers First Enhanced Phenom 300E on Schedule

June 29, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

Embraer announced the first delivery of its new, enhanced Phenom 300E — the fastest and longest-ranged single-pilot business jet, capable of reaching Mach 0.80 ― to Texas law firm Dunham & Jones, Attorneys at Law, P.C.

The firm, which also owns a Phenom 100EV, took delivery of the enhanced Phenom 300E last week during a ceremony at Embraer’s Global Customer Center in Melbourne, Florida.

“This milestone delivery to our friends at Dunham & Jones is a testament to our ongoing commitment to providing the ultimate customer experience in business aviation,” said Michael Amalfitano, President & CEO of Embraer Executive Jets. “We are honored to help them grow their Embraer fleet with the world’s best-selling light jet for eight years straight, which has now been even further enhanced in terms of its technology, comfort and performance to ensure its market dominance in the industry.”

“Our clients rely on Dunham & Jones attorneys for personalized, one-on-one attention, and business aviation is the conduit to make that possible,” said Paul Dunham, Principal, Dunham & Jones, Attorneys at Law, P.C. “The speed, operating cost, and comfortable cabin pressurization of the new, enhanced Phenom 300E were certainly distinguishing factors in our selection process, as was our exceptional experience with the Phenom 100EV.”

With its unparalleled technology, exceptional comfort, and stunning performance, the Phenom 300E sets the standard for the light jet category. The aircraft received technology enhancements, including an avionics upgrade, which includes a runway overrun awareness and alerting system (ROAAS) ― the first technology of its kind to be developed and certified in business aviation ― predictive windshear, Emergency Descent Mode, PERF, TOLD, and FAA Datacom, among others. The Phenom 300E also features 4G connectivity via Gogo AVANCE L5.

The new comfort-enhancing features on this jet include a quieter cabin, more legroom in the cockpit, and a new premium interior option — the Bossa Nova edition. In terms of performance, the new, enhanced Phenom 300E is even faster, capable of reaching Mach 0.80, and delivers high-speed cruise of 464 knots, and a five-occupant range of 2,010 nautical miles (3,724 km) with NBAA IFR reserves.

The Phenom 300 series is in operation in more than 30 countries and has accumulated more than one million flight hours. It has been the world’s most delivered light jet for eight consecutive years, having accrued more than 540 deliveries since entering the market in December 2009.

Volaris Announces Temporary Capacity Reduction

April 2, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

PRNewswire/ — Volaris (NYSE: VLRS), the ultra-low-cost airline serving Mexico, the United States and Central America, announces that pursuant to a decree published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, the Government of the United Mexican States, acting through the General Health Council (Consejo de Salubridad General (“GHC”)) declared a health emergency due to force majeure, as a result of the disease epidemic caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), known as Coronavirus, which will be in effect until April 30, 2002 (the “Declaration of Emergency”)

The Declaration of Emergency and the health security measures announced by the GHC, such as the suspension of non-essential activities in the public, private and social sector, as well as the call to the population to comply with stay at home, will impact the demand for passenger air transportation whilst the Declaration of Emergency is in effect.

As a result, from the date hereof, Volaris will make an additional capacity reduction to that which was advised on March 24, 2020. Capacity measured by available seat miles (ASMs) for the month of April, 2020 will reduce to approximately 80% of total operation versus the schedule originally published.

Volaris will continue to provide relevant market updates should further capacity, governmental travel restrictions or other liquidity preserving measures need to be implemented.

Volkswagen Extends Mexico Coronavirus Production Halt

April 2, 2020 / WIL BALDWIN

An employee leaves the Volkswagen (VW) plant as the company will temporarily close its factories in Mexico amid growing worries over the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Puebla

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – German automaker Volkswagen said on Wednesday it would extend until April 30 a suspension of activities at two production plants in central Mexico after the government declared a health emergency because of coronavirus.

Volkswagen <VOW.DE> is among manufacturers worldwide who are responding to a fall in demand, as well as supply chain challenges following measures taken to rein in the pandemic.

In a statement the company said the halt was extended from April 12 to comply with government orders for a suspension of all non-essential activities.

Volkswagen said it would continue to pay employees during the suspension. Mexico reported 37 deaths, up from 29 a day earlier, and 1,378 infections, up from 1,215, because of the virus.

(Reporting by Sharay Angulo; Writing by Stefanie Eschenbacher; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Archives