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“At a very first look, aviation industry nowadays has nothing to do with national governments.” This is the opening sentence I wrote, almost one year ago, to kick-start a post focused on the links between this particular industry, and national authorities. Events occured since then, which perfectly illustrated the tight links between aviation, business, and politics. The US Air Force contract awarded to EADS has been canceled, and the Italian government is still working to find a future to Alitalia… a private comany.

A long, long time ago, almost all European airlines were national companies. Swissair, AirFrance, Alitalia, Iberia, British Airways, and the others were sponsored by the country whose flag they carried. Some were part of the national administration, some other were formally private companies, but all shares were held by the country. Monopolies were in place, protecting the national airlines from any concurence. A stable and well organised industry, which has been changed by a wave of privatisations, accompanied by new rules enforced by the European Union, to open the market to more concurence. Don’t misunderstand me - I strongly beleive in open markets, which made the existence of low-cost companies possible - I’m simply explaining how the industry evolved.

Another important connection between politics, strategy, and business is the one linking aircraft manufacturers and the military industry. If you pay a visit to the Boeing website, the first selection you’ll have to make is between “Commercial Airplanes”, and “Integrated Defense Systems”. Nothing similar on the Airbus website - but don’t forget that Airbus is an EADS company. EADS, whose divisions are Airbus, Military Transport Aircraft, Eurocopter, Astrium (satellite services), and … Defence and Security (note the very British spelling of Defence). Embraer also offers defense systems, and Pilatus products line include some military trainers. The AvroJet series is only one of the numerous products in BAESystems’s portfolio.

I’m not accountant, but it seems obvious that there some cross-financing exist between the civilian and military branches of these corporations. Do I have to say how politically and strategicaly sensitive such industries are ? Not to mention the number of jobs depending of them, and politicians like to protect jobs in their area, particularly in election periods. Does the numerous contracts between the US Department of Defense and Boeing indirectly help the civilian branch of the company ? Is that indirect support from the government to a private, strategic company ?

Earlier this year, the US Air Force awarded a mega contract for new in-flight tankers to EADS, together with Grumman Northrop. Not a 100% European offer, but this choice surprised many, particularly as the competitor was Boeing. The contracted included a production site in the US, but this was apparently not enough. Boeing filed a protest, and the award was cancelled. I don’t know the exact contents of the protest, and don’t want to judge the decision to award the contract, nor to cancel it, but some political influence is not excluded, especially with the campain for US presidency runing. Oh, did I mention that US Senator John Mc Cain was involved in a previous similar contract, which also got cancelled ?

The European context is not really different. When Swissair, a private company partly held by Swiss authorities, went into bankruptcy, the main shareholder (a.k.a. Switzerland) invested 4 billion Swiss Francs to restart the company, which later was sold to Lufthansa. The supportive arguments for this rather costly recapitalisation were the importance of saving jobs, and keeping good connections to the world… as if other airlines would not come to Zurich or Geneva, shall any market exist. The belgian government was also involved in the story, as Sabena, the Belgian carrier, was part of the alliance built around Swissair, and fall down with it. The Belgian national honour was hurt, even if almost all forgot that over 80 years of existence, Sabena generated profit… only once.

The problems that presently affect Alitalia, the Italian national carrier are of the same nature: the state, acting as shareholder, change some rules, and influence the private sector, to find a “proper” solution - no direct financing is possible under EU legislation. Unions play an important role, and often blocked the way. AirFrance’s unions are rather powerful, and some non-written rules exist - not many non-french pilots are flying there. Of course, not speaking french is a constraint, but I personally know some swiss pilots who were denied access to AirFrance cockpits, despite their native knowledge of the French language.

Because of their past as national companies, many people still have strong emotional links with them. Some don’t even envisage an alternative - if a “national” flight is possible, they’ll take it, whatever the possible price or schedule advatages that other airlines can offer. Politicians know how to use and and profit from these strong emotions, and the decisions influencing airlines are by far not always economy or business driven.

All these complex, and sometimes obscure factors have a strong influence on aviation, as an industry. Is light aviation impacted ? Well, I know about some taxes, or taxes exemptions, which are not perceived the same way for private, or commercial flight. Because some companies were operating taxi flight as private operations, all private flights - including light aviation - can no longer get taxe-free fuel. Some convinced the finance ministers that these privately operating companies were somehow concurencing the “national” companies. And what are these taxes used for ? Building motorways… Not exactly a support to aviation, except if you consider them as good spots for emergency landings.

On the 23rd of August, a Swiss Airbus 320 flying from Zurich to Malaga as LX 2114 made an emergency landing in Geneva, because of a bomb threat. Eventually, it revealed a false alert, but the airport was closed for 65 minutes, and the suspense lasted for quite a while. I landed one hour before, and when I left the clubhouse the passengers had already evacuated the plane using the slides, but the aircraft itself was still on the runway.

The resolution of this picture is rather low, as I took it from a position 1500 meters away, with a standard lens. At this moment, the fire brigade was waiting away from the runway. I have no information regarding where the inspection took place: on the runway, or later on.

A bit later, some ground staff climbed on board for inspection. Some of them also inspected the wings, probably to check the opened emergency exits. The small yellow dots on and below the right side wing (left on the picture) are the high visibility jackets of the ground staff. One of their role was also to remove the slides, before pulling the plane to a less critical place.

Given how close they are, I suppose (and hope) that the level of danger was already low. The tractor is already in place on this picture. No one there could tell me if the driver was from the fire brigade, or from the standard staff. This is anyway a high-risk job, just like getting on-board a potentially bombed plane.

The aircraft was finally pulled to an area close of threshold 05, passing in front of the main terminal, and other parking position. Because of this path, and of the long time spent on the runway, I suppose that at least a first inspection took place on the runway. I took better pictures while the planned passed-by.

The two black holes over the wings are the emergency exits - the ones that the passengers open by themselves and throw out of the plane, as shown on the safety procedures.

Here we go again - 7 links to various aviation related resources on the web. Don’t stop before the end, or jump directly to the last one…

The blog of Eddie - Pilot in training
Eddie’s blog is rather new, and is one more instance of a dreamed I personally missed: blogging the process of becoming a private pilot. These days are well behind me, but Eddie is right in that now !

Most dangerous airports
I guess all is in the title. A classical theme, but well documented. Photos from St-Marteen, but also a video of the KLM 747 landing there. Courchevel is also part of it, with both photos and videos. There are also a couple of one I did not know, so a good variation on a known theme.

The bigger lego plane in the world
What can you do with 75′000 lego bricks (100 kgs), within 600 hours ? A Sinapore Airlines Airbus 380. Don’t ask.

Newlyweds fly to the reception
I took my introductory flight the day before getting married, and was 22. Rob Hoschner, 22, and Rachel MacKay, 23, made much better: together with their families, they flew from church to their private hangar, where the reception was held. That’s so romantic.

Jetwhine asking where is the best aviation blog
If you like to read aviation blog (apparently you do…) you probably know Jetwhine. They recently asked where is the best aviation blog, so many readers submitted their favorite blogs, thus creating a wonderful directory. Special thanks to Jess Sightler, who kindly submitted PlasticPilot.net.

Operation Pegasus - DA42 airborne for 13 hours
It was probably not a flight at full power, and flying for more than 10 hours in a light aircraft is not an uncommon thing (how do you guess we bring them from US to Europe ?), but it usually involves extra tanks. This DA42 flew for 13 hours non-stop using the standard tanks, and landed with legal reserves.

Surprise, surprise
This is not exactly aviation related, but has something to do with flying. When I saw that, I could not resist to publish this link. I look forward to have your opinion: post-production special effects, or real thing.

Read older “Best of the aviation web” posts in The Archives.