Dunsfold Aerodrome

Dunsfold Aerodrome (former ICAO code EGTD) is an unlicensed airfield in Surrey, England, near the village of Cranleigh. It extends across land in the villages of Dunsfold and Alfold.
It was built by the Canadian Army and civilian contractors as a Class A bomber airfield for Army Co-operation Command. It was commanded by the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1942 to 1944 and was known as Royal Canadian Air Force Station Dunsfold. Under RAF control it was RAF Dunsfold.
Post-war it was used by Hawker Siddeley and then its successor British Aerospace.
Since 2002, it has been used as the main site of the BBC show "Top Gear".
History.
Construction and military use.
Canadian engineers were charged with the construction of the aerodrome. Such projects had previously taken up to a year to complete and this site was complicated by the two hundred acres of woodland that first had to be cleared. The Canadian sappers had access to large-scale earth moving equipment from North America obtained under Lend-Lease arrangements. The Canadians also used pipe-pushing apparatus to place explosives under trees thereby facilitating their rapid removal. As a result the aerodrome was completed in just six months.
The first squadrons based at the aerodrome were 400, 414 and 430 Squadrons, RCAF, equipped with Curtiss Tomahawks and North American Mustangs. They were followed by the North American Mitchell Mk II medium bombers of No. 139 Wing RAF, consisting of 98 and 180 Squadrons RAF, and 320 Squadron (formed from Dutch Naval Aviation Service personnel). When 139 Wing departed for the continent in the autumn of 1944, 83 Group Support Unit (later 83 Group Disbandment Centre) arrived with Spitfires, Typhoons and Tempests. After the war the airfield was used by the RAF to repatriate prisoners-of-war.
Dunsfold was declared inactive by the RAF in 1946 but was then used by Skyways Ltd, with York, Lancastrian, Skymaster, Rapide and Dove aircraft. Skyways' operations included support of the Berlin Airlift. Skyways also refurbished ex-RAF Spitfires and Hawker Hurricanes for the Portuguese Air Force.
Post-war use.
In 1950, The Hawker Aircraft Company acquired the lease of the site. Dunsfold became internationally known for development of the Hunter jet fighter; limited numbers of Sea Hawks were also produced and Sea Furies were refurbished. Airwork Ltd leased two hangars from 1953 to 1958 for the refurbishment of North American F-86 Sabres and Supermarine Attackers.
In October 1960, the then Hawker Siddeley flight tested its Hawker P.1127 prototype, the development aircraft that led to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first VTOL jet fighter bomber. Folland Gnat test flying and production moved to Dunsfold from Chilbolton, Hampshire, in 1961. Final assembly of the Harrier and the Hawk trainer aircraft was at Dunsfold.
Hawker Siddeley became part of British Aerospace in 1977. On 2 July 1986, British Aerospace's deputy chief test pilot Jim Hawkins was killed at Dunsfold when his developmental Hawk 200 crashed. On 24 June 1999, British Aerospace announced the closure of Dunsfold as part of a restructuring; Hawk final assembly had been transferred to Warton in 1988, the BAe Sea Harrier production finished in 1998 and the Harrier 2+ production was moved to Brough in 2000. The gate guardian aircraft – Hawker P.1127 "XP984" – was moved to Brooklands Museum on long-term loan.
Present day.
In 2002, BAE Systems (British Aerospace's successor) sold Dunsfold Aerodrome to The Rutland Group, which formed Dunsfold Park Ltd. Since mid-2002 the BBC motoring show "Top Gear" has been recorded at the park using a hangar as a studio and parts of the runways and taxiways of the aerodrome as the test track.
The track is also used to host cycle races in the summer months as part of a closed circuit series in the Surrey Cycle Racing League.
Dunsfold Park is also home to Wings and Wheels, an annual air and motor show that is typically held in late August. The airshow attracted over 25,000 visitors and raised over £80,000 for charities including Help for Heroes and the Surrey & Sussex Air Ambulance in 2009. Increasing popularity has meant the event is now a two-day show.
Dunsfold Park Ltd also organises a drive-in cinema, Dunsfold Drive-In, over the Easter bank holiday as well as a popular and classical concert, Strings & Wings.
Future.
In 2006, the owners of Dunsfold Aerodrome proposed the construction of a new settlement with 2,600 homes on the site, a school, health services, public transport and road links to the A281, and an expanded business district. The project was designed to be an exemplar of green and sustainable living.
In late 2007, Dunsfold Park Ltd. applied to have its plans for the new town selected as one of the then Labour government's proposed eco-towns. On 3 April 2008 Dunsfold Park was one of over 40 proposals denied eco-town status by the then housing minister Caroline Flint. The government's summary assessment said that the bid was too small in terms of house numbers, because the proposal at Dunsfold was for only 2,600 houses whereas the minimum size for an eco-town was 5,000. The assessment also said that the public transport offering needed further work.
In May 2008, Dunsfold Park Limited applied to Waverley Borough Council for planning consent for the eco-settlement. It was opposed by local residents, Surrey County Council, four borough councils and 13 parish councils as well as the South East England Regional Assembly and the South East England Development Agency. It received support from Age Concern Waverley, Guildford Labour Party, Farnham Labour Party, Cranleigh Labour Party and the former Lib Dem MP for Guildford, Sue Doughty. It also received support from some environmentalists, including leading national authorities on sustainable living such as Professor Roland Clift and from national Friends of the Earth, for its innovative approach and contribution to sustainable development. Friends of the Earth also supported the development on the basis that re-development as an eco-settlement would remove the threat of aviation expansion at Dunsfold once and for all. However, the proposal was refused planning permission by the local borough council (Waverley) and in 2009 rejected on appeal by the then secretary of state John Denham.
Although the owner says it still hopes to persuade the authorities that eco-settlement remains the best long-term future for the site, it says it is now concentrating on expanding and promoting the underlying aviation potential of the aerodrome, which is still in operational use.
Dunsfold Park's existing lawful use is in part as an aerodrome under a series of temporary planning consents which contain restrictions on the levels of aircraft movement and restrict flying to certain times. However, the long-term and permanent underlying use has been a matter of considerable dispute between the owners and the council. In April 2011, Dunsfold Park claimed that the use of the site for aviation was entirely unrestricted on the grounds that the use predated the introduction of the planning acts or alternatively that a 60-year-old planning consent dating from 1951 allowed the unrestricted use of the aerodrome for aviation. The claim led to objections from parties such as all the local parish councils and bodies such as the Council to Protect Rural England and Friends of the Earth, and concern was expressed by local MPs.
In June 2011, Waverley Borough Council refused Dunsfold Park Ltd's application for a certificate of lawful use as an aerodrome. Dunsfold appealed but the appeal was rejected in April 2012. When rejecting the appeal the inspector made reference to the old planning consent granted in 1951 for "erection, repair and flight testing of aircraft" stating that it was now agreed by all parties that "it was and is a permanent permission" and that the use at Dunsfold would revert to the 1951 consent, in 2018 on expiry of the existing temporary consents. In April 2014, Lord Justice Sullivan, at the High Court, said the 1951 permission for "flight testing" did not amount to consent for unrestricted flying.
In December 2016, planning permission was granted for 1,800 homes to be built on the current site of the aerodrome. As part of the redevelopment, it is proposed that the track and associated aerodrome infrastructure such as the runway drag strip be demolished.
On 22 October 2020, a second 747 joined G-BDXJ, being one of British Airways's recently retired Boeing 747-400s, G-CIVW. The aircraft arrived at the aerodrome after a ferry flight from Cardiff for preservation, and will be situated at Dunsfold for use as a filming location and trainer aircraft.
On 5 December 2020, a third 747 joined G-BDXJ and G-CIVW. The iconic British Airways's retro-liveried 747, Landor, registration G-BNLY arrived at the aerodrome after a ferry flight from Cardiff for preservation, and like the other two, will be situated at Dunsfold for use as a filming location and trainer aircraft.
Memorial.
A memorial, funded by public subscription, was erected outside the nearby Alfold Barn pub (on the A281 road between Guildford and Horsham) with the permission of Alfold Parish Council. Dunsfold Parish Council declined to host the memorial.
The memorial and its unveiling on 20 July 1992, exactly 50 years to the day after the first aircraft (an RCAF Tiger Moth) landed at Dunsfold, was organised by the Dunsfold Society of Mssrs Alan Barrett, Paul McCue, Gareth Morgan, Peter Robinson and Brian Spencer. A Tiger Moth and Lockheed P-3 Orion (of present-day 320 Sqn RDNAS) performed fly-pasts.
Museum.
A museum is maintained on site (open on Wednesdays to the public) by Reg Day who served with 98 Sqn RAF at Dunsfold in 1943–44.
Incidents and accidents.
On 20 November 1975, a Hawker Siddeley HS.125 G-BCUX was taking off on a test flight from runway 07. Just as aircraft became airborne, it was struck by birds. The pilots tried to land back onto the runway but the aircraft overran the runway and struck a passing car on the A281 road. The aircraft stopped in a field and was destroyed by fire. All six people inside the car died, and one crew member out of nine passengers and crew was injured.
On 2 July 1986, British Aerospace's deputy chief test pilot Jim Hawkins was killed at Dunsfold when his developmental Hawk 200 ZG200 crashed into farmland just beyond the road outside the airfield's southern boundary.
On 5 June 1998, a Hawker Hunter (G-HHUN) crashed at Dunsfold prior to that weekend's airshow. The pilot, John Davies, was killed.
On 12 June 2014, a Hughes 300 (G-BWAV) crashed just to the left of runway 25. The pilot sustained no major injuries.
Appearance in film.
A Boeing 747-200 which served with British Airways until 2002 as "City of Birmingham", G-BDXJ, was purchased by Aces High Limited, a company specialising in supplying aircraft for television and film work, and transferred to Dunsfold. It was modified and used for filming for the 2006 James Bond film "Casino Royale". Some of the scenes set at Miami International Airport were filmed at Dunsfold. The aircraft has also appeared in the background of numerous "Science in Action" and "Top Gear" episodes and directly in an episode where it was towed by a JCB Fastrac tractor, and in many other programmes and commercials.
The airfield also found use when filming several scenes inside the aircraft for "Come Fly with Me ", starring Matt Lucas and David Walliams.
In 2009, for major parts of episode 4 of ITV Series "Primeval" featuring a giganotosaurus, Dunsfold was used as the location for an unspecified London airport.
In 2013, for the closing sequences of the film "Red 2", Dunsfold was used as an undisclosed airfield near London. Both the Boeing 747-200 and the Dakota DC-3 aircraft, regularly visible in the background of Top Gear's test track features, are seen during the closing car chase of the film.
For the 2014 film "The Theory of Everything", Dunsfold stood in for the airfield from which Stephen Hawking was flown back to England after collapsing while attending an opera. The distinctive 747 with its siamesed engine pods is clearly visible in the background.
In the 2016 motion picture, "London Has Fallen", both Dunsfold and the 747-200 appeared, with the 747 being dressed as Air Force One.
Dunsfold Aerodrome was also used in the Forza Motorsport series as the Top Gear track, with appearances in Forza Motorsport -4, -5, -6, -6:Apex, and -7. The distinctive Boeing 747-200 is seen near the track.


Latifa Nabizada

Latifa Nabizada is an Afghan helicopter pilot in the Afghan Air Force. She is one of the first two women pilots to serve in Afghanistan that were qualified to fly a Mi-17 helicopter. By 2013, she was a colonel in the new Afghan Air Force. Nabizada's own career in the Afghan military has inspired other women to join.
Biography.
Early life and career.
Nabizada grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in the 1970s, though her father spent six years in jail after being accused of being a member of the Mujahadeen. She is ethnically Uzbek, and "deeply religious," following Islam. Nabizada and her sister, Laliuma Nabizada both wanted to become pilots after they completed school and applied to the Afghan military school in the Afghan Air Force. They were denied several times on "medical grounds," but were finally admitted in 1989 when a civilian doctor certified them. Both sisters had to make their own uniforms, since there were no women's uniforms ready made in the military. In 1991, she and her sister graduated from the helicopter flight school. Both Latifa and her sister began to fly transport missions during the Afghan civil war. During her missions, she and her sister would often fly together, though other missions were solo, in which they had to avoid the Stinger missiles used by the Mujahadeen, the greatest threat at the time to Soviet and Afghan military aircraft. After the fall of the Communist regime in 1992, the new Mujahadeen government kept the Nabizada sisters on its service as pilots.
The Taliban era and exile.
In 1996, when the Taliban seized Kabul, the sisters moved to Mazar-i Sharif in a secure place found by General Abdul Rashid Dostum. Their hiding place in Mazar-i Sharif was betrayed by a former Air Force member who defected to the Taliban and the sisters and their family fled to Pakistan because their lives were threatened. In 1998, during the capture of Mazar-i Sharif, she and her sister stole a helicopter with the intention of fleeing to safe haven to Uzbekistan, but they eventually turned back because of their family who they couldn't leave behind. During this period, the Taliban searched for the sisters, even detaining and torturing her three brothers, who never revealed their location. She and her family finally settled in Pakistan where they lived in the refugee camps around Peshawar until 2000, when they decided to move back to Afghanistan. Following the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, the Nabizada family returned to Kabul, where the sisters offered their services to the new Afghan Government of Hamid Karzai and were reinstated in the newly created Afghan National Army Air Corps as helicopter pilots.
The post-Taliban years.
In 2004, Latifa was married in an arranged marriage to a doctor's aide, and her sister was also married, but continued to fly after their marriage. In 2006, both sisters became pregnant. They were still flying missions for as long as they were able during their pregnancies. Latifa had no problem giving birth to her daughter, Malalai, but her sister Laliuma died in childbirth. For some time, Nabizada breastfed both her daughter and her sister's daughter, Mariam, but when it became too much to take care of her niece, her grandmother took over the care for Mariam. A few months later, Nabizada went back to work with the military, the first time without her sister. Because her husband worked and there was no childcare or other family to take care of Malalai, Nabizada took her daughter with her to work and on flights in the helicopter. Malalai was only 2 months old when she first flew in the helicopter. She and her daughter had flown over 300 missions together by 2011. Most of her missions with her daughter were humanitarian in nature. Once her daughter was old enough to attend school, she started going. Nabizada has encouraged the military to provide childcare to the women that are starting to join.
In 2013, Nabizada's family faced death threats from the Taliban due to her flying, so she was transferred to a desk job at the Afghan Ministry of Defense in Kabul.


British European


Australian Defence Force Helicopter School

The Australian Defence Force Helicopter School (ADFHS) was an Australian Defence Force unit responsible for training helicopter pilots. It was formed in 1990 and disbanded in 1998.
History.
The school was established at RAAF Base Fairbairn in Canberra in January 1990. While it formed part of the Australian Army's Training Command, more than half of the members of the Royal Australian Air Force's No. 5 Squadron (which was previously responsible for helicopter pilot training) were transferred to the school when the squadron was disbanded in December 1989.
As of April 1990, the ADFHS was equipped with Eurocopter AS350 Écureuils which were used to train Australian military pilots as well as Bell UH-1 Iroquois which were used to train members of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force and other militaries as part of Australia's Defence Cooperation Program. Trainee Australian pilots were posted to the school after completing basic flight training at No. 1 Flying Training School RAAF. The ADFHS then provided these pilots with initial helicopter training. After gaining their wings at the ADFHS, Army pilots completed their training at the School of Army Aviation in Oakey, Queensland.
In May 1991 it was announced that the ADFHS was to be relocated to Oakey. This transfer did not occur, however.
In 1998 a review of the ADF's helicopter training arrangements recommended that the ADFHS be disbanded. The Australian Government accepted this recommendation. That year, the Army elements of the unit became the Army Helicopter School and the Royal Australian Navy elements were relocated to HMAS "Albatross" near Nowra, New South Wales. The Army Helicopter School was transferred to Oakey in 2001.
Initial helicopter training for ADF members was re-centralised in January 2018, when the Joint Helicopter Aircrew Training School opened at HMAS "Albatross". This unit is responsible for training pilots for both the Army and Navy.


756th Air Refueling Squadron

The 756th Air Refueling Squadron is a United States Air Force Reserve squadron, assigned to the 459th Operations Group, stationed at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.
The squadron was first activated during World War II as the 756th Bombardment Squadron. After training in the United States, it deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, and it earned a Distinguished Unit Citation for its actions. Following V-E Day, the squadron returned to the United States and was inactivated.
In 1947, the squadron was reactivated in the reserves, but does not appear to have been fully manned or equipped before inactivating in June 1949. It was again activated in the reserves a few months later as a corollary unit, flying with the active duty 301st Bombardment Group. It was called to active duty for the Korean War, but did not serve as a unit, its personnel being used as fillers for other units, while the squadron was inactivated.
The squadron was redesignated the 756th Troop Carrier Squadron and again activated at Andrews in the reserve in 1954. It served as an airlift unit until 2003, when it converted to the air refueling mission.
Mission.
The squadron operates Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft conducting air refueling missions.
History.
World War II.
The squadron was first activated on 1 July 1943 at Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico as the 756th Bombardment Squadron, one of the four original squadrons of the 459th Bombardment Group. The squadron trained with Consolidated B-24 Liberators under Second Air Force until October, when it moved to Westover Field, Massachusetts. The squadron flew long-range convoy escort missions over area between the Newfoundland Banks and Long Island Sound in November and December 1943 while Giulia Airfield, its station in Italy, was being constructed. In January 1944, the squadron began its overseas movement.
The squadron arrived in Italy in February 1944 and began flying combat missions in March. The squadron engaged in very long range strategic bombing missions to enemy military, industrial and transportation targets in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia, bombing railroad marshalling yards, oil refineries, airfields, heavy industry, and other strategic objectives. In April 1944, the 459th Group led the 304th Bombardment Wing in an attack on an airfield and aircraft factory at Bad Voslau, Austria through heavy flak and fighter attacks. The squadron was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for this action.
In addition to strategic missions, the squadron also carried out support and interdiction operations. In March 1944, the squadron attacked railroads used to supply enemy forces surrounding the Anzio beachhead. In August, it struck bridges, harbors, and troop concentrations to aid Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France. It also hit communications lines and other targets during March and April 1945 to support the advance of British Eighth Army and American Fifth Army in northern Italy.
The squadron returned to the United States in August 1945, being programmed for deployment to the Pacific Theater as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bombardment squadron. A cadre reformed at Sioux Falls Army Air Field, South Dakota in the middle of the month. The Japanese surrender in August led to the inactivation of unit on 28 August.
Activation in reserve and Korean War mobilization.
The 756th was reactivated as a reserve unit at Long Beach Army Air Field, California in April 1947. Although nominally a heavy bomber unit, the squadron trained with North American T-6 Texans and Beechcraft T-7 Navigators and T-11 Kansans under the supervision of the 416th AAF Base Unit (later the 2347th Air Force Reserve Flying Training Center) of Air Defense Command (ADC). In July 1948, Continental Air Command (ConAC) assumed responsibility for managing reserve and Air National Guard units from ADC.
President Truman’s reduced 1949 defense budget required reductions in the number of units in the Air Force. In June 1949 ConAC reorganized its reserve units under the wing base organization system, making the squadron surplus at Long Beach. The squadron's personnel and equipment were transferred to other reserve units there. However, the May 1949 Air Force Reserve program called for a new type of unit, the Corollary Unit, which was a reserve unit integrated with an active duty unit. The plan called for corollary units at 107 locations. It was viewed as the best method to train reservists by mixing them with an existing regular unit to perform duties alongside the regular unit. The 756th became a corollary squadron, moving on paper to Smoky Hill Air Force Base, Kansas, where it became a corollary of Strategic Air Command's 301st Bombardment Wing. In the fall of 1949, the 301st Wing moved to Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, and the 756th moved with it. Along with all other reserve corollary units, the squadron was mobilized for the Korean War. Once the squadron was mobilized in May 1951 SAC reassigned its personnel to other units and the unit inactivated it two weeks later.
Reactivation in reserves.
The squadron was reactivated in the reserve at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland in May 1954 as the 756th Troop Carrier Squadron and began training with Curtiss C-46 Commandos. In the summer of 1956, the squadron participated in Operation Sixteen Ton during its two weeks of active duty training. Sixteen Ton was performed entirely by reserve troop carrier units and moved United States Coast Guard equipment From Floyd Bennett Naval Air Station to Isla Grande Airport in Puerto Rico and San Salvador in the Bahamas. After the success of Operation Sixteen Ton, the squadron began to use inactive duty training periods for Operation Swift Lift, transporting high priority cargo for the air force and Operation Ready Swap, transporting aircraft engines, between Air Materiel Command’s depots.
Meanwhile, The Joint Chiefs of Staff were pressuring the Air Force to provide more wartime airlift. About 150 Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars became available from the active force. Consequently, in 1957 the unit began conversion to the Flying Boxcar. At Andrews, the squadron trained with the 2259th Air Reserve Flying Center, but in 1958, the center was inactivated and some of its personnel were absorbed by the squadron. In place of active duty support for reserve units, ConAC adopted the Air Reserve Technician Program, in which a cadre of the unit consisted of full time personnel who were simultaneously civilian employees of the Air Force and held rank as members of the reserves. Another reorganization affected the unit in April 1959, when reserve units adopted the dual deputy organization. Under this plan, the 459th Troop Carrier Group was inactivated and the squadron reported directly to the 459th Troop Carrier Wing. All support organizations were located with the wing headquarters at Andrews.
During the first half of 1955, the Air Force began detaching Air Force Reserve squadrons from their parent wing locations to separate sites. The concept offered several advantages: communities were more likely to accept the smaller squadrons than the large wings and the location of separate squadrons in smaller population centers would facilitate recruiting and manning. Although the dispersal of flying units under the Detached Squadron Concept was not a problem when the entire wing was called to active service, mobilizing a single flying squadron and elements to support it proved difficult. This weakness was demonstrated in the partial mobilization of reserve units during the Berlin Crisis of 1961. To resolve this, ConAC determined to reorganize its reserve wings by establishing groups with support elements for each of its troop carrier squadrons at the start of 1962. This reorganization would facilitate mobilization of elements of wings in various combinations when needed. However, as this plan was entering its implementation phase, another partial mobilization occurred for the Cuban Missile Crisis, with the units being released on 22 November 1962. The formation of troop carrier groups was delayed until January 1963 for wings that had not been mobilized. At that time, the squadron was assigned to the 909th Troop Carrier Group, which was activated as the command element for the squadron, along with support elements for the 756th. The squadron continued airlift operations with the C-119 until 1966.
In October 1966, it began flying airlift missions worldwide with the Douglas C-124 Globemaster II. The squadron has also flown numerous humanitarian airlift missions. As the "Old Shaky"s were phased out of the inventory. the squadron converted to the Lockheed C-130 Hercules.
In October 1983, a military coup in Grenada overthrew the government. Shortly thereafter, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States asked the United States to intervene and restore order. The US response, Operation Urgent Fury, began soon thereafter. The squadron flew C-130 missions transporting military equipment to the Caribbean, evacuating wounded and students, and reinforcing marines with army forces, until the island was turned over to a peace keeping force of Caribbean countries.
The squadron returned to the strategic airlift mission in 1986, trading in its Hercules aircraft for Lockheed C-141 Starlifters. In late 1989, the squadron participated in Operation Just Cause, the removal of Manuel Noriega as ruler of Panama. This was the largest air operation by the USAF snce the Vietnam War. Squadron C-141s were part of the task force that staged elements of XVIII Airborne Corps from Pope Air Force Base to Charleston Air Force Base, then airlanded them in Panama. The squadron provided aircrews and planes to support Operation Desert Storm and Operations Northern and Southern Watch.
The squadron was redesignated in 2003 as an air refueling squadron and equipped with Boeing KC-135R Stratotankers. Squadron crews and planes have provided air refueling support for Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.


Japanese minelayer Sarushima

 was a small minelayer of the Imperial Japanese Navy, which was in service during World War II. She was named after Sarushima Island, a small island in Tokyo Bay, offshore Yokosuka, Kanagawa. She was designed as an auxiliary minelayer and escort vessel.
Building.
The Maru 1 Supplementary Naval Expansion Budget of 1931 authorized the construction of the huge minelayer as well as three smaller minelayers for coastal and river service, the and as well as "Sarushima". "Sarushima" was a slightly enlarged version of the Natsushima-class, with the same armament, but with diesel engines. Sarushima was launched by the Mitsubishi Yokohama shipyards on December 16, 1933, and was commissioned into service on July 20, 1934.
Operational history.
On completion, "Sarushima" was assigned to the Yokosuka Naval District. After the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, she was dispatched to patrol the inland waters of China, and was based at Jiujiang under the China Expeditionary Fleet on July 1, 1938.
At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, "Sarushima" was assigned to the Yokosuka Guard District, remaining in Japanese home waters for most of the duration of the war, and occasionally escorting convoys to the Bonin Islands.
On April 15, 1944, "Sarushima" departed Tokyo with a convoy for Saipan, returning safety on May 4. On May 17, she departed with another convoy for Saipan and Guam. During the return leg of the voyage, the convoy was attacked on June 2 by (which sank one transport), and on June 4 by (which sank another). "Sarushima" launched depth charges, but failed to sink either submarine.
On June 28, "Sarushima" escorted a convoy from Tokyo to Chichijima in the Bonin Islands. On the return voyage, the convoy was attacked by United States Navy (USN) carrier-based aircraft, which sunk all of the ships in the convoy, including "Sarushima" at position . "Sarushima" was removed from the Navy List on September 10, 1944.


West London Air Terminal

The West London Air Terminal was a check-in facility for British European Airways flights from Heathrow Airport, located on Cromwell Road in Kensington, London. It was in operation from 6 October 1957 to 1 January 1974. After passengers checked in their baggage and received their boarding passes, they would travel to Heathrow Airport by coach. One of the drawbacks of using the terminal for checking in was that road traffic could delay the coaches and ultimately delay the departure of the flight.
History.
Heathrow Airport started to gradually replace Croydon Airport as London's main airport from 1946 onwards. Croydon Airport used a location near London Victoria station as its airport terminal but this location was unsuitable for Heathrow Airport so a committee consisting of the airlines, British Railways and London Transport decided to build a new terminal in West London. In the committee's report of 1954, the best site for the terminal was the Cromwell Curve, a disused section of railway line owned by London Transport, that provided easy access to Heathrow Airport by road. The terminal was designed to replace the Waterloo Air Terminal. British European Airways (BEA) wanted the terminal ready by September 1957 so a temporary building was erected by Costain Group. The terminal was built in four and a half months, and opened on 6 October 1957.
In the 1960s, a permanent building was built by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts. The architect of this building was Sir John Burnet, Tait and Partners. The new £5 million air terminal was opened by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 6 November 1963. The six floors above the terminal's concourse were occupied by BEA's passenger-handling staff, reservations unit and accountants.
On 26 February 1962, BEA introduced their electronic reservations unit at the terminal. On 17 April 1965, BEA's automatic seat reservation system came into operation. In November 1969, BEA's computerised check-in system came into use.
On 11 May 1972, BEA announced the closure of the check-in facilities at the terminal. The check-in facilities closed on 1 January 1974. However, bus services running between the terminal and Heathrow Airport operated until March 1979.
In 1983, a Sainsbury's superstore opened in the western half of the building. The building was bought by Regalian and three Singapore-based partners in August 1997, and converted to Point West apartments above the Sainsbury's store.


Denis Arndt

Denis Arndt (born November 23, 1939) is an American actor, best known for his starring role as Alex Priest in the play "Heisenberg" for which he earned a 2017 Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play.
Life and career.
Denis Arndt served in the Vietnam War as a United States Army helicopter pilot, earning a Purple Heart and Commendation Medal.
After the war, Arndt flew helicopters in Alaska for several years before completing a degree at the University of Washington. He joined the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon where he completed 15 seasons and was a charter member of Seattle's Intiman Theater.
After Kenneth Welsh exited rehearsals of the play "Heisenberg", Arndt was cast and joined the Manhattan Theater Club's production, which opened June 3, 2015. The production moved to Broadway's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on October 13, 2016.
Arndt has also appeared in guest roles on a number of television shows including "The Good Fight", "Grey's Anatomy", "Supernatural" and "Vanished". He had a regular role on "Annie McGuire" and recurring roles on "Picket Fences" and "L.A. Law". He has appeared in films including "Basic Instinct" and "How to Make an American Quilt".


Rotorhead

In helicopters the rotorhead is the part of the rotor assembly that joins the blades to the shaft, cyclic and collective mechanisms. It is sometimes referred to as the rotor "hub".
Types.
Rotorheads can be classified into 3 main types:
Articulated Rotorhead.
An articulated rotorhead system is one where the individual blades are free to flap, lag and change pitch. This is done by mounting the blades on flapping and lagging hinges and pitch change bearings.
Semi-Rigid.
A semi-rigid rotorhead does not have individual flapping or drag hinges but provides for flapping and lag motion through gimbal mounting. A common example of a semi-rigid rotor is a teetering rotorhead found on the Robinson family of helicopters.
Rigid.
A rigid rotorhead has no flapping or lag hinges but does have pitch change bearings. The flapping and lagging movement is accommodated by flexible sections (commonly elastomeric bearings) at the blade root or blade attachment. When using composite blades, the blades can also flex to provide a flapping motion.
Benefits of rigid rotor system are:


93rd Air Refueling Squadron

The 93rd Air Refueling Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit, stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, where it is assigned to the 92d Operations Group and operates the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft conducting air refueling missions.
The earliest predecessor of the squadron is the 493rd Bombardment Squadron, which was activated in India in October 1942 and was equipped with Consolidated B-24 Liberators in January 1943. It participated in combat in the China Burma India Theater with the Liberator until V-J Day, earning a Distinguished Unit Citation in March 1945. Dring the period in which Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers operated from India, it also transported gasoline to forward bases in China. After the end of hostilities, it returned to the United States for inactivation in January 1946.
The 93rd Air Refueling Squadron was activated in March 1949 and equipped with Boeing KB-29 Superfortress tankers. It upgraded to the Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter in 1953, and the KC-135 in 1957. For most of its time at Castle Air Force Base, California, it served as the training unit for KC-135 aircrews, but also maintained combat readiness to execute Strategic Air Command (SAC) missions. In September 1985 the two squadrons were consolidated into a single unit. When SAC inactivated in 1992, the squadron became part of Air Mobility Command. In March 1995, the squadron moved on paper to Fairchild.
History.
World War II.
The squadron was first activated as the 493d Bombardment Squadron in nonoperational status at Karachi, India, and assigned to the 7th Bombardment Group on 25 Oct 1942. The squadron remained unmanned while the older squadrons of the 7th Group were converting to the Consolidated B-24 Liberator. When the group and squadron moved to Pandaveswar Airfield in early January 1943 it became operational with Liberators. It commenced combat operations on 26 Jan 1943.
The squadron engaged in strategic bombardment operations, attacking communications targets (roads, railroads, etc.) in central and southern Burma, all without fighter escort due to the long distances involved. Primary targets were oil refineries, docks, depots, enemy airfields, marshalling yards, bridges, locomotive repair sheds, naval vessels, and troop concentrations. The 493d moved to Tezgaon Airfield, India, on 17 Jun 1944, and assumed a new mission: transporting high-octane gasoline over the Hump to bases in China. This mission lasted until 5 October, at which time the squadron moved back to Pandaveswar to resume bombing missions. A detachment of the 493d Squadron operated from Luliang Airfield, China from 17 December 1944 until 26 January 1945, hauling gasoline to Suichwan Airfield, China.
The squadron proper began practice with Azon ("Azimuth only") manual command to line of sight bombs. Apparently the squadron was the only USAAF unit to use this weapon outside of the European Theater of World War II. The Azon bombs were radio controlled and could be steered left or right, although their trajectory could not be changed to shorten or lengthen their flight to target. The Azon trained crews and their B-24s were initially assigned to the 9th Bombardment Squadron. However, in December 1944, the crews and planes were reassigned to the 493d and Azon missions began to be flown. Azon proved effective in attacks against bridges and rail lines. In early 1945 the squadron concentrated on attacks against the Burma-Thailand railroad, the most important line left to the enemy in Burma. On 19 March, the 493d earned a Distinguished Unit Citation for attacks against rail lines and bridges in Thailand. The squadron also dropped propaganda leaflets in Thailand from June through September 1945 for the Office of War Information.
After fighting ended in Burma the 493d Bomb Squadron was ordered to practice Azon bombing in China, but soon "alerted" for inactivation. With its parent (7th Bomb Group) the 493d staged through Dudhkundi, Kanchrapara, and Camp Angus (near Calcutta), departing Calcutta aboard the on 7 December 1945. The vessel reached the U.S. on 5 January 1946 and the squadron inactivated at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, the following day
Strategic Air Command.
Activated on 1 Mar 1949 as the 93d Air Refueling Squadron, Medium, but was not manned until September 1950. Received KB-29P Superfortress tankers, October 1950-Jun 1951. Became combat ready in October 1951. The 93d ARS deployed to RAF Upper Heyford, England, 6 Dec 1951 – 6 Mar 1952, while the parent wing was at nearby RAF Mildenhall. The squadron supported Operation FOX PETER II, the movement of the 31st Fighter-Escort Wing from the U.S. to Japan, in July 1952 using 11 KB-20Ps at Guam and Kwajalein to refuel some 58 F-84G fighters on their way to the Korean War. The squadron converted from KB-29s to KC-97G Stratotankers in November and December 1953. It undertook several oversea deployments, to Newfoundland, Greenland, French Morocco, and Alaska, in 1954–1956.
The 93d ARS began training its aircrews to operate Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers in May 1957. The squadron was the first Stratotanker squadron in the Air Force. It Began receiving KC-135s on 28 Jun 1957, three days after converting to KC-135 aircrew training as primary mission. Possessed 19 tankers in December 1957 and 39 by May 1958.
Effective 1 Jul 1959, the resources of the 93d ARS were divided with the 924th ARS, which unit assumed the SAC KC-135 aircrew training mission with 15 aircraft. The 93d ARS, at the same time, resumed full-time air refueling with 20 KC-135s. This status lasted until 21 Aug 1963, when the 93d ARS ceased standing alert and prepared to resume full-time KC-135 aircrew training. On 26 August the 93d once again began KC-135 aircrew training as its primary mission. It retained Emergency War Order (EWO) commitments along with its training mission, but did not stand alert.
Modern era.
The squadron's mission remained basically the same until 31 Mar 1995. Thousands of Strategic Air Command and some Air Mobility Command KC-135 aircrews received flight training from the 93 ARS. Each crew (pilot, copilot, navigator, and boom operator), after academic training with the 4017th Training Squadron at Castle AFB, received 45 days of flight training from the 93d ARS. The squadron also provided specialized training of shorter duration to senior officers (such as wing commanders). For a period the 93d ARS also sent instructor teams to locations where Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units were converting to KC-135 tanker operations to help in-house training programs. On rare occasions the 93d had deployed some of its aircraft and crews to meet its own EWO commitments or to meet needs exceeding the capability of the 924th ARS. A few such deployments occurred in 1980. With the BRAC-directed closure of Castle AFB, On 31 Mar 1995, the 93 ARS relocated to Fairchild AFB, Washington, and became a deployable air refueling squadron under the 92d Air Refueling Wing (92 ARW).


United States Air Force Seek Eagle Office

The United States Air Force SEEK EAGLE Office (USAF SEEK EAGLE Office, AFSEO) was started to improve the combat capability of the warfighter. The SEEK EAGLE Program, which is the standard for the aircraft-stores certification process of the United States Air Force (USAF), was created for this purpose. This program certifies all weapons (conventional and nuclear), suspension equipment, tanks, and pods carried externally or internally. The process includes safe upload and download procedures; flight limits for safe carriage, employment, jettison, safe escape, and ballistic accuracy verification. The SEEK EAGLE process includes the integrated use of digital modeling, simulation, and analysis; ground tests; and flight tests to obtain/generate the data needed to verify aircraft-store compatibility and maintain the accuracy of/support updates to the operational flight programs (OFPs) and technical orders (TOs).
Mission.
Ensure new warfighter capabilities through the application and transfer of aircraft-store compatibility expertise.
History.
The Air Force SEEK EAGLE Office (AFSEO) is a named Air Force unit and, by special order, the single point of expertise for aircraft-store compatibility.
In the early stages of air warfare, aircraft-store compatibility was not a significant consideration except to ensure that weapons would fit onto and function with a carrier aircraft. During the Vietnam War, aircraft entered the inventory that were large and powerful enough to carry significant tonnage of weapons. Also, many new weapons were being developed. The management of the resulting marriage of the aircraft and weapons provided a bewildering matrix of combinations that had to be identified, prioritized, analyzed and certified in a timely manner.
At the end of the war, the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom was the USAF mainstay tactical combat aircraft. Virtually every store in existence was certified for use on the F-4. In the late 1970s, the USAF decided to replace the F-4 with the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon. The F-16 exhibited many more incompatibilities with weapons than the F-4 did. As the F-4 was phased out, the F-16 combat users found they were not getting the quantity and quality of combat capability they were expecting. Their mounting frustration culminated in 1986 when the Commander of the Tactical Air Command challenged HQ USAF to fix the problem. HQ USAF directed the SEEK EAGLE revitalization study. That study resulted in the establishment of the AFSEO in December 1987, when the office was chartered by the Secretary of the Air Force.


San Juan (Uganik) Seaplane Base

San Juan (Uganik) Seaplane Base is a public use seaplane base located in San Juan (Uganik), in the Kodiak Island Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is privately owned by the San Juan Fishing & Packing Co.
Scheduled passenger service to Kodiak, Alaska, is subsidized by the United States Department of Transportation via the Essential Air Service program.
Facilities.
This facility has one seaplane landing area designated N/S with a water surface measuring 10,000 by 2,000 feet (3,048 x 610 m).
Airline and destinations.
The following airline offers scheduled passenger service:


James B. Currie

James Bradford Currie (September 18, 1925 – September 20, 2009) was a major general in the United States Air Force.
Biography.
Currie was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1925. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Michigan. Currie died on September 20, 2009.
Career.
Currie joined the United States Army Air Corps in 1943. In 1946, he transferred to the United States Army Reserve. He was called to active duty in 1948 and assigned to the 3d Bombardment Group. During the Korean War, he piloted the Douglas B-26 Invader. Following the war, he was assigned to Orly Field and later to Évreux-Fauville Air Base in France. In 1961, he was assigned to the 322d Air Division, where he flew the Lockheed C-130 Hercules during the Congo Crisis. Later he served with the Nineteenth Air Force. During the Vietnam War, he flew the Fairchild C-123 Provider with the 311th Air Commando Squadron. In 1969 he entered the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Later he served in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force.
Awards he received include the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Airman's Medal, the Bronze Star Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal with two silver oak leaf clusters and two bronze oak leaf clusters, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Outstanding Unit Award with two oak leaf clusters.


List of defunct airlines of Denmark

This is a list of defunct airlines of Denmark including the Faroe Islands and Greenland.


Bayport Aerodrome

Bayport Aerodrome (formerly known as Davis Field and then from 1953-1977 as Edwards Airport) is a historic rural airport one mile northwest of Bayport, New York. The airport has a grass runway and is owned and operated by the Town of Islip. It is home to a non-profit organization that specializes in antique airplanes, known as the Bayport Aerodrome Society, which was established in 1972.
Bayport Aerodrome is not used for commercial aviation, such as the nearby Long Island MacArthur Airport. The airport has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a national historic district since January 22, 2008.


Shaukat Qadir

Shaukat Qadir is an independent Risk and Security Analyst who works generally in South Asia, particularly in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He started his career as a pilot in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and then moved to the Pakistan Army. He retired in 1998 as a Brigadier. In 1999, he became the founder and vice-president, and later president, of the semi-independent think tank Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI). In 2001, he sought early retirement due to disagreements with the military government. Since then, he has been visiting faculty at the Fatima Jinnah Women University, writing in various national and international newspapers and journals, and working as an independent Security and Risk Assessment consultant. He is also currently a Senior Analyst at Wikistrat.
Background.
Shaukat began his military career as a Flight Cadet in the PAF in 1965. He joined the Pakistan Military Academy in 1968. In 1970, he was commissioned in the 6th Battalion, Frontier Force Regiment, 6 FF (Infantry).
He returned from his six-month sojourn in East Pakistan (now called Bangladesh) weeks before the surrender at the end of the 1971 war. He saw action during the Balochistan insurgency in the 1970s. Over the years, he has commanded three brigades and served on the staff of a brigade, a division, and a corps; he has also been on the faculty of the infantry school, Command and Staff College, and the War Wing at the National Defence University, Islamabad. In 1998, he sought and obtained early retirement from the Army.
In 1999, he founded the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) and became the vice-president. He finally requested retirement again from the IPRI in 2001. Since then, he has been a free-lance journalist, an author with a weekly column, a member of visiting faculty at the Fatima Jinnah Women's University, and an invited speaker and author at various national and international conferences.
Author and columnist.
Shaukat has written in various newspapers, magazines, journals and books over the last decade, both nationally and internationally. He has a weekly column in the Daily Times (Pakistan) and also writes regularly for The National. In the past, he has written for the Far Eastern Economic Review, RUSI – Royal United Services Institute (UK), PILDAT – Pakistan Institute for Legislative Development and Transparency, Rediff.com (India), Dawn (Pakistan), and The Round Table Journal, among others.
Articles and political views.
Pakistan Army.
Shaukat has been vocal about his criticism (and, to some extent, his praise) about the government of Pakistan, and also of other countries. His analysis of the Kargil War (carried by RUSI ) is highly cited and generally viewed as an objective analysis by both sides of the divide.
In general, he is a politic and a democrat, who believes that the military should remain subordinate to the elected leaders, and should have no political role. He stated as much in 1990 to the then Army Chief, while he was a student at the National Defence College (now University), and also after retirement, in various forums.
"Apart from the fact that such avoidance of responsibility by the political leadership is tantamount to a tacit acceptance of a continued political role of the military, no military can, or should, possibly be expected to cater for all political considerations."
"Ours is a country with a history of military coups and, even when the army was not running the country, its political power was an ominous presence. Ayub Khan started well, till he led us into an unnecessary war in 1965, which we were fortunate to end in a stalemate. Yahya Khan didn’t initiate a war but he created conditions for India to dismember us. Zia-ul Haq gave birth to religious extremism and the drug/Kalashnikov culture. Pervez Musharraf went farther than all the rest: he permitted terrorists to flower, in instances like Lal Masjid, even nurtured them until there was no option left but to use force which caused the death of hundreds of children. Democratic army chiefs have been a rarity."
Abstract philosophy.
His more abstract political and philosophical views are scattered in various articles, and seem inspired from Jean Jacque Rousseau’s ‘A Social Contract’, which he often quotes in his articles. He believes that while sovereignty lies with the people, it is transferred to their elected representatives by the people themselves. Consequently, elected representatives are bound by the democratic system to deliver 'good governance,' in the widest sense of the term.
"There is one inalienable right of the citizens of society i.e. liberty (in all its forms) and therefore, the state exists for but one purpose alone i.e. to ensure the individual and collective rights of its citizens. To this end, the state is the only organisation authorised the use of force; but that too solely in attempting to achieve this end that it exists for."


Etimesgut Air Base

Etimesgut Air Base () is an airbase of the Turkish Air Force located west of Ankara, Turkey. It is owned by Turkish Air Force and jointly operated by the air force and the Turkish Aeronautical Association () (THK). International Defense Industry, Aerospace and Maritime Fair (IDEF) and civil aviation airshows are being held at this airport.
The airport has two runway in east-west direction. The northern part of the airport, limited by the urban section of Ankara-Istanbul highway at north, is assigned to the military with the longer runway 11L/29R. The southern area and the shorter runway 11R/29L are being used by the THK. The Ankara Aviation Museum, open to public, is located at the northeastern corner of the airport.
11th Air Logistics Command.
The 11th Air Logistics Command, a direct subunit of the General Staff of the Turkish Air Force, is stationed at the Etimesgut Air Base with two squadrons having their military transport aircraft for cargo and personnel.
CASA CN-235M-100 airplanes for cargo and ambulance and CASA CN-235EW airplanes for electronic warfare.
Cessna 550, Cessna 650, Gulfstream IV, CASA CN-235M-100 airplanes and Bell UH-1H helicopters for personnel transport.
Turkish Aeronautical Association.
The airport hosts the Etimesgut Türkkuşu Training Center of the Turkish Aeronautical Association, which was established on May 3, 1935. The center consists of flight schools, maintenance and logistics facilities and ground support units.
The center flies the aircraft: Antonov An-2, Cessna 402, Cessna 421, Dornier Do 28, Norman NAC6, PZL-Mielec M-18 Dromader and PZL-104 Wilga.


BERP rotor

The BERP rotor blade design was developed under the "British Experimental Rotor Programme". The initial BERP rotor blades were developed in the late 1970s to mid-1980s as a joint venture programme between Westland Helicopters and the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), with Professor Martin Lowson as a co-patentee. The goal was to increase the helicopters lifting-capability and maximum speed using new designs and materials.
How it works.
As objects approach the speed of sound, shock waves form in areas where the local flow is accelerated above the speed of sound. This normally occurs on curved areas, like cockpit windows, leading edges of the wing, and similar areas where Bernoulli's principle accelerates the air. These shock waves radiate away a great amount of energy that has to be supplied by the engines, which appears to the aircraft as a whole as a large amount of additional drag, known as wave drag. It was the onset of wave drag that gives rise to the idea of a sound barrier.
Helicopters have the additional problem that their rotors move in relation to the fuselage as they rotate. Even when hovering, the rotor tips may be travelling at a significant fraction of the speed of sound. As the helicopter accelerates, its overall speed is added to that of the tips, meaning that the blades on the forward-moving side of the rotor sees significantly higher airspeed than the rearward-moving side, causing a dissymmetry of lift. This requires changes in the angle of attack of the blades to ensure the lift is similar on both sides, in spite of the great differences in relative airflow.
It is the ability of the rotor to change its lift pattern that puts a limit on the forward speed of a helicopter; at some point the forward speed means the rearward-moving blades are below their stall speed. The point where this occurs can be improved by making the rotor spin faster, but then it faces the additional problem that at high speeds the forward-moving blades are approaching the speed of sound and begin to suffer from wave drag and other negative effects.
One solution to the problem of wave drag is the same that was seen on 1950s jet fighters, the use of wing sweep. This reduces the effect of wave drag without significant negative effects except at very low speeds. In the case of fighters, this was a concern, especially at landing, but in the case of helicopters, this is less of an issue because the rotor tips do not slow significantly, even during landing. Such swept-tips can be seen on many helicopters from the 1970s and 80s, notably the UH-60 Blackhawk and the AH-64 Apache.
However, so we don't get centre of gravity or aerodynamic centre movements aft of the blade elastic axis (which can introduce undesirable aerodynamic and inertial couplings), then the tip must be configured with an area shift forward. This can be kept to a minimum by recognizing that the Mach number is varying along the blade so we do not have to use a constant sweep angle, thereby minimizing the amount of forward area shift.
The methodology used in the design of the BERP blade ensures that the effective Mach number normal to the blade remains nominally constant over the swept region. The maximum sweep employed on the large part of the BERP blade is 30 degrees and the tip starts at a non-dimensional radius r/R=cos 30 = 86% radius. The area distribution of this tip region is configured to ensure that the mean tip centre of pressure is located on the elastic axis of the blade. This is done by offsetting the location of the local 1/4-chord axis forward at 86% radius.
This offset also produces a discontinuity in the leading edge (referred to as a notch), which results in other interesting effects. For example, recent calculations using a CFD code based on the Navier-Stokes equations, has shown that this "notch" actually helps to further reduce the strength of shock waves on the blade. Thus, an unexpected by-product of the notch over and above the basic effect of sweep is to help to reduce compressibility effects even further.
We must also recognize that a swept tip geometry of this sort will not necessarily improve the performance of the blade at high angle of attack corresponding to the retreating side of the disk. In fact, experience has shown that a swept tip blade can have an inferior stalling characteristic compared to the standard blade tip.
The BERP blade employs a final geometry that performs as a swept tip at high Mach numbers and low angles of attack, yet also enables the tip to operate at very high angles of attack without stalling. This latter attribute was obtained by radically increasing the sweep of the outermost part of the tip (the outer 2% approximately) to a value (70 degrees) where any significant angle of attack will cause leading edge flow separation.
Because the leading edge is so highly swept, this leading edge separation develops into a vortex structure which rolls around the leading edge and eventually sits over the upper surface (as on a delta wing aircraft). This mechanism is enhanced by making the leading edge of the aerofoil in this region relatively sharp.
As the angle of attack is increased, then this vortex begins to develop from a point further and further forward along the leading edge, following the planform geometry into the more moderately swept region. At a sufficiently high angle of attack, the vortex will initiate close to the forward most part of the leading edge near the "notch" region.
Evidence has shown that a strong "notch" vortex is also formed, which is trailed streamwise across the blade. This vortex acts like an aerodynamic fence and retards the flow separation region from encroaching into the tip region. Further increases in angle of attack make little change to the flow structure until a very high angle of attack is reached (in the vicinity of 22 degrees!) when the flow will grossly separate. For a conventional tip planform, a similar gross flow breakdown would be expected to occur at about 12 degrees local angle of attack.
Therefore, the BERP blade manages to make the best of both worlds by reducing compressibility effects on the advancing blade and delaying the onset of retreating blade stall. The net result is a significant increase in the operational flight envelope.
Programmes.
The initial programme, BERP I, studied the design, manufacture and qualification of composite rotor blades. This resulted in producing new main rotor and tail rotor blades for the Westland Sea King. Following on from the first, the second programme, BERP II, analysed advanced aerofoil sections for future rotor blades. This fed into the BERP III programme.
BERP III designs have a notch toward the outer end of the rotor blade, with a greater amount of sweepback from the notch to the end of the blade compared to inboard of the notch. BERP III culminated in a technology demonstration on a Westland Lynx helicopter. In 1986, a Lynx specially modified registered G-LYNX and piloted by Trevor Egginton set an absolute speed record for helicopters over a 15 and 25 km course by reaching 400.87 km/h (249.09 mph). Following the successful technology demonstration, the BERP III blade went into production.
BERP IV uses: a new aerofoil, revised blade tip shape, and increased blade twist. After 29 hours of testing it has been found to, "improve rotor flight-envelope performance, reduce power needs in hover and forward flight, ... decrease airframe and engine vibration for a range of take-off weights." Additionally "Rotor hub loading has been found to be the same or less than with the BERP III blade now fitted to the EH101" helicopter. To prevent leading edge erosion the blade will use a rubber-based tape rather than the polyurethane used on UK navy Sea Kings. Under test it was found to last five times longer, 195 minutes vs 39 min. The programme ended in August 2007
Applications of BERP technology.
Current applications are:


F-22 Raptor Demo Team

The F-22 Demonstration and Heritage Flight Team is a United States Air Force flight demonstration team stationed at the home of Air Combat Command at Langley AFB in Hampton, Virginia. The team flies the USAF's Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor at airshows around the globe, performing air maneuvers that demonstrate the supermaneuverability of the F-22. These demonstrations include the power loop, split, and tail slide, as well as a high speed pass and dedication pass. These maneuvers are based on those designed for combat operations, but are performed at much lower altitudes than most pilots are certified to fly at. The US Air Force approved the demonstration in 2007, replacing Air Combat Command's F-15C demonstration team.


Courchevel Altiport

Courchevel Altiport () is an altiport serving Courchevel, a ski resort in the French Alps. The airfield has a very short runway of only with a gradient of 18.6%. There is no go-around procedure for landings at Courchevel, due to the surrounding mountainous terrain. The airfield primarily sees use by smaller fixed-wing aircraft such as the Cessna 208 Caravan, as well as helicopters. The runway has no instrument approach procedure or lighting aids, thus making landing in fog or low clouds unsafe and almost impossible.
The airport is considered dangerous, as it features a difficult approach, an upward-sloping runway and ski runs in the adjacent area. The History Channel program "Most Extreme Airports" ranks it as the seventh most extreme airport in the world.
Commercial service.
In the 1980s, Tyrolean Airways served Courchevel using Dash-7 STOL aircraft capable of carrying 54 passengers. More recently, De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otters and DHC-7 Dash 7 turboprops have served the airport. According to their website, Alpine Airlines is currently the only company worldwide to offer commercial flights to Courchevel Altiport.


Maulan Aerodrome

Maulan Aerodrome, was a temporary World War I airfield in France. It was located South-Southwest of the commune of Maulan, in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.
Overview.
A small airfield was set up in September, 1914 by the French "Aeronautique Militaire" at "Le Petit Maulan", but soon to be wrecked by a storm and given up.
Then, a French flying unit, escadrille F 25 (French 2nd Army) spent few months (31 March - 16 September) in 1917 at "Maulan" and again three weeks (14 March - 5 April) in 1918 as VR 25, this time been "barracked", with seems to imply that an airfield had been organized at least early in 1918 in Maulan before the Air Service, United States Army squadrons arrived in the area, 2 miles further south from the initial spot of "Le Petit Maulan", at the west rim of the wood of Charmois.
After some works performed by a detachment of 484th Aero Squadron (Construct.) on 1–11 September, Maulan was used as a main operating base by the 1st Day Bombardment Group during both the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives, with four squadrons of aircraft (11th, 20th, 96th and 166th) from 23 September onwards.
In support of the flying squadrons, the 4th Air Park's 648th Aero Squadron had a flight of mechanics for repair of both aircraft and vehicles. Also, the airfield was the home of Photo Section #12 for processing and analyzing aireal photography. The ground support station consisted of various aircraft hangars, support buildings and quarters for personnel, primarily in the woods to the north and west of the field.
After the armistice, the 1st Day Bombardment Group stayed there until 17 January 1919, when its HQ and three remaining squadrons moved to Colombey les Belles to be demob'ed. The airfield was then soon returned to agricultural use.
The first airfield of "Le Petit Maulan" was 1/2 miles south of Maulan, along the RN 4, and the larger - as already said - was a further 2 miles south, by the wood of Charmois. Today, both are cultivated fields, with no indications of their wartime use.


John Norton (soldier)

Lieutenant General John "Jack" Norton (14 April 1918 – 6 December 2004) was a general in the United States Army. His decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal (4 times) and the Silver Star. He was key in founding the Army Air Corps (later the United States Air Force) and helped pioneer the use of helicopters in combat, and is a member of the Army Aviation Hall of Fame and the Army Field Experimentation Hall of Fame.
Early life and career.
Norton was born on 14 April 1918 in Fort Monroe, Virginia to Colonel Agustus Norton and Nancy Reed Norton. His father was a front-line artillery officer during World War I, and was an influence on Norton's desire to join the military and become an army officer. Norton spent his early life in Norfolk, Virginia, attending Matthew Fontaine Maury High School. In 1935, Norton enlisted in the Citizens' Military Training Camp in Fort George G. Meade. He enlisted in the army on 1 July 1936 and won an appointment to the United States Military Academy in 1937. Norton was president of his class during his second-class year and First Captain during his first-class year. Norton graduated in 1941 and commissioned in the infantry.
World War II.
Norton's first assignment out of West Point was to 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division as a company commander. He then returned to Infantry School in the fall of 1942 to attend the Battalion Commander and Staff Officers Course and the Parachute Course. Following his completion of the course, he reported to the 82nd Airborne Division in North Africa. He was soon promoted to executive officer of the 2d Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Two months later, he was again promoted, to S-3 (operations officer) of the Regiment. He made his first of four combat jumps as an executive officer, participating in the Invasion of Sicily. After returning to North Africa, he made a second combat jump into Salerno, Italy, blocking German forces who were trying to attack US amphibious forces. His third jump was in support of the Invasion of Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944 when he led his men in the dark over St. Mere-Eglise, France. In July of that year, he assumed command of the 3d Battalion; he was promoted the next month to G3 of the 82d Airborne Division. Norton made his fourth combat jump in September, in the Netherlands to take control of the bridges from the Dutch border to Arnhem as part of Operation Market Garden.
Later career.
After World War II, Norton returned to Fort Bragg with the 82d Airborne Division. He served successively as Division G-3, a battalion commander in the 325th Infantry Regiment, then Regimental Commander of the 505th Infantry Regiment and a second regimental command tour, returning to the 325th Infantry Regiment. He transferred to Washington, D.C. in 1948 to serve as a staff officer with the Strategic Plans Group of the General Staff, then with the Deputy Chief for Plans, Office of the Chief of Staff. From June 1950 to February 1953, Norton served as Military Assistant and Executive Officer to the Secretary of the Army, Frank Pace, Jr. He then attended the Armed Forces Staff College until he left to become chief of the American Section in September; he held this command until August 1955.
Norton was originally ordered to return to the Armed Forces Staff College as an instructor; instead, General James Gavin made Norton chief of the Airborne and Electronics division of the Army Aviation Branch. Norton served in this capacity until September 1956, when he became a student at the Army Aviation Center and School to increase his effectiveness. While there, Norton became a Senior Army Aviator. Norton returned to his post after graduating in June 1957; he held this command until August 1958. In October 1957, Norton served as the escort to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in his visit to America with Elizabeth II.
After attending the National War College in 1959, Norton Commanded the 2d Battle Group of the 1st Cavalry Division at the Korean Demilitarized Zone from August 1959, to September 1960. From then until May 1962, Norton served as the Continental Army Aviation Officer in the Continental Army Command. He was responsible for all aviation training, support, and doctrinal matters, and served on the Hoelscher Committee and the Howze Board. Under Norton's recommendation, the first Air Assault Division was created at Fort Benning in early 1963. From May 1963 to March 1965, Norton served as the Assistant Commandant of the Infantry School at Fort Benning. While there, he redesigned the school to better train the students to fight in the Vietnam War.
Norton was called to Vietnam himself, becoming commander of the United States Army Support Command in April 1965. After serving as the Deputy Commanding General of the United States Army Vietnam, Norton commanded the 1st Air Cavalry Division from May 1966 to April 1967. After undergoing a colectomy in June 1967, Norton became the Commanding General of the United States Army Aviation Systems Command, a position he held until September 1969. From October 1969 to October 1970, Norton was the Deputy Director of Modern Army Selected Systems Test Evaluation and Review project ("Project MASSTER") in Fort Hood, Texas, tasked with developing sensors to use in weapons systems in Vietnam. After initially being tasked with the position of Force Development in the Pentagon, Norton was instead made Commanding General of the United States Army Combat Developments Command. Occupying the position until June 1973, Norton assisted in the continued reorganization of the Army, unsuccessfully attempting to preserve the Combat Development Command, which was later reestablished at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. While serving in this position, Norton oversaw the early development of the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and M1 Abrams tank. In his final assignment, Norton served as Chief of Staff of the Allied Forces of Southern Europe from June 1973 to August 1975.
Legacy and honors.
Norton had a major role in developing Army aviation. In 1977, Norton was inducted into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame, and has also been inducted into the Army Field Experimentation Hall of Fame. Norton received the Doughboy Award on 22 September 2004. Norton was nominated for the West Point Distinguished Graduate Award.
Awards and decorations.
Source:
Effective dates of promotion.
 United States Military Academy Cadet – Class of 1941
Source:
Personal life.
During his first-class year at West Point, he was roommates and friends with George Scratchley Brown, future Chief of Staff of the Air Force and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Norton dated his future second wife Leslie Smith during his final two years at West Point. Although the two considered marriage while dating, they had different military career aspirations causing them to separate after graduation; in that time, Smith married a doctor. After Norton went on a blind date with his West Point classmate and friend Cheyney McNabb, the two married in April 1946. Cheyney gave birth to a son in July 1947; to a daughter in April 1951; and to another daughter in June 1953. Cheyney died after 46 years of marriage to Norton. After hearing through a mutual friend that Smith had been widowed 36 years prior, Norton reconnected with her, proposed, and married her in September 1992. Leslie died of Alzheimer's disease in May 2002.
In his later years, Norton became involved in his community, becoming a board member of the Shenandoah Valley Boy Scout Council and County Mental Health Group. He became a Senior Warden at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Mount Jackson, Virginia, and served on the board of trustees for the Reserve Officers' Training Corps at James Madison University and the Massanutten Military Academy. He died of cancer in his Basye, Virginia home on 6 December 2004.


RAF Princess Alexandra Hospital


465th Air Refueling Squadron

The 465th Air Refueling Squadron is a United States Air Force Reserve squadron, assigned to the 507th Operations Group, 507th Air Refueling Wing, stationed at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The squadron operates the KC-135R aircraft conducting aerial refueling missions.
Overview.
The squadron operates Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft conducting air refueling missions. It is one of three flying organizations in the 507th Air Refueling Wing, incorporating pilots and traditional operations functions.
As civilians, many of the pilots assigned to the refueling squadron are employed by commercial airlines. As reservists, they are required to fly the same type sorties as their active-duty counterparts to remain proficient and combat ready.
History.
World War II.
Formed in late 1944 as the 465th Fighter Squadron and trained under II Fighter Command in the midwest and Texas. Equipped with the very long range P-47N Thunderbolt with a combat mission to escort B-29 Superfortress bombers from their bases in the Mariana Islands to Japan.
Following months of delays, the squadron arrived in the Pacific Theater, being assigned to Ie Shima in the Ryukyu Islands on 28 June 1945 from Saipan/Tinian. During forty-six days of combat, the squadron flew forty-six missions. With the end of the war, the squadron was reassigned to Yontan Air Base, Okinawa in January 1946 conducting occupation duty. It was inactivated on 24 May 1946.
Air Defense Command.
Activated 18 February 1953 by Air Defense Command at McChord AFB, Washington, equipped with F-86D Sabre Interceptors with an air defense mission. Inactivated 18 August 1955 IAW Project Arrow when parent 527th ADG inactivated and replaced 325th Fighter Group (Air Defense).
Reactivated 8 October 1955 at Griffiss AFB, New York and assigned to 32d Air Division with F-89D Scorpions; converted to F-89H/J Scorpions in the fall of 1956; transferred to 4727th Air Defense Group in February 1957; moved to Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts and transferred to Boston Air Defense Sector in August 1959, acquiring F-86L Sabre Interceptors in a swap with the 49th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron; inactivated 15 March 1960 as the Sabre was being phased out in favor of supersonic interceptors.
Air Force Reserve.
It trained for fighter missions between 1972 and 1994 and has flown worldwide air refueling missions since 1994.


Calumet Air Service


Naval Air Station Banana River


List of defunct airlines of Panama

This is a list of defunct airlines of Panama.


Air Toronto

Air Toronto , previously Commuter Express, was a passenger airline based at Toronto Pearson International Airport. It primarily provided connector flights for passengers of Air Canada.
History.
Commuter Express was founded in 1984 by Soundair for scheduled commuter flights using Fairchild Metros. In 1988, with a contract to feed Air Canada at Toronto Pearson International Airport the name was changed to Air Toronto and the Metros were replaced with Jetstream 31 aircraft.
In 1990, the airline's parent company, Soundair, entered receivership, but Air Toronto was continued to operate as a separate entity as it was profitable. On October 1, 1991 Air Toronto started flying under Ontario Express and the two airlines merged in December 1991.


Chignik Bay Seaplane Base

Chignik Bay Seaplane Base is a public-use seaplane base serving Chignik, a city in the Lake and Peninsula Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska.
Facilities and aircraft.
Chignik Bay Seaplane Base has two seaplane landing areas: the E/W waterway is 6,000 by 4,000 feet (1,829 x 1,219 m) and the NE/SW waterway is 10,000 by 4,000 feet (3,048 x 1,219 m). The beach is used for aircraft pull-up. For the 12-month period ending December 31, 2006, the airport had 210 aircraft operations, an average of 17 per month: 95% general aviation and 5% air taxi.


List of defunct airlines of Colombia

This is a list of defunct airlines of Colombia.


NAVBLUE

NAVBLUE, an amalgamation of Navtech, Airbus LUCEM and Airbus ProSky, is Airbus’ flight operations software subsidiary. They provide products which include software for flight planning, aircraft performance, flight data analysis, aeronautical charts, crew planning, electronic flight bag and navigational data.
NAVBLUE is based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada with an additional headquarters in Toulouse, France as well as a major office in Hersham, United Kingdom and several satellite offices worldwide.
History.
In the mid-1980s Ray English, an Air Canada pilot, conceived and developed a computer system to better calculate the benefits of tankering fuel for Air Canada. To his chagrin, the company showed no interest in the program despite the fact that it could save them millions of dollars per year. He consequently offered his program to Wardair who immediately recognized its value, but suggested that it would be better if he could create a flight plan program capable of incorporating the tankerage calculations. With the help of his wife Dorothy, a self-taught software engineer, and a small staff they expanded the concept of the original program to include not just a computerized flight planning function but a full-blown flight operations management system (FOMS). They began working in their garage in the small town of Elmira near Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Over the next few years, Navtech acquired several customers, including Wardair, American Trans Air, Nationair, and Canada 3000. The Navtech concept was to provide small airlines with a fully independent in-house system rather than the typical centrally hosted service-bureau style of flight planning service offered by others such as Jeppesen, Compuflight, and Borneman.
One of the most significant features of the Navtech flight planning software was its ability to calculate the minimum time route along published airways between any origin and destination using the appropriate forecast winds and temperatures for the speed and altitude range of the aircraft type employed. This "MTTA" functionality was a radical improvement over other competing systems that, like the original Navtech offering, could only assess which was the best route of those currently on file.
As Internet communications developed, Navtech also developed a hosted implementation of their flight operations management product which allowed customers to communicate remotely with Navtech computers to request and generate a flight plan. Navtech merged with Compuflight, a flight operations services provider based in Long Island, New York, in 1994 to expand its flight planning market share and to introduce runway analysis service to its customers.
Navtech further augmented its flight operations service portfolio in 1998 when it acquired the Weather Service Division of Global Weather Dynamics Inc. (GWDI) which was based in Monterey, California. In 1999, Navtech acquired Skyplan's UK division to accelerate its growth in the European market.
In 2001, Navtech acquired Airware Solutions, Inc. and entered the Crew Planning market, providing the industry's leading Preferential Preferential Bidding System. A partnership was created with Parallel Integrated Applications Systems to offer airlines its Pairings Optimizer.
In 2005, Navtech acquired European Aeronautical Group, a group founded by Scandinavian Airlines, British Airways and a number of avionics manufacturers.
In 2015, Navtech acquired DW International Limited, an industry leader of Performance Based Navigation (PBN) software
In 2016, Airbus acquired Navtech and merged it with Airbus LUCEM and Airbus ProSky to form NAVBLUE.
On November 17, 2016, NAVBLUE signed a three-years contract with the Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation and the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam for a full redesign of the national air traffic plan, in cooperation with the three top airline companies and the two busiest airports- Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Noi Bai International Airport.
Products.
Navtech's first product was "Navtech Flight Plan", now marketed as "Navblue Flight Plan". This allows airlines to manage the costs associated with flight operations, minimizing spending on fuel consumption, operating costs, and flight time. Navtech has developed two aircraft performance computer applications:<br>
Navblue's aeronautical charting products create aerodrome and en-route navigation charts as well as those used for helicopter operations. Navtech's crew planning software, the "Preferential Bidding System" builds both flying and reserve schedules with an add-on module for training schedules. "Pairing Optimizer" is a desktop application which produces crew pairings covering various scheduling periods.
Navblue's software creates and uses large aeronautical and navigational databases for flight management systems and flight simulators, as well as ground positioning systems, aircraft simulators, airspace modelling, and air traffic systems. "Electronic flight bag" software provides Navtech tools to pilots electronically on a laptop or tablet.


Infraero

Empresa Brasileira de Infraestrutura Aeroportuária, Infraero in short, is a Brazilian government corporation founded in 1973, authorized by Law 5,862, being responsible for operating the main Brazilian commercial airports. In 2011 Infraero's airports carried 179,482,228 passengers and 1,464,484 tons of cargo and operated 2,893,631 take-offs and landings. Prresently it manages 45 airports.
The company is present all over Brazil and employs approximately 23,000 employees and subcontracted workers nationwide. It is headquartered in the Infraero Building, in Brasília, Federal District.
Investments.
The company implements a workplan which covers practically all airports managed by it and which generates over 50 thousand jobs all over Brazil. The Brazilian airport infrastructure, which may match to the international standards, is being updated to meet the next years demand.
The works are performed with the company's own revenue, mainly generated by the air cargo storage and custom duty, granting of commercial areas in the airports, boarding, landing and stay tariffs, and rendering of communication and air navigation auxiliary services.
On 9 October 2009, it was announced that Infraero will invest in airports abroad: Infraero was invited by the Government of Paraguay to administer Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Asunción and invited to participate in the privatization of Ruzyně Airport in Prague, Czech Republic, among other investments.
On March 4, 2010, the government of Brazil announced that it would adopt the model of concession to airports. For this reason Infraero would become a concessionary rather than an administrator of the airports that it currently operates. The main consequence is the fact that Infraero will be able to open its capital and obtain resources necessary for infra-structure investments. Another consequence is that municipal or state governments would have it easier to change concessionaries, such as the intention announced on 28 August 2009 by Rosinha Matheus, the Mayor of Campos dos Goytacazes, who requested Infraero the transfer of the administration of Bartolomeu Lysandro Airport to the Municipality. The Minister of Defense, to whom Infraero was subordinate (currently it belongs to Civil Aviation Secretary), announced being in favor of the transfer.
Concessions.
On April 26, 2011 it was confirmed that in order to speed-up much needed renovation and up-grade works, private companies would be granted a concession to commercially explore some Infraero airports in exchange for the implementation of those works. Listed airports included São Paulo/Guarulhos – Governador André Franco Montoro International Airport, Brasília – Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport, Campinas – Viracopos International Airport, and later Belo Horizonte – Tancredo Neves International Airport and Rio de Janeiro – Galeão/Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport. The plan was confirmed on May 31, 2011 and it was added that Infraero would retain 49% of the shares of each privatized airport.
The concession program was divided into phases, each with its own public bidding.
The first phase was related to Gov. Aluízio Alves International Airport in Natal. On August 22, 2011 its concession was won by the Consortium Inframérica, formed by the Brazilian Engineering Group Engevix (50%) and the Argentinean Group Corporación América (50%), which operates 52 airports in 7 countries. After the signature of the contract of concession, Inframérica Consortium was authorized to commercially explore the facility for 25 years (with one possible 5-year extension). As part of the concession agreement Infraero holds no shares participation in this facility.
The second phase was related to an auction that took place on February 6, 2012.
The third phase took place on November 22, 2013, when the Brazilian Government had a bidding process to determine the operator of Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport from 2014 until 2039.
Starting on the fourth phase, Infraero ceased to have a mandatory 49% of the shares of each privatized airport.
The fourth phase took place on March 16, 2017 and the result was:
The fifth phase, done in blocks valid for 30 years, took place on March 15, 2019 and the result was:
The sixth phase, done in blocks valid for 30 years, took place on April 7, 2021 and the result was:
Further Developments.
On July 17, 2020 the Federal Government authorized the beginning of a new concession process for Viracopos International Airport in Campinas upon request from the present concessionary Consortium Aeroportos Brasil.
On March 10, 2021, it was announced that the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil approved a new concession process for Gov. Aluízio Alves International Airport in Natal, as per request from the concessionary Consortium Inframérica made on March 5, 2020. It is expected that a new bidding will take place in 2021.
Independent Cases.
On October 11, 2013, the administration of Bartolomeu Lysandro Airport in Campos dos Goytacazes was transferred from Infraero to the municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes.
On June 17, 2020, the Federal Government signed and agreement to transfer the administration of Pampulha – Carlos Drummond de Andrade Airport in Belo Horizonte from Infraero to the Government of the State of Minas Gerais.
On December 2, 2020, the Federal Government signed and agreement to transfer the administration of Prof. Urbano Ernesto Stumpf Airport in São José dos Campos to the Municipality of São José dos Campos. The transition period will end on December 31, 2021.
Saturation levels.
Responding to critiques to the situation of its airports, on May 18, 2011 Infraero released a list evaluating some of its most important airports according to its saturation levels. According to the list:
Airports critically saturated, operating above 85% of their capacity
Airports requiring attention, operating between 70% and 85% of their capacity
Airports with good situation, operating with less than 70% of their capacity
Investments related to the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
On 31 August 2009 Infraero unveiled an ambitious BRL5.3 billion (US$2.8 billion; EUR2.0 billion) investment plan to upgrade airports of ten cities focusing mainly the preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup which was held in Brazil, and for the 2016 Summer Olympics, which was held in Rio de Janeiro. Of the twelve cities that held venues, ten received major investments. Natal – Augusto Severo International Airport and Salvador – Dep. Luís Eduardo Magalhães International Airport were excluded because their upgrade works were completed.
The investments were distributed as follows (in BRL million):
On going works.
Belo Horizonte
Brasília – Presidente Juscelino Kubitschek International Airport
Campinas/São Paulo – Viracopos International Airport
Cuiabá – Marechal Rondon International Airport
Curitiba – Afonso Pena International Airport
Fortaleza – Pinto Martins International Airport
Manaus – Eduardo Gomes International Airport
Porto Alegre – Salgado Filho International Airport
Rio de Janeiro
São Paulo
Completed Works.
Belo Horizonte – Tancredo Neves International Airport (Confins)
Recife – Guararapes/Gilberto Freyre International Airport
São Paulo – Congonhas Airport
List of airports administered by Infraero.
The following airports were administered by Infraero in 2021:
Concessions.
The following airports are administrated by concessionaries in which Infraero has minoritary participation in shares:
Top 10.
In 2012 those were the top 10 airports according to number of transported passengers, metric tonnes of cargo handled (excluding mail), and number of aircraft operations (domestic and international combined):


Bradley Air Services


Kangerlussuaq Airport

Kangerlussuaq Airport (, ) is an airport in Kangerlussuaq, a settlement in the Qeqqata municipality in central-western Greenland. Alongside Narsarsuaq Airport, it is one of only two civilian airports in Greenland large enough to handle large airliners. It is located away from the coast and hence less prone to fog and wind in comparison with other airports in Greenland. Kangerlussuaq Airport is the international hub for Air Greenland. The Kangerlussuaq area has very few inhabitants (around 500), so few passengers have their origin or destination here; most passengers change planes.
History.
The first airport was built here during the US occupation in 1941 under the name of Bluie West-8, later renamed Sondrestromfjord Air Base and Sondrestrom Air Base.
In the mid 1950s, transatlantic civilian flights began using the air base for refueling. In 1956, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) was flying "Polar route" service with three round trip flights per week being operated with Douglas DC-6B propliners on a routing of Copenhagen - Sondre Stromfjord (now Kangerlussuaq) - Winnipeg - Los Angeles. This use enabled air travel to Greenland, but fell off in the 1960s as airliners gained greater range. Instead the base became the hub of Greenland air traffic. The airport was handed over to civilian Greenlandic control in 1992.
At a late 2011 Air Greenland meeting, plans to move the main Greenland intercontinental air hub away from Kangerlussuaq were agreed upon. According to the 2011 plan, three airstrips will be built: a new airport at Qaqortoq, as well as extensions at Nuuk and Ilulissat. New airports will probably also be built at Tasiilaq and Ittoqqortoormiit later. Alongside Kangerlussuaq, the airports at Narsarsuaq and Kulusuk (if Tasiilaq is built) will also be closed. Generally, a number of the airstrips have been built by the US military at locations deliberately away from major settlements, partly due to the Danish policy to downplay the presence of the US military in Greenland. There is also a need to renovate the Kangerlussuaq runway for a fairly high cost as the permafrost is melting under it.
A decision was made in 2016 to extend the runways of both Nuuk and Ilulissat airports to , allowing them to receive medium size jetliners from Denmark, and also to replace Narsarsuaq with a new airport at Qaqortoq. Construction at Nuuk is expected in late 2018. This, in combination with the condition of the runway, will probably mean that Kangerlussuaq will be eventually closed or used for smaller planes for flights to other cities in Greenland only, and for charter flights in connection with cruise ship arrivals.
Even if Nuuk and Ilulissat will get direct flights from Europe, Kangerlussuaq will still be important, partly due more stable weather and longer runway. Cruise ships want to exchange passengers at Greenland because the long journey time to Greenland and back to home is unsuitable for many passengers. They need a reliable airport with few delays, because cruise ships have firm planned schedules with booked ports and land activities. For this reason, in 2018 plans were approved to build a better port near Kangerlussuaq together with a 15 km road to the airport. As of 2018, the small port can't take cruise ships nor large freight ships, so transfer boats are needed.
Facilities.
The terminal is open for 24 hours a day during summer. Hotel Kangerlussuaq, with 70 rooms and a restaurant, is located within the terminal building of the airport, providing accommodation for transferring passengers. Other amenities include a nightclub and a self-service bar open in the daytime. Several tourism outfitters share an office in the terminal, alongside the Tourist Office. There are two other more simple accommodations in Kangerlussuaq.
Airlines and destinations.
Passenger.
Access to several research camps on the Greenland ice sheet, including the Danish field camp North GRIP and the American Summit Camp, is handled through Kangerlussuaq via the 109th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard. There are also a few tourist charter flights between Germany and Kangerlussuaq every summer, in connection with cruise ship arrivals to the Kangerlussuaq seaport. Those flights have typically been operated by Air Greenland or airlines from Germany. Other charter flights are used, for example a number of flights from the US and Canada landed in connection with the 2016 Arctic Winter Games in Nuuk.
Cargo.
Flights from Copenhagen using large aircraft is the main way of quick transport of mail and goods, including fresh food, to Greenland. Because of the lack of a good port at Kangerlussuaq, most of it is transported by air to other destinations. Goods that don't need such quick transport are often freighted by air to Nuuk and then by ship to other places in Greenland. A road to Sisimiut at the coast is planned with this freight in mind. In general, there are worries about cost, and furthermore the uncertainty of the future of Kangerlussuaq airport makes it hard to decide upon a road or a port.