January 25

2012 -- Commonwealth of Independent States (former USSR) launched PROGRESS-M 14M a resupply freighter for the International Space station.

The craft brings nearly three tons of supplies to the station. The "dry" cargo tucked aboard the Progress amounts to 2,778 pounds (1,260 kg) in the form of food, spare parts, life support gear and experiment hardware. The refueling module carries 2,050 pounds (930 kg) of propellant for transfer into the Russian segment of the complex to feed the station's maneuvering thrusters. The vessel also has 926 pounds (420 kg) of water and 110 pounds (50 kg) of oxygen and air.
2012 -- Airbus announced that the wing cracks in its A380s were caused by flaws in production, not fatigue from flying. 


The aircraft manufacturer will fix the wings by removing affected wing brackets and replacing them.   Short-term repairs will take five days for each plane and require cutting out the affected wing bracket area and putting in a new piece, said Tom Williams, Airbus head of programs. A longer term solution will include new materials and a different way of assembly, he said. The findings suggest all A380s built so far will eventually need inspections and fixes, 


2012 -- The Skylark I-LE. It's small, it's lightweight, it can be carried by one person and set up to be ready to fly in less than 8 minutes. 3 hours of flight-time with a live video-feed, day and night, in any weather-condition. Quickly deployed and quickly recovered, the Skylark I-LE, specially modified by the IDF and chosen for its lightness and extraordinary stealth

UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) have a long history of development dating back to Nikolas Tesla in 1915. Concerned about losing pilots over hostile territory, the United States and Israel pioneered much of the UAV technology we see today.

2012 -- The Department of Transportation has responded to Spirit Airlines' suggestion that a new disclosure rule is an effort to hide government taxes. 


"Nothing in our rule will prohibit a carrier from informing consumers that the fare includes a specified amount of taxes and government fees, as long as the stated fare includes those taxes and fees," a DOT representative said. 

2012 -- Apples and Oranges?

Delta Air Lines reported net income of $425 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $19 million in the same quarter last year. The Atlanta-based carrier said revenue rose 8% for the quarter, and fuel prices soared 20% during the quarter as well.

US Airways reported net income of $18 million for the fourth quarter, compared with $28 million in the same quarter last year. The airline said fuel costs rose 38% during the quarter. The carrier reported earnings of $71 million for 2011. 

JetBlue Airways reported a $23 million profit for the fourth quarter, almost tripling its profit of $8 million for the same quarter the previous year. The carrier also boosted capacity by 10.5% during the fourth quarter, and traffic jumped by 11% compared with the previous year's fourth quarter.

United Continental Holdings reported a loss of $138 million for the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of $325 million in the same quarter the previous year. United and Continental merged in 2010, and the company booked $170 million in costs related to the merger for the fourth quarter.

Alaska Air Group reported a 1.2% dip in profit for the fourth quarter. The parent company of Alaska Airlines reported $64 million in net income, compared with $64.8 million for the year-earlier fourth quarter. However, traffic for the fourth quarter rose 6.1% as capacity increased by 3.9%. 

Republic Airways Holdings raised its fourth-quarter load-factor outlook for subsidiary Frontier Airlines. Republic estimates Frontier's load factor will improve by up to 11% in the fourth quarter, compared to the year-earlier fourth quarter.  

Boeing posted a 20% increase in fourth-quarter profit to $1.39 billion, compared with the same quarter a year earlier. However, the aircraft manufacturer offered a conservative forecast for 2012.  

2012 -- Early in his State Of The Union Address , President Obama renewed his call of last year for investments in clean energy.  Unbowed by the troubles with Solyndra, Obama said he would direct the defense department to throw its buying power behind clean energy supplies for the U.S. military.

The U.S. military constitutes a huge market for alternative fuels. The Air Force alone burns 2.4 billion gallons of jet fuel a year. The Department of Defense burns $18 billion worth of oil a year, four fifths of the federal governments’ energy tab. In truth, a shift within the U.S. military to green fuels has been under way for more than a year. The U.S. Navy has been purchasing jet fuel derived from camelina—a derivative of canola—and a diesel like fuel derived from algae for its ships. The U.S. Air Force in 2010 began testing camelina oil in place of petroleum in its fuels as part of a program to derive as much as half of its fuel from alternative sources by 2016.

2012 --  In a night-time helicopter raid on a pirate hideout in Somalia two hostages rescued.




2012 -- Helicopter Rescue for Flood Victims in Malawi.

2012 -- Iran to train Iraqi aircraft pilots.

"Iraqi pilots will be trained in Iran within the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) framework," Deputy Head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organization Mohammad Huda Karam said. "Iran will also provide technical maintenance for Iraqi aircrafts".  IRNA reported. 

2012 -- Brazil is speeding its research and development programs to perfect a tactical transport aircraft to rival the C-130 Hercules amid predictions the global market needs no less than 700 substitutes. 

2012-- The airline Iberia will today cancel 100 flights, on the first of three days of strike, on January 25, 27 and 30, called by the pilots union Sepla, to protest the creation of the low-cost airline, Iberia Express. 

2012 -- The South African Air Force said it was simply acting responsibly by standby planes when President Jacob Zuma travels abroad.

According to weekend media reports an SAA Boeing A340-200 shadowed Zuma's Boeing business jet Inkwazi as far as Las Palmas, Canary Islands, on Zuma's outbound leg to New York to attend a UN Security Council meeting.A second aircraft, a chartered Bombardier Global Express, was on standby in New York and followed the presidential jet back to South Africa at the conclusion of Zuma's visit.

2012 -- Budget carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA today said it has ordered 222 new aircraft from Boeing and Airbus in separate deals with a combined worth of $127 billion in list prices. 

The total order, which includes 122 Boeing 737 aircraft and 100 Airbus A320 planes for delivery starting in 2016, is the largest ever aircraft purchase in Europe, Norwegian Air Shuttle said.

2012 --  A Pakistan Air Force aircraft crashed during a training mission, the pilots bailed out safely, an Air Force Spokesman said.

2012 -- Pakistani senators have called for shooting down American spy aircraft when they enter the country’s airspace and fire missiles into tribal regions. 

2011 -- Our Gorgon Stare ‘All-Seeing Eye’ sees just fine, U.S. Air Force Insists.

2011 -- Boeing and its Boeing Defence U.K. subsidiary today announced that the Boeing U.K. Rotorcraft Support team has begun flight testing the first Chinook Mk4 helicopter for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The first flight took place on December 9 in Hampshire, England.

2011 -- A much-touted new camera system for U.S. unmanned aircraft that is supposed to bolster surveillance efforts in Afghanistan has proved ineffective in tests, a U.S. Air Force report concluded.

2011 -- President Dmitry Medvedev today lashed out at "anarchic" security lapses that allowed a suicide bomber to slaughter 35 at Russia's main airport as investigators probed a link to the restive Caucasus.

Unofficial sources indicated the bomber was a woman dispatched by militants from the overwhelmingly Muslim North Caucasus to wreak havoc. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, warned the culprits faced inevitable retribution. The attack Monday afternoon at Moscow's Domodedovo airport -- which left body fragments strewn over the arrivals hall -- again dented confidence in Russian security as it gears up to host the Winter Olympics and World Cup.

2011 -- Airbus announced that British tour operator Thomas Cook Group has placed a firm order for twelve medium-haul A321s, a contract of $ 1.2 billion at list prices.

2011 -- Air France staff appear to neglect safety in favour of commercial concerns and some pilots "systematically" ignore safety directives, experts wrote in an internal report seen by AFP today.

2010 -- The U.S. will provide 12 RQ-7 Shadow unmanned aircraft to Pakistan to aid the country's fight against the Taliban and other insurgents.

The U.S. also will provide training and other support to assist Pakistan in operating the new intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance tool.

2008 -- Illinois’s Democrat governor has asked Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne not to move the current Air National Guard F-16 unit based in the state’s capital, or if it does leave as USAF’s current plans dictate, to base cargo aircraft there.

The Springfield Journal-Register reports that Gov. Rod Blagojevich urged Wynne in a January 22 missive to keep the F-16s of the 183rd Fighter Wing at the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport. The governor pushed a legal challenge to the relocation of the unit’s 15 F-16s under BRAC 2005, even as he and other state elected officials pursued alternative missions. The airplanes are scheduled to leave this year, possibly as soon as April, according to the newspaper. But in his letter, Blagojevich calls on the Air Force to reconsider, noting that it has already changed its mind about moving cargo aircraft from a unit in Nashville, Tennessee. If the F-16s are relocated, then Blagojevich suggests replacing them with C-27 Joint Cargo Aircraft, the newspaper said. The Lincoln airport was not on the list of potential bases for the C-27 in the future weapons roadmap that USAF issued on January 16.

1995 -- Russia's early-warning defense radar detects an unexpected missile launch near Norway, and Russian military command estimates the missile to be only minutes from impact on Moscow.

Moments later, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, his defense minister, and his chief of staff were informed of the missile launch. The nuclear command systems switched to combat mode, and the nuclear suitcases carried by Yeltsin and his top commander were activated for the first time in the history of the Soviet-made weapons system. Five minutes after the launch detection, Russian command determined that the missile's impact point would be outside Russia's borders. Three more minutes passed, and Yeltsin was informed that the launching was likely not part of a surprise nuclear strike by Western nuclear submarines. The missile, launched from Spitzbergen, Norway, was actually carrying instruments for scientific measurements. Nine days before, Norway had notified 35 countries, including Russia, of the exact details of the planned launch. The Russian Defense Ministry had neglected to inform the on-duty personnel at the early-warning center of the imminent launch. The event raised serious concerns about the quality of the former Soviet Union's nuclear systems.

1991 -- Bahrain F-16's flew their first Desert Storm mission.

1991 -- Five Iraqi Scuds hit Israel, killing one, wounding 40.

1991 -- Coalition destroys three Iraqi bombers on ground. Major attacks on Iraqi hardened aircraft shelters begin.

USAF, using new I-2000 bomb, has spectacular success.

1990 - A Titan II booster launched Clementine I, a space probe to the moon.

This mission was the first American lunar effort since Apollo 17 in 1972..

1983 -- First flight Swedish-U.S. Saab-Fairchild 340 transport, the first aircraft built by collaboration.

1975 -- First flight Birdman TL-1, lightest piloted powered aircraft.

1967 -- Australian WW I Royal Flying Corps Ace Captain Eric John Stephens died at Lae, Papua New Guinea.

1965 -- United States Air Service WW I Ace Captain Sumner Sewall died at Bath, Maine, U.S.A.

1959 -- American Airlines opened the jet age in the United States with the first scheduled transcontinental flight of a Boeing 707.

1956 -- German WW I Ace Leutnant Otto Könnecke died at Bad Aibling, Germany.

1921 -- Committee on Law of Aviation of the American Bar Association files an initial report on the necessity of aerial legislation.

1912 -- Lt. Henry H. Arnold flew a Wright plane to an altitude record of 4,764 feet in a 59-minute flight over the Army Aviation School at Augusta, Georgia.

1907 -- Norair Martirosovich Sisakyan is born in Ashtarak District of the Armenian Republic.

He was early space medicine specialist at the Second Division of Biological Sciences under the Academy of Sciences.