Air France has released a stunning film its latest Boeing 787 inflight over Southern France.

Air France partnered Daher and Airborne Films to capture the stunning air-to-air video just before the aircraft entered service.

See our Concorde tribute

Here below is the video plus below that a much longer behind-the-scenes version that shows the coordination of the flight crews.

The new MH370 debris gives additional insight about where and how the aircraft impacted the sea according to a leading expert in the plane’s disappearance.

Victor Iannello a lead in the so-called Independent Group examining the loss of MH370 says that “in light of the past efforts to find the aircraft, there are three main possibilities that remain.”

1. Firstly that the aircraft impacted the ocean relatively close to the 7th arc, but at a latitude further north than the area previously searched.

2. That the aircraft impacted the ocean at a latitude previously searched, but farther from the 7th arc than previously assumed.

3. Or the aircraft debris field was in the subsea area previously scanned by sonar but was either missed or misidentified.

SEE Our 15 year Concorde coverage.

Mr Iannello says that “sources close to the previous search effort believe (3) is very unlikely, as there was a thorough review of the sonar data by multiple parties with high levels of experience, and because any “points of interest” were scanned multiple times to ensure the resolution was adequate to make a determination with a high level of confidence.”

The new debris and some of the previously recovered debris also suggest that the aircraft impacted the ocean at high speed.

“That means that (2) is possible only if the aircraft first was in a rapid descent and then the pilot skillfully recovered from the rapid descent and glided some distance away from the 7th arc beyond the width of the subsea search, and then later the aircraft again descended at high speed and impacted the sea (producing the shattered debris). This sequence of dive-glide-dive is considered by many to be a very unlikely sequence of events, although it cannot be completed dismissed.”

“What is left is possibility (1). This suggests future subsea search efforts should proceed along the 7th arc, starting where the last search ended near 25S latitude and continuing farther north.”

Mr. Iannello adds that “the part recovered in Madagascar in August 2018 was the latest in a series of finds that began with the discovery of the flaperon on Reunion Island in July 2015. Because of the wide range of discovery times, and because there is an undefinable delay between when a part arrives on a beach and when it is discovered, it is difficult to use the timing and location of debris discoveries to precisely pinpoint where to search for MH370.”

“Finally, the new debris finds illustrate the critical role of independent investigators in the search for MH370, and one investigator in particular. The local communications campaign to educate residents of Madagascar about debris washing ashore was spearheaded by Blaine Gibson with the help of some of the MH370 families. Blaine has also done a commendable job of developing a local network to help recover the debris after discovery, says Mr Iannello.

For the full article go to Mr. Iannello’s excellent blog site. 

Air New Zealand has done it again with a charming – and funny – video which sees the world’s naughtiest children unite in a bid to get back in Santa’s good books after the Big Man accidentally leaks his official “naughty list”.

Released today, ‘The Nicest Christmas Ever’ shows Air New Zealand flying to the rascals’ rescue, assembling an International Naughty Kids Summit to tackle the threat of empty stockings.

READ: The World’s Best Airlines 

Knowing that Santa is always watching, the delegation of little darlings pledges better behavior – but when talks stall with the US representative, it falls to New Zealand to save the season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O0U9bqxm14&feature=youtu.be

More than 300 children of Air New Zealand employees auditioned to take part in the clip, with 17 selected to star as extras alongside the airline’s ground and cabin crew. Santa makes an appearance, as well as “Noel” the elf from last year’s Air New Zealand Christmas video.

Air New Zealand General Manager Global Brand and Content Jodi Williams says the airline has a reputation for poking fun and wanted to inject some Kiwi humour into Christmas celebrations.

“From childhood memories of writing to Santa, through to the drama of a festive tech fail, the heartwarming video plays on silly season moments in a very Kiwi way.

“Showcasing our people is a hallmark of Air New Zealand’s brand campaigns and it was fantastic to be able to share the limelight with more of the Air New Zealand family this time.”

The video follows Air New Zealand’s ‘A Very Merry Mistake’ from Christmas 2017 which shared Santa’s struggle to decipher the New Zealand accent. This campaign attracted 13 million views and won the Global Content award at the PRWeek Global Awards in London.

AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief has once again been interviewed by CNN for its superb ongoing coverage of the Lion Air tragedy.

You can see the CNN story and video here.

Read: Questions raised about Lion Air maintenance

American Airlines and China Southern have wasted no time cozying up to each other in the wake of the Chinese carrier’s decision to quit SkyTeam.

The airlines announced Wednesday they were taking steps to strengthen their partnership with a significant expansion of codeshare cooperation and the launch of reciprocal frequent flyer benefits and lounge access.

The expansion, which is pending regulatory approvals,  will see American codesharing to 20 destinations beyond Beijing and Shanghai.

China Southern will have its code on flights to 21 US ports beyond Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco SFO) and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).

The Guangzhou-based Chinese carrier flagged it would strengthen its alliance with American when it announced its decision to quite the SkyTeam alliance from January 1.

READ: Skyteam reassures customers over China Southern departures.

SkyTeam had been seen as a drag on the relationship between China Southern and American, which last year sealed a $US200 million deal that included a 2.76 percent stake in China’s biggest carrier.

The move fuelled speculation the Chinese carrier would join the rival oneworld alliance founded by American, although China Southern hinted it was looking at bilateral and multilateral alliances.

The airlines launched a reciprocal codeshare in January to give each better access to the other’s domestic market.

That gave American’s passengers access to 14 cities beyond Beijing Capital Airport (PEK)  and this will now be expanded to another five destinations beyond the Chinese capital.

They are Urumqi Diwopu International Airport (URC),  Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport (KWE),  Guilin Liangjiang International Airport (KWL), Haikou Meilan International Airport (HAK) and Sanya Phoenix International Airport (SYX).

There are also new codeshare services from Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) to nine cities.

They are Sanya Phoenix  airport, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN), Shenyang Taoxian International Airport (SHE), Changsha Huanghua International Airport (CSX), Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport (SZX), Dalian Zhoushuizi International Airport (DLC), Harbin Taiping International Airport (HRB), Changchun Longjia International Airport (CGQ) and Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport (CGO)

China Southern currently codeshares with American to six cities but will expand this to a host of additional flight from beyond LAX, SFO and JFK.

From LAX,  codeshare destinations will include Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu (HNL), McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas (LAS), San Jose International Airport (SJC), Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Orlando International Airport (MCO), Portland International Airport (PDX), Denver International Airport (DEN), Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) and Tucson International Airport (TUS).

From SFO, they add LAX, JFK, Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), Miami International Airport (MIA) and Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT).

Destinations from JFK are LAX, BOS, MCO, MIA, DFW, Raleigh/Durham International Airport (RDU), San Diego International Airport (SAN) and  Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix (PHX).

The airlines will also begin codesharing on each other’s flights between the U.S. and China.

American will place its AA code on China Southern flights from LAX to Shenyang and Guangzhou.

“We are very pleased with the progress we have made so far in our newly formed relationship with the largest airline in Asia,” American Airlines president Robert Isom said in a statement.

“We look forward to building on our successes with a significant expansion of our codeshare cooperation and the addition of reciprocal frequent flyer benefits and lounge access.

“With the opening of Beijing Daxing International Airport in 2019, and the ability to cooperate fully with China Southern, we are incredibly excited about American’s future in the Chinese market.”

China Southern assistant president Zhan Ling said the strengthened relationship would help both airlines extend networks and meet passenger demands through sharing resources.

He said the American relationship was an important move in China Southern’s initiatives to build new international relationships.

“Our cooperation is market- and passenger-oriented, founded on a win-win relationship,’’ he said.

All Nippon Airways is set to increase its Australian footprint by launching nonstop flights between Tokyo and Perth.

An industry source in Tokyo has confirmed that All Nippon Airways is expected to announce within weeks that it will start direct flights between Perth and Tokyo next year.

The daily service, understood to be operated by Boeing 787-9s, is expected to bring an additional 70,000 Japanese visitors to Western Australia every year.

Read: The World’s Best Airlines for 2019.

See: Magnificent tribute to Concorde

AirlineRatings.com understands from the source that the airline may launch the flights as early as April, although no flights are yet available for booking.

The airline’s former president and chief executive, Osamu Shinobe, expressed interest in Perth as a destination three years ago.

Mr Shinobe told media at a Star Alliance conference in Chicago in November 2015 that the airline wanted to fly to other Australian destinations after the re-launch of a Sydney service that had been axed in 1999.

At the time he said that a “surge in economic activity between Australia and Japan” had tipped the scale in favor of Australia as a destination and Perth was next on the airline’s radar.

Neither WA Tourism Minister Paul Papalia nor Perth Airport Chief Executive Kevin Brown would comment because the deal is at a sensitive stage.

It is understood, however, from the Tokyo source that All Nippon Airways’ management has approved the deal.

The service is a big win for the State Government, which has made tourism a high priority.

Mr Papalia, Premier Mark McGowan, and Mr. Brown have all visited Tokyo to lobby for the service.

They have been assisted in Tokyo by Australia’s ambassador, former WA premier Richard Court.

As well as inbound Japanese tourists there has been a very high level of interest from West Australians in the service, which will connect to 50 domestic destinations in Japan.

Qantas withdrew from the Tokyo-Perth route in 2011 because the airline was using the Boeing 767 and it was on the route as it was at the limit of its economic range.

All Nippon Airways, which was formed in 1953, is Japan’s biggest airline with a fleet of 232 aircraft and with another 81 on order.

It is understood that the airline will use the 787-9 on the Perth route. These aircraft have various configurations seating between 215 and 395 seats.

The aircraft to be used for Perth is likely to have 40 business class, 14 premium economy and 192 economy seats for a total of 246 seats.

All Nippon Airways was the launch airline for the Boeing 787.

Questions have been raised about Lion Air maintenance procedures and work done on a crucial angle of attack sensor the airline’s logs say was replaced and tested ahead of last month’s fatal flight.

They come after Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee released a preliminary report on the October 29 fatal crash of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 that confirmed the aircraft experienced problems on four previous flights.

See: Dispelling the myths about flying. 

The report also appears to confirm that the pilots in the fatal crash of the doomed plane did not follow the same procedures as a Lion Air crew that landed the same plane safely the night before after experiencing a similar problem.

The problems on the four previous flights occurred in the three days before Boeing 737 MAX 8 slammed into the sea with 189 people on board after leaving Jakarta.

READ Lion Air aware of new 737 flight system.

The report confirmed that the captain on Denpasar-Jakarta flight on October 28 discussed maintenance done on the plane with an engineer and was told the angle of attack sensor had been replaced and tested.

When the plane took off from Denpasar, however, a stick shaker designed to warn of an impending aerodynamic stall activated and at 400ft the captain noted that an indicated airspeed (IAS) disagree warning was showing on the primary flight display.

He also noticed that the aircraft was automatically trimming nose down and after this happened three times the co-pilot, who was flying the aircraft, commented that the control column as too heavy to hold back.

The pilot then moved to shut down the automatic trim system by moving the STAB TRIM switches to the cut-out position.

This was in accordance with the runaway stabilizer non-normal checklist in the 737 MAX Flight Crew Operations Manual and was the procedure that was the subject a Boeing bulletin and a US Federal Aviation Administration emergency airworthiness directive.

The co-pilot then continued the flight with manual trim and without auto-pilot to land safely in Jakarta.

However, the report noted that three non-normal checklists performed by the crew did not contain instructions to land at the nearest suitable airport.

There have been questions about why the aircraft was allowed to continue to fly and why,  if it had been fixed, it was still malfunctioning.

Manufacturer Boeing noted in a statement the report did not include records as to the installation or calibration of the new sensor nor whether it was new or refurbished.

“Although the report states that the pilot was satisfied by the information relayed by the engineer that the AOA sensor had been replaced and tested, on the subsequent flight the pilots again experienced problems with erroneous airspeed data, and also experienced automatic nose down trim,” Boeing said.

After reaching Jakarta, the captain informed an engineer about the aircraft problem and entered indicated airspeed and altitude disagree as well as feel differential pressure (on the control column in the flight log. He also reported it through an electronic reporting system

The engineer flushed the left pitot air data module (ADM) and static port ADM to rectify the altitude disagree problem and performed a ground test.

There is no suggestion the the angle of attack sensor from the October 28 flight was replaced or repaired.

When Lion Air Flight 610 took off from Jakarta on October 29, the pilots again faced a stick shaker on rotation which continued throughout the flight.

The pilots also faced a difference between left and right angle of attack readings of about 20 degrees that again continued throughout the flight.

The co-pilot asked an air traffic controller to confirm the attitude of the aircraft and asked for the speed as shown on the radar display. He reported there was a flight control problem.

When the flaps retracted, the report said, the flight data recorder showed automatic nose down trim for 10 seconds followed by a nose up response from the flight crew.

This stopped when the flaps extended but began again when they were once more retracted and continued for the rest of the flight with the crew repeatedly commanding nose-up trim to counter the automatic system.

At one stage, the captain advised air traffic control that the aircraft’s altitude could not be determined because all the instruments were giving different readings.

Although not mentioned in the report, the downward trim was due to to a flight control law,  the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS),  added to the 737 MAX to help pilots cope with a stall.

The main intent of MCAS is to make the MAX respond to a stall in a way pilots would find consistent with other 737 models.

It is essentially software that helps push down the nose if the aircraft’s computers detect a high angle of attack.

There has been controversy among US pilots about whether Boeing flagged the feature sufficiently.

However, it is disabled if the crew follow the runaway stabilizer protocols followed by the crew on the October 28 flight.

Yet there is no mention, as Boeing pointed out, of the crew following the same procedure as their counterparts the previous night.

“Data from the flight data recorder summarized in the report also makes clear that, as on the previous flight, the airplane experienced automatic nose down trim,’’  the manufacturer said.

“In response, the flight crew repeatedly commanded nose up trim. This sequence repeated for the remainder of the flight, during which the flight crew was able to maintain control of the airplane for approximately ten minutes.

“Unlike as is stated with respect to the prior flight, the report does not state whether the pilots performed the runaway stabilizer procedure or cut out the stabilizer trim switch.’’

The search for the cockpit voice recorder continues and the committee told Lion Air, which has taken a number of safety actions,  to improve aspects of its safety culture.

It said that parts of the operation manual relating to discontinuing a flight when there is problem be implemented “to enable the pilot to make a proper decision to continue the flight”

It also said that all operations documents be properly filled out and documented after the weight and balance sheet for the flight said there were five flight attendants when there were six.

Preliminary reports deal with facts surrounding an accident and an analysis will not come until the full report.