If true, this would be "manna from heaven" for Air Alderney - if they can get the route. I might even say, salvation. When are they starting operations, by the way ?

Air Alderney has stated the following:-
We appreciate all the messages received from our supporters and know that you are all keen to receive an update on the progress of Air Alderney.
We can assure you we are working hard to wade through the mountain of paperwork required for our own Air Operators Certificate along with all the necessary requirements of each of our intended destination airports.
Due to the length of time this is taking we have also been working on alternative means of being able to commence our services more quickly.
As many of you may have seen our first aircraft is here in Alderney and our second aircraft which you all helped name as 2-BILL is due home in a matter of weeks.
We have recruited 3 pilots and are currently recruiting the relevant ground handling services required locally and at our destination airports.
Our office at the airport ‘Puffin House’ which will be used by our ground staff and flight crew is now fully operational and ready for use.
We are also happy to announce that our office in Victoria Street located next to Bell & Co will open in the coming weeks. This will become our Town office for information and reservations.
Air Alderney will offer direct flights from Alderney to Jersey, Cherbourg, Solent (previously known as Lee on Solent) and a summer service to Brighton City.

Increase the rotations from Alderney to Guernsey to connect with the Southampton schedules is a far more sensible and economically viable proposition, along with getting rid of the Do228 altogether and swopping for C208 Caravans to shuttle between the islands, creating a true hub and spoke operation which is what has been needed for a long time!

The C.I. operators need to consolidate to make it easier for commuters, tourism and business to operate:

Yes, EASA rules have covered commercial operations of single engine turboprops in IMC since March 2017.

(I just wanted to put yes but the system needs more characters for a post!)

I visited Guernsey and then Alderney in September, travelling with Flybe NCL-SOU-GCI, and back ACI-SOU with Aurigny and NCL-SOU with Flybe, travelling between the islands on the BumbleBee that only operates two days a week, during summer. Alderney's a beautiful island, and I would love to go back, but with the fares charged between ACI and GCI by Aurigny I would have to think twice, to be honest.
I'm only one punter out of many, of course, but I can't help thinking that cutting ACI-SOU service would be a massive blow to the island's visitor industry.

yes but commercial operations over water are still extremely difficult to the point of impossible. The fact that a tri with a full load will end up in exactly the same water as a C208 with a full load both having a single engine failure apparently is beyond the comprehension of all the office bound knob ends.

That said as Guernsey only pays lip service to EASA and UK caa whims (it has no requirement to) its a mute point using them between GCI and Alderney. But having had a pint with a soaking wet C208 captain in the George and Dragon in Dar (I even bought him one when I found out he had been floating around for a couple of hours) my arse won't be in one.

Waves seem to be operating between GCI and Jersey everyday now in a C208, at least 3 round trips today carrying fare paying pax........ over the sea also in the dark! I've been advised that the sea state dictates the altitudes to be flown (etops, engine turning or pax swimming!)

Yes, it would be. But, that could be the event that would make Air Alderney a viable operation. Also, after all the years trying to get the Dornier to take over from the BN3 & now, just when it has succeeded in doing so, AUR abandon the route which is its sole raison d'etre ! I don't think so.

G-HUET
Lease to Loganair is continuing. Not based at DND now but covering for a Do.328 at NWI.

G-OAUR
 

G-OAUR went to AMS over 3 weeks ago for what I assumed was its annual maintenance. Any idea as to when it is due back?

presume this is due to the fact that neither Jersey or Gurnsey is actually part of EASA and can and do make there own rules up if required.

Who is the operator of them? Can't see it being an EASA AOC. Good luck to them, they will only ever be able to have one engine failure.

Waves operate on a Guernsey AOC, at the moment are restricted(as far as I know), to operate in the Channel Islands only.

PWC data on one 50,000 PT6A engines give IFSD rate of <1:340,000hr based on 400m flight hours to date.... so don't hold your breath.

How are people booking
Website not operational yet

Single Engine Turbine IFR AOC work is allowed since this year for the PC12, TBM and Caravan. I suppose Waves is one of the first new AOC holders to have this SET approval

Mate I have sat in the George and Dragon pub in Dar with a very wet pilot who had just been pulled out the drink with his punters after floating about for 3 hours.

And I know enough people who have shut one down in flight in twins.

This is all first hand experience of said engine not third.

I really don't care if others are happy going in them personally I won't be and neither will my family.

That said compared to the tri at full load it won't really make any difference. Mind you I wouldn't go in one of them either.

Surely with a Tri, with two out of three motors still running, there would be more of a controlled ditching than with a 100% engine failure of a single.

Give Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks a call, there may be another movie in the making!

Not really if there isn't enough power to fly straight and level then your options become singular. You also have other effects kicking in such as Vmca which require more pilot input to keep away from if its one of the wing engines.

Ditchings don't require you to find an area clear of obstructions just line your self up with the waves and all that good stuff. With some power but not enough your just prolonging the inevitable. But then again it does give more time for the emergency services to kick into gear. But the actual outcome when you hit the water no different.

BTW the tri has been calibrated off the end of Jersey it does make the beach just with one engine gone bad just after airborne and a full load. I suspect there will be a matter of a couple of 100meters difference between the arrival points between a single and it

here you go a video of a ditching next to Hawaii in a c208

https://youtu.be/QguEfBMhpyc

If you want to chance that in CI waters crack on.

Whilst I definitely admire your consistency TescoApp, that's the same that Tri passengers faced daily if they were on a fully-laden Tri anytime over the last 40 years; and locals were complaining at its retirement that they missed it, and why couldn't its life be extended!

More relevant for me is the comparative statistical likelihood of either the PT6 failing (as a single point of failure) or the 40-60yr old (single point of failure) pilot having a heart attack or other incapacity: you end up getting wet in both scenarios. But then again how many rotary flights happen daily around the world with single pilot, single engine, and people willingly enjoy those, me included.

[As to the probable cause of this ditching, the operator's maintenance records showed that "owing to some confusion" they had missed a mandatory compressor turbine blade evaluation, which would likely have revealed the defect. ]

Life is a permanent risk, and every hour of every day we make decisions on minimising, but never eliminating, risk. They all carry different probabilities, but I am re-assured because aviation is a very disciplined industry and there's a hell of a lot of work going in to reducing those risks across the board, at airframe, engine, airport, training, maintenance, operational and recruitment levels.

By and large, though, much of the general public pro-actively choose to be risk takers, and a bit ill-disciplined: we get drunk and face increased risk of personal injury; we drive too fast or without sufficient care and attention; too many people use their phones whilst they drive or cross the road; we smoke too much and we eat cr*p fast food which we know these will statistically kill more of us than any plane will; we buy the very cheapest products avoiding the slight premium on safer ones; we go on fairground rides because they are fun; we vote for Br*xit even though it will hurt us, because we don't like the political status quo (ouch...did I really write that!) etc.etc.

Statistically most fatalities happen in the home or in hospital: so if you're that risk averse, avoid both of those places.

To see just how risk prone some folk choose to be, try Googling "Death by Selfie".

i agree its a risk and tris did have more than a few upsets over the years and the locals were more than happy with them.

Having had to shut one down on a twin turbine fixed wing I am more than happy not taking the risk of ending up in Channel Islands waters.

If others want to take that risk that's fine by me.

you really don't want to look at the survival statistics for those flights. If they could hold a tri's worth of punters and they all died every time one crashed it you would have a A380's worth of dead punters every year. But as its only 2-3 at a time nobody notices or cares.

I worked for Brymon, one day a Twotter PLH/LHR with a full load had an engine disintegrate, it couldn't maintain altitude and did a dirty dive in to Odiham so the Tri losing an engine is not unique!

Thread drift
 

I am wondering what any of the above has to do with Aurigny Air Services which flies neither Caravans, Islanders Trislanders nor Twotters, the airline Waves has its own thread where I believe this discussion belongs.

G-OAUR is on the way back to GCI now having been at AMS since 24th October.

ATR activity:-
Presumably ATR42 G-HUET is u/s at Norwich as ATR72 G-COBO positioned from GCI this afternoon and is operating Logan flights.
Also today G-VZON operating to Stansted turned back mid-Channel and returned to GCI. Pax were transferred to G-LERE. However -VZON is now back in service to LGW.

Both G-COBO and G-HUET now on their way back to GCI. No Loganair flights timetabled from NWI until Monday, so maybe one of them will return for Monday's flights.

Just seen this article about Aurigny staff wering body cameras to combat aggressive passengers. How can such a small airline have to resort to these measures

Aurigny: Staff on Channel Islands airline are wearing body cameras to combat aggressive passengers | The Independent

Strange as you don't really look upon the average Aurigny passenger as being the aggressive type, the airline has obviously had issues with some passengers hence this announcement regarding staff and body cameras.

In recent times AUR have (arguably) replaced an old aircraft with another old aircraft - or at least an old design in the shape of the Do228, then along come Cessna with a cleansheet design......Cessna SkyCourier

It's not been built, or flown yet, but FedEx have ordered 50. You do get the feeling it's been designed for them as a twin Caravan (and will have a door big enough to accommodate LD3's), but a 19 pax version is also planned.

If you fly scheduled you need to comply - if you try and buck the system it will bite you as other operators are feeling the pain daily! - but on the flip side - its not like the OL financial fitness will be very high for the C208 with a small local schedule - so not a big show stopper....

that doesn't apply in the CI anyway as its a tracing paper requirement to comply with any meaningful international aviation requirments.

the trilander box fore years broke every international regulation in the book but they used it.

But if a crew member didn't have their high vis button up there was a fine from that clueless idiot in charge of those sort of things.

ATR42 G-HUET
When announcement was made that the GCI-LCY route was being dropped, GR stated that G-HUET would be sold. However it was retained throughout November. A/c positioned GCI-SGD yesterday. Is this for maintenance or onward sale?

I believe that HUET is leased & that Aurigny stated that it would be sub leased, however apart from a brief spell with Loganair I don't think any work has been found for it as yet..

The ATR 42 was leased in early 2015 for 5 years.

I would imagine that this is a binding contract which Aurigny can't get out of.

Thanks. Probably a matter of semantics. Looking back to the 16 August the announcement was that GR would drop the ATR42 from its fleet. The wording was not "sell" - and G-info confirms that it is indeed "chartered" rather than owned. Probably therefore a case of awaiting more work. :confused:

This morning, the airline have decided there was no lightning strike after all, although they are not yet offering an explanation of what happened to the electrics. To be fair, there was a fair bit of lightning activity around the South coast at the time. I was a bit surprised at the company's explanation of the decision to abandon a diversion to Southampton because it would mean flying back into the storms. Returning to Guernsey would also involve flying back through the storms as they appeared to be very active over that part of the Channel.
Guernsey plane U-turn not caused by 'lightning strike' - BBC News

Rather than slate the operator off at every given opportunity how about getting the facts correct ... It was National Air Traffic Services that stated a diversion to SOU would have encountered the storm ... Whilst the aircraft has weather radar, providing that that had not been damaged by the electrical problem, who has the ability to see the Cumulus Nimbus clouds on radar, NATS or the spotters on a forum?

'SAM' is an en-route beacon, of course it would have been heading for the Southampton Airport beacon!

G-HUET
 

G-HUET flew to LGW on Saturday as flight GR608. The return flight was cancelled and the a/c appears to still be at LGW, at least according to FR24. Any ideas as to what is going on?

As reported elsewhere, Air Alderney has applied to operate a scheduled cargo service between Guernsey and Alderney with EC155 equipment and two BN-2T Islanders as back-up. Mark Darby's objection, in a letter to Dep. Barry Paint, is available to view here.