Britain’s Armed Forces officially end operation in Iraq in the coming days, with the conclusion of a Royal Navy mission to train Iraqi sailors – It was announced on 22nd May by the MoD Press Office that the UK/Iraq Training and Maritime Support Agreement has come to an end marking the conclusion of Operation TELIC – the name for UK operations in Iraq that began with the invasion and subsequent removal of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

UK combat forces, primarily based in the southern city of Basrah, withdrew from Iraq in July 2009 but since then, at the request of the Iraqi Government, the Royal Navy has continued to train the Iraqi Navy to defend its territorial waters and offshore oil infrastructure.

British forces have been involved in this important task since 2003. Royal Navy personnel have worked alongside US forces to train and mentor Iraqi sailors and marines at their main naval base in Umm Qasr.

A total of 1,800 Iraqi personnel have been trained on 50 different courses,
including maritime, small arms, oil platform defence, and maintenance training. A ‘train the trainer’ focus has also given the Iraqi Navy the ability to develop an independent and self sustaining force for the future.

A significant milestone was achieved earlier this month proving the capability of the British Army’s Apache helicopter to operate and strike from the sea. Cannon and Hellfire missiles were successfully fired against seaborne targets in a long planned exercise near Gibraltar early in May.

Towards the end of May the British Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) issued a report into accidents occurring to a high speed ferry in March and August last year.

An advance warning has been received from the Royal Institute of Navigation that the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich will be the venue on 22nd and 23rd March next year for a symposium with the title After Longitude – Modern Navigation in Context.

Following a successful meeting last year, the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Institute of Navigation are planning a second symposium to bring together current research in the history of navigation. It is understood the symposium will explore the wider impact of the discovery of longitude and the ways in which navigation has evolved since then. In particular it will aim to investigate the connections between navigational advances and the development of exploration, surveying, commerce and Empire from the 19th century to the present.

The deadline for registration is June 1, 2011. Please do read the PDF, as it includes all the pertinent details and links.

On 10th May the European Space Agency (ESA) reported that Pau Pyrénées in southern France has become Europe’s first airport to use the new EGNOS Safety-of-Life Service, to guide aircraft in for landing using only this highly accurate space navigation signal.

Clermont-Ferrand Airport in central France is also set to start using EGNOS – serving mainly business aircraft – while Marseilles Airport should also join them, chosen because it is used by Eurocopter for helicopter certification.

Le Bourget Airport is also scheduled to be equipped with EGNOS by the time the Paris Air Show starts in June.

It was reported from the Australian Defence Force Media Centre in Canberra on 9th May that F/A-18F Super Hornets were taking part on their first mission during Exercise Bersama Shield 2011 over Malaysia.

The Super Hornets, also known as Rhinos, commenced the Force Integration
Training phase which saw aircrew practise basic fighter manoeuvres alongside
military aircraft from the Malaysian and Singaporean defence forces.

Six of the Rhinos from No 1 Squadron touched down at the Royal Malaysian Air Force Base in Butterworth, on 29th April to participate in their first overseas deployment since delivery of the multi-role fighter jets in March last year.

The impact on transport of the winter weather in December 2010

More can and should be done to ensure UK transport networks continue to operate in severe weather, said British Members of Parliament in a report issued on 12th May. The welfare of air and rail passengers must be taken more seriously and better real time information must be provided to road users.

A report examining how snow chaos last December closed Heathrow, disabled parts of the rail network and disrupted many roads, was launched by Transport Committee Chairman, Louise Ellman MP (Labour/Co-operative Liverpool Riverside).

Captain Dick Smith RN has resigned as IAIN representative to the US Positioning, Navigation and Timing Advisory Board.

Dick – RIN President 1999-2002 and Immediate Past-President of the International Association of Institutes of Navigation (IAIN) – has represented IAIN on the Board since its inception in 2007. Now finding it hard to cope with the travel involved, he has handed over representation to the current IAIN President, Dr Refaat Rashad, President of the Arab Institutes of Navigation.

It is ideas time again… The 8th European Satellite Navigation Competition www.ukesnc.com has begun and we are again looking for the most innovative ideas for a location based service or a new satellite navigation application.

The European Satellite Navigation Competition provides a unique platform for innovators to showcase their work and receive well-deserved recognition from their peers nationally and internationally.

Do you or someone you know have an idea that uses satellite navigation technology as a core part of the system? You could win up to £ 10,000 plus additional investment, business consultancy and services from a range of UK and European partners.

The UK winner will also be in with the chance of winning the overall European prize worth an additional € 20,000.

This year’s European Navigation Conference, ENC 2011, to be held in London, will cover advances in all aspects of location and navigation technology and their applications.

Sessions will be organised into both plenary and parallel means which will cover navigation system infrastructure and policy, technical and commercial aspects of varied applications, and safety and security issues.

Authors are invited to submit a brief outline of their presentation, not exceeding 300 words. Please note the closing date for this call for papers is 9th May 2011.

The organisation has provided us with more information

RAIL TRAINING – The 1st UIC World Congress on Rail Training was successfully held in Madrid. Some 170 delegates representing 34 countries from all continents attended this first UIC congress dedicated to rail training and educational issues, among them heads of railway human resources departments, railway training centres and academies, consultancies, universities, national rail safety agencies, regulatory authorities and railway manufacturers.

WORLD BANK TRANSPORT FORUM 2011 – On 29th March UIC was given the opportunity to provide its railway input to the Transport Forum organised by the World Bank from 28th to 31st March in Washington D.C. on the theme of 50 years of Innovation in Transport: Achievements and Future Challenges.

UIMI is the International Union of Marine Insurance and currently has 55
national associations as members.

Major casualties at sea continue at a disturbing level, marine insurers are
warning. The number of incidents reported in 2010 followed the negative trend of the previous four years, IUMI reports in its substantial annual statistical exercise covering vessels over 500 gt issued on 23rd April. According to the IUMI communiqué there have been 623 serious losses reported to date for 2010, a similar figure to 2009. This means that 2010 joins the five worst vessel loss years in the last 17.

Air traffic control incidents – On 22nd April the (US) National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released preliminary reports on two air traffic control incident investigations.

NTSB investigation into Lubbock, Texas crash – On 22nd April NTSB announced that it will hold a public Board meeting on its investigation into an accident in which a cargo airplane crashed on approach to landing in Lubbock, Texas.

NTSB and a 2010 plane crash involving former Senator Stevens – As part of its continuing investigation into the 9th August, 2010 aviation accident in Alaska, NTSB announced on 21st April that it had made the accident docket available to the public.

Annual aviation statistics for 2010
The safety of civil aviation in the United States continued to make incremental
improvements across most industry segments in 2010, based on the preliminary
aviation accident statistics released on 20th April by the NTSB.

Australia’s Department of Defence announced that the Australian command of coalition maritime operations in support of counter-terrorism operations in the Gulf region of the Middle East has passed to the French Navy, it was reported from Canberra on 6th April.

Commodore Greg Sammut of the Royal Australian Navy handed over command of Combined Task Force 150 (CTF 150) to Rear-Admiral Jean-Louis Kerignard of the French Navy on 4th April at a ceremony in Bahrain.

IMO’s Secretary-General Admiral Efthimios E. Mitropoulos, has expressed his
profound sadness for the reported drowning of more than 200 migrants when their
vessel capsized in the Mediterranean in the early hours of 6th April.

He acknowledged the role of the Italian Coast Guard in rescuing 53 persons.

On 31st March Senator The Hon. David Feeney MP., Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, celebrated the 90th anniversary of the formation of the Royal Australian Air Force when he attended a reception at Point Cook Officers’ Mess. Senator Feeney toured a display of historic aircraft for Air Force’s Air Pilgrimage. He remarked on the advances in capability and the achievements of the RAAF over the past 90 years. The reception had the theme: ‘tradition, innovation, evolution’.

By the deadline of 31st March 2011, six candidates had been nominated by their
Governments for the position of Secretary-General of the International Maritime
Organization (IMO).

As part of its vision of ‘making every flight a safe flight’ BALPA’s National
Executive Council has established a new position of Head of Safety and Security
and announce at the end of February that Dr Rob Hunter has been appointed to the
post.

Captain Mark Searle, Chairman of BALPA, said “The creation of the new post
reflects a concern that the industry is taking safety for granted. Investing in the position is a sign of the ambition of BALPA to make a difference. It is being created at a time of great change – in regulation, in process and in the workload of flight crew.”

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called on the US government to reinforce the competitiveness of the US air transport industry with strategic long-term thinking. In co-operation with the industry, IATA urged the US to accelerate NextGen implementation, renew its focus on liberalization, revise proposals for passenger rights legislation and address the rising cost of security, it was reported from New York on 31st March.

According to a report from ICAO in Montreal on 1st April radioactive material from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant is gradually spreading outside Japan into the global atmosphere but at extremely low concentrations that do not present health or transportation safety hazards, according to the United Nations organizations closely monitoring the situation.

Safety Recommendations – On 29th March the (US) National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced that it had made a number of recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Non-responsive airplane – On 29th March NTSB reported that it was investigating an incident involving a Southwest Airlines airplane that was requested to veer off course by Air Traffic Control to view into the cockpit of a general aviation airplane that had been out of radio communication.

Airliner fuselage rupture – On 2nd April the NTSB announced it was launching a Go Team to investigate an in-flight fuselage rupture that occurred that day on a Southwest Airline Boeing 737 aircraft (N632SW).

International exercise for the Hercules – A contingent of 15 Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) personnel journeyed to the Arctic Circle for an international exercise focused on the C-130J Hercules transport aircraft.

Exercise COMBINED STRENGTH 2011 was conducted at Bod? Air Force Base in Norway from 19th to 25th March. The exercise was open to countries that operate C-130J aircraft and this year featured participants from Denmark, Australia and the host nation, Norway.

Junior officers in the Royal Australian Navy will learn to pilot the next generation of warships, in an upgraded A$10million training facility at HMAS Watson, Sydney, which was due to be commissioned on 25th March.

On 24th March the National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation into an air traffic control service interruption incident that occurred early on the morning of 23rd March at Washington Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) in
Arlington, Virginia.