CANSO, the Global Voice of ATM, issued on 20th January its UAE Declaration, a statement announcing plans to undertake a Joint Middle East Airspace Study and develop a co-ordinated approach to optimising the region’s airspace structure.

The declaration was developed by the Association’s Middle East CEO Co-ordination Committee (MEC3) and endorsed at a High Level Meeting on 17th January. It recognises the critical role aviation plays in the economic prosperity of the Middle East and beyond, while drawing attention to the importance of addressing air transport capacity challenges.

Following landing at Melbourne Aerodrome from Adelaide on 20th October 2009, the crew of a Boeing 737-8FE aircraft, registration VHVUI, reported that the aircraft was difficult to taxi, requiring more power and steering input than usual. A subsequent visual inspection revealed the number-4 wheel to be oriented at an angle with respect to the axle and, following disassembly, it was discovered that the inner wheel hub and bearing mount had broken away from the wheel assembly.

On 17th January Terma B.V. in The Netherlands and the World Class Aviation Academy (WCAA) signed an agreement of co-operation covering training and life-cycle support for aircraft survivability equipment and other airborne systems in use by air forces and airlines all over the world.

The A.P. Moller – Maersk Group announced on 27th January that it had joined a team of international companies, designated as a disaster relief support network under the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The Logistics Emergency Teams (LETs) consist of four of the world’s leading logistics and transport companies and supports the WFP and the humanitarian community during disaster relief efforts by providing access to a global network of transportation and logistics expertise.

Captain Ian McNaught has been appointed Deputy Master of the Corporation of Trinity House and Executive Chairman of the Lighthouse Authority. He succeeds
Rear-Admiral Sir Jeremy de Halpert who will stand down towards the end of the
year.

UK Shipping Minister Mike Penning and Irish Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey have reached an agreement that will see aids to navigation off the coast of the Republic of Ireland wholly funded from domestic sources there by the financial year 2015 /2016.

Under existing arrangements, the Commissioners of Irish Lights (CIL) effectively receives a subsidy for its activities in the Republic of Ireland from levies paid by ships calling at UK ports. Now the two Ministers have agreed to phase this out, with a view to CIL’s Republic of Ireland operations being funded entirely from domestic sources there by 2015/2016.

It was announced from London and Kuala Lumpur in mid-January that more people were taken hostage at sea in 2010 than in any year on record. This was stated by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) in its global piracy report.

Pirates captured 1,181 seafarers and killed eight. A total of 53 ships were hijacked. The number of pirate attacks against ships has risen every year for the last four years.

Tideland Signal has supplied the Commissioners of Irish Lights with three SeaBeacon 2 System 6 dual-band racons for applications around the coast of Ireland. Two of the new racons will mark lighthouses and the third will be fitted to a Type 1 buoy which replaces a LANBY (Large Automated Navigation Buoy) at the Codling station, which is in the Irish Sea. This completes CIL’s programme to withdraw all MFAs (Major Floating Aids – both lightships and LANBYs) from Irish waters.

On her final day assigned to operations in the Middle East, Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Melbourne continued her important work of securing vital sea lanes of communication. Just hours before handing over the maritime security task in the Middle East Area of Operations to HMAS Stuart, HMAS Melbourne was called upon to assist a merchant vessel in distress.

Passport not required: US Volunteers in the Royal Navy, 1939-1941.

Before the US entered the Second World War, twenty-two American citizens crossed the Atlantic and volunteered with the Royal Navy. They were commissioned between September 1939 and November 1941 and fought in the Battle of the Atlantic and in other theatres.

America’s First Clash with Iran: The Tanker War, 1987-1988.

In May 1987 the US frigate Stark, calmly sailing the waters of the Persian Gulf, was suddenly blown apart by an Exocet missile fired from an Iraqi jet fighter. A fifth of the ship’s company was killed and many others wounded, some seriously. This event began one of the most mysterious conflicts in American history, The Tanker War.

Caution: Shortly before Christmas the Commissioners of Irish Lights in Dublin issued a notice to mariners requesting that mariners navigating around the coast of Ireland exercise the greatest care to avoid damage to floating aids to navigation.

GLA DGPS Transmission: At the same time Irish Lights defined once again the DGPS service provided by the British and Irish General Lighthouse Authorities, otherwise known as the GLAs.

The Secretary of IIN has advised that effective from 4th January 2011, the Italian Institute of Navigation has moved to a new address.

Galileo’s terrestrial nerve centre formally entered service on 20th December. With the first Galileo satellites due to be launched next August, Fucino in central Italy will oversee the running of all navigation services provided by Europe’s global satellite system.

ESA’s GIOVE-A satellite ? the first prototype of Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system ? is still working well after five years in space, it was announced by ESA at the end of December.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been made aware of various correspondence, being circulated via e-mail or in the form of invoices issued by, or in association with IMO and/or its officials. These scams, which may seek to obtain money from the recipients of such correspondence, are fraudulent, it has been learnt from an IMO statement issued shortly before Christmas.

Ministers in charge of space activities representing the Member States of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union met in Brussels at the end of 2010 for the Seventh Space Council.

Ministers emphasised that the flagship programmes Galileo and GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) remain the priorities for the EU in space and identified the key decisions to be taken in these areas over the coming months.

Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Melbourne has disrupted a pirate attack on a tanker in the Arabian Sea, it was reported from Defence HQ in Canberra on 5th January.

Shortly before the end of 2010 the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington, DC issued two recommendations. They concerned (a) helicopter hover performance charts and (b) operating standards for firefighting operations.