It was announced from Naples in mid-January that the Military Sealift Command’s oceanographic survey ship USNS Henson completed her eight-month deployment to the US 6th Fleet area of responsibility. She spent 163 days on station and conducted survey operations in the Norwegian Sea and the Gulf of Guinea. The ship, its crew of civilian mariners, and an embarked team of 29 oceanographers, historians, underwater archaeologists and researchers, also participated in the most recent search off the coast of England for the Revolutionary warship Bonhomme Richard, captained by John Paul Jones when it was lost at sea in 1799.

At the end of January three Military Sealift Command ships discharged hundreds of pieces of US Marine Corps equipment, containerized supplies and personnel in support of exercises Freedom Banner and Cobra Gold at Chuk Samet, Thailand.

Freedom Banner 2011 brought together multiple commands to offload Maritime Prepositioning Force ships USNSs 1st Lt Jack Lummus and 1st Lt Harry L Martin while both ships were anchored three miles offshore.

A powered lighterage module is offloaded from the Maritime Prepositioning Force ship USNS 1st Lt Jack Lummus more than three miles off the coast of Chuk Samet, Thailand, on 20th January, while conducting Exercise Freedom Banner 2011. The module is powered by a jet propulsion system and attaches to two other modules which are then used to ferry cargo ashore. The equipment offloaded from Lummus will be deployed by Marines for their portion of Exercise Cobra Gold 2011, scheduled to be held in early February.

(US Navy photo by Ed Baxter, SEALOGFE Public Affairs.)

The National Transportation Safety Board has been investigating an operational error that occurred near New York City in January.

NTSB was notified of a Traffic Collision and Alerting System (TCAS) resolution advisory that occurred due to a near midair collision involving American Airlines flight 951 on 20th January this year at about 2230 Eastern Standard Time.

On 4th February the NTSB reported that it had made the following new safety recommendations to the US Coast Guard.

A new railway section linking the Spanish and French networks opened at the end
of January today thanks to about € 70 million in European Union funding.

The 44.4 km Perpignan-Figueras railway section is suitable for both high-speed rail and freight transport and is expected to significantly cut journey times.

At the end of last year HM King Mohammed VI of Morocco inaugurated the Tangier maritime traffic control centre (MTCS) established at a costs of Dirhams 50 million ($ 6 million). The new installation, provided by SOFRELOG, will contribute to improving the maritime traffic efficiency and protection of the
environment in the Gibraltar Strait.

On 31st January it was reported by ESA that Israel had signed a Coperation Agreement, the objective of which is to allow Israel and ESA to create the framework for more-intensive co-operation in ESA projects in the future.

United Kingdom-based, marine security specialist company, Photonic Security Systems (PSS) launch a new proactive pirate defence system, the LDS100, earlier this month.

The LDS100 acts in what is said to be a non-lethal and humane manner and is based on a proactive method to prevent pirates from approaching a ship. The system works by sending a ten metre wide multi-band laser light beam, up to a distance of one kilometre to dazzle potential intruders and disable them from locating and boarding the ship.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

There have been numerous take-off accidents worldwide that were the result of a simple data calculation or entry error by the flight crew. This report documents 20 international and 11 Australian accidents and incidents (occurrences) identified between 1st January 1989 and 30th June 2009 where the calculation and entry of erroneous take-off performance parameters, such as aircraft weights and ‘V speeds’ were involved. Importantly, it provides an analysis of the safety factors that contributed to the international occurrences and suggests ways to prevent and detect such errors.

The Royal Institute of Navigation, London, and the Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy, University of Nottingham, are organising the 5th GNSS Vulnerabilities and Solutions 2011 Conference to be held from 23rd to 25th May 2011 in Baška, Krk Island, Croatia.

At the end of January the British Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) released its report into a near miss involving a freight train and two passenger trains at Carstairs in Scotland on 22nd December 2009.

The sole purpose of RAIB investigations is to prevent future accidents and incidents and improve railway safety. The RAIB does not establish blame, liability or carry out prosecutions.

To take advantage of the increasing activities in the Arctic, the Arctic Shipping
Summit in 2011 will feature leading experts from a diverse background in discussing and analysing these critical developments and practical challenges. The event welcomes Arctic professionals in knowledge-sharing, networking and analysis of the challenges and solutions for shipping in ice and cold climates.

By the end of January Galileo’s first satellite was undergoing testing at ESA’s technical centre in The Netherlands, checking its readiness to be launched into orbit. This marks a significant step for Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation constellation.

The first part of Europe’s global satellite navigation system is due to be
launched over the next two years ? a total of four Galileo In-Orbit Validation (IOV) satellites. The following four years to 2015 will see Galileo brought up to its first operational configuration of 18 satellites in medium Earth orbit.

It was announced from Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, on 19th January that
the 50th Space Wing had completed Phase One of a two phase Global Positioning
System constellation expansion known as ‘Expandable 24’. When fully complete,
this expansion will increase global GPS coverage and provide civil, military and commercial GPS users with more robust satellite availability and a higher
probability of signal acquisition in terrain challenged environments.

The GPS constellation consists of 24 operational slots positioned within six equally-spaced orbital planes surrounding the earth. This plane/slot scheme and enhanced satellite placement ensure GPS users receive the most accurate
navigation data at any time, at any place around the world.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.