- Norwegian Air Traffic Service provider Avinor is expanding its remotely operated control tower program. Madrid, Spain-based Indra has contracted Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS to deliver a further seven airport systems that will be operated from Avinor’s Remote Tower Centre in Bodø, Norway, which is already the world’s largest of its type. A Bodø-based operator can handle up to three low-volume airports from the same workstation. Can Nav Canada be far behind? See this week’s feature video for a facility tour.
- The Air Transat local of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) has provided formal notice to their employer to begin bargaining for a new contract. “We have a collective agreement that dates back to 2015,” said Captain Bradley Small, the union local’s chairman. “We will negotiate a contract that reflects the current standard within Canada’s aviation sector, similar to those recently negotiated by Air Canada and WestJet.”
- The US Air Force recently sent two KC-46A Pegasus aerial refuelling aircraft to CFB Trenton in Ontario to train RCAF crews on boom-equipped aerial refuelling. This uses equipment and techniques that will be adopted by the RCAF in 2027 using the military’s recently acquired Airbus CC-330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft. The Pegasus tankers, a variant of the Boeing 767, provided fuel to several CFB Bagotville-based CF-18 Hornets during the exercise. “The mutual value of this mission to both our nations was quite apparent,” said USAF Capt. Troy Kretzul. “It is my hope this mission will pave the way for ongoing collaboration between our nations’ tanker communities and promote interoperability with a key capability, as Canada and the U.S. continue to provide security for North America under NORAD.”
- ZenaTech, a subsidiary of Toronto-based ZenaTech Inc., has applied for FAA “Agricultural Aircraft Operations Certification” of its ZenaDrone 1000. Designed as a crop-spraying drone, its primary mission would be to spray fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. The company says it can also be used in wildfire-fighting applications when operating in a “drone swarm”.
- In an update by the Department of National Defence (DND) posted on X, the government said construction of two MQ-9B SkyGuardian military drones has started at a factory in California. The DND announced in 2023 that it has ordered 11 of the attack aircraft. When contacted by the Ottawa Citizen, the DND said, “Delivery of the first aircraft is expected in 2028, with full operational capability for the fleet expected by 2033.” The DND posting on X said it was “exciting progress.”
- The Philippine Mars, the last of the Martin Mars flying boats/flying tankers yet to arrive at its new home, is currently moored in Cowichan Bay near Victoria. There it awaits an engine salvaged from the Hawaii Mars, currently resting on shore as a permanent exhibit at the British Columbia Aviation Museum. “We are an organ donor to get the Philippine Mars flying,” said Steve Nichol, the museum’s president. The Philippine Mars had departed its previous home on Sproat Lake last December for its new home in Arizona but encountered engine trouble over Washington and had to turn back.