The recent aircrash of Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A320 operated as PK8303 near Karachi International Airport brought to limelight Ram Air Turbine in aircraft operations. Based on pictures taken of the doomed aircraft just minutes before it crashed, showed clearly the deployment of the RAT. What exactly is RAT? A Ram Air Turbine (RAT) is a turbine that is installed in an aircraft and used as an alternate or emergency hydraulic or electrical power source. The RAT generates power from the airstream based on the speed of the aircraft and is connected to an electrical generator or to a hydraulic pump. Modern aircraft only utilize the RAT in emergency: either in the event of loss of hydraulic systems or following the loss of primary electrical generation. In these cases the RAT will power vital systems such as flight controls or flight-critical instrumentation, navigation and communication equipment. Some RATs produce only hydraulic power which in turn is used to power an electri

It is a common knowledge that airlines around the world do from time to time as a means of boosting capacity and expansion of route network do lease aircrafts as the case may be. Aviation Roundtable blog takes a look at the effect of covid-19 pandemic on aircraft leases. A lack of cash flow has resulted in airlines resorting to laying off employees or having their employees take leave without pay. Under these unprecedented social and economic conditions, airlines who lease aircraft may face severe challenges making rental and maintenance reserve payments to lessors.The impact on covid-19 pandemic on the aviation industry in general was extensively analysed in our previous post. Read here. https://aviationroundtable.blogspot.com/2020/04/an-overview-of-impact-of-covid-19-on.html The fall out of the pandemic on aircraft leasing is our focal point in this write up. The implications of COVID-19 pandemic on an aircraft lease agreement vary from one agreement to another, depending on the term

Aviation Roundtable takes a closer look at the increasing use of passenger aircraft for cargo operation.With no passengers filling aircraft seats as demand is virtually non existent in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, an increasing number of airlines are now piling cargo in the cabins of their aircraft in the hope to generate at least a fraction of the revenue they would have generated under normal circumstances. Typically between 40% and 45% of air cargo is carried in the belly holds of passenger aircraft, while the rest is been ferried by conventional cargo freight operations. but most passenger flights are suspended as a result of travel restrictions and lower demand due to the Covid-19 pandemenic. In contrast to the dramatic drop in passenger demand, air cargo operations are surging to respond to calls to move essential supplies to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.  Amid the crisis, to supplement the continued cargo operations, airlines have been using their passenger aircraft fleets. Th