All Safety News – Page 1308
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News
Tight rein forecast
Max Kingsley-Jones and Kevin O'Toole/LONDON for Flight International It is one of the ironies of the airline cycle that just as the manufacturers are gearing up to record production levels, the market runs into trouble. Last time round it was the Gulf war which heralded a dramatic and damaging descent ...
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Multimission craft
Julian Moxon/Marignane, FRANCECUTAWAY DRAWING/Giuseppe Picarella In bringing two new machines to the market in the space of two years, Eurocopter appears to have pulled off something of a coup. By any standards, the eight seat, twin engined EC135 and now the five seat EC120 Colibri single have both been very ...
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Calculated landings
Paul Phelan/CAIRNS According to David Jacobson, a training captain on Qantas' Boeing 737 domestic fleet, in this age of "-technical precision, the manual landing flare manoeuvre has remained imprecise. Conventional techniques have relied upon an inconsistent, critical estimation of height above the landing surface, and are subject to a number ...
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Rutan assistance helps Angel relay concept to take wing
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC A US company plans to begin operations in 2000 with a communications-relay aircraft designed by Burt Rutan. A proof-of-concept aircraft is under construction at Rutan's Scaled Composites and is to be flown in mid-1998. Angel Technologies of St Louis, Missouri, says that it is "on ...
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AE31X partners launch pre-development work
Airbus Industrie Asia (AIA) and Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) have agreed to launch pre-development work on the AE31X project in March, before any final joint venture business agreement and without the active participation of Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aero). A joint team is to be established in Toulouse ...
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P&W prepares for geared fan launch
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES An advanced technology geared turbofan that will form the basis of a new family of engines in the 107-156kN (24,000-35,000lb) thrust range is to be launched by Pratt & Whitney. P&W will use the new engine to challenge the market dominance of CFM International's CFM56. ...
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Boeing investigation
An in-depth US Federal Aviation Administration examination of Boeing 737 horizontal stabiliser manufacturing and assembly found no problems which would affect flight safety, but the audit uncovered minor quality control violations which the US aircraft manufacturer corrected immediately. The inspections, at plants in Renton, Washington, and Wichita, Kansas, were prompted ...
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Garuda DC-10 pilot faces criminal charges after crash
The Japanese police have recommended that criminal charges be brought against the captain of a Garuda Indonesia McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 that crashed at Fukuoka Airport in June 1996, killing three passengers and injuring 170 people. Prosecutors are being asked to charge Ronald Londong with "professional negligence leading to death ...
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Italians object to new ban on night flights
Italian airlines and airports have objected to a Government decision to re-activate a 1995 law banning non-military night flights at all national airports except Rome Fumicino and Milan Malpensa. The law comes into effect on 26 July, and imposes a total ban on flights between 23:00 and 06:00, as ...
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Utilicraft negotiates first Freight Feeder orders
American Utilicraft (AUC) says that it is negotiating a 50-aircraft launch order for its FF-1080-200 Freight Feeder with an unnamed US air cargo operator. Funding for the programme is tied to securing a launch customer for the twin-turboprop aircraft, says AUC president John DuPont. "We are in pretty strong ...
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Qantas ponders proposal for Papua's Air Niugini
Senior Qantas executives visited Papua New Guinea (PNG) capital Port Moresby in early February to study a PNG Government proposal for the Australian carrier to take control of Air Niugini under a management contract, in an attempt to ward off the collapse of the airline. The review follows an ...
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Malaysia offers its unwanted 777s to Brazilian carrier VASP
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is offering its unwanted Boeing 777-200 delivery positions to Brazilian carrier VASP, following the collapse of similar talks with Delta Air Lines. At the same time, Thai Airways International says that it is looking to defer some of its later deliveries. The Malaysian ...
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Continental angers Delta chief executive
Delta Air Lines chief executive Leo Mullin has attacked the "complete misrepresentations" made by Continental Airlines officials on the carrier's failure to reach a merger agreement. Despite three weeks of secret bargaining, Continental eventually snubbed Delta and agreed to forge a strategic alliance with Northwest Airlines. Continental's chief executive ...
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ICAO urges Asian action on airline safety
Asian states must improve their airline safety oversight standards, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has urged, following a spate of fatal accidents in Asia. "The Asia-Pacific region is increasingly, though regrettably, becoming owner of a series of catastrophic aircraft accidents," notes ICAO regional representative Lalit Shah. Specific regional ...
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IFALPA spotlights S American ATC dangers
David Learmount/LONDON South American air-traffic control (ATC) has been labelled as inadequate by the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations (IFALPA). The Federation plans to mount a campaign to pressurise national governments into taking action to improve the situation. IFALPA is becoming increasingly vociferous in its criticism of ...
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Cash rich KLM buys up Martinair and considers further deals
KLM is to spend part of its growing cash mountain on acquiring the remainder of shares in Dutch charter and cargo carrier Martinair. The flag carrier also says that it is considering other share deals, including buying back the 25% stake still held in the airline by the Dutch Government. ...
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BAe ponders RJ cockpit and engine changes
Kevin O'Toole/MANCHESTER British Aerospace Regional Aircraft is studying further developments for its Avro RJ family, including new avionics and engine options, with the intention of improving the aircraft's economics and keeping the programme up to date. Although the RJ is now effectively alone in the 85- to 100-seat regional ...
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Routes
-Sabena has signed a partnership with French airline AOM covering routes between Brussels and the French cities of Toulon, Nice and Marseille, but extending also to French overseas territories, enabling both airlines to offer more frequencies and co-ordinate schedules. -Japan Airlines (JAL) plans to launch a twice weekly non-stop ...
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New stretch of 747 defined
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing has revised its future 747 growth studies to include a 500-passenger stretch version with a larger wingspan, known as the -400Y Stretch, while dropping another long range variant dubbed the -400ERY. The company stresses that the only new version of the 747 being formally ...
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Airbus puts back entry into service of A3XX
Julian Moxon/PARIS Airbus Industrie is to delay the entry into service of its planned 555-seat A3XX by at least nine months, to the third quarter of 2004. The consortium claims that the delay is "minor" and says that the current economic chaos in key Asian markets is not responsible ...