All Safety News – Page 1309
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Dash 8-400 flies
The Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8-400 had its maiden flight on 31 January from de Havilland's plant in Downsview, Toronto, under the command of de Havilland chief engineering test pilot Wally Warner and engineering test pilot Barry Hubbard. During the 3h flight, a speed of 200kt (370km/h) was achieved ...
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EC to decide on Alitalia state aid probe
Julian Moxon/PARIS Marco Messala/ROME The European Commission(EC) is to decide on 11 February whether to open an investigation into allegations that Alitalia has broken the state aid deal agreed in July 1997. EC transport commissioner Neil Kinnock has written to Italian minister for transport and navigation Claudio Burlando, ...
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Spotlight falls on SilkAir recorder 'failure'
The investigation into the crash on 19 December, 1997, of the SilkAir Boeing 737-300 is raising questions about why the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) both stopped operating in quick succession just before the aircraft entered its steep, fatal descent. Analysis of the CVR ...
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Tests reveal F/A-18 behaviour
Canada's National Research Council (NRC) is using a unique water-tunnel testing method to investigate the high-angle-of-attack behaviour of the Boeing F/A-18. Testing involves the NRC-developed OPLEC orbital-platform rotary-balance system, which consists of a rotating open-ended cylinder with a sting mounted on the outer surface. This eliminates the need for ...
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ICAO examines global aviation impact model
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is considering adopting a model developed by Dutch civil-aviation authority, the RLD, to predict the environmental and socio-political effects of aviation regulatory decisions. Richard Hancox, project manager for UK transportation modelling specialist MVA, believes that Project AERO represents "the only detailed global model ...
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Russia seeks $6.2 billion for International Space Station
Tim Furniss/LONDON Russia will need $6.2 billion funding over the next ten years to build and maintain its component of the International Space Station (ISS), according to Russian Space Agency (RSA) director Yuri Koptev. Some $3 billion will be spent on construction, with the remainder going on maintenance, he says. ...
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Jet age dawns for 328
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH When the completed Fairchild Dornier 328JET was first shown to Reinhold Birrenbach, head of the 328 project since its turboprop days, he must have felt a little self-satisfied. "This is the way the aircraft always should have looked," he said, observing the clean lines of the newly fitted ...
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Safety-authority plans detailed
Julian Moxon and Alan George/BRUSSELS New details of the planned European Air Safety Authority (EASA) have been revealed by European transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock. In spite of the progress, he admits that there remain "several very difficult political issues" to be resolved. The European Commission (EC) has called ...
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Myanmar F27 crash
A 20-year-old Myanmar Airways Fokker F27 600 suffered a fatal accident during take-off from Thandwe, Myanmar, on 28 January, killing 14 of the 45 people on board. An engine problem appears to have caused the aircraft to veer off the runway. Source: Flight International
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Crashed SilkAir 737 hinge bolt 'was installed'
Boeing says that an elevator hinge bolt, previously believed to be missing from the SilkAir Boeing 737-300 which crashed on 19 December, 1997, was installed at the time. In a letter sent on 27 January to all 737 operators, the manufacturer says: "An examination of the wreckage gives clear evidence ...
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US airline profits are 'best ever'
The major US airlines ended 1997 with their strongest profits on record, but the celebrations were accompanied by the promise of more turbulence ahead, with the fall-out from Asian economic crisis and the prospect of a renewed round of consolidation closer to home following the Continental/Northwest Airlines tie-up. With only ...
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The impossible target
David Learmount/LONDON Training to be a commercial pilot under the new joint European rules is going to be harder, the training industry warns. With the first of the new courses about to start, this is not exactly what aspiring fliers were hoping, or even expecting, to hear. Under the new ...
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Cockpit inadequacies
David Learmount/LONDON Those who argue that there is a degradation of basic flying skills in line pilots ascribe it to many things, the favourite being flightdeck automation. Parc Aviation consultant Capt Russell Kane, a former Aer Lingus captain, says that there is evidence that giving undue importance to cockpit ...
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Northwest and Continental tie-up raises Alitalia/KLM hopes
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Julian Moxon/PARIS The tie-up between Northwest and Continental Airlines has been welcomed by European partners Alitalia and KLM, offering the prospect of a global alliance within five years. "The deal opens the door to a much wider co-operation," says Fausto Cereti, chairman of Alitalia, which already ...
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Insurers threaten to withdraw cover unless airlines tackle computer bug
Aviation insurers have challenged airlines to prove that their fleet avionics are free of the "millennium bug" which threatens to disrupt computer software, or lose their cover for any incidents which result from it. The issue, says a major Lloyds insurance-market underwriter, is what may happen to embedded computer ...
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American/BA may give up Gatwick slots
Alan George/LONDON The proposed British Airways/American Airlines alliance may be allowed to include London Gatwick Airport slots among the concessions it needs to make to gain approval from the European Commission for the tie-up. Previously, it was thought that all of the slots to be sacrificed would be at ...
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Delta 2 problem will not delay launches
Investigations into a potential technical problem on the Boeing Delta 2 launcher will not delay the launch of the first two Globalstar mobile-communications satellites and a new set of five Iridium spacecraft scheduled to be placed into orbit in early February. Although successful, the Delta 7925 flight carrying the ...
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Do not pass 'go'
So British Airways' no-frills start-up is "Go"; but will it - and what sort of response will it attract from powerful European competitors like Lufthansa? Even more important, from where will the passengers come to make these no-frills airlines work? The justification for an existing airline to launch a ...
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DOT spotlights fare changes
The US Department of Transportation began publishing its domestic airline fares consumer report in response to an increasing number of inquiries about ticket prices. The first report, for the third quarter of 1996, was released in June last year and the latest report is based on data for the second ...
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French stick over partner
Doug Cameron Investment bankers are sharply split over Air France's ability to secure a strategic airline investor and Air France's advisers have retreated from supporting a trade sale after the collapse of its planned Alitalia agreement. Air France plans an equity issue of FFr18 billion (US$2.9 billion) in ...