All Safety News – Page 1314
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News
Icao soothes safety fears
Icao has salvaged a role as a global aviation safety watchdog after hammering out an agreement at its safety convention. However, critics fear that the International Civil Aviation Organisation will not clamp down on countries which ignore safety standards. The 145 member states attending Icao's November safety conference in ...
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Restrictions put KLM all out at sea
'The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea in a beautiful, pea-green boat'. Unlikely, yes, but a lot more realistic than millions of passengers, an airport and all Dutch airlines shifting to the middle of the North Sea. Yet a new airport to be built on an artificial island ...
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Taiwan not ready to talk
Now you're talking. Or are they? Politically sparring partners, Taiwan and the People's Republic of China, may be nearing the negotiating table, but they're still skirting around aviation issues. Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui and Prime Minister Vincent Siew have both declared that talks on direct transport, trade, and postal ...
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TWA tipped for upturn
A new president, a new injection of capital and a new feeling of confidence seem to be gearing Trans World Airlines up for what could be its turnaround year in 1998. TWA has named William Compton, a former MD-80 captain and a member of the Air Line Pilots Association's ...
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Rockwell for American
American Airlines has selected Rockwell-Collins as the primary supplier of avionics for its new Boeing fleet, under a ten-year agreement valued at $200 million. Collins will supply multi-mode receivers, windshear-detection radars and collision-avoidance systems for 75 737s and 11 777s due for delivery beginning in 1998. Source: Flight ...
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Boeing expects to receive JAA approval of 737-700 in January
Guy Norris/SEATTLE Boeing expects the first of the Next Generation 737 models, the -700, to be given long-awaited European certification by "mid- to late-January" when final tests are conducted on the first European production-standard -700, which is destined for Maersk Air of Denmark. The tests centre on the ...
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Navigator survives Sharjah crash
A chartered Tajik Air Tupolev Tu-154B-2 crashed on 15 December near Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, killing all 85 passengers and eight of the nine crew. The navigator survived. Inbound from Tajikistan, the aircraft disappeared from air-traffic-control radar screens at 1,600ft (500m) and hit the ground 13km (7nm) short ...
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FAA recommendations
US air-traffic-control services must be removed from the US Federal Aviation Administration to a "performance-based" organisation if a "looming disaster" of aviation gridlock after 2000 is to be avoided, says the National Civil Aviation Review Commission. The Clinton Administration has previously failed to win Congressional approval to shift the FAA's ...
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French/US bilateral talks stall
Julian Moxon/PARIS Failure of the latest round of negotiations on a bilateral deal between France and the USA has put at risk a major element of the commercial agreement between Air France, Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines and American Airlines' separate plans to link with Air Liberté. ...
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GE-P&W starts A3XX study
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Team members from the General Electric-Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance began installation studies with Airbus Industrie on 18 December aimed at finalising a firm engine configuration for the A3XX by as early as the first quarter of 1998. "I would like to have a firm ...
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Marketplace
++ Philippine Airlines has agreed to the early return of two Boeing 747-200s to the lessor, Atlas Air. The two aircraft, acquired by Atlas under earlier sale/leaseback deals, were scheduled to be handed back in late 1998 and 2000 but will instead be terminated in January and February 1998. The ...
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RVSM comes of age after trial period
Following a successful eight-month trial period, North Atlantic tracks (NAT) working to reduced vertical-separation minima (RVSM) are to be declared fully operational on 27 March. Plans have also been announced to extend the RVSM vertical band in 1998. The NAT RVSM vertical band is now FL330-FL370 (33,000-37,000ft/10,060-11,280m). This is ...
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TWA crash hearing helps to clarify policy on fuel tanks
The public hearing on the 1996 Trans World Airlines flight 800 fatal crash ended in Baltimore on 12 December without the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) coming any nearer to discovering the cause, although it can claim to have clarified potential safety policies. Measures to reduce the risk ...
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Air France president Spinetta lays plans for competitiveness
Julian Moxon/Paris Air France president Jean-Cyril Spinetta has unveiled the main elements in his plans to solve the "persistent competitiveness problems" which he says continue to plague the airline. Pilots' unions have objected to the plan, however. The strategy centres on a Fr40 billion ($6.7 billion) investment in ...
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PIA chairman begins mission to restore 'financial discipline'
New Pakistan International Airlines(PIA) chairman Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has set about a clean sweep of the carrier's finances, taking heavy write-offs in the latest 1996/7 accounts and pledging to "restore operational and financial discipline". The accounts, which show a heavy Rs4.8 billion ($110 million)net loss in the year to ...
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Hidden turmoil
There is something vaguely ironic about Boeing outlining continuing production delays and, in the same breath, of the need to shed production staff. The irony is, however, a reflection of the underlying turmoil in the civil airframe industry - a turmoil which has to some extent been hidden by the ...
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Rocky Mountain high
Guy Norris/VANCOUVER We pull out of a 3g turn over Garibaldi Lake and fly towards the Black Tusk rock. The immense flanks of the mountain rear up in front and, for a moment, it seems as if my flight with the Canadian Forces Snowbirds aerobatic display team is about ...
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747-400IGW gets go-ahead
Guy Norris/SEATTLE The Boeing board has given its civil-aircraft sales team authority to offer a growth version of the 747-400 with a maximum take-off weight of 413,140kg and a range of up to 14,245km (7,700nm). The decision is the first significant growth step for the aircraft since the ...
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P&W considers new rival for CFM56
Guy Norris/EAST HARTFORD Pratt & Whitney has begun studies of an advanced-technology geared-fan engine in an initiative to re-enter the narrowbody market and challenge the dominance of CFM International. The study outlines an initial series of engines for the 107-156kN (24,000-35,000lb)-thrust range, and is based around the use ...
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Yak-42 crashes
An Air Ukraine Yakovlev Yak-42 chartered by Kiev-based AeroSvit has crashed near Thessaloniki, northern Greece, with 62 passengers and eight crew on board. The aircraft (UR-42334) disappeared at about 21:15 local time on 17 December after the crew, inbound from Odessa, had made two unsuccessful night approaches to land, in ...