All Safety News – Page 1331
-
News
Reaching for the sky
Dave Higdon/HOUSTON After several false dawns, the much trumpeted renaissance of general aviation in the USA finally appears to have become reality in 1997 - with a hint of a continuing strengthening of the position in years to come, according to figures delivered by the Federal Aviation Administration during the ...
-
News
Damage to wiring grounds old 737s
Chafed electrical wires in fuel tank conduits were found in so many older Boeing 737s that the US Federal Aviation Administration grounded many of them by issuing an emergency airworthiness directive (AD) on 10 May. Checks on fuel tank pump wiring following an earlier AD had revealed that seriously ...
-
News
BAe prepares to launch upgraded Avro variant
Julian Moxon/PARIS British Aerospace Regional Aircraft is preparing to launch a re-engined, upgraded "RJX" version of the Avro RJ with 15% lower direct operating costs, reductions in weight and up to 20% less maintenance costs. The company, which is in the process of a divorce with Aero International ...
-
News
Taxiing A320 collides with inflight 767
An Egyptair Airbus Industrie A320 taxiing at Cairo airport had more than 1m sliced off its tail fin by an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767-300ER which had just taken off in an incident which saw both aircraft come close to a major accident. The 767 (ET-AKW) was able to return for ...
-
News
Developing nations ask ICAO to help with CNS/ATM funding
Emma Kelly/RIO DE JANEIRO Developing nations have urged the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to establish an international aviation monetary fund to help them finance implementation of communications, navigation and surveillance/ air traffic management (CNS/ATM) system programmes. Bolivia, Pakistan and the 53 African ICAO member nations were among ...
-
News
Lufthansa Cargo returns to profit
Lufthansa Cargo has successfully turned its business around, with the announcement of a DM194 million ($110 million) pre-tax profit for 1997. The company recorded the profit on a turnover of DM3.9 billion for regular business. Including income from the sale of its stake in Luxembourg's Cargolux, the company beat the ...
-
News
Be-103 makes first water take-off
Beriev has test flown the Be-103 from water for the first time. The flight, which took place on the 19 April, lasted 16min. The second prototype of the Western-powered multipurpose amphibian has now made six flights, lasting a total of 9h 12min. The first prototype of the six-seat aircraft crashed ...
-
News
Scottish ATC centre is delayed to 2004
David Learmount/LONDON A £200 million ($328 million) air traffic control centre planned to be built in Scotland has been delayed by around three years because of a reassessment of the complexity of the task in the wake of serious software problems with the associated Swanwick-based New En Route Centre ...
-
News
Free flight study finds pilots' workload is not increased
Ian Sheppard/LONDON A Dutch national aerospace laboratory (NLR) study has concluded that workload does not increase when a pilot is given responsibility for separation assurance in a "free flight" air traffic control environment. Ronald van Gent, NLRproject leader, says that the conclusion surprised the research team. "We anticipated a ...
-
News
Controlling the future
David Learmount/LONDON There was a deafening silence from UK National Air Traffic Services (NATS) between 5 April and 13 May. At the beginning of the period, NATS had somewhat nervously announced that it had run the first full "operational" test of the much delayed new en route air traffic ...
-
News
FAA takes emergency action on Boeing wiring
The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued emergency airworthiness directives (ADs) ordering inspections of fuel tank wiring in over 1,000 older Boeing 737s, 747s and 767s. The action follows the chance discovery of a damaged wire conduit during investigations to find the source of a fuel leak on a ...
-
News
China plans new cargo carrier
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE China Eastern Airlines (CEA) and partner China Ocean Shipping (Cosco) are planning to launch the country's first international air cargo carrier, equipped with a fleet of converted Boeing MD-11 freighters. Local industry sources say the carrier is to be named China Air Cargo and will be a ...
-
News
Cathay Pacific nears decision on strategic airline alliance
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Cathay Pacific Airways expects to make a decision on a strategic alliance within months, as the carrier continues to struggle to increase revenue and cut costs further to extract itself from financial difficulties. A massive drop in international traffic since July 1997 is causing the Hong Kong ...
-
News
US airline alliances to undergo scrutiny
The Clinton administration has vowed to put recently proposed strategic alliances between US airlines under the microscope. Patrick Murphy, a senior US Department of Transportation (DoT) official, told a Congressional hearing that planned pacts between Northwest/Continental, American/US Airways and United/Delta "-represent nothing less than a major transformation of the ...
-
News
AlliedSignal expands EGPWS applications
AlliedSignal Aerospace is developing a version of its enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS) to fit corporate aircraft. It is responding to proposed US Federal Aviation Administration regulations requiring installation of terrain avoidance and warning systems in all aircraft with six or more seats . The two air transport ...
-
News
US plan to 'sabotage' European ADS-B fails
An alleged US attempt to sabotage a European-backed technology for the Future Air Navigation System (FANS) has collapsed in the face of international opposition. Delegates to an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) panel considering the matter voted to stick with their original plan for the development of a Swedish-developed ...
-
News
Pacific nations call for reforms
Paul Phelan/CAIRNS The aviation ministers of 14 Pacific nations are calling for a region-wide air traffic management (ATM) plan, a single aviation market, and the harmon- isation and updating of civil aviation regulation and security following a South Pacific Forum meeting in Suva, Fiji on 4 May. The ...
-
News
Schiphol Airport earns safety black mark from pilots
David Learmount/LONDON Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport has been blacklisted as unsafe by the International Federation of Airline Pilots (IFALPA) for putting pressure on pilots to use runways chosen for environmental considerations rather than flight safety. IFALPA chief Rob McKinnis says that the Federation is concerned that environmental lobbies will ...
-
News
Japan supports supersonic transport research
Andrew Mollet/TOKYO The Japanese Government is again devoting a sizeable amount of its annual aerospace development funding to supersonic transport airframe and powerplant research, while slashing the budget for the stalled YS-X regional aircraft study. The supersonic transport accounts for the largest single item contained in the Ministry ...
-
News
Gemini in talks with Boeing for MD-11s
Gemini Air Cargo is talking to Boeing about a potential deal to acquire new MD-11 freighters, but is also examining possible secondhand aircraft acquisitions as it awaits a decision from the manufacturer on the tri-jet's production future. The Washington Dulles-based supplemental cargo carrier, which has just introduced its eighth ...