All Safety News – Page 1369
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Building a new India
Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) boss R N Sharma's announcement at the Aero India '96 show in December that he intended to start negotiations to license-build a 50-seat turboprop, and to buy a stake in a regional-jet programme, raised a few smiles among the Indian press corps. They had heard it all ...
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Japanese airlines finalise low-cost plans
Japan Air System (JAS) and Japan Airlines (JAL) are planning to incorporate new low-cost subsidiary carriers shortly, in the face of growing domestic liberalisation and the entry of new competing start-up airlines. JAS also announced that its new subsidiary operation, Harlequin Air, was to have been established on ...
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Heathrow responds to Fokker 50 delay
Sir- In response to N Malle's letter (Flight International, 8-14 January, P37), about the landing of a damaged Fokker 50 at Heathrow in December, I would like to make the following points. Landing-gear failure was apparent on final approach. By the time the aircraft had been manoeuvred in ...
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Reaching for free flight
Forecasts of extraordinary growth in civil air traffic have become commonplace. The details vary, but a projected doubling of traffic by 2010 and a tripling by 2020 are widely accepted. There is just one problem - those numbers are not feasible, given the existing operational infrastructure. The problem is worst ...
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Infracstructure deterrent to growth
Lack of infrastructure could be an important deterrent to growth unless a rapid and comprehensive expansion of airports and air-traffic- control equipment is put in place. Air Transport Action Group director Thomas Windmuller, speaking recently at a conference in Bangalore on infrastructure, said that at least $5 billion is expected ...
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Airbus withdraws USAir's future delivery positions
Airbus Industrie has withdrawn all of USAir's 1998 and 1999 firm delivery positions, as well as support for a planned aircraft lease, because the US air carrier "-has not demonstrated that it will be able to affirm its Airbus aircraft purchase". USAir has told its employees that it ...
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PATS replaces VIP 737 generating canisters
PATS has received US Federal Aviation Administration certification for a central, high-pressure oxygen system to replace oxygen-generating canisters in Boeing 737s. The first system has been installed in a 737 operated by ITT as a 50-passenger transport for two sports teams. Columbia, Maryland-based PATS says the system is ...
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PPI finishes plating shop
Pacific Propeller (PPI) is close to completing a new plating shop at its Kent, Washington, site, which is aimed at expanding its propeller and control-assembly servicing and refurbishing capabilities. The shop will be used for zinc, chromium, hard chrome, cadmium and nickel plating and anodising of major propeller components, providing ...
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UK CAA insists on stick-shaker for Falcon 2000
Dassault has delivered the first UK-registered Falcon 2000 business jet, but has been forced to equip the aircraft with a "stick-shaker" stall-warning device to meet the UK Civil Aviation Authority's "additional requirements for import". These come despite the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) declaring that such a device is unnecessary. ...
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Thai's R-R Trent woes continue on 777
Thai Airways International has removed a second Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engine from one of its Boeing 777 aircraft in two months, after metal debris was again found on the magnetic chip-detector (MCD). The second unscheduled removal by Thai of a Trent 800 occurred on 25 December, 1996, following ...
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FAA demands total 737 rudder-retrofit programme
The US Federal Aviation Administration is to order airlines to retrofit four newly developed rudder-system components in 2,800 Boeing 737s. US Vice President Al Gore revealed the move in a speech on commercial aviation security and safety. The updated components will be incorporated in new-build 737-300, -400 and -500 series ...
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737 rudder procedures
An emergency airworthiness directive requires US Boeing 737 operators to adopt new procedures to improve pilots' control following sudden uncommanded rudder movements. The new procedures, to be included in the 737 flight manual, also outline actions to deal with a jammed or restricted rudder. Pilots are advised to lower the ...
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Freight fright
THE AIRLINE-ACCIDENT statistics for 1996 (P31) suggest that there is a serious safety problem in the air-freight market. Over one-third of all fatal airliner accidents last year were to non-passenger aircraft: they caused the deaths of 158 aircrew and other occupants, and more than 350 further deaths of innocent third ...
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European research group will study new blade-tip coatings
A consortium of nine European companies and research centres has launched a four-year project to develop advanced coatings for aero-engine turbine blade-tips. The work is aimed at achieving reduced tip-clearances, to improve engine performance without causing excessive wear in the blades. "When the blade tip rubs against the ...
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Tu-224: different class of aircraft
Sir - In the article "Kato launches Sirocco to lead R-R-powered Tu-204 effort", Dr Ibrahim Kamel, president of the newly formed Sirocco, is quoted as saying that the Tupolev Tu-224 (Western-powered Tu-204) will cost about $36 million. You then say that comparative "sticker" prices for the similarly sized Airbus A321-100 ...
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Fokker will make selection of F28 retrofit engine in February
Plans to launch a re-engineing programme for the Fokker F28 Fellowship are gathering momentum, with a final engine selection expected in February. Programme partners Fokker Services and Perry Group plan a launch decision in April, depending on market response. Lion Boenders, product marketing manager at Woensdrecht, Holland-based Fokker ...
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DC-XA crash cause
An unconnected hose led to the destruction of the Clipper Graham DC-XA technology-demonstrator vehicle at White Sands, New Mexico, on 31 July, 1996. A helium pneumatic-system brake line on one of the landing gears was unconnected, preventing pressurisation of the brake mechanism and extension of the gear. Source: ...
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FAA orders FJ44 turbine solution
The US Federal Aviation Administration is requiring immediate inspection and replacement of high-pressure turbine disks used in Williams Rolls-Royce FJ44 turbofans which have twice failed on Cessna CitationJets. The airworthiness directive (AD) affects the early-model FJ44-1A turbofan engines which power some CitationJets. The Directive orders immediate and recurring ...
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FAA softens order on Lycoming crankshaft
A PROPOSED airworthiness directive(AD) requiring repetitive inspection, and possible replacement, of crankshafts in certain Textron Lycoming engines has been modified to reduce its potentially serious impact on operators. The AD was prompted by failures of hollow-end crankshafts caused by corrosion-induced cracking. The original notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) ...
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Airbus issues hydraulic pump warning after A330/340 fires
Airbus Industrie has instructed all A330 and A340 operators to de-activate the aircraft's electrically driven hydraulic pumps, following a series of fires which has left at least two aircraft badly damaged. In the latest incident, an auxiliary pump is suspected of having overheated on a Malaysia Airlines (MAS)A330-300 ...