All Safety News – Page 1392

  • News

    Explosive progress

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    On 5 May, 1987, a British Aerospace 146-200QT "Quiet Trader" freighter operating between Prestwick in the UK and a hub at Nuremburg, Germany, launched the European freight operations of Australia's TNT Transport group, which now trades as TNT Express Worldwide. In the ten years since then the company has established ...

  • News

    Down to earth

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Full deregulation (in theory, at least) of European air services is admittedly only a few weeks old, but even its most ardent enthusiasts must be disappointed at the apparent lack of effect so far. Those who predicted a more obvious impact from deregulation may, however, not have long to wait. ...

  • News

    JAL renews attack on costs

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Japan Airlines (JAL) is stepping up efforts to cut costs and restructure the company, including the shedding of 2,000 jobs, as the group once again faces a return to losses. The airline's newly unveiled medium-range plan for the five years through to March 2002 also calls for a ...

  • News

    More stoppages may hit TAT and Air Liberté

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    STAFF AT British Airways' French subsidiaries TAT and Air Liberté are threatening further strike action following stoppages over pay and working conditions on 9/10 April. The action follows strikes at Air France over the merger of its domestic operations with the Air France Europe/Air Inter subsidiary. Unions claim ...

  • News

    Maintenance mistake threatened Transavia Boeing 737 flight

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    A third-party-maintenance error came close to disabling a Transavia Airlines Boeing 737-300 in flight with 146 passengers on board, and could have resulted in a crash but for the quick action of the crew, say initial reports from German air-accident investigators. The incident is believed to be a one-off, but ...

  • News

    Atlas closes on freighter order decision-

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Atlas Air, the world's largest Boeing 747 freighter operator, is close to deciding whether to order an unspecified number of 747-400 freighters. According to Michael Chowdry, chairman and chief executive officer, the 747-400F is seen as "the next step" for the US contract cargo operator. Atlas Air is ...

  • News

    NASA may re-fly Columbia in July

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    The Space Shuttle mission, the STS 83/Columbia, which had to be aborted because of a problem with a fuel cell, could be re-launched as early as July using the same seven crew, says NASA. The $500 million, 16-day mission ended when the Shuttle touched down at the Kennedy ...

  • News

    SIA is first to order FANS-A upgrade for Airbus A340s

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Singapore Airlines (SIA)has become the first customer for the Airbus future-air-navigation system-A (FANS-A), with a commitment to install it on its fleet of long-haul A340-300s. Airbus aims to gain certification of FANS-A equipment on the A330/340 in April 1998, with ßight trials using its A340 testbed due to ...

  • News

    Raytheon poem

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Raytheon Cossor has won a $15 million Eurocontrol contract to supply a pre-operational European Mode S (POEMS) secondary-surveillance radar system, as part of the European Air Traffic Control Harmonisation Improvement Programme. The POEMS system will be used to validate Eurocontrol's specification for a Mode S ground station, including full networking ...

  • News

    R-R, Boeing to draw up -524HT test plans

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Rolls-Royce has signed a memorandum of understanding with Boeing covering the formulation of a flight-test schedule for the RB.211-524HT "hybrid" turbofan, although the timing of the programme remains uncertain as the UK manufacturer works to locate a suitable testbed aircraft. The -524HT, which uses the core of the ...

  • News

    Crossair modifies LF507s on Avro RJ85s and RJ100s

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Crossair is now half way through the process of making the engine modifications needed to improve unsatisfactory dispatch reliability on its AI(R) AvroRJ85/RJ100 fleet in a bid to (Flight International, 16-22 October, 1996). President Moritz Suter confirms that the Swiss regional airline has had "serious problems" with the ...

  • News

    TWA 800 inquiry

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    The public hearing on the July 1996 Trans World Airlines Boeing 747-100 crash near Long Island, USA, is to start "in late summer", says the US National Transportation Safety Board. It adds that an explosion definitely occurred in the centre-wing fuel tank, but the cause is still not known and ...

  • News

    Delta JT8D fan finding

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Failure of inspection techniques at manufacture, assembly and in service were responsible for the Pratt & Whitney JT8D-200 fan-hub failure which killed two passengers on a Delta Air Lines McDonnell Douglas MD-88 in July 1996, according to findings from a US National Transportation Safety Board hearing. A minor flaw caused ...

  • News

    Two weeks of RVSM confirms pilot fears over TCAS alerts

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Airline pilots have reported frequent, long-duration, "nuisance" traffic advisories (TAs) from their traffic-alert and collision-avoidance (TCAS) systems in North Atlantic air space during the two weeks since the implementation of reduced vertical-separation minima (RVSM) in the area. RVSM is a procedure for operating with vertical separations of 1,000ft ...

  • News

    USA signs Singapore in open-skies push

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    The USA has continued its push for new open-skies deals with the signing of its new aviation agreement with Singapore, which is the first fully liberalised pact within the key Asia Pacific region. "The signing of this agreement-represents an important step toward ending restrictions on aviation services in ...

  • News

    Airmanship is still a crucial element

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Sir - The reported comment of the UK Civil Aviation Authority in the article "Pilots can expect harder tests, CAA warns" (Flight International, 19-25 March, P31), to the effect that European Joint Aviation Requirements will demand higher academic standards for flightcrew licensing, is another symptom of how this body is ...

  • News

    IAE studies latest V2530-A5 failure

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    International Aero Engines (IAE) is working to determine the cause of a third incident of high-pressure compressor (HPC) damage occurring to a V2530-A5 turbofan operated by Lufthansa on its Airbus A321 fleet. The latest discovery followed an engine stall and rejected take-off on 25 March. HPC blade damage ...

  • News

    BGTlooks to pilot low-cost fly-by-wire for Tu-204

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    German systems house Bodenseewerk Gerätetech-nik (BGT)has launched a feasibility study with Tupolev over fitting future versions of the Tu-204 twinjet with its low-cost, advanced, digital fly-by-wire (FBW)flight-control-system (FCS) technology. The contract with Tupolev comes as BGT steps up efforts to secure applications for its FBW technology, which it plans to ...

  • News

    Kapustin Yar is revived for launches

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    Russia's launch base at Kapustin Yar, in the sparsely populated area close to the Caspian Sea, will end 12 years of retirement when it is used again as a satellite-launch station in 1999. The base was first used for a missile launch in 1947 and its first orbital ...

  • News

    Painting by numbers

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    BUILDING L-64 AT Marietta is not a paint shop, although it is here that F-22s will be finished before being towed across the road for radar cross-section verification ready for first flight. Each F-22 is expected to spend about 20 days in this building, where the elaborate, ...