All Safety News – Page 1403
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ValuJet to reduce maintenance contractors
Karen Walker/ATLANTA VALUJET AIRLINES, in response to criticism from the US Federal Aviation Administration is to cut the number of outside maintenance contractors it uses. An interim report, by the FAA on ValuJet's maintenance and safety procedures, highlights discovered since the Atlanta, Georgia-based airline came ...
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FAA tackles runway overruns
A DEVICE DESIGNED to stop runway overruns is to be installed at New York's JFK International Airport following successful testing by the US Federal Aviation Administration. During the tests, which also involved the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at the agency's Atlantic City technical centre, ...
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R-R plans hybrid -524/Trent test
Guy Norris/LOSANGELES Andrew Doyle/LONDON ROLLS-ROYCE IS preparing to test a production RB.211-524 turbofan fitted with the high-pressure system of the Trent 700, in an experiment aimed at extending engine-component life and reducing fuel consumption. The hybrid is being evaluated as a potential upgrade for the ...
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JADC considers YS-X partners for future
Paul Lewis/TOKYO JAPAN AIRCRAFT Development (JADC), expects to make a decision by August, on whether to continue with a 90 to 110 seat YS-X study with Boeing, or to shrink the project to a 70 to 90 seater, involving Bombardier. JADC has to submit its request ...
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Open skies crucial to BA/American deal
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON NEWS OF THE British Air-ways and American Airlines code-sharing deal and the promise of a US/UK open-skies agreement has sparked off a round of intense lobbying from competitors on both sides of the Atlantic, hoping to make gains from a new bilateral. BA ...
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How HUD works
HUDs present the vital parameters of aircraft position, velocity, demand information and trend cues on a screen suspended from the flight-deck roof between the pilot's eyes and the aircraft windscreen. The pilot looks through this screen (the combiner) to the real world beyond and, as the combiner is collimated (focused ...
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Who's in control
AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL OPERATOR Dan Kennedy, recently returned from a Churchill Fellowship world study on GA safety, believes that insurance payouts of up to A$1 million ($806,500) on turbine agricultural aircraft, more than 60 of which are operated in Australia, may price his industry out of business if accident trends cannot ...
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Quality vs capacity
Paul Phelan/ADELAIDE STUDENT NUMBERS at the Australian Aviation College (AAC) in Adelaide are approaching maximum capacity, but expansion is out of the question, says general manager Harry Bradford. Although the BTR-owned school has over 200 students, it will not expand because quality would suffer, he says. ...
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The tests
SEVERAL OF THE FIVE formats or "batteries" used in RAF pilot-aptitude tests will still be familiar to old hands: ncompensatory tracking and co-ordination: a dot is driven, by stick and rudder pedals, to follow a cross moved to a standard computer-controlled schedule. A relevant civil/transport scenario might be ...
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MD600N lost to blade strike
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA The second McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems' (MDHS) MD600N prototype was destroyed by fire on 28 May after a crash-landing during flight-testing. The pilot was uninjured. MDHS says that certification of the eight-seat helicopter, scheduled for September, will be delayed, but believes that first deliveries ...
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UK industry to launch research effort
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON AFTER YEARS of failing to win new Government funding for civil research-and-technology programmes, the UK's aerospace companies have taken matters into their own hands and launched a programme of industry-funded technology-demonstrator pilots. They hope that the UK Government will now help build the project ...
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US NTSB pushes for Sukhoi checks
Checks on the flight controls of Sukhoi Su-29 and Su-31 aerobatic aircraft are being urged after the fatal crash of an Su-29 near New Orleans on 21 March was blamed on an incorrectly assembled elevator-control system. The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has called on the US Federal Aviation ...
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KLM/Northwest link-up plans put on hold
Kevin O'Toole/AMSTERDAM KLM HAS PUT further development of its alliance with Northwest Airlines on hold until the bitter disagreement over shareholder rights is settled in the US courts. While stressing that the alliance, once "the envy of the airline industry", continues to operate well, KLM president ...
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Propulsion fault cuts Theseus first flight
The first flight of the Theseus unmanned aircraft, designed to support NASA's Mission to Planet Earth initiative, was cut short by propulsion problems after it lifted off from Rogers Dry Lake, California, on 24 May. "It was a propeller controller issue from what we can tell right now," ...
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Arcing cause of Tethered loss
THE ALENIA-BUILT Italian Tethered Satellite was lost in space during the STS75/Columbia Space Shuttle mission on 25 February, when its tether broke after suffering "arcing and burning", says an investigation team appointed by NASA (Flight International, 6-12 March). The arcing occurred because the tether was penetrated by either ...
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KLM renews growth effort in Europe with expanded fleet
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON KLM IS TO START A NEW wave of growth in its European operations, outlining plans for a $300 million short-haul fleet expansion and a new agreement with its pilots' union, which paves the way for greater use of wet-lease and codesharing with regional partners. ...
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FAA forced ValuJet cut in growth before crash
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC US FEDERAL AVIATION Administration concern over the effect on ValuJet's safety of its rapid expansion forced the carrier to rein back planned growth almost four months before the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 crash in Florida on 11 May, documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act ...
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North Korea's IATA overtures on the brink of fulfilment
NORTH KOREA WILL sign a series of agreements shortly with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which is expected to lead to opening up of Pyongyang's airspace to international traffic. Discussions between IATA and North Korea on future co-operation are at an "advanced" stage, according to IATA regional ...
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Schonefeld is Germany's choice for Berlin Airport
Andrej Jeziorski/MUNICH THE GERMAN Federal Government and the Berlin and Brandenburg local governments have opted to develop Schonefeld Airport as the site of the proposed new Berlin hub. The DM10 billion ($6.8 billion) expansion plan was favoured, on cost grounds, over a proposal to build a ...
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ARINC launches its 'FANS for classics'
Kieran Daly/SINGAPORE A MAJOR US operator is the launch customer for an ambitious programme designed by US avionics and communications specialist ARINC to make "classic" long-haul aircraft compatible with the air-traffic system of the future. ARINC is offering to develop solutions for any classics which operators ...