BRITISH AIRWAYS TO REHIRE 777 CRASH HERO
British Airways is to rehire the captain of the Boeing 777-200 which crashed at London Heathrow on 17 January 2008, after ice obstructed the fuel system during final approach. All on board survived, and investigators praised Capt Peter Burkill and his crew, but the pilot felt under pressure in the months afterwards and left the airline. He wanted to continue flying but struggled to find work, partly owing to the stigma of his association with the crash. In the interim he wrote a book about his experience of the accident.
BOEING, USAF SIGN B-52 DEAL
The US Air Force has awarded Boeing a potentially $11.9 billion, eight-year contract to support weapon system modernisation work on its B-52 bomber fleet. Flightglobal's MiliCAS database lists the USAF as having 77 H-model B-52s, which were delivered in 1961-2.
FAA PROBES SKYWEST GEAR-UP LANDINGS
The US Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a partial gear-up landing by a SkyWest Airlines Bombardier CRJ200 last week in Milwaukee, the second such incident for SkyWest in less than a week. Flight 3074's 36 passengers and three crew deplaned safely through the main cabin door after the aircraft experienced landing gear trouble en route from Omaha. Days earlier, a CRJ900 operated by SkyWest subsidiary Atlantic Southeast Airlines landed with its right gear fully retracted at JFK airport in New York.
MARINE CORPS' VIPER SET TO STRIKE
The US Marine Corps has declared Bell Helicopter's AH-1Z Viper attack helicopter "operationally effective and suitable", after closing a four-year operational evaluation process delayed by reliability and technical glitches. The service is expected to approve full-rate production of the type within the next few weeks, with 189 to be delivered through 2021.
LHT TO SUPPORT UK'S FSTA FLEET
Lufthansa Technik will manage component-level support for the UK's fleet of 14 A330-200-based Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft from late 2011, under an initially 10-year deal with Airbus Military. The company will establish a support presence at the Royal Air Force's Brize Norton air base in Oxfordshire.
STALLED RECOVERY BLOW TO CESSNA WORKERS
Cessna, which has halved its workforce to less than 8,000 since late 2008, is to lay off an additional 700 employees, with its Wichita headcount taking the biggest hit. Chief executive Jack Pelton says "cancellations have slowed [but] the recovery and growth we expected to see have not materialised."
JAPANESE CARRIER FIRST WITH REVAMPED DORNIER
RUAG has identified Japan's New Central Airservice as the first customer for its revamped Dornier 228NG aircraft, having handed over the first example to the regional carrier following European certification of the type last month.
CFM56 FLEET LOGS HALF BILLION FLIGHT HOURS
CFM International's CFM56 fleet has become the first high bypass turbofan family to achieve 500 million engine flight hours in service. The first CFM56 engines entered service in 1982.
Source: Flight International
