Fares fair on sixth freedom Re "British Airways fare battle with Italian authorities escalates" (Flight International, 17-23 August). As you may know, in standard bilateral agreements, agreed tariffs for sixth-freedom routes do not have to be lower than those for non-stop flights operated by the national carrier based at the journey's start. These agreements have been quite often disregarded, not being in harmony with the accepted objective of liberalisation in the air transport sector. Nevertheless, when some civil aviation authorities, in particular the UK, German, Spanish, Dutch and others, requested that Alitalia equalise its sixth freedom tariffs with those for their national airlines' non-stop connections, ENAC felt it was reasonable to require that 30 other carriers do the same relative to Alitalia's non-stop services. Among those who have received the request, only British Airways took a complaint to the European Commission. The Commission, in the light of ENAC's initiative, estimated that bilateral agreements should be revised according to the principles of a liberalised air transport market. ENAC is now collecting information to provide the European Commission with necessary elements to modify the present regulation, aiming to overcome the disagreements. Moreover, on 27 August, a meeting between Alitalia, the carriers association and the consumers association was held at ENAC to clarify the agency's intervention on the issue of intercontinental tariffs. ENAC president Professor Vito Riggio, who chaired the meeting, underlined that ENAC's action was not purely intended to benefit Alitalia, but also to ensure uniform conduct at a European level. Loredana Rosati Chief press officer, ENAC, Rome
Caravelle 'chute The Caravelle may not have been the first jet airliner operated by Air France (Flight International, 24-30 August), but it is the only civil jetliner that I know of that used to stream a tail parachute on a regular scheduled service - its London Heathrow to Deauville flight - the strip at Deauville being a tad short! John Wallinger Hampshire, UK
Teamwork vital to safety Your report of the Kenya Airways Airbus A310 crash (Flight International, 24-30 August) provides a sobering contrast with Birgenair's Boeing 757 crash off the Dominican Republic on 6 February 1996. In that disaster the captain's blocked pitot tube caused the airspeed indicator (ASI) to read zero on the ground until airborne. He negated the 80kt "get out of trouble/disaster free" call. Airborne, the ASI behaved like an altimeter. He pitched up to rein in the "altitude induced airspeed indication" with the overspeed warning sounding at 15.1° nose up. This was impossible. Some 24 seconds later, logic prevailed with a real stall warning. The 24,750h captain's response was: "We're not climbing - what can I do?" No mention of handing control over to the 15,0000h F/O whose ASI was working fine. No consultation with the standby AS or the EFIS G/S indicators. These pilots also had 6 and 8 type ratings respectively, as well as B757/767 types. Basic IFR training requires pilots never to fixate on one instrument. As tragically demonstrated in both these accidents, this human tendency has sometimes manifested itself in warning fixation to the detriment of the blindingly obvious. Sadly "accident" in both these cases seems a misnomer. If you can't play ball, teamwork dictates that you pass it to a more capable team-mate. David Connolly Brussels, Belgium
Rest rules Well Mr O' Leary, did you read Comment (Flight International, 31 August-6 September) ? And do you still think good work and rest time regulations are only in the good interest of those "most cosseted group of employees", the pilots? I wish you a night of sound sleep while your flightcrew are also earning your salary and bonuses. Kees van den Broek Zeewolde, Netherlands
Name game I find no logic that East Midlands Airport (EMA) has been rebranded as "Nottingham-East Midlands Airport". Nottingham is famous for two things - lace and Robin Hood. Soon we have the opening of Robin Hood airport, alias Doncaster Sheffield airport. Passengers will doubtless arrive at the incorrect one. Cannot common sense prevail? David Bowman Daventry, Warwickshire, UK
Source: Flight International
