All Ops & safety articles – Page 1190
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Russian companies in failure spat
Russian space companies Yuzhnoye and Energia each denied liability for the failure of the Sea Launch on 13 March, which left the first ICO Global Communications satellite in the Pacific (Flight International, 21-27 March). The Sea Launch's flight computer shut down the second stage engine when it sensed the ...
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Lockheed Martin forms GPS company
Lockheed Martin has formed a new company, Synchronetics, to provide regional augmentation of the global positioning system (GPS). It plans to operate ground- and space-based augmentation systems that allow GPS to be used for air navigation. Initially, Synchronetics is targeting South America, says Dan Brophy, director of navigation services ...
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NASA stands up to Mars critics
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON NASA is braced for further criticism of its "faster, better, cheaper" approach, with release of an independent review of recent Mars mission failures due this week. In response to the expected criticism, administrator Daniel Goldin has warned that "NASA will not change course." The Mars Programme ...
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FedEx studies head-up displays
FedEX is examining options to fit up to 290 of its jet aircraft with head-up displays (HUD) or enhanced vision systems (EVS). The programme has been launched to improve safety, permit operations to lower weather minima and broaden situational awareness. It was prompted by recent landing accidents involving the ...
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Lufthansa snaps up KLM student pilots
Lufthansa is recruiting 60 trainee pilots graduating from the KLM Flight Academy in the Netherlands, following the Dutch flag carrier's decision to cut unprofitable routes and remove aircraft from its fleet in an effort to restore profitability. Industry sources say that KLM will also offer to second to Lufthansa ...
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Workshop
Lasham, UK-based Triumph Air Repair (Europe) has renewed its three-year agreement with London Gatwick-based GB Airways to maintain its Honeywell GTCP 85 series auxiliary power units on the airline's Boeing 737s. Pan American has begun installing Raisbeck Stage 3 kits on its seven Boeing 727-200s, a combination of upgrading Stage ...
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Asiana returns to profit after disastrous 1998
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE South Korea's number two carrier, Asiana Airlines, has staged a spectacular turnaround in its 1999 financial performance, after a disastrous 1998 during which some observers doubted the airline's ability to survive. The carrier reports a 109.68 billion won ($9.7 million) net profit for the year, compared with ...
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777-200ER takes polar route to Asia
American Airlines has flown a Boeing 777-200ER twinjet over the North Pole from North America to Asia for the first time, demonstrating wider applications for the new route and strengthening its bid for services to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The American flight from Chicago to Hong Kong was ...
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Ayres LM200 Loadmaster takes shape
Ayres aims to kick-start flight testing of its LM200 Loadmaster twin turboshaft, single-propeller, utility aircraft by the end of July at its Albany, Georgia, base. The US manufacturer has taken delivery of the aircraft wings, tail cone and other components supplied by its Czech Republic-based subsidiary, Let Kunovice. ...
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Airbus begins A3XX proposal process
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Julian Moxon/PARIS Chris Jasper/LONDON Airbus Industrie has begun submitting proposals to airlines it regards as key potential customers for the A3XX as it bids to rack up sufficient commitments for the 480-660 seat family to be launched later this year. Unofficial agreement has been reached on assembly ...
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MD-80s avoid disaster at Oslo
David Learmount/LONDON Three Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) Boeing MD-80s came close to a multiple collision at Oslo Gardemoen Airport on 8 March, endangering the lives of over 300 passengers and crew. The incident is being investigated by the airline and the aviation authorities, according to SAS' chief pilot for the ...
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Nav Canada aims for North Atlantic ADS datalink trials
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Nav Canada hopes to begin full operational trials with automatic dependence surveillance (ADS) over the North Atlantic in early May, followed by controller-pilot datalink communications (CPDLC), with the upgrade of its Gander Automated Air Traffic Control System. "We are targeting being operational on 7 May. ...
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Argentina suspends law to block LanChile advance
Guy Norris/LONDON The Argentinian Government has suspended for six months a 1994 law allowing foreign ownership and control of Argentinian carriers. The move is apparently aimed at blocking a takeover of ailing Aerolineas Argentinas by LanChile, which had expressed an interest in taking a share in the Buenos Aires-based ...
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Philippines suspends Taiwan flights again
The Philippines has again suspended all flights to Taiwan, saying that an interim accord reached in January was not agreeable to both sides. China Airlines (CAL) and EVA Air halted all Philippines flights from 15 March, re-routing passengers through Hong Kong, or issuing refunds. Flights between the two countries ...
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Aviation industry unites on frequency protection issue
Emma Kelly/LONDON The aviation industry has developed a unanimous position on the protection of its radio frequencies, says John White, director of the Infrastructure Support Group at the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The decision precedes May's International Telecommunication Union World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC). IATA and the International Civil ...
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USA calls in ICAO to referee European hushkit dispute
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC David Learmount/LONDON The Clinton Administration has asked the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to arbitrate in its row with the European Union (EU) over plans to limit the number of hushkitted aircraft operating in Europe after the 2002 introduction of a ban on non-Stage III compliant aircraft. ...
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Magnetosphere deal for UK company
The UK's Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) has won a $120,000, 100-day, Magnetosphere Multiscale Mission (MMS) study contract to investigate the range of suitable concepts for a five-spacecraft mission to study the Earth's magnetosphere. Planned for launch in 2005, the five-spacecraft MMS fleet will involve formation flying and two lunar ...
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NASA reacts to study criticisms
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA has promised swift action following criticism in three separate reports of the space agency's Space Shuttle and "faster, better, cheaper" spacecraft programmes. The Space Shuttle Assessment Team has criticised NASA for cutting staff at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), saying that it has eroded safety - ...
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Runway incursion technology delayed
New technology to reduce runway incursion incidents in the USA - listed by the Federal Aviation Administration as among the most serious risks to air travellers - will be delayed by two years because of continued technical problems, says the FAA. Northrop Grumman's Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS) ...
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Frequency wars
At last, the aviation industry has woken up to the fact that it no longer has a birthright to all of the radio frequencies it had assumed belonged to it forever. Radio frequencies are valuable commodities, especially to mobile satellite service (MSS) companies, keen to expand their services and profits ...