All Ops & safety articles – Page 1217
-
News
Mergers
The UK's Dowty Group has bought GE Aircraft Engines subsidiary Tri-Manufacturing for $58 million. The Indiana-based aero-engine components fabricator will be incorporated into TI Group member Dowty's Turbine Engine Components (D-TEC) business. HeavyLift Cargo Airlines, the world's largest outsized-freight operator, has been acquired in a management buyout which values its ...
-
News
Proposed US-EU dialogue may ease tensions
Alan George/BRUSSELS The European Union and the US Government have discussed the establishment of a 'structured dialogue' aimed at defusing aviation tensions between the two sides. The talks, between EC Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock and US Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, took place in Brussels last week. Slater went to ...
-
News
Europe and USA start Galileo connection talks
Europe and the USA have started discussions to ensure Europe's Galileo global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is interoperable with the US global positioning system (GPS). In February, the European Commission (EC) announced plans to develop Galileo as an open, global satellite navigation system independent from the GPS. Although the USA ...
-
News
BA gives Sheffield a boost
Andrew Doyle/SHEFFIELD Newly established Sheffield City airport in the UK has received a major boost with the decision by British Airways franchisee British Regional Airlines (BRAL)to launch a hub operation there later this year. The only scheduled flights at the airport, which opened in February 1998, are operated by KLM ...
-
News
Asian lows
Asia's economic woes continue to trouble the region's airlines Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPOREAsia's airlines are wallowing in the depths of the region's economic crisis, with traffic and yields down and little evidence of any imminent recovery. The depth of the crisis was highlighted by Cathay Pacific Airways' recent revelation that it fell ...
-
News
Pan American eyes grounded Kiwi International
Charter specialist Pan American has moved to acquire US domestic carrier Kiwi International Airlines, which has been grounded by the US Federal Aviation Administration for "numerous" safety violations. Kiwi's three Boeing 727s were taken out of service a day after the US Department of Transportation (DoT) threatened to revoke ...
-
News
Alitalia responds to BA's Italian strategy
Chris Jasper/LONDONAlitalia has begun a feasibility study into the launch of a regional carrier serving southern Italy in a move which counters British Airways plans to establish a franchise airline based on Rome and Palermo. The Italian flag carrier's study - which is to be completed by June - aims ...
-
News
Devaluation forces Varig aircraft and route cuts
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON Brian Homewood/RIO DE JANEIRO Varig Brazil has announced cuts in international services to the USA and Europe and plans to withdraw its fleet of McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 passenger aircraft by the end of the year as a massive Brazilian currency devaluation begins to affect airline traffic. ...
-
News
Honeywell ready to sign LAAS development agreement
Honeywell will sign an agreement in early April with the US Federal Aviation Administration to begin development of the local area augmentation system (LAAS), which will allow the global positioning system (GPS) to be used as the sole source of navigation information. Honeywell has assembled a team which includes ...
-
News
FAA seeks clarification on NTSB 737 rudder recommendations
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended that the US Federal Aviation Administration require all Boeing 737s to have a "reliably redundant" rudder system, following its investigation of the September 1994 fatal crash of a US Airways Boeing 737-300 near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The ...
-
News
R-R tackles Trent 700 surge/vibration issues
Andrew Doyle/ZURICH Early operators of Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines powering the Airbus Industrie A330 twin are working with the manufacturer to eliminate surge, vibration and turbine disk corrosion problems. These have led to a higher than expected number of engine removals recently. R-R has developed solutions for the surge and ...
-
News
Airbus and Messier-Dowty test fix for A330/A340 landing gear
Airbus Industrie and Messier Dowty are testing a fix for the main landing gear of the A340 long-range airliner, which, if successful, will enable the removal of operating restrictions on all A330s and A340s. The work follows the incident involving a Sabena A340 in August in which the right ...
-
News
Eurocontrol pushes users on 8.33kHz
Emma Kelly/PALMA Eurocontrol is stressing that no further delay is possible in the implementation of 8.33kHz channel-spacing in European airspace, despite concerns over the low level of equipment installation by operators. The introduction of 8.33kHz channel-spacing, which will free additional radio frequencies to meet increasing air traffic management ...
-
News
Spanair is first to order heavy A321 as it opts for Airbus fleet
Andrew Doyle/LONDONSpanair plans to launch a new high gross weight version of the Airbus A321 as part of its commitment for up to 45 Airbus narrowbodies to replace its ageing Boeing MD-80 fleet.The carrier - Spain's second largest after Iberia - has signed a memorandum of understanding covering 21 firm ...
-
News
Cirrus SR20 demonstrator kills test pilot in prison crash
Dave Higdon/DULUTHNational Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Federal Aviation Administration investigators are examining the aileron control system as a possible cause of the crash on 23 March of the first production SR20 that killed Cirrus Design's chief test pilot. The aircraft left the assembly line on 20 March and was ...
-
News
Japan identifies MD-11 autopilot defects after crash probe
Japan's Ministry of Transport (MoT) is expected to recommend to the US Federal Aviation Administration that improvements be made to the programming of Boeing's MD-11 autopilot system, according to Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun daily newspaper. This follows the investigation of a Japan Airlines (JAL) MD-11 incident over the Shima Peninisula ...
-
News
Meet the family
Herman De Wulf/BRUSSELS Sabena of Belgium has begun its transition to an all-Airbus fleet, and is coming to grips with new procedures With the delivery of its first Airbus Industrie A321 on 2 March, Sabena began its conversion to an all-Airbus airline - the biggest re-equipment programme in ...
-
News
Loran-C reprieved as USA sets timetable for move to sole GPS
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC It will take at least 10 years for the USA to complete its transition from ground-based navigation aids to the satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) for "sole means" navigation, according to US aviation officials. Meanwhile, Loran-C, which is operated by the US Coast Guard for en ...
-
News
ICAO figures show improvements in safety
There were 22 accidents involving passenger fatalities on scheduled airlines in 1998 according to figures released by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). This compares with 27 fatal accidents in the same category during 1997. Passenger fatalities last year were 909, against 930 in 1997, but ICAO points out ...
-
News
EC resignations delay new rules
Alan George/BRUSSELS New European aviation initiatives have been put on hold following the mass resignation of top officials at the European Commission (EC) in the wake of a damning report into fraud and cronyism at the Brussels headquarters of the European Union. Despite the chaos caused by the resignations ...