All Ops & safety articles – Page 1229
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Kitty Hawk mulls exit from charter work
Kitty Hawk has parked one of two Boeing 747 passenger aircraft operated by its American International Airways (AIA) unit pending a decision about whether to sell the aircraft or convert it into a freighter. The decision leaves one 747-100 and two Lockheed L-1011 TriStars available for passenger charter customers, ...
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Pan Am to set up two centres
Pan Am International Flight Academy (PAIFA) has won contracts to establish simulator centres for Atlantic Coast Airlines and DHL Airways. PAIFA, which operates a simulator centre in Miami, won a contract earlier this year to build and operate a training centre for FedEx. Under the 10-year agreement with Atlantic ...
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Buzzing along
Allan Winn/LONDON According to the laws of mathematics and physics, bees cannot fly. Millions of bees every day prove, of course, that either this theory or the laws of physics are wrong: according to apiarist Rex Boys, it is the theory which fails the test. The physics are sound: it ...
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Olympic Airways beats path to alliance link
The search for a strategic partner for struggling Olympic Airways has become the central feature of a new restructuring plan now being implemented by the Greek national carrier. The government, aware that Olympic has been brushed aside in the airline industry's global consolidation programme, has propelled its search for ...
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India freezes airline merger with senior management purge
The Indian Government has purged the senior management of state-owned Air India and Indian Airlines airlines, claiming it wants to speed up their privatisation. The civil aviation minister, Ananth Kumar, dissolved the joint board of Air India and Indian Airlines on 11 December, days after the board announced plans ...
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Air France plans image change
Julian Moxon/PARIS Air France president Jean-Cyril Spinetta has launched a three-year programme to improve the airline's competitiveness and image as it prepares for a global alliance before the end of next year. A four-part plan has been unveiled to the workforce portraying Air France as an airline recognised ...
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Crane files lawsuit against BFGoodrich and Coltec in merger bid
BFGoodrich's agreement to acquire Coltec Industries has come under attack from US engineering concern Crane, which has filed a lawsuit against both companies in a bid to force Coltec to consider its merger offer. Stamford, Connecticut-based Crane says the lawsuit is intended to remove anti-takeover provisions in the Coltec/BFGoodrich ...
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Marconi begins NG 737 head-up display tests
Marconi Avionics has begun flight testing the HUD 2020 head-up display for the Next Generation (NG) 737 on a leased 737-800 based at Mojave, California. The tests are aimed at achieving US Federal Aviation Administration certification in the first quarter of 1999, followed by immediate deliveries to Boeing for ...
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Lufthansa delays decision on 728JET
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Lufthansa CityLine has backed away from making a formal commitment to the Fairchild Dornier 728JET programme by the end of 1998. A decision is not expected until March. The German flag carrier's regional arm had been due to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in December, ...
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P&W confirms major delay for Korean Air Lines 777-300
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Pratt & Whitney is being forced to recertificate its PW4098 engine for the heavyweight Boeing 777-300, adding several months to the already delayed programme and making first deliveries to Korean Air Lines almost a year late. The latest problems with the PW4098 emerged during flight ...
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Canada Boeing CF-18s to get life extensions
Canada has launched a 10-year, C$1.2 billion ($780 million) upgrade to extend the life of its Boeing CF-18s by 14 years. The programme includes the possible sale of 22 or more of the Canadian Force's fleet of 122CF-18s to help pay for the upgrade, which will enable the aircraft ...
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Safety changes
The US National Transportation Safety Board is urging the US Federal Aviation Administration to require safety-related changes for German-made Glaser-Dirks gliders. The recommendations, which result from a fatal accident in 1997 involving a DG-300 glider in Nevada, call for design changes to the aircraft which will enable "reliable jettison of ...
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Special delivery
Tim Furniss/LONDON The Columbus Orbital Facility (COF), a pressurised science laboratory, was until recently the European Space Agency's (ESA) only major contribution to the International Space Station (ISS). Now, development of a fleet of Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs) to support ISS operations has begun with the award of a ...
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Landing gear deal
Hindustan Aeronautics and Boeing have signed a contract under which the Indian company will manufacture the main landing gear uplock box for the 777 landing gear assembly. The deal, for 300 shipsets, will be worth $4.5 million, says Boeing. Source: Flight International
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Staged combustion offers emission cuts
BMW Rolls-Royce has completed initial tests of a staged combustion chamber for its BR700 turbofan as part of the German Government-backed Engine 3E (environment, economy and efficiency) technology programme. The Dahlewitz-based company says that six weeks of testing have shown that significant reductions in emissions of oxides of nitrogen ...
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The spectrum challenge
Chris Yates/MANCHESTER The aeronautical community must pool its resources and protect its strategic interests if it is to avoid losing the hundreds of millions of dollars invested in satellite navigation. The threat comes from an Inmarsat-sponsored proposal, currently before the International Telecommunications Union-World Radio Council (ITU-WRC), to share frequencies ...
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Boeing to revise twin-aisle development strategy
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing Commercial Airplanes is revising its twin-aisle development strategy because of the collapsing Asian market. The board is due to be briefed on the plan by 18 December. Product development cost cuts ordered as a result of the downturn will affect key programmes, including the ...
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Austria favoured for Ceats ATC centre
An independent report has come out in favour of Austria as the location for a new air traffic control centre for the central European area. While there is still some dissent on the findings of the report, there is, say industry sources, "considerable optimism" that the findings will be ...
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Low cost is key for regional jet, airlines tell Bombardier
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Bombardier has launched technology cost/benefit studies after the first meeting of its BRJ-X airline advisory council confirmed that potential customers for the 90-seat regional jet are looking for the lowest possible operating cost. The council conducted preliminary talks on fly-by-wire versus conventional flight controls, steel ...
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Garuda pushes to renegotiate 737 leases
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Garuda Indonesia is in talks with the US Export-Import Bank, Boeing and General Electric to renegotiate leases on six Boeing 737s. The airline says talks attended by airline president Abdul Gani and president commissioner Robby Djohan began on 11 December in Seattle, focusing on credit terms ...