All Ops & safety articles – Page 1230
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Indian Airlines to order six ATR 42-500 turboprops
Indian Airlines is to order six ATR 42-500 turboprop airliners from the Franco-Italian ATR company. The deal also marks the start of a manufacturing cooperation between Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) and the European aerospace concern. "Indian Airlines has not conveyed its decision to us, but its board has approved the ...
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BA chooses to bring A320 training in-house
British Airways is to bring training for its new fleet of Airbus A320s in house, with the airline's Flight Training (BAFT) division finalising the acquisition of its first Airbus simulator. In August, BA selected the A320 family for its future short-haul fleet, placing orders and options for up to ...
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Survivors in A310 crash
A Thai International Airways Airbus A310 crashed while attempting to land at Surat Thani in southern Thailand on 11 December. Early reports suggested there were at least 50 survivors among the 161 crew and passengers. The aircraft is believed to have been delivered new to Thai in 1986 and registered ...
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FAA reassures over data use as it launches quality programme
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC With the launch of a long-awaited airline flight operations quality assurance (FOQA) programme, the US Federal Aviation Administration has guaranteed that data obtained from aircraft flight data recorders (FDRs) will not be used against carriers or pilots. So far the programme has been limited to ...
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Developing crisis
It is a nightmare scenario for any company. Immense production problems are overcome at huge expense, just in time for the market to collapse. For Boeing, the timing could hardly be worse. As quickly as the company's production recovery takes effect, the deepening impact of the Asian economic crisis starts ...
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PAL hunts for fresh funding as Northwest turns its back
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Philippine Airlines (PAL) is again involved in a desperate search for fresh financing, as Northwest Airlines shows little interest in coming to the rescue of the stricken national carrier after Cathay Pacific Airways pulled out of investment talks. Cathay has officially confirmed that it has ...
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US supersonic effort faces axe
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES The NASA-led US national High Speed Research (HSR) programme, aimed at developing a second-generation supersonic airliner, is threatened with closure following the team's decision to raise the noise targets beyond Stage 3, delaying development by as much as 10 years. The surprise move comes as ...
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The precision approach
David Learmount/CAPE TOWN Learning only from serious accidents and incidents is a flawed way of advancing flight safety. It took until the 1990s to create a system which is more effective and workable, and until now to persuade most of the world's regions to consider adopting it. The system ...
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Belgium's City Bird announces first profits
Herman De Wulf/BRUSSELS Belgian long haul airline City Bird is diversifying into main-deck freight operations with a deal to acquire two new Airbus A300-600Fs for delivery in mid-1999. The expansion comes as the low-cost passenger carrier recorded its first net profit since starting operations on 27 March,1997. Last ...
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KLM reveals plans for cargo alliance
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON KLM has revealed a three-stage plan that will lead to the setting up of a standalone cargo airline early in the next decade in a joint venture with its alliance partners, Alitalia and Northwest Airlines. The plan is part of the recently finalised link between KLM ...
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Airports
-Augsburg Airport, near Munich, is to undergo a DM50 million ($31 million) upgrade. It will involve the introduction of a new passenger terminal, a runway extension to accommodate aircraft up to the size of the Airbus A319, and the installation of instrument landing systems at both ends. Work is due ...
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Government saves Air Namibia
Hilka Birns/CAPE TOWN The Namibian Government has injected N$20-million ($3.7 million) into Air Namibia and has appointed a Malaysian financier to restructure, and re-capitalise the troubled national carrier as a state-owned company. The move takes the airline out of the control of state holding company TransNamib, which has ...
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Air France plans US link to pave the way toward a global alliance
Julian Moxon/PARIS Air France expects to join a global airline alliance based on an agreement with one of its two US partners, "before the end of 1999", according to the airline's president Jean Cyril Spinetta. The signing of the co-operation pact between KLM and Alitalia on 27 November ...
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African dawn
Lois Jones/DAKAR David Learmount/CAPE TOWN Air traffic services (ATS) in many parts of Africa are already unable to cope with current traffic levels, never mind increased demand. Meanwhile, wars and political instability raging in parts of the continent mean that basic air traffic control (ATC) is often neglected and ...
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747 operators face long-range limits
Boeing 747 operators are assessing the possible effects on their long-range schedules of a US Federal Aviation Administration emergency airworthiness directive which effectively cuts usable fuel. European airlines say that they are not planning extra fuel stops, but transpacific operators, including Cathay Pacific and Northwest Airlines, say they are ...
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Delayed maintenance blamed for Nigerian 707 engine loss
Herman De Wulf/BRUSSELS Delayed C-check maintenance on a Nigerian Boeing 707-320C freighter is being linked to the loss of its No 3 engine over Southern Belgium on 14 October. Belgian accident investigators say that the IAT Cargo aircraft, which made an emergency landing at Ostend, should have had ...
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Dash 7 crash
A de Havilland Canada Dash 7 crashed on a post-maintenance certificate of airworthiness test flight in Devon, in the UK, on 28 November. The small impact area associated with the burned-out wreckage of the aircraft was consistent with eyewitness reports of a near-vertical descent in a stalled condition. The aircraft, ...
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Kendell Saab 340 roll turns spotlight on icing
The Australian Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI) is treating as "very serious" an incident in which a Kendell Airlines Saab 340 carrying 30 passengers stalled and rolled almost inverted in light icing conditions on 11 November, injuring a flight attendant. The Kendell flight was in a holding pattern, ...
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Airbus warns A300-600 users after airborne reverse
Airbus has issued a service bulletin (SB) requiring A300-600 operators to de-activate thrust reversers after a Korean Air aircraft suffered reverser deployment after take-off. The A300s affected are those with Pratt & Whitney 4000 engines, for which P&W also makes the reversers. The event occurred shortly after take-off from ...
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PS-90A overtakes 6,000h milestone
The lead Aviadvigatel/ Perm Motors PS-90A turbofan passed the 6,000h on the wing mark at the end of November, on an Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-96-300 flying a regular scheduled flight. Aviadvigatel general director Yuri Reshetnikov says that the engine will shortly be removed and given a full stripdown examination, a ...