All Ops & safety articles – Page 1238
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FAA introduces WAAS to Asia with Singapore flight trials
The US Federal Aviation Administration demonstrated the capabilities of its Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) in the Asia-Pacific region for the first time earlier this month. The flight trials were conducted on the FAA's Boeing 727 equipped to perform navigation and landing operations using a global positioning system (GPS) ...
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Israeli authority opens up local aviation market options
The Israeli civil aviation authority has recommended that the country's private airlines be allowed to operate 13 regional routes from Tel Aviv. The approval follows a decision by the Israeli Government in August 1997 to open up the local aviation market. The recommendations, which still require final approval ...
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ICAO to upgrade Warsaw Convention
The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is aiming to upgrade the Warsaw Convention with increased compensation and a modernised legal framework by the end of this month. The 70-year-old treaty, which limits airline liability in an accident to $10,000 per passenger, is being overhauled at a three-week ICAO meeting ...
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Embraer expands ERJ designs
Embraer has revealed a surprise, 108-seat, stretch of its ERJ-190 regional jet which effectively provides the Brazilian manufacturer with a direct competitor to Bombardier's proposed BRJ-X. The move comes in response to input from Embraer's recently completed airline advisory board survey which helped freeze the smaller ERJ-170 design at ...
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NTSB tells FAA to speed up ground proximity schedule
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is urging the Federal Aviation Administration to accelerate the schedule for installation of enhanced ground proximity warning systems (EGPWS) in all turbine-powered aircraft with six or more seats. The NTSB wants aircraft not required to be equipped with GPWS to be fitted ...
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Partnership imperative
Latin American carriers are searching for international partners and injections of capital to survive into the 21st century Paul Lewis/MIAMI Financial reform, regulatory liberalisation and growing competition are transforming the face of air transportation in Central and South America. As political barriers are lowered progressively, airlines from Mexico to Chile ...
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An oversight
Jurisdiction in airline safety matters is a mess if the experiences of British Airways, the UK Civil Aviation Authority and Malaysia Airlines are anything to go by. The present "system" for overseeing the safety standards of an airline once it leaves its country of registration is, just not working. Which ...
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Regional TCAS
Honeywell has announced a string of new regional customers for its TCAS 2000 traffic alert and collision avoidance system. They include a deal with KLM-UK to fit the system, plus antennas, into five ATR-72s. An order from Crossair to fit TCAS 2000 to 29 Saab 2000 and 12 Saab 340Bs ...
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Regional revolution
Carl Albert, chief executive of Fairchild Aerospace calls it a revolution, a description delegates at the Regional Airline Association meeting in Arizona would have been hard pressed to disagree with. The revolution in question was the switch to regional jets, and not just 50 and 70-seaters, but 30, 40 and ...
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Training rise
UND Aerospace at the University of North Dakota is forecasting an almost 30% increase in its student pilot training flight hours by next year, fuelled by demand in North America and from contract customers in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The school anticipates completing over 80,000h next year, up ...
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Rising Star
Global alliances are in style, but their benefits are only now becoming clear Chris Jasper/SYDNEY Global airline alliances are the height of fashion, with two major groupings operating and possibly two more hurrying to enter the fray. Yet despite this scramble, the true importance of alliances has been ...
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Tow-barless tests
At some airports in Europe and the USA, tow-barless tractors have replaced many of the conventional tugs used for moving aircraft. They are particularly efficient in towing aircraft between docking points and hangars or engineering areas, because they can do so at taxiing speed without needing a crew on board ...
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IAI signs with Boeing for work on MD-11 freighter conversions
Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) has concluded an arrangement with Boeing which will see it become a freighter conversion and upgrade specialist on the Boeing MD-11 tri-jet. The deal between Boeing and the Tel Aviv-based Bedek division of IAI includes a subcontract to carry out 40 MD-11 freighter conversions, at ...
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Airlines push Airbus to speed up plans for A3XX freighter
Andrew Doyle/TOULOUSE Airbus Industrie is accelerating development of the freighter version of its proposed A3XX ultra-high capacity airliner, in response to strong demand from potential operators. The consortium has also revised the design of the cargo variant, to carry an increased payload of 150t over 10,545km (5,700nm) following ...
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Swissair pilots to mix A320/A330 flying
Swissair says it will take advantage of its plans to operate a fleet made up of fly-by-wire Airbus Industrie types, to train its pilots for mixed fleet flying (MFF). The move could see the carrier becoming the first major airline with all of its pilot group able to fly every ...
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FAA advances FDR upgrades
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC The US Federal Aviation Administration will require upgraded flight data recorders (FDRs) on newer Boeing 737s, a year sooner than previously ordered. In the light of the recent report on the 1994 US Airways Boeing 737 crash near Pittsburgh, in which rudder hardover was a suspected factor, ...
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SAir reconsiders TAP stake after pilot rise
SAirGroup is reconsidering whether to go ahead with its planned purchase of a 20% stake in TAP Air Portugal after a tribunal court recommended that the Portuguese national airline's pilots be awarded a 95% pay increase. The Swiss company is also negotiating to take a large minority stake in privately ...
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TNT restructuring signals an end to contract with Air Foyle
TNT's decision to restructure its air cargo operations under a single grouping based at its hub in Liège, Belgium, will see Air Foyle cease flying for the express package company when its contract expires in May 2000. TNT's director of airline operations, Niky Terzakis, says it aims to have an ...
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Airlines oppose restrictions on ownership
Jens Flottau/PHOENIX The aviation industry should behave just like any other industry and abolish current ownership restrictions. That is the view emerging from international airlines at the eighth Annual Phoenix Aviation Symposium, held in Arizona in early May. Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, vice-president of international relations at Lufthansa, says the ...
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ANZ may block Ansett plan
Chris Jasper/AUCKLANDAir New Zealand (ANZ) has indicated that it is giving serious consideration to a possible move to block Singapore Airline's (SIA) plan to take a 50% stake in Ansett Australia. The company has rejected suggestions that it has insufficient funds to mount the operation. Ansett is jointly owned by ...