All Ops & safety articles – Page 1242

  • News

    USA and Netherlands to further landing research

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    The US Federal Aviation Administration and the Netherlands Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have signed an agreement to co-operate on local area augmentation system (LAAS) research and development. Using LAAS, which will augment the accuracy and integrity of global positioning system (GPS) signals, approaches can be designed to ...

  • News

    Link to the future

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    Europe's air traffic control datalink work is forging on Kieran Daly/COPENHAGEN and STOCKHOLM Processing in loose line astern up the east Swedish coast through the broken cloud of a winter Sunday morning, our four-strong formation is something of an oddity: a light twin turboprop flat out at 240kt (440km/h), tailed ...

  • News

    Herculean task

    1999-04-28T00:00:00Z

    The European Commission's air transport liberalisation programme can justly claim to have succeeded with its legal framework to allow airline competition. To critical observers, the results can be clearly seen through improved attitudes to the passenger and to quality of service, aircraft condition and operational efficiency. The architects ...

  • News

    FAA switches Y2K focus abroad after ATC passes test

    1999-04-21T00:00:00Z

    The US Federal Aviation Administration is focusing its year 2000 (Y2K) compliance efforts on the international arena after a live test of its renovated air traffic control (ATC) system revealed no date-related problems. The test, conducted in the Denver, Colorado area on 10-11 April, involved all the major elements ...

  • News

    FAA approves modified Kitty Hawk 727 floors

    1999-04-21T00:00:00Z

    The US Federal Aviation Administration has approved Kitty Hawk's alternative means of compliance for an airworthiness directive (AD) that imposes severe payloads limits on Boeing 727-200 freighter conversions for use by Pemco World Air Services and Aeronautical Engineers (AEI). The kit, which costs $75,000 and involves side restraints, terminates ...

  • News

    Pilot squabble forces Delta to defer 777s

    1999-04-21T00:00:00Z

    Lack of progress in negotiations between Delta Air Lines and the Air Line Pilots Association has forced the US major to defer indefinitely deliveries of four Boeing 777-200s. The aircraft, which are part of the airline's firm orders for 13 Rolls-Royce Trent 800-powered 777s, had been due for delivery ...

  • News

    FAA gives go-ahead for ADS-B trials

    1999-04-21T00:00:00Z

    The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued a supplemental type certificate (STC) clearing the trial use of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) systems on four United Parcel Service Boeing 727-100 freighters. The system, developed by the US Cargo Airline Association and avionics specialist II Morrow, uses satellite-based positioning information to ...

  • News

    Asian crisis hits worldwide air cargo, dents passenger growth

    1999-04-21T00:00:00Z

    Chris Jasper/LONDON ASIA's economic crisis took a major toll on the air cargo sector worldwide last year, while severely denting growth in passenger traffic. The slowdown hit hardest at airports within Asia, although several US terminals also suffered, figures released by Airports Council International (ACI) reveal. ACI, which ...

  • News

    Runway row may speed up third Tokyo airport

    1999-04-21T00:00:00Z

    Andrew Mollett/TOKYO The Japanese Government may speed up plans to build a third airport for Tokyo, following the collapse of talks with land owners over the construction of a new runway at Tokyo Narita. The government has failed to reach agreement with nine land owners to construct a second, ...

  • News

    Alliances force pace on safety

    1999-04-21T00:00:00Z

    David Learmount/SANTIAGO DE CHILE Airline alliances are on course to form professional standards councils to ensure that their less safe members meet acceptable performance levels. Prof Graham Hunt, head of the School of Aviation at Massey University, New Zealand, gave the news to delegates at the International Civil Aviation Organisation's ...

  • News

    UK/US bilateral deal not such a 'big bang'

    1999-04-21T00:00:00Z

    Chris Jasper/LONDON UK transport secretary John Prescott will meet his US counterpart, Rodney Slater, this week for talks which, according to government sources, will move the two countries further along the path to a new bilateral air services agreement. Prescott was due to meet Slater during a visit to ...

  • News

    Westwind brings training order to New Piper

    1999-04-21T00:00:00Z

    New Piper Aircraft has signed a $3.3 million deal with Arizona-based Westwind Aviation Academy to supply 19 aircraft for use in its ab initio pilot training programme. Based at Phoenix Deer Valley Airport, Westwind will begin taking delivery of the aircraft in July, to replace Cessna 172s and 172RGs. ...

  • News

    Varig considers drastic cuts

    1999-04-21T00:00:00Z

    Paul Lewis/RIO DE JANEIRO Varig wants to make more cuts in the size of its fleet. The Brazilian flag carrier has opened talks with leasing companies to reschedule payments after a two-month suspension, as it continues to battle the fallout from the country's economic crisis. The airline has ...

  • News

    Continental and Boeing perform Y2K flights

    1999-04-14T00:00:00Z

    Continental Airlines has staged the first flight in a simulated year 2000 (Y2K) environment to test aircraft communication addressing and reporting system (ACARS) compatibility. Boeing, meanwhile, is close to concluding its own flight testing of Y2K modified flight management systems (FMS) and inertial navigation systems (INS). The Continental ...

  • News

    F28 lightning

    1999-04-14T00:00:00Z

    The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says the Fokker F28 is vulnerable to lightning strikes and is recommending modifications to increase protection. This comes after an incident last year when a US Airways F28 suffered a dual hydraulic system failure after being struck by lightning. The NTSB urges a ...

  • News

    THY 737 Crashes

    1999-04-14T00:00:00Z

    A THY Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-400 (TC-JEP) crashed on 7 April without an emergency call from the pilots, within 9min of take-off from Adana, southern Turkey. The two pilots and four cabin crew on board were killed. The aircraft was on a night positioning flight to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to ...

  • News

    FAA to increase limit for ageing aircraft checks

    1999-04-14T00:00:00Z

    The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would extend the mandate for "ageing" aircraft inspections to newer transport category aircraft. The inspection programme was created after a 1988 accident in which the top of an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 ripped off during ...

  • News

    China-US agreement

    1999-04-14T00:00:00Z

    China and the USA were poised to sign a new air services agreement, doubling flights between the two countries, as Flight International closed for press. The deal will see the 27 weekly flights available to each country rise to 54 by April 2001, when both will also add a fourth ...

  • News

    Air Foyle consortium takes controlling stake in CityJet

    1999-04-14T00:00:00Z

    Chris Jasper/LONDON A consortium led by UK cargo carrier Air Foyle has purchased a controlling stake in Irish independent airline CityJet for a sum in excess of Ir£5 million ($6.8 million). Sources close to the deal say that it should stabilise Dublin-based CityJet and allow it develop its ...

  • News

    Protests swell over 'too high' Hong Kong Airport landing fees

    1999-04-14T00:00:00Z

    Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE British Airways and DHL have added their voices to a rising chorus of disapproval over landing charges at the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok. According to Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways, the 60-plus airlines which operate into Chek Lap Kok are lobbying ...