All Ops & safety articles – Page 1257
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News
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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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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Chasing a dream
Paul Duffy/PERM The last seven years have been difficult for the Russian aviation industry. Long accustomed to producing to Soviet state orders, the industry's finance and income also came from the same source. Now in crisis, most state-owned companies in the industry are waiting for state rescue. If ...
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Hughes technology transfer error helped China's missile programme
The US Department of Defense has confirmed that Hughes Space and Communications inadvertently aided China's missile and satellite programmes during an investigation into the failure of a Long March 2E launcher attempting to orbit the Hughes built ApStar 2 satellite in 1995. The Pentagon says that Hughes gave China ...
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Pylon crack
Boeing has amended its inspection procedures for Boeing 747 engine pylons after the discovery of serious fatigue cracking in a Cathay Pacific 747 pylon. The crack, in the number one engine pylon, was discovered during a post-flight inspection in December 1996. According to an incident report released by the Hong ...
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US DoT delays ruling on Northwest routes
The US Department of Transportation (DoT) is delaying its investigation into whether the "virtual merger" of Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines constitutes a transfer of international routes to Northwest. The DoT gave the airlines a one-year exemption from a new law requiring DoT approval of foreign route transfers. It ...
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The final frontier
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Every time a Space Shuttle blasts off, its booming sound waves pass unseen over the forgotten bones of a long abandoned project. Lying at the edge of the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, are the forlorn remains of Boeing's 2707-200 supersonic transport (SST) full-scale mock-up. Abandoned when the ...
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Thai probe focuses on ILS and weather
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Investigations into the accident which destroyed the Airbus A310 operating Thai Airways International flight TG261 on 11 December are focusing on weather conditions, human factors and the lack of a working instrument landing system (ILS) at Surat Thani Airport, Thailand. The 12-year-old A310-200 (HS-TIA), one of ...
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Moving swiftly
Kanichi Amano/TOKYO Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE When the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) approved funding for a new supersonic engine demonstrator programme, Tokyo once again proved its readiness to put real money behind the development of technology for a new supersonic transport (SST) aircraft. In September, the ...
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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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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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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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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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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 ...
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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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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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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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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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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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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