All Ops & safety articles – Page 1258
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News
EC acts on open skies discord
Alan George/BRUSSELS The European Commission (EC) plans to begin legal action this month against states which have defied Brussels by refusing to abrogate bilateral open skies agreements with the USA, according to a senior EC official. In March, EC transport commissioner Neil Kinnock warned European states in writing ...
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Cimber picks ATR 72s in fight to win Danish rail travellers
Julian Moxon/SONDERBORG Danish regional airline Cimber Air is to expand its fleet with the purchase of ATR 72s and, eventually, regional jets. The plan follows the airline's sale of a 26% stake to SAS. The carrier has been linked with SAS since October 1995, operating feeder services into ...
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Xian signs Y-7 deals with five Chinese domestic airlines
Xian Aircraft (XAC) has signed initial sales agreements with five domestic airlines for 11 Y-7-200A passenger aircraft, following recent Chinese airworthiness certification of the improved twin-turboprop development. China's Changan Airlines, Guizhou Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Swan Airlines, and Zhongyuan Airlines have each signed letters of intent to take two to ...
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Lufthansa looks at cargo version of Tu-204
Sirocco Aerospace demonstrated the Rolls-Royce RB211-powered Tupolev Tu-204-120C to Lufthansa in early June as a potential medium haul freighter for the airline's cargo division. Lufthansa is the technical advisor to the Sirocco programme, but wanted to check the freighter version's capacity to load/unload the containers and pallets used by ...
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Safer skies
Kevin O'Toole/JOHANNESBURG Fears about air safety over Africa are not new, but a year ago the issue hit the headlines worldwide, following pilot complaints that air traffic control (ATC) was either inadequate or simply absent over much of the continent. An image painted by the media was one ...
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Relative progress
Tim Furniss/LONDON Lockheed Martin delivered the second major piece of NASA's $550 million Gravity Probe B (GP-B) spacecraft to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, on 27 May. The delivery marks a major milestone in the protracted development of a spacecraft which, in 2000, will attempt to verify two ...
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Preparing for partnership
Kevin O'Toole/JOHANNESBURG This could finally be the year when the pieces start falling into place for South African Airways (SAA). If all goes according to plan, by the end of October the South African Government will have decided on a strategic partner to take a 20-30% stake in its ...
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MetroJet takes on Southwest
Ramon Lopez/BALTIMORE US Airways launched its low-cost MetroJet operation at Baltimore/Washington International Airport on 1 June, leaving industry analysts waiting to see whether Southwest Airlines drops its already low ticket price to protect its market share. MetroJet's initial fares match those of Southwest, but that could change if ...
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Messier-Bugatti tests power by wire
Ian Sheppard/LONDON Messier-Bugatti has installed a prototype electro-hydraulic actuator (EHA) in an Airbus Industrie "iron bird" test rig at Aerospatiale's Toulouse systems development centre, as part of an industry drive to replace cumbersome hydraulics with electric cables. The EHA is a key technology for all electric, or power ...
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Marketplace
-Air Europa has leased an ex-Carnival/Pan Am Boeing 737-400 from International Lease Finance (ILFC) for four years. The Spanish carrier leases two 737-300s and two 737-400s from ILFC. -KLM uk has extended the terms on five British Aerospace 146-300s on lease from BAe Asset Management - Jets, but is returning ...
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Multi-role machine
Peter Gray/SINGAPORE Eurocopter has brought two completely new turbine helicopters to the market in the past two years: the light single-engined EC120 and the light twin-engined EC135. Before putting pen to drawing board to design a new light twin, Eurocopter asked operators what they wanted. Later, during development, ...
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Last of the line
Guy Norris/LONG BEACH The roll-out of a new aircraft is a major event for any airframe manufacturer, but, for Boeing's Douglas Products division, the 10 June unveiling of the 717-200 is nothing less than pivotal. Coming hard on the heels of the news that the MD-11 line is ...
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Hydraulic loss spoils Global Hawk UAV test
Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical (TRA) is investigating a hydraulic failure which marred the otherwise successful third flight of the Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle (UAV). The aircraft lost hydraulic pressure on approach to the runway at Edwards AFB, California, after the 5h 22min flight on 30 May. The landing gear ...
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Sempati suspends services as losses mount and traffic falls
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Indonesia's privately run Sempati Air Transport has suspended operations in the face of mounting financial losses, falling domestic traffic and after its shareholders failed to inject further capital into the business. Sempati's owners have said that, for now, the airline will not be liquidated and have ...
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Datalink weather set for GA cockpits
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Weather graphics and other flight information could be widely datalinked to the cockpits of general aviation (GA) aircraft by year-end if a US Federal Aviation Administration initiative runs to schedule. The FAA believes the Flight Information Services (FIS) digital datalink will improve GA safety by ...
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Cathay will lead US/Asia transpolar flights
Cathay Pacific Airways is planning a record breaking non-stop flight from New York to Hong Kong in early July, which is intended to lead the way to the opening up in 1999 of four new transpolar routes between the US East Coast and Asia over the Russian Far East. ...
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Regulators get tough on Canada's taxi operators
Canadian air taxi operators have been presented with a list of 71 recommendations designed to improve safety by a task force set up by air transport regulator Transport Canada. The Safety of Air Taxi Operations (SATOPS) task force was set up in January 1996 following a Transport Canada review ...
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Big losses put MAS deliveries on hold
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is to delay delivery of nine Boeing 747-400s and 777-200s on order by up to 36 months and dispose of an extra four surplus 737s, in the wake of a larger than expected end of year net loss of M$260 million ($67.3 million). ...
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CAL pursues big fleet revamp
Paul Lewis/Singapore Brent Hannon/Taipei China Airlines (CAL) has issued airframe and engine manufacturers with a fresh request for proposals for up to 36 new widebody aircraft, while rival Taiwanese carrier EVA Airways has postponed its decision on a new fleet of ultra long haul passenger aircraft. CAL has ...
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Geared Turbofan Basics
A conventional turbofan is divided into high and low pressure spools, each consisting of a compressor and turbine. The low-pressure spool drives the fan and provides most of the propulsive power. The fan works best at slower speeds, while the rest of the spool - the compressors and turbines - ...