All Ops & safety articles – Page 1261
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News
CAL orders frozen
China Airlines (CAL) has been ordered by Taiwan's transport ministry not to order any new aircraft until it has improved its operations and safety standards. This move is the Taiwan Government's latest to force the carrier to upgrade its safety standards. CAL has suffered two major widebody accidents since April ...
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Single-aisle bonanza
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES CFM International (CFMI) and arch rival International Aero Engines (IAE) are again heading for the record books. After an astonishingly successful year for both in 1997, the orders have continued and, by mid-1998, look as if they might already surpass significantly those of the previous year. ...
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Boeing warns on China hopes
Paul Lewis/BEIJING Boeing is sounding a warning that earlier expectations of a large new order for aircraft from China in June could be affected by a marked slowdown in local airline traffic growth and the knock-on effects from Asia's wider economic difficulties. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) ...
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Justice Department stipulates conditions for American/BA link
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has recommended that the proposed alliance between American Airlines and British Airways is not approved unless sufficient slots are made available at London Heathrow to allow additional carriers to provide substantial new service to the USA. American welcomed the DoJ's statement, arguing that ...
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Pilot training alliance
A three-way alliance between UK and US-based training organisations is to offer a pilot training service, from ab initio to type-rated airline pilot standard, to the European Joint Aviation Requirements or US Federal Aviation Administration flightcrew licensing syllabus. The UK's Oxford Air Training School and America's UND Aerospace will carry ...
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US Airways may forge fresh alliance with British Airways
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC US Airways could forge a new marketing alliance with British Airways as a result of the projected tie-ups by both carriers with American Airlines. The deal would go ahead only under certain conditions, says Stephen Wolf, head of US Airways Group. The prospect of a ...
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Sfim uses GPS to calibrate aircraft approach paths
Julian Moxon/PARIS French avionics specialist Sfim has developed a new low cost system to replace the optical equipment used for tracking aircraft flying runway approaches when calibrating runway landing equipment. Its Traki trajectography kit uses the satellite global positioning system (GPS) instead of a ground- based theodolite to ...
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Ageing pilots
A challenge by the Professional Pilots Federation to overthrow the US Federal Aviation Administration's rule that airline pilots must retire at 60, on the grounds of alleged age discrimination, has been thrown out by the US Supreme Court. In Europe, airline pilots may continue until they are 65, but there ...
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Brazil and Canada plan subsidy accord for regional aircraft
Mediation of the regional aircraft subsidy dispute between Brazil and Canada has left both sides claiming victory. Special envoys appointed by the two governments have recommended means for resolving the dispute, but have not ruled on whether support provided to Bombardier and Embraer breaks international guidelines on subsidies. The trade ...
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Lufthansa eyes 747-400 freighter
Shahe Ouzounian/FRANKFURT Lufthansa Cargo says it will need to replace its fleet of Boeing 747-200Fs early in the next decade, with the 747-400 freighter the prime candidate, even though the German operator considers the aircraft "too expensive". Wilhelm Althen, chairman of the executive board, says that its fleet ...
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Boeing refines 777-200X design to tempt launch customers
Paul Lewis/SEATTLE Boeing has reaffirmed its commitment to launching the planned 777-200X/300X derivatives and is undertaking a fresh examination of a range of payload/range performance enhancements to the design. "The programme is still proceeding and there are some opportunities to make improvements to the 777-200X/300X that we are ...
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British Midland V2500 fails after only 150h
Ian Sheppard/LONDON An International Aero Engines (IAE) V2500-powered Airbus A321-200 operated by British Midland (BM) suffered an in-flight engine failure on 15 May shortly after departure from Heathrow Airport. The 147kN (33,000lb)-thrust V2533-A5 powered aircraft had been in service only 20 days and had flown around 150h with the UK ...
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Free flight study finds pilots' workload is not increased
Ian Sheppard/LONDON A Dutch national aerospace laboratory (NLR) study has concluded that workload does not increase when a pilot is given responsibility for separation assurance in a "free flight" air traffic control environment. Ronald van Gent, NLRproject leader, says that the conclusion surprised the research team. "We anticipated a ...
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Controlling the future
David Learmount/LONDON There was a deafening silence from UK National Air Traffic Services (NATS) between 5 April and 13 May. At the beginning of the period, NATS had somewhat nervously announced that it had run the first full "operational" test of the much delayed new en route air traffic ...
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Lufthansa Cargo returns to profit
Lufthansa Cargo has successfully turned its business around, with the announcement of a DM194 million ($110 million) pre-tax profit for 1997. The company recorded the profit on a turnover of DM3.9 billion for regular business. Including income from the sale of its stake in Luxembourg's Cargolux, the company beat the ...
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BAe prepares to launch upgraded Avro variant
Julian Moxon/PARIS British Aerospace Regional Aircraft is preparing to launch a re-engined, upgraded "RJX" version of the Avro RJ with 15% lower direct operating costs, reductions in weight and up to 20% less maintenance costs. The company, which is in the process of a divorce with Aero International ...
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Developing nations ask ICAO to help with CNS/ATM funding
Emma Kelly/RIO DE JANEIRO Developing nations have urged the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to establish an international aviation monetary fund to help them finance implementation of communications, navigation and surveillance/ air traffic management (CNS/ATM) system programmes. Bolivia, Pakistan and the 53 African ICAO member nations were among ...
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Damage to wiring grounds old 737s
Chafed electrical wires in fuel tank conduits were found in so many older Boeing 737s that the US Federal Aviation Administration grounded many of them by issuing an emergency airworthiness directive (AD) on 10 May. Checks on fuel tank pump wiring following an earlier AD had revealed that seriously ...
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Taxiing A320 collides with inflight 767
An Egyptair Airbus Industrie A320 taxiing at Cairo airport had more than 1m sliced off its tail fin by an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767-300ER which had just taken off in an incident which saw both aircraft come close to a major accident. The 767 (ET-AKW) was able to return for ...
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Scottish ATC centre is delayed to 2004
David Learmount/LONDON A £200 million ($328 million) air traffic control centre planned to be built in Scotland has been delayed by around three years because of a reassessment of the complexity of the task in the wake of serious software problems with the associated Swanwick-based New En Route Centre ...