All Ops & safety articles – Page 1313
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Brasilia engine fire
A SkyWest Brasilia suffered starboard-engine power loss and fire when climbing through 2,000ft (700m) out of San Diego, California, on 21 May, the US National Transportation Safety Board reports. The propeller auto-feathered and the fire was extinguished using both fire bottles. The crew made a safe, flapless landing at NAS ...
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Power shortage
According to current folklore, engine makers don't actually make any money out of building engines: they give them away, and then hope they will recoup the cost out of spares and maintenance in years to come. The engine makers, at least in public, will reject that as a wild exaggeration, ...
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Europe's long-range twin
Austrian Airlines will in August 1998 become the first European operator of the A330-200 The A330-200 shares flightdeck commonality with the other Airbus fly-by-wire aircraft Emirates is replacing its fleet of A300-600Rs and A310-300s with R-R Trent-powered A330-200s The first wingbox being manufactured by ...
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EC proposes to extend powers
The European Commission (EC) is proposing to give itself sweeping new powers over air-transport competition, including extending its authority to rule on mergers outside the European Union(EU). The proposals, if approved by the Council of Ministers, would give the Commission significant influence over alliances, co-operative joint ventures and ...
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The cost of free flight
RUNNING an orderly air-traffic-management (ATM) system using airways, by definition, confines aircraft to a fraction of the airspace available. At a time when the skies are becoming increasingly crowded - particularly in Europe - any ATM system which fails to use all available airspace is, therefore, giving up part of ...
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CityLine record
Lufthansa CityLine carried more than 3 million passengers for the first time during 1996, helped by the growth of its fleet which is now exclusively built around regional jets. Although the regional carrier saw sales grow by more than 20%to above DM1 billion ($590 million) in 1996, the company's pre-tax ...
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Licences cannot be given away
Sir - In his letter "Should licence rules be adapted?" (Flight International, 28 May-3 June, P66), Mark Crane writes on the subject of the European Joint Aviation Requirement (JAR) 66 Notice of Proposed Amendment and qualification for the issue of an aircraft-maintenance basic licence (AMBL). Currently licensed or ...
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El Al sell-off hinges on Sabbath flying
An Israeli Government committee has recommended the full privatisation of national carrier El Al, although the politically sensitive issue of flying on the Jewish Sabbath, which has dogged previous attempts at a sale, has yet to be resolved. The inter-departmental committee proposes the flotation of all the airline's ...
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NASA aims to cut drag with control-surface research
NASA has begun test flights of an adaptive control-surface experiment which it hopes could lead to drag reductions of up to 3% for commercial aircraft, worth roughly $140 million a year in reduced fuel savings. The tests are taking place on the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar operated by Orbital ...
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Boeing battles to complete 777-X definition for Paris
Boeing is struggling to get its proposed 777-200X/ 300X growth derivatives off the ground in time for the Paris air show, as the company considers a further increase to the maximum take-off-weight (MTOW) of the aircraft to meet airline range and payload demands. The US manufacturer is discussing ...
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Dragonair/Cathay gear up as A330 services return
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair planned to have all 15 of their Airbus A330-300s back in service by 7 June, after completing gearbox modifications to the twinjet's Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines. R-R and Cathay had completed 25h of ground and flight testing of the Hispano-Suiza modification package on ...
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P&W solves A330 engine problem
Pratt & Whitney is retrofitting all PW4164 and PW4168 turbofans powering the Airbus A330 with a redesigned blade platform after tests revealed the potential for high N1 (low-pressure-spool rpm) rotor imbalance and the loss of the fan-containment system in the event of a fan blade detaching - a risk with ...
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UK carriers close on A300F contracts
SEVERAL UK-based cargo airlines are confirming plans to begin operating Airbus A300 freighters, as DHL works towards the introduction of the widebody on its intra-European network. Heavylift Cargo Airlines is understood to have concluded a deal with C-S Aviation Services for two British Aerospace Aviation Services (BAeAS)-converted A300B4 ...
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Japanese majors look to improve on a poor 1996
Japan's major airlines have revealed disappointing financial performances in 1996/7, as higher fuel charges and a weak yen eroded operating profits, but the carriers are optimistic that there will be improvements this year. Japan Airlines (JAL) swung back into the red with an overall net loss of ´9.2 ...
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Competition: or is it not competition?
Sir - Am I the only person to have identified a huge degree of inconsistency recently among European Commission (EC) Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock and his cohorts in Brussels of competitive issues? As an example, following the Office of Fair Trading report into the proposed alliance between American ...
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Lessons from the jump seat
Sir - It may be true that there is no place for the flight engineer on the flightdeck of modern aircraft, but recent history suggests that another pair of eyes and ears in the jump seat might make a contribution to safety. It is interesting to note the ...
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United introduces virtual maintenance training
UNITED AIRLINES HAS introduced a "virtual-reality" training tool designed to improve the troubleshooting skills of Boeing 737 maintenance technicians. Wicat Systems' Maintenance Virtual Workplace is in- tended to reduce the incidence of component removals when no fault is found. The Virtual Workplace is a CD-ROM-based desktop training aid ...
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End of an era
The demise of the BAe/AI(R) Jetstream 41 commuter airliner represents another step in the (often involuntary) rationalisation of the regional-turboprop market. It also, however, raises serious questions about the future of the lower end of regional-airline operations. There can be little surprise in British Aerospace's decision to cease ...