All Ops & safety articles – Page 1314
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News
Time to stop dreaming
The general-aviation industry in the USA is putting its money where its mouth has been for a long time. It is sponsoring a television-advertising campaign in an effort to revitalise the US pilot population and to reverse a decade-long decline in the number of people learning to fly for pleasure. ...
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Bearing failures blamed on poor lubrication
The spate of Trent 700 engine shutdowns has been traced to insufficient lubrication of the driving-shaft locator ball-bearing in the Hispano Suiza-manufactured step-aside gearbox. This has resulted in premature fatigue and failure of the bearing, because of overheating. According to R-R, the problem resulted from a weakness in ...
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MAKing aviation work in the CIS
The CREATION OF THE MAK (Interstate Aviation Committee) in December 1991, as the first intergovernmental body to be formed by the then-new CIS, was an acknowledgement of the need to present a common approach to major questions of aviation among the countries of the former Soviet Union. While most aviation ...
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Top executives leave ANA
All Nippon Airways (ANA) has been hit by a major high-level personnel shake-up, with the airline's top five senior executives and chairman all announcing their resignations, only days after the company's president Seiji Fukatsu was forced to quit. Almost one-third of ANA's 32-member board of directors are to ...
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Airbus intensifies research efforts into human factors
Airbus Industrie is stepping up human-factors research in preparation for the service entry of several new ultra-long-range aircraft under development. In one initiative, the consortium is studying a "Pilot Guard" system for maintaining pilot alertness on very-long-range flights. Tests of an initial version of the system are due ...
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Air France leaps into profit
Air France has posted its first profits since 1989, although the upbeat results from the mainline airline were tainted by deepening losses at its strike-hit sister company, domestic carrier Air France Europe. The profits at Air France mark a successful end to the three-year restructuring programme which was ...
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Africa faces the call to improve ATC
Measures to improve airport, air-traffic-control (ATC) and communications infrastructures in Africa have been agreed at an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) meeting in Abija, Nigeria. ATC safety standards in Africa were recently condemned by organisations such as the International Federation of Air Line Pilots and the International Air ...
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MDC advances crack checks on MD-90s
McDonnell Douglas (MDC) MD-90s will have to be checked for airframe fatigue cracking earlier than originally estimated, results from the fatigue-test airframe and other structural analysis have revealed. It will be years before the lead airframe in service reaches the newly designated 16,000-cycle point, when the first checks ...
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Boeing orders fuel-tank checks on all 747s
All Boeing 747 operators will receive a service bulletin (SB) this month detailing inspection procedures for centre-wing fuel tanks, the manufacturer says. The SB relates to the continuing investigation into the July 1996 crash of a Trans World Airways (TWA) 747 which has "-determined that the centre-wing tank ...
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Cathay prepares to modify gearboxes on Trent 700s
Cathay Pacific and Dragonair are hoping that fitting modified engine-gearboxes to their Rolls-Royce Trent 700-powered Airbus Industrie A330-300s will clear the way for the grounded aircraft to return to service by early this week. Both carriers voluntarily grounded their 15 A330s on 24 May, following an inflight engine ...
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Boeing plans heavier 777-200IGW
Boeing plans to boost the maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of the 777-200IGW (increased gross-weight) variant by 7,000kg, allowing the aircraft's maximum range with 375 passengers to be stretched to about 14,000km (7,600nm). The jump to the new 294,200kg MTOW level was approved after the completion of structural tests ...
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NTSB wants 1900 CVRs improved
Beech 1900 regional-aircraft operators should be required to inspect and repair deficient cockpit-voice recorders, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has recommended. Safety Board investigators say that they had trouble understanding crucial radio transmissions from the United Express Beech 1900 which collided with a Beech King Air ...
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New Labour, new taxes?
New Labour, new taxes? If the opinion polls are correct the United Kingdom could have its first Labour government in 18 years by early May. The new administration, led by Prime Minister Tony Blair with Gordon Brown as Finance Minister, would be very different from its predecessors. ...
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Lessons have yet to be absorbed
Sir - Capt Raby complains about the JAA's demand for higher academic standards to improve airmanship. You cannot produce airmanship with theoretical knowledge. It has to do with a insight gained from situations previously experienced. While theoretical knowledge is good for analysing a problem, you cannot fly an ...
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Wolf stalks, unions resist
Frustrated by the lack of progress in labour negotiations and under pressure to cut costs, US Airways chairman and chief executive officer Stephen Wolf has launched an 'efficiency programme' that includes the ending of jet services to nine US cities, the grounding of 22 aircraft, and consolidation in maintenance and ...
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Out of tune
After a period of relative quiet, noise is creeping back on to the mainstream aeropolitical agenda. Operators are already starting to feel the effects of a patchwork of regulations, which have emerged to fill the vacuum created by slow progress on the march to the next generation of standards. ...
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UK quick to labour point
The new UK government has put Washington to shame by moving rapidly to bring itself up to speed with the complex issues surrounding the proposed British Airways-American Airlines alliance and the related US-UK open skies discussions. Within a week of a landslide election victory for the Labour party ...
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Financial results
Company Period Net US$ mil Comp period Sales US$ mil % change Aer Lingus Y Dec 31 51.2 24.2 1,225 -4.0 AMR Corp 1Q Mar 31 152.0 157.0 4,006 2.4 Austrian Airlines Y Dec 31 19.8 30.4 1,228 8.8 China Eastern Airlines ...
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Europe is set to expand
The European Commission is drawing up legislation for the aviation sector to match US antitrust laws, as the first stage in expanding the European aviation market to the east nears completion. Commercial aviation is one of the few industry sectors in which Brussels suffers from 'split competence'. The ...
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Malay duo to share routes
Malaysia's second international carrier AirAsia is planning a rapid expansion programme but this is unlikely to trouble incumbent Malaysia Airlines after the two carriers agreed to avoid competition. Operating as Pacific Eagle, the carrier is set to launch services to Shanghai in China - alongside MAS - and ...