All Ops & safety articles – Page 1325
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News
Taiwanese tourists boost CAL
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON A return in confidence among Taiwanese travellers has lifted profits at China Airlines (CAL)over the first half of 1997, and the airline expects better to come during the rest of the year, which includes Taiwan's peak holiday season. CAL posted pre-tax profits of nearly ...
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FAA hopes to find clues to TWA crash at fuel-safety conference
A three-day fuel-systems-safety conference scheduled for early October may produce clues to the cause of the 17 July, 1996 crash of Trans World Airlines Flight 800, the US Federal Aviation Administration hopes. The Boeing 747-100 crashed off Long Island after leaving New York's Kennedy Airport. In the year ...
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New ICAO protocol tackles cross-border leasing 'nightmare'
David Learmount/London An international "regulatory nightmare" has been resolved by a new International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) protocol on cross-border aircraft leasing. The protocol, Article 83 bis, clears the state of the aircraft's registration to agree transfer of the responsibility for the aircraft's safety oversight to ...
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FADEC is replaced on Eurofighter engine
Ian Sheppard/LONDON Initial production-standard Eurojet EJ200 engines installed on the Italian DA3 Eurofighter EF2000 prototype have been fitted with a new full-authority digital engine-control (FADEC) system after the original unit was found to be overweight and unreliable. The engines are undergoing ground runs in Turin before ...
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Thai profits fall
PROFITS AT Thai Airways were almost halved over the latest quarter to the end of June, as it counted the cost of a massive increase in salary bills, and the continued impact of fuel price rises. Pre-tax profits slumped to just under Baht413 million ($12 million) over the ...
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Keeping promises
Emma Kelly/London The in-flight-entertainment (IFE) industry has undergone a radical change this year, with the leading hardware providers finally conceding that they are guilty of over-promising and under-delivering to their airline customers. After years of trying to meet airline requests for ever-more ambitious IFE applications, the makers have ...
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Workshop
++ Air UK Engineering has signed a five-year deal with Skyways to undertake heavy maintenance on the Swedish carrier's fleet of eight Fokker F50s after the UK company successfully completed a year-long contract. ++ Dee Howard has begun heavy maintenance of an Airborne Express Douglas DC-8-63 under an agreement covering ...
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Swissair and Lufthansa study 747 replacements
Airbus could land two more prestige customers for its A340-600 later this year, as Swissair and Lufthansa examine the aircraft to replace their Boeing 747 "Classic" ßeets. Swissair says that it expects to make a decision on the long-term future of its 747-300 ßeet by the year-end. The Ìve aircraft ...
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SAS postpones decision on replacements for 767 fleet
The decision by SAS on a possible replacement for its long-haul fleet of 14 Boeing 767s is now not expected until 1998. A final decision could run into 1999 as the airline looks hard at the cost justification for the investment. The Scandinavian airline expects to take 15-20 ...
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Garuda take-off abort was 'a mistake'
Japan's Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission (AAIC) is reportedly set to blame the pilot for the June 1996 fatal crash of a Garuda Indonesia McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 at Fukuoka, southern Japan. Japanese newspaper reports say that the AAIC investigators have concluded that the captain incorrectly decided to abort the ...
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Dasa's Airbus conversion orderbook expands
Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) Airbus will subcontract six Airbus A300B4 cargo conversions to its French partner Sogerma in 1998, as its orderbook swells and it seeks additional conversion capacity. The company expects its A300B4 conversion to be certificated by mid-September. It has recently taken orders and commitments for a ...
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Global Aircraft puts flexible propeller under test
A flexible self-optimising propeller which combines the advantages of fixed-pitch and constant-speed units is being tested by US firm Global Aircraft of Starkville, Mississippi. Production of the Quasi-Constant-Speed (QCS) propeller, priced at $3,500, is set to start this month, initially aimed at experimental aircraft. Production of units certificated for general-aviation ...
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Asiana gains widebody approval
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE Asiana Airlines has finally been given government approval to order its first tranche of 14 new Airbus and Boeing widebody aircraft, following commitments from the manufacturers to meet last-minute South Korean demands for offset work. Tentative agreement on the question of industrial concessions has ...
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Two captains could enhance safety
Sir - The crew of the Korean Air Boeing 747 which crashed 5km (2.5nm) short of the runway at Guam on 6 August was executing a non-precision approach at night and in poor visibility. The instrument-landing-system glidepath was known to be inoperative, and there were no visual-approach-slope indicators. ...
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ValuJet probe shows cockpit shortcoming
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Improved cockpit emergency training might have prevented pilots of a ValuJet McDonnell Douglas DC-9 from being overcome by smoke and fumes from a cargo fire, says the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The verdict follows its probe into the fatal crash of ...
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World 'ignores' life-saving equipment
The Korean Air (KAL) Boeing 747-300 fatal crash at Guam on 6 August has highlighted the need for use of minimum safe-altitude warning (MSAW) systems at airports worldwide, says the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF). There was a fault in the Guam MSAW software when KAL's 747 hit a ...
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Fokkers out
Indonesian regional carrier Merpati Nusantara has been told by the government to replace its 13 Fokker F27s with British Aerospace BAe146-100s, while private carrier Sempati has decided to sell its F27s. The moves follow a fatal crash of a Sempati F27 in late July, as well as concerns about spare ...
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Euro alliance shape shifts
The European alliance merry-go-round is turning at full tilt during the northern hemisphere's summer, with loose ends tidied up and new combinations entering the arena. With the holidays more or less shutting the regulators in Brussels down for the month of August, the frustrated officials at British Airways ...
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Rainbow aria
Besides the airline industry, Omar Fontana's leading passion in life is the piano. Yet a recent operation on Fontana's hands has made it difficult for this accomplished pianist to play. So he is sublimating his love for playing by composing a symphony, instructing other people to write down 'the ...
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BA strikes up Spanish talks
After a damaging three-day strike forced British Airways back to the negotiating table, management set about leaking plans for a low-cost carrier in a bid to raise the pressure on the cabin crew union. At the same time, BA has started talking with Iberia about a possible alliance, following a ...