All Ops & safety articles – Page 1331
-
News
Presidential intervention delays American settlement
AMERICAN AIRLINES says that first deliveries of new Boeing aircraft will be delayed after US President Bill Clinton intervened to push any pilots' strike back by at least 60 days. Clinton stepped in minutes after the pilots went on strike on 14 February and appointed an emergency mediation board, which ...
-
News
Ansett nears final decision in Airbus-Boeing order contest
The battle between Airbus Industrie and Boeing to provide a new fleet of up to 16 large twinjets to Ansett of Australia appears to be drawing to an end, with a decision expected within weeks. The re-equipment project, aimed at replacing Ansett's domestic Boeing 767-200s and its international Boeing 747-300s ...
-
News
NTSB springs 737 rudder surprise
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) surprised Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration on 20 February by unexpectedly announcing recommendations for modifying Boeing 737 rudders. Initial reports view the NTSB recommendations as a move to speed up the retrofit and inspection programme agreed by Boeing and the ...
-
News
Extra investigates turboprop EA 400
German aircraft manufacturer Extra Flugzeugbau is investigating a turboprop version of its six-seat EA 400 tourer machine. According to Extra, the idea has attracted strong interest from potential customers, particularly in the light of the US Federal Aviation Administration's forthcoming repeal of the ban on commercial, instrument-flight-rules (IFR), ...
-
News
A340 switches: re-active or pro-active reaction?
Sir - In the article "Airbus fits switch guards after A340 hydraulic incident" (Flight International, 12-18 February, P16), Airbus Industrie describes the move to install guards as part of its "pro-active" stance on cockpit safety. If that stance were really pro-active, would not the A340 switch guards have ...
-
News
New skids from Dart
Canada-based Dart Aerospace has developed a new helicopter-skid design which is up to seven times stronger than the conventional unit, according to the company. The Round-I-Beam skidtube is strengthened with a central web which runs through the centre of the tube. The skidtube has been designed to fit several Bell ...
-
News
Full system testing is necessary
Sir - I read the letter from Jack Karran about the Lima Boeing 757 accident (Flight International, 5-11 February, P41). It should be noted that his suggestion that there should be the ability to test pitot/static "air-pressure sensors" would be adequate only if it were to be a ...
-
News
SITA: Dedicated to communicating
From the start, airlines could not be efficient without good contactability. The need for better company communications, over developing long routes, gave birth in 1949 to SITA (once known as the Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautiques) - a non-profit-making co-operative, among major airlines - to provide self-managed communications. It has ...
-
News
CFMI gears up for bumper year
CFM International (CFMI) is stepping up production of CFM56 engines in response to record orders placed during 1996 for 1,280 powerplants valued at $5.5 billion. CFMI president Gerard Laviec says that the company had planned for only "about 700 orders" for the year. As a result of the ...
-
News
DASA blames Boeing for Northrop pull-out
The decision by Northrop Grumman not to participate in the Airbus A3XX project has sparked accusations by Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) that Boeing and McDonnell Douglas (MDC)have put pressure on their US suppliers not to participate in the proposed European large aircraft programme. DASA chairman Manfred Bischoff says that ...
-
News
Crew blamed
The 19 February wheels-up landing of a Continental Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 at Houston International Airport, Texas, was caused by the flightdeck crew's failure to ensure that the landing gear was down, says the US National Transportation Safety Board. Source: Flight International
-
News
New-look BA flies into ten-year profits high
British Airways marked ten years since its privatisation in February 1987 with another record profits performance. BA, which is making a small change in its livery pending a longer-term redesign (see above), posted pre-tax profits of ú113 million ($183 million) for the December quarter, the third in the airline's financial ...
-
News
Universal dual-system satnav nears approval
Universal Avionics is on track to win certification of the first satellite-navigation (satnav) receiver capable of using both the US global-positioning system (GPS)and Russian Glonass navigation constellations. The company, best known for its UNS-1 range of flight-management systems, is using a combined GPS/Glonass receiver-processor board provided by US ...
-
News
Aeronet: Development of a network
SITA's AeroNet is a centrally managed data network capable of handling and routeing high volumes of complex - and often commercially sensitive - digital data streams from sophisticated applications. It might be compared with the newest databus in civil aircraft - where a point-to-point bus system, such as the Arinc ...
-
News
AA pilots are ready to abandon talks
Round-the-clock negotiations between American Airlines management and the Allied Pilots Association, a union which represents some 9,000 of the airline's flightcrew, had still failed to produce a new contract 18h before a threatened 15 February strike was due to begin. The talks have become bogged down on pay ...
-
News
Oscillations force BA 777 back to Heathrow
Oscillations force BA 777 back to Heathrow The UK air-Accident Investigation Branch is looking into a mysterious in-flight incident involving a British Airways Boeing 777-200A, which was forced to turn back to London Heathrow in October 1996 after suffering uncommanded rudder movement. BA and Boeing have so far ...
-
News
Boeing kicks off flight tests of next-generation 737 family
Boeing's flight-test programme for its next-generation 737 family began smoothly on 9 February, with the 737-700 having a problem-free maiden flight from Renton, Washington. The flight marks the start of an eight-month test effort for the 737-700 which will include 1,200h of flying. Certification is planned in September, ...
-
News
BAe flies its first converted A300B4 freighter
British Aerospace's Filton, UK-based division, BAe Aviation Services, flew its first converted Airbus A300B4 freighter on 23 January, and hopes to be able to secure approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration and UK Civil Aviation Authority approval by the end of March. The conversion of the first ...
-
News
Indian Airlines seeks compensation for V2500 performance
Indian Airlines is seeking compensation from International Aero Engines (IAE)for the higher-than-expected fuel consumption of the V2500 engines which power its Airbus A320s. IAE, a joint venture including Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce, declines to comment on the extent of the shortfall, although it is thought to be ...
-
News
KLM to upgrade 747-200/300s
KLM is to carry out a $53 million upgrade of its Boeing 747-200/300s and keep the aircraft in service well into the next century. KLM is the first airline to commit to an extensive cockpit upgrade of so-called 747 'Classics'. The package includes a major cockpit upgrade, aimed ...