All Ops & safety articles – Page 1350
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News
USA launches drive for GA pilot-recruitment
THE US GENERAL-aviation (GA) industry has launched a nationwide television-advertising campaign intended to increase the number of people entering pilot training. The "stop dreaming, start flying" campaign is funded by more than 100 US aviation companies through the GA Team 2000 coalition, which has the goal of increasing student starts ...
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Undue influence?
MOST MANUFACTURERS must dream of having exclusive supply deals with prestige customers. Most prestige customers probably do not dream of such deals - and they certainly should not. In the long term, these agreements (while undoubtedly attractive for both sides in the short term) could be seriously damaging to the ...
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UPS to Manila
UPS Airlines has launched a new service to Manila in the Philippines, using a McDonnell Douglas (MDC) DC-8 freighter. The service will be operated five times a week from UPS' Taipei cargo hub to Manila, en route to Singapore. The parcels-carrier's main competitor, FedEx, is to extend its Asian cargo ...
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Training together
OPINION DIFFERS on how good, or bad, a year 1996 was for the commercial ßight-simulator industry, but manufacturers agree that sales will increase over the next two years before the boom cycle ends in 1999 and business returns to what passes for normal in this dynamic industry sector. ...
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What went wrong
For cost reasons, the Ariane 501 was fitted with two Ariane 4 inertial-reference systems (IRS), and no tests were performed with the real IRS to verify that they would behave correctly during the Ariane 5 flight, although simulations were performed. At 6s after main engine start (HO), the Ariane 5 ...
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Crossair modifies LF507s on Avro RJ85s and RJ100s
Crossair is now half way through the process of making the engine modifications needed to improve unsatisfactory dispatch reliability on its AI(R) AvroRJ85/RJ100 fleet in a bid to (Flight International, 16-22 October, 1996). President Moritz Suter confirms that the Swiss regional airline has had "serious problems" with the ...
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More stoppages may hit TAT and Air Liberté
STAFF AT British Airways' French subsidiaries TAT and Air Liberté are threatening further strike action following stoppages over pay and working conditions on 9/10 April. The action follows strikes at Air France over the merger of its domestic operations with the Air France Europe/Air Inter subsidiary. Unions claim ...
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SIA is first to order FANS-A upgrade for Airbus A340s
Singapore Airlines (SIA)has become the first customer for the Airbus future-air-navigation system-A (FANS-A), with a commitment to install it on its fleet of long-haul A340-300s. Airbus aims to gain certification of FANS-A equipment on the A330/340 in April 1998, with ßight trials using its A340 testbed due to ...
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R-R, Boeing to draw up -524HT test plans
Rolls-Royce has signed a memorandum of understanding with Boeing covering the formulation of a flight-test schedule for the RB.211-524HT "hybrid" turbofan, although the timing of the programme remains uncertain as the UK manufacturer works to locate a suitable testbed aircraft. The -524HT, which uses the core of the ...
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Maintenance mistake threatened Transavia Boeing 737 flight
A third-party-maintenance error came close to disabling a Transavia Airlines Boeing 737-300 in flight with 146 passengers on board, and could have resulted in a crash but for the quick action of the crew, say initial reports from German air-accident investigators. The incident is believed to be a one-off, but ...
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News
Delta JT8D fan finding
Failure of inspection techniques at manufacture, assembly and in service were responsible for the Pratt & Whitney JT8D-200 fan-hub failure which killed two passengers on a Delta Air Lines McDonnell Douglas MD-88 in July 1996, according to findings from a US National Transportation Safety Board hearing. A minor flaw caused ...
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News
TWA 800 inquiry
The public hearing on the July 1996 Trans World Airlines Boeing 747-100 crash near Long Island, USA, is to start "in late summer", says the US National Transportation Safety Board. It adds that an explosion definitely occurred in the centre-wing fuel tank, but the cause is still not known and ...
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Airmanship is still a crucial element
Sir - The reported comment of the UK Civil Aviation Authority in the article "Pilots can expect harder tests, CAA warns" (Flight International, 19-25 March, P31), to the effect that European Joint Aviation Requirements will demand higher academic standards for flightcrew licensing, is another symptom of how this body is ...
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Two weeks of RVSM confirms pilot fears over TCAS alerts
Airline pilots have reported frequent, long-duration, "nuisance" traffic advisories (TAs) from their traffic-alert and collision-avoidance (TCAS) systems in North Atlantic air space during the two weeks since the implementation of reduced vertical-separation minima (RVSM) in the area. RVSM is a procedure for operating with vertical separations of 1,000ft ...
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Atlas closes on freighter order decision-
Atlas Air, the world's largest Boeing 747 freighter operator, is close to deciding whether to order an unspecified number of 747-400 freighters. According to Michael Chowdry, chairman and chief executive officer, the 747-400F is seen as "the next step" for the US contract cargo operator. Atlas Air is ...
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JAL renews attack on costs
Japan Airlines (JAL) is stepping up efforts to cut costs and restructure the company, including the shedding of 2,000 jobs, as the group once again faces a return to losses. The airline's newly unveiled medium-range plan for the five years through to March 2002 also calls for a ...
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NASA may re-fly Columbia in July
The Space Shuttle mission, the STS 83/Columbia, which had to be aborted because of a problem with a fuel cell, could be re-launched as early as July using the same seven crew, says NASA. The $500 million, 16-day mission ended when the Shuttle touched down at the Kennedy ...
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Down to earth
Full deregulation (in theory, at least) of European air services is admittedly only a few weeks old, but even its most ardent enthusiasts must be disappointed at the apparent lack of effect so far. Those who predicted a more obvious impact from deregulation may, however, not have long to wait. ...
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Explosive progress
On 5 May, 1987, a British Aerospace 146-200QT "Quiet Trader" freighter operating between Prestwick in the UK and a hub at Nuremburg, Germany, launched the European freight operations of Australia's TNT Transport group, which now trades as TNT Express Worldwide. In the ten years since then the company has established ...
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USA signs Singapore in open-skies push
The USA has continued its push for new open-skies deals with the signing of its new aviation agreement with Singapore, which is the first fully liberalised pact within the key Asia Pacific region. "The signing of this agreement-represents an important step toward ending restrictions on aviation services in ...