All Ops & safety articles – Page 1351

  • News

    Raytheon poem

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Raytheon Cossor has won a $15 million Eurocontrol contract to supply a pre-operational European Mode S (POEMS) secondary-surveillance radar system, as part of the European Air Traffic Control Harmonisation Improvement Programme. The POEMS system will be used to validate Eurocontrol's specification for a Mode S ground station, including full networking ...

  • News

    Weight of the world

    1997-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Until 1993, the world of freighter wet-leasing was an obscure one. This relatively minor niche in the air-transport business had few participants, most of them well-established, specialist all-cargo carriers. In 1993, however, Michael Chowdry, chairman and chief executive of Atlas Air, entered the scene with a "lone flyer" ...

  • News

    BGTlooks to pilot low-cost fly-by-wire for Tu-204

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    German systems house Bodenseewerk Gerätetech-nik (BGT)has launched a feasibility study with Tupolev over fitting future versions of the Tu-204 twinjet with its low-cost, advanced, digital fly-by-wire (FBW)flight-control-system (FCS) technology. The contract with Tupolev comes as BGT steps up efforts to secure applications for its FBW technology, which it plans to ...

  • News

    IAE studies latest V2530-A5 failure

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    International Aero Engines (IAE) is working to determine the cause of a third incident of high-pressure compressor (HPC) damage occurring to a V2530-A5 turbofan operated by Lufthansa on its Airbus A321 fleet. The latest discovery followed an engine stall and rejected take-off on 25 March. HPC blade damage ...

  • News

    Egypt's AMC orders launch MD-90-30ER

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    AMC Aviation of Egypt has placed the launch order for the McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30ER (extended range), with a contract for two aircraft. The MD-90ER features increased maximum take-off weight (MTOW) and additional fuel tanks, to boost range to over 4,000km (2,200nm). Compared to the standard MD-90, ...

  • News

    Airbus offers extended-range HGW A330-300s

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    Airbus Industrie is actively offering an increased weight, extended range derivative of the A330-300 twinjet, as final assembly of the first A330-200 progresses at Toulouse. The range of the new high-gross-weight (HGW) version of the -300 would typically be boosted by some 1,300km (700nm) to around 10,200km. The ...

  • News

    MDC talks up MD-80 freighter for China

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    McDonnell Douglas (MDC) remains optimistic that its MD-80 cargo conversion plan proposed to Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) earlier this year will receive the go-ahead before the end of 1997, despite uncertainty caused by the planned merger with Boeing. A key aspect of the plan is the supply ...

  • News

    Building affordability

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    PROVING THAT THE F-22 can be produced affordably is an increasingly important part of the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) effort. "It's E-M-D, not E-D," emphasises Randy Simpson, director of production operations at Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems (LMAS). He is responsible for the F-22 assembly line, where the first aircraft ...

  • News

    DoT refuses pleas to delay American-BA consideration

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    THE US Department of Transportation (DoT) has begun to consider the American Airways-British Airways (American-BA) alliance, brushing aside requests by rival carriers to put the inquiry on hold pending the signing of a UK-US open skies bilateral agreement. Delta Air Lines and Trans World Airlines had both pressed ...

  • News

    Auditors warn on TWA losses

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    TRANS WORLD Airlines (TWA)has been dogged by further poor financial news, with a warning from the group's auditors over the carrier's future in the light of mounting losses and falling cash reserves. The warning from KPMG Peat Marwick accompanies TWA's official filing of its annual results with the ...

  • News

    NATS bargain...

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    Air-traffic-control (ATC) user charges have dropped by 18% on North Atlantic routes within UK oceanic-control areas. Also cut by 7% are UK National Air Traffic Services (NATS) ATC user charges at UK operator BAA's three London airports. Charges are cut by 13-16% at Scotland's main airports.   ...

  • News

    BFGoodrich plans a low-cost GATCAS...

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    BFGOODRICH PLANS to launch a low-cost traffic-alert and collision-avoidance system (TCAS) for general-aviation aircraft at the Experimental Aircraft Association's Sun 'n' Fun fly-in, which is taking place in Florida until 12 April. The Skywatch system is aimed at high-end piston singles and twins and is expected to cost ...

  • News

    Euro liberalisation could still cause problems

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    The final stage of European air-transport liberalisation came into effect on 1 April, to the accompaniment of predictions that airlines will be unlikely to take full advantage of the increased market access contained within the legislation. "In most important respects, the European market has been fully liberalised since ...

  • News

    FAA demands an inspection of...

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    Following in-flight separation of a large section of a Delta Air Lines Boeing 767 wing-flap, more than 200 of the type worldwide have to undergo emergency inspection. The event occurred on a 27 March approach to Dallas/Forth Worth (DFW) Airport, Texas, and the pilots reported no problems countering the resulting ...

  • News

    Kapustin Yar is revived for launches

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    Russia's launch base at Kapustin Yar, in the sparsely populated area close to the Caspian Sea, will end 12 years of retirement when it is used again as a satellite-launch station in 1999. The base was first used for a missile launch in 1947 and its first orbital ...

  • News

    Painting by numbers

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    BUILDING L-64 AT Marietta is not a paint shop, although it is here that F-22s will be finished before being towed across the road for radar cross-section verification ready for first flight. Each F-22 is expected to spend about 20 days in this building, where the elaborate, ...

  • News

    SIA/Tata plans suffer setback...

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    THE PROPOSED JOINT domestic-carrier venture between Singapore Airlines (SIA) and the TATA Group has been dealt another major blow by the Indian Government's endorsement of a new aviation policy barring foreign-airline investment. The cabinet's decision to throw its support behind civil-aviation minister C M Ibrahim's controversial new policy ...

  • News

    Supplying a total system

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    DEVELOPING SUPPORT and training systems concurrently with the aircraft and engine has allowed designers to take advantage of the capabilities of the F-22's integrated avionics. The aircraft has extensive onboard diagnostics, required for sensor fusion and fault tolerance, which can be used to eliminate ground-support equipment, while the flight software ...

  • News

    Supplying a total system

    1997-04-09T00:00:00Z

    DEVELOPINGSUPPORT and training systems concurrently with the aircraft and engine has allowed designers to take advantage of the capabilities of the F-22's integrated avionics. The aircraft has extensive onboard diagnostics, required for sensor fusion and fault tolerance, which can be used to eliminate ground-support equipment, while the flight software is ...

  • News

    Millenium scare?

    1997-04-02T11:04:00Z

    Sir - The aviation industry depends on computer systems which handle dates, ranging from seat reservations to flight-data processing. Typically, 80% of systems which process dates can not handle the end of the century. There are similar problems in payment systems, building security, test equipment and, possibly, navigation ...