All Ops & safety articles – Page 1361
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Recovered TWA No 2 engine has turbine blades missing
INVESTIGATORS working on the Trans World Airlines (TWA) Boeing 747-100 crash off Long Island, New York, in July are still searching for conclusive evidence of what triggered the explosions, which destroyed the aircraft. The badly damaged No 2 engine has now been recovered, however, and is understood to have three ...
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Ageing-airliner census 1996
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON THIS YEAR's Flight International census of ageing airliners shows a growth of 6% (to some 8,200) in the number of jet-powered and turboprop aircraft more than 15 years old in active service at 1 January, 1996. The number of jet-airliners in existence, which ...
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Brand X
Vance Brand, former astronaut and assistant chief of the Shuttle and Flight Support Office at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards AFB, California, will lead the five person official inquiry into the crash of the McDonnell Douglas/NASA Clipper Graham DC-XA after its landing at White Sands, New Mexico, on 31 ...
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Firefighting crash
A Canadair CL-215 fire fighting amphibian of Italy's civil-protection service crashed on 30 July while scooping water from a lake in Sicily, killing one crewmember and injuring the other. Source: Flight International
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Caribbean accident
An AeroCaribe de Havilland Canada Twin Otter crashed in jungle some 20m (65ft) short of the airfield at Playa del Carmen, Yucatan, Mexico, killing one passenger and injuring badly the other 16 on board. One of the pilots reported that a flying-control cable appeared to have failed. ...
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IATA plans trial flights over North Korea
Paul Lewis/SINGAPORE THE INTERNATIONAL Air Transport Association (IATA) expects to conduct the first trials of international flights through North Korean airspace by October, following agreement with Pyongyang to open up its flight-information region (FIR). IATA hopes that the proving flights will lead to new air ...
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Engines should be treated separately
Sir - Recent news suggests that civil organisations do not seem to share their safety-related views. I was amazed to find that an airline could conduct the same maintenance task, simultaneously, on both engines of a twin without a test before flight. Surely, if there is a need, for example, ...
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Tracking down spare parts
Airline outsourcing is hardly front-page news, but most spares-suppliers welcome the attention. Some spare-parts companies are enjoying growth Karen Walker/ATLANTA THE AIRCRAFT spare-parts industry is unsure of itself. At the same time as some companies are enjoying growth, others face uncertain futures. New regulations around ...
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ValuJet remains in profit despite FAA's grounding
Kevin O'Toole/LONDONRamon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC VALUJET HAS ended the first half-year in good financial shape, despite its grounding, and appears confident of resuming operations on 23 August. Although the airline was grounded by the US Federal Aviation Administration shortly after the Florida crash on 11 May, ...
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KLM suffers setback as costs increase
KLM has worried financial markets with an unexpectedly poor set of first-quarter figures, revealing a steep rise in costs and further bad news from its cargo operations. Attention has focused on a drop in the Dutch carrier's operating profits, which slumped by half over the quarter to the end of ...
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Cathay profits, despite tough half-year
CATHAY PACIFIC Airways produced a respectable rise in profits over the first half of the year, despite restrained growth and some pressure on costs. Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering (HAECO), the Hong Kong carrier's sister company within the Swire Group, saw profits dip again, however. Financial analysts are ...
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Delta launches low-cost Express from Florida base
Karen Walker/ATLANTA DELTA AIRLINES has entered the low-fare market with the launch of Delta Express, a single-class service providing non-stop flights between Florida and cities in the mid-western and north-eastern USA. Services, using a dedicated fleet of 25 Boeing 737-200s, will begin on 1 October ...
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Airbuses can now predict windshear
AIRBUS INDUSTRIE claims that it is the first manufacturer to deliver aircraft direct from the production line equipped with predictive windshear warning systems. Two A340s recently delivered to Spanish flag carrier Iberia are fitted with AlliedSignal's forward-looking windshear-detection system. A rival system is offered by Rockwell's Collins Air ...
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Leaked figures lead to suspension of Lauda Air shares
Shares in Lauda Air were suspended on the Vienna stock exchange after a bank official prematurely released first-half financial figures showing a sharp increase in first-half losses. Following the leak on 6 August, shareholders fought to sell off Lauda shares ahead of the official announcement, which was brought ...
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FBI agents raid SabreTech premises
US FEDERAL BUREAU of Investigation (FBI) agents have raided Miami-based SabreTech, maintenance contractor to ValuJet and alleged to be implicated in the cause of the 11 May crash, seizing company documents. FBI officials will not discuss the reasons for the search. Meanwhile, Lewis Jordan, president of grounded ValuJet, ...
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Lufthansa Technik warns against maintenance monopoly dangers
Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH LUFTHANSA TECHNIK (LHT) chairman Wolfgang Mayrhuber has criticised manufacturers which offer their own maintenance packages for aircraft and aero engines. LHT says that aircraft and engine manufacturers are increasingly attempting to "-elbow their way" into the maintenance and overhaul market and restrict current ...
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Europe shows FAA advanced ATC
Julian Moxon/PARIS THE US FEDERAL Aviation Administration is evaluating Eurocontrol's advanced air-traffic-control (ATC) technology to help it decide on investment in automated ATC systems. Eurocontrol is mounting a real-time simulation of its operational-display and input-development (ODID) system at its Bretigny-sur-Orge experimental centre, near Paris, to ...
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Seeking Titan's secrets
The Huygens probe to Saturn's moon, Titan, could reveal evidence of how terrestrial life began. Julian Moxon/PARIS FIVE MONTHS AFTER the Cassini orbiter arrives at Saturn after a seven-year, 1.5 billion kilometre journey, a small, cone-shaped craft will be despatched to that planet's largest moon, Titan, on ...
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Turnaround in Mexico
Mexicana is 75 years old this year Geoffrey Jones/MEXICO CITY MEXICANA, THE OLDEST airline in North America, celebrates its 75th anniversary this year. Under the new leadership of chief executive Fernando Flores, Mexicana has an optimistic vision for the future as it consolidates its market strengths, both ...
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Malaysia seeks EGPWS change
Brent Hannon/HONG KONG MALAYSIA AIRLINES is seeking to be launch customer for AlliedSignal Aerospace's new enhanced ground-proximity warning system (EGPWS) on the Boeing 777. There may not be time, however, to incorporate the system into aircraft in production. Malaysia has requested a change to its 777 ...