All Ops & safety articles – Page 1428
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News
Control functions
The faster reaction time of computers allows control surfaces to be made smaller, reducing overall weight. System reliability and maintainability is improved. Electronic control gives control augmentation and envelope protection which would be more difficult to provide in a mechanical system, such as: bank angle protection; ...
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Canadian Marconi FMS/GPS qualifies
CANADIAN MARCONI (CMC) says that it has received the world's first primary-means oceanic/remote approval for a flight-management/global-positioning system (FMS/GPS). The US Federal Aviation Administration has granted the approval for a dual CMC CMA-900 FMS/GPS installation in an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-200. Primary-means oceanic/remote approval allows the ...
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Australia heads for Hong Kong dispute
HONG KONG AND Australia are heading for confrontation over Qantas fifth-freedom rights from Hong Kong to Singapore and Bangkok. The Australian carrier has built a substantial market network, using the three Asian destinations as hubs for services to Europe, and for tourism products within Asia. On 20 April, ...
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Sensible Approach
The failure of the recent conference in Montreal on landing systems to come out in favour of a single solution will have been a great disappointment to the proponents of individual systems - but it will have been greeted with sighs of relief just about everywhere else. Not only does ...
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Ansett Australia director resigns
ANSETT AUSTRALIA has declined to link the sudden resignation of its operations director with the outcome of internal inquiries into the partial wheels-up landing of one of its Boeing 747-300s on 19 October 1994. The director, Capt. John Dorward, resigned on 12 April. Following the accident, a consultancy ...
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Crash and murders hit China Airlines profits
CHINA AIRLINES (CAL) has reported a sharp cut in 1994 profits following the crash of an Airbus A300-600R a year ago and the slump in the number of Taiwanese tourists visiting China. The airline's 1994 pre-tax profit plunged to NT$642 million ($25 million), down from NT$3.4 billion. CAL ...
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'Worst' UK air miss reported
A NEAR-COLLISION between a Suckling Airways Dornier 228 and a Business Air Saab 340 near the UK's Trent VOR navigation beacon was the closest the investigators "...had ever had to consider", according to an Aircraft Proximity Hazard Panel report. The two aircraft were on reciprocal headings on Airway ...
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FAA addresses runway incursions
THE US FEDERAL Aviation Administration has unveiled its updated programme to address runway incursions. The so-called Runway Incursion Action Plan includes a timetable for deployment of the Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS), a software enhancement to the Westinghouse Norden ASDE-3 which will alert controllers to potential ...
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MDC prepares for last phase of ACT programme
McDONNELL DOUGLAS (MDC) is preparing "best and final" offers in competition with Boeing for the last phase of NASA's Advanced Composite Technology (ACT) programme. The company's Advanced Transport Aircraft Development (ATAD) division delivered a composite stub-wing box test specimen to NASA's Langley Research Center, Virginia, in February under ...
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KAL sees growth as key to 777 engine order
KOREAN AIR'S (KAL) selection of an engine for its fleet of Boeing 777s was due before 1 May, with future growth potential and commonality likely to be the major deciding factors. KAL has ordered eight 777s for delivery between February 1997 and June 2000 and has taken options ...
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777 completes its joint certification
On 19 April Boeing's 777 became the first of the US manufacturer's commercial airliners to receive simultaneous type/design and production certification from both the US and European airworthiness authorities. The certification ceremony at Seattle, Washington marks the first milestone in Boeing's co-operative and concurrent certification (CCC) programme begun ...
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737 FDR cost deal
The US Federal Aviation Administration is seeking a compromise over the US National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) recommended schedule for retrofitting Boeing 737s with enhanced flight-data recorders (FDR). The NTSB proposal would require US airlines to install improved FDR on more than 4,000 aircraft by the end of ...
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GPS commitment is impossible
Sir - US President Bill Clinton has stated that the USA is committed to provide global-positioning-system (GPS) signals to the international civil-aviation community (Flight International, 5-11 April, P9). While one does not doubt his sincerity, he cannot commit his successors. Unless controlled and financed by an international organisation ...
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Navigation summit leaves landing issues open
Kieran Daly/LONDON THE INTERNATIONAL Civil Aviation Organisation's (ICAO's) landmark meeting to draw up a new precision-approach strategy has left all nations free to pursue their favoured options. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is stressing the need for consultation with airlines before systems are changed, and ...
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Throttles and pilots are key Tarom issues
David Learmount/LONDON THE PRIMARY CAUSE of the Tarom Airbus A310-300 crash at Bucharest appears to have been a throttle lever which became mechanically jammed at the full-power position while the autothrottle was engaged, according to the official interim report. All 49 passengers and 11 crew died ...
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JAA rulemaking a team effort
Sir - I refer to the article "Showdown looms on JAA rules" (Flight International, 5-11 April, P5). I am generally happy with my quotations, with the big exception of "the working group being split" on the supplementary stall-recognition system. My comments were triggered by the statement that the ...
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Flight instructors link with EAA
A NEW PARTNERSHIP is to be forged between the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and the US National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI). NAFI, which represents nearly 3,000 flight instructors, has reached agreement in principle to affiliate with the EAA. Following a ratification vote by members, expected by 20 ...
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European Commission tries to step up open-skies pace schedule
Julian Moxon/PARIS THE EUROPEAN Commission (EC) will adopt its mandate for open-skies deals with the USA by the end of April, according to a senior Transport Directorate source. "We're not going for protection, or restrictive agreements," says the EC. "These are very liberal open-skies proposals." The ...
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IAE redesigns compressor blades
INTERNATIONAL AERO Engines (IAE) is to offer redesigned compressor blades for the V2500-A1 turbofan, following a series of in-service failures with two carriers. Two incidents on a Dragonair Airbus Industrie A320, in February 1995 and December 1994, are the latest manifestation of a problem which it has taken ...
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Clinton presents ATC reshuffle plan
THE US CLINTON Administration has delivered to Congress a reorganisation plan which would shrink the Federal Aviation Administration through the creation of a quasi-governmental corporation responsible for air traffic control (ATC). About 40,000 FAA workers would transfer to the new US Air Traffic Services Corporation. The FAA would ...