SAFETY

European ATM readies for VLJ onslaught

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Europe is bracing itself for an influx of very light jets. But how will the continent's air traffic management system cope with the extra flights at jet altitudes?

IATA: Accident rate up but fatalities lower in 2007

Tue, 13 May 2008 09:00:00 GMT

IATA’s bid to slash the commercial air transport accident rate for Western-built aircraft has suffered a setback after losses in Indonesia and Africa drove the figure up by 15% last year. The organisation set a target to reduce the 2006 figure of 0.65 hull losses per million flights to just 0.49 in 2008. But accidents in Indonesia quadrupled the Asia-Pacific region’s rate to 2.76, while Africa and Latin America showed only marginal improvements to 4.09 and 1.61 respectively. Brazil was the scene of the year’s worst accident, the TAM Airbus A320 overrun at Sao Paulo Congonhas in July, which resulted in nearly 200 fatalities. IATA points out that the overall number of fatalities fell by nearly a fifth, to 692, despite the number of accidents rising to 100

AAIB: Restriction to the fuel flow caused the uncommanded power reduction that led BA 777 to crash-land at Heathrow

Mon, 12 May 2008 17:00:00 GMT

AAIB: Restriction to the fuel flow appears to have caused the uncommanded power reduction that led a British Airways Boeing 777-200 to crash-land at Heathrow Restriction to the fuel flow between the fuel tanks and the engine fuel pumps appears to have caused the uncommanded power reduction that led a British Airways Boeing 777-200 to crash-land 300m short of the runway at London Heathrow airport on 17 January, according to a just-released Air Accident Investigation Branch interim statement. But the AAIB makes it clear it has, so far, found no evidence of a physical obstruction in the fuel lines, although there are signs that the fuel pressure at the inlet to the engine high pressure (HP) fuel pumps had dropped because the pumps showed signs of “unus

FAA mandates near-term A320 stabiliser inspections

Mon, 12 May 2008 12:00:00 GMT

The US Federal Aviation Administration has finalised an airworthiness directive for tailplane trim inspections after concerns about incorrect installations...

Single European Sky is born in Rome

Mon, 12 May 2008 12:00:00 GMT

After a long and painful gestation, the Single European Sky (SES) was born in Rome on 6 May. Nearly 500 people from the industrial and institutional partners...

FAA accelerates ERJ elevator gust lock fixes

Mon, 12 May 2008 08:00:00 GMT

The US Federal Aviation Administration has mandated that operators of certain twinjets in the Embraer ERJ-135 and ERJ-145 families replace mechanical elevator...

Kyrgyzstan bans ageing civil aircraft to improve safety

Wed, 07 May 2008 10:30:00 GMT

Kyrgyzstan’s Government has imposed restraints on the use of ageing civil aircraft in a drive to improve the country’s aviation safety. Under a decree signed yesterday by prime minister Igor Chudinov, aircraft built more than 40 years ago are banned from carrying out passenger services. In addition, no aircraft older than 30 years will be included in the national air register. From 2010 the maximum age of aircraft eligible for registration will be reduced to 25 years. A government spokesman says the move is designed to remove inadequacies in Kyrgyzstan’s air safety control system identified by experts from the European Commission (EC) and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). “One of them is a lack of airworthiness inspectors at the CAA and a glut of ageing aircraft in the air register. Following a recent audit, many of such aircr

NTSB: Double engine trouble disabled Beech 1900C in Southern Sudan

Tue, 06 May 2008 21:11:00 GMT

The US National Transportation Safety Board is reporting that “power loss in both engines” preceded the crash of a chartered Beech 1900C that crashed on Friday, killing both pilots and all 18 passengers on board, including Sudan defence minister Dominic Dim Deng.

Toxic fumes in airliner cabins ignored by authorities

Tue, 06 May 2008 16:00:00 GMT

Just how harmful are fumes in aircraft cabins? Mounting evidence suggests contaminants can threaten safety and cause chronic illness, yet many deny there is a problem

FAA mandates A320 stabilizer inspections

Fri, 02 May 2008 23:06:00 GMT

The US FAA has finalized an airworthiness directive (AD) first proposed in October, calling on operators of 721 US-registered Airbus A320-family aircraft to perform a one-time inspection of the aircraft’s trimmable horizontal stabilizer actuator (THSA).

Ukraine sees two fatal Mil Mi-8 helicopter crashes in a month

Fri, 02 May 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Ukraine has suffered two serious Mil Mi-8 helicopter crashes in just over a month. On 28 April, a 20 year-old Crimean State Aircraft Enterprise Universal-Avia...

Eurocontrol to simulate VLJ operations in European airspace

Thu, 01 May 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Eurocontrol is working to collate enough information about very light...

Indian air force grounds Hawk fleet following first crash

Thu, 01 May 2008 10:30:00 GMT

India's BAE Systems Hawk advanced jet trainers have been temporarily grounded, after one suffered extensive damage in a 29 April crash ...

Runway debris detection system takes aim at human error

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:00:00 GMT

An advanced foreign objects debris (FOD) detection system developed by Israeli company Xsight is being tested at...

Israel green lights majority of F-16I fleet after contamination

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:00:00 GMT

Israel has resumed normal operations with all but seven of its Lockheed Martin F-16I fighters, after completing tests aimed at tracing formaldehyde contamination ...

FAA calls for heightened 737 trim actuator vigilance

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:00:00 GMT

The US FAA wants operators of a wide variety of Boeing 737s to perform repetitive inspections, lubrications and repairs or overhauls to the horizontal stabilizer trim actuators on the aircraft to prevent possible loss-of-control accidents. FAA’s proposed airworthiness directive (AD), issued today, comes as a result of a Boeing design review and safety analysis of the trim units on all its aircraft following the January 2000 loss of an Alaska Airlines MD-83 and all 88 passengers and crew due to an improperly lubricated jackscrew. During Boeing’s review, one operator reported “extensive corrosion” of the primary load path ball bearings in the ballscrew assembly of the trim mechanism of a