Ilyushin manufacturer to join oak
MERGER Uzbekistan's manufacturer of Ilyushin types, Tashkent Aviation Production Organisation, is to come under the umbrella of Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (OAK) following a fresh inter-governmental agreement. The two sides will draft a detailed plan for incorporating TAPO after carrying out the audit and evaluation of its assets. They aim to complete this work by next year, but Russian first deputy prime minister Sergey Ivanov says there is already a common vision of the plant's product range and role within the framework of OAK: "Apart from structural components for Ilyushin Il-76 freighters, it will manufacture Il-114 twin-turboprops in passenger and cargo variants." The Uzbekistan government owns 51% of the airframer and has over the past few years tried unsuccessfully to sell a specially allocated 25% stake in the enterprise.
LAN plans largest latin America 787 order
ORDER Chile's LAN Airlines plans to buy 26 Boeing 787s and lease six more in a potential deal valued at $3.2 billion. The proposal would mark the largest order of 787s in Latin America, beating Avianca's previously announced order for 10 787s, says Boeing.
United and Delta Florida near-collision probe
INCIDENT The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a near-miss between a United Airlines Airbus A320 and a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 that took place last week on a runway at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. The United aircraft missed a turn onto a taxiway and rolled onto a parallel active runway just as the Delta flight was attempting to land, says the FAA. Tower controllers saw the situation developing and ordered the Delta flight to abort the landing, it adds. The Delta aircraft overflew United flight 1544 by about 100 feet and landed on another runway.
Airbus hands over final A300
DELIVERY Airbus has delivered the last A300 model, to US freight carrier FedEx, completing a programme which has covered orders for 561 aircraft. Last year the company said it would close its A300 and A310 production lines once the final aircraft, an A300-600F, was delivered. This is the first time that Airbus has discontinued one of its models. The A300 was the airframer's first product, first flying in 1972 and entering service with Air France in 1974. The company still has an outstanding order for five A310s, from Iraqi Airways, on its books.
NTSB: Smoke preceded fatal Cessna 310 crash
ACCIDENT US National Transportation Safety Board investigators say the pilot of a Cessna 310 that crashed into a Florida house shortly after take-off on 10 July reported smoke in the cockpit and declared an emergency after climbing 1,814m (6,000ft) en route from Daytona to Lakeland, Florida. Controllers cleared the Cessna for an emergency landing at Orlando Sanford International airport, although the aircraft did not appear to be in a landing configuration when it hit trees and ploughed into two houses several miles from the airport approximately two minutes later. Both men onboard the aircraft and three people on the ground were killed. Several other inhabitants of the houses needed hospital treatment.
Source: Flight International
