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Aviation History
1978
1978 - 0272.PDF
482 FLIGHT International, 25 February 1778 W rid news Cypriots and Egyptians clash over hijacked jet AT LEAST ten Egyptian commandos are reported to have been killed by Greek Cypriot troops at Larnaca Air port on February 19 as they attempted to storm a hijacked Cyprus Airways DC-8 in an "Entebbe-style" operation. After the 50min battle between the Cypriots and Egyptians, the two Arab terrorists aboard the aircraft gave up their 15 hostages and surrendered to the Cypriot authorities. The terrorists had commandeered the aircraft and its four crew mem bers on February 18 after seizing 11 EASTERN AIRLINES will not buy Airbus A300s unless it can fly the aircraft non-stop from New York LaGuardia to Houston with full pas sengers and baggage, according to chairman Frank Borman. Eastern is pushing hard for an early solution to the problem posed by LaGuardia's weak taxiways and the high loadings imposed by the A300 landing gear. BRITISH and Malaysian negotiators will meet later this month for renewed discussions on Concorde overflights, banned by Malaysia since the beginning of December. It is reported that the British Government has agreed in principle to an expansion of Malaysian Airline System subsonic SUPERSONIC overflights of the Indian mainland by Concorde will not be per mitted while supersonic flights are banned over Europe, according to Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Mr Desai's statement represents a return to a policy stated last year by the Indian Government. The British and Indian Govern ments reopened the question of a supersonic corridor across India AIR-INDIA chairman J. R. D. Tata has been replaced as head of the carrier by Air Marshal P. C. Lai, who will also be chairman of mainly domestic Indian Airlines. Mr Tata founded Tata Airlines in 1932; it was renamed Air-India in 1946 and was nationalised in 1953. hostages in a raid on a conference in Nicosia, during which an Egyptian journalist was killed. The aircraft was flown to Djibouti, but requests to Libya and Algeria for landing permis sion were denied and the aircraft re turned to Larnaca. According to Cypriot sources, the terrorists had agreed to surrender when an Egyptian Air Force &130 arrived at Larnaca "supposedly carry ing an Egyptian Government minis ter." Approximately 60 commandos disembarked from the aircraft and New taxiing procedures will alleviate the problem and could in crease the permissible maximum weight from 268,0001b to 290,0001b, but this is still 10,0001b-20,0001b short of the weights which Eastern wants. The airline is prepared to wait three or four years for the taxiways to be improved, but wants a firm com mitment before it buys the A300. flights to London, and that the Malay sians have agreed to treat Concorde overflights separately from subsonic traffic. It is now hoped that the Lon don-Singapore service, jointly operated by British Airways and Singapore Airlines, will be resumed by the end of the month. following talks between Mr Desai and British Prime Minister James Callag- han in January. It was then pro posed that the British Government should pay compensation for any damage caused by booms. India has now returned to its earlier, tougher line. A detour around the south of India results in time and payload penalties on flights between Bahrain and Singapore. It is not expected that a merger be tween the two State airlines will follow now that they share a chair man. However, it is hoped that the two airlines will now work in a more co-ordinated manner, and a merger is on the cards as a possibility in the longer-term future. attempted to storm the DC-8; small- arms fire passed through the cabin and punctured fuel tanks, fortunately without wounding the hostages. Cypriot National Guardsmen halted the attack on the DC-8 and then ad vanced on the C-130, which was des troyed by an anti-tank rocket. Casual ties on the Cypriot side are said to have totalled seven wounded. A Cypriot Government statement attacked the Egyptians for acting "without the permission and consent of the Cyprus Government." No CF6s for the Soviet Union GENERAL ELECTRIC has abandoned its plan to sell 12 GF6-50 turbofans to the Soviet Union. The company says that it has withdrawn its application for a US export licence after being told that the application would not be approved. The Soviet Union wanted the pilot batch of engines to power the proto types of a new long-haul wide-body derived from the Hyushin IL-86. There was no question of licence production, and GE hoped that the Soviet Union would buy production engines from the USA. Both the State and Defence Depart ments are understood to have raised objections to the sale, based on the dangers of transfer of military tech nology. The proposed deal was also opposed in Congress. The 11-86 is a possible basis for a new tanker air craft, and the Antonov An-40 mili tary transport could also use the General Electric powerplant. First Trident missile failure on launch No 11 LOCKHEED'S Trident submarine- launched ballistic missile failed for the first time last week. This follows a series of ten successful test flights from Cape Canaveral. When the 11th round was launched from the same pad at 4.30 p.m. EST on February 14 the first of its three solid-propellant stages burned normally, sending the missile well downrange. The failure came in the second stage, but engineers analysing the telemetry records from the flight have not yet established what went wrong. Trident had an explosion problem during earlier ground tests, but this was quickly ruled out as a possible cause. The missile landed far out into the Atlantic, causing no damage. LaGuardia-Houston route is the key to Eastern Airlines A300 purchase Far East Concorde breakthrough . . . . . . but Indian ban is on again Air-India chairman replaced
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