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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 0840.PDF
OPERATIONS: AIR TRANSPORT UK sets human factors tests UK applicants for professional pilot licences will be exam ined in "human performance and limitations" from April next year. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) says that candidates for Basic Commercial Pilot Licences upwards will first be examined on the subject in April 1991, and from January 1992 a pass will be required for the issue of the licence. Training courses for instruc tors are being run at Cranfield College of Aeronautics in May and December 1990. The new syllabus follows an International Civil Aviation Organisation ruling which will also apply to private pilots from 1992. The CAA says that the syllabus covers "... basic aviation physi ology and health maintenance; basic aviation psychology; stress, fatigue and their management; and the social psychology and ergonomics of the flightdeck. • Swissair's MD-lls now a year late Swissair will not be able to put its McDonnell Douglas MD- 1 Is into service for at least a year, having planned to operate them commercially from next month. The delivery schedule will be reviewed when Swissair meets McDonnell Douglas (MDC) next month, but the first aircraft is not expected to arrive before the very end of 1990. Training and opera tional requirements are certain to delay service entry further, but the MD-11 will be in service "when the [1991] summer time table starts". The airline says that certifica tion problems are causing the delay; it has leased an SAS DC-10 to help solve capacity problems. Planning its future short-haul fleet is high on Swissair's agenda. Candidates are the Airbus Industrie A320/A321 and MDC's MD-90. The aircraft will even tually replace Swissair's MD-80s, and a decision is expected by "mid-year". • BA order awaits 767-x details British Airways has put back its TriStar/DC-10 replace ment decision yet again to await the firm Boeing 767-X specifica tion, on which it is one of the consultant airlines. Other contenders for the order are an Airbus Industrie A330/ A340 package and the Mc Donnell Doublas MD-11. "We expect to place an order later this year, but we need all the perfor mance data and specifications before the order is placed," says chief executive Sir Colin Marshall. His forecast is for the third quarter, but he says that there will be further delay if the com plete offer packages are not all then available. Since MDC and Airbus can present that data now, the figures awaited are Boeing's. Seattle hopes to launch the aircraft by the year's end. Orders from standard-setters like BA must be secured before Boeing can make a firm launch decision. If launched, the 767-X will be named 777. As a prestige customer, BA is well-placed to strike a first-class deal from three bidding manu facturers. BA does not need the aircraft until 1995, according to Marshall, allowing the Boeing 767-X/777 to bid on equal terms, because it could become avail able that year. The winners of the airframe and engine com petitions will be "whoever pro vides the most attractive deal," says Marshall. Rolls-Royce has been the choice on all BA's 747s and 767s to date. BA is specifying a 260-300- seater—"and more [seats] in a short-haul configuration"— to operate economically both London-Paris and London-US west coast. • Australian carries more with fewer pilots Australian Airlines' com- XVplement of pilots has almost halved since last year's mass resignations began. It says that it will be hiring no more than a further 60. The state-owned carrier claims to be providing 150,0000 seats a week with 280 pilots, represent ing a slight capacity increase over the same time last year. General manager marketing and corporate affairs Geoff Dixon says that the schedule is being achieved thanks to dra matic pilot productivity gains. He explains: "Previously we had people hardly working at all. We had a seniority system whereby many of the most senior people were able to bid and not work many hours, so that some worked 250 to 300 hours a year. At the same time there were Airbus captains on A$ 100,000 ($83,000). "Under the new contract everyone must work 55 hours a month and they get overtime above that. The 280 we have got will get us through to the end of the year, but we will be recruit ing for another 50 to 60 later this year, which will take us to a final pilot force of 340." Dixon says that the airline has rehired between 120 and 125 former employees, a number of first officers from its general- aviation activities and the rest from abroad. He confirms that, in pure cash terms, the wage pack- I 8 8 III •(• ••••• AUSTRALIAN ^ i Australian—slimmed down and ready for a sell-off? age is almost equal to that which the pilots' union was demanding. Australian says that only cap tains were recruited from over seas and only those from Braniff and Vacationair of Canada were out of a job at the time. Dixon claims that three out of four applicants were rejected. Other captains included Americans flying A300s for Japan Air System, staff from Pan Am and Continental, and some from elsewhere in the USA, Asia and Middle East. Australian is now operating with 23 of its own aircraft and nine wet leases due to be re turned by 26 April. In the lead-up to deregulation in November, Australian is plan ning to run more direct services bypassing congested Sydney, but expects that only one of the new- start carriers—Compass—will be ready to operate by then. This week the Australian gen eral election could see the Lib erals return to power. The party proposes privatising Australian and Qantas and might offer" the former limited Pacific and New Zealand routes. The manage ment believes that, in any case, the existing Labour government will eventually sell it off. D K FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 21-27 March 1990
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