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Aviation History
1991
1991 - 0015.PDF
OPERATIONS: AIR TRANSPORT Hughes has won a S5.8 million contract to supply TracView to Germany German restructuring centres on Berlin ATC BY JULIAN MOXON IN BRUSSELS Germany is to build new air traffic control (ATC) cen tres in Berlin, Munich, and Frankfurt and modernise exist ing centres at Bremen and Dus- seldorf in a major airspace re organisation. The cost of the improvements, made necessary by huge increases in traffic, is put at "hundreds of millions" of Deutschmarks. A new ATC system has be come a priority at Berlin where the situation has been described by the European Civil Aviation Conference, as a "potential dis aster". Traffic has doubled since unification and further major rises are expected in the second quarter of 1991. Until the new system is built, traffic will continue to be han dled, with civilian help, by Ber lin's former governing powers, the UK, the USA and France. The new centres will not be completed for at least three years. A new high-speed digital datalink connecting radars with flight data processing systems throughout Germany will also take about three years to com plete. "The problem is that we can't begin using the system until everything is built and con- 'nected," says the German minis try of transport. Until then, data will continue to be exchanged by telephone. Berlin's upper area control centre will be built at Schoen- feld Airport. The new Munich 2 Airport, due to open late 1992, will host Munich's upper area control centre. Frankfurt's will be built at the existing airport. Upper area control in former East German airspace will be handled by the US Air Force radar at Berlin until new or modernised radars are installed at Leipzig and Dresden, which has a new Polish AVIA-D radar but needs a secondary surveil lance radar. The German procurement agency has already ordered 36 Hughes TracView systems for installation mainly in eastern Germany. The $5.8 million order will provide real-time, full-colour digitised displays fed by multiple radars. Once connected into the ex isting German Flight Data Proc essing System, TracView will provide automated identifica tion/beacon code correlation and networked beacon code al location. Seven TracView systems will be installed at Leipzig, three at Dresden and two at Saarbrucken. The three sites are scheduled to be operational by the end of March 1991. The other 24 systems will be in stalled in five additional towers, approach control units and a training centre, and should be operating TracView by the mid dle of 1991. • Safety deadlii Operators of almost 3,000 Boeing airliners have been given a year to comply with a new Federal Aviation Admini stration (FAA) ageing-aircraft airworthiness directive (AD) re quiring the implementation of Boeing's ageing-aircraft corro sion-prevention and control (CPC) programme in their own maintenance schedules. About 1,710 Boeing 727s, 595 Boeing 737s, 400 707/720s and 284 747s are affected, of which 1,514 are US-registered. The FAA estimates that air craft inspections, varying from 1,000 to 4,750 manhours/ aircraft, will cost $38,000- $188,000 each, depending on type. Each Boeing model re quires inspection for corrosion in about 120 separate areas. Total cost to the US fleet is put at $118 million, with 727s do minating the accounts at more than $90 million. FAA proposals published four months ago drew widespread criticism because they went fur ther than recommendations made by the Airworthiness As surance Task Force (AATF), an industry-wide group studying the implications of ageing air craft. The FAA considers that the objections arose from a mi sunderstanding of the AATF's role. "As an advisory committee, it provided invaluable assistance in providing guidance on the technical content of the CPC NEWS IN B RIEF BA TO BERLIN British Airways plans direct daily services between Bir mingham and Berlin from March. BA already flies to six German cities from . the UK Midlands. SAS TO VIETNAM SAS plans to lease a Boeing 767 to Vietnam Airlines Tor operations between Bangkok and Vietnam. The Scan dinavian airline is awafting formal US approval, since'an embargo "makes it impossi ble for Vietnam to acquire its own Western aircraft". ie for Boeings programme...However, the FAA has gone beyond the recom mendations...to ensure that op erators will be aware of the specific actions for which they will be held accountable and to enable it to...ensure compli ance." Many comments on the pro posed rules sought to reduce the apparent conservatism in herent in the FAA ageing- aircraft proposals. For example, the Air Transport Association of America requested flexibility to adjust maintenance programmes without seeking FAA approval, following the style of the 1984 supplemental structural inspec tion document (SSID). The FAA acknowledges the document's similarity in requir ing complex revision of main tenance procedures, but points to several significant differ ences: the SSID programme is a sampling/monitoring tool to highlight the need for other AD action, while the "self-con tained" CPC work addresses corrective action required when problems are discovered. SSlDs detect fatigue problems, but the CPC action is to maintain ac ceptable corrosion levels, says the FAA. The agency argues that fatigue problems are indepen dent of operational environ ment, whereas corrosion is not. • The French airworthiness regulation authority has issued mandatory notices covering structural defects and corrosion prevention/control on older Air bus aircraft. Some 248 A300B2 and B4 aircraft are subject to modification or inspection for cracks because of metal fatigue, or for wear and corrosion. Modifications, described by Airbus as "essentially local structural reinforcement", re quire kits costing about $6,000 and up to 350 man-hours for installation per aircraft. Inspec tions will take about 65 man- hours/aircraft. All operators are required to adopt Airbus' corrosion-preven tion and control programme, which now includes additional inspections to those previously recommended in the manufac turer's maintenance planning document. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 2 - 8 January, 1991 13
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