FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1991
1991 - 2994.PDF
MR TRANSPORT Small airlines less safe, claims Lufthansa study BY DAVID LEARMOUNT IN SINGAPORE Small airlines have a higher accident rate on average than large ones, according to a study presented by Lufthansa's general manager, flight operations in spection and safety pilot, Heino Caesar, to a Flight Safety Foun dation meeting in Singapore. Caesar's study says that the worst safety combination is an airline with between one. and five aircraft based in South America or Africa operating an airfreight flight "...in less well regulated airspace, under severe monetary confinements, unable to pay professionally experi enced personnel maintaining their often old aircraft at the absolute minimum and operat ing in hostile weather and to pography". He points out that "...three African crashes in 1990 were exemplary: all aircraft belonged to small companies, all were old Boeing 707s and all were freight ers". In general, says Caesar, "...the loss rate of the freighter fleets is out of all proportion to their risk exposure". A detailed study of South America showed that the big carriers there "...had a safety record comparable with compa nies of other regions". Looking at carriers worldwide over the last 30 years and relat ing their losses to their 1988 fleet sizes "...the smaller the fleet, the higher the accident percentage. Companies with more than 100 aircraft and with a nominal high risk exposure produced the same number of accidents as companies with up to ten jets. Companies with 51- 100 aircraft had the 'normal' loss rate, which corresponded with their risk exposure," says the study. Looking at other areas, surviv ability has increased during the 1980s, says Caesar. Cabin im provements were a factor, the report says, "...but the real rea son... is impressively simple: it is the reduction of the usually un- survivable approach accident, controlled flight into terrain". The major factor here is the installation of ground proximity warning systems, says the report. Caesar believes that if, as ex pected, there is to be a higher percentage of automatic ap proaches and better calibrated airport equipment, "...then our highest loss-producer regarding fatalities will shift worldwide [from the approach and landing] to the take-off phase". The Lufthansa report says that blame for 75% of airframe losses in the 1980s went to aircrew, 13% to the technical system and 12% to the working environ ment. For 1990, the respective figures were 61%, 22% and 17%. In the 1980s, the most com mon pilot error was incorrect decisions for which, says the report, the information was available to make the correct decision. • NEWS IN BRIEF LCAC MAINTENANCE Lockheed Commercial Air craft Centre (LCAC), a com mercial aircraft maintenance centre owned jointly by Lock heed Aircraft Services and Japan Airlines, has been opened officially at Norton AFB in California. The two- bay site will double in size in 1994 when the US Air Force moves out of Norton. FIRST SAA A320 South African Airways (SAA) has received the first of seven Airbus Industrie A320s. Three other aircraft are due to be delivered to SAA before the end of the month, with two more to follow in August 1992 and one in September 1993. The South African flag- carrier also has options on a further seven. Sundstrand King Air acts as GPWS testbed FAA makes regional GPWS compulsory The US Federal Aviation Ad ministration (FAA) is ex pected to mandate ground- proximity warning systems (GPWS) for Federal Aviation Regulation Part 135 regional air craft within the next month. The ruling, which was cov ered by an FAA notice of pro posed rule-making in 1990, will affect up to 800 regional aircraft, including the Beech King Air and 1900, British Aerospace Jet stream 31, Saab 340, Embraer Bandeirante and Brasilia and other aircraft such as the BAe Jetstream 41 and Dornier Do.328. Like the application of windshear- and conflict-alert systems, the ruling might influ ence non-US operations con trolled by the Joint Air worthiness Authorities. Sundstrand Data Control is developing a new Mk VI GPWS. Other possible bidders include Collins (a ground-proximity ad visory system) and Kollsman (terrain-advisory system). Sundstrand expects the GPWS requirement to be implemented over a two-year period "...with half the fleet required to be fitted by the end of the first year", according to senior flight- safety systems marketing man ager Drew Blazey. Company statistics for 1972-87 show that the risk of an FAR Part 135 controlled-flight-into-terrain ac cident is 100 times greater than for larger FAR Part 121 opera tions. The Sundstrand system will be "around 60% of the cost of the latest Part 121 GPWS equiva lents, and 40% of the cost of earlier Mk II systems", says Blazey. The Mk VI operates in six modes: excessive descent-rate alert/warning, excessive closure- rate to terrain, alert to descent after take-off, alert to insuffi cient terrain clearance, alert to inadvertent descent below glide- slope and altitude call-outs and bank-angle alert. Sundstrand has optimised the system to commuter-type opera tions by re-shaping the "pull-up" warning envelope. It has also refined the system to delete un wanted warnings by reducing glideslope and terrain-clearance floor limits, which will now trigger warnings at altitudes down to 750ft (230m) above ground level (AGL) on approach or to 925ft AGL with the instru ment-landing system acquired. Manual functions have been added to modulate Mode 1, 2 and 4 warning envelopes, to minimise the chance of false warnings due to flapless land ings or other operational needs, landing at "problem" airports with unique terrain features and incompatible terrain clearance required by ATC or approved approach/departure procedures. Precision Airlines is preparing to work on three modifications covering the Fairchild Metro, Beech 1900/9 and Dornier Do.228. Sundstrand is working on a Mk VI installation in the BAe Jetstream 41 and its own King Air testbed. D FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 20 - 26 November. 1991
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
