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Aviation History
1992
1992 - 0294.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT SAA looks to long-range future Alitalia crash was caused by known ILS short fault The US National Transporta tion Safety Board (NTSB) believes that an avionics fault identified six years earlier may have contributed to the fatal crash of an Alitalia DC-9. In a safety recommendation to the US Federal Aviation Admini stration, the Board says the car rier's pilots were unaware of the potential problem. A final Swiss Government re port is due in March on the accident at Zurich on 14 No vember 1990. The Swiss Bureau d'Enquete sur les Accidents Aviation says: "It completely agrees with the NTSB findings and the recommendation is al ready in our preliminary report." The report has already gone out to interested parties. The DC-9-32 crashed into a hill 8km (5nm) from Zurich- Kloten airport during a night instrument landing system (ILS) approach during heavy rain. It was about 900ft below the cor rect altitude. The NTSB says that a short circuit condition in the VOR/ILS system could result in "zero deviation" indications on both the glideslope and localiser nee dles with no failure warning flags being triggered. Furthermore, the faulty sys tem would prevent the autopilot and ground proximity warning system (GPWS) from receiving deviation signals. Consequently, the autopilot would continue to operate ac cording to the "...previously es tablished crew inputs"; the GPWS would not be triggered; and the flight director and hori zontal situation indicator would remain centred. The NTSB notes that, al though the crew could be ex pected to use different naviga tion receivers as a cross-check, they then might switch to the same, malfunctioning receiver if it appeared to be accurate. Douglas first warned about the possibility of a short to ground causing the problem in All Operators Letters in July and August 1984. • BY IAN GOOLD IN JOHANNESBURG South African Airways (SAA) is considering its long-term aircraft replacement needs, as the country works out new air transport policies in the light of recession and the removal of trade sanctions by a large num ber of countries. A new international aviation policy may be formalised in the next two to three months, while transport minister Piet Wel- gemoed has hinted that a third domestic airline could be flying before 1993. State-owned SAA has faced competition from the Airbus A320-equipped Flitestar (the former Trek Airways) on inter nal routes since October 1991. SAA executive manager Dr Theons Kruger, who is in charge of capital and engineering pro ject planning, says that a num ber of potential new SAA destinations await a decision, and that unprofitable routes will be severed in the drive for more efficiency. The carrier is evolv ing its structure as it goes through a "commercialisation" period before privatisation. Decisions on new aircraft are not expected until the second half of the year, when SAA needs to choose long-haul aircraft to enter service after 1995. The airline must also decide whether to buy aircraft of less than 100- seats to compete with Flitestar. Only the Boeing 747 was used for long-haul, it having the range to reach London without flying over Africa — a political requirement until recently. Some 84% of SAA's interna tional traffic is generated on services to London, Frankfurt, Zurich and Lisbon. SAA receives 60% of its revenue from interna tional business, which repre sents only 10% of its total 4.7m- passenger traffic. Kruger says that future long- haul capacity may be provided by a mix of types. He emphasises the airline's particular need for long-range operations originat ing from Johannesburg's hot- and-high location. SAA says the arrival of several new international carriers to South Africa will reduce its mar ket share, but argues that the market must grow as a result of greater rival marketing. Since the lifting of sanctions a number of carriers, including Cathay Pacific, Austrian Air lines, China Airlines, Egyptair and Kenya Airlines, have started services to South Africa. SAA has, meanwhile, opened routes to Australia, USA, Italy, Greece and African nations. On its regional routes to other African countries and offshore islands, SAA expects to intro duce Airbus A300s, which may have been replaced on domestic services by A320s. • Fokker tries to woo regional jet team Fokker is attempting to con clude talks with Deutsche Airbus, Deutsche Aerospace (DASA) and Canadair in a bid to complete a launch consortium for the Fokker 70 regional jet. The Germans and the Cana dians face a conflict of interest with their plans to build their own regional jets — the former in partnership with Alenia and Aerospatiale. A decision from Canadair and DASA on the position of its Deutsche Airbus subsidiary within the Fokker 70 team is needed within the next few weeks to allow Fokker to launch the aircraft in time to meet its proposed availability. According to Deutsche Airbus, "...there are still negotiations going on between DASA, Deutsche Airbus and Fokker". Fokker says: "There's a time table in which we have to launch the aircraft to make it available in the second half of 1994." Although it would give no date, Fokker admits that this is Canadair is talking to fokker but continuing to study a stretched RJ within "the next few weeks". The company adds: "It's up to them [Deutsche Airbus/DASA] to decide. They are in the Fok ker 100 programme, so we have close and regular contacts." It admits that if DASA does not allow Deutsche Airbus to take part in the Fokker 70 pro ject, then it will have to find a replacement." It declines, however, to dis cuss other possible partners and says: "As long as the Germans have not said yes or no we will not speculate on alternatives." Deutsche Airbus manufactures large fuselage sections for the Fokker 100 at its Elbe Flug- zeugwerke plant in Dresden. Canadair, part of Bombardier, confirms it is also having talks with Fokker but says that it is continuing to study the possibil ity of building a stretched ver sion of its 50-seat Regional Jet. Shorts Brothers, another Bom bardier subsidiary, already builds the wings for the Fokker 100 on which the Fokker 70 would be based. • 8 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 12 - 18 February, 1992
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