FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1993
1993 - 0057.PDF
INTERNATIONAL Editorial Enquiries +44 (81) 652 3842 Editorial Fax +44 (81) 652 3840 Display Advertising +44 (81) 652 3315 Display Advertising Fax +44 (81) 652 8981 Classified Advertising +44 (81) 652 3816 Classified Advertising Fax +44 (81) 652 3279 Telex 892084 REEDBP G Subscriptions +44 (81) 649 7271 fax: +44 (81) 681 0753 Back issues (recent copies only) +44 (81) 652 3335 Picture Library +44 (81) 652 3427 Flight Directories +44 (707) 46952 USA Newstrade Sales Enquiries +1 (718) 392 7477 LONDON Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS, UK Editorial enquiries Editor Allan Winn Editor's PA Barbara Raine Deputy Editor Forbes Mulch News Editor Andrew Chuter Features Editor David Learmount Business Editor Kevin OToole Military Editor Mike Gaines Air Transport Editor Ian Goold +44 (81) 652 3842 +44 (81) 652 3882 +44 (81) 652 3882 +44 (81) 652 3852 +44 (81) 652 3843 +44 (81) 652 3845 +44 (81) 652 3835 +44 (81) 652 8809 +44 (81) 652 3834 Technology/Industry Editor Simon Elliott +44 (81) 652 3838 Databases Editor Torn Hamill +44 (81) 652 3096 Editorial Assistant Kale Sarslield +44 (81) 652 3842 Production Editor Chris Thornton +44 (81) 652 3850 Design Editor Mike Wells +44 (81) 652 3828 Layout Sub-editor Annabel Goddard +44 (81) 652 3848 Layout Sub-editor Jenny Long +44 (81) 652 3847 Technical Artist Tim Hall +44 (81) 652 8047 Technical Artist David Hatchard +44 (81) 652 8047 Technical Artist John Marsden +44 (81) 652 8054 Spaceflight Correspondent Tim Furniss +44 (237) 451756 Fax +44 (237) 451600 Photographer (Europe) Mark Wagner +44 (81) 944 5225 Display Advertisement Sales Sales Manager Clive Richardson +44 (81) 652 3315 Assistant Sales Manager Nick Wilcox +44 (81) 652 3892 Regional Manager Northern and Eastern Europe Mark Janaway+44 (81) 652 3317 Regional Manager UK and Scandinavia Janice Lowe +44 (81) 652 3316 Advertisement production Howard Mason +44 (81) 652 3267 EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST European Editor (Brussels) Julian Moxon +32 (2) 657 9689 Fax +32 (2) 657 5260 Munich Correspondent Douglas Barrie +49 (89) 689 1041 Fax +49 (89) 689 1045 Paris Correspondent Gilbert Sedbon +33 (1) 4825 5261 Israel Correspondent Arie Egozi +972 (3) 967 1155 Moscow Correspondent Alexander Velovich+7 (095) 393 4717 Fax +7 (095) 393 4717 Sales Director (France) Pierre Mussard +33 (1) 46 Representative (Italy) Romano Ferrario +39 (2)! 29 46 29 8084 302 AMERICAS American Editor Graham Warwick +1 (404) Fax +1 (404) Washington Correspondent Kieran Daly +1 (703) Fax +1 (703) USA West Coast Correspondent (Los Angeles) Guy Norris +1 (714) Fax +1 (714) Photographer (USA) Craig Schmitman +1 (310) Fax +1 (310) President RBP (USA) Ray Barnes +1 (212) Traffic Manager JoAnn Lapp +1 (212) Fax +1 (212) Vice President US Sales John Tidy +1 (714) Fax +1 (714) Sales Director (Mid West and Canada) Gene Glendinning+1 (708) Fax +1 (708) Sales Director (East Coast) Robert Hancock +1 (703) Fax +1 (703) Business Development Director Sheena Robbins +1 (703) Fax +1 (703) 587 2927 594 1534 836 7443 836 8344 252 8971 252 8972 452 4464 452 3515 867 2080 867 2080 687 6604 756 1057 756 2514 635 9920 635 0602 836 7444 836 7446 ASIA/PACIFIC Asian Editor (Singapore) John Bailey +65 226 3188 Fax +65 227 1769 Australian Correspondent Paul Phelan +61 (70) 532 791 Fax +61 (70) 532 791 Sales Director Mike Hancock (Singapore) Account Manager Fiona Bartholomeusz Regional Representative (Japan) Shoichi Maruyama +65 226 3188 +65 226 3188 Fax +65 223 6960 +31 (3) 3234 2161 Fax +81 (3) 3234 1143 Publisher Les Edwards +44 (81) 652 3436 For full advertisement information see page 76. COMMENT SINGULAR INCONSISTENCY T ransport Canada's announcement that it will allow single-turboprop aircraft to be used on full commercial operations at night and in instrument mete orological conditions^ (IMC) will be largely welcomed by operators, because it is logical. The same announcement should be viewed with dismay by the rest of the industry, however, because its implementa tion internationally is equally illogical. The rules being for mulated by Transport Canada are full of good sense (turbine conver sions are ruled out, strict proven engine reliability criteria set and dupli cated/extra back-up sys tems demanded) and address most of the po tential worries about sin- gle-engined operation. The reliability of air craft systems in general — and of turboprop en gines in particular — has made quantum leaps since the various existing bans on night/IMC pas senger operations with turboprop singles were posted, and the new proposals reflect this. The certification authorities in Canada and (imminently) Australia have satisfied themselves that the operational record of the purpose- designed single turboprops, such as the Cessna Caravan I, Aerospatiale TBM.700 and Pilatus PC-6, justifies a loosening of the shackles which have constrained their economic use. That is fine. Those authorities have based their assess ments on the use of these aircraft in some of the harshest and most demanding operational con ditions in the world. The authorities concerned have enormous experience and admirably high standards, and certainly would not have enter tained such a move without a great deal of consideration. The trouble is that the certification authorities under whose jurisdiction those aircraft are designed and built (the Federal Aviation Admin istration and the Joint Airworthiness Authorities (JAA)) so far do not share the confidence exhibited by the Canadians and Australians that this is a sound move. (Indeed, the JAA seems set on a diametrically opposed course, as it is proposing to tighten the rules governing the use It is difficult to believe that an aircraft becomes inherently less safe when flown in the USA than it is in Canada." of single-engined aircraft in night/IMC condi tions to the point where such operations may be banned altogether.) This is yet another example of an international industry failing to act in a consistent international manner. In this age of reliable, fast communication, all the relevant authorities have — or can have — access to the same data, and are able to share experience if the will is there. Yet, on the basis of the evidence which each has chosen to consider, Transport Canada and the Australian CAA have decided to liberalise sin gle-engined operations; the FAA has decided to start building a database of accident records for those types as a prelude to (presumably) liberal ised rule-making; and the JAA is proposing fur ther restrictions. It is difficult to believe that an aircraft becomes inherently less safe when flown south of the 49th parallel than it is when flown north of it, yet that is what this situa tion implies. It is diffi cult to believe that the certification authorities in Canada and Australia are more impulsive and less responsible than those in the USA or in Europe, yet that is the implication. It is difficult to believe that the same basic data can suggest to one authority that an aircraft is more reliable than was at first thought, and to another that it is less so, yet that is the implication. There has been a trend in the last few years for the major certification authorities to move (albeit cautiously) towards a common approach leading, eventually, to common international certification. Such moves can only be applauded, for the sake of the manufacturers who now have to submit to pointless, expensive and time- consuming duplication of national certification, and for the sake of the operators who, in the end, have to bear the cost of that duplication. Rarely has there been a case of such transpar ent inconsistency as this one over turboprop singles. Rarely has there been a more clear-cut need for the international authorities to agree to a co-ordinated and common approach, on a common timescale, than this. It is not too late for them to do so. D FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 20 - 26 January, 1993
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
