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Aviation History
1997
1997 - 0062.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT NEWS IN BRIEF • CARGO BAN Chemical oxygen-generators are now banned permanently as cargo on US passenger air lines, according to a new US Department of Transport ation ruling. The Federal Aviation Administration had already put a temporary ban on such cargo since it was determined that a fire caused by oxygen generators was the likely cause of the 11 May, 1996, Valujet McDonnell Douglas DC-9 crash, in which 110 peple died. • UZBEK CONFIRMS RJ BUY Uzbekistan Airways has con firmed its order with Aero International (Regional) for three Avro RJ85s (Flight In ternational, 18-31 December, 1996). They will be delivered in 1997 for regional, domes tic and international routes. UPS is first to have all-Stage 3 fleet UPS AIRLINES HAS become the first major North Am erican carrier to operate an entire fleet complying with Stage 3 noise limits, with the re-engineing of die last of its 51 Boeing 727-100QF freighters. The package carrier says that it has complied with Stage 3 regula tions three years ahead of the 31 December, 1999, deadline. UPS says that it is now the largest airline in die world with a totally Stage 3 fleet. In addition to the 51 727-100QFs which have been re-engined with Rolls-Royce Tay turbofans, the parcels carrier operates eight hushkitted 727- 200s, 49 CFM56-powered Mc Donnell Douglas DC-8-71/73s, 14 Boeing 747-100s, 60 757-200s andl5 767-300s. Re-engineing the 72 7-100s has cost UPS more than $500 million, but was required because die air craft are used mainly for night operations. Four of the Tay-pow- ered 727 Quiet Freighters are being fitted with convertible interi ors for weekend passenger-charter services planned by die carrier. • Kenya ponders regional revamp MAX KINGSLEY-JONES/LONDON KENYA AIRWAYS is evaluat ing a switch to an-all jet-airlin er fleet which could involve its Fokker 50s being replaced by Boeing 737s in the interim, before a longer-term decision is made on a new regional jet. The airline has asked Aircraft Leasing and Management (ALM) of the UK to remarket a package which includes its three Fokker 50s and a large spares inventory. Kenya's managing director, Brian Davies, says that a firm deci sion has not been taken to dispose of the Fokkers, but the airline is examining the market. "We are considering an all-jet fleet for regional operations, but this will be governed by whether we receive significant interest, at the right price, for the Fokker 50s." If this is the case, Davies says that the Fokker 50s would be replaced in the short term by the two leased Boeing 737-200s which otherwise would be returned to GPA with the arrival of the airline's two new Boeing 737-300s in March and May 1997. The 737-200s would be used for around a year or so, after which a long-term decision regard ing the acquisition of a new type will be taken. "We are examining the options now...it would be too late once die 73 7-200s have gone," says Davies. The Fokker 50s, which are between six and eight years old, are used primarily on domestic services from Nairobi to Mombasa, Kisumu and Malindi, as well as to Zanzibar and Entebbe, in Uganda. Davies says that the airline will need a smaller aircraft than die 737-300 in the longer term to replace the Fokkers, but whether this would be die 73 7-500 or a regional jet has not been decided. • Australia considers making GPWS compulsory AUSTRALIA'S Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has begun industry consultation on proposed new standards for the installation of ground-proximity- warning systems (GPWS) on Australian commercial aircraft. The move to adopt the International Civil Aviation Or ganisation (ICAO) approved stan dards follows a coroner's re commendation after the crash of a third-level airline's Piper Chieftain in 1993. Although the coroner found that a GPWS would not have prevent ed the accident, he recommended that CASA, in consultation with the Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI), investigate whether all aircraft involved in reg ular public-transport operations should be fitted with either a GPWS or a radar altimeter. Only turbine-engined aircraft above 15,000kg maximum take-off weight (MTOW), or carrying more than 30 passengers, are required to be GPWS-equipped in Australia. Adoption of the pro posed ICAO standard would either affect about 300 turbine aircraft of 36 different types of over 5,700kg MTOW, or all aircraft authorised to carry more than nine passengers. Fitting the system would be com pulsory before 1 January, 1999. Australia has recorded three fatal controlled-flight-into-terrain accidents over the past ten years in low-passenger capacity scheduled aircraft, with a loss of 15 lives. BASI investigations have found that use of a GPWS may have prevented these accidents. • Caravans make Costa Rican journeys SANSA, THE DOMESTIC REGIONAL-AIRLINE DIVISION of Costa Rica's LACSA Airlines, has taken delivery of its first four Cessna Grand Caravans. The four aircraft will replace some of the older turboprops in SANSA's fleet. According to die chief executive of LACSA's parent company, El Salvador-based TACA Group, Federico Bloch, the Caravans will togedier "...make multiple daily passenger runs to 13 destinations". 8 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 8 - 14 January 1997
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