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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 0661.PDF
flight.international@rbi.co.uk Letters Diary Flight International welcomes letters on any aspect of the aerospace industry. Please write to: The Editor, Flight International, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5AS, UK. The opinions on this page do not necessarily represent those of the editor. Flight International cannot publish letters without name and address and reserves the right to select or edit letters. SAFETY Negligence must not go unnoticed I am amazed that there has been no further coverage than a marginal footnote in the 5- II February issue of Flight International on the China Airlines near-disaster in Anchorage, Alaska, on 25 January at 02:43. As a Boeing 747-400 pilot myself, and being familiar with this airport, I find this dere liction to be far worse than that which afflicted the Singapore International Airlines (SIA) crew in Taipei on 31 October 2000, even though there were no casualties on the China Airlines flight - unlike in Taipei. In the Taipei incident, the crew at least attempted to take off on a runway and in the direction of the clearance issued. How, in the name of sanity, can three crew (two cap tains and a first officer), facing forward, accept a clearance to take off on runway 32 and take off on taxiway K heading 240°, with blue lights visible? It is particularly salient that the SIA crew are facing criminal prosecution from the Taiwanese authorities with the imminent publication of that report in April, as Taiwanese law dictates that if pilot culpability factors in any accident, criminal prosecution must fol low. This has parallels with the tail wagging the dog situation that prevails in France as your "No Concord" editorial (Flight International, 22-28 January) illustrated. If one was to take an objective perusal of the relevant points of the two cases above and subtracted the 82 casualties of the SIA "accident" and apply the law impartially, which would the jury find to be more criminally negligent? David Connolly Brussels, Belgium GE finance pulls strings Further to Michael Walton's letter "US double standards" (Flight International, 19-25 February), another example of questionable practice must be the coincidental number of contracts supported by GE Finance, which include US and Airbus aircraft also fitted with GF engines. It might be argued that this prac tice makes good business sense as GF. Finance certainly seems to flourish. But it cannot be good business practice if strings, in terms of choice, are part and parcel of the operating procedure. 1 thought the Microsoft issue put this sort of practice under the microscope - apparently not. DF Newland Stanmore, UK A secure approach While your editorial "Divided we fall" (Flight International, 26 February - 4 March) rightly argues that security has to be global to be effective, two of the points made need to be challenged. First, you say that the USA would not need persuading "that it needs a good aviation security sys tem to manage both domestic and inbound international flights". Really? It has repeatedly been sug gested that security on domestic flights was not at the same level as on international flights, before last September, anyway. Also, why say "inbound international flights", when outbound flights must be just as stringently protected? Second, you say the airlines of economically poor countries that "are far less likely to be targeted". That would depend, I consider, on whether those airlines have code- sharing or other collaborative arrangements with other carriers could provide terrorists with access to their preferred targets. Peter Wilkins Diss, UK "Sweat shop" pilots next? Nigel Leung's "trouble-making pilots" letter (Flight International, 12-18 February) was outrageous. Certainly the airline industry is facing difficult times. But if cutting flight crew pay and conditions is the only solution being considered, then it is in big trouble. If this is the answer, why isn't the same reasoning being applied to other troubled industries? The UK rail industry and health service are considered to be in crisis, yet nobody has seriously suggested that the solution hinges on slash ing the pay of drivers or doctors. Many airlines will have to make changes in the months ahead. Some managers insist - usually without applying the same logic to their own pay awards - that the "sweat shop" economic route is the only way ahead. For an industry that cannot function without the dedication of highly skilled profes sionals, this would be disastrous. Richard Mann Wilmslow, UK Class issues Since no airline in its right mind would allow a member of staff to occupy a seat in first or business class if a fare paying passenger wants to buy that seat, perhaps Tony Kilbride could explain the statement in his letter (Flight Inter national, 26 February - 4 March) that: "Many companies have lost and continue to lose hundreds of millions of pounds of shareholders' money by allowing their staff to travel first or business class"? Staff may be booked "firm" on a flight but the upgrade priority of their ticket is such that they will always be put back in the aircraft in order to accommodate all fare paying passengers. Stuart Robertson-Fox Drouin, Australia. 11-13 March European Aviation Safety Seminar Budapest, Hungary Contact: Ann Hill Tel +1 703 739 6700 hill@flightsafety.org www.flightsafety.org 1-7 April FIDAE 2002 Santiago, Chile Confacr: Christine Peat Tel:+415 452 6450 Christine@christinepeat.com www.tradeshow-associates.com 9-11 April ITEC 2002 Lille, France Contact: Lorna Katon Tel:+44 1985 846 181 info@andrich.com www.itec.co.uk 6-12 May I LA 2002 Berlin, Germany Contact: Zoltan Ivan Tel:+49 30 3038 2276 ivan@messe-berlin.de www.ila-berlin.com 11-15 May AAAA Annual Conference Nashville, USA Tel:+1283 222 8184 aaaa@quad-a.org www.quad-a.org 13-15 May RAA Annual Convention Nashville, USA Contact: Carol Jewell Tel:+1202 367 1170 raa@dc.sba.com www.raa.org 28-30 May EBACE 2002 Geneva, Switzerland Contact: Kathleen Blouin Tel: +202 783 9364 www.ebace.com E-mail: kblouin@nbaa.org 17-21 June Eurosatory 2002 Paris, France Tel:+33 144 145810 coges@eurosatory.com www.eurosatory.com 4-6 September IICDES 2002 New Delhi, India Contact: Naveen Kaul Tel:+91 11623 6018 satcon@nde.vsnl.net.in For a full list of events see www.flightinternational.com www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 5-11 MARCH 2002 49
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