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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 0010.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL Albania to modernise Albania has awarded Lockheed Martin a $32 million contract to modernise the Balkan nation's airspace system. An interim upgrade is to be operational by May next year, in time to handle the expected 10% increase in overflights associated with the 2004 Olympic Games in Greece. A full airspace upgrade is to be operational by mid-2006. It is expected to "more than double" airspace capacity. Current capacity is limited by the equip ment in use, Lockheed Martin's estimate of the savings for air lines from flying over, rather than around, Albanian airspace is $100 million over 10 years, says project director Pat Buckley. The next major commercial agreement expected to be signed is the contract to operate and improve the airport at the capital Tirana. A request for tenders was issued last week, and German and UK companies are among those interested. SAFETY DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON Fog and poor navigation aids hold key to Turkish accident THY Avro RJ100 destroyed by fire after crashing short of runway in low visibility Visibility appears to be a crucial fac tor in the THY Turkish Airlines BAE Systems Avro RJ100 crash at Dyarbakir airfield, south-east Turkey, on 8 January. Statements from the Turkish prime minister's office confirm conditions at the civil/military airport were foggy, and it has no precision approach navigation aids. The aircraft was preparing to land on runway 34 at Dyarbakir after a scheduled service from Istanbul. For runway 34, there is a published VOR/distance measuring equip ment (DME) approach or a non- The Avro RJ100's hull was broken in the crash at Dyarbakir airfield, Turkey directional beacon (NDB)/ DME let-down, but it has not been confirmed whether all aids were all serviceable at the time. The mini mum descent height (MDH) for the approaches is 639ft (195m) above runway threshold elevation (21,180ft). The approach charts show that the MDH should be reached with at least 1.5nm (2.8km) still to go to the runway and a visi bility of 1,500m or more. Weather reports indicate the area visibility was 1,600m, but there were locali sed fog banks with 100m visibility. The RJ100 appears to have crashed short of the runway by a few hundred metres, the hull was broken and a serious fire then destroyed the aircraft. Turkish Airlines says there were 75 passen gers and five crew on board. Five people are believed to have survived. GOVERNMENT FINANCE US DoT hamstrung by hold-up in federal department funding US government transport and aviation officials have begun the new year under uncertainty as funding for federal agencies remains stalled in Congress, which began a new session last week. Lawmakers were unable to pass 2003 budgets for nearly every federal department before adjourning late last year. Instead, Congress approved "continuing resolutions" that temporarily fund agencies at the level of the previous fiscal year, which ended on 30 September 2002. The situation has left the US Department of Transportation (DoT), Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) with uncertain funding levels, which officials say compromises their ability to pursue new initiatives. The TSA, in particular, faces a challenging year ahead as it battles to implement a series of security measures in response to the 2001 terrorist attacks. US assistant secretary of transportation for aviation and interna tional affairs Read Van de Water has admitted that the DoT's travel budget is "desperate", forcing the cancellation of several interna tional trips - most prominently a meeting in Vietnam to discuss a possible USA/Vietnam bilateral air agreement. She adds that the trip has been tentatively rescheduled for the spring and says: "We hope funds will be available." But that is not a sure thing, as Congress has the ability to pass continuing resolutions for as long as it deems necessary. Congress ional appropriators are attempting to thrash out differences in vari ous spending proposals, but DoT officials fear it could be weeks or possibly months before a 2003 budget is cleared. PRODUCTION Boeing orders tumble in 2002 Boeing's airliner output slumped to its lowest level for five years in 2002 and orders tumbled 25% to 251. Airbus will declare its 2002 fig ures this week, and although it will have been beaten by Boeing in out put, the European manufacturer is set to be well ahead in the order stakes with over 300 sales. The US manufacturer delivered 86 jets in the final quarter, bringing 2002 ORDERS AND DELIVERIES Boeing 717 Boeing 737 Boeing 747 Boeing 757 Boeing 767 Boeing 777 Total Orderbook changes Net orders 2001 totals Orders 32 162 17 - 8 32 251 -75 176 Gross orders/deliveries 335 Difference Net orders Difference -84 272 -96 Deliveries 20 223 27 29 35 47 381 527 -146 its year-end tally to the expected level of 381 aircraft. This was 28% down on the 527 delivered the year before. These are the worst output figures for Boeing since 1997, when the company delivered 375 aircraft, and a further 24% fall to 290 air craft is expected this year. Boeing's 251 orders last year were over 80 shy of its 2001 achieve ments. The net order intake fell to 176 as a result of 75 cancellations and adjustments. This is the low est figure since 1994, when 125 orders were taken, net of cancel lations. The 737 and 777 were Boeing's big success stories in 2002, taking 162 and 32 orders respectively, but the manufac turer will be concerned by the lack of 757 sales last year. On its military side, the com pany reported deliveries of 98 aircraft, of which the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet accounted for 40. Boeing's space programmes recorded four Delta deliveries and six satellites last year. 8 14-20 JANUARY 2003 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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