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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 0012.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT SAFETY NICHOLAS IONIDES / SINGAPORE Inquiry probes near miss as history almost repeats Second disaster averted after Airbus strikes electrical wires and narrowly avoids hill A Philippine Airlines (PAL) Airbus A330-300 struck electrical wires and narrowly avoided hitting ter rain while approaching Guam International Airport last month. The incident, still under investiga tion, bears similarities to circum stances resulting in the crash of a Korean Air (KAL) Boeing 747-300 in the same area more than five years ago. The US Federal Aviation Admini stration and National Transport ation Safety Board (NTSB) are inves tigating the 17 December incident in which the A330 came "incredibly close" to hitting a hillside while on final approach to the airport, say sources familiar with the probe. PAL confirms that disaster was averted when the cockpit crew initiated a go-around following the activation of the aircraft's ground proximity warning system (GPWS). The A330 left Manila at 22.06 on a scheduled flight on 16 December, and on approach in the early hours of 17 December, its GPWS was acti vated and the crew carried out an immediate go-around manoeuvre, later landing the aircraft at 03.50. PAL will not say how close the aircraft came to the terrain but con firms that "dents and scratches" were found on the fuselage and bulk cargo door. The damage was discovered by ground personnel in Manila after the A330 operated the return flight to the Philippine capi tal on the same day. PAL says the aircraft was immediately grounded and the Philippine Air Trans portation Office notified. Authorities are still attempting "to establish, among other things, when and where the damage occurred", PAL says. The NTSB confirms the aircraft was on an instrument approach and "got very low on the approach and hit some electrical wires". One FAA official says the aircraft made contact with electrical wires on nearby Nimitz Hill as the go- around was being performed. Nimitz Hill is where a KAL 747 crashed in August 1997, killing 229 people. PAL claims its A330 made the approach with "bare-minimum navigational aids" as a result of damage to infrastructure caused by a typhoon. It says the typhoon "caused extensive damage to Guam's infrastructure and disabled the runway approach lighting sys tem, middle marker, glideslope, sequenced flashing lights and the VORTAC [navigation beacon] on Nimitz Hill". The NTSB describes the 1997 KAL crash as a "classic controlled flight into terrain accident". Investigators laid much of the blame on the cock pit crew although their final report also highlighted broader training issues and air traffic control equip ment problems, specifically that the airport's instrument landing system glideslope was out of action as was air traffic control's radar-based mini mum safe altitude warning system. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BREN DAN SOBIE IN WASHINGTON DC DELIVERY PB Air gets ERJ-145s Thailand's PB Air has taken delivery of two Embraer ERJ-145s. The 50-seaters, leased from GE Capital Aviation Services, will be operated on domestic and international routes, replacing the airline's three ageing Fokker F28 Mk4000s. PB Air is expanding its fleet after taking over several routes from Thai Airways International, with which it codeshares on some domes tic flights and services to Vietnam and Laos. Up to three 70-seat Embraer 170s are due to arrive from late 2003. SAFETY IAA invests in Tel Aviv airport security Israel Airport Authority (IAA) is investing $70 million in an avia tion security system for the new passenger terminal at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion International Airport. The move, which represents a switch from a passenger profiling- based system to a technology- based one, will take effect when the new terminal opens in 2004 and the airport has asked the government to approve a $4 security fee on each passenger to cover the investment. The decision follows trials at the airport since July last year, where an array of X-ray devices replaced the "profile" security screening method. The system is based on off-the-shelf tech nology, but the software was adapted to the strict require ments of the Israeli general security service. The profiling system, based on a series of questions the pas senger is asked, caused delay and annoyance. Now the pas sengers enter a "sterile" area in the check-in hall, and after they put their luggage on the con veyor belts of the advanced X-ray machines, they go directly to passport control (Flight International, 6-12 August 2002). According to airport officials, the new system saves time in checking those classified as "high risk" passengers, but it pro longs the time needed to check Israeli citizens, as until now they were only asked a few questions and cleared in seconds. START-UP Mekong Airlines to tap Cambodian market with 737 acquisition Cambodian start-up Mekong Airlines has concluded a deal with International Lease Finance (ILFC) to take an ex-Continental Airlines Boeing 737-500 on a three-year lease and remains on track to launch operations in mid-January. The carrier, which aims to fill the void in the market left by the October 2001 collapse of Royal Air Cambodge, had earlier planned to start with an Airbus A320, also from ILFC, but says the last-minute switch to a 737 was made for "purely commercial reasons". Mekong Airlines commercial manager Ross Pollock says the 737- 500 is small enough to be operated economically between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap as well as on onward connections to Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Mekong is being launched by a group of Australian industry veter ans and has said in the past that its investors are from Cambodia and the USA. It intended to start flying last February, but plans were def erred several times. Operations are now due to start in the second half of January subject to Cambodian regulatory approval, says Pollock. 10 14-20 JANUARY 2003 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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