FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2003
2003 - 2044.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT RESEARCH Russian team studies flight upset control Russia's Gromov Flight Research Institute near Moscow is studying technology aimed at enabling air craft to automatically recover from in-flight upsets. Concern about the issue was heightened by the loss of an American Airlines Airbus A300- 600R shortly after take-off from New York JFK airport in Novem ber 2001 after it encountered wake vortices generated by a preceding aircraft. The final report on the A300 accident is still awaited, but the US National Transportation Safety Board has released con troversial interim advice to all pilots to be careful in their use of rudder to control large aircraft during upsets. Gromov recently invited Airbus, Boeing and the Flight Safety Foundation to observe their work, which looks at human factors in upsets but is further researching the use of aircraft automation to carry out recover ies from situations such as stalls, extreme attitudes, overloading or overs peeds. Boeing's chief pilot flight operations safety Capt Dave Carbaugh has seen Gromov's work and says: "By using algo rithms that protect against maximum speed, minimum speed, maximum loading and altitude they have formed a basis by which more advanced systems could recover aero planes from upset situations." Gromov is using a fly-by-wire Sukhoi Su-27 fighter and a con ventionally controlled Antonov An-24 utility transport in the tests, and is examining the capacity of existing onboard systems - with increased capability - to recover aircraft from upsets. This would negate the need to install flight envelope protection to prevent upsets, as Airbus's fly-by-wire fleet is designed to do. Full flight- envelope protection would limit the manoeuvring capability of fighters like the Su-27, but com manded upset recovery could be useful. SAFETY EMMA KELLY / PERTH CASA reinforces warning on mobile and PED use Move follows over 100 incidents of electronic devices causing instrument interference Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has issued a warn ing to aircraft passengers to switch off mobile phones and personal electronic devices (PEDs) in-flight. The warning follows over 100 inci dents involving PEDs causing inter ference to aircraft instruments and systems in Australia in the last 10 years, according to CASA. A Boeing 737 crew recently fly ing out of Sydney attributed an uncommanded pitch up and reduc tion in thrust to an active mobile phone. CASA has received reports of interference to radio trans missions, auto-pilot malfunctions, false readings from flight man agement computers, GPS-satellite navigation system failures and false alerts from engine warning systems. CASA regulations give aircraft cabin crew the power to prohibit the use of any device which can threaten the safety of an aircraft. Under proposed regulations, the use of mobile phones and other electronic transmitters will be pro hibited at all times, while laptop computers, video cameras and elec tronic games will be prohibited during take-off and landings. The US RTCA has formed a com mittee to investigate interference issues and propose new guidance material. MERGER TAM and Varig finally seal merger agreement Brazilian airlines TAM and Varig signed a merger deal last week, seven months after announcing their tie-up. The merger takes effect around year-end and will create an airline that control 66% of the Brazilian market. The deal needs approval from Brazil's anti-trust agency, which local analysts say will be a formality. The new airline will be owned by BNDES - Brazil's development bank - TAM, Varig, and foreign creditors. TAM's stake is expected to be pegged at around 30%. FRBPar and other Varig sharehold ers will hold a 5% portion of the new airline while 40% will be allotted to the BNDES. The remain ing shares will be split among foreign creditors. PROCUREMENT MARY KIRBY / WASHINGTON DC SkyWest grows with CRJ700 order US regional carrier SkyWest Airlines has placed a firm order for 30 Bom bardier CRJ700s and options on a further 80 aircraft. Deliveries of the 70-seat regional jets on firm order are scheduled to begin early next year and continue until 2005. The aircraft will be used for the airline's United Express operations. It comes after SkyWest recently firmed up a new expanded feeder agreement with United Airlines. SkyWest already operates 100 of the smaller 50-seat CRJ100/200s. The airline intends to fly its newly ordered CRJ700s on United Express routes from Denver, and potentially begin feeding Chicago for the US major. Company vice president finance and assistant treasurer Michael Kraupp says United "is still trying to determine" where to place the 30 CRJ700s in its system, but that Chicago seems a likely base for some of the aircraft. "What we are saying is we are still subject to United's desires and wishes, but that Chicago would seem like a good opportunity con sidering that [United Express car rier] Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA) is winding down their codeshare with United," says Kraupp. ACA, which does some United Express flying out of Chicago, has not yet reached a new feeder agree ment with United. As a result, ACA has stopped taking delivery of the CRJ200s it has on order and is instead now planning to start its own low-fare carrier from its Washington Dulles base. SkyWest has ordered 30 CRJ700s and has options on a further 80 aircraft 10 23-29 SEPTEMBER 2003 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.fliqhtinternational.com
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
