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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 2727.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT QUALITY CONTROL DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON Problems dog I ATA safety audits After positive reception in industry, fledgling scheme faces credibility problem as it battles for recognition from regulators The International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) is undergoing severe teething problems according to sources at IATA and several airlines, after initially being welcomed by all sectors of the industry. IATA admits that the major regu lators like the US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency have not sanctioned IOSA as an alternative to existing compulsory audits. The association has been selling the IOSA as a biennially renewable $150,000 service that will save air lines money because it will make other audits unnecessary. Mike O'Brien, head of IOSA at IATA's Montreal office, admits the system has a "credibility problem" until it receives recognition from the major national regulators, which he says IATA is working on. O'Brien says IOSA was designed through working with regulators from Australia, Canada, Europe and the USA and with the International Civil Aviation Organisation as an observer. He explains that IATA receives a $15,000 handling fee for each IOSA, but the audit is carried out by accredited agents - of which four have so far been approved - which bid to carry out the audit for around $150,000. The board has ratified a proposal that all IATA member airlines should be IOSA-approved by the end of 2006 and membership applicants should undergo an audit before entry. In a blow to IOSA's credibility, some months ago, British Airways, an IATA member airline whose chief executive is on the associa tion's board, said it was not going to apply for an IOSA. BA's head of safety Roger Whitefield says part of the reason is that the UK Civil Aviation Authority will not give the airline any freedom from safety oversight audits in return for being IOSA- cleared, so "there is no value for money in it". At the other end of the airline scale, small Norwegian regional car rier Widerae , an IATA member air line, declared at the early November Flight Safety Foundation seminar in Washington DC that it was angry about the price of IOSA, saying it was impossible for small carriers to afford. To prepare for an audit Wideroe paid $600 for the IOSA standards manual, and the airline's vice-pres ident quality and safety Per-Helge R0bekk says that most of its con tent could have been found in Joint Aviation Requirements (Operations) with which, Rebekk says, it is already compliant. United Airlines is one of the accredited IOSA agents, which makes sense because the main ben eficiaries of IOSA could be the US carriers if the FAA accepts it as an alternative to the codeshare audits that US airlines have to carry out on their partners, whether or not they are US registered. AIRWORTHINESS DARREN SHANNON / WASHINGTON DC FAA proposes Airbus fuel tank directive The US Federal Aviation Administration has proposed an airworthiness dir ective requiring operators to modify electrical supply systems and fuel quantity indicator (FQI) sensors in and around centre and wing tanks on some Airbus A319, A320 and Airbus Corporate Jetliner (ACJ) models. Airbus says it issued a service bulletin to that effect in July 2001 and French civil aviation authority the DGAC ratified it with an airworthiness direc tive in May 2002, which has already been put into effect. This is among the final measures taken in the industry since the 1996 TWA flight 800 disaster, when a centre wing tank explosion caused a Trans World Airlines Boeing 747-100 to crash on climb-out from New York Kennedy airport. In its notice of proposed rulemaking, the FAA says the intended changes "are necessary to prevent overheating of the fuel probes [in the event of] a short circuit, and fuel leakage due to inadequate expansion of the area within the additional centre tank". Airbus is also having to modify the A340-500's fuel system after the FAA required a tank lining to be fitted in the integral rear centre fuel tank in June. Meanwhile, Boeing is seeking to gain approval for a fuel-tank inerting system for the 747, seen as a more cost-effective solution for its older aircraft than design change and backed by the NTSB. Airbus says another FAA requirement, to modify centre fuel tanks because of inadequate expansion capacity, applied to three specific ACJs and was dealt with in 1999. The FAA and DGAC requirement includes the installation of fused adaptors for the fuel quantity indicator centre tank probes; the installation of fused plug connectors for the wing tanks FQI probes; the installation of fused adapters between the external wiring harness and the low-energy in-tank wiring of the connectors; and the operational testing of the refuel/ defuel system, leaks, the fuel transfer pump pressure switch, and the transfer pump. United's Ted will launch from Denver with four Airbus A320s LOW-FARE CARRIERS United Airlines uncovers its Ted brand ahead of February launch United Airlines' new low-fare car rier Ted has unveiled its brand ahead of its February launch with four Airbus A320s from Denver. The operation will be pitched directly against incumbent low- cost carrier Frontier, which itself flies A318s and A319s. Ted's initial destinations will include Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Ontario (California), Orlando, Phoenix, Reno and Tampa. It will also operate point- to-point services between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco and San Francisco and Phoenix. The 156-seat A320 fleet could expand to 45 by the end of next year, says the airline, which is described as a one-class low-fare car rier. However, the new airline will offer 66 "economy plus" seats with 36in (90cm) pitch "to reward loyal customers". The remaining 90 seats will have a 31 in pitch. www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 25 NOVEMBER - 1 DECEMBER 2003 11
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