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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 0376.PDF
AIR TRANSPORT SAFETY DAVID LEARMOUNT/ LONDON Europe to name unsafe foreign airlines Egypt's Air Memphis latest to be banned after main gear tyre burst on 707 taking off from Cairo bound for Ostend As the European Parliament voted in favour of proposals to name and shame foreign airlines that fail to meet international safety stan dards, France's air accident bureau BEA confirmed that the Egyptian airline Luxor Air remains banned from French airspace (Flight International, 6-12 April). A Luxor Boeing MD-83 nearly hit tall build ings in Nantes, western France, last month as it approached the airport well below the permitted height (see diagram). The European Council, having resisted open publication of safety information about non-EU airlines, finally accepted a draft regulation in January and the European Parliament approved it on 1 April. The rule will become required pro cedure in all EU states within two years of its adoption, but is expected to become practice in some states before then. One provi sion is that any EU state that bans an airline notifies the European Commission, which can then extend a ban throughout the EU. These laws originated from a fatal 1996 crash of a Boeing 757 oper ated by Turkish charter airline Birgenair carrying German tourists from the Dominican Republic, but the final regulatory push started in January when 133 French passen gers died departing Sharm el Sheikh, near the Red Sea, in a 737 belonging to Egyptian charter car rier Flash Air. The carrier had been banned by Switzerland but the information had not been shared. Now Belgium has barred Egyptian freight carrier Air Memphis following a 2 April inci dent at Cairo, Egypt in which the right main gear tyres of a Boeing 707-320C (SU-AVZ) burst and the aircraft veered off the runway. The aircraft was departing for a regular flight to Ostend, Belgium. The near crash of the Luxor Air Boeing MD-83 occurred in poor weather after midnight on 21 March. The aircraft strayed well off the official let-down track for its cleared VOR/DME approach to runway 21 at Nantes. According to the BEA, it then descended through the 500ft (200m) cloud- base over the city centre when it should have been at a minimum of 1,730ft. This has been confirmed by radar recordings because the air craft's flight data recorder con tained no detail. The MD-83, with 110 people on board, flew within a few hundred metres of two tall buildings. Airport controllers alerted the crew, then provided radar vectors to position the air craft for a second approach. iErem.'.iaj* NANTES, FRANCE Path taken by MD-83 ^^ Published approach path —— Ground track 1 Spot height A Waypoint O Required height at waypoint /t^ Nantes Atlantique Airport START-UPS EMMA KELLY / PERTH Backpackers get more choice as Australian carriers start up The Australian long-haul leisure market is heating up with start-up Backpackers Xpress applying for route approvals from Australia to Germany, India, Thailand and the UK. Fellow start-up Leisurejet is also looking at routes to Asia and southern Europe. Last month Backpackers Xpress applied to Australia's International Air Services Commission to fly five services a week from Melbourne to Bangkok, two services a week to Munich, three weekly services to Manchester and for the available capacity of 2,100 seats a week to Delhi. Backpackers is up against Qantas in its plans for UK and Indian ser vices, with the Australian major seeking the seven additional weekly services to the UK that are available, in addition to the full 2,100-seats weekly capacity to India. Backpackers says it has a strong application for the services and is also planning to serve New Zealand. It is aiming at European backpackers, operating two Boeing 747-400s in a one-class configuration, and plans a November launch. In-flight entertain ment will include an onboard pub, karaoke and personal DVD players. The airline is being formed by tourism executive Glenn Millen and for mer Qantas pilot Gordon Layton. Chief executive of airline operations will be Gene Mashlan, former managing director of European tour operator MyTravel Aviation (Airtours) and chief executive of MyTravel Airways. Meanwhile, Leisurejet is planning to serve Greece and Italy via Kuala Lumpur from Sydney and Melbourne from the third quarter of this year. Local reports say the start-up is seeking funds of A$34 million ($26 million). EXPANSION Air India looks abroad to cover pilot shortage Air India is employing its first batch of foreign pilots as the flag carrier struggles to find enough local pilots to fly the airline's newly acquired Airbus A310s and Boeing 747-400s. New Zealand's Rishworth Aviation has been hired by Air India to contract 10 Airbus A310 and 10 747-400 captains by May. Air India says it has sought and secured special government approval to begin the hiring of for eign pilots "so it can grow and pilot shortage doesn't come in our way". The carrier has leased two addi tional 747-400s from Boeing Capital for delivery in June and October. The aircraft, which will take Air India's 747-400 fleet to 11, will be used to launch flights to Los Angeles via Frankfurt and add flights to London from Mumbai. Some of the pilots the carrier is recruiting will be based in Europe and the USA to support these extra services. By the end of the year, Air India also plans to lease two additional A310s, probably ex-Singapore Airlines aircraft that Boeing is remarketing. The carrier already operates 19 A310s. Air India has 440 pilots and, since October, has recruited 70 cadets for ab initio training. The airline claims it also needs to hire pilots from overseas because there are not enough local pilot candi dates who are ready to move straight into 747-400 and A310 captain positions. www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 13-19 APR IL 2004 13
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