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Aviation History
2004
2004-09 - 1826.PDF
HEADLINES AIR TRANSPORT ANDREW DOYLE / BRUSSELS Airlines under fire over terror alerts Carriers could pick up bill if fighters scrambled needlessly Airlines could be forced to pick up the bill if their crews cause unnec essary security alerts that result in military aircraft being scrambled because they have failed to main tain voice communications with air traffic controllers, according to measures being drawn up by some European countries. The German ministry of defence says charging airlines for the cost of military intercepts is "under the strongest consideration...as long as it is their fault". It declines to reveal how often the German air force car ries out intercepts, but sources put the figure at one a week. Eurocontrol says there are interceptions in Europe "virtually every other day". In a precedent-setting move, the Dutch public prosecutor is investi gating whether there are legal grounds to pursue Spanish opera tor Air Europa through the courts to recover costs relating to a major security alert earlier this year. During the incident, an Air Europa Boeing 737-800 failed to contact Maastricht ATC after enter ing Dutch airspace on 1 May (Flight International, 17-23 August). The aircraft crossed most of Europe without contacting ATC. Two Dutch air force fighters were scram bled to intercept, later to be relieved by a pair of French fight ers. Radio communications were restored lh 45min after the alert. The Dutch public prosecutor's office says it has interviewed the cockpit crew in Spain and will decide whether to launch legal action soon. Air Europa did not respond to enquiries. In an effort to tackle the prob lem, Eurocontrol and NATO are preparing to flight test a system designed to dramatically reduce the number of interceptions. Under the European Regional Renegade Information Dissemin ation System (ERRIDS) programme, airline operations centres will be integrated into a secure network also linking Eurocontrol, NATO, national air defence centres and governments, civil and military ATC centres and airports. In the event of loss of communications with an aircraft, ERRIDS would automatically notify the airline's operations centre, which in turn would attempt to contact the crew using its company radio channel or by transmitting an ACARS message. Aircraft would have a high- capacity, secure link into ERRIDS so that in the event of a genuine hijack attempt, there can be an exchange of encrypted voice and data, potentially including video of the cabin. AIR TRANSPORT PAUL DUFFY / MOSCOW France promises to help fund engine for Russian Regional Jet French finance minister Nikolas Sarkozy has confirmed the French govern ment will provide about €250 million ($300 million) in "soft" (low-interest, state-backed) loans to fund development of the Snecma/Rybinsk Motors- Saturn SaM146, a newturbofan planned to power the Sukhoi/Boeing Russian Regional Jet (RRJ). Following Sibir's order for 50 of the 2,000-6,000km (1,000-3,250nm)- range 55- to 95-seaters, the Russian government has also confirmed its commitment to the programme by saying it will offer "budgetary, taxation and customs support", but has not specified what these might entail. Sukhoi is a rare example of a successful aviation industry in Russia - strong sales of the Su-27 family of advanced interceptors have given it access to cash not enjoyed by other design houses or manufacturers. With design now in the final stages, the RRJ should make its first flight in 2005. Briefing Onboard telephony venture branded COMMUNICATIONS Airbus's communications joint venture with Sita and Tenzing, which aims eventually to enable passengers to use mobile telephones on board aircraft, has been branded OnAir. It plans to provide in- seat telephony and short messaging services (SMS) as well as email from passengers' laptop computers. Next year the venture will extend this to include access to corporate virtual private networks. Meanwhile, Asiana Airlines and Malaysia Airlines have tapped Sita to provide its Aircom SMS to enable passengers to send and receive text messages in flight. SEE IN-FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT, P16 Canadian entry delays space flight ANSARI X-PR1ZE Canadian Ansari X-Prize competitor da Vinci Project has delayed its first attempt to fly into space. The flight was to be from Kindersley in Canada's Saskatchewan province on 2 October. No new date has been given for the prize attempt using its balloon-launched Wildfire rocket. The team has blamed "availability of a few key components and their integration" for the delay. To win the $10 million X-Prize, two flights must be made above 100km (62 miles) within two weeks with a payload equivalent to three people. Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne is due to make its first X-Prize flight on 29 September. If successful, its second flight will be on 4 October NASA hands Sagem its FOQA tool QUALITY Research agency NASA Ames has developed an aviation performance measuring system (APMS) it claims can analyse information from flight data recorders for anomalies more thoroughly than any already- capable tools on the market, and is now licensing the model to Texas-based Sagem Avionics for production. NASA says its intention is to enable airlines that are running flight operations quality assurance (FOQA) programmes to make them more effective at identifying precursors to problems or even potential accidents. The APMS, says NASA, goes beyond detecting arbitrary user-defined operational exceedences as existing systems do, identifying clusters or series of defined event categories. Alliance finally laid to rest REJECTION Air New Zealand and Qantas are discussing options for co operation that do not conflict with Australia's and New Zealand's competition rules after the New Zealand High Court last week put an end to the airlines' ambitions to form an alliance based on Qantas purchasing 22.5% of Air New Zealand. Competition authorities on both sides of the Tasman last year rejected plans for the alliance. Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon and Air New Zealand chief executive Ralph Norris say they are disappointed after Air France and KLM's merger was approved. First production S-92 handed over DELIVERY Sikorsky was expecting to deliver the first production S-92 helicopter last week after a short delay to reduce weight. The first of 60 commercial S-92s on order will enter service with Louisiana-based Petroleum Helicopters. Meanwhile, the Sikorsky VH-92 derivative is undergoing a final risk reduction for the US Navy's VXX presidential helicopter competition. Its competitor, the Lockheed Martin-led US101 programme, is preparing to unveil an aircraft with upgraded General Electric CT7-8E engines to launch a marketing tour next month in the USA. AirTV secures launch deal SATELLITE Arianespace has signed a launch service agreement with AirTV to fly its first S-band broadband communications satellite aboard an Ariane 5 in 2007, which will provide in-flight entertainment and connectivity for airlines worldwide. AirTV will provide more than 60 channels of live TV and 40Mbps of internet, email and data services to aircraft. The first of a planned series of four, the Alcatel Space-built, Spacebus 4000B3-based craft will be located in geosynchronous orbit over the north Atlantic. www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 28 SEPTEMBER - 4 OCTOBER 2004 7
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