All Safety News – Page 1288
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CFM prepares advanced fan for new tests
CFM International plans to begin crosswind tests of its experimental swept fan blade design in June, as it approaches the half-way point of its three-year Tech56 advanced technology development effort. Tech56 is aimed at improving the CFM56 engine family across the full 20,000-35,000lb thrust (89-156kN) range, as well as ...
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US carriers optimistic as market shows recovery
ChrisJasper/LONDON The USA's major carriers are suddenly more bullish about their financial prospects for the rest of the year following a modest improvement in overall market conditions and better than expected performance in the first quarter. Most of the country's big airlines expressed serious concerns about their likely fortunes ...
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Heathrow T5 inquiry
A public inquiry into plans to construct London Heathrow's Terminal 5 (T5) has finished after four years of taking evidence. The inquiry inspector is not expected to file a report for two years, with another six to 12 months before the UK Government gives its verdict. If it goes ahead, ...
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FAA rules out 737 rudder malfunction crash link
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC Recent Boeing 737 rudder malfunctions are not being linked to rudder control unit failures suspected of causing fatal 737 crashes in 1991 and 1994, senior US Federal Aviation Administration officials say (Flight International, 3-9 March, P13). Preliminary rulings refer to a MetroJet Boeing 737-200 incident on ...
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Safety boards act on cockpit recorder safety
Canadian and US safety boards are recommending changes to cockpit voice and flight data recorders (CVRs and FDRs) to prevent power interruptions which have complicated recent accident investigations. Canadian investigators say their efforts to determine the cause of last September's Swissair Boeing MD-11 crash have been compromised by missing ...
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Y2K live test set for US airspace systems
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC The first live test of changes made to the US national airspace system to overcome year 2000 (Y2K) computer problems has been scheduled for the early hours of 10 April, centred on Denver, Colorado. The Federal Aviation Administration says it is on course to complete ...
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ICAO leads way with enhanced proximity warning proposals
David Learmount/AMSTERDAM In a visible break with tradition, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is set to make mandatory the use of flight data analysis (FDA) and enhanced ground proximity warning systems (EGPWS) even though they have not yet been declared requirements in any member state. Previously, the organisation ...
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Indonesia pushes for transport safety board
Andrzej Jeziorski/JAKARTA The head of Indonesia's Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission is pushing for the formation of a body, modelled on the US National Transportation Safety Board, to take control of air safety issues by 2004. The move is being pursued in the wake of the much-criticised investigation into ...
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Lufthansa plans capacity rise despite decline in yields
Andrew Doyle/BERLIN Chris Jasper/LONDON Lufthansa is planning to buck the European trend and increase capacity by 13% with the introduction of its summer schedules, despite sharing industry concerns over declining yields. Other European - and US - majors have been saddled with excess capacity over the past 12 months ...
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Airbus seeks exit rule changes
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH David Learmount/LONDON Airbus Industrie is trying to persuade European and US regulatory authorities to modify certification rules to allow it to build the A340-600 with the same number of emergency exits as the smaller -300, despite the fact that the new variant seats nearly 100 more passengers. To ...
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Lufthansa eyes new 767 options
Guy Norris/SEATTLE Lufthansa is studying a possible new version of the Boeing 767 being evaluated as a potential spin-off development of the new -400 entering production. The German flag carrier could be interested in a longer-range version of the 767-300ER and an extended-range variant of the -400ER, which ...
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Airline chiefs to be told likely causes of next accident
David Learmount/LONDON The UK's airline bosses are to be told by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) what is the most likely cause of their companies' next fatal accident. The unprecedented safety warning - to come at a meeting scheduled for 19 March - is aimed at ensuring the airlines ...
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AeroPeru suspends flights while debt renegotiations take place
Troubled Peruvian carrier AeroPeru has suspended flights for 60 days while it attempts to renegotiate its $174 million debts. Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori says his government, which holds a 20% stake in the carrier, may bail it out if the debt is restructured, while the carrier's legal advisor Raul ...
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737 wiring checks
Compulsory inspections for chafed fuel float switch wiring in the centre fuel tank of US-registered Boeing 737-100s through to -500s have been ordered by the US Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA says that wire chafing caused by vibration could provide an ignition source inside the fuel tank. Source: Flight ...
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US safety record
Last year was the first since the National Transportation Safety Board began keeping records there were no US Part 121 or Part 135 scheduled airline fatal accidents. There were also no major non-fatal accidents and no hull losses. Source: Flight International
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Escape route
Reducing the number of cabin exits to accelerate emergency passenger evacuation sounds like a contradiction in terms. That is, however, what Airbus Industrie is arguing as it tries to persuade European and US regulators to change the certification rules which affect the exit layout for its stretched A340, the -600 ...
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'Irregularities' ground flying college
Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) grounded China Southern's flying college near Perth, Western Australia, on 27 February, following the resignation of the college's chief pilot/chief flying instructor (CFI). The safety authority says that, although the college had nominated a new CFI, the authority had delayed its approval of ...
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Pilot error still main cause of US accidents
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Judgement failures by pilots remain the leading cause of US general aviation (GA) accidents, says the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's Air Safety Foundation (ASF). A just-completed examination of US accidents in 1997 involving fixed-wing GA aircraft under 5,670kg (12,500lb) gross weight shows that 74% ...
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News in Brief
Allied A340 deal AlliedSignal's 331-600 auxiliary power unit (APU) has been selected by Airbus for the A340-500 and -600 growth versions in a deal worth more than $1 billion over the expected life of the programme. The new APU is based on the 331-500 developed for the Boeing 777 ...
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IATA outlines Y2K plans
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE David Learmount/LONDON Fear of year 2000 (Y2K) "bugs" in air traffic services (ATS) computers is almost certain to cause flight delays and cancellations to varying degrees, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has calculated. Plans revealed for Asia-Pacific assume the need to reduce the capacity of ...