All Safety News – Page 1497
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News
Questair halts operations temporarily
Questair, manufacturer of the Venture and Spirit high-performance kitplanes, has temporarily suspended operations following the crash in November 1994 of one of its aircraft, in which company chief Bob McLallan was killed. A new management team will be in place by the end of April and a "major ...
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MDC prepares for last phase of ACT programme
McDONNELL DOUGLAS (MDC) is preparing "best and final" offers in competition with Boeing for the last phase of NASA's Advanced Composite Technology (ACT) programme. The company's Advanced Transport Aircraft Development (ATAD) division delivered a composite stub-wing box test specimen to NASA's Langley Research Center, Virginia, in February under ...
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Crash and murders hit China Airlines profits
CHINA AIRLINES (CAL) has reported a sharp cut in 1994 profits following the crash of an Airbus A300-600R a year ago and the slump in the number of Taiwanese tourists visiting China. The airline's 1994 pre-tax profit plunged to NT$642 million ($25 million), down from NT$3.4 billion. CAL ...
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Ansett Australia director resigns
ANSETT AUSTRALIA has declined to link the sudden resignation of its operations director with the outcome of internal inquiries into the partial wheels-up landing of one of its Boeing 747-300s on 19 October 1994. The director, Capt. John Dorward, resigned on 12 April. Following the accident, a consultancy ...
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Gentle giant
It seemed remarkable to be flying the 777 a mere year after it was first unveiled, but such has been the pace of the programme from the start. Flight test hours have grown at twice those for previous models, in a schedule of certificating three engine types and early qualification ...
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Southern gateway
The first 11-gate phase of Miami Airport's new concourse A is due to open in June as part of the southern gateway's $2.7 billion expansion and redevelopment programme which is due to last until 2010. Gateway is the operative word at Miami, Florida, which boasts more carriers - ...
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TAT finalises Orly plans
BRITISH AIRWAYS' French subsidiary TAT is at last ready to reveal plans on how it will exploit its hard-won access to the domestic hub at Paris Orly. Several other airlines have already begun competing with incumbent French domestic airline Air Inter between Orly and Marseilles, Toulouse and Nice, ...
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Canadian Marconi FMS/GPS qualifies
CANADIAN MARCONI (CMC) says that it has received the world's first primary-means oceanic/remote approval for a flight-management/global-positioning system (FMS/GPS). The US Federal Aviation Administration has granted the approval for a dual CMC CMA-900 FMS/GPS installation in an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-200. Primary-means oceanic/remote approval allows the ...
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KAL sees growth as key to 777 engine order
KOREAN AIR'S (KAL) selection of an engine for its fleet of Boeing 777s was due before 1 May, with future growth potential and commonality likely to be the major deciding factors. KAL has ordered eight 777s for delivery between February 1997 and June 2000 and has taken options ...
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FAA addresses runway incursions
THE US FEDERAL Aviation Administration has unveiled its updated programme to address runway incursions. The so-called Runway Incursion Action Plan includes a timetable for deployment of the Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS), a software enhancement to the Westinghouse Norden ASDE-3 which will alert controllers to potential ...
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737 FDR cost deal
The US Federal Aviation Administration is seeking a compromise over the US National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) recommended schedule for retrofitting Boeing 737s with enhanced flight-data recorders (FDR). The NTSB proposal would require US airlines to install improved FDR on more than 4,000 aircraft by the end of ...
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USAir deficit is improving
USAIR HAS TRIMMED its losses by $100 million in the first quarter, producing optimism that it may at last be back on course after a run of disastrous results. The airline still turned in a net loss of nearly $97 million for the quarter, but claims that this ...
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Australia heads for Hong Kong dispute
HONG KONG AND Australia are heading for confrontation over Qantas fifth-freedom rights from Hong Kong to Singapore and Bangkok. The Australian carrier has built a substantial market network, using the three Asian destinations as hubs for services to Europe, and for tourism products within Asia. On 20 April, ...
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777 completes its joint certification
On 19 April Boeing's 777 became the first of the US manufacturer's commercial airliners to receive simultaneous type/design and production certification from both the US and European airworthiness authorities. The certification ceremony at Seattle, Washington marks the first milestone in Boeing's co-operative and concurrent certification (CCC) programme begun ...
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Sensible Approach
The failure of the recent conference in Montreal on landing systems to come out in favour of a single solution will have been a great disappointment to the proponents of individual systems - but it will have been greeted with sighs of relief just about everywhere else. Not only does ...
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Display philosophy
Boeing's philosophy in this new cockpit might fairly be called "need-to-show". For example: a simple combined flap display on the EICAS is removed 10s after the flaps have been raised; an expanded display is shown only in abnormal situations. The red gear-in-transit light is replaced by a hashed rectangle, and ...
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Control functions
The faster reaction time of computers allows control surfaces to be made smaller, reducing overall weight. System reliability and maintainability is improved. Electronic control gives control augmentation and envelope protection which would be more difficult to provide in a mechanical system, such as: bank angle protection; ...
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Fly-by-wire
The primary flight-control system (PFCS) is powered by 28V direct current generated by two dedicated generators on each engine and can revert to main DC power. There are two types of electronic computer in the PFCS: the actuator control electronics (ACE), primarily an analogue device, and the primary ...
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GPS commitment is impossible
Sir - US President Bill Clinton has stated that the USA is committed to provide global-positioning-system (GPS) signals to the international civil-aviation community (Flight International, 5-11 April, P9). While one does not doubt his sincerity, he cannot commit his successors. Unless controlled and financed by an international organisation ...