All Safety News – Page 2
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NewsUS military helicopter ADS-B exemption sparks safety backlash
Safety investigators and lawmakers are opposing provisions in the US defence spending bill that would exempt some military helicopters from aircraft-tracking requirements, citing risks highlighted by January’s fatal Potomac River collision.
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OpinionWhy US Congress should give ATC privatisation another look
Recent fatal accidents, system outages and government shutdown expose fundamental flaws in the US air traffic control system that privatisation could address, industry expert says.
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NewsTractor pushed 737 into Stansted blast fence as driver focused on instructing trainee
UK investigators believe a tow-tractor instructor was focused on training another driver when the vehicle pushed a Boeing 737-800 into the blast fence at London Stansted. The Malta Air aircraft – before engine start – was undergoing a long pushback from stand 63R, to the end of a cul-de-sac abeam ...
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NewsAir France A350 crippled by collapsed radome after bird-strike damage undetected
French investigators believe inadequate maintenance checks on an Air France Airbus A350-900’s radome led to its collapsing during a turnback to Osaka. The inquiry found that a bird-strike a month earlier had probably debonded the inner surface of the radome. But French investigation authority BEA says this surface had not ...
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NewsAzul E195 landed on wrong Rio runway after parallel’s lights were switched off
Brazilian investigators have been unable to determine precisely why runway lights at Rio de Janeiro’s Santos Dumont airport were switched off for several minutes, during which time an Azul Embraer 195 inadvertently landed on the illuminated parallel runway. The incident occurred at night as the twinjet, inbound from Sao Paulo ...
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NewsUS government selects contractor Peraton to lead air traffic control modernisation
The US Department of Transportation has chosen technology firm Peraton to serve as prime integrator for the Federal Aviation Administration’s comprehensive air traffic control system overhaul.
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NewsGovernment to open IndiGo probe as it eases new rules to resolve flight chaos
India’s civil aviation ministry has suspended the country’s new flight-duty time limit directive in a bid to ease the severe disruption to budget carrier IndiGo’s services. The airline has been experiencing particularly serious problems with flight operations as a result of new criteria, and the government intends to carry out ...
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NewsQantas 737 took off with wrong weight data after passengers listed as offloaded
Australian investigators have determined that a Qantas Boeing 737-800 departed Canberra with incorrect take-off performance data, after more than 50 passengers were erroneously listed as no longer on board. While the airline’s load-control personnel were suspicious about the data while compiling the aircraft’s loadsheet, it was nevertheless handed to the ...
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NewsThunderbirds F-16 crashes during California training flight
A Lockheed Martin F-16 from the US Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team has crashed during a training flight in California, with the pilot ejecting safely and remaining in stable condition.
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NewsInquiry traces ANZ A320neo shutdown and similar incidents to fire-button pin flaw
New Zealand investigators probing an in-flight engine shutdown involving an Airbus A320neo believe the event is linked to overhead fire-control panel damage which could result in uncommanded activation of an engine-fire switch. The inquiry into the Air New Zealand incident, on 1 December last year, has highlighted five other similar ...
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NewsDeep-sea hunt for wreckage of MH370 to restart at year-end: ministry
Malaysia’s government has disclosed that the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER will resume at the end of this year. The ministry of transport states that US specialist Ocean Infinity has “confirmed” it will “recommence seabed search operations” on 30 December. This latest effort will last a total ...
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NewsCanadian investigators cannot find cause of PT6 failure that prompted PC-12 ice landing
Canadian accident investigators cannot determine why a Pilatus PC-12’s Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67B turboprop suffered catastrophic blade separation during flight, forcing pilots to execute an emergency landing on sea ice near Rankin Inlet.
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NewsEmergency flight-control modifications complete on vast majority of A320-family jets
Precautionary rectification of a suspected vulnerability on some 6,000 Airbus A320- and A320neo-family jets have largely been completed. Airbus states that fewer than 100 affected aircraft remain from the global fleet. The airframer had already indicated that most of the airframes would only require a relatively quick change of flight-control ...
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NewsA320 grounding linked to software update designed to protect against in-flight loss of control
Investigations into an October in-flight upset involving a JetBlue Airways Airbus A320 have yet to reach any firm conclusions, but suspicions of a solar particle strike have proven sufficient to order an extraordinary temporary grounding of half the world’s A320-family fleet. Remedial work ordered by safety regulators – notably the ...
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NewsUS airlines scramble to update jets as FAA prepares A320-family software order
The Federal Aviation Administration is preparing to mirror EASA’s emergency airworthiness directive requiring Airbus A320-family aircraft receive software updates before further flight, following a solar radiation interference incident that affected a JetBlue flight in October.
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NewsUrgent A320 directive drawn up as solar radiation incident reveals flight-control vulnerability
European safety regulators have issued an emergency directive after flight-control data on Airbus A320-family jets was found to be vulnerable to high levels of solar radiation. Airbus says the determination follows analysis of a recent event involving the single-aisle type. While Airbus has not detailed the occurrence, FlightGlobal understands that ...
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NewsNorwegian investigators flag suspected maintenance issue for in-flight engine shutdown on Bristow S-92
Norwegian investigators believe an unspecified maintenance issue was the likely cause of an in-flight engine failure on a Sikorsky S-92 heavy-twin shortly after take-off from an oil platform.
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NewsCorrosion on MD-87 and BAe 146 firefighters traced to incompatible retardants
US investigators have determined that insufficient testing of a new retardant resulted in significant corrosion damage to two aerial firefighting aircraft owing to chemical incompatibility with the retardant already in use.
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NewsGerman researchers launch flight campaign to measure contrails from new-generation engines
German researchers have begun a series of flights to measure the contrails produced by the latest-generation engines as part of a wider project tackling aviation’s non-CO2 impacts.
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NewsNew volcanic ash forecasting service could halve airline disruption from future eruptions
Meteorological agencies in France and the UK are spearheading the launch of a new and more detailed volcanic ash forecasting service they believe could significantly reduce disruption to airlines in the event of a large-scale volcanic eruption.