All Safety News – Page 1288
-
News
Asian lows
Asia's economic woes continue to trouble the region's airlines Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPOREAsia's airlines are wallowing in the depths of the region's economic crisis, with traffic and yields down and little evidence of any imminent recovery. The depth of the crisis was highlighted by Cathay Pacific Airways' recent revelation that it fell ...
-
News
Spanair is first to order heavy A321 as it opts for Airbus fleet
Andrew Doyle/LONDONSpanair plans to launch a new high gross weight version of the Airbus A321 as part of its commitment for up to 45 Airbus narrowbodies to replace its ageing Boeing MD-80 fleet.The carrier - Spain's second largest after Iberia - has signed a memorandum of understanding covering 21 firm ...
-
News
Meet the family
Herman De Wulf/BRUSSELS Sabena of Belgium has begun its transition to an all-Airbus fleet, and is coming to grips with new procedures With the delivery of its first Airbus Industrie A321 on 2 March, Sabena began its conversion to an all-Airbus airline - the biggest re-equipment programme in ...
-
News
Loran-C reprieved as USA sets timetable for move to sole GPS
Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC It will take at least 10 years for the USA to complete its transition from ground-based navigation aids to the satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) for "sole means" navigation, according to US aviation officials. Meanwhile, Loran-C, which is operated by the US Coast Guard for en ...
-
News
ICAO figures show improvements in safety
There were 22 accidents involving passenger fatalities on scheduled airlines in 1998 according to figures released by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). This compares with 27 fatal accidents in the same category during 1997. Passenger fatalities last year were 909, against 930 in 1997, but ICAO points out ...
-
News
Bombardier adds more names to Continental as launch nears
Bombardier has named further risk-sharing partners for its Continental business jet programme. Launch of the "super mid-size" Continental is expected by the time of the Paris air show. France's Intertechnique will provide the fuel system, and ECE - a Group Intertechnique company - will supply the electrical system. AlliedSignal ...
-
News
Ab initio pilots just the job for Horizon
Seattle, USA-based regional carrier Horizon Air has arranged a supply of ab initio trained pilots, flying in the face of the US tradition of paying more heed to the number of log-book hours than to the type of training. Horizon has developed a "direct relationship" with the University of ...
-
News
Boeing confirms new large aircraft study
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Boeing says it is still studying all-new large aircraft concepts, dubbed the Large Airplane Product Development (LAPD), despite its deliberate focus on 747 derivatives and opposition to more costly all-new concepts such as the the proposed Airbus A3XX. "Boeing is studying a large aircraft," says the ...
-
News
EC resignations delay new rules
Alan George/BRUSSELS New European aviation initiatives have been put on hold following the mass resignation of top officials at the European Commission (EC) in the wake of a damning report into fraud and cronyism at the Brussels headquarters of the European Union. Despite the chaos caused by the resignations ...
-
News
KAL faces new penalties after two new incidents
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Korean Air (KAL) is facing fresh sanctions and possible fines after suffering a Boeing MD-83 crash and an aborted landing by an Airbus A300-600 just three days later. Airline analysts say the latest incidents could raise doubts about KAL's joint safety drive with Delta Air Lines, a ...
-
News
UPS contract leads Thomson to Windows NT
Thomson Training &Simulation (TTS) has launched a Windows NT-based full flight simulator with an order from United Parcel Service. TTS says the simulator, for the Airbus A300-600R, will be the world's first to feature a PC-based real-time computing architecture using the Windows NT operating system. Presently, the company uses ...
-
News
Bombardier wins and loses in trade battle with Embraer
Bombardier and the Canadian Government are claiming victory in their long battle with Embraer and the Brazilian Government over the subsidising of regional aircraft exports. The Canadian manufacturer believes that a World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling against Brazil's Proex export finance programme will give its de Havilland Dash 8 turboprop ...
-
News
Sibir bounces back with turnover up 10%
Paul Duffy/MOSCOW Former Aeroflot carrier Sibir is showing signs of rebounding from the Russian economic collapse, with traffic and financial figures showing improvement during 1998. The Novosibirsk-based airline carried 620,000 passengers last year, up 3% on 1997, while cargo volumes were up by 5%, to 5,800t. Sibir's success is all ...
-
News
Cargo Air takes to Israel's open skies
Israeli freight specialist Cargo Air Lines (CAL) is preparing to launch independent services in December, after receiving Israeli Government licences to operate scheduled cargo flights. CAL was set up by Israeli agricultural growers' organisations in 1977 to serve as a broker agency, leasing cargo aircraft capacity from Israeli national ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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, ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
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 ...