All Safety News – Page 1403
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Cameras provide more information
Sir - I would like to clarify some statements attributed to me in the article "Caught on camera" (Flight International, 1-7 January, P35). DM Aerospace is concentrating on the use of internal and external video cameras as airliner-safety enhancements. We have developed an aircraft video flight recorder in ...
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Why no simulators for ground staff?
Sir - I believe that there should be some form of simulator or fixed-base trainer instruction and testing of ground engineers who perform daily engine power runs in expensive aircraft. Why do we place such emphasis on training pilots and flight engineers and yet ignore the needs of ...
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Transponders for CIS
Spurred by the mid-air collision between a Saudi Arabian Boeing 747-100 and a Kazakh Ilyushin Il-76 in November 1996 near New Delhi, India, the US Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the feasibility of employing used transponders to reduce the risk of collision. The shelved transponders were those replaced by traffic-alert ...
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Yak-40 crash-lands
The pilot of a Krasnoyarsk Airlines Yakovlev Yak-40 successfully force-landed his aircraft in a Siberian field 28km (15nm) from his destination on 29 January. There was no injury to the four crew and 20 passengers on board as the aircraft landed in white-out conditions with 400m (1,300ft) visibility in snow. ...
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New evidence reveals fire on doomed Challenger's booster
New evidence that part of the right-hand solid- rocket booster (SRB) of the Space Shuttle STS 51L/Challenger was breached and caught fire at lift-off on 28 January, 1986, has been revealed by controversial aerospace engineer Ali AbuTaha. Seven crew were lost when the Shuttle broke apart at T+73s, in what ...
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Secondary implications
Sir - You wrote in the Airline Safety Review for 1996 (Flight International, 15-21 January, P31) that "-the year provided its ironies" - none more so, I feel, than the contribution of secondary radar to the Lima Boeing 757 fatal accident. I understand that, following a request for position and ...
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US airline safety ratings to hit Internet
Safety data on US air carriers are to be put on the Internet by the Federal Aviation Administration, in a bid to make them more accessible to the travelling public. The agency says it will not, however, rank airlines according to their accident records, although information on accidents and some ...
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VASP eyes up Argentinas
Acquisitive Brazilian airline VASP is understood to have made an approach to take a controlling stake in Aerolineas Argentinas. Iberia, which still has an interest in the Argentinian carrier, and which would still need to give its approval for any deal, says that no concrete offer for the airline has ...
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Boeing expected to agree late change to new 737 flightdeck
Boeing is close to agreeing to airline requests that it replace electro-mechanical standby instruments on the 737-600/ 700/800 flightdeck, with a single, solid-state, liquid-crystal-display (LCD) unit. A final decision is expected when the manufacturer can ascertain whether enough of the units can be supplied to meet planned next-generation ...
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European consortium presents noise findings
A recently completed European research project has enabled engineers to understand the way in which so-called "buzz-saw" noise is generated and propagates along the nacelle of a jet engine, according to Rolls-Royce, one of the participants in the "Fanpac" research programme. Buzz-saw noise is caused by shock waves ...
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British Midland lobbies EC for European slots at Heathrow
British Midland (BM) has entered the fray over the British Airways/American Airlines alliance, arguing that slots should be made available for its European feeder services rather than exclusively for new transatlantic operations. Chairman Sir Michael Bishop says that the move follows the recent intervention of European competition commissioner ...
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Lord NVX system quietens DC-9/MD-80 cabin
LORDHASRECEIVED US certification for its NVX active noise-and-vibration control system on the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and MD-80. The company says that its system is the first to be approved for use on large commercial aircraft, and "...is being considered for several DC-9/MD-80 installation programmes." Approval follows installation of the NVX ...
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Weather predictor
Raytheon has been selected by the US Federal Aviation Administration to install equipment enabling weather hazards in the airspace within about 97km (60m) of an airport to be predicted. The Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS) will generate predictions of weather phenomena, such as microbursts. It will also warn of the ...
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American Airlines pilots prepare for strike action
THE ALLIED PILOTS Association (APA), which represents 9,000 American Airlines pilots, has told flightdeck crews to prepare for a strike over wage and contract issues which could begin on 15 February and last for two months. United Airlines' pilots, meanwhile, are considering an overtime ban in a similar dispute. ...
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Compressor damage grounds two of BA's 777 fleet
Several General Electric GE90-powered Boeing 777s were temporarily withdrawn from service earlier this month after borescope inspections revealed "light airfoil damage" in the compressor sections of five engines. British Airways said last week that two of its four 777s had been grounded, and it was expecting replacement engines ...
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Slots scramble at Haneda highlights Japan's problems
A recent airline scramble for a limited number of new slots at Tokyo's Haneda Airport has served to underline Japan's growing problem of trying to liberalise its air-transport industry in the face on an already over- extended infrastructure. The proliferation in new start-up and subsidiary carriers follows moves ...
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Masters of aviation
Pilots' careers finish relatively early, leaving them with no credit for accumulated knowledge and experience beyond that learned during the period of their licences. A postgraduate level of education in the aviation industry would be attractive to some motivated licence-holders who want future employment, early positions as management pilots, or ...
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UK and Netherlands eye North Sea ATC
The UK and Netherlands civil-aviation authorities are considering following Norway's lead in using satellite-based surveillance and communications to bring positive air-traffic control (ATC) to North Sea helicopter operations. Much of the region is outside radar or VHF communications range and there is serious concern among oil companies and ...
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Airbus and Boeing wait for British Midland decision
British Midland (BM) is close to placing a substantial order for aircraft in the 180-seat class, which will be phased in over the next five years to replace part of its Boeing 737 fleet. The expanding UK airline has hinted for some time that it was considering larger ...
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Schweizer RU-38A flight tests to resume in May
Flight-testing of the Schweizer Aircraft RU-38A Twin Condor is set to resume in May now that the US Coast Guard (USCG) has renegotiated its $5.3 million contract with the US aircraft maker. The twin-engine surveillance aircraft project was put in limbo for nearly a year when one of ...