All Safety News – Page 1490
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News
United studies 727 life-extension
UNITED AIRLINES IS examining the possibility of extending the lives of its Boeing 727s in an effort to reduce fleet-renewal costs. The carrier's work on head-up displays (HUDs) and enhanced-vision systems (EVS) has helped move it towards a life-extension decision. United has been increasingly voluble in its questioning ...
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GE confident of fan blade answer
Graham Warwick/PARIS GENERAL ELECTRIC Aircraft Engines has developed a solution to the fan-blade failure which has grounded GE90-powered Boeing 777 flight-test aircraft (Flight International, 14-20 June, P4). GE has until mid-July to restage the 3.6kg birdstrike test successfully, if Boeing is to deliver the first GE90-powered 777 ...
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Another 777 suffers depressurisation
THE FOURTH FLIGHT-test Boeing 777, returning from the Paris air show, suffered a pressurisation failure while en route from Washington DC to Seattle on 14 June. The incident was a less-serious recurrence of the loose duct-clamps, which caused pressurisation losses on two other 777s. The aircraft had not ...
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Four engines on offer for A340 stretch
AIRBUS WILL begin evaluating four engine options for the stretched version of the A340 in the fourth quarter of the year, says vice-president, engineering, Bernard Ziegler. The consortium says that it would "...prefer to offer a choice of engines, but that depends on the manufacturers". "We're working with ...
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Robinson advised on R22 design
AUS FEDERAL AVIATION Administration special report recommends design changes, additional flight restrictions and more flight testing as part of an effort to reduce Robinson Helicopter R22 and R44 accidents. The report stops short of accepting a recommendation from the US National Transportation Safety Board to ground the two-seat ...
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Airbus picks expansion priorities
AIRBUS INDUSTRIE has identified three priorities for the expansion of its A330/A340 range by the end of the century. The European consortium says that the move will give it the "best possible position" in the medium- and long-range markets within five years. The 14,800km (8,000nm)-range A340-8000 will ...
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High-speed ATR 72 tops AIR product agenda
A HIGH-SPEED version of the 74-seat ATR 72 is likely to be the first product developed by the new regional alliance formed by the ATR consortium (Aerospatiale and Alenia) and British Aerospace. ATR says that it is "studying possible engines" for a higher-speed version of the ATR 72. ...
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Airbus takes charge of the FLA
AIRBUS INDUSTRIE has formally taken over management of the Future Large Aircraft (FLA) military-transport programme, bringing together the five major European aerospace companies involved under a single banner. The question of Italian involvement in the subsidiary was settled only minutes before the FLA announcement at Paris. Alenia ...
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ARIA Il-96 order in the balance
AEROFLOT RUSSIAN International Airlines (ARIA) has signed a contract for the delivery of 20 Ilyushin Il-96 wide-body transports, subject to the approval of a financing package from the US Exim Bank. The $1.5 billion contract is for ten Il-96T freighters and ten Il-96M passenger aircraft, to be delivered ...
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Perspective on public inquiries
Sir - Following the "Comment" article on public-inquiry processes (Flight International, 24 - 30 May, P3), I would like to make several points about Manchester Airport's case for a second runway. The public inquiry into our application to build a second runway has now ended. It ran for ...
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Now hear this
The risks posed by simultaneous air-traffic-control transmissions will increase with traffic density. David Learmount/LONDON Inadvertent simultaneous transmissions on air-traffic-control frequencies "...can result in messages being misunderstood or lost and have been a factor in some aircraft safety-related incidents". So says a UK Civil Aviation Authority ...
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UK airports fit approach monitors
PRECISION AIR traffic control (ATC) approach-monitoring equipment has become fully operational at London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports, says the UK Civil Aviation Authority. Known as the approach-monitoring aid (AMA), the system - the first of its kind - alerts the tower controllers to aircraft deviations from a normal ...
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Thawing the frozen East
User fees could pay for the modernisation of Russian far-east airspace. Kieran Daly/LONDON The task of modernising the air-traffic management/control of the former Soviet Union is awesome. For those faced with the challenge, it is hard to know where to begin. The signs are, however, ...
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Reverse gear is being considered
Sir - The idea of a powered landing gear, or reverse gear for aircraft, is receiving the consideration of the Italian Office of Intellectual Property (file RM95A00318 0f 17 May, 1995, for the granting of a patent) to try to save the fees for pushback. Airbus Industrie says ...
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Moller plans four-seat VTOL experiment
MOLLER International, manufacturer of the M200X experimental two-seat vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, aims to fly a four-seater, the M400 Skycar, before the end of 1995. Moller is expected to give more details of plans for the Skycar at the Paris air show, which opened on 10 ...
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FAA reviews air-tour safety advice
THE US FEDERAL Aviation Administration is reviewing recommendations designed to increase safety for US air-tour firms operating fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. The move follows recommendations from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which resulted from an in-depth review of the 139 air-tour accidents or incidents since 1988. ...
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Safety concerns hit Express One
EXPRESS ONE International, the Dallas, Texas-based cargo and charter carrier, has grounded its 39-aircraft fleet voluntarily after a US Federal Aviation Administration audit discovered serious safety concerns. The FAA says that Express One International, which operates Boeing 727s and McDonnell Douglas DC-9s, failed to produce documentation on compulsory ...
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Instruments blamed in UK Bandeirante crash
STORMY WEATHER, combined with the apparent failure of at least one artificial horizon, may prove to have been contributory factors to the Knight Air Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante crash on 24 May (Flight International, 31 May-6 June) says the investigators' preliminary report. All 12 people on board died when ...
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MDC polls MD-11 freighter operators on smoke rules
McDONNELL DOUGLAS (MDC) is canvassing MD-11 freight operators on proposed changes to the freighter configuration, which would meet new smoke-rules of the European Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) and reduce maintenance costs. The alterations would allow loads of up to 79,450kg, while producing a net reduction (of around 130kg) ...
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Saab Aircraft celebrates major 340B order spree
SAAB AIRCRAFT has landed significant orders for its 340B Plus turboprop from two of the largest regional operators in the USA. In addition, the Swedish manufacturer has almost completed a deal to sell a large number of Saab 2000s to one of the carriers. The biggest single order ...