All Ops & safety articles – Page 1377
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Lancer flare
Rockwell B-1B bombers are being cleared to fire newer-model countermeasure flares with no restrictions, but are still constrained to Mach 0.85, with no rolling or yawing, if using older flares. The flare firing envelope has been restricted since 1995, when aircraft began suffering tailstrike damage after dispensing countermeasures. The damage ...
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Kiwi International forced to suspend operations
KIWI International suspended flight operations on 15 October after failing to gain a cash infusion from investors. The US airline had filed for bankruptcy protection two weeks before, and cut services, blaming high debts and the fall-out on other low-cost start-ups from the ValuJet crash. Kiwi has struggled ...
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Inchon incoming
Seoul is struggling to meet targets for its new airport. Paul Lewis/SEOUL THE GROWING IMPORTANCE of Asia as a world economic powerhouse is best illustrated by the fact there are no less than four major new international airports, either being planned or built in the ...
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An-124 crashes on approach to Turin
Andrea Spinelli/GENOA Paul Duffy/MOSCOW THE TWO PILOTS of an Aeroflot Russian International Airlines (ARIA)-operated Antonov An-124 were killed, along with at least two people on the ground, when the aircraft crashed into houses short of the runway while attempting to land at Turin's Caselle Airport, Italy, on 8 ...
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Lockheed Martin pushes C-130J flight envelope
Testing of the Lockheed Martin C-130J Hercules II is catching up on its delayed start, with rapid expansion of the flight envelope to all-new limits. The first four test aircraft have amassed more than 220 flight hours on 60 sorties. Eventually, nine aircraft will be involved in the ...
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SAS to begin using ADS-B system in 1997
Scandinavian carrier SAS is to equip "at least" ten commercial aircraft, and ground vehicles, with automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) systems in 1997, and plans to equip its new Boeing 737-600s in 1998. The trials are part of the European-Commission-funded North European ADS-B Network programme, which has established a ...
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R-R develops a low-emissions combustor for RB.211-535E4B
ROLLS-ROYCE is developing a new combustor for its RB.211-535E4B turbofan, which it claims will reduce the engine's nitrogen-oxide (NOx) emissions by up to 40%. The new variant is due to enter service, powering Condor's first Boeing 757-300, in the first quarter of 1999. According to David Snape, chief ...
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IPTN makes changes to N-250 after early flights
Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) is making minor changes to the fly-by-wire (FBW) flight-control system (FCS) of the N-250, Indonesia's first fully indigenously designed airliner, following early flight tests. IPTN test pilot Erwin Danoewinata says that the general handling characteristics are "very satisfactory", and that the FCS is ...
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IPTN plans N270 talks in December
SENIOR OFFICIALS from Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN) and its US subsidiary, American Regional Aircraft Industry (AMRAI), plan to meet in mid-December to re-evaluate development of the proposed stretched N270 turboprop. The Indonesian meeting is expected to conduct a complete review of the yet-to-be launched, programme in ...
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LF507 reliability levels 'not acceptable' says Crossair
Julian Moxon/HANOVER LOWER-THAN-expected despatch reliability of the AlliedSignal Engines LF507 turbofan powering Aero International Regional (AI(R)) RJ100 Avroliners has forced the engine manufacturer to spend $30 million on developing solutions. Crossair president Moritz Suter criticised the engine's 99.3% dispatch reliability during the recent European Regional Airlines ...
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747 conversions
Boeing has received a contract from All Nippon Airways of Japan for the conversion of one 747-200 to full-freighter configuration - the second of the airline's 747s to be modified. The aircraft will be delivered to Wichita in April 1997 for the conversion work, and is scheduled to be handed ...
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Helicopter medevac will be aided by GPS
STAT MEDEVAC, a Manassas, Virginia-based helicopter emergency medical service (EMS) operating in western Pennsylvania, has signed a deal with Satellite Technology Implementation to set up a network of 13 global-positioning-system (GPS) approaches at remote hospitals. Installation of the US Federal Aviation Administration approved GPS approaches will allow helicopter ...
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Airbus Industrie creates freight airline for Belugas
AIRBUS INDUSTRIE has set up a subsidiary to operate its A300-600ST (Super Transporter) "Beluga" outsized transports on commercial cargo charters. It is estimated that the new division, Airbus Transport International (ATI), could earn the consortium up to $15 million-worth of revenue each year using spare capacity on the Beluga fleet. ...
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Airlines are 'confused' over European free-flight issues
Julian Moxon/AMSTERDAM A MAJOR INITIATIVE to prove the cost benefits of flying in a "free-flight" air-traffic-management (ATM) environment must be mounted if the system is ever to become reality, say leading industry officials speaking at the Flight International Airline Navigation '96 conference in Amsterdam on 9 -11 October. ...
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NASA looks at ways to save PCA during crises
NASA is studying a potential application of its recently completed Propulsion Controlled Aircraft (PCA) system, which would allow a twin-engined aircraft to survive a catastrophic engine and flight-control failure. The PCA was developed following the 1989 crash of a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 with disabled flight controls. The crew ...
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At cross purposes
Sir - In the article "Highly rated" (Flight International, 11-17 September, P46) the acronym CCQ is written as cross-crew qualification. I have heard, however, the term crew cross-qualification. I believe that the latter is correct, since it depicts what it is, the cross qualification of crews between two or more ...
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USAir investigates new 'no-frills' division
DISCUSSIONS BETWEEN USAir and its pilots could lead the way towards the creation of a low-cost service designed to counter operations such as those of the newly created Delta Express, Southwest and ValuJet. Successful negotiations between management and members of the Air Line Pilots Association over the start-up ...
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Germany to lead free-flight trials in Europe
GERMANY'S civil-aviation authority, the DFS, is working with Lufthansa to carry out trials of free-flight technologies in Europe. "We're looking at how to implement free flight in Germany as soon as possible," says Dr Klaus Dieter Ehrhardt, responsible for CNS/ATM planning in the DFS. "We will look at ...
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No-gain pain
AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS ARE effective, if often tragic, teachers, and the aviation community always learns greatly from them. Incidents - the accidents which didn't quite happen -- can be just as effective teachers, but the aviation community learns far less from them. The reason is fear of disclosure- a fear which ...
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Kiwi files for Chapter 11 as ValuJet resumes flights
Kevin O'Toole/LONDON Kiwi International Airlines has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, blaming rising debts and the fall-out from the ValuJet crash and the grounding of Kiwi aircraft. Ironically, the filing took place on 30 September, the day that ValuJet returned to the air and at ...