All Ops & safety articles – Page 1402
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DASA prepares 328 cryoplane
DAIMLER-BENZ Aerospace (DASA) is to go ahead with a programme to convert a Dornier 328 turboprop to a hydrogen-fuelled testbed late this year. "The aim is to use the knowhow gained with the Dornier 328...for Airbus applications at a later date," says DASA. The project, now in ...
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NTSB criticises FAA on 737 FDR
NATIONAL Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), chairman Jim Hall has criticised the US Federal Aviation Administration, for rejecting the Boards call for an immediate upgrade, of Boeing 737 flight data recorders (FDRs). Proposed new rules about the retrofit of modern FDRs on commercial passenger-carrying aircraft will soon be issued ...
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Regional and utility aircraft directory
Fokker's demise is the most dramatic in a series of upheavals taking place throughout the regional-aircraft industry Compiled by Andrew Doyle and Jennifer Pite/LONDON Graham Warwick/ATLANTA FOKKER IS DOWN, the count almost over, but the winner is far from clear: not the customers left with unfulfilled orders for ...
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China to invest in ATC updates
CHINA IS PLANNING TO spend about 6 billion yuan ($720 million) on updating its air-traffic-control (ATC) systems. Bao Peide, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), says that 440 million yuan will be spent making the system fully communications, navigation and surveillance/air-traffic management compatible. The balance will ...
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BFGoodrich strikes with new Stormscope thunderstorm detector
BFGOODRICH Aerospace has introduced the WX-950 Stormscope thunderstorm-detection system, billed as the only lighting detector with two modes of operation. In cell mode, the WX-950 uses a ranging algorithm to map thunderstorms. In strike mode, the system records and displays individual lightning strikes. While cell mode was developed ...
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Small-aircraft owners catch on to self-fuelling
PERRY MAINTENANCE has purchased self-service-refuelling specialist Cornerstone and formed a new division, Perry Aviation Refueling (PAR). Fuel supplier Air BP, meanwhile, has launched a self-service aviation fuel card, which customers will be able to use at selected fixed-base operators (FBOs). Indiana-based PAR says that self-service refuelling at FBOs ...
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FAA icing rules change
MOST US REGIONAL-airline operators of turboprop-powered aircraft will face minor operational restrictions rather than costly modifications, according to the finalised Federal Aviation Administration rules about flight in icing conditions (Flight International, 7-13 February). Major anti-icing system design changes like those demanded for the ATR 42 have not been required. ...
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Sabena crew deal paves way to cost cutting
SABENA HAS TIED UP a deal with its pilots over the crewing of the group's incoming fleet of Avro RJ85 regional jets and says that it has had "very constructive" negotiations with its unions over the broader cost-cutting measures. Although the RJ85 fleet will be operated within regional subsidiary Delta ...
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The precision- and non-precision-approach debate
Sir - I refer to "Why a precision approach is safer" (Letters, Flight International, 17-23 April, P62), in which Dimitris Vourdoubas and Capt John Raby argue the pros and cons of attempting to fly a non-precision approach to a constant slope. Unfortunately, non-precision approaches vary, not least in ...
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New entrant
Tim Furniss/LONDON A NEW ENTRANT in the commercial-launcher market will have its debut on 25 May with the lift-off of Europe's Ariane 5. The first flight will carry four Cluster science satellites, on the first of two European Space Agency-funded demonstration flights. When it enters service ...
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Zimbabwe Government loses patience with Fokkers
THE ZIMBABWE Government has told Air Zimbabwe to terminate its leases on two Fokker 50 turboprops, following concerns about their performance and their adverse effect on the country's tourist industry. After a parliamentary committee concluded that the aircraft were not suitable for operations from hot-and-high airports during the ...
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UPS may package passengers
Graham Warwick/ATLANTA UPS Airlines is considering operating weekend passenger-charter services using otherwise-idle cargo aircraft. As a first move, quick-change conversion kits for five Boeing 727-100 freighters are being considered as a way to increase aircraft utilisation. The results of a study into the feasibility of offering passenger-charter services to tour ...
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Power Pool
THE COMMERCIAL-ENGINES business is among the biggest of big-risk businesses, and the risk is seldom bigger than when a new engine is required for an as-yet-unproven large airliner. So it should come as no surprise that two engine manufacturers should pool resources to minimise the risk of participating in such ...
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Regional repercussions
Regional jets headline this year's US Regional Airline Association show, with the debut of Embraer's EMB-145 and the debate on turboprop safety. Graham Warwick/ATLANTA MORE THAN 18 months after an American Eagle ATR 72 crashed near Roselawn, Indiana killing all 68 people on board, repercussions of the accident ...
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3D keeps engines on-wing
Andrew Doyle/LONDON AEA Technology, of Didcot, UK, has patented a three-dimensional (3D) stereoscopic television system for use with standard rigid boroscopes, which it believes could have wide-ranging applications as an aerospace maintenance inspection tool. The TV3 system is designed to enable engineers to carry out ...
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Airbus bids to slash A310 costs to rival Boeing 757
Paul Lewis/TOULOUSE AIRBUS INDUSTRIE is studying ways of cutting the cost of its A310 aircraft, in an effort to revive sales and counter proposed higher-gross-weight developments of the Boeing 757. According to Adam Brown, Airbus vice-president for strategic planning, the company is looking at a ...
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Flight Dynamics plans HUDs for more 737s
FLIGHT DYNAMICS plans to increase its dominance of the market for head-up displays (HUDs) on civil transports by certificating its system for Category III operations on five Boeing 737 models by mid-1999. The schedule calls for certification of the 737-400 and -500 to Cat IIIa by the end ...
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Bombardier shows Australian maritime-patrol Dash 8s
BOMBARDIER is conducting a 12-country demonstration tour with the first of three de Havilland Dash 8-200 maritime-patrol aircraft for Surveillance Australia. The tour began in Scandinavia, and is continuing through the Mediterranean, Middle East and Asia, with the aircraft due to arrive in Australia in June and enter service in ...
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Financial analysts are divided on Delta Air Lines figures
FIRST-QUARTER results from Delta Air Lines, which included a massive write-down to cover the last major chunk of its cost-cutting drive, have raised a mixed response from financial analysts. The carrier reported its best-ever operating results for the first quarter, but the net profit came in below ...
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Air France Europe 'may disappear', says Blanc
Julian Moxon/PARIS AIR FRANCE Group president Christian Blanc has threatened the workforce of Air France Europe with the "disappearance" of the airline if Draconian measures to restore performance are not under- taken in the next two years. At a board meeting on 25 April, Blanc ...