All Ops & safety articles – Page 1457
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News
DHC-6 probe fails to satisfy pilots' fears over Twin Otter
NORWEGIAN PILOTS are to vote on whether to reject formally the findings of the investigation into the fatal loss of a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter. A second report, this time by Dutch investigators, has failed to persuade UK metallurgical specialists whose earlier evidence caused the Norwegian ...
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Boeing drives 777 ahead but loses Gulf Air orders
BOEING IS continuing its intensive effort to push the 777 into service on time after confirming that it has lost Gulf Air's order for six aircraft, with six options. The Bahrain-based carrier dropped its commitment to the General Electric GE90-powered aircraft after deciding that it would end ...
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NTSB spreads blame in USAir DC-9 crash report
THE US NATIONAL Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says that the flight-deck crew and air-traffic controllers share the responsibility for the wind shear-induced crash of a USAir McDonnell Douglas DC-9 in 1994. Investigators say that the DC-9-31 pilots flew directly into a severe storm cell at Charlotte, North Carolina, ...
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Orenda to certificate piston engine for King Air 90
HAWKER SIDDELEY Canada's Orenda division is to seek certification of the new Orenda Series piston engine on the Raytheon Beech King Air 90 under an agreement with US modification centre Stevens Aviation. Toronto-based Orenda will supply two 450kW (600hp) OE-600A liquid-cooled, twin-turbo-charged, Vee-8 engines in July for ...
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Rivals capitalise on Air Inter strike woe
AIRLINES, WHICH have been taking advantage of liberalisation, to compete with French domestic carrier Air Inter at Paris Orly Airport, are reaping the benefits of continuing strikes at the Air France subsidiary. Since January, AOM and Air Liberte have been operating flights to Marseilles and Toulouse respectively - ...
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Airbus develops infra-red water detector
AIRBUS INDUSTRIE has developed a new infrared thermographic-inspection technique for detecting water ingress in composite-sandwich structures. The manufacturer says, that the procedure is proving so successful that it has been, recommended for use by all operators of Airbus aircraft. Infrared thermography is based on the principle that ...
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US airlines dispute timetable and costs for flight-data recorders
THE US AIRLINE Transport Association (ATA) says that a US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendation to require more sophisticated flight-data recorders on older Part 121 passenger aircraft is too expensive and unattainable within the time-scale proposed. The NTSB says that each installation would cost between $20,000 and ...
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Switzerland to run GPS approach trial
SWISS REGIONAL airline Crossair and Swisscontrol plan a two-phase evaluation of global-positioning-system (GPS) landing systems, beginning in late 1995. The programme, to be completed by early 1996, could result in approval of one of the first GPS precision-approaches in Europe. In the first phase, two Crossair Saab 2000s ...
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Hughes offers Canada revised ATC schedule
HUGHES AIRCRAFT has submitted a re-work plan to Transport Canada which extends the time-scale for completion of the Canadian Automated Air Traffic System (CAATS) by almost two years, to 1998. Canadian progress payments to Hughes have meanwhile stopped, while the negotiations take place. Hughes says that the contract ...
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Bad Reviews
THE CURRENT CASE in Norway concerning the 1990 crash of a Wideroe Flyveselskap DHC-6 Twin Otter is the latest in a long line of challenges to accident reports. In this case, as in the others, the controversy stems more from the procedures for making a challenge than from the scientific ...
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Canada joins USA in dropping MLS
THE CANADIAN Government is to negotiate the termination of its microwave-landing system (MLS) with prime contractor Micronav International. Transport minister Douglas Young says that the nation is committing itself to continued use of the instrument-landing system (ILS) for as long as possible and then plans to switch to ...
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Protests likely over WAAS decision
THE US FEDERAL Aviation Administration has eliminated all but one of the four competitors for the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and begun negotiations to award the $500 million contract to a team led by Wilcox Electric. The WAAS will increase the integrity, availability and accuracy of the ...
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Rotary FANS
It is one of the ironies of the future air-navigation system (FANS) that, although it is aimed primarily at airline operations, the general-aviation (GA) community is so far its major user. One FANS element - satellite navigation - is already commonplace in fixed-wing GA in the form of the global-positioning ...
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News
Boeing notches 737 orders with another due shortly
BOEING HAS won orders for a further 14 737-700s and is virtually assured of at least another six commitments for the new 737 family. German charter operator Germania Fluggesellschaft has ordered 12 aircraft, worth about $512 million, and Bavaria Fluggesellschaft has confirmed an order for two more, which ...
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Violations trigger FAA action to close Arrow
US FREIGHT AND passenger airline Arrow Air is bitterly criticising the Federal Aviation Administration's proposed action to close it down. The carrier voluntarily grounded its 18 Douglas Aircraft DC-8s and Boeing 727s after the FAA reported "serious" violations in maintenance-record-keeping and a failure to show compliance with a ...
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Airbus settles Boeing suit out of court
AIRBUS INDUSTRIE and its member companies have settled out of court with Boeing over the US Company's lawsuit alleging patent infringement of a slat mechanism. Boeing demanded "an inquiry as to damages" or the payment with interest of Airbus profits related to the device when it sued in ...
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European airports caution on passenger growth
EUROPE'S CONGESTED airports managed to overcome capacity constraints to post an 8% rise in passenger traffic during 1994, but the region's leading hubs at London and Paris warn that growth cannot be maintained without new infrastructure investments. Although passenger growth within Europe was close to the world average, ...
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BA plans high-capacity fleet to fill Heathrow
BRITISH AIRWAYS has outlined radical plans to raise the size of aircraft, which it flies from London's heavily congested Heathrow Airport. As part of the plan, BA is increasing pressure on Boeing for a stretched, 500-seat, 747 to come into service within the next four years. It is ...
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Minister confirms Tarom bomb threat
ROMANIAN TRANSPORT minister Aurel Novak has confirmed that bomb threats against the Romanian airline Tarom had been received from unknown sources during the months before the Tarom Airbus A310-300 crash at Bucharest Airport, Romania, on 31 March at 08.10 local time. On the day of the accident, which ...
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Coming together
In a hangar in Marietta, Georgia, the prototype Lockheed Martin/Boeing F-22 air-superiority fighter stands amid an impressive array of sample parts and prototype components ranging from avionics connectors to fuselage bulkheads. "We were not talking viewgraphs," says F-22 programme general-manager Gary Riley, referring to the critical design-review (CDR), ...