Aviation News, Headlines & Alerts
 
Category: <span>Air Safety</span>

Category: Air Safety

Air Safety


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Air Safety, Ethiopian Airlines, ICAO, News, Nigeria

Nigeria working toward ICAO Standard

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Long known for substandard aviation, changes seem to be in Nigeria’s future.

Nigeria’s airports are slated to be revamped to meet international standards according to Stella Oduah, Minister of Aviation. Safety and security are intended to be the new priority, as they aim for “zero” accidents.

Infrastructure and services are also slated to be improved.

The ICAO’s AFI plan is part of the Third Pan-African Aviation Training Coordination Conference.

The conference is organized by the ICAO Comprehensive Regional Implementation Plan for Aviation Safety in Africa (AFI Plan) in cooperation with the aviation regional organizations in the AFI Region, and hosted by the Government of South Africa will be held in Cape Town, South Africa from 27 to 29 July 2011.

The agenda for the conference is here.


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Air Safety, ICAO

ICAO Takes Air Cargo Security and Transparency Safety Initiatives

The ICAO released a report that they are joining forces with the World Customs Organization to counter terrorism and criminal activity. The Memorandum of Understanding between the WCO and ICAO is intended to strengthen Air Cargo Security.

The complex, multifaceted network of the global air cargo system will require a complex, multifaceted safety solution.

Read the press release pdf

Two weeks ago, the ICAO announced they were adopting a Code of Conduct for sharing safety information touting the concept that “Transparency and sharing of safety information are fundamental to a safe air transportation system.”

The code is based on consistent, fact-based and transparent response to safety, and a guide to international bureaucracies for implementation of transparency.

Read the press release pdf

Air Safety, American Airlines, bird strike, Emergency, McDonnell Douglas, Texas, Video

Bird Strike Damages American Airlines, Endangers Flight

 


Capture from video posted below

What: American Airlines MD-80 en route from Dallas/Fort Worth to Norfolk Virginia
Where: DFW airport
When: June 13 2011, 6:15 pm
Who: 122 passengers and 5 crew
Why: On takeoff from Dallas/ Fort Worth , Monday’s American Airlines flight struck a flock of (20+) pigeons, damaging the cone and right wing and requiring an emergency landing. The plane had to be taken out of service for repairs, and bird part extractions. Dead birds littered the runway.

Birds can be a problem at the 29 square mile airport. Attached you can view a wildlife management news clip demonstrating a wildlife expert’s noise system used to disrupt the birds.

View more videos at: http://nbcdfw.com.

Africa, Air Safety, alert, Volcanic Ash

Nabo Rings Danger and Caution over African Skies (and Spreading)

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It is June 15, three days after Eritrea’s Nabo volcano erupted, and traffic is still being disrupted. Ethiopian Airlines announced flights to Northern Ethiopia, Dijbouti and Kartoum are still disrupted by the ash cloud, although their other flights are running smoothly. Care is being taken because the ash, which is mainly made up of silicates melts at about 1100°C and fuses inside the engine, often to catastrophic results.

The Toulouse VAAC (Volcanic Ash Advisories) maps out the ash cloud:

And the official text advisory of June 15 from VAAC is below:

VA ADVISORY (text)
DTG: 20110615/1200Z
VAAC: TOULOUSE
VOLCANO: NABRO 0201-101
PSN: N1322E04142
AREA: AFRICA-E
SUMMIT ELEV: 2218M
ADVISORY NR: 2011/09
INFO SOURCE: METEOSAT IMAGERY
AVIATION COLOUR CODE: NIL
ERUPTION DETAILS: STRONGER ERUPTION MAINLY PRODUCING SO2
OBS VA DTG: 15/1200Z
OBS VA CLD: SFC/FL200 N1105 E03935 – N1240 E04130 – N1105 E04300 –
N1105 E03935 FL200/400 N1310 E04205 – N1255 E03715 – N1455 E03815 –
N1310 E04205
FCST VA CLD + 6H: 15/1800Z SFC/FL200 N1215 E04155 – N1105 E04420 –
N1105 E04035 – N1215 E04155 FL200/400 N1310 E04215 – N1215 E04040 –
N1225 E03705 – N1435 E03735 – N1310 E04215
FCST VA CLD + 12H: 16/0000Z SFC/FL200 N1240 E04200 – N1205 E04330 –
N1050 E04440 – N1050 E03950 – N1240 E04200 FL200/400 N1305 E04155 –
N1230 E03900 – N1235 E03515 – N1415 E03535 – N1305 E04155
FCST VA CLD + 18H: 16/0600Z SFC/FL200 N1225 E04205 – N1205 E04430 –
N1015 E04530 – N1020 E03905 – N1225 E04205 FL200/400 N1430 E03405 –
N1305 E04150 – N1155 E03930 – N1235 E03400 – N1430 E03405
RMK: VOLCANIC CLOUD MAINLY COMPOSED OF SO2
NXT ADVISORY: NO LATER THAN 20110615/1800Z

See our article Hot Volcanoes Cool Air Travel for more details.


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Air Safety, Public Statement, SAFO

FAA: Publishes SAFO on Runway Incursion increase

 

11004
From the SAFO:

Recommendations describe a top down approach, a coordinated effort to mitigate identified hazards. Suggestions include management emphasis and training of pilots and support personnel (air carrier mechanics, ground personnel, and tug/tow drivers.)

There are recommendations in each of these categories:

  • Planning
  • Situational Awareness
  • Written Taxi Instructions
  • Crew Resource Management
  • Communication
  • Taxi
  • Exterior Lighting

The full pdf is available here
https://airflightdisaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/SAFO11004.pdf

Air Safety, meteorology, Official Report

Hot Volcanoes Cool Air Travel

 

Nabro

Nabro volcano, Eritrea sends ash plume more than 13.5 kilometres into the sky and disrupting air traffic across eastern Africa.
Nasa photo
Volcano Nabro in Eritrea


Volcano Nabro erupted today throwing ash clouds up to 13.5 kilometres.The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) said Monday that the 5,331 ft volcano has resulted in a large ash plume of up to 13.5 kilometres (8 miles) high. The scale of the eruption, compared to the ongoing eruption in Chile and 2010?s eruption at Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland, remains unclear. Ash is falling on the northern Ethiopian town of Mekele. The ash advisory issued by the VAAC (see below graphics) is predicting that the Ash plume will spread towards the Middle East Monday night.

Puyehue

Puyehue Volcano in Lago Ranco, Río Bueno and Puyehue Chile
Puyehue Volcano in Lago Ranco, Río Bueno and Puyehue Chile
The Puyehue Volcano in the Andes
The Puyehue eruption began June 4th, 2011 when 3,500 people were evacuated. First the local airport was closed, then cancellation of hundreds of flights have continued this last week and a half. As of Friday, the cloud spread causing cancellations across South America towards Uruguay and into Brazil.

*Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa.


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Air Safety, Boeing, Video

Using Cell Phones in Planes May Endanger the Flight

 

According to Dave Carson of Boeing it just takes a stray cell phone signal “in the right place at the right time” to create serious technological havoc in the cockpit, and older planes are more susceptible to interference.

Video here


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Air Safety, Editorial

Raising the Bar on Pilot Training

 

Whether one looks at what happened in US cockpits on the Colgan Air flight (49 aboard killed, 1 on the ground, 4 injuries on the ground), or at Air France Flight 447 (228 killed), or if one looks at foreign crashes such as in Mangalore (166 aboard, 8 survivors), it appears that pilots need better tools to indicate when they are in trouble; and better training on how to respond in emergency situations such as when components fail, or flight is becoming unstable for whatever reason. It does little good to be warned that something is wrong if the warning comes at a point when it is too late to do anything about it.

One wonders if the Thales pitot tubes are equipped to warn when there is a heating failure; or if there is a backup heating system for the tubes; if that backup system were equipped to give a warning. One wonders if there might not be an additional set of pitot tubes installed, one that might be stored internally, but that the pilot might be able to engage automatically if the tubes fail; or barring that, one wonders if there should not be some other mechanical (as opposed to digital or mathematic) “speedometer device” alternative on board for emergency situations… in case pitot tubes again happen to fail in the dark of night over an unlit ocean hurtling for the duration of a four minute stall to an inevitable watery grave.

I do not advocate reverting everything to fly-by-wire. The best way I can express this is with a simile: Forcing pilots to use fly by wire is like forcing a healthy person to always ride in an electric wheelchair because there is a possibility they might trip.

If you do this, the person stuck in the wheelchair becomes less able to walk. Their leg muscles will atrophy and their walking skills will deteriorate. They become a passive passenger rather than an active participant. Thus ultimately, relying on a mechanical device to perform what the human being should be doing actually cripples their abilities rather than enhances them. Fly by wire should only be a tool an otherwise competent pilot can use on occasion, not part of the status quo.

It seems ironic that the automatic pilot quit at the point that it was most needed. But face it–the automatic system was as confused and disoriented as the pilots were at the incoming faulty data.

We will never know, whether, if the AF447 data crash occurred during daylight hours, if the pilots would have known better how to deal with the situation. Or if the notification of approaching flight crisis was a death knoll rather than a warning, i.e. a warning that came too late for any corrective measures to be applied. But we can be fairly sure that if there were better training and better warning, the catastrophe would not have occurred.


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Air Safety, Air Traffic Control, Editorial, News

21st Century Air Traffic Control: GAATS+ Technology

New technologies in aviation come about to solve problems and make air travel safer. From this new technology, controllers will have increased situational awareness.

Air traffic control relies on positive and procedural navigation: positive uses radar; procedural uses the radio-procedure of pilots reporting their position every few minutes.

Gander Automated Air Traffic System Plus (GAATS+) is Canada’s new trans-oceanic flight control system developed especially to help deal with sixty percent (the percentage of jets equipped with GPS position-reporting and text-based communications avionics) of the thousand jets crossing the North Atlantic daily (just as Air France 447 did.) It reduces radio procedure by extending positive control via north coast radar feeds.

The new technology is an advance in integration which automates ATC processes (taking advantage of the newest GPS technology, ADS-B and ADS-C) and is expected to save client airlines a million in fuel yearly. It is said that GAATS+ “provides significant enhancements to the original GAATS system, including electronic flight strips and increased automation of data exchange with other ATC facilities. GAATS+ also integrates automated flight plan processing, track generation, advanced conflict prediction and data-link communication for position reports.”

Of course I can not help but have opinions on operational technology, even without a single tangible thing that qualifies me to have an opinion.

The phrase that caught my eye is the statement that “GAATS allows reduced separation by lessening reliance solely on procedural control.”

I am not now nor will I ever be working in a control room. I will have to take the word of Air Traffic Controllers on how this system will work at making flying safer.

My opinion is only based on a layman’s experience and too much attention paid to aviation detail. I only see a few sticking points and they are broad ones:

  • The technology conundrum: Technology is good because it brings greater efficiency; but sometimes I wonder if a reliance on technology will allow skills to atrophy. Will a system like this ultimately result in less able controllers, the same way cockpit technology has resulted in less able pilots?
  • Separation conundrumI hear the phrase greater separation, and I think, “okay, these planes won’t impact each other; they’re safe from direct contact and wake turbulence.” So when I just see the GAATS literature talking about enabling “reduced separation,” what perceive a greater possibility for direct contact and/or wake turbulence. I know the idea of a 5 minute longitudinal separation as opposed to ten is intended to mean greater capacity for traffic. But increased technological accuracy and precision in tracking jets is a good thing only as long as we don’t use the precision in a way that is ultimately chancy.
  • New software conundrum Anyone who has ever had a system knows that the bugs in the system don’t show up right away. They are discovered at various points whenever parameters are stretched or unexpected /unanticipated/ extraordinary events occur. Even when software is not beta any longer, ( las GAATS+ is the latest incarnation of existing GAATS), it is still a developing work in progress, as new problems are revealed and are bridged. So we can only hope that any bugs that exist will not be fatal ones.

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Air Safety, Boeing

777 landing-gear installation issue

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating the improperly installed landing gear the new 777 jet which made a May emergency landing at Paine Field. Mechanics assembling the landing gear had left “about a quarter-inch of play.” A cockpit warning message told the pilots the left main landing gear was not locked into place. Following the landing, an inspection revealed a broken part (a cylindrical metal bearing called a bushing) in the landing gear. Since the incident, Boeing has—when necessary—been removing and replacing that part in new and existing777s.


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Air Safety, Legal, press release

FAA imposing Penalties for Lasers

The FAA released a legal interpretation, which finds that directing a laser beam into an aircraft cockpit could interfere with a flight crew performing its duties while operating an aircraft, a violation of Federal Aviation Regulations. In the past, the FAA has taken enforcement action under this regulation against passengers physically on-board an aircraft who interfere with crewmembers.

Today’s interpretation reflects the fact that pointing a laser at an aircraft from the ground could seriously impair a pilot’s vision and interfere with the flight crew’s ability to safely handle its responsibilities.
The maximum civil penalty the FAA can impose on an individual for violating the FAA’s regulations that prohibit interfering with a flight crew is $11,000 per violation.

This year, pilots have reported more than 1,100 incidents nationwide of lasers being pointed at aircraft. Laser event reports have steadily increased since the FAA created a formal reporting system in 2005 to collect information from pilots. Reports rose from nearly 300 in 2005 to 1,527 in 2009 and 2,836 in 2010.


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Air China, Air Safety, Airbus, fire

Hot Phone on Shanghai Flight

What: Air China Airbus A330-300 en route from Beijing to Shanghai
Where: Shanghai
When: May 25th 2011
Who: passenger
Why: While en route, passengers smelled smoke in the cabin. The source was pinned down to an overhood bin, and turned out to be a passenger’s camera battery which caught on fire. The flames were between seven and eight inches.

The battery was isolated and the fire extinguished in the lavatory.


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Air Safety, Mangalore

Mangalore Airport Updates

Indian civil court ordered the attachment of property of the assistant commissioner of Mangalore’s revenue department for not honouring court orders to pay corrected compensation to the people who lost 300 acres to the Mangalore Airport expansion. The individuals were not paid market value and are due the difference.

Safety recommendations have been made regarding the Mangalore airport by the Mangalore crash Court of Inquiry. The airport’s corrective measures so far, have been installing markers on either side of the runway. Nothing has been done yet to deal with the inadequate “Runway End Safety Area.” Elevating the paved area to 237 is projected to be complete by the end of May.

Air Safety

Return of the Volcano

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Saturday Iceland’s Grimsvotn volcano spewed a 7-miles plume of gas and ash. Initial warnings shut down airports in Iceland- (ISAVIA established a 120 mile no-fly zone around the volcano, closed Keflavik airport, and canceled all domestic flights.)

Tuesday airports in Ireland will be shut down. Forecasts are tentative because there is uncertainty how the plume will interact with the weather, but it is not expected to be as overwhelming as last year’s eruption of Eyjafjallajokull.


London volcanic ash advisory centre’s ash map
“some ash cloud may reach parts of northern Europe in the next 48 hours.”

Air Safety, Canada, Cessna, field, out of gas

Spectrum Flies Students While in “EM” Status-School board Unaware

 

Transport Canada’s Enhanced Monitoring System http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/opssvs/managementservices-referencecentre-documents-sur-sur-002-1028.htm is an aviaition surveillance program, the entry into which is based on an airline’s failure to meet minimum requirements. A score of 3, 4, 5 or a score of 2 where there are minor or moderate findings and there is no evidence of systemic failures, will return the certificate holder to routine monitoring. A score of 1 will result in the issuance of a Notice of Suspension.

A plane which made an emergency landing (termed a miracle landing, and the pilot heavily lauded) while carrying three Grade 9 geography students from White Oaks Secondary School was under enhanced monitoring at the time; and since the emergency, has been suspended.

The plane made an emergency landing with the students in a field. For twenty years, Spectrum Airways has had an agreement with the Halton District School Board to provide scenic flights for Grade 9 geography students. The Cessna Skyhawk 172 had run out of fuel, and the pilot landed with no damage or injuries, landing in a field behind Corpus Christi Catholic Secondary School.

Burlington Airpark, Spectrum Airways and Kovachik Aircraft Maintenance are responsible for maintenance.

What: Ontario Limited-Spectrum Airways Cessna 172M Skyhawk en route from Burlington Airport
Where: 1 KM south of Corpus Christi Catholic Secondary School, Canada
When: May 5, 2011
Who: 23 year old pilot, 3 passengers
Why: The plane made a safe emergency landing behind the school. On landing, the gas tank was empty. The pilot avoided homes, power lines, and a student rally in the parking lot.


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Air Safety, Rolls Royce, Trent

53 Trent Engines Removed from Service

Rolls-Royce removed 53 Trent Engines from service over pipe thickness problems in the oil feed pipes. Thinned pipe walls and cracking from a manufacturing defect led to an internal oil fire on a Qantas Airways Airbus A380, which made an emergency landing in Singapore in 2010. This is the flaw that led to Qantas grounding its entire A380 fleet, and other carriers like Singapore Airlines. Several modification standards were published: FW48020, FW59326, and FW64481.

The ATSB does not expect a complete analysis of the data it is gathering on these engines until May 2012.


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Air Safety, Brazil, Sentence

Part Two of the Gol Sentences, in which ATC is Accountable

We recently mentioned when the pilots of the two US pilots were sentenced to US community service for the 2006 Midair collision between a GOL Boeing and a business jet.

In addition to the pilots, the Air Traffic Controller Lucivando de Alencar was sentenced. Judge Murilo Mendes revoked Alencar’s license, and sentenced him to three years of community service.

Flight 1907, en route from Manaus to Rio, disappeared from radar over Mato Grosso when it collided in mid-air with an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet piloted by the two pilots who were sentenced earlier this week. The Legacy jet landed safely at Cachimbo Airport but 148 passengers and 6 crew members died in the Boeing that crashed into the Amazon.


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Air Safety

Airbus Airworthiness: A300/310

Excessive movements of a tail-fin part caused an American Airlines crash in New York in 2001.

That is 10 years ago.

A proposal is coming out tomorrow that will give Airbus A300 and A310 four years to make modifications preventing excessive rudder movements.

What has taken them so long? They knew this was was a design issue shortly after the crash. In 2001. Ten years ago.


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Air Safety, Brazil, update

Pilots Notorious from GOL Case Find Four Year Sentence Commuted

Joseph Lepore and Jan Paul Paladino were sentenced to four years and four days in prison in the Amazon plane collision case when the Legacy 600 jet they were piloting made physical contact with a Gol Airlines Boeing 737. All 154 passengers and crew of the Boeing 737 were killed.

Their sentence was commuted to being banned from flying for four years, and also community service to be carried out in the US. The sentence accuses the pilots of being imprudent and inexperienced, and contends that they turned off the transponder, which the pilots deny.

The Gol jet collided over the Amazon rain forest with an Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet owned by ExcelAire Service Inc. of New York. The GOL InvestigatIon alleges that the pilots of the New York-based executive jet had placed the transponder and collision avoidance system on standby before colliding with the Boeing 737 operated by GOL Linhaus Aereas Inteligentes SA on Sept. 29, 2006.

The Legacy landed safely but everyone on the GOL jet died.

Flight controllers failed to alert pilots that they were on a collision course and also did not notice the transponder was off; in fact they deny turning it off.

On September 29, 2006, at approximately 4:57 pm, Brasilia standard time, a midair collision occurred over the Brazilian Amazon jungle, between a Boeing 737-800 (PR-GTD) operated by Gol Airlines of Brazil, and an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet (N600XL) owned and operated by Excelaire of Long Island, New York.

The accident investigation is being conducted under the authority of the Brazilian Aeronautical Accident Prevention and Investigation Center (DIPAA). Under the provisions of ICAO Annex 13, the United States, as state of registry and operator of the Excelaire Legacy, and state of manufacture of the Boeing 737 and Honeywell avionics equipment in both airplanes, has provided an accredited representative and technical advisors for the investigation. The U.S. team included the accredited representative from the major aviation accident investigations division of the NTSB, as well as technical advisors in operations, systems, air traffic control, flight recorders, and aircraft performance. Additional technical advisors from Boeing, Excelaire, Honeywell, and FAA have also been included.

If the transponder is off in either one of two approaching each other aircraft, the T Cast anti collision avoidance system will not work for either. We know there was no aural
warning in either plane to “pull up. Pull up.” Or vice versa.

So for sure the transponder was off in at least one of the planes, and that was probably the Legacy. However, in this Honeywell transponder, it is relatively easy for the
transponder to go off without the crew knowing that (due to design flaws.)

ATC put both aircraft coming at each other from oppostive directions at the same altitude, FL 370, and failed to track and warn, even though they had to know that for some reason the transponder in the exec jet was not working properly.

And who should we look for accountability to if the pilots are being held responsible for a Honeywell issue?


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Air Safety, News

Central Wisconsin Airport disaster drill

 

2011’s three-day disaster training included a simulator aircraft equipped with three dummies, sound effects from an accident scene and smoke, firefighters putting out a fire and evacuating victims.

The FAA mandates drills every three years to prep airport rescue services and first responders for actual emergencies. Saturday’s drill involved Mosinee Fire Department, Marathon County Sheriff’s Department, Red Cross, Aspirus Wausau Hospital, Ministry Saint Clare’s Hospital, Transportation Security Administration, Salvation Army and other local residents.


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Air Safety, American Airlines, Disruptive Passenger, Legal

Friday Court Date for Al-Murisi

gavel
Rageh Ahmed Mohammed Al-Murisi was arrested after attempting to storm the cockpit of an American Airlines Chicago to San Francisco Flight. The plane was carrying 156 passengers and six crew members.

When he was observed attempting to enter the cockpit, witnesses initially believed he may have mistaken it for the bathroom, until he shouted “Allahu Akbar” thirty times, and, according to the court affidavit, (quoting Air Marshal Paul Howard), Al-Murisi made eye contact with a crew member, lowered his shoulder and rammed the door.

A retired Secret Service agent and a former police officer were among those who subdued Al-Murisi.

28 year old Al-Murisi, who is from Yemen but is now a California resident, boarded without luggage but with several forms of id. He was denied bail and is scheduled for court on May 13. The charge is one count of interfering with flight crew members.

Air Safety, U.S. Airways, USA

Oust Paul Morell says USAPA

Vice President of Safety and Regulatory Compliance Paul Morell needs to be ousted for lack of leadership, and ignoring aviation safety concerns of US Airways pilots, according to the pilot reps of the US Airline Pilots Association. Seventeen points have been cited as examples of his dereliction and lapses in safety protocols.

An October pilot survey pointed out pilot concerns that:

  • “The push for on-time departures may hinder safety.”
  • “unsatisfactory response” to reported safety issues”
  • little pilot input on the airline safety decisions
  • Safety personnel perceived as “out of touch with the risk of flight operations

Click to view the press release .pdf


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Air Safety, FAA, Public Notification

FAA Proposes Changes, Additions to Safety Training

The FAA is proposing additional training for pilots, due to pilot error allegations from the Continental flight 3407 crash in western New York. The FAA said the proposed rules regarding additional training, including real life scenarios in more advanced flight simulators, remedial training for pilots proven deficient, would be the most substantial and wide-ranging overhaul of airline crew ever. Training will be part of a group effort rather than an isolated testing environment.

In the Continental Flight 3407 crash, the plane went into a full stall, activated the “stick pusher” (which points a plane’s nose downward to pick up speed.) The captain pulled back when the proper response would have been to push forward. The correction in a timely fashion would have saved the flight.

FAA Announcement PDF

Training Proposal PDF (full)


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Air Safety, Boeing, Continental, Disruptive Passenger, Diversion, USA, Video

St. Louis: Unruly Passenger Left Behind

What: Continental Airlines Boeing 737-800 en route from Houston to Chicago
Where: Saint Louis
When: May 8th 2011
Who: disruptive passenger
Why: While en route, a passenger attempted to open a plane door, saying he had to get out of the plane. He was subdued and restrained, as the flight diverted to Lambert International Airport, where the passenger in question was released into police custody. Charges may be pending.

Air Safety, Air Zimbabwe, Finance, Insurance, Legal

Fred Flintstone Airlines? No, it’s Air Zimbabwe


Like the nineteen year old Yemenia Airlines* Airbus A310-324 that was written up as having passengers with standing room only, unattached seats and an assortment of safety problems that were so bad that the plane was disallowed from flying over European airspace, Air Zimbabwe’s fleet demonstrates how not to run an airline.

There are apparently 5 planes and 50 pilots; far too many engineers (300? For a fleet of 5?), and is an accounting nightmare, being $108 million in debt and accruing more as it is operating in the red, and it has reportedly fallen behind on quarterly insurance payments.

A B767 may be auctioned if Air Zimbabwe fails to pay a monthly installment of US$500 000 to Lufthansa Technics. Repair of the B767-200 engine which requires US$2,5 million for repairs, hinged on the condition of making US$500 000 monthly payments from May 2011 to redeem the debt.

Skytrax, which rates airlines on a scale of 5-1 (5 being good) rates Air Zimbabe as a 2. Passenger reviews include random cancellations, ancient planes, unexpected delays, missed connections, owed reimbursements, misdirected charter flights, and strange excuses from gate personnel.

Yemenia Airlines* is also a 2 star airline.


Aerosvit Airlines
Air Algerie
Air Malawi
Air Slovakia
Air Zimbabwe
Armavia
Azerbaijan Airlines
Bellview Airlines
Biman Bangladesh
bmibaby
Bulgaria Air
Cubana Airlines
Donbassaero Airlines
HiFly
Iceland Express
JetStar Pacific
Mahan Air
Macedonian Airlines
Merpati
MIAT Mongolian Airlines
Nepal Airlines
Onur Air
Pegasus Airlines
Rossiya Airlines
Royal Air Maroc
Ryanair
Sky Express
Sudan Airways
Syrianair
TAAG Angola Airlines
Tajikistan Airlines
Transaero Airlines
Turkmenistan Airlines
Ukraine International
Uzbekistan Airways
Yemenia Yemen Airways

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