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.
Mumbai airport experienced a 35% drop on a runway shortened due to repair work. When visibility decreased, diversions to longer runways and areas of higher visibility increased, and several flights were discontinued entirely.
Dating from October 27, on every Tuesday, from 12noon to 6pm, the intersection point of cross runways 09-27 and 14:32 is closed for repair work. Four nearly fatal incidents occurred on the runway during the week of November 3.
Knives are back and flight attendants aren’t happy.
The TSA ban on knives is due to be lifted on April 25. The blade can be no longer than 2.36 inches. The coalition of Flight Attendant Unions lobbied in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Norfolk, Va, Chicago, Denver, Miami, New York LaGuardia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Boston against the ban. The arguments are the same as those for and against guns. (If no one carries them, we’re safe.
If everyone could carry them, we’d be armed against terrorists.) They are handing out leaflets urging fliers to contact Congress and to sign a petition to White House.
You can sign the online petition here:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/keep-knives-plane-block-transportation-security-administration-policy-decision-accept-pre-911/SSzf8wmd
The family of flight attendant Sara Low, who died on Sept 11, has written an open letter protesting the decision to allow knives back on commercial aircraft, and urging concern for safety and “doing no harm.”
AVIATION
NTSB releases safety recommendations to Hawker Beechcraft Corporation addressing fatigue cracks of nose landing gear end caps on Beechcraft 1900D airplanes
February 14, 2013
The National Transportation Safety Board makes the following recommendations to Hawker Beechcraft Corporation:
Determine the fatigue life (life limit) of the Beechcraft 1900D nose landing gear (NLG) end cap with the longitudinal grain direction both aligned and not aligned with the longitudinal axis of the NLG. (A-13-004)
Develop and implement a replacement program for all Beechcraft 1900D nose landing gear end caps based on the fatigue life determined in Safety Recommendation A-13-004. (A-13-005)
Revise the Beechcraft 1900D nose landing gear end cap repetitive inspection procedure and time interval to ensure that fatigue cracks are detected prior to failure and issue updated guidance to operators regarding the inspections. (A-13-006)
New European rules ‘harmonizing’ the workload limits across 27 member states could allow pilots to fly aircraft for 22 hours without sleep, increasing a pilot’s work day from 16 hours 15 minutes to 20 hours, and the maximum shift time for a long haul flight with two pilots from 12 to 14 hours, as well as eliminating the need of a third pilot on long-haol flights.
The proposals have raised the attention of BALPA, The British Airline Pilots Association.
The seventeen percent increase in workload will result in a 5.5% higher chance of an accident.
It is inconceivable how EASA can call “flying farther with less rest-time, more frequently (7 starts in a row), no back up crew and more fatigue” bringing standards “up” when it is actually leveling down safety standards. Such a workload flies in the face of the constructs of human biology.
But the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) “has said they have no fundamental problem with the rules.”
Full body scanners will be used in the Netherlands for flights to the US. There had been US objection based on privacy, but the recent terror threat has overcome the earlier objections. Such scanners likely would have alerted security guards to the materials hidden by Abdulmutallab on his person.
Neither the European Union nor the US have approved the routine use of the scanners at European airports.
