News
01 OCT - NZ to reconsider average passenger weight 01 OCT - Boeing 747F ran off runway at Liege, Belgium
02 OCT - Malaysian A.330 sabotaged
04 OCT - Video cameras on planes
05 OCT - A.330 suffers uncontained engine failure near Miami
06 OCT - New Taiwanese aviation accident investigation law
07 OCT - Boeing 777 windshield cracking prevention
10 OCT - AD issued on Beech 1900 elevator trim system maintenance
16 OCT - Cessna and Jeppesen sued for Milan runway collision
27 OCT - Flight 800 wreckage used for training
28 OCT - El Al installs anti-missile system
28 OCT - Met reports focus of ATR-72 crash investigation
29 OCT - Study on Child-Restraint Systems on airplanes
31 OCT - ASDE-X system in service at Milwaukee
01 OCT 2003 NZ to reconsider average passenger weight [to table of contents]
New Zealand's CAA is concerned aircraft could fly overloaded, because its standard measurement of passengers' weight is set too low. The last survey in 1999 found the average weight of New Zealanders was 85 kilograms, yet the standard used when measuring aircraft weight has remained at 77 kilograms. It says it believes the average weight has risen since its last survey, and a new survey is required. (CAA News)
A Cargo Air Lines Boeing 747-200F (4X-ICM) ran off the end of the runway (05R/23L) on landing at Liege-Bierset Airport, Belgium at 14.17h. The freighter arrived from Nairobi and Tel Aviv with a cargo of fish and flowers. (La Meuse) 02 OCT 2003 Malaysian A.330 sabotaged [to table of contents]
A Malaysian Airlines Airbus A.330 bound for for Kuching and Perth (flight 127) had at least seven bundles of wires cut. The problems were discovered by engineers who were conducting pre-flight checks at Kuala Lumpur Airport. (Sydney Morning Herald) 04 OCT 2003 Video cameras on planes [to table of contents]
The FAA is looking into putting video cameras on commercial flights so people on the ground could monitor pilots and passengers and get an early warning of hijackings or other trouble on board. (CNN) 05 OCT 2003 A.330 suffers uncontained engine failure near Miami [to table of contents]
An Edelweiss Air Airbus A.330 suffered an uncontained engine failure 36 minutes after it took off from Miami International Airport with 182 people aboard. Edelweiss Air Flight 565 en route to Zurich returned to the airport and no injuries were reported. Engine pieces were found to have damaged wing. (Miami Herald, news.ch) 06 OCT 2003 New Taiwanese aviation accident investigation law [to table of contents]
The Taiwanese government would pay for the investigation and salvage expenses of aircraft accidents involving commercial airlines, public aircraft and ultralights under a new law the Cabinet will consider this week. The aviation accident investigation law would also impose fines on those refusing or failing to cooperate in the government's efforts to investigate aircraft accidents. (The Taipei Times)
news article
07 OCT 2003 Boeing 777 windshield cracking prevention [to table of contents] Boeing is taking measures to prevent windshields from cracking on Boeing 777 planes following three such incidents this year. For instance, Alitalia Flight 610 was over the Atlantic on its Rome-to-New York flight last July when faulty wiring in a window heater caused a fire and cracks in the windshield. An emergency landing in Shannon was carried out. (AP) 10 OCT 2003 AD issued on Beech 1900 elevator trim system maintenance [to table of contents]
In the light of a recent fatal Beech 1900 accident, the FAA issued an AD, requiring Beech 1900 operators to make a correction to the elevator trim system maintenance procedures, incorporate a temporary revision to the applicable maintenance manual, and incorporate procedures that will enhance the existing elevator trim operational check every time maintenance has been done on the elevator trim system. (FAA)
AD 2003-20-10
16 OCT 2003 Cessna and Jeppesen sued for Milan runway collision [to table of contents] "The survivors of 70 people killed the 2001 Milan runway collision, have sued Cessna and Jeppesen Sanderson Inc. for wrongful death, seeking at least $5.25 million in damages. The lawsuits allege that Cessna was negligent and vicariously liable because the pilots flying the plane, Cessna employees, were not trained properly to operate it in poor visibility. Jeppesen Sanderson made the charts used by the Cessna pilots to guide them around the airport. The charts included ""invalid, inaccurate, outdated or otherwise misleading information,"" the lawsuits alleged." (AP) 27 OCT 2003 Flight 800 wreckage used for training [to table of contents]
More than seven years after TWA Flight 800 exploded over the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island, the reconstructed Boeing 747 has been packed up and is being sent to the NTSB's new training academy on the campus of George Washington University in Ashburn, Virginia, where it will be used to train air safety investigators. (AP) 28 OCT 2003 El Al installs anti-missile system [to table of contents]
El Al has installed an anti-missile system on some of its aircraft, Israel TV reported, just days after an alleged plot to fire missiles at a plane in Toronto. The TV report said the installation of the system on a few planes is experimental at this point. (AP) 28 OCT 2003 Met reports focus of ATR-72 crash investigation [to table of contents]
The Aviation Safety Council issued a factual report on the December 21, 2002 accident of a TransAsia ATR-72. The aircraft crashed after encountering icing conditions en route to Macau, which were not forecast by the Taipei Aeronautical Meteorological Center. (ASC) 29 OCT 2003 Study on Child-Restraint Systems on airplanes [to table of contents]
Results of a study show that requiring Child-Restraint Systems on airplanes would prevent few airplane crash deaths and might cause an increase in motor vehicle deaths if many families switched to travel by car rather than paying additional fares for their young children. Irrespective of that possibility, the cost of the regulation per death prevented would be high–about $1.3 billion. (Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Vol. 157 No. 10, October 2003)
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31 OCT 2003 ASDE-X system in service at Milwaukee [to table of contents] The Federal Aviation Administration certified a new airport surface-detection system designed to prevent runway and taxiway collisions. The ASDE-X officially went into service at Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport and 24 more systems are scheduled for deployment over the next four years. (Washington Post)
