News
04 MAY - Pilot in court over emergency landing 10 MAY - U.S. Forest Service grounds 33 airtankers
15 MAY - Bus collides with plane at Moscow-Sheremetyevo
19 MAY - Final report on 2002 collision over Germany released
24 MAY - El Al equips fleet with anti-missile system
28 MAY - NTSB seeks rudder changes on Airbus A300-600s
29 MAY - China stops approving new chartered cargo flights from several CIS airlines
04 MAY 2004 Pilot in court over emergency landing [to table of contents]
The captain of a German Airbus A.310 who carried out an emergency landing due to fuel exhaustion at Vienna in July 2000 appeared at a court in Hanover on a charge of `dangerous encroachment of air traffic`. If convicted he could face a jail term of between six months and 10 years. (Expatica)
accident description
The USDA Forest Service and the Department of the Interior announced that they are terminating the contract for 33 large airtankers due to concerns over the airworthiness of the aircraft and public safety. The large fixed-wing airtankers were used in wildland firefighting primarily for initial attack and structure protection support. The decision comes in response to findings and recommendations contained in the NTSB report on three previous airtanker accidents. (Forest Service) 15 MAY 2004 Bus collides with plane at Moscow-Sheremetyevo [to table of contents]
A bus carrying 43 passengers collided with an Aeroflot Tupolev 154 at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, injuring nine people and damaging the plane. The bus, carrying 43 passengers for flight SU895, hit the port wing of the Tu-154 (Flight SU785 to St. Petersburg) which was being moved by a towing truck in preparation for take-off. (ASN) 19 MAY 2004 Final report on 2002 collision over Germany released [to table of contents]
The German accident investigation board BFU released the final report of their investigations regarding the July 1, 2002 collision between a Russian Tu-154 and a DHL Boeing 757 freighter. ATC failed to notice the collision course in time. It was also concluded a.o. that international regulations concerning ACAS/TCAS were not standardised, incomplete and partially contradictory. (BFU) 24 MAY 2004 El Al equips fleet with anti-missile system [to table of contents]
Next month, Israel's national airline El Al will begin equipping all of its planes with an anti-missile system called Flight Guard -- the first airline in the world to use such a system. The planes will be equipped with a Doppler radar system, made up of four antennas at the front, two on the sides and four at the back of the plane. Within seconds of a missile being detected, an onboard computer releases flares, firing at different angles to act as a diversion. (CNN) 28 MAY 2004 NTSB seeks rudder changes on Airbus A300-600s [to table of contents]
In a safety recommendation letter, the NTSB urged the FAA to require Airbus to alter the design of the control that limits the A.300 rudder's movement when the aircraft is changing speeds quickly. Too much back-and-forth motion can result in too much aerodynamic load, or air pressure, on the vertical tail. The recommendation arose from the NTSB's investigation of an accident on May 12, 1997, involving an American Airlines A.300 near West Palm Beach. (NTSB)
Safety Recommendations A04-44/45
29 MAY 2004 China stops approving new chartered cargo flights from several CIS airlines [to table of contents] China will stop approving new chartered cargo flights of some airline companies from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) following some recent cargo plane accidents of some CIS airline companies. The Chinese administration will recheck if the operation qualifications of the airlines are in line with international civil aviation rules. Those that pass the checkup will restart the service. (Xinhua)
