U
P
D
A
T
E
Home | UPDATE | Latest Issue | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles

UPDATE 
Week ending August 23, 1998
+++ Fourth attempt on global balloon flight fails near Australia +++ U.S. Strikes Against Terrorist Forces +++ IABG tests fatigue life of EA400 +++ Boeing next-generation 737-600 earns FAA certification +++ British consumer group urges for cuts to BA/AA flights +++ News in brief +++

Fourth attempt on global balloon flight fails near Australia
Steve Fosset muß im Pazifik notwassern

Balloonist Steve Fossetts latest attempt to circle the globe in its Solo Spirit balloon ended in the South Pacific on August 16. The US millionaire from Chicago was found alive Monday 480 nautical miles off the northeast Australian coast in the Coral Sea near the tiny Pacific nation of the Solomon Islands, by a French military aircraft. Fossett climbed into a rescue life raft dropped from the plane.
Fossett had been two-thirds of the way through his effort and was on the final leg of his journey. A satellite picked up an emergency locator beacon from Fossett, giving rescuers a near exact location for their search. His balloon apparently went down after mission control lost contact with Fossett at 1423 Sunday. Bad weather may have contributed to the balloon's mishap. About five hours before the locator sounded, meteorologist Bob Rice cautioned Fossett that he was approaching strong thunderstorms. "It's hard to say how strong they were," said Rice. "There is a good chance that there might have been a lightning hit on the capsule. But these balloons are very strong. It's just too early to know what happened."
Fossett covered more than 15,200 miles along his track since launching from Mendoza, Argentina, on August 7. The millionaire adventurer has already broken his own record for distance traveled in a balloon.

Back to the top of the page / Zurück zum Anfang der Seite


U.S. Strikes Against Terrorist Forces
Tomahawk-Lenkwaffen greifen Ziele in Afghanistan und Sudan an

US military forces struck targets in Afghanistan and Sudan on August 20, going after terrorists believed responsible for the Aug. 7 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. According to senior intelligence officials, the simultaneous attacks attacks were made with Tomahawk cruise missiles, not aircraft. The missiles were fired from U.S. Navy ships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. The attacks took place about 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT). against the most prominent Sunni Muslim terrorist training facility in the world, some 60 miles south of the Afghan capital of Kabul; and against the Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, Sudan. Both locations were tied to Osama ben Laden, a dissident Saudi millionaire who has vowed to drive the United States from all Muslim nations. The targets selected and the timing of the strikes -- 7:30 p.m. in Sudan and 10 p.m. in Afghanistan -- were part of our overall effort to minimize collateral damage at the sites. Avoiding specific details, a senior intelligence official said the strikes were successful.

Back to the top of the page / Zurück zum Anfang der Seite


IABG tests fatigue life of EA400
Extra EA400 bei der IABG im Test

The IABG is about to finish the fatigue life verification test ot the EA400, the new six-seater aircraft from the German manufacturer EXTRA Flugzeugbau GmbH in Hünxe. The tests, which run 24 hours a day, were started in mid-May. The aim is to simulate 2 x 20,000 flight hours, which corresponds to about 60,000 take-offs and landings. The tests are supplemented by static tests. All external forces, which are effective in reality and which contribute to material fatigue, are applied to the structure made of fiber reinforced material by means of a test rig and corresponding hydraulic jacks designed by IABG for this test. All flight loads like take-off, flight and landing and loads caused by turbulence can thus be simulated realistically.
After the qualification of the Grob G115, the Speed Canard and the Seastar, this is a further strength and fatigue life test for an aircraft developed in Germany for General Aviation to be performed at IABG. In addition to the series of tests concluded at the end of 1996 on the Airbus A330/340, the structural tests on the Tornado currently still taking place and on the European Fighter Aircraft EF 2000, the award of the EA400 contract is further proof for the special position of trust which IABG has enjoyed for decades in the European aeronautic community.

Back to the top of the page / Zurück zum Anfang der Seite


Boeing next-generation 737-600 earns FAA certification
FAA-Zulassung für die Boeing 737-600

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has granted type certification to the Boeing Next-Generation 737-600. "Attaining FAA certification validates the 737-600's safety, reliability and enhanced performance capabilities," said Ron Woodard, president - Boeing Commercial Airplane Group. Boeing employees worked for three years, completing extensive engineering, laboratory and airplane tests to ready the 737-600 for its certification.
A key element in gaining FAA certification for the 737-600 was the flight-test program, which started in February 1998 and included three airplanes. The 6.5-month program spanned more than 800 in-flight hours, 459 ground-test hours and 635 flights. Test criteria included measuring airplane performance during takeoff and landing; fuel consumption during cruise; flying qualities under varied conditions and weights; flight management system verification; structural dynamic response; and loads, avionics and systems tests.
The Next-Generation 737-600 program was launched in 1995 when Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) placed an order for 41 jetliners. Deliveries are scheduled to begin next month pending Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) type certification approval. While gaining FAA certification for the 737-600, Boeing also received certification for the dual annular combustor (DAC) engine, which now is approved for installation on all Next-Generation 737 models. Produced by CFMI, the DAC engine produces lower levels of emissions than current airplane engines.

Back to the top of the page / Zurück zum Anfang der Seite


British consumer group urges for cuts to BA/AA flights
Britische Verbraucherschützer fordern Einschnitte für BA-AA-Bündnis

A British consumer watchdog has told the European Commission that British Airways and American Airlines should be compelled to transfer some of their transatlantic flights to competitors. The Air Transport Users Council said that the plan to approve the proposed alliance in return for the surrender of 267 weekly slots could lead to a shortage of short-haul services. The group is concerned that the BA/AA alliance would take slots from less lucrative short-haul flights rather than transatlantic services, which would have only a limited impact on BA/AA's own schedules. In addition, the two airlines have said that they will defy the European Union decision over the right to sell their slots at Heathrow/Gatwick. The British government has yet to make a formal decision on whether the alliance should have to give up the 267 slots or be able to profit from their disposal, but a spokesman for BA said that if they are authorised by the government to sell the slots, then they will do so. American Airlines has said that it expects to miss the April 1999 launch date for its alliance with British Airways because of continuing talks with regulatory bodies. A spokesman said that the airline is now hoping to launch flight co-operation later in 1999.

Back to the top of the page / Zurück zum Anfang der Seite


NEWS IN BRIEF / KURZMELDUNGEN

The strike staged by the pilots of Air France from June 1-10 has cost the company one billion francs (160 million U.S. dollars) in profit, Air France said. The company said the loss in sales caused by the strike is estimated at 1.6 billion francs (260 million U.S. dollars). The Aeroports de Paris, which manages both the Orly and Charles de Gaulls-Roissy airports in Paris, said the number of flights on domestic lines to and from Paris dropped by 16.8 percent in June because of the strike. The number of international flights dropped by 4.8 percent. Air France pilots staged the strike on the eve of the 1998 football World Cup to protest a plan by management to cut their payroll in exchange for company stock.
+++
AIRCENT (Allied Air Forces Central Europe) will hold a multinational Aircraft Cross-Servicing exercise (AMPLE TRAIN 98-2) form 7 to 11 September at Jever air base, Germany. It will infolve air forces from Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, the UK and the USA. AMPLE TRAIN is designed to improve the ability of NATO's air forces to work on and with each others aircraft; ground servicing crews from one nation will work with air crew and aircraft from other nations.
+++
On August 21, Eurocopter has announced that the Greek Ministry of the Merchant Marine has signed a contract worth 60 million US-Dollars for the purchase of four AS 332C1 Super Puma helicopters. Intended for search and rescue work, these machines ate to be delivered between late 1999 and mid-2000. The helicopters will be equipped with Bendix 1500B radar and a Thomson-CSF CLIO FLIR system, Spectrolab searchlight, hoist, jettisonalbel liferafts etc. To date, nearly 550 Super Pumas/cougars have been sold.
+++
Boeing has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Army for the procurement of four CH-47D Chinook helicopters to be delivered to the Egyptian air force. The delivery to Egypt is under the auspices of the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Final deliveries of the Chinooks to Egypt are scheduled for the third quarter of 1999, following completion of aircraft maintenance and flight training for Egyptian personnel conducted by Boeing. The Egyptian air force currently operates a fleet of 15 CH-47C Chinooks.
+++
Boeing has confirmed an order by American Airlines for 15 more Boeing 777-200ER (extended range) jets worth an estimated $2.1 billion. Deliveries of these jets are scheduled to begin in March 2000 and continue through August 2001. With this order, American Airlines will have a total of 34 Boeing 777s on order - all powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines. In November 1996 American identified Boeing as its preferred airplane supplier by announcing orders for Boeing jetliners over the next 20 years, cementing a long-term working relationship between the two companies.
+++
The Sukhoi design bureau has refused to take part in the Farnborough aerospace show, planned for September 7-13 in London. The refusal results from the on-going conflict between heads of the bureau and the mother company -- the Sukhoi state unitary enterprise -- over the right to lead and distribute finances in the enterprise. The latter unites two design bureaus (the Sukhoi and the Taganrog scientific-technical complex named after Beriyev), as well as three plants in Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
+++
On August 20, CAE announced that China Southern Airlines Company Limited of Guangzhou, People's Republic of China, has ordered an Airbus 320 Flight Training Device (FTD), along with a number of updates and enhancements to existing simulators, from the Commercial Simulation Division of CAE Electronics of Montreal, Canada. The value of the contract is $10 million. The Airbus 320 Flight Training Device will be installed at the CSA's newly designed CSA Training Centre in Zhuhai.
+++
Delta Air Lines has announced plans to start code sharing on Sabena's twice-weekly (Sundays/Tuesdays in both directions) A330 flights between Brussels and Lome, Togo. The code-share flights will begin September 6, 1998. Delta continues to take a series of strategic steps to improve its worldwide service by offering more frequent Delta service to more cities around the globe. On the African continent, Delta presently provides code-share service to Uganda (Entebbe Airport in Kampala); Banjul, Gambia; Conakry, Guinea; and Harare, Zimbabwe.
+++
The German supreme court at Karlsruhe has decided that fees for the safety control of passengers at airports are compatible with the constitution. Thus, the efforts of nine German and international airlines to get the practice removed have been rejected. The judges stated that the service is for the benefit of the airlines and can very well tracked down to the individual companies. Fees per passenger range from 3,5 to 6,5 DM.
+++
German resarch minister Jürgen Rüttgers has said that the country spends 19 DM per inhabitant on space activities, representing around 10 per cent of all research expenditure. 2000 jobs at research institutes and 5000 in the industry are dependent on the space activities.
+++
As the first company in Europe, Austrian Airlines put the Airbus A330-200 long-range airliner into service. It will use the aircraft on its routes to North America and Asia. Four A330-200 will replace four A310s currently in use.
+++
Japan Airlines and Lufthansa will begin joint operation ot northbound cargo flights between Kansai International and Frankfurt on September 14. Lufthansas 747 will stop at Faribanks, Alaska, for refuelling and at Gotehnburg, Sweden. For the start, one flight a week is scheduled.
+++

Back to the top of the page / Zurück zum Anfang der Seite


Previous updates are still available:
Die News der letzten Wochen sind weiter abrufbar:

*August 16, 1998 *August 9, 1998 *August 2, 1998

*July 26, 1998 *July 19, 1998 *July 12, 1998

*January to June 1998 *January to December 1997 *September to December 1996

Home | UPDATE | Latest Issue | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles
Copyright 1998 by Motor-Presse Stuttgart. All rights reserved.
Last updated August 21, 1998
FLUG REVUE, Ubierstr. 83, 53173 Bonn, Germany