AircraftNews.Com

QUESTIONS were raised about aeroplane maintenance yesterday during in inquest into a Mount Hotham aircraft crash that killed three people.

The Victorian Coroner’s Court was told the light plane that crashed killing Ceres pilot Russell Lee and his passengers, Gold Coast multi-millionaire Brian Ray and wife Kathy, was only required to have a visual inspection during its service.

The probe into their deaths comes after their Piper Navajo Chieftain plane crashed into trees in July 2005 and the bodies recovered three days after the accident.

An investigation following the crash revealed a bolt that connected the throttle was missing.

Aviation consultant Robert Macgillivray said there could be about 10,000 nuts and bolts on some planes and it was impossible to physically check if they were tightened.

He said there was no obligation under the law to do so.

“Maintenance errors do happen,” Mr Macgillivray said. Read more…

THE Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s new boss is reviewing all activities at the regulator to ensure they contribute to aviation safety as conditions in the industry continue to tighten.

On his first day in the job, CASA chief executive John McCormick beefed up a review to ensure that the air safety regulator’s resources were being directed towards its key function.

And he indicated in Sydney this week that non-safety activities would be given short-shrift under his regime.

“Like everything else in this sort of economic climate we’re in today, we’ve got to go back and critically look at what we’re doing and why we’re doing it,” he said.

“Our job boils down to regulating aviation safety and if it’s a function within CASA that is not contributing to safety or contributing to the support of the people who are contributing to safety, then it’s not a job that CASA should be doing.”
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Boeing has unveiled details of its next-generation 737 to drum up business among airlines – including Air New Zealand – as demand for planes is hit by global recession.

The planemaker has seen its first-quarter profit drop by half in the first part of this year, but says demand for its 737, the world’s most popular passenger plane, remains strong despite “market dynamics” with a backlog of 2203 aircraft.

The next-generation aircraft is due to be delivered to airlines in 2011. In an international launch yesterday for media in Seattle and elsewhere via video conference, Boeing plugged the features of the new model, including reduced fuel consumption of up to 2 per cent through airframe and engine improvements and a remodelled interior. Read more…

The Australian Transportation Safety Board have released their preliminary factual report stating, that the tail of the airplane struck the ground past the end of the runway. The crew subsequently noticed, that the aircraft weight entered into the laptop for takeoff computations was 100 tonnes less than the actual takeoff weight.

The first officer was pilot flying for the leg, the captain was pilot monitoring for the reduced power takeoff. During the takeoff run on runway 16 the captain called rotate, the first officer attempted to rotate the aircraft, which however did not respond. The captain called again “rotate”, the first officer applied more backpressure resulting in the nose lifting and the tail struck the runway surface, but the airplane did not begin to climb. The captain applied maximum thrust and the airplane eventually commenced a climb. “During the take-off, the aircraft’s tail contacted the ground beyond the end of the runway and a number of airport landing aids came into contact with the aircraft.”
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