News
02 MAY 2002
According to la Repubblica, the control tower sounded the crash alarm 10 minutes after a SAS MD-87 and a Citation jet collided on the Milan-Linate runway, October 2001. Fire fighters reportedly reached the scene 31 minutes after the collision. (la Repubblica)
03 MAY 2002
CASA (Australia) is creating a world first by proposing rules which detail requirements for crew resource management training for both pilots and cabin crew. Under the draft rules air operators would be required to provide comprehensive and ongoing crew resource management training specifically tailored to their operations. (CASA)
media release
The Singapore Ministry of Transport`s (MOT) also released an investigation report into the accident of Singapore Airlines Flight 006 in Taiwan, November 2000. They conclude that the systems, procedures and facilities at the CKS Airport were seriously inadequate and that the accident could have been avoided if internationally-accepted precautionary measures had been in place at the Airport. (Singapore MOT) 03 MAY 2002
The FAA announced plans to distribute $100 million that Congress appropriated for security enhancements to aircraft flight decks and cabins. (FAA)
press release
05 MAY 2002 An American Airlines MD-80 (Flight 1307 Nashville-LAX) lost the recap to the right main gear inboard tire causing slight flap damage and parts also went into the #2 engine causing a compressor stall. The aircraft burned off fuel and landed safely. (FAA) 07 MAY 2002
Freedom Air Boeing 727 5N-BCY carrying 53 occupants suffered brake problems causing the brakes to be overheated. The aircraft was evacuated using slides. (This Day/All Africa) 08 MAY 2002
The FAA announced that Peru continues to comply with international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), thus maintaining the country`s Category 1 rating following a reassessment of its civil aviation authority. (FAA)
press release
09 MAY 2002 The U.K. AAIB issued 4 safety recommendations to the CAA and Centro Tecnico Aeroespacial (CTA) of Brazil regarding faulty DFDRs on Embraer 145 aircraft. The AAIB found several occasions where the resolution in recording of several parameters is variable and inadequately low. (AAIB)
safety recommendations
09 MAY 2002 Nigeria has grounded all BAC-1-11 jet aircraft operating in the country, after an aircraft of the same model crashed last week in Kano. The Minister of Aviation also told that all aircraft above 22 years would no longer be registered by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority. Owners of such aircraft have been given five years to phase them out, she added. (AllAfrica) 13 MAY 2002
Australia`s aircraft operators are being told they must comply with air safety rules that require infants to be properly restrained during critical phases of flight. (CASA)
media release
14 MAY 2002 A Japan Airlines (JAL) captain was indicted for an alleged error in piloting an MD-11 aircraft that encountered turbulence over central Japan in June 1997, resulting in the death of a cabin crew member 20 months later, prosecutors said. While manoevering the aircraft exceeded its speed limit. (Kyodo) 14 MAY 2002
Fire destroyed a Grand Island-Central Nebraska Regional Airport hangar and two Great Lakes Aviation Beech 1900D airplanes inside worth $8 million. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. (AP) 15 MAY 2002
Barely one week after the Nigeria government banned the use of BAC 1-11 aircraft, following a crash in Kano, the government has further banned airline operators who possess only one commercial aircraft in their fleet from operations in Nigeria. The Ministry of Aviation also streamlined the number of Aircraft Maintenance Organisations (AMOs) servicing air operators in Nigeria to 20. (Daily Trust) 15 MAY 2002
China has vowed to punish anyone found responsible for the crash of a China Northern Airlines plane which killed all 112 people on board. (AFX) 16 MAY 2002
Families who lost relatives in a 1997 Silkair Boeing 737 plane crash lost their final appeal in a lawsuit against the Silkair and have been ordered to pay its legal fees. The Chief Justice dismissed the appeal on the grounds that the technical evidence `did not conclusively reveal the cause of the crash`. (AP) 16 MAY 2002
The International Federation of Air Line Pilots` Associations (IFALPA) is very concerned with the trend to prosecute pilots following an aircraft accident or serious incident. (IFALPA) 18 MAY 2002
Chinese salvage workers found the flight data recorder, from the China Northern Airlines MD-82 plane, which crashed on May 7. The cockpit voice recorder was recovered from the sea on May 14. (Xinhua) 20 MAY 2002
Testifying before Senate Committee on Aviation in Kano, the principal officer in charge of the airport control tower, said the BAC 1-11 which crashed May 4, used the full length of the runway (2600m) for takeoff, climbed to about 300-400 feet and crashed. (This Day) 21 MAY 2002
A Mexican DC-3 (XB-JBR) deloped engine problems just taken off from Laredo International Airport. The pilot ditched the plane into Lake Casa Blanca; all 3 on board were rescued. (KSAT) 21 MAY 2002
The U.S. federal government said that pilots will not be allowed to have guns in the cockpits of commercial airplanes. The announcement was made at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing by John Magaw, undersecretary for transportation security. It followed months of debate over whether arming pilots would be a deterrent to hijackers. (AP) 21 MAY 2002
Airbus has gained certification from the Joint Aviation Authority (JAA) for its new cockpit doors that meet all recently introduced and pre-existing safety and security regulations. The first conversion kits will be available for in-service aircraft from the end of May, while all aircraft from the production line will have the doors fitted as standard from August. Conversion kits are offered to customers at a reduced price: US$ 23,000 for the single-aisle kits, and US$ 29,000 for widebodies. (Airbus) 22 MAY 2002
A legal action against the Nigerian Federal Government is in the offing as Airline Operators of Nigeria(AON) begins moves to seek redress over the 22-year age limit placed on all commercial aircraft designated for domestic operations and the suspension of all BAC 1-11 aircraft type following the May 4 accident in Kano. (This Day) 24 MAY 2002
US NTSB Chairman Marion Blakey warned yesterday that the board`s `party system` is in danger of self-destructing in the face of increasing politicization of the process and called on all involved `to step up to a higher level.` (ATWOnline) 26 MAY 2002
The Canadian Transportation Safety Board is investigating a May 13 incident in which an Air Canada Boeing 767 suffered a cargo bay fire on approach to Toronto. (CCN)
Incident description
27 MAY 2002 Thinking one of the engines was on fire, the co-pilot of a Binter Méditerraneo CN-235 switched off both of the aircraft`s two engines, causing the plane to crash short of the Malaga runway August 29, 2001. The transcription was made public by a lawyer for six of the passengers crash who have filed a lawsuit against the airline. (El Mundo)
accident description
28 MAY 2002 The TSB of Canada released its report on the investigation of the 18 June 1998 crash involving a Propair Metro II at Montreal-Mirabel. A.o. a recommendation was made dealing with the need for a brake system pressure warning indicator on SA226 and SA227 aircraft because the dragging of brakes caused overheating, leakage of hydraulic fluid and fire in the wheel well. (TSB)
Report Number A98Q0087
31 MAY 2002 The Taiwanese transport minister said he would become chairman of the state-controlled China Aviation Development Foundation, which owns 71 percent of China Airlines, after the foundation`s board resigned en masse in the wake of the airline`s fourth fatal crash since 1994. (Reuters)
