Death Toll Over 40 People, UAE Official Says 

An Iranian plane carrying mostly foreign workers renewing their visas crashed Tuesday as it approached Sharjah airport in the United Arab Emirates, killing 43 people aboard, officials said. Three survivors were being treated at a hospital. The Kish Air Fokker-50, flying to Sharjah from the Iranian island of Kish in the Gulf, crashed at 11:40 a.m. in an open area about two miles from the airport, said Ghanem al-Hajiry, director general of civil aviation and the Sharjah Airport Authority. The cause of the crash was not known, he said. No one on the ground was hurt, Al-Hajiry said. Witnesses said the plane crashed on a road near an upper-class residential neighborhood.

Union Says Agency's Credibility Collapsed After Extension

NATCA, the air traffic controller's union, is criticizing the FAA. So, what else is new? This time, the group's beef is with the agreement concerning Atlanta's air traffic. NATCA claims the FAA is breaking apart its combined tower/radar approach control facilities controlling Atlanta airspace, penalizing air traffic controllers who are handling increasingly heavy traffic demands. The union also claims the FAA has announced the swift destruction of the nearly six-year-old agreements, which governed the controllers who worked in both the control tower at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and the three-year-old Atlanta Terminal Radar Approach Control facility located in Peachtree City (GA). The

CCS To Run Dreamliner's Systems

Every advanced system needs its own "brain" and Boeing has found its choice for the 7E7 Dreamliner. The aersopace giant has selected Smiths Aerospace's Common Core System (CCS) for this important function. The system will be designed and manufactured at Smiths' facilities in Michigan and Cheltenham, England. The new jet is expected to fly in 2008.

Carriers Trim 50% Of Losses in 2003

While the airline industry still has a way to go before declaring a total recovery, some positive signs are on the horizon. The 10 US major passenger airlines collectively lost $5.49 billion last year, or half the $10.99 billion lost in 2002, while the industry operating loss declined to $2.73 billion from $9.94 billion over the same period.  Also, for the first time since 2000, annual revenues actually rose year-over-year: 2003 revenues for the 10 totaled $81.8 billion, up 1.1 percent over 2002. However, sales remained severely depressed compared to 2000, when the airlines generated $97.7 billion in revenue.

The 'Queen of the Skies,' Celebrates 35th Anniversary

Thirty-five years ago Monday, Boeing changed commercial aviation history with the first flight of the world's most recognizable airplane, the 747. Known as the "Queen of the Skies," the 747 has carried 3.6 billion people more than 35 billion nautical miles (64.8 billion km) -- equivalent to 74,000 round trips to the Moon -- since entering service in 1970. To date, Boeing has delivered 1,341 747s. After building the 747-100/- 200/-300/-400 airplanes, the manufacturer launched the 747-400 Extended Range. That modern airplane is available in passenger and freighter versions, offering a range of 8,826 nautical miles (14,203 km).    

AD NUMBER:  2004-03-10

 MANUFACTURER: Airbus SUBJECT: Airworthiness Directive 2004-03-10 SUMMARY: This amendment adopts a new airworthiness directive (AD), applicable to all Airbus Model A300B4-600, B4-600R, and F4-600R (collectively called A300-600) series airplanes; and Model A310 series airplanes. This AD requires revising the Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) to provide the flightcrew with procedures to maintain controllability of the airplane in the event of an in-flight deployment of the thrust reverser. This action is necessary to ensure that the flight crew is advised of the potential hazard associated with an in-flight deployment of the thrust reverser, and the procedures necessary

AD NUMBER:  2004-03-11

MANUFACTURER: Boeing SUBJECT: Airworthiness Directive 2004-03-11 SUMMARY: This amendment adopts a new airworthiness directive (AD), applicable to certain Boeing Model 747-200C and -200F series airplanes, that requires repetitive inspections to find fatigue crackingin the upper chord of the upper deck floor beams, and repair if necessary. For certain airplanes,this amendment also provides an optional repair/modification, which extends certain repetitive inspection intervals. This action is necessary to find and fix cracking in certain upper deck floorbeams. Such cracking could extend and sever floor beams at a floor panel attachment holelocation and could result in rap

AD NUMBER: 2004-03-14

MANUFACTURER: Bombardier SUBJECT: Airworthiness Directive 2004-03-14 SUMMARY: This amendment adopts a new airworthiness directive (AD), applicable to certain Bombardier Model DHC-8-102, -103, -106, -201, -202, -301, -311, and -315 series airplanes, that requires repetitive inspections for discrepancies of certain rear spar fittings between the flex shaft of the flap secondary drive and the wing-to-fuselage structure, and corrective action if necessary. This action also provides for an optional modification of the flex shaft installation, which terminates the repetitive inspections. This action is necessary to find and fix damage and prevent subsequent failure of the rear spar fittings, which c