Officials: There May Be A Link With Last Year's Queens Crash

Police in Italy have seized thousands of aircraft parts in connection with an investigation into the suspected fraudulent sale of used equipment to airlines. The raid, by 150 police officers on a warehouse belonging to Panaviation -- a company which deals in airplane parts -- at Rome's Fiumicino airport on Saturday, follows a similar seizure on Friday when police raided a ship in Naples. Investigators say they believe the parts are sold with false documentation as new, or at least as properly inspected, when they were actually stripped from redundant planes by unqualified people. Police are looking at possible links with two plane crashes - one in the New York suburb of Queens, which killed 265 people last November,

To Pay For Revamp, City Hopes To Catch Some Breaks

Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed a $6.6-billion bill to expand O'Hare last August, but critics now argue that the total cost is likely to be higher. With the full $15-billion price tag for Chicago's plan to expand O'Hare International Airport coming into focus, questions are emerging about how the city will pay for the costliest public works project in its history. City airport planners argue that the plan is flexible, and the decision to go ahead with any of the new runways or terminals will depend on step-by-step approval by the airlines and bond markets over time. The city's first phase of improvements, particularly a new parallel runway on the north side of the airport, promises to sharply reduce delays at a relatively modest c

Ground Screening Is Country's Preference

Italy opposes using armed guards on transatlantic flights, preferring tough pre-boarding measures instead, the interior minister said in an interview published on Saturday. "The best strategy for us is to concentrate all of our energies on pre-boarding controls," Giuseppe Pisanu told la Repubblica daily following US calls for the introduction of so-called sky marshals on some flights. The United States has tried to convince skeptical European Union countries of the need for armed guards on selected flights, but the requests have sparked criticism from some members worried about the risk to passengers of guns on board. Last month, the European Commission transport spokesman said most EU countries were undecided or not in favor, with

AD NUMBER: 2004-04-09

MANUFACTURER: Pratt & Whitney SUBJECT: JT15D Impellers SUMMARY: The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for Pratt & Whitney Canada (PWC) JT15D-1, -1A, and -1B turbofan engines with certain impellers part number (P/N) 3020365. This AD requires a one-time borescope inspection of the rear face of certain impellers for evidence of a machined groove or step, and repair or replacement of the impeller, if a groove or step is found. This AD results from three reports of uncontained failure of the impeller. The FAA issuing this AD to prevent uncontained failure of the impeller and possible damage to the airplane.