CommercialSafety: Single Warning For Two Problems From available accounts, a scenario suggests itself for the Aug. 14 crash of the Helios Airways B737-300 near Athens: the aircraft was never fully pressurized to begin with. Why it wasn't fully…
ATM ModernizationScan Joint STARS Upgrade Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems recently completed the Block 20 upgrades to the E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) aircraft, all of which are assigned to the…
ATM ModernizationUAV Avionics: Raising the Bar The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) aims high for the first generation of purpose-built, armed unmanned air vehicles (UAVs). Its Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems (J-UCAS) program, which unites earlier…
ATM ModernizationA350 Avionics: Combining the A330 and A380 Poised for an expected launch this month, Airbus' A350 will blend new avionics with tried-and-true systems, incorporating features from both its baseline, the enhanced A330-200, and the all-new A380. While not starting…
ATM ModernizationEditor’s Note: Delivering Fuel Savings Despite a sprinkling of bright spots in the air transport industry--aircraft orders inching up and some U.S. major carriers reporting positive, second quarter financial results--the dark cloud of escalating fuel prices looms…
ATM ModernizationFeedback Not Invented Here I retired from the FAA as the surveillance team lead in Aircraft Certification's Avionics Systems Branch (AIR-130) in October 2003. As an engineer and former Eastern Air Lines pilot…
Business & GAThe Growing Importance Of IFE Support European airlines, like others worldwide, recognize how critical fully operational IFE equipment is to customer satisfaction. We learn, however, that various approaches exist to achieving nearly 100 percent systems reliability. The palpable…
Business & GAHuman Factors And the Future Human factors (HF) are key in designing cockpit systems. Research psychologists constantly seek to enhance pilot performance by improving the human computer interface. Rarely, however, does one consider the origins, direction and…