--------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: EGC00003 Date: 11/21/97 From: TONY PATON Time: 11:07am \/To: FREDERICK HOGG (Read 0 times) Subj: Re: R.C.M.A -=> While breaking out of cloud Frederick Hogg boldly told Any-one about R.C.M.A FH> G'day. FH> Seeing we dont have a echo of our own , would anyone object to a few FH> messages for "Radio Controlled Model Aircraft" FH> Regards. Fred. from down under. I think there is one. I'm not sure that would be allowed, but any how hello! \ ------------ >-==- TONY PATON / ... "You didn't have the right parents? Whose did you have?"-Lister ___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 --- Platinum Xpress/Win/Wildcat5! v2.0 * Origin: Computropolis Interactive Net Server +612-9545-0186 (3:712/407) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: EGC00004 Date: 12/07/97 From: ELVIS HARGROVE Time: 09:25am \/To: ROB STEPHENSON (Read 0 times) Subj: . -> Is there anyone in this echo? There was last I looked! ^..^ Moderator AVIATION --- FidoPCB v1.5 beta-'j' * Origin: BOO! Board Of Occult, Rio Grande Valley Texas (1:397/6) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: EGC00005 Date: 12/06/97 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 12:48pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: News-888 Dallas - Fort Worth Shootout - By E.J. Gong Jr. In the old West, cowboys duked it out with six-shooters and nerves of steel. These days, longtime civic rivals Dalls and Fort Worth are fighting a Texas-sized brawl with lawsuits and media blitzes. The issue isn't cows, prairies or oil. It's a thing called love - Love Field, a small airport a few miles from downtown Dallas. And depending on how it's resolved, it could affect the local econ- omies of both cities, test the financial well-being of Fort Worth titan American Airlines and determine whether business travelers flying out of the area save millions in airfare. To understand the feud, you've got to go back in time. Since settler days, there's been an uneasy relationship between these two cities. Dallas duped Forth Worth in 1875, when Dallas politicians made sure the Pacific Railroad came through Dallas first. They also steered new arrivals from Fort Worth by telling them it was Indian territory. Fort Worth lured visitors away from Dallas during the state's 1936 centennial celebration by bringing in showman Billy Rose and fandancer Sally Rand for entertainment. Protection for Dallas/Fort Worth The most recent flap began almost 30 years ago. In 1968, Dallas and Fort Worth agreed to jointly build and operate the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, which they hoped would pump economic life into the region. Both cities agreed to protect the airport from competition. Even amid the cooperation, there was tension. While Fort Worth closed its smaller municipal airport, Dallas kept theirs - Love Field - open. It's now home to cut-rate Southwest Airlines and an upstart called Legend Air. Today, D/FW, which is dead center between the two cities, is the second busiest airport in the country, generating about $10 bil- lion worth of business in the region. More than 165,000 jobs are tied to airport operations. Some say it will become the busiest air- port in the world in a decade, ahead of Chicago's O'Hare. If things are going so well, what's the problem? Love Squabble In October, after intensive lobbying from Legend Air, Congress decreed that additional flights could originate from Love Field. The move instantly angered Fort Worth and especially Fort Worth-based American Airlines, which dominates service at D/FW. The day after Congress made the change, Fort Worth filed a lawsuit against Dallas, saying the city had failed to uphold the terms it signed in 1968 for D/FW bonds. Dallas countersued, saying the situation is out of its hands. It alleges the federal government, which controls airport policy, calls the shots. But Dallas certainly stands to benefit from increased traffic at Love Field. It will produce more jobs and likely enrich the poverty-stricken area around the airport. American Airlines contends the new competition out of Love Field will force it to move flights from D/FW, and could potentially lead to the international airport's downfall as a major hub. It warns it will hurt the local economy and limit flying options available to the area's many business travelers. Meanwhile, startup Legend Air hopes to tap into the business traveler market with its new flights from Love Field. Judge Weighs In Last month, U.S. District Court Judge John McBryde issued an order asking officials from both cities to sit down and iron out their differences. Both sides say they want to resolve it themselves, but there's a lot of ill-will and a lot of bad history to get beyond. Dallas and Fort Worth have until Dec. 12 to respond to the federal judge's request. If they fail to meet the deadline, people familiar with the case say McBryde won't hesitate to settle it for them. The Players Dallas - Expand Love Field "Fort Worth wants us to overrule an act of Congress. That's just absurd. The only adverse impact of Love Field is on American's bottomline." - Dallas City Council member Bob Stimson Fort Worth - Limit Love Field "Here in Texas, we pride ourselves on a deal is a deal. We have a deal! We don't want DFW damaged and Dallas is supposed to help pro- tect it." - Fort Worth Mayor Kenneth Barr American Airlines - Limit Love Field "Why do you want to maim the golden goose? Big companies might not locate here if you lose a bustling airport.This thing drives the economy here," - Company spokeswoman Andrea Rader Legend Air - Expand Love Field "The market is big enough to have multiple airports. American is up- set because they're losing their stranglehold and won't be able to milk business travelers anymore," - Legend Air founder Allan McArtor -------------------------------------------------------------------- === --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: EGC00006 Date: 12/06/97 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 06:57pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: News-889 PILOT AND AUTHOR CHARGED WITH STEALING TWA 800 WRECKAGE TWA's chief 747 pilot, a TWA flight attendant and the author of a book about the TWA 800 crash have been charged with stealing pieces of the wreckage from the hangar where investigators reconstructed the Boeing 747. Warrants were issued for James Sanders, author of "The Downing of TWA Flight 800," his wife Liz Sanders, a TWA flight atten- dant, and TWA pilot Terrell Stacey. According to officials, Stacey allegedly took documents and seat fabric at his wife's request to help Sanders with his book. ------------------------------------------------------------------- BOEING DELAYS NEW 777S Boeing Co. has slowed development of two proposed longer-range versions of its 777 airliner but remains confident the new models ultimately will be launched, a company spokeswoman said Friday. Boeing spokeswoman Janice Hayes said the company has pushed back the potential dates for initial delivery of the proposed 777-200x and -300x, which have been offered to airlines since March. Initial- ly, Boeing had hoped to launch the programs this year. -------------------------------------------------------------------- More than 46 die in Siberian plane crash MOSCOW - December 6, 1997 - 9:00 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) -- Police and firefighters searched for casualties Saturday near the Siberian city of Irkutsk, after a huge military Antonov transport plane crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 46 people aboard and more on the ground. According to the Interfax news agency, up to 100 residents were killed and another 100 were injured when the plane barreled along the main street. Thirteen children reportedly were hospitalized, and dozens of residents were evacuated. The plane, commonly known as the Ruslan, was carrying 16 crew members and 30 military personnel. The cause of the crash was not immediately known. Flaming wreckage set at least five buildings on fire, and a multistory apartment building was leveled when the plane crashed just after 9:44 a.m., Interfax reported. The ITAR-Tass news agency said 16 bodies had been recovered from the apartment house by Saturday evening. The Antonov-124 four-engine aircraft, one of the world's largest planes, crashed about 20 seconds after taking off in good weather from an airport at an aircraft factory in the industrial town of Irkutsk-2, a satellite city of Irkutsk, Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Nikolai Baranov said. According to Interfax, the flight was scheduled to go to Vladi- vostok in the Russian Far East, then on to Vietnam. In the evening hours, police and rescue teams searched the debris for casualties after firefighters battled the blaze, Russian tele- vision reported. "The fire is out, and rescue workers have begun the search for bodies," an emergency official was quoted as saying. The cause of the crash was unknown, and President Boris Yeltsin dispatched Prime Minster Viktor Chernomyrdin to the town to head the disaster probe. Rescue teams were said to have recovered the Antonov's "black box," which experts hope will contain crucial flight information. The former Soviet air fleet has been plagued by chronic safety problems since the 1991 collapse of the country and the breakup of the former state airline Aeroflot into some 400 companies. Experts have blamed poor maintenance, safety violations and cost-cutting for persistent problems, which included nine major crashes over a 10-month period in 1994. Russian aviation officials said recently that aircraft safety was improving, following attempts to boost inspection standards. ------------------------------------------------------------------- === --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: EGC00007 Date: 12/06/97 From: JIM SANDERS Time: 07:33pm \/To: ALL (Read 0 times) Subj: News-890 Moscow, Dec. 6 - A huge military cargo plane with two fighter jets on board crashed and barreled down the main street of a Siber- ian town today, killing at least 29 people and injuring dozens more. The An-124 plunged to the ground 20 seconds after takeoff from Irkutsk, damaging four apartment buildings, an orphanage and a school, witnesses said. Scores of terrified children were evacuated. Russian television said military prosecutors launched a criminal investigation into why one of the world's largest aircraft - an An- tonov-124 with a wingspan wider than a jumbo jet's - crashed after take-off from an airfield near Irkutsk en route to Vladivostok, further east. "I thought somebody was shooting ... I only saw the plane moving quietly to the ground, one wing lower than the other," a woman who saw the crash told the Independent Television channel. "Everything is in turmoil and things are still not clear," Irkutsk journalist Valery Pochekunin said several hours after the crash. "I can see tens of bodies." Russian television stations showed pictures of the smashed air- craft's giant tail - emblazoned with the red star of the former Soviet Union - leaning against a four-story apartment building. Sur- rounding buildings were gutted by flames and still smoldering in Irkutsk, 2,600 miles east of Moscow. No. of Passengers Unknown There was confusion about the number of people aboard the 220- foot jet, roughly the size of a newer Boeing 747. The Defense Ministry said the plane was carrying 46 people, but the Ministry of Emergency Situations, which was heading rescue ef- forts, put the number at 23. There was no explanation for the con- tradiction. Emergency officials said 29 bodies had been found. The death toll was expected to rise as some 700 firefighters, soldiers and medical personnel with heavy machinery and dogs searched for sur- vivors in the debris and in surrounding buildings. Possible Engine Failure ITAR-Tass quoted unidentified investigators as saying both left engines had failed at an altitude of 210 feet. The An-124 aircraft, one of the world's largest planes, crashed about 20 seconds after taking off at 9:44 a.m. from Irkutsk, about 2,600 miles east of Moscow, Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Col. Nikolai Baranov said. The flaming wreckage leveled one four-story building with 200 residents and set at least five apartment buildings on fire. The plane also damaged an orphanage, two wooden houses and a school, it said. Hundreds of children were evacuated from the area and 13 were hospitalized, according to the Interfax news agency. Twelve people were taken to the burn center in the nearby city of Irkutsk, the news agency said. Fires Out, Rescue Begins Rescue workers, braving temperatures of around -4 Fahrenheit, spent about four hours tackling a fierce blaze at the scene of the crash, an official in the Irkutsk regional government said. It has been extinguished, and officials were searching through wreckage for survivors. An air traffic control official said the Antonov-124, which has the biggest wingspan of any plane in the world - a third larger than a jumbo jet - had been carrying two Sukhoi-27 fighter planes. He said the cargo plane, which can carry 120 tons, had taken off from the airstrip of a military production plant at 9.44 a.m. Moscow time (1:44 a.m. EST) . Interfax said the Antonov-124 had been traveling to Russia's Far Eastern port of Vladivostok, from where the fighters were to have been exported to Vietnam. Jet Sales Common Post-communist Russia, strapped for cash, has launched an aggres- sive arms sales program, and its Sukhoi fighter planes are among its best-selling products. One Sukhoi jet is estimated to cost around $100 million. A Kremlin spokesman said President Boris Yeltsin was deeply shocked by news of the crash and had instructed Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin to fly to Irkutsk to assist the work of a special com- mission set up to investigate the disaster. General Pyotr Deinekin, head of the Russian air force to which the plane belonged, had already flown to the scene. === --- DB 1.39/004487 * Origin: Volunteer BBS (423) 694-0791 V34+/VFC (1:218/1001.1) --------------- FIDO MESSAGE AREA==> TOPIC: 196 AVIATION Ref: EGC00008 Date: 12/07/97 From: KARL SCHNEIDER Time: 01:04pm \/To: ROB STEPHENSON (Read 0 times) Subj: . On (06 Dec 97) Rob Stephenson wrote to All... RS> Is there anyone in this echo? Not me, I'm out flying! ... Join the Pistol club. Drink til 12, pistol 3. --- PPoint 2.05 * Origin: Green Country (1:170/170.6)