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Barriers to the use of international civil aviation to deport refugees
It is our contention that the use of international civilian flights to deport refugees goes against the spirit of the Chicago Convention as reaffirmed by ICAO on December 2017, simply because in many cases innocent refugees are being sent back to a war-torn country where they face near-certain death or torture. ICAO statement of principle:…
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Appeal proceedings in the matter of the July 2000 supersonic Concorde crash in Paris
The Concorde crash judicial saga goes on. In December 2010, more than ten years after the crash of the Air France supersonic Concorde at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, a lower court in France returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter against Continental Airlines (renamed since “Continental-United Airlines”) and one of its aircraft maintenance employees. Accused…
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Airline Flight Automation
Is automation or, conceivably artificial intelligence, gradually taking manual flight control away from airline pilots? This is a tough question few aviation experts are willing to face head-on. Yet, given the spate of mishaps involving highly automated airliners and resulting in in-flight incidents and, much less frequently, in aviation accidents with significant loss of life, hardly anyone involved with designing the hardware and…
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Aviation Safety Culture : Don’t shoot the piano player
Once again, in connection with the 2009 Air France AF447 Rio to Paris flight, there have been some lousy finger-pointing exercises. For some reason, each time a new possible clue or fact leaks from the ongoing analysis of the precious recovered black boxes, corporate aviation entities have been quick to suggest yet another sign of pilot error in the crash of…
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Supersonic Concorde legal saga not over yet.
Criminal proceedings into the deadly Concorde crash opened in early 2010, more than 10 years after the event. The resulting trial judgment issued on December 6, 2010, which laid criminal liability on one Continental Airlines mechanic and consequently on his employer, is doubtful. In fact, most of the defendants, as well as the prosecution, are appealing the ruling. What possibly went wrong – not in the crash itself –…
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A tale of two views on the present Concorde trial
“NOT ONLY MUST JUSTICE BE DONE, BUT JUSTICE MUST ALSO BE SEEN TO BE DONE.” THE CASE OF THE CONCORDE CRASH IN JULY 2000, AT ROISSY AIRPORT, PARIS. Ah, the wonderful world of aviation together with a volcano eruption in Iceland have me delayed in Europe and unable to provide a proper follow-up on the…
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European Union to adopt new rules for preventing and investigating aviation accidents
On October 30, 2009, news came that the European Commission would issue rules for the prevention and investigation of aviation accidents and incidents in member countries. The rule-making powers of the EU Commission will be expanded from its present focus on aircraft certification to include the power to set new rules governing aviation accidents and incidents across the EU, and to administer the new rules. So…
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Memorial X-Canada Centenial Flight
100 planes to fly coast to coast to mark Canadian flight centennial TheStar.com – Canada – 100 planes to fly coast to coast to mark Canadian flight centennial July 16, 2009 Steve Mertl The Canadian Press VANCOUVER–What may be the largest group of non-military aircraft ever to fly together in Canada will lift off from…