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AVIATION -UKRAINE PLANES |
Ukraine orders check on all Boeing-737 planes
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BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
17th August, 2005: The Ukrainian Transport and Communications Ministry has called for an urgent and early check on all Boeing-737 airliners used by the country’s carriers. The state’s Aviation Service will hold the checks and certify the planes being used in the country.
The move follows the August 14 air crash in Greece that claimed 121 lives. One of the main reasons of that disaster was alleged to be equipment failure, including the aircraft’s cabin pressure maintaining machinery.
The Boeing 737s will not be grounded and checks will be performed between the flights, a ministry spokesperson said. Ukrainian companies operate about 24 Boeing 737 airliners.
The Ministry’s press service said a similar incident had occurred in Ukraine on August 8, when a Boeing-737, of the AeroSvit airlines en route from Kiev to Cairo, had to return to the airport due to the fall in cabin pressure.
Industry analysts say that the move is likely to be replicated by other countries where 737s were being used. Boeing 737-300 is one of the favourite planes of most of the airliners across the world.
Meanwhile, accident investigators were probing why the Cypriot airliner slammed into a wooded hill, resulting in a loss of over 120 lives. A day after the crash of Helios Airways Flight 522 outside Athens, Greece, aviation experts pointed to a loss of cabin pressure as a possible cause of the disaster.
The plane was flying at 34,000 feet when it lost contact with air traffic controllers. The plane flew on autopilot for over an hour before slamming into a hillside outside Athens.
Like most modern jetliners, the 737-300 diverts highly compressed air from its two jet engines to maintain pressure, provide clean air for passengers and power a variety of systems onboard.
The plane was about to land at the Athens for a stopover on its journey from Lanarca in Cyprus to the Czech capital Prague when it crashed at Varnava, a largely uninhabited area 40km north-east of here.
BY OUR AVIATION CORRESPONDENT
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