Adrian is Auckland bureau chief for Aviation Week, based in New Zealand. He covers commercial aviation in the Asia-Pacific region.
Adrian was previously based in Aviation Week’s Washington office for nine years, writing for a range of the group’s publications and covering many aspects of the commercial aviation industry. He has won Australasian and international awards for his aviation writing.
Prior to joining Aviation Week in 2002, Adrian covered aviation industry and policy issues for two other publishing companies in Washington. He has also worked for newspapers in Texas and New Zealand, covering a wide range of topics. Adrian graduated from Auckland University with a degree in history and English in 1992.
The International Air Transport Assn. is seeing worrying trends in airline safety—particularly a move by some carriers to lower qualification requirements as they struggle to fill pilot seats. The demand for 17,000 pilots per year is 3,000-3,500 above what training programs can accommodate, notes Juergen Haacker, IATA’s director of operations safety. The first signs of trouble from that shortfall are emerging as some airlines are offering captain positions with flight time requirements 50% below accepted minimum levels, he asserts.
Harris Corp. recently completed another major step in the creation of a new FAA telecommunications infrastructure, switching weather radar data over to the network. Harris says the transition allows FAA to consolidate weather data from several sources into a single integrated display.
IATA says only a handful of airlines will miss its safety audit deadline – and lose their IATA membership – while the group is taking the first steps toward establishing a similar audit for ground operations. IATA officials believe just seven of its members, or about 3%, will not have carried out an IATA Operational Safety Audit by the end of this year. This was the deadline set by IATA for its members to conduct audits or face eviction from the group.
