Trade union officials are pressing aviation authorities to reveal the exact potential safety issues that El Al’s invisible “dark flare†anti-missile technology poses to its 30,000 members working at London Heathrow airport.
Aviation authorities in Europe are remaining tight-lipped about the Elta Flight Guard missile defence system, but are understood to have now approved its use on the Israeli flag carrier’s passenger aircraft operating to their airports.
In the UK, the ejecting of flares could contravene articles 66 and 69 of the Air Navigation Order (ANO) prohibiting the dropping of articles and animals and the carriage of weapons and of munitions of war.
A senior certification expert told Flight International that an accidental deployment on the ground at an airport – due to a system failure or human error – could endanger maintenance and ground personnel while, in flight on an approach, it could put other aircraft in peril.
Flight Global
Aviation authorities in Europe are remaining tight-lipped about the Elta Flight Guard missile defence system, but are understood to have now approved its use on the Israeli flag carrier’s passenger aircraft operating to their airports.
In the UK, the ejecting of flares could contravene articles 66 and 69 of the Air Navigation Order (ANO) prohibiting the dropping of articles and animals and the carriage of weapons and of munitions of war.
A senior certification expert told Flight International that an accidental deployment on the ground at an airport – due to a system failure or human error – could endanger maintenance and ground personnel while, in flight on an approach, it could put other aircraft in peril.
Flight Global
