Airbus’s A220 twinjet has been certified to a higher autoland capability by the European safety regulator. Both the A220-100 and -300 have been approved for low-weather minima autoland operations down to Category IIIa and IIIb. The introduction of the capability has been confirmed by the EASA’s latest revision of the type certification. Cat IIIa and IIIb approaches allow decision heights to be as little as zero, with specific minimum requirements for runway visibility. EASA has also formally amended the designation of the aircraft following Airbus’s acquisition of the CS100 and CS300 programs from Bombardier. Bombardier had obtained EASA type certificate validation for the CS100 in June 2016 and the CS300 in October <br/>
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The US and Argentina signed a new bilateral aviation safety agreement Nov 30 during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, FAA announced. The agreement, which replaces an accord the 2 countries signed in 1989, allows FAA and Argentina’s National Civil Aviation Administration (ANAC) to increase collaboration on airworthiness certification of civil aviation products and in the areas of design, production, flight operations, environmental certification and aircraft maintenance. Paired with a new Implementation Procedures for Airworthiness understanding, the agreement will allow ANAC to work on behalf of the US in Argentina, reducing duplication of certification activities for design approvals issued to operators and manufacturers, FAA said. FAA expects the new bilateral agreement to effect in 2020. <br/>
The FAA is ordering airlines to replace fuel manifolds on some GE Aviation GEnx-2B67 engines, which power Boeing 747-8s, due to the risk of an engine fire. An airworthiness directive that takes effect Jan 4 comes in response to an engine fire caused by "low-cycle fatigue cracking of the fuel manifold". The order requires airlines to replace the manifolds during the next shop visit. The issue affected 424 GEnx-2B engines worldwide, but GE already issued a service bulletin and only 140 engines still require fixes, the company says. Those 424 engines compose the bulk of engines on the worldwide in-service fleet of 123 747-8s and 747-8Fs. US airlines operate only two affected engines, the directive says. <br/>