WCA July 2008

Crossed wires in braking mechanisms are suspected in two instances of runway skidding Two other wiring-related episodes involving a commercial airline came to light recently. United Airlines disclosed that two of its A320 jetliners skidded off airport runways because of crossed wires in their antilock brakes. A United spokeswoman said on 30 th March that both planes had been tested after maintenance according to a procedure developed by their builder, Airbus. The likely common cause of the skidding incidents was reported that day by the Chicago Tribune . The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating both events. A spokesman for Airbus said that his company was working with the airline and federal officials, but had no indication that the test procedure was inadequate when properly carried out. As reported from Washington by Matthew L Wald of the New York Times , one of the planes, landing at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago on 9 th October of last year, skidded off the runway and then back on. A passenger and a flight attendant suffered minor injuries. On 25 th February, a plane landing at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, skidded past the end of a runway and hit a snow bank. Passengers and crew used the emergency slides to get out. There was one minor injury. (“Wiring Is Blamed in Airliner Skids,” 31 st March) Mr Wald wrote, “According to a preliminary report on the Jackson Hole accident on the safety board’s website, investigators found that, because of crossed wires, the system was using the speed of one wheel to decide to release the pressure on another wheel, almost guaranteeing a skid.” A check of United’s other 95 A320s was reported to have identified one additional plane with crossed brake wires. The weaker dollar is benefiting American steel makers, ❖ ❖ who are exporting more of their production as the lifting of import pressures at home gives US-made steel an edge overseas. The position of the domestic steel makers is in contrast to that of their Japanese and Indian counterparts. Japan’s largest steel maker, Tokyo Steel, said on 4 th April that it would curtail exports to ease the effects of soaring scrap prices and a strong yen, which were cutting into profits. Steel makers in India agreed in March to curb exports to help offset supply shortages in the country. The government of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela ❖ ❖ said 9 th April that it would nationalise the country’s largest steel maker – Siderúrgica del Orinoco, known as Sidor – thus bringing one more industry under state control. The nationalisation of key industries has been a centrepiece of Mr Chávez’s socialist and strongly anti-US agenda. Last year, the president warned Sidor’s owners that he might nationalise the company, which was privatised only in 1998, alleging that it was selling the bulk of its production overseas instead of giving priority to Venezuelan customers. Steel

Also in 2007, the government took majority control of telecommunications and electricity companies, together with the last remaining privately-run oil projects in Venezuela.

The economy

Feeling glum, the American consumer seems set to tighten the purse-strings A report released on 11 th April strongly indicates that the average American, whose free-spending ways have done so much to keep the world economy humming, is giving ominous indications of dyspepsia and thrift. The Reuters/ University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment said that the self-confessed confidence of US consumers had fallen to a 26-year low, threatening the spending that accounts for more than two-thirds of the US economy. The well-regarded index dropped to 63.2 over the previous month. This is the lowest level since 1982 when the jobless rate approached 11%, the worst since the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s. For a second set of sobering figures, the Labour Department reported that the cost of imported goods climbed 14.8% in March from the year before, led by oil. Also on 11 th April, General Electric Co (Fairfield, Connecticut ) the world’s third-largest

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Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2008