Plane gain

The growing concern about Heathrow Airport's environmental impact has caused one carrier to use new drive technology to reduce emissions there.

recently claimed to have cut energy use by up to 95 per cent on air handling and environmental-control systems installed in flight-simulator cells at its Heathrow Airport Flight Training centre.

The company said this was done with variable-speed drive technology developed by Parker Hannifin, a manufacturer of motion and control technologies.

The drives were installed as part of an upgrade on British Airways' 18 simulator cells. It is claimed the drives not only cut energy costs but also maintenance time. Both aspects were key because each flight simulator must be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The British Airways Flight Training (BAFT) centre at Heathrow offers Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) approved training and familiarisation courses on a wide range of aircraft. The facility is the largest civil-aviation training centre in the UK and trains British Airways' flight crews and those of other major passenger airlines and cargo carriers.