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.
Australian safety regulators say operators of Airbus A380s powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines should conduct a fresh round of engine inspections due to the discovery of a potential flaw in an oil feed pipe. The latest recommendation was prompted by new discoveries during the examination of the Trent 900 that suffered an uncontained failure during a Qantas flight from Singapore on Nov. 4. The discovery of the oil pipe problem “appears to provide a more definitive explanation for the [Nov. 4] engine failure,” Qantas says.
Ashley Smout, chairman of the industry's global air traffic management body, will step aside next June to take a job in the postal industry. In addition to his role as chief executive of Airways New Zealand, Smout has chaired the executive committee of the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization (CANSO) since 2005.
Australia’s air safety watchdog says a serious loss-of-separation incident last year was the fault of a recently trained controller, and it identified deficiencies in Airservices Australia’s controller training and assessment.
