Monday, February 08, 2010Last Update: 4:41 PM PT

     WASHINGTON (CN) - Airbus 330 and 340 airplanes must be checked for landing gear cracks, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA believes the instances of cracking that brought the issue to its attention have been caused by "overload." The agency admits, however, that the root cause has not yet been established.
     Two beams and a stop pad associated with landing gear have been found cracked. Breakage may cause the plane to go off the runway, gear collapses, or the part falling from the plane. Any of these problems may be dangerous at speeds above 30 knots, according to the agency.
     The FAA is requiring detailed inspections of the main landing gear beams on numerous types of A330 and A340 planes. If deformation or damage is detected, a $1,000 repair is required.
     Click on the document icon for this regulation and others.

     WASHINGTON (CN) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to reintroduce the endangered Sonoran pronghorn into historical habitat in Arizona. Known as "prairie ghosts" because they are so elusive, the Sonoran pronghorn is the fastest land mammal in North America.
     The sites for reintroduction of the antelope-like creatures are the King Valley, Kofa National Wildlife Refuge in Yuma County, and the Barry M. Goldwater Range-East, in Maricopa County.
           The proposal to reestablish the Sonoran pronghorn would designate it as a nonessential experimental population allowing legal incidental taking of the pronghorn within the reintroduction area.
           The pronghorn was listed as endangered in 1967 due mostly to the pressure of hunting and predation. In recent years, despite protection under the Endangered Species Act, the pronghorn has been threatened by human incursion into its habitat, including livestock grazing, suburban development and highway construction.
           In 2002, a severe drought was the primary cause in a major die-off of the pronghorn. The U.S. population declined in 2002 by 83 percent, to 21 animals. After the die-off, the agency began a semi-captive breeding facility, constructed in Childs Valley, Ariz., in 2003, and stocked it with wild Sonoran pronghorn with the objective of producing 10 to 25 fawns each year for release into newly established populations.