Security: A matter of the highest priority.

Kansai International Airport, Japan's new gateway and first 24-hour airport, is scheduled to open in September 1994 at a total cost of U.S. $12.4 billion. The new airport's terminal building will be able to handle up to 30.7 million passengers annually.

The incorporation of advanced technology is a key to the success of today's commercial air transports. As noted in the article beginning on page 9, airlines prefer to avoid the requirement to continually invest in upgrades and modifications in order to meet evolving standards, and it is becoming essential for manufacturers to design aircraft with the future in mind.

Aerial view of Grand Forks International Airport, the flight operations centre of the University of North Dakota's UND Aerospace, shows part of the school's fleet of 85 aircraft. Together with Northwest Airlines, UND Aerospace has developed an innovative ab initio airline pilot training programme that emphasizes human factors instruction, crew training and peer evaluation as well as the traditional airmanship skills.

A control tower simulator that uses eight projectors to present a realistic 360-degree view was acquired recently by AustroControl for installation in Vienna. The system allows controller trainees to practise individual skills and team work in a realistic training environment.

One of the crucial challenges facing civil aviation today is the task of safeguarding international civil aviation operations against acts of unlawful interference. As outlined in the article beginning on page 12, ICAO has launched several initiatives to help countries in need to establish effective security measures.

Among milestones reached in 1993 was the production of the 1,000th Boeing 747. In the years since the first 747 was rolled out in 1968, the wide-body transport has carried more than 1.4 billion passengers and flown more than 17.9 billion miles. Boeing has evolved 15 versions of the aircraft to meet airline needs. The 1,000th 747 was delivered to Singapore Airlines in October 1993.

On 7 December 1994 it will have been 50 years since 52 nations met in Chicago for a conference that concluded with the signing of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, a document that included the constitution of ICAO. This month the Journal commemorates the 50th anniversary of ICAO by focusing on the history of the organization and some of the significant civil aviation developments o! the past 50 years.

The airport at San Clemente, California has installed an Artais automated weather observation system for collecting and reporting weather data. The AWOS 2000 pictured here is a new-generation system that combines aviation reporting requirements and the need for meteorological data collection.

The undetected disruption of VHF communications has occasionally resulted in hazardous flight deviations, runway incursions and fatal accidents. New technology is now available that is designed to prevent communication disruptions caused by simultaneous transmission attempts.

A recent review of the trend in accident statistics kept by ICAO indicates that there is some cause for concern about the future flight safety record. Without a distinct decline in the present accident rate -- which has remained relatively level for many years -- there will be an unacceptable increase in the number of accidents as air transport activity continues to grow. The challenge to industry and government is to determine how this safety record can be improved further in order to maintain the public's confidence in air travel.

Land-use planning may be the best means of reducing the impact of aircraft noise and the key to protecting the land needed for future expansion of international air transport. An article on the importance of effective control of land use near airports begins on page 8.