BOSTON -- A flight that left Boston headed for Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Saturday was forced to land in North Carolina after a fight broke out on board, according to Jet Blue authorities.

Jet Blue flight 455, which took off from Logan airport at 3:28 p.m. on Saturday, was scheduled to arrive in Florida in the afternoon, but made an unscheduled landing in Raleigh, N.C., following the incident.

One person sustained a facial injury, which may have been from a fist, the Transportation Security Administration said. TSA said the fight involved three people, who were all possibly related to each other. One person was smoking in the bathroom, TSA said.

So far, one person has been detained. According to Jet Blue, 88 passengers and four crew members were onboard the plane.

Posted by mikki at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hole in Qantas jet forces emergency landing - CNN.com:


(CNN) -- A Qantas flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne made an emergency landing in the Philippines on Friday after a hole appeared in the fuselage and the cabin lost pressure suddenly.

An inspection revealed a hole in the Boeing 747-400's fuselage, and initial reports indicated that a section of the fuselage had separated in the area of the forward cargo compartment, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said in a written statement.

"There was an almighty crack," one passenger said. "We dropped a bit in the air, but other than that it was fine." The Associated Press reported that the plane was at 29,000 feet when the incident happened before descending to 10,000 feet.

"There was a big bang," said another. "I knew there was a hole somewhere, but I didn't know what was going on."

Marina Scaffidi, 39, from Melbourne, told The Associated Press: "There was wind swirling around the plane and some condensation."

She said a hole extended from the cargo hold into the passenger cabin.

Michael Rahill, 57, an architect from Melbourne, told AP the bang sounded "like a tire exploding, but more violently."

Images of the Boeing 747-400 after it landed showed a large hole where the leading edge of the wing attaches to the fuselage.

Manila International Airport Authority spokesman Octavio Lina said there were no injuries, but some of the 345 passengers vomited after disembarking, AP reported. Video of the incident shows passengers applauding as the plane landed safely.

Qantas said the hole, which was between 2.5 to three meters in diameter, was being inspected by engineers.

A report by the airport authority quoted pilot John Francis Bartels as saying an initial investigation indicated there was an "explosive decompression."

Lina said the cabin's floor gave way, exposing some of the cargo beneath and part of the ceiling collapsed, AP reported.

The flight originated in London. It was diverted to Manila International Airport, where it landed around 11:15 a.m. (11:15 p.m. ET Thursday.)

There were no reports of injuries among the 346 passengers and 19 crew, the airline said in a statement. Oxygen masks were deployed during the emergency.

Passengers said their ears popped because of the plane's rapid descent to a lower altitude.

Some passengers vomited after disembarking, Manila International Airport Authority deputy manager for operations Octavio Lina told AP.

The Australian Transportation Safety Bureau and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority have been notified and plan to investigate, according to Geoff Dixon, Qantas CEO.

Posted by mikki at 04:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Formal calls for probe into reporter's name on no-fly list - CNN.com:


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A House representative said Thursday she is requesting an investigation after learning a CNN reporter was put on the federal no-fly list shortly after his investigation of the Transportation Security Administration.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas asked Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff about "a curious and interesting and troubling phenomenon" that CNN Investigative Correspondent Drew Griffin was added to the list.

"My question is, why would Drew Griffin's name come on the watch list, post-his investigation of TSA?" Jackson Lee said.

"What is the basis of this sudden recognition that Drew Griffin is a terrorist? Are we targeting people because of their critique or criticism?"

In response, Chertoff said it was "not my understanding the reporter was put on," but that Griffin may share a name with someone put on the list.

"We do have circumstances where we have name mismatches," he said.

Griffin learned in May he was on the list, about two months after he reported on the federal air marshals program.

In a March story, Griffin reported that of the 28,000 commercial flights taking off in the United States every day, fewer than 1 percent have on-board, armed federal air marshals on board.

In response to Griffin's story, TSA said on its Web site that it would not disclose the number of air marshals flying on a daily basis so as not to "tip our hand to terrorists."

"The actual number of flights that air marshals cover is thousands per day," read a statement on the Web site. Jackson Lee said she was using Griffin as an example. Committee members noted during the meeting that Congressman John Lewis, D-Georgia, is also on the no-fly list and has been trying for years to get removed.

"He's still having trouble," said committee chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi, showing a letter from Lewis.

"And according to this letter, it's still not happening," Thompson said, "even to the point that the department gave him a letter attesting that he was John Lewis and he should be allowed to get on planes."

He asked Chertoff to "find out how many other John Lewises are out there, who are having difficulty explaining to the department who they are so they can get off this no-fly list. We see more and more of it happening and I know Sen. Kennedy had a problem with it, and for whatever reason it was worked out."

Chertoff said he would be "happy" to help Lewis in his efforts to get removed from the list.

Jackson Lee said Griffin also attempted to provide documents indicating he was not involved in terrorism to the Department of Homeland Security.

Chertoff said if Griffin has a complaint, he should go to the department's inspector general. He pointed out, however, that the database of people on the no-fly list is maintained by the Department of Justice, not the TSA.

TSA spokesman Chris White said earlier this week that any connection between Griffin's reporting and his name being added to the no-fly list "is absolutely fabricated."

Griffin reported earlier this week that the database has grown to 1 million names, citing the American Civil Liberties Union, which claims the list is so huge it is "ineffective" and "likely useless" as an anti-terrorism tool.

Federal officials who manage the list say the ACLU's claim is exaggerated, and that about 400,000 names are currently on the list. The Terrorist Screening Center, a division of the FBI, said about 5 percent of those on the list are Americans, and most aren't even in the United States.

"We strive to have the watch list contain all appropriately suspected terrorists who represent a threat to the U.S., but only appropriately suspected terrorists," the center said in a written statement. "Independent government audits have recognized our ongoing efforts to constantly check watch list data to improve quality, reduce the number of misidentifications or mitigate their effects and enhance traveler redress efforts."

Washington attorney Jim Robinson, a former assistant attorney general who told CNN he is among those on the watch list, said he cannot utilize some of the conveniences of air travel, such as electronic check-in, automated ticketing kiosks and curbside baggage checks.

Instead, after he checks in, he has to wait in line while airline agents verify by telephone "that I am not the James Kenneth Robinson who is the cause of my being on the watch list."

The ACLU drew its 1 million figure from an October report by congressional auditors, who put the number of names on the list at more than 750,000, with another 20,000 names being added each month.

Posted by mikki at 06:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Concorde supersonic jet to have its nose repaired at New York museum - Pravda.Ru:


A museum official says a two-week nose job should reverse the damage done to a Concorde supersonic jet when a truck rammed it.

The retired Concorde is normally on display at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. It has been at a Brooklyn recreational facility while the USS Intrepid and its home pier in Manhattan are repaired and renovated.

A truck hauling equipment from a Jamaican soccer-and-cricket festival bumped into the Concorde's distinctive nose July 1 and knocked it off.

Museum President Bill White says the cone will be reattached and repaired to original standards.

White said Tuesday the museum apologized to the jet's owner British Airways for not providing better security for the plane.

Concorde was a supersonic passenger airliner or supersonic transport (SST). It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and British Aircraft Corporation. With only 20 aircraft ultimately built, the costly development phase represented a substantial economic loss. Additionally, Air France and British Airways were subsidised by their governments to buy the aircraft. The Concorde was the more successful of the only two supersonic airliners to have ever operated commercially, the Tupolev Tu-144 being the other. The Tu-144 was also the only faster commercial airliner, surpassing the Concorde by 100 mph (~160.9 km/h).

First flown in 1969, Concorde service commenced in 1976 and continued for 27 years. It flew regular transatlantic flights from London Heathrow (British Airways) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (Air France) to New York JFK and Washington Dulles, flying these routes at record speeds, in under half the time of other airliners. Concorde also set many other records, including the official FAI "Westbound Around The World" and "Eastbound Around the World" world air speed records.

As a result of the type's only crash on 25 July 2000, world economic effects arising from the 9/11 attacks, and other factors, operations ceased on 24 October 2003. The last "retirement" flight occurred on 26 November that year.

Concorde remains an icon of aviation history, and has acquired an unusual nomenclature for an aircraft. In common usage in the United Kingdom, the type is known as "Concorde" rather than "the Concorde" or "a Concorde".

Posted by mikki at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

American Eagle flight returns to gate after flight attendant goads autistic toddler into a tantrum - Boing Boing:


Kathryn sez, "American Eagle returns a plane to the gate to kick off a toddler and his mom. Apparently, the flight attendant kept yanking on the autistic toddler's seatbealt to make sure it as tight, touching off a temper tantrum. Doesn't this make you feel safer?"
"She kept coming over and tugging his seatbelt to make it tighter, 'This has to stay tight'. And then he was wiggling around and trying to get out of his seatbelt. And she kept coming over and reprimanding him and yelling at him," Farrell said...
"The pilot made an announcement that there was a woman and her child on the plane and the child is uncontrollable. And at that point I just broke down," Farrell said.

Posted by mikki at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Law.com - Airlines Pay $504 Million to Settle Price-Fixing Scam:


Four international airlines have agreed to pay $504 million in fines to settle charges they conspired to fleece consumers by driving up cargo shipping prices.

The Justice Department called the case one of the largest antitrust settlements in U.S. history.

Associate Attorney General Kevin O'Connor called the scam an "international price-fixing cartel" that cost consumers hundreds of millions of dollars between 2001 and 2006. In some instances, for example, fuel surcharges rose by 1,000 percent.

One of the four airlines -- Air France-KLM -- has agreed to pay $350 million of the total settlement. The other carriers are Cathay Pacific Airways, Martinair Holland and SAS Cargo Group.

"American consumers and taxpayers pour billions of dollars each year into the pockets of these lawbreakers," said FBI Assistant Director Joe Persichini. "Let there be no mistake that people in corporations that take consumers and taxpayers in this way are thieves."

Authorities said executives from each of the airlines met repeatedly in the United States, Europe and Asia to cook up a price-fixing scheme that raised cargo rates, fuel surcharges and security costs for businesses and, ultimately, consumers. The cartel focused on goods shipped to and from the United States, including electronics, clothing, produce and medicines, O'Connor said.

The settlement agreement, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington, still requires a judge's approval.

Thursday's announcement marked the latest in a series of cargo shipping settlements over the last two years. Earlier, British Airways, Korean Air, Qantas and Japan Airlines filed similar agreements as part of the investigation.

In all, airlines have agreed to pay $1.2 billion in fines -- what O'Connor called "the highest total amount of fines ever imposed in a criminal antitrust investigation."

The investigation is continuing.

Posted by mikki at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Smoking Woman In Air Rage - June 19, 2008:


JUNE 19--Meet Christina Szele. The 35-year-old New Yorker was charged yesterday with causing a disturbance on a JetBlue flight after she lit up a cigarette at her seat, punched a flight attendant in the jaw, and kicked and screamed when flight personnel tried to restrain her. Oh, Szele also allegedly threatened to kill one flight attendant and called him a "dumb mother fucker" and "fuckin' nigger." The JetBlue flight from New York to San Francisco made an emergency landing in Denver Tuesday afternoon following Szele's outburst, which is detailed in an affidavit filed along with a U.S. District Court criminal complaint. Szele told investigators that she drank two beers prior going to John F. Kennedy airport and downed three vodka drinks while onboard Flight 643, but noted that she had a "high tolerance" for alcohol. She claimed not to remember lighting up a cigarette or slugging anyone (since she is not a violent person). But she did cop to cursing frequently and often using the "F" word. A passenger quoted in the affidavit recalled that Szele was "speaking to herself," adding that he "heard and then smelled a match strike. I smelled cigarette smoke, leaned forward and saw the lit cigarette in her hand." Szele, pictured below in a mug shot snapped last year following a disorderly conduct bust in California, was charged with assault and interfering with a flight crew, a felony carrying a maximum of 20 years in prison. A federal magistrate yesterday ordered Szele held in lieu of a detention hearing scheduled for June 23

Posted by mikki at 02:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Its Back Against the Wall, Airline Industry Looks to Come Clean:

These are tough times for any industry that burns a lot of fossil fuel or emits a lot of carbon dioxide, and the air travel business does both. The airlines never gave it much thought before, but with sky-high oil prices and mounting concern about global warming threatening not just their bottom line, but their existence, they're getting serious about reducing the industry's carbon footprint.

"They’re definitely in bad shape," says John Scholle, an economist with Global Insight. "And going forward, things look bleak."

It is against this backdrop that executives from the U.S. commercial aviation industry gather later this week in Washington D.C. to plot a new course.

The Air Transport World Eco-Aviation conference marks the first time the industry has come together on such a large scale to talk about the environment. The conference underscores the severity of the issues facing commercial aviation and the need to begin addressing them collectively and quickly.

With airline passenger growth rates and aircraft emissions expected to double by 2020 and 2030, respectively, time is of the essence.

Rising fuel prices have airlines around the world hemorrhaging money, and losses could hit $6.1 billion this year. Governments on both sides of the Atlantic are threatening to crack down on emissions. And environmentalists are lining up against an industry that, like the automakers before it, has long considered environmental responsibility an afterthought.

Commercial aviation has seen tough times before, experts say, but never before has the challenge been so great and the prospects so grim.

Topping the conference agenda is determining how big a role government should play in regulating aviation-related emissions. This is an issue of mounting importance now that the European Union says airlines must join its carbon trading program and with environmentalists petitioning the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate aircraft emissions. It is, they say, the only way to get the airlines to clean up their act.

"Market mechanisms for cutting pollution won't work," says Danielle Fugere of Friends of the Earth, the group that filed the petition.

The airline industry disagrees, of course, and says it has increased fuel efficiency 110 percent since 1978. It also claims to have reduced emissions 4 percent between 2000 and 2006, despite a 12 percent increase in passengers and a 22 percent climb in cargo. "Airlines are already motivated to reduce fuel burn and the resulting greenhouse gases as much as possible," says Nancy Young, vice president of environmental affairs for the Air Transport Association.

Much of that progress has come by replacing outdated planes with more fuel-efficient models. The industry has long counted on technology to reduce fuel consumption and says advancements in engine designs, composite materials and airframe construction will make tomorrow's airliners leaner and greener. "Less weight equals less power," says Ernest Arvi, CEO of aviation consultancy The Arvi Group. “Less power equals less fuel, and less fuel equals less pollution.”

Perhaps the biggest example of the trend is Boeing's much-delayed 787 Dreamliner, which uses composite construction to produce an aircraft the company says is 20 percent more fuel efficient and produces 20 percent fewer emissions than similarly sized aircraft. Pratt & Whitney promises similar performance improvements from its geared turbofan jet engine.

But even the most fuel-efficient airplane relies on fossil fuel, an increasingly expensive commodity. Jet fuel recently topped $150 a barrel, a price for which no airline has a business plan. That's got them pushing hard to develop biofuels. Virgin Atlantic recently made a test flight of a Boeing 747 fueled by a mixture of kerosene and biofuel derived from coconut and babassu oil. But the emphasis is on algae, led by Boeing's recent commitment to the alt fuel and efforts by JetBlue and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to turn pond scum into fuel.

Christopher Surgenor, editor of GreenAirOnline, says algal fuel is the most promising alternative because "It has the right properties for a jet fuel and can be produced in comparatively large quantities." But others say it's too early in the game to pick a winner, and Arvi warns that narrowing the research to one field "is self-defeating. It stifles innovation."

For all the advancements in engines and airframes, the system we use for moving all those planes around is stuck in the 1940s. Airlines say replacing the radar-based air traffic control infrastructure with a satellite system would reduce fuel consumption and cut emissions by 10 to 15 percent while making the business of getting planes in and out of airports more efficient. Adopting a more efficient means of approaching airports -- called "continuous descent approach" -- would further cut fuel consumption and emissions while also reducing noise.

As promising as these ideas appear, don't look for them at your local airport anytime soon. "Next generation aircraft will begin to arrive in two to three years, but modernized air traffic control is at least a decade away," says Scholle, the analyst from Global Insight. He's even less optimistic about alt fuels. The economics needed to make it work just aren't there. "We’re at least five years away from alt-fuels being anything but a publicity stunt," he says.

And that is exactly what critics call the commercial aviation industry's push to clean up its act -- a publicity stunt. "The only reason they’re having this thing is so it looks like they care. The industry is positioning itself to look like it's addressing environmental issues, so the government doesn’t do it for them," aviation consultant Mike Boyd says of the upcoming conference. Critics said the same thing when Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, hailed his company's experiments with biofuels.

But the industry and its defenders say there's more than green washing going on here, and to suggest otherwise is both cynical and shortsighted. "Those of us working in aviation are no different than anyone else," Arvi says. "We care about the environment and we want a clean planet. We just don't want the industry to get ruined in the process."

Posted by mikki at 04:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Newspapers run ads about fake airline Derrie-Air:


PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Derrie-Air has been exposed. Readers of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News opened their papers Friday to see ads for a new airline called Derrie-Air, which purportedly charges passengers by the pound.

But the new carrier will never get off the ground. It's a one-day advertising campaign about a fake airline by Philadelphia Media Holdings, the papers' owner, and Gyro ad agency.

In light blue banners throughout the papers _ as well as on their Web site, Philly.com _ Derrie-Air cheerily trumpets its policy: The more you weigh, the more you pay. The ads direct readers to the Web site http://www.flyderrie-air.com.

Philadelphia Media Holdings spokesman Jay Devine said the goal is to "demonstrate the power of our brands in generating awareness and generating traffic for our advertisers, and put a smile on people's faces."

The company will track traffic to the Derrie-Air site. Devine said there's already buzz about the campaign on online blogs.

Visitors to the airline site learn that Derrie-Air is the world's only carbon-neutral luxury airline, and it justifies its fare policy by saying that it takes more fuel to move heavier objects. The carrier pledges to plant trees to offset every pound of carbon its planes release into the atmosphere.

Derrie-Air's sample rates range from $1.40 per pound to fly from Philadelphia to Chicago to $2.25 per pound to fly from Philadelphia to Los Angeles.

Those who scroll to the bottom of the home page find out the truth behind Derrie-Air.

A disclaimer labels the ad campaign "fictitious" and says it is designed "to test the results of advertising in our print and online products and to stimulate discussion on a timely environmental topic of interest to all citizens."

"In other words," it says, "smile, we're pulling your leg."

Posted by mikki at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The NOTAM Database Crash: What Happened:


A nearly 20-hours-long crash of the FAA's NOTAM database last week occurred because of a drive failure that took place "in the middle of updating the information on the hard drive," which in turn "screwed up the database," Barry Davis, manager of the aeronautical information management for the FAA, told ComputerWorld.com. The box in question was a Sun Microsystems Inc. server, according to the FAA, that was nearing the end of its life expectancy. Its failure put controllers to work disseminating the NOTAM information to pilots. Davis' team already had replacement equipment on hand, they just hadn't yet performed the replacement. Because of that, the hardware recovery portion of the fix "was quite simple -- we just put the boxes in," said Davis. Unfortunately, when they did that, they moved a data error over to the backup system, thereby corrupting it and causing the system to run slowly and in a manner that appeared to be deteriorating. In the end, the latest information had to be pulled from the corrupted database, re-imported into the new database and resynchronized with all the subsystems. Davis' team then put the system back online and stuck around into the evening to make sure there were no more surprises.

Posted by mikki at 07:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

T-shirt with picture of armed robot endangers British aviation system:


This poor guy tried to board a BA flight at Heathrow terminal 5 but was turned back and told to change out of his t-shirt, which featured a Transformer robot carrying a gun -- a robot with a gun that apparently posed a threat to flight safety.

Go through security, get pulled to the side. I'm wearing a French Connection Transformers t-shirt. Bloke starts joking with me is that Megatron. Then he explains that since Megatron is holding a gun, I'm not allowed to fly. WTF? It's a 40 foot tall cartoon robot with a gun as an arm. There is no way this shirt is offensive in any way, and what I'm going to use the shirt to pretend I have a gun?

Link

(Thanks, PT!)

Posted by mikki at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It might take some time, but eventually you just stop doing that which is unpleasant. And flying is certainly that these days, between the prices and the way we are treated, it's a wonder anyone flies.

Americans take 41 million fewer flights, survey shows - CNN.com:


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Nearly half of American air travelers would fly more if it were easier, and more than one-fourth said they skipped at least one air trip in the past 12 months because of the hassles involved, according to an industry survey.

With millions of flights not booked, the travel industry has lost $18.1 billion, according to an industry survey.

The Travel Industry Association, which commissioned the survey released Thursday, estimated that the 41 million forgone trips cost the travel industry $18.1 billion -- including $9.4 billion to airlines and $5.6 billion to hotels. Plus, it cost federal, state and local authorities $4.2 billion in taxes in the past 12 months.

When 28 percent of air travelers avoided an average of 1.3 trips each, that resulted in 29 million leisure trips and 12 million business trips not being taken, the researchers estimated.

The survey results did not address whether travelers chose alternate transportation to pursue any of the journeys they didn't take by plane. The association estimated overall travel industry revenue at $740 billion.

Roger Dow, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based association, said the research "should be a wake-up call to America's policy leaders that the time for meaningful air system reform is now."

"The air travel crisis has hit a tipping point -- more than 100,000 travelers each day are voting with their wallets by choosing to avoid trips," Dow said in a statement.

That's a big blow to airlines, many of which are losing money as the industry struggles with soaring fuel costs. Carriers have raised fares, added fees, cut capacity and scaled back expansion plans, and some small airlines have declared bankruptcy, while Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. announced plans to combine in an effort to reduce costs.

In all, 44 percent of the 1,003 air travelers surveyed by phone from May 6 to May 13 said they would take more air trips each year if airport hassles could be reduced or eliminated. The survey, conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates Inc. and The Winston Group, had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

People who flew more than five times in the past 12 months were more likely to describe air travel as frustrating, at 52 percent, compared with 33 percent of infrequent travelers, defined as people who flew one or two round trips in 12 months, according to the survey.

More than half of respondents said either efficiency or reliability is getting worse, 60 percent said the system is deteriorating, and 56 percent said flying is the "bad" or "worst" part of travel -- though 62 percent said air travel security is improving.

Posted by mikki at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Law.com - Lawyer Sues Delta Air Lines Over Delayed Trip, 'Rude' Treatment:


A New York City lawyer has sued Delta Air Lines Inc. for nearly $1 million, claiming the company's incompetent and rude employees made his 80-year-old mother's birthday trip to South America a stressful, costly horror.

Attorney Richard Roth says not only did he and his family arrive in Buenos Aires, Argentina, almost three days late, he had to spend unplanned thousands of dollars on food, hotels and transportation, and buy tickets for another airline.

And because Delta misplaced his luggage, Roth's lawsuit says, he had to buy new clothes for himself and family members after arriving in Buenos Aires.

Though he was promised Delta would bring his luggage, Roth says he had to drive to the airport in Buenos Aires to look for and retrieve his bags himself.

During the ordeal, Roth's court papers say, several Delta employees were "nasty," "rude," "obnoxious" and "totally disrespectful." Those who were courteous were generally ineffectual in assisting him, the court papers say.

A Delta spokeswoman, Betsy Talton, said Tuesday that she could not comment on pending litigation.

Roth, 49, of Scarsdale, N.Y., said he arranged for his mother to fly to her native Argentina during the 2007 Christmas holidays. He says he and his family were scheduled to fly from the Westchester County Airport the evening of Dec. 20.

Roth said he was with his mother, his wife and his teenage son and daughter. They were to meet a 20-year-old cousin in Atlanta and take a connecting flight to Buenos Aires where they would celebrate his mother's 80th birthday.

In Atlanta, say court papers filed Friday in Manhattan's state Supreme Court, a gate agent refused to let Roth and his family onto the jet for the connecting flight, although the plane was sitting at the gate with the door open.

Roth says his cousin, already on the plane, told him by cell phone there were several empty seats. When Roth asked the agent to speak to the pilot, he replied, "The pilot is not in charge here. I am. All the pilot does is fly the plane."

Roth's court papers say that after he and his family spent two nights in Atlanta, a ticket agent told him Delta could not get him to Argentina before Jan. 8. So they flew to Florida, spent a night there and took an Aerolineas Argentina flight to Buenos Aires after buying one-way tickets, court papers say.

Roth said he and his family returned to New York aboard a Delta flight on Dec. 31.

Roth said Tuesday he wants $21,000 for out-of-pocket expenses and another $275,000 in compensatory damages for emotional distress. He said he also wants punitive damages which would be at least three times the compensatory amount.

Posted by mikki at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by mikki at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Customs slip cannabis into passenger's bag - CNN.com:


passenger who landed at Tokyo's Narita airport over the weekend has ended up with a surprise souvenir courtesy of customs officials -- a package of cannabis.

A customs official hid the package in a suitcase belonging to a passenger arriving from Hong Kong as part of an exercise for sniffer dogs on Sunday, Reuters.com reported.

However, staff then lost track of the drugs and suitcase during the exercise, a spokeswoman for Tokyo customs said.

Customs regulations specify that a training suitcase be used for such exercises, but the official had used passengers' suitcases for similar purposes in the past, domestic media reported.

Tokyo customs has asked anyone who finds the package to return it.

Posted by mikki at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ok.. I have a big problem with being tagged without my permission. If you do also, make it known to the airlines that they really ought to TELL US and give us the option to opt out, and take the chance that they'll lose the luggage twice :-)

RFID tags, pay per bag, and they STILL lose 'em - Kenzoid's Autonomous Zone:


RFID tags, pay per bag, and they STILL lose 'em

I was reading an article this morning on the new American Airlines luggage charge (THAT's gonna go over well), and noticed an aside starting on page 3...Las Vegas is using RFIDs in outgoing luggage tags now to help move bags more efficiently.
Now, I'm not saying I'm even completely against this, used correctly...but I had no idea that it was occuring. THAT I don't like...especially since I have a bag sitting in the hallway that just came back from Vegas! Checking...nope, no I'm an arphid note on it.
But oh yeah...it's there:

Nice, eh? And I carried this around (out of airport, past who knows what kind of scanner, on transit, etc.) without knowing about it. And of course, they're all already sync'd with a person's ID directly. Hrrrmmmm.
And as for slippery slope...from the article: This new system "won't solve every problem, but it's certainly played a part in allowing this airport to operate efficiently," she said, "and it's got the potential to do even more once it's rolled out [on] a wider basis."
I bet it does.
UPDATE: to clarify, I changed "...in outgoing luggage now..." to "...in outgoing luggage tags now..." above, after the post made it onto boingboing (woot!). It was a typo, and the photos make it clear what I'm talking about, but apparently people thought it worth mentioning. *grin* Sorry for any confusion.

Posted by mikki at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Naked pilot, flight attendant arrested in woods:


HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - An airline pilot was found hiding behind a shed wearing only flip-flops and a wristwatch as a nighttime romp in the woods with a flight attendant ended with both under arrest, police said.

Jeffrey Paul Bradford, 24, and Adrianna Grace Connor, 24, both employees of Pinnacle Airlines Inc., were at a diner on the outskirts of Harrisburg on Sunday night before they apparently decided to walk into the woods, police said.

"They told the officer they wanted to go do it in the woods, essentially," said Lower Swatara Township police Sgt. Richard Brandt. "That's the best answer they had."

The two somehow became separated, and people who live in the neighborhood summoned police around 9:30 p.m., saying they had seen a naked man and an intoxicated woman.

A helicopter with heat-seeking equipment was called in, and Bradford was discovered hiding behind a shed shortly before midnight.

Bradford, of Pittsburgh, was charged with indecent exposure, public drunkenness and other offenses. Connor, of Belleville, Mich., was charged with theft from a motor vehicle, public drunkenness and other offenses; police said she took a flashlight from a neighbor's vehicle.

A spokesman for the Memphis, Tenn., airline said the two were suspended while the company investigates.

The office of District Justice Michael John Smith, where Bradford and Connor were arraigned, said they were not represented by lawyers. Telephone listings for them could not be located by The Associated Press.

Posted by mikki at 07:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shocking new airline security system:

Boy, I feel safer already...

United States Patent 6,933,851

Hahne , et al. August 23, 2005

Air travel security method, system and device

Abstract

A method of providing air travel security for passengers traveling via an aircraft comprises situating a remotely activatable electric shock device on each of the passengers in position to deliver a disabling electrical shock when activated; and arming the electric shock devices for subsequent selective activation by a selectively operable remote control disposed within the aircraft. The remotely activatable electric shock devices each have activation circuitry responsive to the activating signal transmitted from the selectively operable remote control means. The activated electric shock device is operable to deliver the disabling electrical shock to that passenger.

via The Kaz

Posted by mikki at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Angry flight attendant charged with setting fire on plane - CNN.com:


FARGO, North Dakota (AP) -- A 19-year-old flight attendant has been accused of setting a fire aboard a commercial airplane that was forced to make an emergency landing in Fargo, North Dakota.

Eder Rojas was charged Thursday in federal court in Minneapolis. The case will be prosecuted in Fargo.

Officials say the Compass Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Saskatchewan landed safely in Fargo on May 7, after smoke begin to fill the back of the plane.

Court documents say Rojas, of Woodbury, Minnesota, told authorities he was upset at the airline for making him work that route.

Posted by mikki at 09:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stupid Security | It Is Secure 'cos It Looks Secure:


Anonymous Coward writes "I work at a large UK international airport which shall not be named. There was one particular section which was open access , but the Decision Makers decided to increase security by adding a swipe card and keylock with individual codes for each person so they could record every individual entry. For weeks after it was installed I studiously swiped my card, keyed in my personal access code and waited for the green light and beep before pushing the door open. That then one day I forgot and just pushed the door - which opened. The rumour is that the powers that be be received so many complaints from manager types that they decided to disconnect the security system, but left the access control systems in place so that it looks like it is a high security door."

Posted by mikki at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's about time too....

FAA Says Emergency Medical Helicopters Need Safety Improvements:


Three men died last weekend when an emergency medical-services helicopter crashed near Madison, Wis., and this week the FAA responded with an update on its work to address safety concerns about such flights. The NTSB reported on the helicopter emergency medical services fleet in 2006, and asked the FAA to impose stricter requirements on all such operators. "While the FAA has not ruled out proposing new or changing existing rules, the agency has prompted significant short-term safety gains that do not require rulemaking," the FAA said in a statement on Tuesday. The agency said it is focusing on better training for flight crews; encouraging the use of technology such as night-vision goggles, radar altimeters, and terrain awareness and warning systems (though such systems don't work optimally in helicopters, the FAA says); and more detailed, airline-type FAA oversight for operators. "Safety improvements are needed," the FAA said.

Posted by mikki at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 15, 1930: The Skies Get a Little Bit Friendlier:

1930: Ellen Church becomes the world's first airline stewardess, working a Boeing Air Transport flight from Oakland, California, to Chicago. The flight takes 20 hours and involves 13 stops along the way.

Church, a registered nurse from Iowa, was so enamored of flying that she became a certified pilot. She approached BAT (the forerunner of United Airlines) looking for a pilot's job, a futile hope for women in those days. But the BAT exec did like Church's other suggestion: that commercial airliners carry nurses on board.

Smelling a publicity coup, and figuring that on-board nurses would help quell the public's fear -- very real at the time -- of flying, he sold her proposal to the boys at the top. BAT hired eight nurses, including Church, for what it thought would be a three-month experiment.

These weren't just any nurses, though.

Even then, there were strict physical requirements for what BAT referred to as "sky girls." In addition to being a registered nurse, the successful candidate had to be single, under 25, no taller than 5-feet-4, and she could weigh no more than 115 pounds. And although it wasn't written down anywhere, the prospective stewardess had to be attractive, at least to the guy doing the hiring.

So they were trim and petite, which did not necessarily suit the rigors of the job. That's because the first stewardesses did a lot more than merely serve passengers, pass out airsick bags or take a pulse now and then. They were expected to haul luggage, screw down loose seats, help with fueling the plane and finally, at day's end, help the pilots push the plane into the hangar.

Glamorous? You bet.

Like a lot of other service jobs, working conditions for stewardesses -- flight attendants in today's parlance -- only improved with their determination to organize and use the power of the union to obtain better pay and benefits.

As for Church, she worked as a stew for 18 months before being grounded as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. She returned to nursing, but her flying days weren't over yet: During World War II, she served as a captain in the Army Nurses Corps, receiving the Air Medal for distinguished service in the European Theater.

After the war, Church continued her nursing career in Terre Haute, Indiana. She was killed in a horseback riding accident in 1965.

The airfield in her hometown of Cresco, Iowa, is named in her honor.

Source: Various

Posted by mikki at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Forgotten tot left behind at Vancouver airport:


VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - An immigrant family left a 23-month-old boy in the Vancouver airport and learned he was missing only when contacted during the next leg of the trip.

Jun Parreno, the boy's father, told The Vancouver Sun the mix-up occurred Monday as he, his wife and two grandparents of the child, J.M., were scrambling between their arrival in Canada and a connecting flight to Winnipeg on Air Canada.

Running late after having to unpack and repack all their luggage, "we had 10 minutes before boarding," said Parreno, who was emigrating with his family from the Philippines. "We were running for the gate."

He said he thought his son was with the three other adults, who were running to the gate ahead of him, and they thought the little boy was with him.

Instead, in a scenario similar to the movie "Home Alone," the toddler was wandering alone between a security checkpoint and the flight gates, said Angela Mah, an Air Canada representative.

"We were called by (security) who told us one of the security people had a toddler in tow," Mah said. "He doesn't speak English, so we found a Tagalog-speaking agent who has been looking after him."

There was no boarding pass for the youngster because he did not have a separately assigned seat, so there was no indication in the airline's computer system that someone had missed a flight, nor had there been any panicked calls from anyone on a flight missing a child, Mah said.

That's because the family was scattered in different parts of the plane to Winnipeg and still didn't know the child had been left.

Air Canada staff began checking flights that had left, and "we eventually determined who his parents might be ... and the flight crew talked to them," Mah said. "They didn't realize until then that the baby had been left behind.

"We're not aware of this ever happening on an Air Canada flight before."

The parents were put into telephone contact with the little boy, and Parreno was put on another Air Canada plane to return to Vancouver to get him after the family's flight arrived in Winnipeg with the airline covering the cost of the two additional flights, she said.

Parreno had tears in his eyes when he returned to Winnipeg holding his son.

"I am relieved everything is OK ... but I was shocked," he said. "The staff at Air Canada took good care of him."

Posted by mikki at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Former Qantas Executive Pleads Guilty to DOJ Price-Fixing Charges:


Bruce McCaffrey, the former highest-ranking U.S. executive of Qantas Airways Limited, agreed to a plea deal with federal prosecutors Thursday to serve eight months in prison and pay a $20,000 fine. McCaffrey was charged with violating the Sherman Act by engaging in a conspiracy to fix air cargo rates between 2000 and 2006. If approved, the deal will require McCaffrey to cooperate with an ongoing investigation by the Justice Department's antitrust division into price-fixing within the airline industry.

Posted by mikki at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New GA Fuel Promises Better Range, Lower Cost:


"Not only can our fuel seamlessly replace the aviation industry's standard petroleum fuel [100LL], it can outperform it," says John Rusek, a professor at Purdue University and co-founder of Swift Enterprises. The company recently unveiled a new general aviation fuel that it says will be less expensive, more fuel-efficient and environmentally friendlier than any on the market. Unlike other alternative fuels, Rusek said, SwiftFuel is made of synthetic hydrocarbons that are derived from biomass, and it can provide an effective range greater than 100LL, while costing about half as much to produce. "Our fuel should not be confused with first-generation biofuels like E-85 [85 percent ethanol], which don't compete well right now with petroleum," Rusek said. Patented technology can produce the 1.8 million gallons per day of fuel used by GA in the U.S. by using just 5 percent of the existing biofuel plant infrastructure, the company said.

Posted by mikki at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In another example of "let's be completely ridiculous, airline employees mindlessly follow the rules regardless of their stupidity

Air Marshals Denied Boarding Due To "No-fly List":


We've all heard the stories of ordinary airline passengers denied the right to fly because their name happens to match a name on the "no-fly list" kept by the Transportation Security Administration. But it appears that some federal air marshals, who are supposed to be on board as a protective measure, have also been denied boarding for the same reason. "In some cases, planes have departed without any coverage because the airline employees were adamant they would not [allow the marshal to] fly," an unidentified air marshal told The Washington Times. On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security said it will start this week to implement a new program that allows airlines to store travelers' birthdate information, which should eliminate most of the watch-list misidentification problems. "This is good for travelers and for security, because as we make the checkpoint environment calmer, it becomes easier to spot individuals with hostile intent," said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

"Hassles due to misidentification and the resulting necessity to stand in line to check in at the ticket counter [are] consistently among the deepest -- and most valid -- complaints of the traveling public," he said.

Posted by mikki at 11:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

People who bought houses near National Airport once again complaining that "OMG! Airplanes can be noisy!" Once again attempting to limit flights. Here's the link

Posted by mikki at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

US Airways finds problems on 7 planes - CNN.com:


TEMPE, Arizona (AP) -- US Airways Group Inc. has found problems on seven of its Boeing 757 aircraft during inspections prompted by the loss of a wing part from another company plane during a flight.

US Airways spokesman Phil Gee says the Tempe, Arizona-based carrier inspected 17 Boeing 757s with similar wing specifications as the damaged jetliner.

Last week, a small part of a 757's wing dislodged and hit a passenger window. Nobody was injured.

During the inspections that followed, crews found problems on seven planes. They performed minor repairs before returning them to service.

US Airways is also rechecking paperwork on 86 older model 737s to make sure they follow federal rules regulating inspection for fuselage and window cracks.

Posted by mikki at 05:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Traveler says she was forced to remove nipple ring - CNN.com:


LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A Texas woman who said she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane called Thursday for an apology by federal security agents and a civil rights investigation.

"I wouldn't wish this experience upon anyone," Mandi Hamlin said at a news conference. "My experience with TSA was a nightmare I had to endure. No one deserves to be treated this way."

Hamlin, 37, said she was trying to board a flight from Lubbock to Dallas on February 24 when she was scanned by a Transportation Security Administration agent after passing through a larger metal detector without problems.

The female TSA agent used a handheld detector that beeped when it passed in front of Hamlin's chest, the Dallas-area resident said.

Hamlin said she told the woman she was wearing nipple piercings. The agent called over her male colleagues, one of whom said she would have to remove the jewelry, Hamlin said.

Hamlin said she could not remove them and asked whether she could instead display her pierced breasts in private to the female agent. But several other male officers told her she could not board her flight until the jewelry was out, she said.

She was taken behind a curtain and managed to remove one bar-shaped piercing but had trouble with the second, a ring.

"Still crying, she informed the TSA officer that she could not remove it without the help of pliers, and the officer gave a pair to her," said Hamlin's attorney, Gloria Allred, reading from a letter she sent Thursday to the director of the TSA's Office of Civil Rights and Liberties. Allred is a Los Angeles lawyer who often represents high-profile claims.

Applying pliers to the torso of a mannequin wearing a bra with the rings on it, Hamlin showed reporters how she took off the second ring.

She said she heard male TSA agents snickering as she took out the ring. She was scanned again and was allowed to board even though she still was wearing a belly button ring.

"After nipple rings are inserted, the skin can often heal around the piercing, and the rings can be extremely difficult and painful to remove," Allred said in the letter.

TSA officials said they are investigating whether the agency's policies were followed.

"Our security officers are well-trained to screen individuals with body piercings in sensitive areas with dignity and respect while ensuring a high level of security," the agency said in a statement.

On its Web site, the TSA warns that passengers "may be additionally screened because of hidden items such as body piercings, which alarmed the metal detector."

"If you are selected for additional screening, you may ask to remove your body piercing in private as an alternative to a pat-down search," the site says.

Hamlin would have accepted a "pat-down" had it been offered, Allred said.

If an alarm does sound, "until that is resolved, we're not going to let them go through the checkpoint, no matter what they're wearing or where they're wearing it," said TSA spokesman Dwayne Baird in Salt Lake City.

People routinely pass through security wearing wedding rings without problems, and it might take a larger bit of metal to trigger an alarm, Baird said.

Hamlin filed a complaint, but the TSA's customer service manager at the Lubbock airport concluded that the screening was handled properly, Allred said.

Hamlin wants an apology from the TSA and an investigation by the agency's civil rights office.

Allred said she might consider legal action if the TSA does not apologize.

Hamlin was publicly humiliated and has "undergone an enormous amount of physical pain to have the nipple rings reinserted" because of scar tissue, Allred said.

Hamlin said her piercings have never set off an airport metal detector.

"The conduct of TSA was cruel and unnecessary," Allred wrote. "The last time that I checked, a nipple was not a dangerous weapon."

Posted by mikki at 08:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Records: Southwest Airlines flew 'unsafe' planes - CNN.com:


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- -- Discount air carrier Southwest Airlines flew thousands of passengers on aircraft that federal inspectors said were "unsafe" as recently as last March, according to detailed congressional documents obtained by CNN.

Documents submitted by Federal Aviation Administration inspectors to congressional investigators allege the airline flew at least 117 of its planes in violation of mandatory safety checks.

In some cases, the documents say, the planes flew for 30 months after government inspection deadlines had passed and should have been grounded until the inspections could be completed.

The planes were "not airworthy," according to congressional air safety investigators.

On Thursday, the FAA initiated actions to seek a $10.2 million civil penalty against Southwest for allegedly operating 46 airplanes without conducting mandatory checks for fuselage cracking.

"The FAA is taking action against Southwest Airlines for a failing to follow rules that are designed to protect passengers and crew," Nicholas A. Sabatini, the FAA's associate administrator for aviation safety, said in a written statement.

Calling it "one of the worst safety violations" he has ever seen, Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minnesota, is expected to call a hearing as soon as possible to ask why the airline put its passengers in danger.But Southwest Airlines -- which carried more passengers in the United States than any other airline last year -- said there was never a flight safety issue.

"The FAA penalty is related to one of many routine and redundant inspections on our aircraft fleet involving an extremely small area in one of the many overlapping inspections. These inspections were designed to detect early signs of skin cracking," the airline said in a statement Thursday evening.

"Southwest Airlines discovered the missed inspection area, disclosed it to the FAA, and promptly reinspected all potentially affected aircraft in March 2007. The FAA approved our actions and considered the matter closed as of April 2007."

The airline said it understood the FAA's concerns and was anxious to work with the agency.

The documents obtained by CNN allege that some management officials at the FAA, the agency responsible for commercial air safety, knew the planes were flying "unsafely" and did nothing about it. CNN's Drew Griffin uncovers 'troubling information' »

"The result of inspection failures, and enforcement failure, has meant that aircraft have flown unsafe, unairworthy, and at risk of lives," Oberstar told CNN.

He said both FAA managers and the airline may also have broken the law as well as threatened the safety of Southwest passengers.

The documents were prepared by two FAA safety inspectors who have requested whistle-blower status from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which is headed by Oberstar.

The two inspectors have been subpoenaed to testify before the committee. The nation's "Whistle-Blower Protection Program" protects federal employees from being fired or retaliated against by their employer.

The inspectors say FAA managers knew about the lapse in safety at Southwest, but decided to allow the airline to conduct the safety checks on a slower schedule because taking "aircraft out of service would have disrupted Southwest Airlines' flight schedule."

According to statements made by one of the FAA inspectors seeking whistle-blower status, a manager at the FAA "permitted the operation of these unsafe aircraft in a matter that would provide relief" to the airline, even though customers were on board.

Laura Brown, an FAA spokeswoman, told CNN that the administration has taken action and that a supervisor who was in charge of overseeing Southwest is "no longer in a supervisory position."

The FAA's announcement that it would seek civil penalties against Southwest came after news of the congressional reports became public. Watch passengers react to the violations »

The safety inspections ignored or delayed by the airline were mandated after two fatal crashes and one fatal incident, all involving Boeing's 737, the only type of airplane Southwest flies.

In 1994, a US Air Boeing 737 crashed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, killing 132 people. Three years earlier, a United Airlines Boeing 737 crashed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing 25 people. Investigators blamed both crashes on problems in the planes' rudder control system, leading the FAA to demand regular checks of the 737's rudder system.

Documents provided to CNN show 70 Southwest jets were allowed to fly past the deadline for the mandatory rudder inspections.

The documents also show 47 more Southwest jets kept flying after missing deadlines for inspections for cracks in the planes' fuselage, or "skin."

The long-term, mandatory checks for fuselage cracks were required after the cabin of an Aloha Airlines 737 tore apart in mid-air in 1988, killing a flight attendant. That incident, which opened much of the top of the plane during flight, was attributed to cracks in the plane's fuselage that grew wider as the plane underwent pressure changes during flight.

An FAA inspector at a Southwest Airlines maintenance facility spotted a fuselage crack on one of the airline's 737s last year, according to the congressional documents. He notified the airline and then began looking through safety records, discovering dozens of planes that had missed mandatory inspection deadlines.

According to the inspector's statement in congressional documents: "Southwest Airlines at the time of discovery did not take immediate, corrective action as required to address this unsafe condition and continued to fly the affected aircraft with paying passengers."

In a news release Thursday afternoon, the FAA said Southwest operated 46 Boeing 737s on nearly 60,000 flights between June 2006 and March 2007 while failing to comply with an FAA directive that requires repeated checks of fuselage areas to detect fatigue cracking.

The FAA alleges that after Southwest discovered it had failed to comply, it continued to operate the same planes on an additional 1,451 flights. The airline later found that six of the 46 planes had fatigue cracks, the FAA said.

"We expect the airline industry to fully comply with all FAA directives and take corrective action," the FAA's Sabatini said in the statement.

Southwest has 30 days to respond to the agency.

The documents show Southwest voluntarily disclosed some of the missed inspections last spring. Earlier, Southwest told The Wall Street Journal it did not expect any civil penalties to be imposed because of the self-disclosure.

But, even after the airline's disclosure, FAA inspectors assert that planes continued to fly, in some cases for more than a week, before inspections were complete. The airline "did not take immediate, corrective action," according to the congressional documents obtained by CNN.

"That is wrong," said Oberstar. "When an aircraft is flying out of compliance with airworthiness directives, it is to be shut down and brought in for maintenance inspection. That's the law."

Southwest Airlines has never had a catastrophic crash. Federal investigators determined a 2005 incident at Midway airport in Chicago that killed one person on the ground was the result of pilot error, as was a 2000 incident at Burbank airport in California that seriously injured two passengers.

Posted by mikki at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bush administration wants Europeans' family details, the right to put armed officials on European planes, and a pre-approval for European visitors:
The Bush Administration has put forth new rules demanding that visitors to the US from Europe need to apply for "approval" to land, days in advance of purchasing their tickets. Airlines will also be required to provide information on travellers' families, and to allow US Air Marshals to fly on any flight that will pass over or land on US soil.

The demand to put armed air marshals on to the flights is part of a travel clampdown by the Bush administration that officials in Brussels described as "blackmail" and "troublesome", and could see west Europeans and Britons required to have US visas if their governments balk at Washington's requirements.

According to a US document being circulated for signature in European capitals, EU states would also need to supply personal data on all air passengers overflying but not landing in the US in order to gain or retain visa-free travel to America, senior EU officials said.

And within months the US department of homeland security is to impose a new permit system for Europeans flying to the US, compelling all travellers to apply online for permission to enter the country before booking or buying a ticket, a procedure that will take several days.

I think this is a great idea. While we're at it, lets give Mexico the right to put its Sky Marshals on any American flight that's bound for South America, and Canada could put Mounties on all US flights headed over to Alaska from the mainland. Also: if you're on a US flight headed to, say, Germany, your flight could have gun-toting cops from Canada, Ireland, the UK, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Switzerland on it. Link

Posted by mikki at 09:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Damn, I hope this wasn't pilot error and is something easily fixable.

Heathrow 777 crash: 'No anomalies in the major aircraft systems' | The Register:
AAIB probe continues
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch has issued an update (pdf) on its investigation into the 17 January crash-landing of a Boeing 777 at Heathrow, indicating that there "were no anomalies in the major aircraft systems" and that the "autopilot and the autothrottle systems behaved correctly and the engine control systems were providing the correct commands prior to, during, and after, the reduction in thrust".
Initial speculation into the cause of the accident, which saw BA038 (G-YMMM) suffer reduced thrust in both engines and fall short of the runway, centred around possible bird strike, fuel flow problems, or an autothrottle glitch. The AAIB explains:
The first officer took control for the landing at a height of approximately 780 ft, in accordance with the briefed procedure, and shortly afterwards the autothrottles commanded an increase in thrust from both engines. The engines initially responded but, at a height of about 720 ft, the thrust of the right engine reduced. Some seven seconds later, the thrust reduced on the left engine to a similar level. The engines did not shut down and both engines continued to produce thrust at an engine speed above flight idle, but less than the commanded thrust. The engines failed to respond to further demands for increased thrust from the autothrottles, and subsequent movement of the thrust levers fully forward by the flight crew.
While analysis of the Digital Flight Data Recorder, a Cockpit Voice Recorder, and a Quick Access Recorder has now ruled out an engine control failure, and examination of the engines "indicated no evidence of a mechanical defect or ingestion of birds or ice", the AAIB did identify "some small items of debris" in the aircraft's fuel tanks. The AAIB notes: "The relevance of this debris is still being considered."

Tests on the fuel further revealed "no signs of contamination or unusual levels of water content", and while the fuel system was pretty well given a clean bill of health, the AAIB notes: "Detailed examination of both the left and right engine high pressure fuel pumps revealed signs of abnormal cavitation on the pressure-side bearings and the outlet ports. This could be indicative of either a restriction in the fuel supply to the pumps or excessive aeration of the fuel. The manufacturer assessed both pumps as still being capable of delivering full fuel flow."
The AAIB concludes: "Investigations are now underway in an attempt to replicate the damage seen to the engine high pressure fuel pumps, and to match this to the data recorded on the accident flight. In addition, comprehensive examination and analysis is to be conducted on the entire aircraft and engine fuel system; including the modelling of fuel flows taking account of the environmental and aerodynamic effects."
Bootnote
Boeing has accepted a safety recommendation in relation to the procedure to cut off the fuel supply in the event of an emergency. After crashing, BA038 leaked some fuel, something which "was not causal to the accident but could have had serious consequences in the event of a fire".
The AAIB found: "On examination, both of the engine spar valves were found to be OPEN, allowing the fuel leak evident at the accident site."
The report elaborates:
The spar valves are designed to shut off the fuel supply to the engines following the operation of the fuel control switches or after operation of the fire handles in the cockpit. Their function is to cut off the fuel flow to the engine in the event of an engine fire or an accident. Each valve has two separate electrical wire paths which can be used to supply power to shut the valve; the first is via a run/cut-off relay, controlled by the fuel control switches, the other is directly from the fire handles.
The wiring on G-YMMM was as originally designed and manufactured, and such that when the fire handle was operated, it isolated the power supply to the run/cutoff relay. When tested, the run/cut-off relays for the left and right engines were still in the valve OPEN position, despite the fuel control switches being set to cut-off. The fire handles had also been pulled and the engine fire bottles had been fired. Therefore the fire handles had been operated prior to the fuel control switches.
The safety recommendation states: "Boeing should notify all Boeing 777 operators of the necessity to operate the fuel control switch to cut-off prior to operation of the fire handle, for both the fire drill and the evacuation drill, and ensure that all versions of its checklists, including electronic and placarded versions of the drill, are consistent with this procedure."

Posted by mikki at 04:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Brought to you by a country who STILL doesn't inspect all air cargo...

Bush orders clampdown on flights to US | World news | The Guardian:




Bush orders clampdown on flights to US
EU officials furious as Washington says it wants extra data on all air passengers
Ian Traynor in Brussels
The Guardian, Monday February 11 2008

The US administration is pressing the 27 governments of the European Union to sign up for a range of new security measures for transatlantic travel, including allowing armed guards on all flights from Europe to America by US airlines.

The demand to put armed air marshals on to the flights is part of a travel clampdown by the Bush administration that officials in Brussels described as "blackmail" and "troublesome", and could see west Europeans and Britons required to have US visas if their governments balk at Washington's requirements.

According to a US document being circulated for signature in European capitals, EU states would also need to supply personal data on all air passengers overflying but not landing in the US in order to gain or retain visa-free travel to America, senior EU officials said.

And within months the US department of homeland security is to impose a new permit system for Europeans flying to the US, compelling all travellers to apply online for permission to enter the country before booking or buying a ticket, a procedure that will take several days.

The data from the US's new electronic transport authorisation system is to be combined with extensive personal passenger details already being provided by EU countries to the US for the "profiling" of potential terrorists and assessment of other security risks.

Washington is also asking European airlines to provide personal data on non-travellers - for example family members - who are allowed beyond departure barriers to help elderly, young or ill passengers to board aircraft flying to America, a demand the airlines reject as "absurd".

Seven demands tabled by Washington are contained in a 10-page "memorandum of understanding" (MOU) that the US authorities are negotiating or planning to negotiate with all EU governments, according to ministers and diplomats from EU member states and senior officials in Brussels. The Americans have launched their security drive with some of the 12 mainly east European EU countries whose citizens still need visas to enter the US.

Continue reading "More travel idiocy" »

Posted by mikki at 01:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

TSA tester slips mock bomb past airport security - CNN.com:


TAMPA, Florida (CNN) -- Jason -- that's the name CNN was asked to call him -- slides a simulated explosive into an elastic back support. The mock bomb is as slim as a wallet; its fuse, the size of a cigarette. He wraps the support around his torso, and the bomb fits comfortably into the small of his back.

It's hard to tell he's concealing anything; harder still when he dons a black T-shirt and a maroon golf shirt.

Then, with CNN's cameras in tow, Jason heads to Tampa International Airport, where he'll try to sneak the fake explosive past security screeners.

Jason, a covert tester for the Transportation Security Administration, has been probing airport weaknesses for five years, beginning with big mock bombs before switching to ever smaller devices as the TSA adapts to evolving terrorist threats. Watch the tester slip past security »

Continue reading "TSA tester slips mock bomb past airport security - CNN.com" »

Posted by mikki at 04:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Boeing 777 Heathrow Crash Update:


An initial report offered by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch Friday said interviews with crew and analysis of the "Flight Recorder" aboard the British Airways Boeing 777 200ER that crashed Thursday at Heathrow indicate the aircraft's engines did not respond to commands from the autothrottle or the flight crew. First Officer John Coward, the flying pilot, told reporters he glided the big airliner to the grass. "Suddenly there was nothing from any of the engines, and the plane started to glide. I didn't think we'd clear the fence at first. As we landed I was bracing myself for an enormous thud. But instead of one thud, there was a series of thuds as it bounced along the grass. Eventually it shuddered to a halt. While I was trying to stop the plane, I struggled to try and keep it in a straight line."

Posted by mikki at 12:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Air Canada Flight Upset Update:


The wake of a 747 that crossed its path is among the possible suspects in the upset event that injured eight passengers and two crew aboard an Air Canada Airbus A319 flying at 35,000 feet Thursday January 10. A fully loaded 747 can weigh more than five times as much as an Airbus A319. The A319 rolled violently and lost altitude in the incident, but a cause has not yet been determined and some have theorized that computerized flight control systems could have been causal in the disturbance if they reverted to a particular failsafe mode. A Seattle air traffic controller saw the potential conflict in flight paths, citing that conditions were ripe for the formation of mountain waves that could make dissipation of wake less predictable, and directed one of the aircraft to change altitude, according to the Globe and Mail. The aircraft were flying south of Cranbrook, B.C., which is known for generating mountain waves capable of lifting gliders to 25,000 feet.

Posted by mikki at 12:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Plane crashes after flight safety meeting - CNN.com:


(CNN) -- At least seven people were killed Wednesday when a Polish military transport aircraft carrying passengers who had attended a flight-safety conference crashed in northwest Poland, military officials said.

Defense Ministry Col. Cezary Siemion confirmed seven deaths, but said that number could continue to climb.

He said there were 18 people on board -- 14 passengers and four crew members.

The Spanish-built CASA transporter crashed near the town of Miroslawiec, a few hundred kilometers northwest of Warsaw, around 7 p.m. (noon ET).

The passengers had attended the 15th annual Flight Safety Conference, held in Warsaw on Wednesday.

Officials said it was the first accident in Poland involving a CASA transporter, which is generally considered an extremely reliable aircraft.

The airplane took off from Warsaw and was scheduled to make stops in three cities before returning to its home base in Krakow. It crashed before reaching its second destination.

Military officials said a special commission has been set up to investigate the crash and rescue operations are ongoing

Posted by mikki at 06:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Man With Gun Clears Reagan National Airport Security - News Story - WRC | Washington:


WASHINGTON -- The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said a man was able to carry a gun undetected through a security checkpoint at Reagan National Airport.
Spokesman Rob Yingling said the man realized before boarding his flight Sunday morning that he had the gun with him and returned voluntarily to the checkpoint.
The man is identified as Gregory Hinkle, 53, of Davis, W.Va. The gun was seized, Hinkle was issued a summons and he was allowed to continue his trip. He is charged with possessing or transporting a firearm into an airline terminal, which is a misdemeanor.
The federal Transportation Security Administration said the worker who screened Hinkle has been relieved of security duties.

Posted by mikki at 10:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NATCA Declares "Staffing Emergency" At DFW TRACON:


The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) on Wednesday declared a "staffing emergency" at the Dallas-Fort Worth Terminal Radar Approach Control (DFW TRACON) and called on the FAA to act immediately to stem the loss of veteran controllers. The facility is dealing with a 34-percent drop in the number of fully trained and certified controllers on staff in just two years, according to NATCA. "Six-day weeks and 50 hours per week is now the norm for many of these men and women," DFW TRACON NATCA Facility Representative Steve Bates said in a statement. "This is a 24/7 high stress, high pressure job where mistakes can mean lives. Running our employees into exhaustion is not the way to do it." This is the fifth facility where NATCA has declared a "staffing emergency" in recent weeks. Others were cited in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and Southern California.

Posted by mikki at 10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Delta, ASA Plane Nearly Collide At Atlanta Airport - News Story - WSB Atlanta:


ATLANTA -- A Delta 757 and an Atlantic Southeast regional jet came within three seconds of a disastrous runway collision Friday at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Without clearance from the tower, ASA flight 876 to Greensboro, N.C. crossed runway 27-right at 10:10 a.m. just as Delta flight 261 roared down that same runway, taking off for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
The 757 was too far into its takeoff to shut down and came within 1,250 feet of the smaller jet, Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Kathleen Bergen confirmed to WSB-TV Channel 2.
A representative of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said the planes were three seconds from a collision.
Officials at both the FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said the ASA pilot failed to follow instructions from controllers.
The ASA pilot had been told to wait until the Delta flight took off before crossing the runway, according to Doug Church, Director of Communications for NATCA.
The pilot repeated the instructions back to the tower, but proceeded across the runway; directly into the path of the Delta jet, Church added.
Both flights continued on to their destinations. No passengers were injured.

Posted by mikki at 01:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another five-year-old on the no-fly list: meet Sam Adams:


Ted Adams -- the publisher of IDW comics -- named his little son "Sam Adams," a good, solid patriotic name. It's also a name on the TSA's no-fly list, and the five-year-old has spent his young life being harassed by airport security goons who think he's a terrorist.

the article you posted on Boing Boing about the five year old on the no-fly list. My son, also five, is on that same list and it's a nightmare. Every time we fly with him, we can't use the computer terminals to check in and the attendant has to call some never named government agency to make sure he's not a terrorist. Some attendants joke it off but some are insanely serious about it. His seat always goes unassigned (even if it was assigned when the reservation is made) which always causes problems.

I've tried everything that anyone has suggested. There's a TSA form that you can fill out for this situation, which I did, but they won't tell you if they've removed your name. We got him a passport -- that didn't work. We've tried booking the tickets with his full name (including middle name), that didn't work. We tried booking the ticket under Master Samuel Adams, with still no luck.

Yeah, and if you think that's funny, imagine this kid's life when he's an adult and Every goddamned flight he takes involves an extra hour of hassle, a search, no assigned seats, being turned away, being humiliated, being harassed... There's a special circle of hell that's being prepared for the domestic fear-mongers who've helped the terrorists make Americans so very afraid.

Link

(Thanks, Ted!)

Posted by mikki at 05:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As if we didn't have enough silly aviation news today....

Backed Up Sink Cripples 747:


It's often said that aircraft accidents are the result of a series of seemingly innocuous events strung together and the crew of a Qantas Boeing 747 might agree with that. The flight from London to Sydney was 15 minutes from touchdown for a scheduled stop at Bangkok when it lost power from all four engine-driven generators. Back-up batteries kept all those displays in front of the pilots glowing through a safe landing but the battery power likely wouldn't have lasted more than another 45 minutes and that would have knocked out the radios and all of the electronic instruments. "In this case it looks as if it has gone to the last stage of emergency power for communication and navigation," Dr. Arvind Sinha, director of aerospace at RMIT University in Melbourne told the Sydney Morning Herald. "After that it comes down to the skill and experience of the crew." He added that the loss of all four generators is "unheard of" but Murphy can and does find a way, this time through a sink with a clogged drain in the first class galley.

Posted by mikki at 05:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This kind of total bullshit screams "ENOUGH" in a voice louder than the Boston Tea Party. What is it going to take for us to take our country back?

TSA searches, detains 5 year old because his name was on no-fly list:


A five-year-old boy was taken into custody and thoroughly searched at Sea-Tac because his name is similar to a possible terrorist alias. As the Consumerist reports, "When his mother went to pick him up and hug him and comfort him during the proceedings, she was told not to touch him because he was a national security risk. They also had to frisk her again to make sure the little Dillinger hadn't passed anything dangerous weapons or materials to his mother when she hugged him."

It's a case of a mistaken identity for a 5-year-old boy from Normandy Park. He had trouble boarding a plane because someone with the same name is wanted by the federal government. Mimi Jung reports from Sea-Tac Airport.

You know, if you wanted to systematically discredit the idea of a Department of Homeland Security, if you wanted to make an utter mockery of aviation safety, you could not do a better job than this.

Link

(via Consumerist)

Posted by mikki at 05:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Midwest airlines to passenger who was screwed over and shouted at: we did nothing wrong and owe you nothing:


Dave Greenbaum, a loyal Midwest Airlines customer who lobbied to keep the airline running, had his seat screwed up by a check-in attendant. When he asked to be re-seated after boarding, the flight attendant got a security guy who shouted at him and threatened to kick him off the plane.
Then, when Greenbaum complained, he was given a measly $25 voucher. He tried to complain higher up, but was ignored until he sent email to the whole executive of Midwest.

And that's when they took away his voucher and told him they'd done nothing wrong.

When the flight eventually boarded and I noticed it wasn’t the exit row, I politely told a Flight Attendant that there was a misunderstanding at the ticket counter and I asked for an exit row. She took my boarding pass and said she would see what she could do. I assumed it would be if an exit row seat was available, I’d be first to get it.
Instead a very large man named Roger with a booming and aggressive voice, loudly said “I UNDERSTAND YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THIS SEAT AND WANT OFF THIS FLIGHT".

He held my boarding pass in his hand while saying this and as I reached for it, he pulled it away. I said “No problem officer” and he handed me my boarding pass. I thought I was going to be removed from the flight! The flight appeared to be held while he chatted with the flight staff. I was 100% convinced I was going to be removed from the flight because I complained about my seat. Passengers were visibly shaken, not sure why I was going to be removed from the flight and cause problems later in the travel

Posted by mikki at 02:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FAA: Boeing's New 787 May Be Vulnerable to Hacker Attack:


Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner passenger jet may have a serious security vulnerability in its onboard computer networks that could allow passengers to access the plane's control systems, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
The computer network in the Dreamliner's passenger compartment, designed to give passengers in-flight internet access, is connected to the plane's control, navigation and communication systems, an FAA report reveals.
The revelation is causing concern in security circles because the physical connection of the networks makes the plane's control systems vulnerable to hackers. A more secure design would physically separate the two computer networks. Boeing said it's aware of the issue and has designed a solution it will test shortly.
"This is serious," said Mark Loveless, a network security analyst with Autonomic Networks, a company in stealth mode, who presented a conference talk last year on Hacking the Friendly Skies (PowerPoint). "This isn’t a desktop computer. It's controlling the systems that are keeping people from plunging to their deaths. So I hope they are really thinking about how to get this right."
Currently in the final stages of production, the 787 Dreamliner is Boeing's new mid-sized jet, which will seat between 210 and 330 passengers, depending on configuration.
Boeing says it has taken more than 800 advance orders for the new plane, which is due to enter service in November 2008. But the FAA is requiring Boeing to demonstrate that it has addressed the computer-network issue before the planes begin service.
According to the FAA document published in the Federal Register (mirrored at Cryptome.org), the vulnerability exists because the plane's computer systems connect the passenger network with the flight-safety, control and navigation network. It also connects to the airline's business and administrative-support network, which communicates maintenance issues to ground crews.
The design "allows new kinds of passenger connectivity to previously isolated data networks connected to systems that perform functions required for the safe operation of the airplane," says the FAA document. "Because of this new passenger connectivity, the proposed data-network design and integration may result in security vulnerabilities from intentional or unintentional corruption of data and systems critical to the safety and maintenance of the airplane."
The information is published in a "special conditions" document that the FAA produces when it encounters new aircraft designs and technologies that aren't addressed by existing regulations and standards.
An FAA spokesman said he would not be able to comment on the issue until next week.
Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter said the wording of the FAA document is misleading, and that the plane's networks don't completely connect.
Gunter wouldn't go into detail about how Boeing is tackling the issue but says it is employing a combination of solutions that involves some physical separation of the networks, known as "air gaps," and software firewalls. Gunter also mentioned other technical solutions, which she said are proprietary and didn't want to discuss in public.
"There are places where the networks are not touching, and there are places where they are," she said.
Gunter added that although data can pass between the networks, "there are protections in place" to ensure that the passenger internet service doesn't access the maintenance data or the navigation system "under any circumstance."
She said the safeguards protect the critical networks from unauthorized access, but the company still needs to conduct lab and in-flight testing to ensure that they work. This will occur in March when the first Dreamliner is ready for a test flight.
Gunter said Boeing has been working on the issue with the FAA for a number of years already and was aware that the agency was planning to publish a "special conditions" document regarding the Dreamliner.
Gunter said the FAA and Boeing have already agreed on the tests that the plane manufacturer will have to do to demonstrate that it has addressed the FAA's security concerns.
"It will all be done before the first airplane is delivered," she said.
Loveless said he's glad the FAA and Boeing are addressing the issue, but without knowing specifically what Boeing is doing, it is impossible to say whether the proposed solution will work as intended. Loveless said software firewalls offer some protection, but are not bulletproof, and he noted that the FAA has previously overlooked serious onboard-security issues.
"The fact that they are not sharing information about it is a concern," he said. "I'd be happier if a credible auditing firm took a look at it."
Special conditions are not unusual. The FAA publishes them whenever it encounters unusual issues regarding a plane's design or performance in order to communicate on record that it expects the manufacturer to address the issue. It's then up to the manufacturer to demonstrate to the FAA that it has solved the problem. Gunter said the FAA has issued eight special conditions on the Boeing 787, but that not all of them pertain to the plane's computer systems.

Posted by mikki at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Airport Security Follies - Jet Lagged - Air Travel - Opinion - New York Times Blog:


The Airport Security Follies
By PATRICK SMITH
Six years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, airport security remains a theater of the absurd. The changes put in place following the September 11th catastrophe have been drastic, and largely of two kinds: those practical and effective, and those irrational, wasteful and pointless.

The first variety have taken place almost entirely behind the scenes. Explosives scanning for checked luggage, for instance, was long overdue and is perhaps the most welcome addition. Unfortunately, at concourse checkpoints all across America, the madness of passenger screening continues in plain view. It began with pat-downs and the senseless confiscation of pointy objects. Then came the mandatory shoe removal, followed in the summer of 2006 by the prohibition of liquids and gels. We can only imagine what is next.

To understand what makes these measures so absurd, we first need to revisit the morning of September 11th, and grasp exactly what it was the 19 hijackers so easily took advantage of. Conventional wisdom says the terrorists exploited a weakness in airport security by smuggling aboard box-cutters. What they actually exploited was a weakness in our mindset — a set of presumptions based on the decades-long track record of hijackings.

In years past, a takeover meant hostage negotiations and standoffs; crews were trained in the concept of “passive resistance.” All of that changed forever the instant American Airlines Flight 11 collided with the north tower. What weapons the 19 men possessed mattered little; the success of their plan relied fundamentally on the element of surprise. And in this respect, their scheme was all but guaranteed not to fail.

For several reasons — particularly the awareness of passengers and crew — just the opposite is true today. Any hijacker would face a planeload of angry and frightened people ready to fight back. Say what you want of terrorists, they cannot afford to waste time and resources on schemes with a high probability of failure. And thus the September 11th template is all but useless to potential hijackers.

No matter that a deadly sharp can be fashioned from virtually anything found on a plane, be it a broken wine bottle or a snapped-off length of plastic, we are content wasting billions of taxpayer dollars and untold hours of labor in a delusional attempt to thwart an attack that has already happened, asked to queue for absurd lengths of time, subject to embarrassing pat-downs and loss of our belongings.

The folly is much the same with respect to the liquids and gels restrictions, introduced two summers ago following the breakup of a London-based cabal that was planning to blow up jetliners using liquid explosives. Allegations surrounding the conspiracy were revealed to substantially embellished. In an August, 2006 article in the New York Times, British officials admitted that public statements made following the arrests were overcooked, inaccurate and “unfortunate.” The plot’s leaders were still in the process of recruiting and radicalizing would-be bombers. They lacked passports, airline tickets and, most critical of all, they had been unsuccessful in actually producing liquid explosives. Investigators later described the widely parroted report that up to ten U.S airliners had been targeted as “speculative” and “exaggerated.”

Among first to express serious skepticism about the bombers’ readiness was Thomas C. Greene, whose essay in The Register explored the extreme difficulty of mixing and deploying the types of binary explosives purportedly to be used. Green conferred with Professor Jimmie C. Oxley, an explosives specialist who has closely studied the type of deadly cocktail coveted by the London plotters.

“The notion that deadly explosives can be cooked up in an airplane lavatory is pure fiction,” Greene told me during an interview. “A handy gimmick for action movies and shows like ‘24.’ The reality proves disappointing: it’s rather awkward to do chemistry in an airplane toilet. Nevertheless, our official protectors and deciders respond to such notions instinctively, because they’re familiar to us: we’ve all seen scenarios on television and in the cinema. This, incredibly, is why you can no longer carry a bottle of water onto a plane.”

The threat of liquid explosives does exist, but it cannot be readily brewed from the kinds of liquids we have devoted most of our resources to keeping away from planes. Certain benign liquids, when combined under highly specific conditions, are indeed dangerous. However, creating those conditions poses enormous challenges for a saboteur.

“I would not hesitate to allow that liquid explosives can pose a danger,” Greene added, recalling Ramzi Yousef’s 1994 detonation of a small nitroglycerine bomb aboard Philippine Airlines Flight 434. The explosion was a test run for the so-called “Project Bojinka,” an Al Qaeda scheme to simultaneously destroy a dozen widebody airliners over the Pacific Ocean. “But the idea that confiscating someone’s toothpaste is going to keep us safe is too ridiculous to entertain.”

Yet that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. The three-ounce container rule is silly enough — after all, what’s to stop somebody from carrying several small bottles each full of the same substance — but consider for a moment the hypocrisy of T.S.A.’s confiscation policy. At every concourse checkpoint you’ll see a bin or barrel brimming with contraband containers taken from passengers for having exceeded the volume limit. Now, the assumption has to be that the materials in those containers are potentially hazardous. If not, why were they seized in the first place? But if so, why are they dumped unceremoniously into the trash? They are not quarantined or handed over to the bomb squad; they are simply thrown away. The agency seems to be saying that it knows these things are harmless. But it’s going to steal them anyway, and either you accept it or you don’t fly.

But of all the contradictions and self-defeating measures T.S.A. has come up with, possibly none is more blatantly ludicrous than the policy decreeing that pilots and flight attendants undergo the same x-ray and metal detector screening as passengers. What makes it ludicrous is that tens of thousands of other airport workers, from baggage loaders and fuelers to cabin cleaners and maintenance personnel, are subject only to occasional random screenings when they come to work.

These are individuals with full access to aircraft, inside and out. Some are airline employees, though a high percentage are contract staff belonging to outside companies. The fact that crew members, many of whom are former military fliers, and all of whom endured rigorous background checks prior to being hired, are required to take out their laptops and surrender their hobby knives, while a caterer or cabin cleaner sidesteps the entire process and walks onto a plane unimpeded, nullifies almost everything our T.S.A. minders have said and done since September 11th, 2001. If there is a more ringing let-me-get-this-straight scenario anywhere in the realm of airport security, I’d like to hear it.

I’m not suggesting that the rules be tightened for non-crew members so much as relaxed for all accredited workers. Which perhaps urges us to reconsider the entire purpose of airport security:

The truth is, regardless of how many pointy tools and shampoo bottles we confiscate, there shall remain an unlimited number of ways to smuggle dangerous items onto a plane. The precise shape, form and substance of those items is irrelevant. We are not fighting materials, we are fighting the imagination and cleverness of the would-be saboteur.

Thus, what most people fail to grasp is that the nuts and bolts of keeping terrorists away from planes is not really the job of airport security at all. Rather, it’s the job of government agencies and law enforcement. It’s not very glamorous, but the grunt work of hunting down terrorists takes place far off stage, relying on the diligent work of cops, spies and intelligence officers. Air crimes need to be stopped at the planning stages. By the time a terrorist gets to the airport, chances are it’s too late.

In the end, I’m not sure which is more troubling, the inanity of the existing regulations, or the average American’s acceptance of them and willingness to be humiliated. These wasteful and tedious protocols have solidified into what appears to be indefinite policy, with little or no opposition. There ought to be a tide of protest rising up against this mania. Where is it? At its loudest, the voice of the traveling public is one of grumbled resignation. The op-ed pages are silent, the pundits have nothing meaningful to say.

The airlines, for their part, are in something of a bind. The willingness of our carriers to allow flying to become an increasingly unpleasant experience suggests a business sense of masochistic capitulation. On the other hand, imagine the outrage among security zealots should airlines be caught lobbying for what is perceived to be a dangerous abrogation of security and responsibility — even if it’s not. Carriers caught plenty of flack, almost all of it unfair, in the aftermath of September 11th. Understandably, they no longer want that liability.

As for Americans themselves, I suppose that it’s less than realistic to expect street protests or airport sit-ins from citizen fliers, and maybe we shouldn’t expect too much from a press and media that have had no trouble letting countless other injustices slip to the wayside. And rather than rethink our policies, the best we’ve come up with is a way to skirt them — for a fee, naturally — via schemes like Registered Traveler. Americans can now pay to have their personal information put on file just to avoid the hassle of airport security. As cynical as George Orwell ever was, I doubt he imagined the idea of citizens offering up money for their own subjugation.

How we got to this point is an interesting study in reactionary politics, fear-mongering and a disconcerting willingness of the American public to accept almost anything in the name of “security.” Conned and frightened, our nation demands not actual security, but security spectacle. And although a reasonable percentage of passengers, along with most security experts, would concur such theater serves no useful purpose, there has been surprisingly little outrage. In that regard, maybe we’ve gotten exactly the system we deserve.

Posted by mikki at 03:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ok, I'm totally confused here. All the data that they've gathered over all these years by talking to these evil pilots that of course everyone knows are simply incapable of reporting things that have happened to them, is just utterly useless. No, the traveling public may not be interested in any of this, but other pilots, the NTSB, and the FAA SHOULD be. This is stuff that should be addressed. In my less than 1500 hours flying, I've had several close calls and encounters that ATC either directly caused or could have prevented. Why aren't we taking this information and working together to find solutions?

NASA Says Study All But Worthless:


Well, suppose they held an aviation safety study and nobody (except, perhaps, one particularly ticked off news agency) cared? NASA Administrator Michael Griffin told a news conference today that it has no intention of trying to glean anything meaningful from a four-year, $11.3 million survey of pilots on air safety and that if anyone else wants to wade through the 16,000 pages of gap-filled responses they're welcome to. Oh, and he doesn't expect them to find anything. "It's hard for me... to see any data here that the traveling public would care about or ought to care about." he told puzzled reporters who thought they might be covering a press conference about aviation safety. Instead they witnessed the political lid being firmly closed on an issue that has dogged NASA for two months and which Griffin clearly wanted no more part of. The release of the data came after a heavily publicized series of stories by the Associated Press on NASA's refusal to release the documents under a freedom of information request. The normally staid news agency made it clear it was less than satisfied with the culmination of its investigation.

Posted by mikki at 08:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Looking for increased revenue, states tax out-of-state plane owners - The Boston Globe:


PORTLAND, Maine - When Steve Kahn got a $26,000 tax bill on his airplane, he thought Maine Revenue Services had made a mistake. Kahn lives, works, and keeps his plane in Massachusetts.

But the bill was no error. It was part of the agency's efforts to collect taxes on aircraft owned by out-of-state residents, even though they bought their planes elsewhere and brought them to Maine only to visit.

A number of other states, from Florida to Washington, are doing the same as they grapple with budget shortfalls and as the Internet makes it easier to track the comings and goings of aircraft.

Many pilots are outraged.

"At best what Maine is doing is underhanded and devious; at worst it is illegal," Kahn said. "Either way, it's wrong."

Maine officials say they are simply enforcing the state's laws when they send bills, into six figures, to out-of-state plane owners.

At issue in Maine is the state's use tax, which applies to many goods and services bought out of state that are not subject to sales tax. In the case of airplanes, tax officials say, the law allows them to collect a 5 percent use tax from people who did not pay sales taxes on their planes if they brought their plane to Maine for more than 20 days, excluding time for maintenance and alterations, in the first year of ownership.

"We're charged with administering the law," said David Bauer, a tax policy analyst with Maine Revenue Services. "We didn't write it."

Use taxes have been on the books for decades, but the first time tax lawyer Jon Block saw the state go after somebody who lives and keeps their plane out of state was three years ago.

Block, with the Pierce Atwood law firm in Portland, represents seven people from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, and Florida who got bills this year ranging from about $16,000 to $175,000. His clients mostly fly to Maine on business or to visit vacation homes.

"These people are dumbfounded," Block said. "They feel like they've been taken to the cleaners." He contends that in addition to being unfair, the wording of Maine's use-tax law makes his clients exempt from the tax.

Other states are also stepping up efforts to collect use, lease, and property taxes from out-of-state plane owners, said Louis Meiners, president of Advocate Aircraft Taxation Co. of Naples, Fla., a consulting firm for aircraft owners with 1,600 clients nationwide.

Florida assesses a 6 percent use tax on plane owners who didn't pay sales tax on their planes and bring them to Florida even once within six months of the purchase date. Washington state assesses a use tax of up to 8.9 percent if a plane is in Washington for more than 90 days in any continuous 12-month period. Illinois is assessing taxes on out-of-state plane owners, as well, Meiners said.

These days, the Internet makes it easier for tax collectors to track the whereabouts of planes on the Internet or through FAA records, Meiners said. Some plane owners have received letters of inquiry and bills from multiple states demanding payment or proof that they have paid sales taxes in their home states, he said. "What we have is a real potential for double-taxation and triple-taxation and endless taxation in the way the states try to enforce it."

Kahn, a partner in a Boston financial-services company, did not pay a sales tax when he bought his plane five years ago because Massachusetts exempts planes.

He often flies to Rockland, Maine, to visit his vacation home. He also flies as a pilot in the national Angel Flight program to pick up patients in rural Maine and bring them to Boston-area hospitals free of charge.

He has appealed his tax bill. If his appeal fails, he could take the case to court. "I don't mind paying taxes when I owe them, but this is underhanded," he said.

Posted by mikki at 02:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pilot to TSA: Let my people go!:


Patrick Smith, the airline pilot who co-writes the NY Times's Jetlagged Blog has written a corker of an editorial railing against the bullshit "security" procedures that the TSA has put into place. Smith is hopping mad and stops just short of calling for a revolution. Man, I'd be with him at the barricades.

No matter that a deadly sharp can be fashioned from virtually anything found on a plane, be it a broken wine bottle or a snapped-off length of plastic, we are content wasting billions of taxpayer dollars and untold hours of labor in a delusional attempt to thwart an attack that has already happened, asked to queue for absurd lengths of time, subject to embarrassing pat-downs and loss of our belongings.

The folly is much the same with respect to the liquids and gels restrictions, introduced two summers ago following the breakup of a London-based cabal that was planning to blow up jetliners using liquid explosives. Allegations surrounding the conspiracy were revealed to substantially embellished. In an August, 2006 article in the New York Times, British officials admitted that public statements made following the arrests were overcooked, inaccurate and "unfortunate." The plot's leaders were still in the process of recruiting and radicalizing would-be bombers. They lacked passports, airline tickets and, most critical of all, they had been unsuccessful in actually producing liquid explosives. Investigators later described the widely parroted report that up to ten U.S airliners had been targeted as "speculative" and "exaggerated."

Link

(Thanks to HeavyD and everyone else who suggested this one!)

Posted by mikki at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Malibu Loses Prop, Landing Successful:


With no prop, no forward visibility and three people in his charge (one of them, his daughter), 7,400-hour pilot Barry Cox landed a 1988 Piper Malibu at Aspen-Pitkin county airport Thursday after suffering catastrophic engine failure just minutes into his flight. Offering up a late nomination for understatement of the year, "It was exciting," Cox told the Aspen Times. The incident unfolded around 10 a.m., about ten minutes into the flight and only 147 hours after the Malibu's Continental had been remanufactured. Cox had piloted the Malibu out of Aspen-Pitkin to 16,000 feet and about eight miles north of the airport. It was then and there that oil suddenly turned the windshield an opaque brown, a sight that was followed by a loud sound that likely signified the propeller's departure from the aircraft. Cox radioed the Aspen tower to inform them of his situation and impending return before offering calming words to his frightened daughter, "I was just saying, 'We're OK, we can glide from here and make it.'"

Posted by mikki at 01:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So when we try to take photographic dive trips, we will have such a lovely fun time trying to get our batteries through. But hey, we can take them on board if we put them in PLASTIC BAGS. And now TSA will have the fun of arguing with us as to whether our batteries are lithium or nickel metal hydride. And they're going to have to COUNT how many we're allowed to bring. Oh that's going to make lines go ever so quickly. FEH!

New Rule Restricts Lithium Batteries On Planes - Travel Getaways News Story - WRC | Washington:


WASHINGTON -- Airline passengers will no longer be able to pack loose lithium batteries in checked luggage starting Jan. 1 due to fire risks, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Lithium batteries can overheat and ignite in certain conditions.
Passengers will still be able to pack batteries in checked bags if they are installed in electronic devices or in carry-on luggage if they are stored in plastic bags, according to the new federal safety rule.
Consumer electronics such as cameras, cell phones and most laptops are still allowed, but passengers can bring only two extended-life spare-rechargeable lithium batteries for these devices in carry-on baggage under the rule.
The FAA has found that current systems for putting out aircraft cargo fires could not suppress a fire if a shipment of non-rechargeable batteries ignited during flight, the release said.

Posted by mikki at 02:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Law.com - Airline Industry to Appeal 'Passenger Bill of Rights' Ruling:


An airline industry trade group has filed a notice of appeal in its challenge to New York state's new law requiring better treatment of passengers sitting on grounded aircraft.

The Air Transit Association of America filed a notice to appeal last week's ruling by Northern District of New York Judge Lawrence E. Kahn. He ruled in Air Transport Association of America v. Cuomo that the pro-passenger law is not pre-empted by the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, as the airline industry group contended.

Rather than regulating airline routes and fares, which states are barred from doing by federal law, Kahn ruled that the new state law is a permissible exercise of New York's power to protect the health and safety of passengers.

The law, which goes into effect on Tuesday, will require airlines to provide water, fresh air and working toilets to travelers stuck for longer than three hours on delayed flights. It allows the attorney general to seek civil fines of up to $1,000 per passenger per violation.

Posted by mikki at 12:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BBC NEWS | Americas | Flatulence leads US jet to divert:


An American Airlines plane made an emergency landing in Nashville after passengers reported the smell of sulphur from burning matches.
The matches were found on the seat of a woman who had attempted to conceal the odour of flatulence with the matches, Nashville airport authorities said.

All 99 passengers and five crew left the plane while it was searched.

The woman was questioned by the FBI but released without charge and allowed to board another American Airlines flight.

"It was determined that she was trying to conceal body odour," said Lynne Lowrance of the Nashville Airport Authority.

She had "no malicious intent but had struck matches which is against [Transport Security Administration] rules," Ms Lowrance said.

The unidentified woman had an unspecified medical condition, Associated Press news agency said.

She was carrying safety matches, which the TSA allows in carry-on luggage.

The matches are not allowed to be struck, however.

Posted by mikki at 07:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pilots Want UFOs Investigated:


A group of 19 pilots and government officials met at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Monday, to call on the government to investige reports of unidentified flying objects -- that's right, UFOs. All of the pilots said they have had an unexplained encounter with something in the sky, and the government seems to be covering up, or dragging its feet, or just trying to ignore the problem. A pilot from Peru's Air Force said he fired many rounds at a UFO, which was not affected. Another pilot, from Iran's Air Force, said he tried to fire at a UFO, but his airplane's control panel froze up. Both pilots spoke about their experiences for the first time in public at the Press Club event. Also on the panel were former accident investigators from the FAA and the Department of Defense. Fife Symington, who was formerly an Air Force pilot and governor of Arizona, moderated the event. He has said he saw a UFO in 1997.

Posted by mikki at 01:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Too bad they won't close down the ADIZ to do this....

FAA Opens ATC Tower At Cessna Plant:


So, how busy is your aircraft plant that it needs it’s own tower? The FAA started daily 7 a.m.-to-7 p.m. staffing of an air traffic control tower at Independence, Kan. last week and Cessna’s piston single and Mustang entry level jet traffic is the main reason. "This is another milestone in the expansion of the Independence facility" Rod Holter, manager of Cessna’s Independence plant said in a news release "With the increase in traffic following the successful launch of Mustang production here, installing a tower was the right thing to do for the convenience and safety of our customers and our employees who fly"

Posted by mikki at 02:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Or...could Congress' meddling become the end to the ASRS database?

Report: Pilots Fell Asleep During Approach To DIA - Denver News Story - KMGH Denver:


DENVER -- A commercial pilot and his first officer fell asleep while approaching Denver International Airport in an A319 Airbus jet, going twice the speed as allowed, according to a federal safety Web site.
The incident, which occurred on March 4, 2004, was one of several incidents that was brought out during a congressional hearing on airline safety in Washington this week.

Rep. Bart Gordon , D-Tenn., wanted to know why this information was available on a public Web site where pilots anonymously report the incidents themselves, while NASA wasn't willing to release it as part of a larger survey.



NASA had initially refused to release its National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service survey, saying it could make the public unnecessarily afraid to fly.

In the report filed by the pilot, who was not identified, he said he was flying a red-eye, overnight flight from Denver to Baltimore, and after he landed at Baltimore, he sat on the ground for one hour before he flew back to Denver.

"No rest. Just straight seven hours and 55 minute-flight to Baltimore and back. On this particular day in March 2004, after two previous red-eyes, this being the third red-eye in a row, the last 45 minutes of the flight, I fell asleep and so did the first officer," the pilot wrote.

"Missed all the calls from Air Traffic Control to meet crossing restrictions (where pilots have to be at a certain altitude at a certain location) at the DANDD intersection (the intersection in the sky) in the southeast corridor to Denver. The crossing restriction to be at DANDD was to be at flight level 19,000 and 250 knots. Instead we crossed DANDD at 35,000 feet at Mach .82 (approximately 590 mph)," the pilot continued.

That means that the aircraft was speeding towards DIA's crowded airspace with no one awake at the wheel.
"I woke up, why I don't know, and heard frantic calls from Air Traffic Control approximately 5 nautical miles inside DANDD (about 5 miles past DANND)," the pilot said.

More at the link above

Posted by mikki at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nepal airline sacrifices goats to appease sky god - Yahoo! News:


KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Officials at Nepal's state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said on Tuesday.

Nepal Airlines, which has two Boeing aircraft, has had to suspend some services in recent weeks due the problem.

The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft on Sunday at Nepal's only international airport in Kathmandu in accordance with Hindu traditions, an official said.

"The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights," said Raju K.C. (Eds: name correct), a senior airline official, without explaining what the problem had been.

Local media last week blamed the company's woes on an electrical fault. The carrier runs international flights to five cities in Asia.

It is common in Nepal to sacrifice animals like goats and buffaloes to appease different Hindu deities.

Posted by mikki at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Jakarta Post - Panic erupts at Soekarno-Hatta over police's hijack training:


The police's anti-terror Special Detachment 88 team and bomb squad panicked the public Tuesday as they forced their way into a Garuda plane as part of a hijack simulation training exercise.

The public was told hijackers had planted two bombs and shot a hostage, because the airport's police chief said he wanted to see how the public would react to the crisis situation.

Jakarta Police Deputy chief Brig. Gen. Raziman Tarigan said the training was also required to ensure airport staff "were not dulled by routine".

The simulated drama unfolded at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, with four men acting as armed hijackers taking over a Jakarta-to-Narita flight and demanding US$1 million for the release of 44 non-existent prisoners.

But the training day was not announced at the airport and the bomb squad's actions saw the hundreds of citizens in transit believe there was a hijack situation involving guns, bombs and hostages.

The two-hour training exercise involved a Garuda Indonesia airplane, ambulances, helicopters, full teams from airport emergency units, the airport management Angkasa Pura, the National Police, the Jakarta Police, the Cengkareng precinct police and bomb sniffing dogs.

"We wanted to make this training as real as possible, so we didn't tell the public that the bomb was part of the security training," the airport's police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Guntur Sutianto said.

"We also wanted to find out how people would respond, what their level of obedience to the airport's guards would be when there's a crisis."

Continue reading "Gee, wonder how this would go over in the US...." »

Posted by mikki at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FOXNews.com - Passenger Arrested After Trying to Open Door During Flight - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News:


Police and Transportation Security Administration staff met Flight 514 after the plane landed in New York City and took the man into custody, said Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas.
Hodas said the man, whose name was not released, would not have been able to open the door even if he had not been subdued. "You need special training to open the door," he said.
There were 128 passengers and five crew members on the plane, Hodas said.
Passenger Bobby Vigil of Estes Park told KUSA-TV in Denver that the man had been acting strangely. Vigil said he and other passengers helped a flight attendant tie the man to his seat with duct tape.
"The whole rest of the flight, all the way in, he was yelling and trying to bite the tape, and they ended up restraining him with an extra lap belt," said Vigil.

Posted by mikki at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Glue fumes lead to plane emergency:


The pilot of a FedEx plane declared an emergency Thursday morning as he was approaching University Park Airport, reporting that he had fumes in the cockpit and hazardous materials on board. The plane landed safely and the pilot, who was not identified, was not hurt.

The pilot first reported the problem to air traffic controllers in New York, when his small cargo plane was 20 to 30 minutes away from University Park Airport, said airport Associate Director Ed Foster. The county was notified at 8:05 a.m., when the plane was 15 minutes out.

The airport responded at Level 3, its highest level, because of the presence of hazardous materials -- a paint inhibitor used in mixing paint and a strong glue for human bones used in medical procedures. The bone glue was the source of the fumes, Foster said.

Firefighters, police and other emergency personnel -- including Penn State's hazardous materials crew -- responded to the airport. Emergency responders reported lingering fumes in the plane.

Foster said a parcel of up to two cubic feet in size contained 10 to 12 boxes of the bone cement, but one box was not sealed tightly so that fumes were able to escape.

He said the Cessna 208B -- a fixed-wing, single-engine plane registered to Federal Express in Memphis, Tenn. -- was directed to a spot on an old and unused runway to be checked out.

FedEx spokeswoman Sally Davenport said the feeder plane -- which FedEx uses to get to small airports -- departed from Pittsburgh early Thursday morning bound for Johnstown Airport, but bad weather in Johnstown-Cambria County forced it to divert to University Park Airport.

She said the pilot, whom she said she could not identify, followed standard operating procedures by declaring an emergency upon detecting fumes in the cockpit. She said the pilot is employed by Wiggins Airways.

A spokeswoman for Wiggins, a New Hampshire-based company that operates a fleet of feeder airplanes for FedEx, refused to identify the pilot and said the company would have no comment.

Davenport said it is the shipper's responsibility to ensure hazardous materials are packaged safely. She said FedEx will investigate the parcel packaging. She refused to identify the shipper.

County Administrator Tim Boyde said the emergency response did reveal a small glitch: Although the airport never closed, emergency response vehicles traveled across the operating runway on the assumption that it was closed.

"We realize that's something that needs to be incorporated into the training" for emergency responders, Boyde said.

Posted by mikki at 05:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Controller Errors At Memphis Raise Concerns:


Six operational errors over six days at the Memphis Air Route Traffic Control Center last week were due to fatigue and training errors caused by inadequate staffing, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). "Memphis Center was authorized by the FAA to have 354 controllers on staff for a safe staffing level," NATCA said in a news release on Tuesday. "Currently, there are 249 fully certified controllers staffing six areas 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These same controllers are also responsible for the on-the-job training for the 63 trainees." FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown told AVweb that the "authorized staffing" numbers cited by NATCA are out of date. "We have new staffing ranges, and 244 to 298 is the staffing range for that facility," she said.

Posted by mikki at 03:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I can't board a plane without ID, but my daughter can? She can also fly across the country with a one way ticket paid in cash, and when I track her down she doesn't have to come home? But I'd better not try to bring an open water bottle on board, and certainly must part with my tweezers. WTF?

Airline, TSA allow minor to fly south without permission:


JUNEAU, Alaska -- A 15-year-old Juneau girl was allowed to board a jet and fly south to Seattle without her parents' permission.

Elise Pringle says she wants Alaska Airlines and the Transportation Safety Administration to reconsider their policies after her daughter left to meet a boyfriend in North Carolina whom she met over the Internet.

Pringle awoke Wednesday and learned her daughter was missing. The girl nearly a week earlier had purchased a $733 one-way ticket with cash at the Juneau International Airport. On Wednesday, she was able to board a plane without identification.

"I thought, unbeknownst, that my child would not only have to have permission, but I thought she would have to have identification at the very least," Pringle said.

Continue reading "Ok folks...does this make any sense?" »

Posted by mikki at 02:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fake Qantas engineer flies the coop - Breaking News - National - Breaking News:


A man worked on Qantas planes for 12 months while posing as a senior engineer before management became suspicious about his credentials, a Qantas official says.

The engineer joined the company in 2002 and worked at a level appropriate to his qualifications, but he won a promotion to a more senior position last year on the basis of forged certificates.

It was not until July this year that his superiors became suspicious.

The man, now wanted by Australian Federal Police (AFP), was posing as a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer, but when Qantas checked his records it found he had not passed critical exams needed to work in that role.

David Cox, Qantas executive general manager of engineering, said the man was a qualified aircraft maintenance engineer but for 12 months worked above his rank.

He said this was a "very serious matter" but a "one-off".

"One manager became suspicious of his qualifications and found they didn't stack up," Mr Cox told AAP.

There was a subsequent meeting between Qantas management and the engineer, but that was the last time they spoke to or saw him.

"Qantas has checked everything he has worked on and it checked out. He was not some bloke off the street.

"We are comfortable that the work he did was pretty safe," Mr Cox said.

On specific tasks dual certification was required, with a second engineer required to sign off the completed task as a safeguard, he said.

"We've checked everyone else working as a Qantas engineer, and their qualifications are all above board," Mr Cox said.

An AFP spokeswoman confirmed police were investigating a matter brought to them by Qantas, but would not comment more specifically.

Posted by mikki at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Diabetic rushed to hospital after airline seizes insulin - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation):


A diabetic man needed emergency care after airline security confiscated his needles and insulin on a flight from Norway to Australia.

Writing in the Medical Journal of Australia, intensive care physician George Skowronski says the 55-year-old developed a life-threatening condition because of the build-up of acids caused by a lack of insulin.

The condition can lead to a coma but the man finally received emergency treatment after being met by an ambulance and taken to Sydney's St George Hospital.

Professor Skowronski says diabetic travellers need to have a doctor's letter and prescriptions and proper packaging if they want to take medical supplies on board flights.

Posted by mikki at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Man Caught with Gun at BWI Airport:


LINTHICUM, Md. - The federal Transportation Security Administration has confirmed that a Virginia man was arrested with a concealed handgun and ammunition at BWI Marshall Airport this month.
The incident wasn't publicly announced when it happened on August first. But an account was later posted on the TSA Web site.

The TSA says the behavior of the arrested man was consistent with that of a terrorist before an attack. But Maryland Transportation Authority police spokesman Corporal Jonathan Green says there were no indications the suspect was involved in terrorism or "feeling out" airport security.

Green says the department did not regard the incident as a "major arrest." He says Thomas Slackie, 45, of Falls Church, "made a bad decision and got caught." ---

Posted by mikki at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mother Saved Daughter From Submerged Plane - News Story - WCVB Boston:


LEWISTON, Maine -- A desperate mother took matters into her own hands as her 5-year-old daughter was trapped in an overturned float plane -- she grabbed a rescuer's goggles and plunged into the water herself to free the child.
Beth Lamberson of North Yarmouth was credited with saving her daughter from drowning after the plane flipped, killing the 69-year-old pilot.
The dramatic details were contained in a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board on the Aug. 4 crash in Kezar Lake.

Lamberson, her husband and their two children had gone for a sightseeing trip with pilot Joseph Soleri when the Cessna float plane flipped while landing, apparently when the wheels on the pontoons caught the water, the NTSB report said.
"As the airplane touched down on the water, they felt like it skipped and immediately went over on the nose in a (somersault)," according to the report. "The cabin filled with water immediately, and it got dark and quiet."
Beth Lamberson escaped the overturned float plane with her 3-year-old son, Kyle, through a back exit. Her husband, Kevin Lamberson, kicked out the windshield to escape. But 5-year-old Lauren remained strapped in her seat behind the cockpit.
One of the people who arrived on the scene dived into the water and found Lauren strapped in her seat, but he couldn't free her, the report said.
"The mother took the goggles, saying that she knew how to release the seat belt, and proceeded to go down and get her daughter," the report said.
The report credited Soleri's safety briefing for the family's ability to escape. Thanks to the briefing, Lamberson knew how to work the latch to free her daughter, who was taken to the Maine Medical Center for treatment.
"Joe took the time to review emergency evacuation procedures with us prior to takeoff, as every pilot should, and that is what saved the lives of the three of us in the rear seats," the Lamberson family said in a statement.
While the Lamberson family is happy that their 5-year-old was released from the hospital and will soon start kindergarten, there was mourning for Soleri, an experienced pilot and longtime manager of the town's Eastern Slopes Regional Airport.
"Joe Soleri was a highly respected pilot who took his responsibilities very seriously when he took to the sky. We would never have entrusted our family to a less accomplished or careful man," the family said.

Posted by mikki at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

High Powered Laser Used On Commercial Airplanes - News Story - KFOX El Paso:


High Powered Laser Used On Commercial Airplanes

Daniel Novick-KFOX News Reporter
POSTED: 7:31 pm MDT August 15, 2007
UPDATED: 12:58 pm MDT August 16, 2007
EL PASO, Texas -- The FBI said they arrested a Clint man accused of shining a laser at commercial airplanes, and they said the type of laser he used could cause disorientation in the cockpit, including momentary blindness for the pilots.
"It is very strong, it can have a reach of over 1,000 miles, so it's incredibly strong," said Andrea Simmons with the FBI.
The FBI found a class-IIIB laser along with 47-year-old Clinton Udet Pinckert, at his Clint home. The FBI charged Pinckert for Tuesday night's incident, and believe he may be connected to three other flights reporting the same problem.
"One of them was landing at the time, the other three were actually between 34,000 and 38,000 feet when they saw the laser," said Simmons.
"It concerns me, that shouldn't be happening. How is that happening?" said David Yuan, traveling in El Paso from San Francisco, Calif.
Yuan and other travelers KFOX spoke to Wednesday said they feel safer now that the FBI found Pinckert.
"Good. They're doing, so they've stopped him, they've apprehended him, it sounds like a good thing," said Yuan.
"Such a small little light could be detected I guess from wherever, and if it was pointed at the plane I think it's great that they caught him," said Maria Molina, from west El Paso.
Molina, traveling with family, said she hopes others will learn from the arrest.
"I think it gives a warning to other people and I mean kids, they think it's a joke or something to play with, and it's not, it's serious," said Molina.
"The lives of hundreds of people on these four aircraft were potentially at risk, so we want to send a very strong message that it's not OK to be using this in this manner," said Simmons.
The FBI said for attempting to disable a commercial aircraft, Pinckert, if convicted, could face up to 20 years in prison. The FBI said it does not believe that Pinckert has any terrorist ties

Posted by mikki at 03:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Small Plane Crashes In St. Mary's County - News Story - WRC | Washington:


HOLLYWOOD, Md. -- A small plane crash landed in the Hollywood area of St. Mary's County, officials said Thursday.
The incident happened at Airport View Drive and Lawrence Hayden Road at about 8 a.m. Authorities told News4 that three people were on board the plane when it crashed in a field next to the airport.Officials said the North Carolina-bound plane was taking off from the St. Mary's Regional Airport after stopping there to refuel when it crashed just past the runway. The plane burst into flames.

One of the passengers, 19-year-old Gerald Nance Jr., ran for help and called 911.

The single-engine, fixed-wing aircraft was piloted by the teen's father, 51-year-old Gerald Nance Sr., who escaped unharmed, and grandmother, 85-year-old Agnes Nance, of Bowie. She was flown to a Baltimore trauma center and is in critical condition.

Gerald Nance Jr. apparently pulled his father and grandmother from the wreckage before finding help.

Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration are looking into the crash. According to state investigators, the plane had mechanical problems just after takeoff. The pilot was searching for an open field when the plane went down.

Experts said the position of the plane may have helped save lives.

Posted by mikki at 05:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Flying Risk:




Airport risk management:

It was while waiting to board a transatlantic flight from Heathrow last
month, having been asked to show my papers at least six times more than
one ever used to be, that a hopeless fantasy took root in my mind. As my
handbag was overturned, I recalled reading recently that globally there
were an estimated 27m scheduled flights a year. A little further along,
as my 120ml bottle of contact lens cleaner was confiscated, I thought how
few of them had met a hideous fate at the hands of terrorists. And as I
later removed my shoes, recalling that the sole apparent justification
for this was that one complete halfwit had failed to set fire to his
trainers some years ago, I realised that I was willing to play these odds.

—
I'd risk flying with terrorists to escape this airport hell,
Marina Hyde,
The Guardian,
4 August 2007

What does she suggest doing about it in general?

When I finally emerged, I thought very seriously of approaching the BAA
information desk, and proposing that all airports went two tier. One
half of the airport would be a place where flights took off, and on
time. The only catch would be that in this half, security measures would
be analogous to those in place in British airports before September
11. Call it The Queue for People Willing to Take Their Chances.

Alas, the suggestion would probably have landed me in
Guantánamo. Clearly, with our changing climate, the more reasons people
have to hate airports the better. And the sooner we stop pretending
air travel is a service industry - as opposed to a badly run nightmare
world where every penalty and hardship is passed down to the little guy -
the better.

-jsq

Posted by mikki at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Qatar sheikh delays BA plane over seating - New Zealand's source for oddstuff - strange, weird & bizarre news on Stuff.co.nz:


A Qatar sheikh held up a British Airways flight at Milan's Linate airport for nearly three hours after discovering three of his female relatives had been seated next to men they did not know.
When none of the other business class passengers agreed to swap seats, the sheikh, a member of Qatar's ruling family, went to the pilot, who had already started the engine, to complain, an airport official said.
But the pilot ordered him and his travelling companions, the three women, two men, a cook and a servant, off the plane.
The London-bound flight took off nearly three hours behind schedule on Thursday evening and around 50 of the 115 passengers missed connecting flights.
Traditions in the conservative Gulf Arab region bar women from mixing with unrelated men.

Posted by mikki at 07:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fond du Lac Reporter - Bizarre coincidence marks Warbird's landing on Highway 41:


A veteran pilot stranded on Highway 41 Sunday night after a tire blew on his motor home got an up-close look at his buddy’s Warbird after it made an emergency landing on the roadway and bounced over his vehicle.

David Mann of Racine had little time to register that the plane zooming down towards his head belonged to his friend, Bill Leff of Dayton, Ohio, who was forced to make an emergency landing after his engine failed. Leff landed on a crowded Highway 41 in the northbound lanes northbound near Military Road at 7:43 p.m. Sunday.

Both Leff and Mann were on their way to the Experimental Aviation Association AirVenture show in Oshkosh.

“I have been a pilot for over 40 years and this was the closest I have ever been to an aircraft in flight that I was not flying,” Mann said.

Emergency landing
Leff said the engine in his 1951 North American T-6 Texan failed while heading into Fond du Lac, forcing him to make the emergency landing, which resulted in damage to the right wing. He initially planned to land at the Fond du Lac County Airport, N6308 Rolling Meadows Drive.

“For awhile the engine continued to run but eventually stopped running entirely, and I realized I wasn’t going to make it (to the airport),” Leff said.

So plans changed, and Leff decided he’d make his landing on Highway 41—a four-lane thoroughfare packed with motorists, many of whom were heading north toward EAA AirVenture, a yearly air show that draws thousands of aviation enthusiasts from around the world.

“I was concerned that there was not going to be enough space (to land), but when things happen like that you don’t have time to be scared or to worry,” Leff said.

From the ground view
Meanwhile, on land, Mann stood on the right side of Highway 41 northbound near Military Road, concerned about his disabled motor home and anxious to get to the air show. Nearby, two Wisconsin State Patrol cars—one in front of the motor home and one behind it—were guiding traffic around the disabled motor home.

Before anyone really had time to think, Leff’s plane landed behind the motor home and bounced, clearing the 32-foot motor home and coming within eight feet of Mann’s head.

“I saw it just when it was to the back of the motor home and I yelled something unprintable and by then it was above my head,” Mann said.

Karen Fryman of Fond du Lac was in the southbound lane of Highway 41 when she saw the plane go under a set of telephone wires and land on the highway.

“It looked like it was headed towards us,” she said. “There was plenty of weekend traffic at the time … thank God, no one was killed.”

Flying friends
After things calmed down a bit, Mann learned the man flying the plane was a friend who he’s flown to several air shows with over the years, he said.

Mann said he’s hoping to track Leff down while at EAA this week and commend him on successfully maneuvering the plane onto the highway.

“I think it was pretty amazing flying,” he said.

Leff said he’s grateful he and his 19-year-old son, Gregory D. Leff, made it safely to the ground. No one was injured during the incident.

“I was able to pick a spot in between (the vehicles) and I was careful and the drivers down there were alert,” Leff said.

“It was interesting,” he added.

Leff has been flying for 44 years and has flown the T-6 Texan for 32 years. He planned to fly the Texan in the air show Monday but will unable to since the plane is inoperable as a result of the emergency landing.

The Texan will need its engine repaired. Also, the right wing was dented after it clipped a bridge marker post.

The plane—known as “the Pilot Maker” because it was a military training aircraft—will be repaired, Leff told authorities Sunday.

After landing, the plane came to rest directly in front of the Fond du Lac County Airport, according to a Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Department press release. A pickup truck with a tow bar pulled the plane to the Fond du Lac County Airport where it remained Monday afternoon

“This was all very unusual,” said Manager Lee Perrizo of the Fond du Lac County Airport.

Posted by mikki at 01:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Air controllers say work conditions dangerous - CNN.com:


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Air traffic controllers say poor maintenance of their aging work places has hampered and harmed them and could endanger the flying public.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which employees the controllers, has not given priority to maintaining and preserving aging air traffic control facilities, argued Patrick Forrey, president of the controllers' union.

"The resulting environmental conditions have jeopardized the safety of workers as well as the effectiveness of the equipment they use -- both of which can negatively impact the safety of the air traffic system," Forrey said in testimony prepared for a hearing Tuesday by the House aviation subcommittee.

"We recognize that we have a backlog of maintenance and repair," said Bruce Johnson, FAA's vice president of terminal services. "And we are taking steps to reduce that backlog ... We are making headway."

In prepared testimony, Johnson said that repairs and maintenance affecting safety "as always are our first priority." He added that high priority needs like a leaking roof or an air conditioner outage during summer are addressed immediately, while lower priority needs like new paint and carpet are planned through the agency's annual budget process.

Water leaks, obscured sight lines, toxic fumes, mold, asbestos, pest infestations and poor heating and cooling were reported in a survey by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association of its field representatives at the nation's 314 airport towers and traffic and radar control centers. Responses were obtained from 220 sites.

Forrey said:

• Seventy-five reported water leaks including six with frequent leaks directly over controllers or equipment. At the Atlanta Center "controllers have had to hold an umbrella over the radar scope in order to see the planes and hope they do not get electrocuted while working."

• More than 100 facilities reported extreme temperature variations because of poor heating or cooling. Because of recurrent condensation on the San Juan tower windows "controllers are sometimes 'blind,' without the ability to scan the runways or taxiways."

• Operations have been interrupted and some controllers taken ill because noxious fumes entered their work place, including poisonous carbon monoxide at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control in April and welding fumes at the Dulles airport tower outside Washington, D.C., in May.

Of the 220 facilities reporting, 62 rated their conditions poor. Another 18 called theirs "outright dangerous" and said they "were concerned with their personal well being as well as the facility's ability to handle the daily aircraft operations.

Posted by mikki at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Report: Pilots in deadly crash didn't get warnings - CNN.com:


LEXINGTON, Kentucky (AP) -- The pilots in a jet crash last summer that killed 49 people left the terminal without receiving four important airport advisories, including one that said the normal taxiway to the main runway was closed, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The four updates -- called Notices to Airmen -- were missing from the flight dispatch paperwork the pilots received from Comair, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported, citing information the Air Line Pilots Association submitted to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Comair relies on prerecorded messages to get local advisories from the Blue Grass Airport, but the taxiway closing wasn't recorded that day.

Randy Harris, president of the local National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said he didn't know why the notice was omitted.

Comair Flight 5191 crashed on August 27, 2006, shortly after mistakenly taking off from the general aviation runway, killing all people aboard but one. The plane taxied to the wrong runway in the pre-dawn darkness.

Flight data recordings indicated the pilots thought they were taking off from the main runway and may have been confused by the alternate route.

The NTSB will release its findings and state a probable cause in the crash during a meeting Thursday in Washington.

The NTSB and the Air Line Pilots Association did not return calls from The Associated Press on Sunday.

The pilots -- Jeffrey Clay and first officer James Polehinke -- also did not receive information about the airport's general aviation runway being limited to daytime use and about the distance-remaining lights on the airport's main runway being out of service, the Herald-Leader reported.

Pilots contend the notice system is outdated and isn't always readily available. Anywhere from 300 to 1,000 notices are issued each day across the nation and can contain everything from departure procedures to airport construction.

Posted by mikki at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

TSA doesn't like the looks of an iPod recharger:


Mark Frauenfelder:

Damon Burke wanted to use the recharger he built from a Minty Boost kit to juice up his iPod so he could watch movies on a long flight, but the TSA was afraid it was a bomb designed to blow up the homeland.

I tell him it is a battery charger for my iPod. He asks if I made it myself, to which I reply that I purchased a kit over the internet. He says that he can't let me on the plane with it. I explain to him that I have flown with it 4-6 times a month for a year now and nobody has questioned it. He says, "Not on my watch and not with my people."

He swabs the device and runs it through the calorimeter. Again, no residue.

I ask why it can't be taken on the plane and he said, "Because it looks like an IED."

Link (Via Make)

Posted by mikki at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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"Heads Need To Roll Here"
A federal investigator is accusing the Federal Aviation Administration of not only hiding air traffic controller mistakes at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, but also for sometimes blaming pilots for those mistakes.
The allegations have come from the US Office of Special Counsel, which is an independent investigative agency responsible for protecting government whistle-blowers, according to the Associated Press.
Mistakes at DFW included a controller not telling a co-worker a plane had been cleared for takeoff, and planes flying too close together.
"The message needs to get out that we have a cavalier attitude about safety," said special counsel Scott Bloch. He said there is a "culture of laxness" at not only the FAA but the air traffic controllers' union, as well.
This report renews accusations that were levied in 2005 but never fixed, according to the investigator. The FAA insists all controller errors are properly reported.
National Air Traffic Controllers Association spokesman Doug Church said any failure to properly report any controller error lies not with the controllers, but their managers.
The FAA changed the way it classifies certain events last month, he said, to manipulate safety statistics, like allowing aircraft to come within 2.8 miles of each other instead of the required three miles.
The NATCA has long contended DFW suffers a severe controller shortage. It says 100 workers are required to properly manage the center and there are currently 68 controller and about 20 trainees. 
Bloch said he got information from interviews with two FAA whistle-blowers, other employees and a review of radar data, according to the AP.
He agreed with Church's statement that the FAA has manipulated error reporting to conceal its true safety record and reward those with the fewest mistakes which, he says, promotes financial gain over safety.
Anne Whiteman is a controller supervisor and one of the whistle-blowers. She says managers regularly classify controller mistakes as pilot errors. Since January, about 100 pilot errors have been reported at DFW -- a lot more than in previous years.
The other whistle-blower preferred to remain anonymous.
"The flying public can rest assured that the FAA thoroughly investigates every safety deviation, whether it was the result of controller or pilot error and closely tracks and addresses any pattern of errors," said the agency.
Bloch sent a letter and the report to Transportation Secretary Mary Peters Monday and directed the Transportation Department to launch an investigation and present its recommendations within 60 days.
Bloch said if safety violations were persistently ignored, "eventually you're going to have an air crash."
"Heads need to roll here," he said.

Posted by mikki at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

US Airports Report Spike in Near Misses:


NBC -- Airports, air traffic controllers and airlines are struggling with a spike in delays, cancellations and near-misses, when planes come within 500 feet or less of one another.

At Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board said a Delta Airlines flight that had just touched down, had to quickly take-off again to avoid a United Airlines plane instructed to taxi on the same runway.

"Our information now is that they passed about 100 feet vertically from each other," said Robert Sumwalt, Vice Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

In the northeast alone since may, there have been more than five near misses.

Thursday night at Newark’s Liberty International, Rich Domich, a sports news executive, said the Continental commuter jet he was on had just landed when it experienced a close call with a 747 taking off.

"We slam on the breaks, we roll, we take a right and then there's another jar that he's applying the breaks and we look up and you just see that plane right in front of you," said Domich.

So far, Continental Express is calling it a non-incident and the FAA says it is reviewing the air traffic control tape.

The FAA admits a shortage of air traffic controllers and an increase in air travel are taxing an already strained system.

"You are flying in some of the most congested airspace we have with airports that do not have an adequate air traffic control system until we go to the next generation," said FAA administrator Marion Blakey.

But lawmakers said something needs to be done now.

New York Senator Charles Schumer said, "How could the FAA let this happen? How can the FAA say that it's the guardian of our skies when things have deteriorated so dramatically?"

Questions. Frustrations and challenges as America takes to the skies in record numbers.

Posted by mikki at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Flight Attendant Boots Gwinnett Mom, Baby From Plane - News Story - WSB Atlanta:


GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- A Gwinnett County mother says she wants answers and action after she and her baby were kicked off a plane.
Kate Penland said she was glad to board the plane in Houston after an 11-hour delay to visit her father in Oklahoma. But she said a rude and aggressive flight attendant caused her to get to Oklahoma a day late.
Penland thinks her 19-month-old son, Garren, has a bubbly personality. But Penland said when they were aboard a Continental Express plane, a flight attendant became annoyed by Garren’s personality when he kept saying three words.
“As we started taxiing, he started saying ‘Bye, bye plane,’ said Penland. “At the end of her speech, she leaned over the gentleman beside me and said, ‘It’s not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up.’
In disbelief, Penland asked the woman if she was kidding. It was then, Penland said, the flight attendant went too far.
“She then said, ‘You know, it’s called baby Benadryl. And I said, 'Well, I'm not going to drug my child so you have a pleasant flight.'
Penland said when the other passengers began speaking up on her behalf, the flight attendant got angrier and soon announced they were turning around and that Penland and Garren were going to be taken off the plane.
“I was crying, I was upset and I was thinking, ‘What am I going to do? I don’t have anything with me, I don’t have anymore diapers for the baby, no juice, no milk,” said Penland.
The young mother said she later learned the flight attendant told the pilot that she had threatened her. Penland said that never happened.
Express Jet Airlines released a statement that said, "We received Ms. Penland’s letter expressing her concerns and intend to investigate its contents."
A fellow passenger told Channel 2's Rachel Kim none of the other passengers had problems with Garren and that Penland never threatened the flight attendant.
Penland is considering legal action.

Posted by mikki at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Man flies 193 miles in lawn chair - CNN.com:


BEND, Oregon (AP) -- Last weekend, Kent Couch settled down in his lawn chair with some snacks -- and a parachute. Attached to his lawn chair were 105 large helium balloons.

Destination: Idaho.


With instruments to measure his altitude and speed, a global positioning system device in his pocket, and about four plastic bags holding five gallons of water each to act as ballast -- he could turn a spigot, release water and rise -- Couch headed into the Oregon sky.

Nearly nine hours later, the 47-year-old gas station owner came back to earth in a farmer's field near Union, short of Idaho but about 193 miles from home.

"When you're a little kid and you're holding a helium balloon, it has to cross your mind," Couch told the Bend Bulletin.

"When you're laying in the grass on a summer day, and you see the clouds, you wish you could jump on them," he said. "This is as close as you can come to jumping on them. It's just like that."

Couch is the latest American to emulate Larry Walters -- who in 1982 rose three miles above Los Angeles in a lawn chair lifted by balloons. Walters had surprised an airline pilot, who radioed the control tower that he had just passed a guy in a lawn chair. Walters paid a $1,500 penalty for violating air traffic rules.

It was Couch's second flight.

In September, he got off the ground for six hours. Like Walters, he used a BB gun to pop the balloons, but he went into a rapid descent and eventually parachuted to safety.

This time, he was better prepared. The balloons had a new configuration, so it was easier to reach up and release a bit of helium instead of simply cutting off a balloon.

He took off at 6:06 a.m. Saturday after kissing his wife, Susan, goodbye and petting his Chihuahua, Isabella. As he made about 25 miles an hour, a three-car caravan filled with friends, family and the dog followed him from below.

Couch said he could hear cattle and children and even passed through clouds.

"It was beautiful -- beautiful," he told KTVZ-TV. He described the flight as mostly peaceful and serene, with occasional turbulence, like a hot-air balloon ride sitting down.

Couch decided to stop when he was down to a gallon of water and just eight pounds of ballast. Concerned about the rugged terrain outside La Grande, including Hells Canyon, he decided it was time to land.

He popped enough balloons to set the craft down, although he suffered rope burns. But after he jumped out, the wind grabbed his chair, with his video recorder, and the remaining balloons and swept them away. He's hoping to get them back some day.

Brandon Wilcox, owner of Professional Air, which charters and maintains planes at the Bend airport, said Couch definitely did it. Wilcox said he flew a plane nearby while Couch traveled and took photos of the flying lawn chair.

Whether Couch will take a third trip is up to his wife, and Susan Couch said she's thinking about saying no. But she said she was willing to go along with last weekend's trip.

"I know he'd be thinking about it more and more, it would always be on his mind," she said. "This way, at least he's fulfilled his dream."

Posted by mikki at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fake bomb eludes airport test -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY:


COLONIE -- Federal inspectors were able to slip a fake bomb through a checkpoint at Albany International Airport during a test of the facility's Transportation Security Administration screeners, according to individuals familiar with the incident.
 
The unannounced inspection by TSA officials took place early last week. The airport's security measures failed in five of seven tests, most of the problems occurring at the passenger checkpoint, the sources said.
In one test, TSA inspectors hid the components of a fake bomb in carry-on luggage that also contained a bottle of water. Passengers are prohibited from carrying containers holding more than three ounces of liquids, gels or aerosols through airport checkpoints.
The screeners at Albany International confiscated the water bottle but missed the bomb. In all, the inspectors slipped four banned items through the main checkpoint during the test, sources said.
The TSA, which took over security at the nation's commercial airports after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, conducts random tests of its workforce on a regular basis and failures are common, officials said.
Paul Varville, the TSA's security director at Albany International, could not be reached for comment.
Ann Davis, a TSA spokeswoman, declined to discuss the circumstances of the covert test at Albany International.

Continue reading "Fake bomb eludes airport test -- Page 1 -- Times Union - Albany NY" »

Posted by mikki at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Boeing unveils first assembled 787 Dreamliner - CNN.com:


EVERETT, Washington (AP) -- Boeing has raised the curtain on its first fully assembled 787 to an audience of thousands who packed into its wide-body assembly plant for the plane's extravagantly orchestrated premiere.

An audience of thousands watched as Boeing Co. unveiled the 787 in Everett, Washington, on Sunday.»

With flight attendants onstage from each airline that has ordered the jet, the giant factory doors opened wide as the plane slowly moved into view to the strains of a theme song composed specially for the 787, which Boeing calls the Dreamliner.

"Our journey began some six years ago when we knew we were on the cusp of delivering valuable new technologies that would make an economic difference to our airline customers," Mike Bair, vice president and general manager of the 787 program, told the crowd.

Continue reading "Boeing unveils first assembled 787 Dreamliner - CNN.com" »

Posted by mikki at 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Missing Dog Found 430 Miles From Home:


FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) - A basset hound that disappeared from its California home in December has been found 430 miles away in Arizona.

The dog, named Fred, was found by an employee Wednesday in the parking lot of the Second Chance Center for Animals in Flagstaff.

The next morning, staff members with the shelter found a microchip in Fred that let them figure out he was registered at Riverside County Animal Control.

The shelter contacted Fred's speechless owner on Friday.

The owner said Fred disappeared after she moved to Riverside in December. She didn't know how he could have ended up in Flagstaff.

Paul Fink, a veterinarian at the Flagstaff shelter and a pilot, has offered to fly the dog home to his family.

Posted by mikki at 11:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WASHINGTON -- A computer failure in the nation's air-traffic control system caused untold flight delays Friday, the Federal Aviation Adminstration said.

A computer system in Atlanta that processes pilots' flights plans and sends them to air-traffic controllers failed late Thursday or early Friday, FAA spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere said. The agency rerouted the system's functions to another computer in Salt Lake City, which overloaded due to the increased volume of data, magnifying the problem.

The FAA could not immediately calculate the number of flight delays caused by the problem, which was made worse by bad weather, Spitaliere said.

Although the computer problem was fixed Friday morning, its impact lingered on into the late afternoon, especially in New York, Spitaliere said.

Posted by mikki at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BBC NEWS | South Asia | The Boeing 737 stuck in city road:


Residents of the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay) are wondering how long it will take to remove a disused Boeing 737 that has been abandoned in a busy road.

The decommissioned aircraft was being driven through the city at the weekend when the driver got lost and then abandoned the plane.

The Boeing used to belong to the private company Air Sahara.

Some locals are angry that no action is being taken to move the plane. Others say it is a tourist attraction.

It appears that after taking a wrong turn, the driver found himself facing a flyover that was too low for him to take the plane under.

The driver has not been seen since and no-one is assuming responsibility for the 737.

Sunday surprise

Pradeep Malhotra - 'My work is suffering'

He woke up Sunday morning to find the aircraft on a giant trailer abandoned on the road.

"Saturday night I shut shop and go home and everything is fine," he told the BBC news website.

"Sunday morning when I get here, this aircraft is here near my restaurant!"

The fuselage of the decommissioned aircraft, with the engine, wings and tail removed, was being taken by road to the capital Delhi late on Saturday night.

Reports say it was supposed to be used at a flight training academy.


The plane has become the centre of attraction with people coming from all over the city to take a look.

"I've been fascinated with planes and never seen one so closely," engineering student Vamsi Shastri said. "It's huge!"

His friend Ankur Rane said, "It's fascinating to see an airplane on the roads when one is only used to seeing cars and auto rickshaws."

No joke

However, for Pradeep Malhotra, who runs a catering service in the area, the plane has become a huge problem because it is parked right in front of his shop.

"My work is suffering because the food cannot be loaded in the big vehicles," he said.

"I have to load it in the smaller vans and then carry them to the bigger ones parked at the back.

"I don't know how they are going to take it out because you can't reverse it, its too big, and you can't go further down the road."

Some residents said they had not complained simply because they assumed that the authorities would be making it a priority to get the plane out of the city.

Five days on, it is still not clear who is responsible for the aircraft and its transfer to Delhi.

Posted by mikki at 05:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jet Exhaust Causes Small Plane To Roll - Local News Story - KSAT San Antonio:


SAN ANTONIO -- Two people escaped injury Thursday night following a runway accident at San Antonio International Airport.

Airport officials said that a Boeing 737 was taxiing to a runway for takeoff when its increase thrust caused a small Cessna plane that was behind it to flip.

Two people on board the Cesnna were not hurt.

The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the incident.

Posted by mikki at 07:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NBC2 News Online - Cape resident flies 150 miles for Krystal burger - monthly:


KISSIMMEE: It's a lot more than a Big Mac attack that has one Cape Coral man flying 150 miles from his home several times a year to the nearest Krystal fast-food restaurant.

Jay Barr picks up 24 burgers about ten times a year. He says the hour-long flight from the Kissimmee airport is more worth it. He typically leaves Fort Myers around 6 am and is home by 8:30 am, sometimes before his wife even wakes up.

Saturday, the fast-food company unveiled a hamburger box and drink cup with Barr's face and an airplane printed on them. Hundreds of thousands of the boxes will hit about four-hundred restaurants in the Southeast.

Barr was one of thousands who e-mailed stories to the company about their love for Krystal's food.

He will be added to their online Hall of Fame in the coming weeks on its website: http://www.krystal.com/

Posted by mikki at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ever think those bozos who give you so much hassle at airport security are doing this just for their egos, and not to really find anything worthwhile to keep off of airplanes? Unfortunately, you may be right....

9NEWS - Article - Undercover agents slip bombs past DIA screeners:


KUSA - Checkpoint security screeners at Denver International Airport last month failed to find liquid explosives packed in carry-on luggage and also improvised explosive devices, or IED's, worn by undercover agents sources told 9NEWS.

"It really is concerning considering that we're paying millions of dollars out of our budget to be secure in the airline industry," said passenger Mark Butler who has had two Army Swiss knives confiscated by screeners in the past. "Yet, we're not any safer than we were before 9/11, in my opinion."

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners failed most of the covert tests because of human error, sources told 9NEWS. Alarms went off on the machines, but sources said screeners violated TSA standard operating procedures and did not hand-search suspicious luggage, wand, or pat down the undercover agents.

"The good news is we have our own people probing and looking and examining the system," said Rep. Ed Perlmutter, a Democrat in the 7th congressional who sits on the House Homeland Security and transportation committees. "The bad news is they're finding weaknesses."

After 9NEWS told Perlmutter about the undercover results, he requested a classified briefing from the TSA about the team. Four TSA and Homeland Security Department officials briefed the congressman last week.

"The bottom line is, we've got to plug those holes," said Perlmutter. "We can't have those kinds of problems because we want to have people who fly across this nation be as safe as possible."

In one test, sources told 9NEWS an agent taped an IED to her leg and told the screener it was a bandage from surgery. Even though alarms sounded on the walk-through metal detector, the agent was able to bluff her way past the screener.

Continue reading "Don't We Feel Ever So Safe Now?" »

Posted by mikki at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FOXNews.com - Flight Attendant Arrested for Carrying Gun Aboard Flight - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News:


WASHINGTON —  A uniformed flight attendant was arrested at Dulles International Airport after she turned herself in for allegedly carrying a concealed handgun aboard a flight from Atlanta, authorities said Saturday.
The Transportation Security Administration, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies were investigating how the gun passed through security unnoticed in Atlanta, TSA spokesman Barry Phelps said. Flight attendants have to go through the same security procedures as all other passengers, he said.
Janet Tucker, 45, of Lithonia, Ga., turned herself in Friday for carrying the weapon on United flight 7591, said Rob Yingling, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. She was in uniform but was not part of the duty crew at the time, he said.
"It seems it was an inadvertent incident, from her description," he said.
Tucker was arrested and cited on charges of having a concealed weapon at the airport. She was interviewed and released on a summons to appear in Loudoun County Court in Virginia at a future date, Yingling said. It was not clear whether a court date had been scheduled and he didn't know whether Tucker had a lawyer.

Posted by mikki at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dozing FedEx workers get free flight to Vienna - Yahoo! News:


PARIS (AFP) - Two workers for delivery company FedEx traveled from Paris to Vienna in a cargo plane after apparently dozing off, a company source said Saturday.

The two men were working early Friday at Charles de Gaulle airport. They are believed to have fallen asleep while waiting for a freight delivery that didn't arrive, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The doors for the plane's freight compartment were closed without anyone noticing they were there, the source said.

So off they went to Austria. The two workers were returned to France later in the day aboard an Air France flight. The company has opened an internal investigation to determine what happened.

"There is some doubt as to whether they were really sleeping," a FedEx spokesperson told AFP. "All we know is that they were repatriated and they are safe and sound."

Posted by mikki at 09:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Space junk falls around airliner: report:


Flaming space junk from a Russian satellite narrowly missed hitting a Chilean airliner over the Pacific Ocean, reports said Wednesday.
The pilot of a LAN Chile Airbus A340 en route to New Zealand told air traffic controllers he had seen pieces of flaming space junk falling about eight kilometres (four miles) in front of the plane and behind it, TV3 said.

The aircraft was not struck by any of the debris and later landed safely in Auckland.

Airways New Zealand, which manages New Zealand's air traffic, said it had been warned by Russian authorities that an obsolete satellite was due to fall into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday.

But the debris had apparently fallen into the area 12 hours earlier than the time advised by the Russians.

A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority, which is responsible for air safety, said it would launch an inquiry after it was advised of the details of the incident.

Posted by mikki at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Transatlantic pilot 'more than six times over alcohol flying limit' | News | This is London:


An airline pilot turned up for work while almost six and a half times over the drink limit to fly a plane, a court has heard.
American James Yates, 46, smelled strongly of alcohol and was unsteady on his feet when he turned up for duty at Manchester Airport, it has been claimed.
A First Officer with American Airlines, he was to be one of three pilots on a 10.30am transatlantic flight to Chicago with 181 passengers on board on February 11 last year, Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court was told.
But when he went to go through a security gate for flight crew in his pilots uniform he could not find his identification security pass.
Security staff could smell drink and called in police, who arrested Yates. He then failed a breathalyser test, Martin Walsh, prosecuting, told the jury.
"Police arrived and the defendant smelled strongly of intoxicants, alcohol, and he was asked to provide a specimen of breath," Mr Walsh added.
"He provided a specimen of breath and it was positive."
The first specimen showed Yates had 71 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit for driving a car is 35 micrograms and for an aircraft is nine micrograms, the jury were told.
Yates was arrested and taken to Altrincham Police Station where a doctor took a blood sample.
This gave a result of 129 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, the court was told. The legal limit for flying an aircraft is 20 micrograms.
"He was approaching six and a half times the legal limit for flying an aircraft," Mr Walsh said.
Yates, from Ohio, US, told police he turned up for work to tell the captain he was sick and unable to perform his duties and it was not his intention to be part of the crew on that flight.
"The Crown say that is untrue," Mr Walsh said.
"He arrived at the airport in uniform. He tried to gain entrance through security checks used by the air crew, not by the passengers."
Yates had earlier missed a bus taking flight crew from a hotel to the airport. When the captain had gone to his hotel room he appeared "dishevelled" and followed the rest of the crew in a cab to the airport, the court heard.
Mr Walsh said: "The Crown's case, in essence, is he clearly had been drinking heavily, had consumed alcohol and when he got to the airport his intention was to go through security check-in with the intention of performing his function of first officer on the flight from Manchester to Chicago."
The flight was delayed and had to land in New York because it only had two pilots, not three as required by law for such a long flight, the court was told.
Yates is not charged with attempting to fly an aircraft while over the limit as he did not gain access to the plane.
He denies a single charge of carrying out an activity ancillary to an aviation function, that of acting as first officer, while over the limit.
The case continues.

Posted by mikki at 06:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Airline Moves Dead Body to 1st Class:


LONDON (AP) - A first-class passenger on a flight from Delhi to London awoke find the corpse of a woman who had died in the economy cabin being placed in a seat next to him, British Airways said Monday

The economy section of the flight was full, and the cabin crew needed to move the woman and her grieving family out of that compartment to give them some privacy, the airline said.

The first-class passenger, Paul Trinder, told the Sunday Times newspaper that he was sleeping during a February flight from India and woke up when the crew placed the dead woman in an empty seat near him.

"I didn't have a clue what was going on. The stewards just plonked the body down without saying a thing. I remember looking at this frail, sparrow-like woman and thinking she was very ill," the newspaper quoted Trinder as saying. "When I asked what was going on, I was shocked to hear she was dead."

British Airways said in a statement that about 10 passengers die each year in flight and that while each situation is dealt with on an individual basis, safety is paramount.

"The deceased must not be placed in the galley or blocking aisles or exits, and there should be clear space around the deceased," the statement said. "The wishes of family or friends traveling with the deceased will always be considered, and account taken of the reactions of other passengers."

Because there was space in the first class cabin, that "allowed the family members traveling with the deceased some level of privacy in their grief," the airline said.

"We apologize to passengers in the first cabin who were distressed by the situation _ our cabin crew were working in difficult circumstances and chose the option that they believed would cause the least disruption," the statement said.

David Learmount, a former pilot and cabin crew member who now writes about the aviation industry for Flight International magazine, said that each airline has to deal with the relatively rare situation on an individual basis. He said that diverting the flight would be an unusual move, and that the captain would be consulted before the crew acted.

"Personally, I think they did the thing that was the best thing to do," he said. "Really, you want as much as possible to isolate the person.

"It's an isolated incident. It's not as if it happens every day, but you do have to take in people's sensibilities when it does happen."

Posted by mikki at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Small plane crashes on suburban Chicago street, killing 2 - CNN.com:


MUNSTER, Indiana (AP) -- A small plane crashed on a city street Friday evening in suburban Chicago, killing two people who were on the plane, authorities said.

There were no initial reports of any injuries on the ground, said Elizabeth Isham Cory, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

It did not appear that the plane hit any people, cars or buildings.

The crash left much of the twin-engine Beechcraft Baron's wreckage on four-lane Calumet Avenue.

The crash site is near the state line and within a mile of the Lansing Municipal Airport in Lansing, Illinois.

Cory said she did not immediately have information about the plane's travel route.

Posted by mikki at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Charging moose brings down hovering helicopter - CNN.com:


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A helicopter is not necessarily a match for an angry moose.

Instead of slowing down after being shot with a tranquilizer dart, a moose charged a hovering helicopter used by a wildlife biologist, damaging the aircraft's tail rotor and forcing it to the ground.

Neither the pilot nor the biologist was injured, but the moose was maimed by the spinning rotor and had to be euthanized, wildlife officials said.

"It just had to be one of those quirky circumstance. Even dealing with bears and goats and moose and wolves, this is pretty unusual and truly a very unique situation," said Doug Larsen, regional supervisor for the Division of Wildlife Conservation.

Biologist Kevin White was aboard the chartered helicopter on Saturday for a study of moose near Gustavus, a community of 459 people about 50 miles northwest of Juneau in southeast Alaska. Moose outnumber humans there 2-to-1, White has written in an essay for the Department of Fish and Game Web site.

He shot the animal with a tranquilizer dart, Larsen said, and the pilot maneuvered the helicopter to keep the animal from slipping into a tight space or collapsing in water and drowning.

"The moose would start to move, and then the helicopter would back off and try to keep the moose out in the open," Larsen said.

But instead of moving toward open space, the moose charged the helicopter.

"As the animal got closer and closer to going down, an animal sort of loses its thinking -- its ability to rationalize what's in its best interest," Larsen said.

Posted by mikki at 06:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

US Airways chief arrested on drunk driving charge - Feb. 9, 2007:


SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (Reuters) -- Doug Parker, the chief executive of US Airways, was arrested late on Jan. 31 on suspicion of drunk driving, a spokesman for the Scottsdale Police Department said on Friday.

The incident occurred hours after Parker pulled US Airways' (Charts) bid to acquire larger, bankrupt rival Delta Air Lines (Charts) after Delta creditors rejected the bid.

U.S. Airways CEO Doug Parker was arrested on charges of suspected DUI on January 31st.
Officers on a special DUI taskforce clocked the CEO driving 20 m.p.h. over the 45 m.p.h. speed limit in his BMW car in Scottsdale, a city in the Phoenix valley area.

"When the officer pulled Parker over, he noticed the smell of alcohol on his breath, and that he had watery eyes and slurry speech," spokesman Mark Clark told Reuters.

Parker told police that he was driving back from a party at the FBR Open golf tournament, where he drank three beers.

Posted by mikki at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If he tried that here he'd likely have been shot down as a terrorist! Instead, this story is from England where supposedly you can't have guns

Sky News: OAP Pilot Lands On Road:


OAP Pilot Lands On Road
Updated: 09:18, Thursday February 08, 2007

A pensioner [read little old man - ed.] attempting to land a plane mistook a road for the runway, an accident report says.

He only noticed his mistake when he hit a speed bump.

The pilot believed he had found the landing strip despite noticing "a kerb to the side and lamp posts to his left", the report continues.

The 68-year-old, who has not been named, was an experienced private pilot who had clocked up more than 1,000 hours in the air over the years.

However, he had flown for just four hours in the three months before the accident in August last year and only landed at the Shobdon Aerodrome - the site of the mishap - three times before.

The accident happened during a solo flight from Coventry, the monthly bulletin from the Air Accidents Investigations Branch reports.

"When close to touchdown, the pilot noticed that the airfield was different from what he remembered," it states.

"Shortly after touching down, the aircraft ran over a speed bump which caused it to veer left and leave the road."

The plane's left wing hit a tree and its right wing was almost entirely sheared off after colliding with a lamppost.

The pilot managed to escape from the wreck unscathed, although his pride was damaged.

The road, near Leominster, Herefordshire, was free of traffic - it had only just been built.

Posted by mikki at 10:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hooray for airlines kicking annoying people off of airplanes!

Weird News at Tampa Bay's 10:


Woman taken off plane for talking on cell phone
Fort Myers, Florida -  Lee County authorities say a Colorado woman was escorted off a commercial flight for ignoring instructions to stop talking on her cellular phone.

Barbara-Anne Urrutia, a spokeswoman for the Lee County Port Authority, tells the News-Press of Fort Myers that the woman was being disruptive aboard the American Airlines flight about 9:30 last night.

The plane flew to Southwest Florida International Airport from St. Louis. A report is being filed with the Transportation Security Administration.

Urrutia says charges won't be filed against the woman.

Posted by mikki at 01:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Denver airport is SO good at clearing snow that they have special snow plows on each runway just in case. Oh joy.

Rocky Mountain News - Denver and Colorado's reliable source for breaking news, sports and entertainment: Airlines & aerospace:


A snowplow remained on an active runway at Denver International Airport on Friday, prompting the National Transportation Safety Board to open its second runway incursion investigation at DIA in a month.
The plane got within 200 feet of the snowplow before it came to a complete stop.

According to the NTSB, the latest incident happened Friday at 5:38 p.m., when a United Airlines Boeing 737 landed after a flight from Billings, Mont., on Runway 26. That is the east-west runway along the huge airfield’s northeast edge.

When a pilot noticed a snowplow ahead on the runway, he applied maximum, braking power to the jet, including engine thrust reversers, as it completed its landing rollout. The crew brought the plane to a stop on the runway, missing the snowplow by 200 feet on the 12,000-foot runway.

The NTSB said there were no injuries among the 101 people on board the jet.

The federal safety agency said the plow had been escorted onto the runway by an airport operations vehicle, which is standard procedure, and that the escort was in radio communication with the air traffic control tower.

But the plow operator had become separated from the escort vehicle, which had departed from the runway by the time the United jet was landing. The NTSB said it is unclear whether the plow operator was in radio contact with the tower or with the escort.

Visibility at the time was reported to be 10 miles.

Posted by mikki at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you can't control your child enough to make them get in their damn seat for takeoff you shouldn't be on the airplane in the first place.

Toddler's Temper Ousts Family From Plane:


ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - AirTran Airways on Tuesday defended its decision to remove a Massachusetts couple from a flight after their crying 3-year-old daughter refused to take her seat before takeoff.

>AirTran officials said they followed Federal Aviation Administration rules that children age 2 and above must have their own seat and be wearing a seat belt upon takeoff.

"The flight was already delayed 15 minutes and in fairness to the other 112 passengers on the plane, the crew made an operational decision to remove the family," AirTran spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver said.

Julie and Gerry Kulesza, who were headed home to Boston on Jan. 14 from Fort Myers, said they just needed a little more time to calm their daughter, Elly.


"We weren't given an opportunity to hold her, console her or anything," Julie Kulesza said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

The Kuleszas said they told a flight attendant they had paid for their daughter's seat, but asked whether she could sit in her mother's lap. The request was denied.

She was removed because "she was climbing under the seat and hitting the parents and wouldn't get in her seat" during boarding, Graham-Weaver said.

The Orlando-based carrier reimbursed the family $595.80, the cost of the three tickets, and the Kuleszas flew home the next day.

They also were offered three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies, Graham-Weaver said.

The father said his family would never fly AirTran again.



And all other passengers of AirTran are grateful for the decision :-)

Posted by mikki at 05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

SPECIAL AIRSPACE ALERT: WASHINGTON, D.C. AREA:


According to AOPA, general aviation is banned from the skies within 40 nm of Washington, D.C., tonight during President Bush's State of the Union address. The event has triggered a temporary flight restriction closing all 3,000 square miles of the Washington Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) to GA flights between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. EST tonight.



Of course, commercial airliners, far more capable of destructive actions, with most cargo completely unscreened, are free to fly happily over the same ADIZ. Trucks, boats, busses, SUVs, bulldozers, etc. are also free to roam unimpeded under the same ADIZ. People on the "no fly list" will be allowed inside the Capitol for the proceedings.

With all the possible "evils" out there to contend with, prohibiting general aviation should be the least of their worries. One definitely would have hoped that this "band aid" approach to national security would be over by now. Sadly, it seems that the majority of the public is gullible as ever.

Posted by mikki at 03:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Qantas Boots Man for Wearing Bush Shirt:


MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - An Australian man said he is considering suing national carrier Qantas for refusing to let him onto an international flight because he would not take off a T-shirt calling U.S. President George W. Bush a terrorist.

Allen Jasson said on Monday he was turned away last Friday at a Qantas departure gate in the southern city of Melbourne when he tried to board a flight to London while wearing a shirt with the a picture of Bush and the slogan "World's #1 terrorist."

Qantas Airways Ltd. said in a statement: "Whether made verbally or on a T-shirt, comments with the potential to offend other customers or threaten the security of a Qantas group aircraft will not be tolerated."

Jasson said he wore the shirt unchallenged through official security checks, then approached a Qantas staff member at the gate to draw attention to it because he had been asked to remove it before boarding a domestic flight days earlier.

"I raised the issue, but I wanted primarily to thank Qantas for relenting when he told me: `I'm surprised you got this far, the staff should have stopped you'," Jasson said.

Jasson, an Australian who lives in London, said Qantas had offered to put him on another flight if he does not wear the shirt. But he has so far declined.

"I might forfeit the fare but I have made up my mind that I would rather stand up for the principle of free speech," he said.

He said he was considering suing the airline, but it was not immediately clear under what law.

Posted by mikki at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Airline pilot is stricken after takeoff, dies - CNN.com:


McALLEN, Texas (AP) -- The pilot of a Continental Airlines flight became ill after takeoff and was later pronounced dead after the plane made an emergency landing Saturday, a company spokeswoman said.

The 210 passengers on the flight, which departed from Houston, Texas, were never in danger and the co-pilot landed the plane safely, Continental spokeswoman Macky Osorio said.

The airline said only that the pilot suffered a "serious medical problem." Continental believes the pilot died of natural causes, Osorio said. The pilot's name was not released.

The flight, bound for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, took off from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport and was diverted to McAllen-Miller International Airport.

The flight continued to Mexico with a new crew, Osorio said.

Posted by mikki at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Concorde Fans Hope For Legislative Support:


British fans of the Concorde are not giving up in the fight to restore one of the elegant birds to airworthy condition, and they are focusing on the London Olympics of 2012 as an event that deserves to be commemorated with a Concorde fly-by. Last week, they won some support in the British House of Commons when a bill was introduced that would promote the maintenance and preservation of "certain vehicles of cultural value." The legislation, if it passes, would authorize the restoration of a Concorde to airworthy condition for use on ceremonial occasions. Britain's Save Concorde Group is encouraged by support for new legislation.

Posted by mikki at 09:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Typo takes tourist 13,000 km out - CNN.com:


BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) -- A 21-year-old German tourist who wanted to visit his girlfriend in the Australian metropolis Sydney landed 13,000 kilometers (8,077 miles) away near Sidney, Montana, after mistyping his destination on a flight booking Web site.

Dressed for the Australian summer in T-shirt and shorts, Tobi Gutt left Germany on Saturday for a four-week holiday.

Instead of arriving "down under", Gutt found himself on a different continent and bound for the chilly state of Montana.

"I did wonder but I didn't want to say anything," Gutt told the Bild newspaper. "I thought to myself, you can fly to Australia via the United States."

Gutt's airline ticket routed him via the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon, to Billings, Montana. Only as he was about to board a commuter flight to Sidney -- an oil town of about 5,000 people -- did he realize his mistake.

The hapless tourist, who had only a thin jacket to keep out the winter cold, spent three days in Billings airport before he was able to buy a new ticket to Australia with 600 euros in cash that his parents and friends sent over from Germany.

"I didn't notice the mistake as my son is usually good with computers," his mother, Sabine, told Reuters.

Posted by mikki at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In a tragic turn of events this Christmas, a small experimental aircraft was shot down after ignoring attempts to divert it away from the area. The White House confirmed that the President was not in residence at the time. The decision to fire was made after repeated attempts to contact the aircraft via radio were seemingly ignored by the pilot, who was seen to throw brightly colored objects out of the aircraft, in a likely attempt to ward off the intercepting fighter jets.

"All pilots know of the Washington Defense Zone," said an unnamed source at NORAD. "Flying in this area without a radio in experimental aircraft is just not done. We regret having to take this dramatic action."

The crippled aircraft limped to an emergency landing on the mall, its 8 engines seemingly intact. As the pilot was being dragged away by the Secret Service, having wrestled him to the ground, he was heard to say "I'm Santa Claus fer chrissakes! Where the hell is your Christmas spirit?" Santa's lawyer could not be reached for comment. Children waking up without gifts this morning are urged to call NORAD's missing gift hotline at 1.800.no.fly.

Posted by mikki at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Planned Office Tower Called Hazard for Planes:


ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) - A 390-foot-tall office tower planned across the Potomac River from Washington could be a hazard to airplanes, the Federal Aviation Administration has determined.

The preliminary ruling on the glass-and-steel tower has delayed Arlington County's hopes to build a "signature skyline" with views of the monuments and memorials of the nation's capital. Some business owners had already started marketing the Rosslyn area as "Manhattan on the Potomac."

The FAA is concerned the tower would be a "presumed hazard" for planes approaching the nearby Reagan National Airport. But the agency's Nov. 24 decision seems strange to some officials because the FAA had also ruled this year that the structure's twin residential tower next door would not be a danger.

The residential tower is also planned for 390 feet and is "only a few feet away" from the office tower, said Kathleen L. Webb, a principal at JBG Companies, the Washington-based developer building the towers.

"On the residential tower, the FAA did a study and determined it not to be a hazard," said Diane Spitaliere, an FAA spokeswoman. She said the second tower is still being evaluated.

"They sent out a 'notice of presumed hazard' because there are some issues with the location of building in relation to the approach to the runway, but we're still studying it," Spitaliere said.

Currently, the tallest building in Rosslyn is 312 feet. Pilots and aviation experts had long worried the existing buildings were too tall.

Posted by mikki at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wi-Fi Prevails at Boston Airport:

Continental Airlines set up a free wi-fi access point at Boston’s Logan Airport. Massport, which runs the airport, forced Continental to shut down the AP, claiming 1) it might interfere with police communications, 2) it violated Continental’s lease, and 3) (most important) it competed with Massport’s $7.95 per day wi-fi service. (A personal aside: Massport’s only competition in bureaucratic incompetence in the Bay State is the Mass. Turnpike Authority, which brought you deadly falling ceiling tiles in the Ted Williams tunnel.)

Fortunately for those of us who travel there frequently, the FCC blocked the Massport bid for monopoly. This bodes well for entities that want to set up wireless access points - including those who dare compete with overpriced governmental offerings. This ruling is cheering for those who believe in Yochai Benkler’s approach to open wireless networks, and Jonathan Zittrain’s views on the generative Internet. It’s also nice to know that the airport can overcharge us for water, food, and other necessities, but at least may have some competition for our Internet needs.

Posted by mikki at 08:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So the ridiculous band-aid defense zone that does nothing but inhibit law abiding citizens has taken two lives.

Pilot Entered Restricted Airspace Before Crash:


ODENTON, Md. (AP) - The pilot of a small plane that crashed near Fort Meade last week was told by an air traffic controller shortly before the accident that he was flying in restricted air space, a recording of air traffic control transmissions shows.


"You are violating the (Air Defense Identification Zone). You need to land at Tipton immediately, and I'll have them give you a phone number for air defense," the unidentified air traffic controller said, according to a recording posted at LiveATC, which provides live and archived air traffic control traffic.

Daniel L. Eberhardt, 57, of Downers Grove, Ill., and a friend, Bobbi Getz, 56, of Pittsburgh, died in the crash. The two were in a Piper Malibu PA46 owned by Eberhardt that crashed shortly after takeoff Thursday at Tipton Airport near Fort Meade. Family members said Eberhardt was piloting the plane.

David Muzio, the National Transportation Safety Board inspector in charge of the investigation, said the pilot spoke to air-traffic controllers moments before the crash but did not broadcast a distress call. Muzio, who said he was waiting to listen to official Federal Aviation Administration recordings, told The (Annapolis) Capital said the plane appeared to be returning to the airport when it hit the tree, sheering branches at a 40-degree angle.

The ADIZ restricted air space extends about 40 miles from Washington, D.C. General aviation pilots are allowed to fly in the zone, but must first obtain clearance.

"It kind of sheds a different light to it (the crash)," said Stan Sypien, Eberhardt's son-in-law. "Our thought was that it was something mechanical, as far as the fast turnaround."

Eberhardt's brother, Tom Eberhardt, said his brother strayed into the zone once before and paid a fine.

An initial investigation has not found any obvious problems with the engine or the airplane, Muzio has said.

Posted by mikki at 04:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Woman Arrested After Disrupting Flight:


WASHINGTON (AP) - A woman was charged Wednesday with sexual assault after an altercation with a flight attendant on an airplane flying from Charlotte, N.C., to London, an official said.

Conan Bruce, a spokesman for the Federal Air Marshal Service in Washington, said the woman got into an argument with a male flight attendant aboard US Airways Flight 1494.

When the airplane landed at Gatwick Airport, Sussex police charged the woman with disrupting a flight and sexual assault, Bruce said.

Posted by mikki at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And they say the terrorists haven't won?

Man questioned and misses flight for speaking Tamil:


A 32-year-old man speaking Tamil and some English about a sporting rivalry was questioned at Sea-Tac Airport and missed his flight Saturday because at least one person thought he was suspicious.

The Port of Seattle dispatched its police officers to investigate the case, which occurred Saturday around noon, said Bob Parker, airport spokesman. The Chicago man was preparing to board an American Airlines flight to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

The man was speaking Tamil, a language largely used in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore, on his cell phone at the departure gate and on the aircraft. An off-duty airline employee heard the conversation and informed the flight crew.

The man also apparently said something in English about a sporting rivalry at his alma mater.

"It's a big misunderstanding," said Parker. "He had a perfectly innocent explanation that all added up."

Parker said it is incumbent on airport officials to investigate reports of suspicious activity.

"It's hard to triage over the phone," he said.

But Parker had no explanation as to why a man speaking Tamil, which is spoken worldwide, would be considered suspicious. The person who contacted airport officials could give an answer to that question, he added.

Parker said the man was cooperative and boarded a later flight to Texas. He told officials that he would not speak in a foreign language on his cell phone at an airport in the future.

Posted by mikki at 02:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hit in midair: a jolt, a bang, silence:


Hit in midair: a jolt, a bang, silence
Writer describes 'most harrowing 30 minutes of my life' after collision with 737

By JOE SHARKEY
New York Times

SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, BRAZIL - It had been an uneventful, comfortable flight.

With the window shade drawn, I was relaxing in my leather seat aboard a $25 million corporate jet that was flying 37,000 feet above the vast Amazon rain forest. The seven of us on board the 13-passenger jet were keeping to ourselves.

Without warning, I felt a terrific jolt and heard a loud bang, followed by an eerie silence, save for the hum of the engines.

And then the three words I will never forget. "We've been hit," said Henry Yandle, a fellow passenger standing in the aisle near the cockpit of the Embraer Legacy 600 jet.

"Hit? By what?" I wondered. I lifted the shade. The sky was clear; the sun low in the sky. But there, at the end of the wing, was a jagged ridge, perhaps a foot high, where the 5-foot-tall winglet was supposed to be.

And so began the most harrowing 30 minutes of my life. I would be told time and again in the next few days that nobody survives a midair collision. I was lucky to be alive — and only later would I learn that the 155 people aboard the Boeing 737 on a domestic flight that seems to have clipped us were not.

Investigators are still trying to sort out what happened, and how — by some miracle — our smaller jet managed to stay aloft while a 737 that is longer, wider and more than three times heavier fell from the sky.

But at 3:59 last Friday afternoon, all I could see, all I knew, was that part of the wing was gone. And it was clear that the situation was worsening in a hurry. The leading edge of the wing was losing rivets, and starting to peel back.

Amazingly, no one panicked. The pilots calmly starting scanning their controls and maps for a nearby airport, or, out their window, a place to come down.

But as the minutes passed, the plane kept losing speed. By now we all knew how bad this was. I wondered how badly ditching was going to hurt.

I thought of my family. There was no point reaching for my cell phone to try a call — there was no signal. And as our hopes sank, some of us jotted notes to spouses and loved ones and placed them in our wallets, hoping they would be found.

I was focused on a different set of notes when the flight began. I've written the weekly "On the Road" column for the New York Times' business-travel section every Tuesday for the last seven years. But I was on the Embraer 600 for a freelance assignment for Business Jet Travel magazine.

For the next 25 minutes, the pilots, Joe Lepore and Jan Paladino, were scanning their instruments, looking for an airport. Nothing turned up.

They sent out a Mayday, which had been acknowledged by a cargo plane somewhere in the region. There had been no contact with any other plane, and certainly not with a 737 in the same airspace.

Lepore, 42, of Bay Shore, N.Y., then spotted a runway through the darkening canopy of trees. "I can see an airport," he said.

It turned out to be a military base deep in the Amazon.

"We didn't know how much runway we had or what was on it," Paladino, 34, of Westhampton, N.Y., would say later that night at the base in the jungle at Cachimbo.

We came down hard and fast. I watched the pilots wrestle the aircraft because so many of their automatic controls were blown. They brought us to a halt with plenty of runway left. We staggered to the exit.

"Nice flying," I told the two pilots as I passed them.

"Any time," Paladino said with an anxious smile.

Posted by mikki at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Escaped Hamster Interrupts Jet Flight:


INNSBRUCK, Austria (AP) - It wasn't "Snakes on a Plane," but an Austrian Airlines jet made an unscheduled stop Friday after a passenger sneaked a hamster aboard and the rodent escaped. The flight from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to the southern Austrian city of Graz made a stop in Innsbruck so officials could search for the hamster and make sure it didn't gnaw through any wiring, the airline said.

It said the flight was diverted after a passenger notified the crew that he had brought a hamster aboard and had lost track of it. Passengers were ordered off the plane, and some were taken by bus to Graz. It was not immediately clear how many people were aboard.

By midafternoon, a search of the aircraft still had not turned up any sign of the hamster, authorities said.

Austrian Airlines said the jet would remain grounded until the hamster was found "because it can't take off that way for safety reasons."

Posted by mikki at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ok folks, does this make any sense? An already strained Coast Guard, patrolling the busy Chesapeake Bay and helping the tens of thousand of recreational boaters who may get themselves into trouble in the DC area, are now charged with getting those horrible little aircraft who stray into the horrors of the ADIZ. Note that the story says that the Dolphins WILL be equipped with civilian radios (gee, think that they have yet? Damn, I hope so)

Let's get rid of this Artificial Defense Irrationality Zone and concentrate on actual threats already? How many more years of spending millions of dollars to catch pilots who may not have been paying enough attention, or who are caught by ATC errors? How many more times do we have to hear that nobody who has been caught had any intention of terrorist activities? What a waste!

Coast Guard Takes Over ADIZ Patrol:


Pilots who stumble into the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) above Washington, D.C., now will be intercepted by helicopters flown by the U.S. Coast Guard, which takes over the job from Customs and Border Protection. The change was made official on Monday. "The Coast Guard is fully ready to [provide] air defense in the National Capitol Region," said Rear Adm. David Pekoske at a ceremony. Coast Guard crews will fly orange HH-65C Dolphin helicopters. The Dolphins will be equipped with civilian-frequency VHF radios plus electronic signboards so they can communicate with pilots who might be having radio problems, AOPA said.

Posted by mikki at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Airport Passengers Might Have Their Data Searched:


Professor Orin Kerr notes that the Federal Government has been using recent Fourth Amendment decisions to justify searching travelers' laptops at airports. These searches, which recently incriminated an airline traveler on child sex charges, claim justification under recent Fourth, Fifth...

Posted by mikki at 11:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A wing and a prayer:


by Brian Whitaker

Planes are kept aloft by aerodynamics, not divine intervention. I have often travelled on planes next to Christians who crossed themselves or Muslims who whispered a prayer before take-off. It happens in all faiths, so the reaction of a Canadian airline to a Jewish man who prayed in his seat seems both bizarre and insensitive: he was thrown off the plane.



"He was clearly a Hasidic Jew," said Yves Faguy, a passenger seated nearby. "He had some sort of cover over his head. He was reading from a book. "He wasn't exactly praying out loud but he was lurching back and forth," Faguy added. The action didn't seem to bother anyone, Faguy said, but a flight attendant approached the man and told him his praying was making other passengers nervous. "The attendant actually recognised out loud that he wasn't a Muslim and that she was sorry for the situation but they had to ask him to leave," Faguy said.



A spokeswoman for the airline, Air Canada Jazz, said later there had been more than one complaint about the man's behaviour and that the crew had acted "in the interest of the majority of passengers". Whether the passengers' alleged nervousness had anything to do with terrorism is unclear - though Jazz does seem extremely hot on security. So much so that one of its pilots was locked out of his own cockpit last month after going to the toilet.

Posted by mikki at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Canadian pilot's toilet drama:


Passengers on a Canadian plane had an unsettling in-flight experience after the pilot found himself locked out of the cockpit after a trip to the toilet. Instead of slipping back inside, the Air Canada Jazz pilot was seen banging on the door and talking to his first officer on an internal phone. Crew members were forced to take the door off its hinges to let him back in. An airline spokeswoman said the first officer could have landed the flight by himself, and there had been no danger. The incident happened on an internal flight from the Canadian capital Ottawa to Winnipeg, Manitoba. The pilot went to use the toilet at the back of the Bombardier CRJ-100 plane, which carries about 50 passengers, with about 30 minutes of the flight left to go.

Posted by mikki at 09:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

TheDenverChannel.com - News - Marshals: Innocent People Placed On 'Watch List' To Meet Quota:


DENVER -- You could be on a secret government database or watch list for simply taking a picture on an airplane. Some federal air marshals say they're reporting your actions to meet a quota, even though some top officials deny it.

The air marshals, whose identities are being concealed, told 7NEWS that they're required to submit at least one report a month. If they don't, there's no raise, no bonus, no awards and no special assignments.
"Innocent passengers are being entered into an international intelligence database as suspicious persons, acting in a suspicious manner on an aircraft ... and they did nothing wrong," said one federal air marshal.

These unknowing passengers who are doing nothing wrong are landing in a secret government document called a Surveillance Detection Report, or SDR. Air marshals told 7NEWS that managers in Las Vegas created and continue to maintain this potentially dangerous quota system.

Posted by mikki at 09:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Wired News: Virtual View Aids Plane Landings:


FARNBOROUGH, England -- Nail-biting blind landings in foul weather may soon be a lot less perilous, thanks to a new corporate jet equipment that could find its way into airliner cockpits.

The technology, known as Synthetic Vision Systems, displays a computer-generated view of the terrain ahead -- even in heavy fog or clouds, when the ground can be invisible to other advanced "vision" equipment such as infrared sensors.

Gulfstream Aerospace became the first executive plane maker to announce plans to offer an SVS aboard its jets. The deal was announced at last week's Farnborough Airshow.

Once certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, SVS will result in "more accurate tactical flight decisions by pilots and ultimately increased safety," Gulfstream said.

The Honeywell International equipment chosen by Gulfstream is a highly detailed, three-dimensional Global Positioning System satellite navigation screen for planes.

Posted by mikki at 12:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sky News: World News, Global News and International breaking News.:


Six British Airways staff have complained they were too tired to work after being kept awake by prostitutes and pimps at their hotel.

The cabin crew are facing disciplinary action over the cancellation of a flight from New York to the UK.

The stewards and stewardesses said they were too tired to fly because they were put up in a hotel being used by prostitutes.

They complained they felt unsafe and unable to sleep.

Some said their doors would not lock and that pimps were trying to get into their rooms, forcing them to erect makeshift barricades.

The crew said that BA was initially sympathetic but later reopened inquiries into the incident.

The British Airways Stewards and Stewardesses Association, which represents the cabin crew, said the six were now facing disciplinary action for alleged misconduct.

A BA spokeswoman said: "We held an initial safety inquiry and found that fatigue did not appear to be an issue.

"Nine other crew stayed at the same hotel and all reported fit and well for work the next day. An investigation is continuing to find out all the facts."

Posted by mikki at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In our "adding insult to insult to insult" file....

Meigs: Chicago Pays $200K To Fight $33K Fine:


"It may be time for the city to re-evaluate this strategy," Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a budget watchdog group, told Crain's Business News. The FAA levied the $33,000 fine against the city last October for failing to provide advance notice of its intent to close (that is, bulldoze) Meigs Field three years ago. The city has spent even more to fight FAA allegations that it misused $2.9 million in airport development funds, according to Crain's, and claims the fight is about more than money.

Posted by mikki at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thanks, Gaige. This is just too funny for words. What a loser.

NEWS HILTON'S FLIGHT DRAMA Music, movie & Entertainment News:


Socialite PARIS HILTON was forced to drive from Las Vegas, Nevada to Los Angeles after airline officials told her she couldn't bring her six pets on her planned flight home.
The hotel heiress brought her monkey, tiger and her ferrets

to Sin City for a weekend of partying and was unimpressed when she realised she would have to spend the long drive with all the animals.
Hilton says, "I bought, like, a monkey, a tiger and some ferrets. I tried to bring them on a commercial flight and they wouldn't let me fly with all the animals. They said it wasn't a travelling circus.
"So I had to drive all the way home from Vegas in the limo with all these animals, there was like six. It was a lot."

Posted by mikki at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Guess that we have more to fear on plane flights than bad food and surly flight attendants.

WTOP: Plane Diverted to JFK After Altercation:


NEW YORK (AP) - A flight to Puerto Rico was diverted to John F. Kennedy Airport shortly after takeoff early Sunday because a fight broke out on board, officials said.


Three women were questioned and one was briefly detained, FBI spokeswoman Christine Monaco said. The FBI was still investigating and would decide later whether charges would be filed, Monaco said.


It appeared that one woman had started a fistfight with the other two, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the area's airports.

The fight took place on JetBlue Flight 561, which had taken off from Newark Liberty International in New Jersey and landed at JFK about an hour later, said airline spokeswoman Jenny Dervin. The plane took off again from JFK about an hour later with the remaining 147 passengers and six crew members, she said.

Posted by mikki at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pilot suffering heart attack makes emergency landing before dying:


BRIGHAM CITY, Utah — A pilot suffering a heart attack made an emergency landing on a highway, saving his three passengers shortly before he died.
Jack Francis, 61, president of Francis Trucking in Brigham City, took off from Jackpot, Nev., and was headed home with his wife and another couple when he suffered a heart attack Sunday morning, Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Derek Jensen said.

He landed the single-engine Cessna 185 on Utah 30 near Park Valley and was taken to Bear River Hospital in Tremonton, where he died, Jensen said.

The plane went off the highway and hit a fence before coming to a stop, but the passengers were not injured.

"He basically saved these other three peoples' lives by landing the plane on the highway,'' Jensen said.

Posted by mikki at 10:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY :: Pilot Grabs Snake, Lands Plane:


(CHARLESTON, W.Va.) -- The much-talked-about movie "Snakes on a Plane" doesn't open until August. But Monty Coles doesn't have to see it. He's lived it.

Three-thousand feet in the air on Saturday, he discovered a four-and-a-half-foot black snake peering out at him from the instrument panel of his Piper Cherokee.

He'd already been preparing to land in southern Ohio after a flight from West Virginia.

He tried to swat the snake. But it just fell to his feet under the rudder pedals, and then darted to the other side of the cockpit.

So, while flying the plane with one hand, Coles grabbed the snake behind its head with his other hand, even as it coiled around his arm.

Next, he told the control tower he needed emergency landing clearance -- and that he had "one hand full of snake and the other hand full of plane."

He says he was cleared right in.

Coles made a smooth landing, then posed for pictures with the snake, before letting it loose.

Posted by mikki at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BillingsGazette.com :: Nobody hurt as small plane hits truck:


CODY -- Cliches and vehicles collided in the South Fork Valley on Sunday when pilot William Johnsey learned firsthand that no good deed goes unpunished, and any landing you can walk away from is a good one.

Johnsey struck a Wyoming Game and Fish truck while trying to land to tell biologist Mark Bruscino about a herd of elk he had seen from the air. Neither man was injured.

Johnsey had been flying a Piper Super Cub 150 for the Hoodoo Ranch, checking on cattle in the area.

"We've got about 370,000 acres," Johnsey said. "So it's kind of hard to cover it all with just horses."

Posted by mikki at 01:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pilots flying on a wing and a prayer | Oddly Enough | Reuters.co.uk:


DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish Catholic priests illegally broadcasting Mass over the radio to housebound parishioners are suspected of creating a safety hazard for trans-Atlantic jets, officials said on Tuesday.

Irish communications regulator ComReg has spoken to three churches in central Ireland to warn them that their unlicensed transmission of daily and Sunday services might be creating problems for airliners as they flew overhead.

"I knew it was sort of a grey area but I didn't know we were breaking the law," Father Brendan Quinlan, a Dublin parish priest, told the Irish Independent.

The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said that pilots on trans-Atlantic flights have complained to air traffic control for more than a year of hearing static on their radios.


"We believe that (the Mass broadcasts) are possibly the source of the interference. I understand that ComReg are closing down the priests for want of a better term," IAA spokeswoman Lilian Cassin said.

Posted by mikki at 01:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

D'oh! Imagine bidding tens of thousands of dollars on ebay without bothering to read whether or not your purchase can be SHIPPED to you!

Man wants refund for fighter jet purchase - Yahoo! News:


BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese businessman who bought a Russian fighter jet online wants his money back after finding it could not be shipped to China, state media reported on Tuesday.


Zhang Cheng, a Beijing businessman, bid $24,730 (13,330 pounds) and paid a $2,000 deposit for the former Czech air force plane on Chinese-based eBay, Xinhua news agency said.

But legal experts informed Zhang that the MiG-21, located in Idaho in the United States, was "almost impossible to ship back", Xinhua said, quoting the Beijing Times.

Moreover, the seller had clearly confined the destination of the plane to the United States and Canada, Xinhua quoted a member of eBay's public relations staff as saying.

Chinese Web surfers have accused Zhang of trying to gain fame, but others suggest it merely shows the improved living standards of the Chinese, Xinhua said.

The buyer, however, said he was building a collection.

"I like to collect valuable items," he said. "I have the buying power and my company has an empty space where I can display the plane."

Posted by mikki at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Watch the amazing fun when a thunderstorm looms near Memphis, and what all the little ant like airplanes do. Watch Fedex Arrivals During Thunderstorm and have a good laugh.

Posted by mikki at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I wanna go!!! ZOOOOOM!!!!

Japan and NASA team up for SuperConcorde:

Scramjet up the JAXA

Japan's space agency JAXA has confirmed it will start full-scale development of a passenger plane based on scramjet technology. The Japanese are courting NASA's collaboration on the project, which could bear some hypersonic fruit by 2025.…

Posted by mikki at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Coach passengers arrested for moving to first class:


Cory Doctorow:

14 Air Pakistan passengers awarded themselves an upgrade to the empty first class cabin of a flight from Islamabad to Manchester that was stuck, sweltering on the Islamabad tarmac for four hours. They switched to first class mid-flight and refused to go back to cattle-class. When the flight landed in the UK, they were arrested "on suspicion of endangering the aircraft."

Link

Posted by mikki at 09:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Watching CNN I saw this quite interesting story about an American Airlines flight from Dallas to Newark that was detained on landing by TSA and taken to a secure area. 5 passengers were removed for questioning, and all the baggage was offloaded and screened. All the other passengers were interviewed and bussed to terminals.

Their suspicious activity? Sitting and talking together about their flight training they had just undergone for helicopters and having "navigation devices." According to a retired flight attendant passenger, they were doing nothing untoward, and had one glass of wine each, then took a nap.

It is so comforting to know that the TSA is doing so much to promote flight training and general aviation as to automatically put flight students and/or pilots into the "possible terrorist" category just by talking to each other and existing. Many pilots I know routinely used to carry flight manuals and handheld GPS devices in their carry on baggage, especially when going to and from training, or to pick up an aircraft and transport it elsewhere. Does this mean that we all deserve "special scrutiny?"

Meantime we only screen a very small percentage of cargo that goes on board an aircraft, not to mention the cargo that comes into ports. Which is the greater threat? Some kid with a Gleim manual and an E6B or Cr in a bag?

Get over yourselves, TSA and so the REAL job you're here for. Stop chasing ghosts in the general aviation world, and start screening ALL cargo.

Posted by mikki at 06:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Judge to RyanAir: no valuables in checked bags? Bull!:


Cory Doctorow:

RyanAir -- the discount Irish airline -- lost a reporter's prescription shades, and refused to compensate him for them, citing abusive fine-print on their tickets and other legal mumbo-jumbo. The reporter took them to a UK small claims court and they fought it (spending far more than they would have had to to settle his £100 claim) and then, when the judge ruled against them, argued that they needed extra time to raise the £100! (Ryanair's present valuation is £4.2 billion).

I reported the loss the next morning, via expensive phone calls (Ryanair’s number is a premium-rate line) and then faxes. Ryanair refused to consider my claim, aiming a double-barrelled shotgun at me. Bang: I had not filled in a Property Irregularity Report at Stansted, detailing my loss. Bang: I should not have packed “valuable” spectacles in my checked baggage...

The judge did, however, quite like my rhetorical rejection of Ryanair’s valuables argument. Where, I wanted to know, did the lawyers pack their no-doubt valuable suits, if not in checked-in luggage? The judge upped the ante. What about the value of an Armani suit packed in a suitcase? In any case, said the spectacle-wearing Solomon, loads of people pack a pair of spare specs in their checked-in luggage as a matter of course. What’s more, there was no mention of spectacles among the “valuable” items excluded from compensation in the Ryanair bumf.

Link

(via Consumerist)

Posted by mikki at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

F-22 Raptor swallows pilot | The Register:


A hapless US Air Force pilot had to be physically cut free from the cockpit of his F-22A Raptor when the canopy resolutely refused to open, Flight International reports.
The mini-drama unfolded on 10 April at the 27th Fighter Squadron's base at Langley AFB, Virginia, when the canopy "became stuck in the down and locked position and could not be opened manually after the pilot cycled the mechanism several times, following a pre-flight warning that the canopy was unlocked".

Accordingly, an emergency team of ground operatives moved in after five hours and attacked the $134m Raptor with a decidedly unstealthy and low-tech chainsaw with which they unceremoniously sawed open the offending canopy. The estimated repair bill is a whopping $180,000.

Posted by mikki at 09:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First Coast News - Florida State News - Woman Finds TSA Uniform In Her Luggage:


CLEARWATER, FL -- An airline passenger made a surprising discovery after flying from New Jersey to Florida -- When she opened her luggage, she found a uniform belonging to the Transportation Security Administration.

"I couldn't believe what was on there," Debra Sanders said.

"Patches for homeland security, TSA all over it, and then the name tag with the number."

Debra Sanders says she's concerned about what this means for airport security, but she hopes it was just an honest mistake.

The TSA says her luggage wasn't searched by a TSA employee because there was no note left in her suitcase stating it was physically searched.

Debra says she's certain someone had access to her bag.

Posted by mikki at 11:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Time for my periodic rant about the ADIZ, that lovely defense zone that descended like a pall over Washington, DC area airspace after large jets on IFR flight plans were hijacked by criminal terrorists and crashed into various locations, only one of which being near Washington, DC. As has been demonstrated time and time again, the ADIZ has done nothing but cost pilots enormous sums of money and license suspensions for inadvertently skirting a corner of it. Even the occasional confused idiot who causes worldwide news by causing the Secret Service to tell people to "run for their lives" has turned out to be about as much actual threat as my pointing this out to you. However, since the government ordered public testimony about the ineffectiveness of the ADIZ stricken from the public record, perhaps THEY think talking about it is a threat, but last I checked the First Amendment was still in place.

Today's rant comes from spending an hour flying patterns in the 1/2 my Piper Arrow III, a sweet little plane that I don't spend enough time in. It was a beautiful day outside, scattered clouds, 65 degrees, and enough wind to make life fun. As I drove through the gate, I couldn't help but notice that the ramp was sadly empty of aircraft.
Before 9/11, I would have had to dodge many parked aircraft, wait for several more to pass by, and possibly even drive on the grass to get to the hangar. Not today. One business jet was sitting on the ramp getting service, but that's about it.

After preflight, I filed the trusty ADIZ flight plan, letting them know we were doing pattern practice (we being the royal me, AND Paul the always happy flight instructor) in 15 minutes. It took me awhile, but I remembered which side of the aircraft has the door, where to park my butt, where to plug in the headset, and sort of how to work the radios again. As we taxied to the runway, there was nobody in line in front of us. Pre 9/11, the pattern would have been FULL of airplanes, and we would have opted to go to Carroll County or even Frederick to avoid the Gaithersburg Zoo. Again, not today. No go arounds caused by people dawdling on the runway. No 360s for spacing. No crazy procedures to avoid pattern crashers. Also, maybe one flight instructor on duty.

Back in the "old days" it was common for fights to break out on frequency, 7 or so flight instructors with students in the pattern, a couple of first solos, and some all around fun had by all. People trembled with fear at the idea of the Gaithersburg pattern. If you learned to fly at Gaithersburg, you would likely become confused by a towered airport, since it just didn't make sense to space airplanes so far apart when two could land on the same runway at the same time. Imagine them telling you to hold short when you know you can pull out in front of that airplane on short final and be off the ground before you could say "cleared for take off"

So what's the problem today? Why have most businesses packed up and left good ole Montgomery County Airpark? After all, it's not THAT difficult to file a flight plan and get a squawk code, then get released to leave. Coming back in may or may not be much trouble. Why would so many people (and their money, and the jobs that money generates) leave the airport?

I think that some of the reason is the type of pilot that often flew out of Montgomery. Many were pilots who simply wanted to punch holes in the sky, taking a short trip for a nice lunch, meandering wherever they chose, not asking permission, or having to talk to controllers. To that type of pilot, the freedom of a sunny day and a full tank of gas is utterly ruined by having to decide beforehand where you are going, when you are going, how long it will take you, and not deviating from that path for fear of significant reprisals. That type of pilot either stopped flying completely, or left for another airport. Then, of course, there's the price of aviation gas, now about 4.50 per gallon at the airport. Many cloud chasers just can't, or choose not to afford those types of prices, especially combined with the decrease in convenience level of just flying around for fun.

It's sad that the "freedom of flying" has been replaced by miniature economic melt downs in ADIZ bound airports. Especially since the is no demonstrable upside to the inconvenience. I'm one of the few who actually misses the sound of small aircraft engines flying directly over my house down the North/South VFR flyway.

Perhaps someday sanity will return.

Posted by mikki at 02:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CNN.com - 33 hurt in superjumbo safety drill - Mar 26, 2006:


HAMBURG, Germany (AP) -- Thirty-three people suffered minor injuries Sunday during a crucial evacuation drill for the new Airbus A380 superjumbo jet.

One man broke his leg and 32 other people suffered minor injuries during the exercise in which 853 people and 20 crew members from airline Lufthansa AG exited the plane on slides in a darkened hangar.

Aviation authorities mandate specific evacuation times for jet models, and the drill was a critical test for the jet, which will be the world's largest passenger model when it begins commercial service.

The double-deck A380 can hold as many 873 people, including crew.

Posted by mikki at 09:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WTOP: FAA Reportedly Dismissed Moussaoui Concern:


ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A manager at an Arizona flight school that trained one of the Sept. 11 pilot-hijackers testified at the Zacarias Moussaoui trial Wednesday that she called the Federal Aviation Administration with concerns over his qualifications for a pilot license, but her concerns were dismissed by an FAA official.

Margaret Chevrette, manager at the flight school, was testifying in the death-penalty trial of Moussaoui, who has confessed to being an al-Qaida terrorist.

It was the second time this week jurors heard witnesses testify that people in positions of authority in the federal government responded either slowly, negatively _ or not at all _ to warnings about a possible a possible terrorist attack.

Chevrette said that the school's student, Hani Hanjour, lacked adequate English skills to gain his pilot's license. An FAA official responded to her concerns by suggesting that Hanjour could use an interpreter even though mastery of English is a requirement for a pilot.

Chevrette said that when the Sept. 11 attacks occurred, she knew Hanjour must have been involved.

"I remember crying all the way to work knowing our company helped to do this," she said.

Posted by mikki at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Illegal radio broadcasts interfering with airline pilots in Miami: South Florida Sun-Sentinel:


MIAMI -- Pilots coming and going from Miami International Airport are getting an earful of something unexpected: Hip-hop tunes from a pirate radio station.

The music comes on a pair of frequencies from a station that calls itself Da Streetz.

>Authorities traced the signals to a large radio antenna on tower mounted on a nearby warehouse in a Miami suburb, but did not find a radio transmitter or disc jockey.

And Da Streetz remains on the air, interfering at times with communications between pilots and the control tower.

``It's intermittent. Not all day, everyday,'' said Kathleen Bergen, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman. ``But clear communication between air control and the pilots is a critical part of flying.''

Posted by mikki at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ADIZ Prompts Airport Expansion:


It's a general rule that if there are losers there must be winners and Cambridge-Dorchester County Airport in Maryland is planning to take full advantage of the challenges faced by its neighbors. The airport is just outside the Washington Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and traffic counts have been up considerably since the imposition of the complication-inducing restrictions at other airports. Operations increased by about 15 percent last year, largely due to an influx of recreational pilots skirting the zone. Now the local county council is hoping to attract charter operations by lengthening the runway.

Posted by mikki at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tiger Awaiting Further Investment:


The Catch-22 that often afflicts capital-intensive businesses like aircraft manufacturers has apparently affected production at Tiger Aircraft. The Martinsburg Journal reported last week that the company needs more money from its investors to ramp up production and meet demand for the sporty touring aircraft first made by Grumman in the 1970s. The West Virginia plant has been making airplanes since 2002 but in December of 2005 it laid off eight of 28 employees despite a fat order book. "Right now I have the biggest backlog (of customers) in the company's history," President Gene Criss said. But without another cash infusion, Tiger can't boost production to meet the demand. "It takes money to make money," Criss said. He said he expects things to turn around in the next few months.

Posted by mikki at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Great. Now some idiot who "learned" how to fly from another idiot who couldn't read a sectional chart wants to teach others how to fly? Problem is, some people are stupid enough to believe his ridiculous claim that there isn't enough structure and will actually pay the fool money. Here's hoping he flunks his CFI tests.

ADIZ-Busting Pilot Plans Flight School Chain:


If you believe that it's best to learn from the mistakes of others, Troy Martin has a deal for you. If the name rings a bell it's because the 37-year-old was at the center of one of the most infamous navigational miscues in general aviation history. He was in the left seat of a Cessna 150 when he and Hayden L. "Jim" Scheaffer came within a mile or so of the White House in May 2005. Martin, a student pilot at the time, said the incident showed him that there are big holes in pilot training, holes his company, Martin Aviation Group, hopes to fill with what he says is his new approach to teaching people to fly. "There's just not a lot of structure today with how people learn to fly," he told the Lancaster, Penn., Sunday News, adding that there should be more government oversight to ensure pilots stay sharp.

Posted by mikki at 07:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pilot Says He Was A Passenger In Crash Plane:


An Ohio flight instructor says the NTSB is wrong to assume that just because he was the only one aboard a plane with the proper credentials that he was the pilot in command. Matthew Sullivan, 24, of Dublin, Ohio, was sitting in the right front seat of a Bonanza when it crashed a mile short of Rock Hill/York County Airport in South Carolina in July. "I was strictly a passenger," Sullivan told the Rock Hill Herald. There were two other pilots on board, including the owner of the plane, and both died in the crash. The owner, Dr. Bill Coulman, sat in the back and Eric Johnson, whom Sullivan understood to be an experienced ex-military pilot, was in the left seat. But it was an IFR flight and only Sullivan held the instrument rating. He's also an instructor. And the story could be much more complicated.

Posted by mikki at 07:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Russian pilots protest bill to allow downing of hijacked planes:


[JURIST Europe] Russian civil aviation pilots have drafted an address to President Vladimir Putin expressing concern over a provision in a new anti-terrorism bill allowing for the shooting-down of hijacked planes. The bill was passed last month [JURIST re

Posted by mikki at 07:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WTOP: Northwest Says Passengers Were Ill, Not Injured:


CHANTILLY, Va. - There were no injuries aboard a plane that was diverted to Dulles Airport Wednesday. Northwest Airlines says three passengers who were taken to a hospital were ill.

Flight 230 was headed from Detroit to Reagan National Airport but landed instead at Dulles Airport shortly after 4 p.m.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority says three people from the plane were taken to Reston Hospital.

He did not know the nature of the illnesses.

A statement from the airline says the plane landed at Dulles due to weather conditions in the D.C. area.

The National Weather Service had a wind advisory in effect for the Washington region until about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, and said winds gusting to 40 miles-per-hour were expected through sunset.

Posted by mikki at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CNN.com - One really long runway for rent -- call NASA - Mar 15, 2006:


CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- For rent: 15,000-foot runway. Aircraft hangar included. Affordable. Historic. Scenic Florida location.

That's how a classified advertisement might read if NASA advertised its plan to make some money on the long air strip normally used by space shuttles.

As the shuttle program shuffles to its close in 2010, the pristine runway will be used less and less. No reason it should sit empty -- especially with commercial space flight about to take off.

"We've invited companies to test drive the shuttle landing facility," said Jim Ball, the NASA official who is spearheading private business ventures at Kennedy. "The key No. 1 thing we wish to demonstrate is that the Kennedy Space Center is willing to support missions other than space."

Posted by mikki at 01:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CNN.com - Crash kills former game show host, wife - Mar 13, 2006:


SANTA MONICA, California (AP) -- A former TV game show host and his wife were killed Monday morning when their small plane crashed into Santa Monica Bay, authorities said. Rescue crews were searching for a third person also aboard the plane.

The bodies of Peter Tomarken, 63, host of the hit 1980s game show "Press Your Luck," and his wife, Kathleen Abigail Tomarken, 41, were identified by the Los Angeles County coroner's office.

The plane was on its way to San Diego to ferry a medical patient to the UCLA Medical Center, said Doug Griffith, a spokesman for Angel Flight West, a nonprofit which provides free air transportation for needy patients.

Posted by mikki at 03:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Collateral Damage And Public Relations:


DC Pilots, a well-connected and media-savvy online association of those most directly affected by the ADIZ and other Washington-area flying challenges, was the first to notice the transcript's absence. From there, word spread quickly until AOPA was motivated by the event to file a Freedom of Information request to have the transcript (the whole thing) put "back in public view." AOPA President Phil Boyer is shouting his disdain from the rooftops. "How ridiculous can you get?" Boyer said. "These were public meetings covered by the news media. Nothing was said that wasn't already in the more than 21,000 written comments. Do they honestly think security information was disclosed during the public meetings?" As of Friday, it seems the TSA doesn't.

Posted by mikki at 08:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What We're (Not) Allowed To Say In Public:


If there was one speaker at the meeting who stood out in the minds of those attending, it was Lt. Cmdr. Tom Bush, a Navy F/A-18 pilot from Oceana Naval Air Station who regularly flies his Mooney to Washington on Navy business. It's possible that Lt. Cmdr. Bush (no relation) has some insights or operational experience that give him a more holistic view of the ADIZ, but, speaking as a private citizen at the hearing, even he didn't appear to give away any state secrets. He did offer some quotable comments ("Freedom and security are polar opposites, and I am not willing to give up my freedom for the sake of terrorists") but NORAD seems to have focused its attention on his more tangible calculation, as presented to the meeting, that while on an approved approach to Dulles, he could make a turn and have his Mooney over the White House in four minutes.

Posted by mikki at 08:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

History of Aviation Flight Recorders:


One of the greatest safety inventions for the commercial airline industry has been the crash protected flight recorder, more commonly called the “Black Box.” Today, flight recorders for accident investigation are mandatory pieces of equipment in civil aircraft. Flight recorders have changed in design and airline usefulness over the past 40 years.

First Generation Foil Recorders -- Efforts to require crash-protected flight recorders date back to the 1940s. The introduction of Flight Data Recorders (FDR), however, experienced many delays.  That’s because technology could not match the design requirements of a unit that could survive the forces of an aircraft crash and the resulting fire exposure until 1958, when the world authorities approved a minimum operating requirements for an FDR. This was about the beginning of the so-called “Jet Age,” with the introduction of such aircraft as the Boeing 707, Douglas DC-8 and the Caravelle.  The initial requirement of these newly mandated data recorders was to record the actual flight conditions of the aircraft, i.e., heading, altitude, airspeed, vertical accelerations, and time.  These early devices had very limited recording capabilities.  The five analog parameters mentioned above were embossed onto a metal foil (Incanol Steel), which was used only once. The foil was believed to be nearly indestructible; however, crash survival remained a serious problem.  Eventually, in 1965, the recorders were upgraded from their original specification of 100g impact to 1,000gs.  With just five parameters, however, there were not enough recorded data for meaningful accident investigation.  Consequently, in 1987, these recorders became unacceptable to most government regulatory authorities and additional parameters were required.

Posted by mikki at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stupid Security | NORAD Orders Deletion of Public Hearing Transcript:


Bob Stratton writes:
As you know, there are "security theatre" flight restrictions in approximately a 30-mile radius around the two largest Washington D.C. airports and Baltimore-Washington airport. (There are other restrictions within a 15 mile radius, but I'm referring specifically to the "D.C. ADIZ" or "Air Defense Identification Zone." Aero-News.net comes today with this story.

Due to long-standing Congressional orders and intense public outcry, several government agencies have held public hearings to solicit input on the impact of these restrictions on aviation, whether businesses or private individuals. At last count there were 21476 submissions on this matter in FAA's document management system - overwhelmingly negative.

It now comes out that the transcript of one of these PUBLIC HEARINGS has been whisked into the memory hole. It seems a Navy pilot made a few comments about the ineffective nature of the ADIZ procedures around D.C. and happened to describe exactly how one would demonstrate their futility. Oops.

In case you're worried that this is "helping the terrorists", I'm compelled to mention that the evil procedure is the aviation equivalent of saying "drive 10 miles and take a left at the gas station."

The government is pitching this as an inappropriate leak of "special knowledge" by an insider, but anyone with a basic knowledge of aviation or physics would intuitively have the same knowledge.

Then again, if we hide all information about the lack of effectiveness of our countermeasures, maybe the public will sleep better. Yeah, that's it!

Thanks, Bob! Perhaps if the Emperor can suppress certain stories about his clothes, he'll stay warm!

Update: 03/11 18:52 GMT by N:

The CNET story to which Aero-news referred is here. It goes into a little more detail about the Forbidden Knowledge that apparently triggered this deletion.

Posted by mikki at 04:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

CNN.com - LaGuardia terminal evacuated; departures halted - Mar 10, 2006:


NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Delta terminal at LaGuardia Airport in New York City was evacuated for about two hours Friday after a man whose shoes provided an initial positive alert for explosives left the screening area, the Transportation Security Administration said.

Authorities gave no indication whether the man had been found.

TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said the man had taken off his shoes for the test, but then put them back on and left about 2:50 p.m. before authorities had finished screening him.

"TSA Security and Port Authority Police are searching for him now," she said at the time. "He's going to have to come out at some point."

Davis said she was not sure why the man had been targeted for what the TSA calls a secondary screening -- which involves security officers passing a metal-detecting wand around a person's body.

The TSA said an electronic trace detection machine returned a positive alert for explosives, but such machines also can give an alert on benign substances.

Authorities said they were stopping all outgoing flights from terminal D until the man is found, and Delta spokesman Anthony Black said takeoffs should resume around 7 p.m. Inbound flights were not affected.

Passengers were allowed back into the terminal at around 5 p.m., and everyone was in the process of being screened again, said TSA spokesman Darin Kayser.

Posted by mikki at 07:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, does this make sense to you? You may not have to stay in your seat going into or out of Washington National. BUT, you sure can't fly a small plane there either. Nor can you fly a small plane anywhere near this lame defense zone you've already seen me ranting about before. So does this make sense?

As we all know, the 9/11 attacks were undertaken by those hijacking large commercial jets. The rule was put into effect so that if someone stands up so close to the White House and Congress, the flight crew would immediately divert to Dulles to prevent a possible hijacking.

So as these rules are slowly being relaxed back to pre-9/11 standards, can we get the rest of the airspace put back as well? Especially given that GA pilots are of such little threat? I'm not holding my breath.

30-Minute Airport Rule to Be Lifted:


U.S. authorities will suspend a rule that has kept airline passengers in their seats for 30 minutes while approaching or taking off from Reagan National Airport, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced yesterday as he unveiled a broad reorganization of his fledgling department.

The unpopular 2001 restriction has been rendered obsolete by security improvements, including hardened cockpit doors and armed federal air marshals aboard Washington flights, Chertoff said. Calling the change an example of the department's new flexibility, officials said they will lift the rule next week after issuing directives to airlines.

Posted by mikki at 02:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So why did the airplane crash in the field? The simple explanation is "gravity." But, of course, there is much more to it. The stark headline from WTOP said, "BOWIE, Md. - Two men are dead and a woman is critically injured after their small plane crashed nose first into a field at Freeway Airport Wednesday during heavy snow." Again, that doesn't tell the whole story.

Why do I care? I didn't know any of the people involved in the crash. I didn't see it. It didn't occur at my airport. I didn't have a dream foretelling it. But I am a pilot, and as a pilot I have been confronted with many decisions, any one of which can begin a failure chain which could result in a similar fatal accident killing everyone in the aircraft. That, and someone I knew attempted to make that airport in similar bad weather, also chose not to go to a larger alternate airport, and also died.

So what happened here? In simple terms, a pilot chose to leave an airport in Warrenton, VA in a snow storm with very low clouds, enroute to Freeway Airport, located near Bowie, Maryland. He had two people on board a Cessna 172, and flew northeast, into weather that was not forecast to be very good. The pilot chose Freeway because he had a passenger to pick up there, despite the fact that Freeway airport's runway is 2400 feet long by 40 feet wide, which is not wide enough to include the wings on most aircraft. It is obstructed on one side by power lines. On a good day, it is a challenging airport. On a day with very low visibility in instrument conditions, it is not an airport I would even consider.

Continue reading "Why Did the Plane Crash in the Field?" »

Posted by mikki at 03:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Female-pilot and female-rew flies Pakistani passenger plane:


First Pakistani passenger plane with a female pilot and all-woman crew flew on a domestic flight this week, making aviation history in the Islamic nation, an airline official said Friday. Now the pilot, Ayesha Rabia Naveed, 48, who already has 6,000 hours' experience flying as a co-pilot with Pakistan International Airlines, aims to captain larger jet airliners for the national carrier

Posted by mikki at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Go John. This is the exact same argument that's been put forth regarding the ADIZ around the DC area. All theater, no real use.

Airline Security Theater Considered Harmful:

Bruce Schneier
points out in Wired
that not only is airline security such as is currently supplied by TSA is mostly security theater to make people feel better
rather actually do anything to make them safer (he's said that before),
but he also listed numerous other problems and proposed what to do instead.
I've got a few further suggestions.

Some other problems Schneier listed:

• the various no-fly lists were poorly designed and poorly implemented
• 
  critiques of that by Schneier and others were apparently removed from the TSA web pages
  
• 
  Registered Traveler programs don't improve security: they're about convenience and their vendors making money
  
• 
  even that last is dubious, since uptake has been much lower than expected
  

He sums it up by saying what everybody who has paid attention already knows:

Exactly two things have made airline travel safer since 9/11: reinforcement of cockpit doors, and passengers who now know that they may have to fight back.
Airline Security a Waste of Cash Wiredby Bruce Schneier, 02:00 AM Dec. 01, 2005 PT

Then he suggests what to do about it:

Everything else -- Secure Flight and Trusted Traveler included -- is security theater. We would all be a lot safer if, instead, we implemented enhanced baggage security -- both ensuring that a passenger's bags don't fly unless he does, and explosives screening for all baggage -- as well as background checks and increased screening for airport employees.

Then we could take all the money we save and apply it to intelligence, investigation and emergency response. These are security measures that pay dividends regardless of what the terrorists are planning next, whether it's the movie plot threat of the moment, or something entirely different.

If we used some of that money to improve emergency communications (fire, police, paramedics, etc.) in likely target areas for not only terrorist attacks but also for other big risks (hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, fires, etc.) we'd make the country more resilient. We could even do this by encouraging municipal wireless networks by having emergency responders' communications go over redundant wireless meshes that their communications budgets paid for, instead of the several non-interoperating types of communications networks they use now. All this should also provide an economic boost by making air travel much more pleasant and thus encouraging more people to fly, and by promoting a municipal wireless industry. 

Where's a politician willing to stand up and say what we're doing now isn't working, and we need to change to something that will do some good instead of wasting money?

-jsq

Posted by mikki at 01:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gee, wonder what happens now, since Potomac Airfield was closed due to "security violations" by our happy fun TSA. Do they get compensated for THAT closing as well?

And how about the rest of the airports whose business dried up within the new ADIZ? Not to mention those of us pilots for whom flying is no longer the fun it used to be. Tough to have fun or train students when you know that certain mistakes can cause loss of license, fighter escort, or death.

Md. Airports to Get Compensation for 9/11 Losses - WTOP Radio:


WASHINGTON - Three small Maryland airports that have faced restrictions since the 9/11 attacks stand to get some compensation under a larger spending bill now awaiting the President's signature.
The bill includes $5 million dollars for College Park Airport, Potomac Airfield in Fort Washington and Washington Executive-Hyde Field in Clinton.

The three airports were closed for a while after the attacks, and all three remain under strict security rules because of their proximity to Washington.

Airport officials say those rules have hurt business.

President Bush is expected to sign the overall bill.

(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Posted by mikki at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Someone please tell me why, after just about every airplane crash, some bonehead questions the safety of the airport? They talk about closing airports, they talk about making it more difficult to fly, etc. etc. Conversely, whenever there's an accident on the Beltway, the ROAD itself is not analyzed, nor is driving made more difficult.

Despite Crashes, Leesburg Airport Considered Safe - WTOP Radio:


Despite Crashes, Leesburg Airport Considered Safe
Updated: Friday, Nov. 11, 2005 - 9:34 AM

LEESBURG, Va. -- The fatal crash near the Leesburg Executive Airport Wednesday was the fifth in three years. Nine people died in those crashes. So is there a problem at that airport?
"This is a very safe airport," said Chris Dancy of Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. "At this point it's far too early to know if there's any trend."

The airport handled 94,000 takeoffs and landings in each of the last three years - a 10 percent increase since the regional air space restrictions went into effect after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Dancy said Leesburg has a good safety record, even without a control tower or instrument landing system.

Posted by mikki at 02:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ok. Let me get this straight. Rather than teach TSA workers about all the various names that we Americans have, and to learn how to figure out variations of those names, the burden is placed on Muslim Americans, who are asked to fill out forms providing highly sensitive information, and provide 3 government issued IDs, in order to not be harassed while flying on aircraft in their home country? Of course, caucasians, hispanics, etc. etc. are not being asked to register in order to fly on aircraft. Only the Muslims. And...they are asked to provide a LOT more identification than the rest of us are, to be treated the same way. What's wrong with this picture? It's bad enough that we have to provide our "papers" without proper legal justification in order for us to travel domestically (and yes, I agree with Jon Gilmore - it is unconstitutional to force me to provide "my paper" in order to travel domestically), but Muslim Americans get to do this x3. And this was suggested by TSA's head of Civil Rights?!?!?!

It's more than time for an attitude adjustment at TSA.

Aljazeera.Net - US Muslim travellers urged to register:


The head of civil rights for the US Department of Homeland Security is urging Muslim air travellers to register with the federal government before flying to reduce the chances they might be stopped at an airport.


The reasons for this may be because their name is on or similar to names on an anti-terrorism watch list.

Registering by completing a form and providing copies of documents will not eliminate the chance that a Muslim traveller will be singled out for closer scrutiny before or after flying, but the department wants to improve its relations with Muslims and Arab-Americans, said Daniel Sutherland.

"We need to listen to their concerns," he said at a seminar on Homeland Security sponsored by the Knight Centre for Specialised Journalism.

Posted by mikki at 05:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I sit here watching these bomb techs live on CNN "disrupting" a suspicious package in proximity to the Capitol, I have to wonder what the HELL these people are thinking? A Cessna 150 flies close to the Capitol and the Secret Service yells "run for your lives" and evacuates every living creature. This, an aircraft that MAY POSSIBLY MAYBE but not LIKELY have some kind of explosive device or other naughty stuff.

Here, they have a clear and present suspicious package. The device is sitting there in a car. And they evacuate NOBODY. What's wrong with this picture?

Here's what's wrong. It is FAR more likely for a ground based vehicle to be carrying damaging devices to the Capitol or the White House. Yet this laxidazical attitude towards that possibility is epitomized by this known package, yet nobody really seems to care very much. Everyone is speaking in calm tones, nobody is freaked out. The other cases with supposed bombs, and Mr. Farmer Tractor Boy were similarly played out. This, despite the fact that it is far easier to cause lots of difficulty with a car or truck than with an aircraft.

Pilots in the DC area, on the other hand, are treated as potential terrorists from the time they punch their code into the airport gate. Our every move is tracked by governmental employees of one type or another from the point our airplanes begin taxiing across the airport.

Flee before my Piper Arrow III. Flee like a baby cheetah at dinner time. Flee like Ron Brown from responsibility. Flee!

But don't worry about Chevy Impala rental cars with suspicous packages in them.... They're not a "real" problem.

Posted by mikki at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Survivors of Ark. plane crash text for aid

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BIG FLAT, Ark. -- Unable to use their wireless phones to call for help in a conventional way, the pilot and passenger of a small plane that crashed in the rugged Ozark National Forest used text-messaging to contact their parents, who summoned help.

Adam Young, 22, and passenger Brittney Cozart, 19, had flown from Little Rock to a northern Arkansas resort for lunch Sunday and were returning when Young was forced to crash land the single-engine Cessna, Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery said.

Cozart text-messaged her mother, who first contacted authorities, Montgomery said. About an hour later, Young was able to message his father with the downed plane's location.

"When we received the coordinates, that's when we could focus the search," Montgomery said in a telephone interview Monday.

Authorities could not say why the text messaging worked when communication by voice was blocked, but noted they operate on different bandwidths. Officials also cited the mountainous terrain.

Rescue helicopters flew Young and Cozart to hospitals. Young was listed in good condition Monday. No information on Cozart's condition was available.

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the cause of the crash.

Posted by mikki at 08:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And our immediate thought is - not on American Airlines. Besides the lovely attitude with our friends at Dulles, we arrived around 11 am in San Juan. The flight left at 5:50 PM. The good news was that free WiFi was available, and the restaurant we chose had really good food. The bad news was that sitting there hour after hour really wears on you.

After the wait, we were then put in an ATR for the flight to Bonaire. Two hours in WAY too close quarters. There was NO leg room. The man in front put his seat back and SLAMMED into my knees. I'm not that tall. There were a lot bigger people than I was who were stuck in these tiny seats. RJ seats are surprisingly comfortable, but I don't know if they just put too many seats in or what, but it was utterly impossible to get comfortable.

Once we finally arrived, and finally got our HMS Rental Truck, everything else was peachy keen. We are going to have a nice pleasant sleep tonight, and then get signed up for WiFi in the morning so I can post things and be a happy Psycho Sensei once again :-).

Posted by mikki at 09:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, here I sit at a happy fun Free WIFI spot in San Juan en route to Bonaire for a vacation we can't really afford, but need. Just two days ago, I got home from Albany for a "business" trip (kind of). The difference in the two trips was remarkable.

I flew Independence Air to Albany from Dulles for 38.00. Yes, that was 38.00. Despite this low fare, I was treated fabulously by the staff. I checked in online, printed out my boarding pass, proceeded directly to the gate, went through security which had ZERO people in front of me (I thought I was in an alternate universe) and had a comfortable on time departure, an on time arrival, and a flawless happy flight. The flight home was similarly wonderful, despite a flow control issue that left us on a taxiway for 20 extra minutes. The pilot made up the time in the air and we arrived on time.

This morning, we arose at 4 AM (yes, the Psycho Sensei got up at 4 am...mark this day on your calendars) and got to the airport pretty close to our two hours in advance. We travel with a truckload of dive gear and underwater photo gear, so we find ourselves quite burdened. Wes dropped me off since now daily parking is in the South 40 and it takes forever to get back. The hope was for me to check in and deal with the bags, hand him his boarding pass, and we both go through security and board. However, this was not to be. A rather NASTY gate agent (who first admonished me for not waiting till she called the next in line and instead going to an empty kiosk... bad me) told me that TSA regulations state that she can't check Wes in, nor take his bags until he is physically present. I told her there was no such TSA regulation, and asked whether it was an airline rule, or what. She said she didn't know, so I asked for a supervisor. I asked him the same question and was told "It doesn't matter if it's my rule, the airline's rule or the TSA's rule, you're just not doing it." I asked again whose rule it was so that I could never again fly American if they were being so inconvenient for people, and he said "fine" and turned his back on me and walked away.

So, I went forth and dragged my bags BACK from the counter to the TSA X ray machine and waited. And waited. And waited. When Wes finally got back from parking the car, our original check in friend looked up and saw him, then pointedly left. We FINALLY got through that line, then through security (which really wasn't bad. They seem to have improved very very much, thank the Gods), and arrived 8 minutes before boarding.

Now, this American Airlines flight was at quite a high fare, and quite inconvenient (with a 6 hour layover in San Juan with not very much to do, and not even good enough shopping :-)), while Independence Air was at a low rate, so that wasn't the difference. Perhaps the main issue was that Independence Air goes out of its way to be CONVENIENT for its passengers. It has used convenience in an efficient manner, and has found that it indeed keeps prices lower. Making things easy for the customer often results in cost savings, and removes layers of useless steps thus eliminating positions for ineffective or rude employees, thus saving money even in the face of higher prices for fuel.

Passengers on domestic flights are "allowed" to use self service check in terminals. Half of them were inoperative. I tried to use one to check US in, but despite having reservation numbers and the credit card used to make the reservation, the system couldn't find it. Couldn't even check Wes in THAT way. It said domestic only, so even if they did find the reservation, we likely couldn't have completed the check in process, but I thought I'd try anyway.

Such simple concepts. Treat the customer right, look out for their convenience, have electronic aids that WORK, and don't be rude and nasty. It is a shame that some of our iconic American companies have not yet figured out that making the customer HAPPY is not only good business, but can save them money.

Posted by mikki at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yep, I feel SO good about turning over my information to the government. I just know they'll keep it ever so safe. So, what's to keep any of the terrorists from just filling out the same forms we do, getting a clear background check, and winding up on my flight with something nasty that wasn't checked for because they were "trusted?" Isn't it true that most of our 9/11 terrorists had clean backgrounds?

Feds Push Flier Background Checks: "Homeland Security officials quietly lobby Congress to ease oversight of the planned Secure Flight passenger-screening program and allow private databases to help probe travelers' lives. By Ryan Singel. PLUS: Data Dumped in Secure Flight Test"

(Via Wired News.)

Posted by mikki at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some people never learn.... It's worked just SO WELL to prevent terrorism here, that they must MUST use it in Canada.

Canada to develop "no-fly" list to thwart terrorists: "[JURIST] Canadian Transport Minister Jean Lapierre announced [speech text] sweeping security changes to Canadian transportation security Friday, including the creation of an anti-terror 'no-fly' list similar to that created in the US under the Aviation an"

(Via JURIST.)

Posted by mikki at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oh man, these people are hilarious. Reading cnn.com this morning, we find this utterly amazing story:

TORONTO, Ontario (AP) -- Investigators said Friday that the Air France jet that crashed earlier this week appeared to have landed too far down the runway, which may have contributed to it skidding off its path and into a ravine before bursting into flames.

How could they POSSIBLY have come up with such an important conclusion so soon after the accident? What investigative brilliance! What cunning Inspector Clousseau like prowess. What insight!

As RS says "in other news, the airplane had four engines

And here I thought they crashed because they hadn't filed a flight plan.

Posted by mikki at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Remember those naughty nasty big ole commercial airplanes? You know, like the ones that were flown into the World Trade Center? As distinctly different from the little tiny General Aviation aircraft that can't carry enough to be a real danger, but Congress is more afraid of than the actual things used as weapons? Yeah, those. Well, take heart. You'll be able to pee before landing and after take off again.

30-Minute Airport Rule to Be Lifted: "U.S. authorities will suspend a rule that has kept airline passengers in their seats for 30 minutes while approaching or taking off from Reagan National Airport, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced yesterday as he unveiled a broad reorganization of his fledgling department.
"

(Via Washington Post: Intelligence.)

Posted by mikki at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

These people CAN'T be a flaming stupid as they seem, can they? Well, after all, they ARE Congress. Go figure. People who know NOTHING about General Aviation, who have already allowed the Shrub Administration to pretty much destroy all aviation related business within 30 miles of DC, are now going to help drive out the few pilots left who actually have the nerve to fly anywhere near DC in order to get anywhere ELSE in the country.

As if threatening us with being shot down and killed is not enough, now let's hit them in their wallets. Or, maybe shoot them down THEN make their families pay the 100K out of their estates. Yeah, that'll REALLY make people in the DC area feel safer.

Whatever happened to our constitutional "right to travel?" Didn't we used to have one? Don't all of these stupid ass restrictions have to at least pass some semblance of a test to prove that they would actually help fight "terrorism" before wasting taxpayers time and money while our clowns in office make asses out of themselves yet again? Oh well, guess not.

Guess those few Americans (yeah, like citizens...those who are the ones who the whack jobs in government are supposed to be protecting) who are still making a living in the general aviation sector better just pack it in and go work for one of those Dell customer service lines. Ooops, but that would mean a move to India.

Bill Targets Errant Pilots: "Pilots who violate restricted airspace over Washington would be liable for civil fines of up to $100,000 under legislation that is to be introduced today by Republican and Democratic House leaders. Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said he and Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) want to toughen penalties for pilots who breach a 16-mile 'no-fly zone' around the capital. Their bill would also fine pilots as much as $5,000 if they ignore flight rules in a wider Air Defense Identification Zone that extends up to 50 miles from the capital."

(Via .)

Posted by mikki at 11:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

German plane lands on speeding Porsche - Reuters

Wed Jul 6, 7:51 AM ET

A German pilot and driver escaped unhurt when a one-seater plane landed on top of a speeding car at a little-used airport, police in the western town of Bitburg said on Wednesday.

"It was a miracle that no one was hurt. There was considerable damage done to the plane and the car," said Klaus Schnarrbach, spokesman for the Bitburg police.

The driver was racing at 160 kph (100 mph) with 11 other members of a local Porsche club at the airport, a former U.S. air base, when the single-engine plane accidentally landed on his roof. The shocked driver slammed on the brakes, sending the plane crashing to the ground.

"The airplane managed to stay steady on the roof at first," said Schnarrbach, adding the pilot faced possible charges of negligence. "They probably couldn't have done it that well if they had tried," he said.

Posted by mikki at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ya think there's any possible chance that even if laws were to be passed curtailing TSA's free reign over the traveling public that they'd obey it? They already think they've above the law.

CDT Urges Privacy Protection in Air Passenger Screening: "CDT Executive Director Jim Dempsey today warned a House subcommittee that government efforts to create a new air traveler screening system -- called Secure Flight -- have yet to adequately address critical issues concerning the system's effectiveness and ability to protect the privacy and due process rights of Americans. CDT said that the government must develop consistent criteria for adding suspected terrorists to watch lists and should collect from airlines only the minimum amount of data necessary to make effective matches against those lists."

(Via Center for Democracy and Technology.)

Posted by mikki at 06:59 PM | Permalink

I just spent four hours in bumper to bumper stop and go traffic, picking up my husband because the aircraft he was flying in had a transponder failure, thus it was not allowed to return to its airport of origin to protect the world from possible terrorists. The new rule is that nobody without a working transponder can enter the zone within 30 nautical miles of Washington, DC. Protect that shrub!

It didn't matter that the pilot in command and owner of the aircraft in question had been vetted by the Secret Service, who now likely know more about him than his wife does. It didn't matter that the aircraft was on a flight plan and could clearly been seen by radar as following its flight plan. It didn't matter that flight without a transponder is of no hazard to anyone, and it didn't matter that the aircraft was returning to its place of origin after the transponder suddenly failed IN FLIGHT. Nope, none of those things matter to the safety and security of our hallowed leaders who must be kept completely safe from those EVIL Cessna 172s that might possibly dump airplane parts somewhere possibly near enough to the White House to cause a litter hazard.

For those who don't know, a transponder is the little device that broadcasts a code number to air traffic control so that they can positively identify you. In olden times, when a transponder would fail in an area where one was required, one would phone up the nearest facility (or use the radio if they were already in the air) and request a waiver. If there was no hassle, such as overly full airspace, or other unforeseen annoyances, they would say "right o" and that would be that. But not anymore. Now, even if air traffic control wanted to, they can't allow you in because some dipshit with no aviation experience has made the decision FOR us.

I'm just happy that my air conditioner worked in the car while sitting through 4 hours of driving in bumper to bumper traffic.

Posted by mikki at 04:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Boy hailed for air safety gadget: "Boy hailed for air safety gadget Daryn Murray hopes his creation will help prevent plane crashes A Scots schoolboy has been praised by airport bosses after inventing a gadget which could help prevent plane crashes. Daryn Murray's Aircraft Debris Protector warns pilots of dangerous material lying on runways before they prepare to land. The 12-year-old from East Kilbride was inspired by the Concorde crash near Paris which was thought to have been caused by a metal strip on the runway. The British Airport Authority (BAA) is keen to develop the idea. The operator, which owns Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports, believes it could make runways extra safe."

(Via BBC.)

Posted by mikki at 02:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What? Could it possibly be that having to fly in from certain airports after hiring an armed law enforcement person to ride in your airplane, then trying to find a way to get them back to where they started, then hire another one when you decide to leave, and then get them back to DC might be tough for people to do? Really?

Small-Plane Rules Called Too Harsh: "U.S. senators yesterday criticized proposed Transportation Security Administration rules allowing corporate jets and small charter aircraft to return to Reagan National Airport, saying the guidelines were so onerous that few private fliers would meet them."

(Via Washington Post: Metro.)

Posted by mikki at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ok folks, we have people running around crowing about the "win for general aviation" in that we're now being allowed to fly back into DCA. But take a look at these ridiculously lame rules that one must follow. How many of we "little people" will be able to fly one of those four flights per hour for 12 hours per day, with flight crews who have all been fingerprinted and background checked, AND fly to DCA ONLY from one of 12 other airports in the US, AND have an armed law enforcement officer on board? How does that law enforcement officer get from DCA back to, let's say Seattle? Who can afford to pay for all of that?

And let's just put ONE IOTA of thought into this. These extra specially trained TSA agents could easily be knocked over the head by some would be bad guy, who would then impersonate said agent, happily get onto the aircraft, and since they are required to be armed, pull out their happy fun service weapon and what do you think could happen, eh?

Five years later and the terrorists are still winning. Stupid security abounds and we're no safer today than we were 9/10/01.

Only a Few to Fly Private Planes to Reagan - WTOP Radio: "

By LESLIE MILLER
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The loudest applause for Wednesday's announcement that Reagan National Airport will be open to private planes came from people most likely to use Washington's most convenient runways.

The airport, just a few miles from the Capitol and the White House, has been closed to private planes since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Ed Bolen, president of the National Business Aviation Association, characterized the typical private user of the airport as someone in business with "important interests on Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, the executive branch and downtown companies."

Added Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky.: "It's a very important aspect of American political life."

"We are ecstatic," said James Coyne, president of the National Air Transportation Association.

Only people who can afford to comply with the strict security rules are expected to fly aboard private planes into the airport.

More at WTOP

Posted by mikki at 09:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by mikki at 07:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pentagon: Back Off, Flyboy!: "Despite aviation officials' concerns that terrorists or others could use lasers to blind pilots, the Pentagon says it will use the light beams to warn pilots who stray too close to the airspace around the Capitol and White House."

(Via Wired News.)

Posted by mikki at 07:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So there you are, approximately 5 hours or so into your flight, when the aircraft turns around and heads back to Amsterdam. You'd be pretty annoyed, right? I think you just might be even MORE annoyed when you find out that the reason is because two people on the US "no fly" list are on your flight, and so the US won't allow the aircraft to enter US airspace.

At this point, you may ask yourself, how did they work this? Or perhaps more likely, how did they NOT work this? Was it the airline being slow at transmitting the passenger information? (in this case, KLM) Or, was it our illustrious Department of Homeland Security waiting until the flight reached the border of US airspace before it was decided to turn the aircraft away?

Why is it so difficult for airlines and TSA to get their shit together to prevent this type of thing in future? The flight in question went back to Amsterdam, dumped the offending passengers off, (presumably refueled and re-crewed) then headed back to Mexico City, cleared into US airspace this time. Why, in the name of the Goddess, did they not say something like, "oh looky here, there are some naughty passengers on this list. Let's not let them board so that we can fly through US airspace?" Why did the whole planeload of people have to add a minimum of 10 hours to their already long and annoying journey?

Why? Because the desires of the passengers are likely the LAST thing anyone cares about these days. Passengers are treated as a necessary evil, barely tolerated and seen as only good for generating revenue. After all, the IMPORTANT people are flying around on government aircraft or private jets. Who cares about the poor schmuck who has to fly commercial? Why try to rush things so that perhaps the naughty passengers are found before the aircraft leaves the ground, or perhaps an hour into the flight rather than 5? I mean REALLY now! Such a bother to try to get people to do their jobs. *sigh*

More here from CNN

Posted by mikki at 06:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yet another "feel good" measure so that the not so bright masses feel "safe."

Real ID's, Real Dangers
By RICHARD A. CLARKE

Have you ever wondered what good it does when they look at your
driver's license at the airport? Let me assure you, as a former
bureaucrat partly responsible for the 1996 decision to create a
photo-ID requirement, it no longer does any good whatsoever. The
ID check is not done by federal officers but by the same kind of
minimum-wage rent-a-cops who were doing the inspection of carry-on

luggage before 9/11. They do nothing to verify that your license
is real. For $48 you can buy a phony license on the Internet (ask
any 18-year-old) and fool most airport ID checkers. Airport personnel
could be equipped with scanners to look for the hidden security
features incorporated into most states' driver's licenses, but
although some bars use this technology to spot under-age drinkers,
airports do not. The photo-ID requirement provides only a false
sense of security.
From the NY Times

Posted by mikki at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Unable to drop a bad idea, the TSA continues spending yet more money in yet more attempts to do the totally stupid

The Transportation Security Administration continues to push for a centralized passenger-screening system, this time using a combination of airline passenger information, terrorist watch lists and junk-mail databases. By Ryan Singel. [Wired News]

Posted by mikki at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The latest terrorist threat? Bereaved families trying to get their loved one's remains home are likely just putting up a front to smuggle bad things in the URN. Yes, that's right...TSA is now going to require special containers for your loved one's remains so that they can X ray them properly. So, your mother, father, sister, or brother will have to be transported in a plastic baggie or perhaps a nice tupperware container until you get to your destination where a nice, friendly TSA partner funeral home will transfer the remains to something less tacky.

Always looking out for our personal safety, the TSA has offered to "partner" with funeral homes in order to provide this important service. So don't forget when your loved one dies suddenly and/or tragically, causing you to become so grief stricken you can hardly deal with your own life, don't forget to ask your funeral home if they are a TSA partner before you try to get the urn with the remains back home. Else you may not be allowed to take them on the plane with you.

Don't believe me? Check out their notice . So glad to see our government is out there taking care of us.

Posted by mikki at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Privacy? What is privacy?

The government says all U.S. airlines must turn over passenger data so that it can test a planned screening system. The airline industry and others complain that the order will mean massive privacy violations, extra expenses and possible trouble with foreign countries. By Ryan Singel. [Wired News]

Posted by mikki at 07:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, is this going to turn into another security issue? Hoardes of TSA agents swooping down on laser users?

stormfish writes "The Washington Times is reporting that laser light from an unknown source injured a pilot's eye as he was flying a Boeing 737 from Dallas to Salt Lake City. A 5 milliwatt laser pointer is strong enough to damage a person's eye, and stronger laser's are not that hard to come by. Unfortunately, having pilots wear colored laser safety glasses would be impractical as that would make it impossible to interpret the colored symbols on paper maps and cockpit displays." (security, timothy) [Slashdot.org]

Posted by mikki at 01:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Expelling Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) shows how ill-equipped the US is at spotting real terrorists. [Christian Science Monitor: All Stories]

Posted by mikki at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How amusing. Windows is our favorite thing. I just hope that Airbus software isn't running under Windows.

fname writes "The recent shutdown of LAX due to an FAA radio outage was apparently caused by a Windows 2000 integration flaw, possibility related to an old Windows 95 bug. An article at the LA Times claims that the outage was caused by human error, as the system will automatically shut down after 49.7 days (related to this Windows 95 flaw?), and a technician didn't reboot the system monthly as he should have. This happened after an upgrade from Unix to Windows. I don't think blame should be assigned to the technician who missed the task; rather, it seems a gross oversight for the FAA to guarantee that such a critical system will crash after only one missed maintenance task. Who's really at fault?" (bug, michael) [Slashdot.org]

Posted by mikki at 08:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John Gilmore’s battle to force the government to explain the basis upon which it demands that airlines verify an ID before permitting someone on a plane got a small victory last week. The government had asked to file its brief, defending a rule that is itself secret, in secret. The 9th Circuit said no.

Posted by mikki at 02:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Finally some national coverage on the plight to maintain at least a modicum of personal privacy and constitutional freedoms. And, what a surprise, the government wants all of this to be SECRET. Aren't there enough secrets already regarding what used to be constitutional rights?

A privacy advocate who is suing the government for allegedly forcing airlines to ID passengers is pressing to have his case aired publicly. Government attorneys, meanwhile, want the court to hear their arguments in secret. By Ryan Singel. [Wired News]

Posted by mikki at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)