Airplanes were turned around, ferries were stopped and everyone was seeing red in Sydney, Australia.
Strong winds and a severe draught caused Sydney to experience the worst dust storm since the 1940s, experts say.
The latest setback for Boeing Co. in the company’s effort to roll out their long-anticipated 787 jetliner has hit: they’ve yet again had to delay their first test flight of the new aircraft. The company says they need to reinforce certain areas of the plane – so, to be honest, waiting does seem like the best plan. However, shockingly, Boeing stocks dropped over 4 dollars midday. This is the latest knock to the company that has been struggling through the recession.
The 787 is built for fuel efficiency and is said to be the next generation of aircraft. It was originally supposed to be launched in 2007. Read more…
The race is on for searchers to locate the black boxes from Air France flight 447, as their locator beacons are only active for 30 days. However, preliminary evidence has been released by the airline which shows that, in the minutes leading up to the crash, two key computers malfunctioned and the plane was not flying at its ideal speed.
The data provides a chronology, albeit cryptic, of what happened in the minutes before the plane’s failure.
3am (BST) – The pilot reports hitting tropical turbulence, data says the plane had passed through “tall, dense cumulonimbus thunderclouds.”
Apparently at this stage, the plane’s speed was “erroneous.” Every plane has an ideal speed at which to travel through difficult weather, and AF 447 was not traveling at that speed – it is unknown at this point, however, if the plane was traveling too fast or too slowly.
3:10am – Pilot is presented with a series of error messages in the four minutes leading up to the disaster.
The auto-pilot system was disconnected, either by the pilot or automatically. (Auto-pilot shut down when the system is faced with a serious error.)
It is possible the pilot disconnected the system to try to manually avoid a dangerous cloud zone – at this high altitude, this maneuver is extremely dangerous.
At this same time, another emergency backup system switched on – this system allows the plane to keep flying using minimum power, but reduces stability.
3:12am – Two vital computers, which provide information on altitude, speed and flight direction, stopping working correctly.
3:13am – Electricity breakdowns in two principal and auxiliary flight computers.
3:14am – Final message: “cabin in vertical speed,” which suggests a sudden loss of cabin pressure. It is unclear whether this loss of pressure was because the plane broke apart in midair, or if the loss of pressure caused the plane to break apart. (The theory that the break broke apart in the air is lent credence by a Spanish pilot who was in the area who claims to have seen an “intense white flash” in the air.)
Sources close to the investigation argue that some of the details in the chronology are false, namely the fact that the computers providing info on altitude, etc, malfunctioned.
Searchers are continuing to scour the area for debris, and more information on what happened. Read more…
The controversy over plus-sized travelers has been renewed since United Airlines has imposed a new policy. The airlines website states that if a passenger cannot buckle the seat belt with even with one belt extender, or if he or she can’t lower the armrests when seated, then he or she is subject to the “Passengers requiring extra space” policy. These passengers can either be moved to a seat next to an unused seat, or they can upgrade to a larger, and more expenseive, seat. If neither of these options can be met, the passenger is asked not to fly that flight, and can buy two seats on the next available flight. Read more…
In-flight food is notoriously bad, and for the most part airlines have given up trying to feed their passengers. However, transatlantic flights are a different matter – you really do need to eat. Fortunately, Lufthansa has announced a partnership with Ritz Carlton chefs to provide fine-quality meals on their transatlantic flights.
It is very difficult to reproduce restaurant quality meals on a flight because some elements must be prepared as early as 24-hours in advance. With new equipment in their kitchens, Lufthansa plans to bring such dishes as butternut squash risotto cakes with porcini mushroom sauce and Parmesan-crusted halibut to flying food-lovers. Read more…
In a case of life imitating art (if you can call that Sam Jackson flick “art”), a Qantas flight was grounded when four snakes traveling in the cargo hold escaped and could not be found. The snakes had been stored in a “appropriate case,” and it is unclear how they escaped. However, the plane was subsequently taken out of service and fumigated to prevent future incident (it was verified beforehand that the snakes were not an endangered species). Read more…
In what is being called an “Easter miracle,” a plane was landed safely by a passenger after the pilot died mid-flight. Air traffic controllers instructed the man, who was flying with his wife and teenage daughters, on how to land the plane. Read more…
Computer animation of the entire flight path of US Airways 1549, overlayed with air traffic control audio. The whole thing takes only about 2 minutes. Really gives you a sense of how little time there was to react.
Ryanair, an Irish no-frills airline, has decided that bathrooms are an option some people can go without. They are considering making customers pay to use toilets aboard their planes. The company’s boss, Michael O’Leary, claims he doesn’t “think there’s anybody in history gone on board a Ryanair aircraft with less than a pound,” he said - so asking for a pound to pee is therefore no big deal. Read more…
The travel industry took a hit in 2008, but that’s nothing compared to what’s happening now. However, that translates to sweet deals for the traveler - which is good; but also volatility in terms of canceled flights and bankrupt companies. Here are a few tips to keep in mind if you are planning to travel in 2009:
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