Sometimes an incident happens outside an aircraft. Ahm.... and outside an airport, and has no implications whatsoever with the passengers, crew or the actual aircraft.
This happened this week to a girl on a beach who, well, let´s put it this way, went airborne herself. The airport on one of the Caribbean's smallest islands, St Martin, backs directly on to a beach where some adventurous thrill seeking tourists hang on to a fence as jets take off.
However, in this case the girl was thrown headfirst into a concrete wall by the powerful engines of a plane. She suffered a deep gash in her head and another teen reportedly wound up with a broken leg.
Warning signs are clearly visible along the fence, but were obviously once again ignored. When bystanders at Malo Beach reached the girl she was fortunately still conscious.
The island is notorious for an extremely short runway next to the beach which incoming and outgoing planes skim just over the heads of sunbathers.
Here´s the video - jeez, ouch! it looks like it freakin´ hurt:
p.s for all the beach lovers: not such a good idea to blow-dry your locks with a jet, ei?!
Sometimes a flight tragically ends after only 40 seconds..
This happened this week on an UTAir ATR-72 flight from Tyumen to Surgut (Russia) with 39 passengers and 4 crew. After take-off, the aircraft had just climbed to a maximum altitude of 210 meters (688 feet), when it suddenly banked 35 degrees to the right, followed by a bank to the left, that reached more than 50 degrees at impact with the ground, first with the left wing followed by the left engine, breaking the aircraft into three parts - the plane crashed into snow covered ground and burst into flames just about 2,5 km (1,6 miles) from the runway. All 4 crew and 27 passengers died on the crash. 12 passengers survived and were taken to an hospital by helicopter, where three of them are still in critical conditions. An investigation has now been open. Both cockpit and flight data recorders were successfully recovered. The MAK (Russia´s Interstate Aviation Investigation) reported the black boxes have been successfully read out and first analysis showed that both engines were working until impact with the ground.
What´s now also known is that that due to environmental conditions the aircraft was to be de-iced before departure, ground staff however did not perform de-icing and the flight crew did not insist on de-icing being done to the aircraft. Another factor that might have contributed for this incident, was the probably lack of experience from the flight crew - mind you: the captain was only 27 years old (with only 2,500 flight hours) and his first officer had just came out from flight school. Nevertheless, I hope the investigation will be properly carried out in order to find out what really happened so we can all learn something about this tragedy that took so many lives away. And also hope that all the 12 survivors will recover soon.
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has advised cabin crew to watch their weight – in a bid to save on rising fuel costs, with the motivation of appearing in the annual Ryanair calender. The controversial airline chief has also reduced the size of his in-flight magazine, cut the amount of ice served with drinks, and considered removing armrests.
The budget airline is also in favour of a fat-tax on heavier passengers who would be asked to pay more for their seats.
As fuel prices rise dramatically, the airline has admitted it is taking extraordinary measures to save costs.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
I'm the type of girl who turns her head toward the sky every time she hears an airplane. Fascination, passion and enthusiasm fuels my love for aviation.
Sometimes the crazy one in the nut shell ain´t the passenger - but the pilot.
This happened this week on a Jetblue flight from New York to Las Vegas (USA). Clayton O., the captain working JetBlue Flight 191, arrived at JFK later than he should have for the flight, and missed the crew briefing. As the plane was leaving JFK and climbing in altitude in its scheduled five-hour flight, the captain said something to the first officer about being evaluated by someone, but the first officer did not know what he meant. The captain then talked about his church and the need to "focus" and asked the first officer to take the controls and work the radios.
The captain began talking about religion, but according to the first officer, his statements were not coherent. He also said "things just don´t matter" wich made the first officer become concerned. The captain then yelled over the radio to air traffic control and instructed them to be quiet. After that, he turned off the radios in the aircraft, dimmed his monitors, and sternly admonished the first officer for trying to talk on the radio. When the captain said "we need to take a leap of faith", the first officer stated that he became very worried. The captain told him that "we´re not going to Vegas" and began giving what the first officer described as a sermon.
The first officer then suggested they invite the off-duty JetBlue captain who was on board the flight into the cockpit. However, the captain abruptly left the cockpit to go to the forward lavatory. That alarmed the rest of the flight crew, because he didn´t follow the company´s protocol for leaving the cockpit. When flight attendants met the captain and asked him what was wrong, he became aggressive and banged on the door of the occupied lavatory, saying he needed to get inside. While the captain was in the lavatory, at the request of the first officer, a flight attendant brought the off-duty captain to the cockpit, where he assisted the first officer with the remainder of the flight. When the captain exited the lavatory, he began talking to flight attendants, mentioning "150 souls on board". He walked to the rear of the aircraft but along the way stopped and asked a male passenger if he had a problem. The captain than sprinted back to the forward galley and tried to enter his code to re-enter the cockpit. Although, with no success, as the first officer had changed the code, locking him out. When the first officer announced over the public address system an order to restrain the captain, several passengers assisted and brought the captain down in the forward galley (as you can perfectly see in the video), where he continued to yell comments about Jesus, September 11, Iraq, Iran, and terrorists.
The first officer declared an emergency and diverted the aircraft to Amarillo, landing with passengers still restraining the captain in the galley. After landing, the captain was removed from the aircraft by the FBI and taken to a facility in the Northwest Texas Healthcare System in Amarillo where he is still being evaluated and treated. Hes was immediately suspended from duty, and was filled charges by the Federal Authorities for interfering with flight crew. As for the 135 passengers, a replacement A320 was dispatched to Amarillo and they all arrived Las Vegas with a delay of 6.5 hours. They were reimbursed and received a credit for twice the value of their tickets. And, ironically enough, most passengers were heading in to Vegas for an International Security Convention. I guess, nobody wants to believe that pilots are just people with emotional and physical problems like the rest of the earthbound people. They are supposed to be better. Unfortunately the stress they work under and the fatigue they operate in can take hold with pilots just as it can with anyone.
And by the way, JetBlues reputation seems to be going down; last year the "crazy" flight attendant who shut a slide, grabbed a beer and went home while he was on duty after having a discussion with a passenger and now a captain going nuts mid-flight. What´s next?
Every aircraft is washed regularly. This process involves cleaning the engines as well as the aircraft shell. Not only does a wash make an aircraft sparkle, but it also restores it outstanding aerodynamic properties. Less aerodynamic drag means lower fuel consumption - and this keeps the carbon dioxide emissons down in turn. An aircraft´s engines may have to be cleaned following a bird strike. But deposits and particles of dirt are also removed efficiently with the help of water and detergents. Greater engine power and lower fuel consumption are achieved.
Sometimes it only takes one single passenger to cause panic onboard, and make 24 fellow passengers to leave an aircraft.
This happened this week, on a Transaero flight from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk. Everyone was onboard when, as the aircraft began taxiing towards the runway, a passenger spotted a "hole" in the wing. He immediately informed the crew, who thanked him for his vigilance but after inspecting it, the pilots decided the aircraft was safe to fly - the problem was that a panel was missing from the wing. Nevertheless, the situation made some passengers nervous and they demanded they be let off the airplane. After two hours of arguing, they were finally given permission to disembark the Boeing 737 and although they received a refund for the tickets, they ended up being fined by the airline, as the situation was not deemed an emergency. The plane took later on off without those 24 passengers and landed safely with the brave other 43 passengers in Krasnoyarsk, but now with a 3-hour delay.
This incident sounds like a bad joke, except the consequences were not very funny. On March 23, 1994, the Captain of an Aeroflot Airbus A310-300 decided to allow his two children - eleven and sixteen years of age - to take turns "flying" the airplane. When his son accidently, disengaged the "autopilot", the massive airliner banked steeply and fell out of control. The copilot took over and almost saved the day. While he desesperately executed a 4.8-G pull-up, the aircraft impacted the earth, killing all 75 souls aboard.
1. Flight benefits - you can party in Ibiza, lunch in Paris, go shopping in Milano, go clubbing in Amsterdam and recover from your hangover in St. Tropez;
2. They are great problem solvers, and generally great diplomats as well;
3. They are always styled up - with a nice uniform, hairdo and decent make-up;
4. They are an "All-in-1" kinda deal: the best waitresses, chefs, bartenders, firefighters, babysitters, baggage handlers, nurses, cleaners, engineers and psychologists;
5. They know how to say "you´re an IDIOT!" with a smile in their faces and not get in trouble;
6. They can travel light - and most importantly, it only takes them less than half an hour to pack for an entire holiday;
7. They know where the cheapest restaurant in every town is, and are the best sightseeing tour guides too;
8. They can look like a million bucks from a dead sleep to the wheel of a car in 17 minutes;
9. They can set up for a party in a half an hour, cater an affair for 30 out of a closet and talk to a total stranger giving him the feeling that they´ve known each other for ages;
10. No matter what, you´ll always see them smiling and in a jovial mood!
This happened this week, on a Convair CV-340 cargo flight from San Juan (Puerto Rico) to Saint Maarten (Dutch Antilles) operated by Jet One Express. The vintage cargo plane (manufactured in 1953) was loaded with 5.5 tons (12,000 lbs) of bread and only one passenger was traveling with both pilots. This was a usual trip for that crew, the plane would make about 15 trips a week to deliver bread and similar goods to several Caribbean islands. Shortly after take-off, the crew declared emergency and reported engines trouble. They requested an immediate return because smoke was coming from one of the engines. Although Air Traffic Control immediately cleared the aircraft to land, they didn´t manage to reach the runway anymore, and impacted lagoon La Torrecilla just east of the airport, killing all three on board. The aircraft wreckage with all three occupants, the captain being the owner of the airline, was located at the bottom of the lake, sank in about 10-15 meters (30-50 feet). Divers are still working to free the bodies from the wreckage.
