As you may or may not know, it is a federal offense to point a laser, even one of those little handheld ones, at an aircraft. But it seems some countries across the pond, namely Australia, have not banned such activities. Some states within Australia have a laser ban, however, the state with the biggest city, Sydney (in New South Wales), does not.
Over the past weekend, six aircraft have had to alter their flight paths when arriving into Sydney. Beams from four green lasers, which appeared to come from one area southwest of Sydney were directed at aircraft for 15 minutes. Officials think this is a coordinated, deliberate attack.
Officials are considering a ban on small laser pointers. Get caught carrying said laser pointers and you may face electrocution, firing squad, or other torture stiff fines or jail time. I'm not sure of the motive behind an all-out ban, but whatever they think will solve their problems.
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Monday, March 31, 2008
Lasers a Threat to Aviation???
F-16 Encounter Angers Pilots
The FAA says it will likely investigate the complaints of a couple of pilots who say they were intercepted and shadowed, at close range, by an F-16 over Arizona earlier this month. Pilatus PC-12 pilot Patrick McCall and Beech Premier pilot Scott Laromee have both filed near-collision reports with the FAA after they allege they were aggressively pursued by an F-16 on March 21 in the Gladden Military Operations Area, a training area used by pilots from Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix (open to civilian aircraft).
McCall said that when his TCAS activated about 10am while he was cruising at 16,500 (VFR with flight following) he ended up having to descend (read dive) his aircraft as the target kept closing on him. The target followed him in the dive and when McCall leveled at about 14,000 feet, he was amazed by the view from his side window. “I then looked to my left side of the aircraft and saw an F16 aircraft off of my left wing,” he said in a written report sent to the FAA. “The F16 was no more than 20 feet off of my left wing.
That's when you get the old Polaroid camera out, go inverted, and give the pilot the Top Gun bird.
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Skydiver nearly gets hit by plane
Warning: this video contains the F-Bomb, and rightly so. This helmet-cam video shows a skydiver free falling to Earth as a small aircraft appears below him and comes way to close to comfort just as the guy poops his pants pulls his chute.
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Friday, March 28, 2008
Flight school volunteers to give up certificate after 3 crashes in 5 months
The folks at Kemper Aviation knew their time had come. On Wednesday, the Palm Beach County Park airport flight school voluntarily surrendered its Part 141 flight school certificate to the FAA following three crashes in five months that have left eight people dead according to the Sun Sentinel. Its last crash on March 13th included the fatality of the flight school's co-owner. The flight school is continuing its operations under part 61, but only for U.S. citizens. Unfortunately, the majority of students at Kemper are from India. A few of Kemper's current and former instructors had apparently voiced concerns over Kemper's safety record with another local newspaper back in January.
Virgin America gets it right on safety video
Let's be honest. No one pays attention to those safety instruction presentations given by flight attendants before the flight departs. And cracking open that pamphlet of additional safety instructions is usually the last thing you read on the plane after you've finished the articles in the airline's magazine, and daydreamed about owning items in the SkyMall catalog. It's always the same, you've heard it before, and even the flight attendants drone through it because it's boring. That's why the good folks over at Virgin America have put together this nice little animated video going over those same FAA mandated instructions. I wouldn't mind having to watch this as they do a fairly decent job of adding some humor and creativity to the otherwise mundane.
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TSA Bob screens the Macbook Air in the world's most pointless video
I meant to post this last week and forgot. I'm sure many of you have heard about the difficulty some TSA screeners have had recently in accepting that the new Apple Macbook Air is actually a notebook computer and not a terrorist's bomb. Part of the issue is the new fangled Apple gizmo has a solid state hard drive instead of the typical hard drives with platters making screeners perk up in their seats. Well, the folks over at the TSA's blog got a hold of a Macbook Air recently and filmed Bob the Screener's review of the screening of this device. Seems interesting, right? Well the hip folks over there at the TSA won't let you see what the x-rayed guts of the Macbook Air look like in the video claiming it is Sensitive Security Information. Well then what's the point of the video??? We want to see the insides!!
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Continental 737 blows all main tires on landing
Continental 205 from Oke City had a bit of a bumpy landing at Bush Intercontinental Airport today. In fact the 737 blew all 4 of it's main tires and proceeded to have what was likely a hot brake fire on it's right mains. None of the 113 passengers or crew members were injured, in fact they didn't even evac onto Runway 8L after coming to a stop. That meant the passengers got a nice seat to watch the local ARFF guys douse them with foam as seen in the picture below taken by a passenger. Of course there was a little bit of complaining when the passengers had to wait 2 whole hours for their bags to arrive on the carousel. Sorry to inconvenience you after your near-death experience.
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Fed up with 787 delays, Boeing buys out major supplier
The Boeing 787 was supposed to be this marvel of globalization and international cooperation. It was to be the biggest outsourcing program of any commercial aircraft ever. Unfortunately, Boeing is learning the hard way that letting someone else do your work, doesn't always turn out the best. After several unplanned program delays due to supply chain difficulties, Boeing today showed that they cants waits no more! Boeing officials announced that they have acquired Vought's share in the the Global Aeronautica conglomerate with Alenia. Global's role in the 787 program included joining and integrating various fuselage sections at their massive new facility in Charleston, SC. I have the feeling that the new management may put their spurs to production down south.
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Twin Otter Almost Hits Boat in Water Landing
Crazy video of a Twin Otter pilot making a water landing in Nassau, Bahamas. I would have been slightly concerned if I was on that boat where the guy was shooting the footage from.
Enjoy.
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Cool 777LR assembly video
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Hard Landing Down Under
A Qantas plane "bounced" on the runway at Darwin (AU) airport causing major damage to the bottom of the aircraft, according to a transport safety report.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau's preliminary report into the "hard landing" of the Boeing 717-200 on February 7, 2008 was released March 27, 2008.
It found the that the Boeing 717, carrying 88 passengers and six crew was descending (read FALLING) at a rate of 1000 feet per minute when it hit the runway. They were not even kind enough to call it an attempted landing.
Damage to the aircraft included several creases to the skin on the fuselage above the wing area and underneath the fuselage behind the wing. The left main landing gear and outside left main tire were also damaged.
The plane is being repaired and expected to be airworthy again in late April.
In other fuselage creasing news, return to Contact Ground .9 and see the Algerian 737-800 rough landing pictures and story.
Airline Pilots Blame TSA for US Air Cockpit Shot
Ah, the moment I was waiting for. The usual fingerpointing has ensued, approximately one week after the captain of the US Airways flight accidentally discharged his firearm in the cockpit while attempting to stow it away for landing.
The Airline Pilot Security Alliance (APSA) Thursday released a statement blaming the TSA for the accidental weapon discharge because of its weapons handling rules. The APSA pointed specifically to the TSA's requirement that pilots remove guns from their person, lock them, and carry them "off body" when off the flight deck.
The APSA further claims that another pilot involved in the federal flight deck officer (FFDO) program said the US Airways captain was preparing for landing and was trying to remove his gun and secure it when "the padlock depressed the trigger." Shoving away any personal responsibility, the ASPA feels that the rules may force some pilots to handle their guns ten times per day, which is a recipe for disaster.
So, once again, expect a federal investigation and rule changes to follow. If the ASPA gets its way, they would have the pilots involved in the FFDO program follow the same procedures as the federal air marshals, which I'm assuming allows them to carry the gun on their person all the time. Nice, so this means the FFDO pilots would look like undercover police officers dressed up as a pilots.
Maybe we should just give tasers to all pilots, spend less money on firearms training, and allow the FFDO program to go on without guns in the cockpits. Then we can have great Youtube videos of unruly passengers saying "don't tase me bro..."
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Teen pilot on solo crashes, text messages his way to rescue
This really goes to show you how messed up our priorities are in this day in age. After an 18 year old student pilot crashed his aircraft into the snowy side of a Montana mountain, he was able to alert authorities by sending a text message from his unscathed cell phone. Hiking through the snow with near zero temperatures in shorts and tennis shoes Andrew Scheffer was able to reach a point with decent cell reception and sent out the following text message, "I've crashed and I am alive". That really helps rescuers. He then proceeds to make a PHONE CALL in which he says, "I'm with the aircraft, I'm cold and I have a sore shoulder," according to Dan Hargrove, the Director of Aviation for Rocky Mountain College. Scheffer was rescued and released from the hospital yesterday.
But here's a thought, how about calling the authorities, with an actual phone call, to tell them where you are instead of a texting them with no useful information. Also, shorts and tennis shoes? Don't they teach anything about cold weather flying and appropriate clothing there at the Rocky Mountain College?
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737 Lands Hard, Front-Left Nosewheel First
There is not much to say other than wow, that must have been a hard and very unique landing. As the title indicates, it was a left nosegear wheel first landing, like a fatty riding a small unicycle. Apparently the landing put a little too much pressure on the airframe, and this is the result. Too bad no video has surfaced of said landing. All the we know so far is that this incident occurred on a Air Algerie Boeing 737-800 flight from Paris (Flight #AH1143) when it landed at Setif Ain Arnat (DAAS/GSF) in Algeria.
I'm sure a good A&P could buff this little problem away, don't you think?
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Thursday, March 27, 2008
Woman forced to remove nipple ring with pliers at airport checkpoint
Sorry, no nipple picture on this one. The AP is reporting that an attorney for a female airline passenger in Los Angeles is claiming that security agents gave his client a pair of pliers and forced her to remove her nipple ring in order for her to board her flight. TSA spokesperson Dwayne Baird told the AP that he was unaware of this nipple incident. While the TSA has no specific policy on nipple rings or other body mods, if an alarm is triggered they will be forced to investigate and delay a boarding. Other individuals (non-nipple-ringers) with wedding rings or other rings typically can usually pass through metal detectors without setting them off according to Baird. I am proud to say that every sentence in this post has the word nipple in it.
nipple
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RAF to use new tanker for commercial passengers
In a landmark deal, the Royal Air Force signed a contract with EADS today worth 13 billion pounds for a new fleet of tanker aircraft based on the Airbus A330 to replace its aging fleet of VC-10s and Tristars. The most unique part of this deal though, is that some of the aircraft will be leased by the RAF from EADS' new consortium, AirTanker. And I'm just getting started. Some of the aircraft, while not being used for combat support may be used to transport paying commercial passengers around the world. With an entry into service in 2011, the new tanker, similar to the US Air Force's KC-45, is intended to revolutionize the RAF's strategic and tactical capabilities while making them a little money on the side. I don't know though. Military planes always have that "military" smell in them. I hope the paying passengers don't mind the smell of sweaty man and musky canvas too much.
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Endeavour wraps up impressive mission
Some nice video of Endeavour's landing last night at the Kennedy Space Center following the completion of STS-123. Their mission was far from ordinary as they delivered Dextre, a crazy space construction robot; and the first component of Kibo, Japan's contribution to the ISS. The mission was also the first to use the Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System where Endeavour was able to be powered by the ISS while docked, allowing for a longer mission. Too bad this feature is online late in the shuttle fleet's life as this would have been beneficial earlier on in the building phases of the ISS. The next shuttle mission should have Discovery bringing the other portion of the Kibo lab by the end of May. Up next for the ISS is the automated docking of ESA's Jules Verne ATV which will provide the station crew supplies and be capable of boosting the ISS to a higher orbit.
Even more FAA inspections fallout
Just a few weeks after the Southwest Airlines inspection debacle, and just a day after American Airlines cancelled a slew of flights for mandatory inspections, Delta Air Lines is now joining the herd by cancelling 325 flights between today and tomorrow. The cancellations will allow for inspections of wiring bundles in their fleet of MD-80s similar to the inspections AA is doing. I'm getting the feeling that we're still just scratching the surface on this whole inspection deal. It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone when congress drops the hammer on the FAA here in the near future and demands a rethinking into airworthiness inspection compliance and monitoring. Until then, be sure to check to see if your flight is running on time before you leave the house.
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New Equipment for Lunar Missions
NASA's Chariot is the first prototype in a new line of lunar vehicles that could someday bulldoze roads, provide entertaining lunar tractor pulls, dig trenches, and drill for minerals on the moon. And it is already proving to be nimble and powerful in earthbound testing.
Chariot, a "truck" with a top speed of about 13 miles per hour, has been tearing up the Lunar Yard, a test bed at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, since engineers there completed construction of the vehicle in September of 2007. It it capable of attaching a blade to its front, like a construction grader. Several other attachments are planned.
The Lunar Yard is a 2-acre expanse of small hills covered in a mix of sand and crushed granite designed to mimic the loose surface of the moon. I want one. Tractor pull anyone?
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
C-Series to be built in K.C.?
It seems as though Kansas City is appearing to be a likely candidate to receive Bombardier's (said with French Canadian accent) newest assembly line. According to the AP, the aerospace giant is considering the Midwest town for a $375 million aircraft plant that will build its newest line of passenger aircraft, the C-Series. While still in the preliminary stages of negotiations, the state of Missouri is supposedly working on tax credit legislation to entice our neighbors to the North. Obviously everyone in K.C. and in the Show-Me-State are psyched for this deal, but its not without its hurdles. Supposedly Bombardier made a commitment to build the plant somewhere in Canada and Canadian officials are expecting the airplane manufacturer to honor that commitment.
If K.C. gets the plant, it will be built somewhere on the enormous site that is Kansas City International Airport. Supposedly Bombardier reps have already been scoping the land. The C-Series aircraft is currently slated to consist of 2 aircraft presently; a 110 seater and a 130 seater. This would put Bombardier up there with the big boys competing directly with Boeing and Airbus
Some Reasoning Behind the KC-45A Decision
According to sources quoted in a Seattle newspaper, the Air Force says Northrop-Grumman's proposal for a new aerial refueling aircraft based on the A330 frame was simply better than Boeing's 767 plan. The Air Force will allegedly need 22 fewer Airbuses because the A330 is more efficient at refueling and has a faster turnaround time than the 767. Boeing did have strong points in communications, some aerial refueling capabilities and combat survivability.
Sounds like the 777 plan would have been the better platform for Boeing to base their bid off of, which I would think makes good sense as it is more comparable in size, if nothing else, to the A330. Maybe it was Boeing's last hope to keep the 767 on the production line for a while longer. Maybe we will never know...but Boeing's protest goes on.
In the end, the Air Force is no different than any airline, they apparently want efficiency and a fast turnaround. Who cares about communication, ability to refuel better (isn't that this aircraft's primary mission and purpose???), and combat survivability...makes complete no sense, doesn't it?
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The Aftermath of a Gun Discharging in a Cockpit
Below are the photos from inside and outside the US Airways aircraft. The damage is clear, the bullet passed through the exterior skin of the aircraft. Lucky the pilots did not get sucked out of the cockpit by decompression...oh wait, that's only in the movies.
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Jail for Diabetic Pilot
There's a lesson to be learned in this news article: Don't lie on your aviation medical certificate application.
Pilot Ronald Crews was sentenced to 16 months in prison for lying about a medical condition that led to a diabetic seizure while at the controls of a Cape Air Cessna 402. This all happened in 2002 when Crews was then 50 years old and had been flying with Cape Air for four years and had not disclosed to the FAA his insulin dependency.
As a result of such non-disclosure and his undisclosed condition leading to the incident that put four passengers in danger, he will serve two years probation following his prison term.
The flight in question occurred on February 8, 2002 out of Martha's Vineyard for Hyannis. The four passengers were spared from disaster thanks to the efforts of Cape Air security supervisor and pilot trainee Melanie Oswalt. Oswalt was then 24 years old and had 48 hours of flying experience. She managed a gear-up landing at the Provincetown airport, quite a ways from the intended destination.
The U.S. Attorney's office said that Crews had hidden his condition from the FAA for his entire life. Crews pled guilty (and probably got a deal) to four counts of making false statements to a federal agency, something that no one would want on their record.
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Snakes On A Plane???
You heard it right and I'm not talking about the movie here. Andrew Bacas, identified as the coach at Yorktown High School in Arlington, VA, was bitten by a juvenile canebrake rattlesnake. The rattler had allegedly gotten into his luggage in the belly of the aircraft on his way home from a team trip in South Carolina.
He reached into his bag after he returned home and was bitten. After this, he slammed the top on this luggage and zipped 'er up, sealing the beast inside. The authorities dealt with the snake by spraying it with a carbon dioxide extinguisher, essentially freezing it and killing it.
Sorry PETA, another one bites the dust.
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Aircraft Door Falls Off After Takeoff
Parts be falling off aircraft all over.
Aviation officials say the main passenger door of a Bombardier Challenger CL-60 fell off shortly after takeoff from Grand Junction Regional Airport (CO). No one was hurt, but I can imagine it was about as scary as a loaded gun firing in the cockpit of an airliner.
No one knows how high the CL-60 was when the main door fell off, but the aircraft returned to the airport without further incident. The aircraft is registered to WPF Investments of Snowmass Village, CO.
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Photo: KOAA
US Air Force accidentally ships ballistic missle parts to Taiwan
When the government of Taiwan asked their friend and ally the US for some helicopter batteries, the US Air Force accidentally shipped them four non-nuclear nose cone fuses for ICBMs instead. Whoops. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said today "The United States is making all appropriate notifications in the spirit of candor and openness in an effort to avoid any misunderstanding." Sounds like someone doesn't want to unerve China. Obviously, there is an investigation already taking place as to why a couple of goober airmen shipped the wrong stuff. Before taking the trip to Taiwan the missile parts, as seen in the diagram, were improperly stuffed into a non-classified warehouse at Hill AFB in Utah instead of going into a classified warehouse. One thing led to another and the Taiwanese Air Force got a surprise instead of helo batteries.
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BREAKING NEWS - NY court strikes down passenger rights bill, apocolypse on the runway to follow
BREAKING NEWS - From the Associated Press:
NEW YORK - "A federal appeals court has rejected the first law in the nation requiring airlines to provide food, water, clean toilets and fresh air to passengers trapped in a plane delayed on the ground. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that New York's new state law interferes with federal law governing the price, route or service of an air carrier. The appeals court said the new law was laudable and the circumstances that brought them about were deplorable but only the federal government has the authority to enact such a law."
Take that, whiners! You don't really need food, water, clean toilets or fresh air. What human would?
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Emirates to Offer Hot Showers on A380
Planning on flying from New York to Dubai on an Emirates A380 this fall? Have $18,000 dollars to spend on a first class ticket? Feel a little dirty and would kill for a shower on the flight? If your answer to the above three questions is "yes", you are in luck my friend because Emirates will be offering this service to its first class passengers who pay a double premium (first one is for the seat, second for the shower) for a flight from NY.
No pictures have been released of said A380 first class cabin, but it is reported (by Emirates) to be similar to the experience at Dubai's "seven-star" Burj Al Arab hotel.
Environmental groups are, as usual, up in arms over this amenity. And sure, this might impact the environment negatively due to the extra water weight and carbon emissions from carrying additional fuel to haul that extra load -- but note that, realistically, the majority of people who will be able to take advantage of this unique and expensive amenity are people with oil money, so they could give a crap about the environment to begin with and the cost of the extra fuel needed to carry the water weight is going back in their pockets -- kinda completes the circle if you think about it.
I hope this shower spews gold flakes (not a golden shower) on me as I shower or it comes with a flight attendant (as seen above). And, once again, poor Al Gore has a heart attack.
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Wing panel falls off 757 at 27,000 feet
A 5 x 7 foot section of a left wing panel peeled off a US Airways 757 at 27,000 on Sunday, struck and shattered the outer pane of a cabin window, then fell to the Earth below. The flight, enroute from Orlando to Philadelphia, landed safely in the City of Brotherly Love, after the incident occurred 45 miles outside of Baltimore. The aircraft was taken out of service for inspections and an investigation, while the panel remains M.I.A. The Baltimore Sun has indicated that local fire officials are asking that if you live in Prince George's or Anne Arundel counties or near Kent Island in Maryland, check your backyard for airplane wings.
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Boeing awarded helmet cueing system contract, killing bad guys to become easier
No this helmet is not for the pilots with enormous foreheads. 145 of the US Air Force's F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft will soon be getting an upgrade with the Boeing Joint Helmet-Mounted Cueing System after the Air Force awarded Boeing a $49.5 million contract for the devices on Monday. The JHMCS provides pilots data much like that of the Heads-Up Display, only right inside the visor of their helmet. Pairing the JHMCS with the AIM-9X sidewider missle creates the High-Off-Boresight System (HOBS) which will allow pilots to direct aircraft munitions simply by looking in the direction of the target. Sweet. The JHMCS can also be combined with FLIR or radar data for air-to-ground missions. Ultimately, Boeing and the Air Force would like to implement the system in the F-15 C/D models as well for some supreme air superiority booty-whoopin capability. Next step, mind control like in the movie Firefox.
Photo: Boeing
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F-35 First Flight by Military Pilot (Verdict: Kicks ass)
Lt. Col. James "Flipper" Kromberg of the United States Air Force was the first military pilot to fly the F-35 Lightning II. His verdict was just released: "The aircraft flew very well, exceeding my expectations," Kromberg said. "I was surprised by the amount of power on the takeoff roll. And the handling, particularly with the gear up, was phenomenal. The aircraft was very stable flying in formation with another airplane. It was really a joy to fly."
The F-35 is nicknamed the Lightning II after the WWII era aircraft the P-38 Lightning. It has flown only 28 times, and all flight but this one have been piloted by one of two test flight pilots from Lockheed Martin. The last test flight was only days ago on March 12 for an aerial refueling test seen below:
The F-35 is scheduled to make its debut in 2011 as the world's most advanced fighter aircraft. It is supposed to be the numero uno strike fighter in the world until it is usurped by another beast in 2040.
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UPDATED: Pilot's Gun Goes Off In Cockpit
It has become known that the Captain of US Airways Flight 1536 from Denver to Charlotte is now on leave while the airline, TSA, and most likely the FBI and all the other one-hundred federal agencies investigate how/why his gun went off in the cockpit of an aircraft full of 124 passengers. What is even more interesting is that no one else on the aircraft, aside from the first officer, was aware that the gun went off. No news yet on whether the bullet breached the through the aircraft's hull. This pilot is not making things easier for his fellow gun carrying pilots.
T-minus 48 hours until one of the federal agencies involved overreacts, as usual, and bans all guns in cockpits until further notice.
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Monday, March 24, 2008
KLM flight wanders aimlessly all over India, pilots unware of new airport
A KLM flight from Amsterdam ended up all over the country of India because its flight crew was apparently unaware of a new airport opening, and an old one closing. The Times of India is reporting that the SNAFU occurred a mere hours after the new Hyderabad airport was opened, and the old one closed. The flight crew of the KLM flight knew nothing about the changeover and was a little confused when they were denied landing at the old airport. When directed to the new airport, named Shamshabad, one pilot asked ATC, "Shamshabad? What's that?".
The flight ended up all over India trying to divert to Dehli before finally re-diverting to Mumbai for landing. The Times cites "an anonymous source as saying the Dutch airline's pilot had been reluctant to land in Shamshabad because its headquarters in Amsterdam had not received a notice about the closure of the old and the opening of the new facility." The new S