Qantas jumbo jet diverts after fuselage ruptures

by Grant Martin on

A Qantas jet bound for Hong Kong was forced to divert into the Philippines today, after a portion of the fuselage just in front of the starboard wing ruptured.

The explosion left a gash reaching into the cargo hold of the 744, resulting in a loss of pressure in that cabin and an emergency descent to 10,000 feet. Oxygen masks were deployed by the captain and the flight landed fortunately landed safely in the South Pacific without further event.

But what a scary event for passengers. Among not knowing what exploded on the plane, the extent of the damage, how/if the aircraft was going to land safely and the thought of a terrorist attack, I’m sure passengers were mortified. This CNN article points out that several passengers were vomiting as they exited the aircraft.

Was it a terrorist attack? From photos of the damage, it looks more like it was a materials failure (airlines run numerous x-ray and ultrasonic tests to normally prevent this). Who knows though. Someone could have also checked some hazard luggage that reacted in the cargo hold. I’m sure we’ll find out in the ongoing investigation.

Surprisingly, the passengers in the cabin took it fairly well during the descent. AP has some video taken inside of the aircraft and save for the oxygen masks being deployed, everything seems fairly orderly.

Bored? Got miles? Make some bag tags

by Grant Martin on

So you’ve got 1237 miles in your Northwest frequent flyer account, forty five minutes at lunch and some mischief rolling around in the back of your head. What to do?

Make some baggage tags — Northwest Airlines just fired up a tool to redeem 1,000 miles for customized bag tags. Customized with any pictures and text that you want.

While this does afford you the opportunity to make cute bag tags with you and your girlfriend/dog/house plant/parents, I think that we should be taking better advantage of this feature. Yes, Northwest did prohibit most of the fun stuff, including:

  • Competitive marks/names (e.g. American Airlines®, United, Continental Airlines®, etc.
  • Political statements
  • Branded products
  • Copyrighted or trademarked material not owned by Northwest Airlines
  • Celebrities/musicians/public figures/athletes/cartoons, etc.
  • Socially unacceptable groups (e.g. gangs, supremacy, etc.)
  • Provocative or sexual content
  • Violence
  • Profanity or obscenities
  • Any references to the Olympic Games or events (really?)
  • Any photo image that might interfere with airline or government security control (e.g. TSA, CREW, Diplomat, etc.)
  • Any printing or process that interferes with the production of the luggage tags
  • Other images as designated solely by Northwest Airlines

But there is yet plenty of room left to be creative. Some suggestions:

  • Photos of your friends’ mothers
  • Dirty pictures that are pixelated/zoomed in enough so that NW can’t tell what the image is.
  • A photo of your bag (in case they get separated!)
  • Personal Ads, in case you want to woo any baggage handlers
  • A photo of blogger Matthew Firestone, who I hear is a sexy, sexy devil (I can provide these photos if you would like).

Other thoughts? Send them our way.

Short on miles? Try out the Worldperks University where anyone with a mouse and a clue can get five hundred miles for free.

Give it a try at nwatagyourbag.com.

Three commuter jets collide in Louisiana, no injuries reported

by Jeffrey White on

It only took five minutes for three commuter jets to collide at Baton Rouge Metro Airport in Louisiana yesterday.

WAFB TV in the Louisiana capital says the incident happened at the airport’s new regional maintenance hanger for Atlantic Southwest Airlines.

The three planes were valued at $100 million, and reportedly one was totaled.

It happened when a mechanic hit the starter switch on one of the planes that was meant to get compressor blades to slowly start spinning. Instead, the plane went into full takeoff mode, pivoting wildly throughout the hangar at 90 degree angles before crashing into the other planes.

Witnesses tell the television channel that it was a lucky turnout that only the three planes were damaged. There were 14 ASA maintenance workers in the hangar, and in such a closed space the accident could have resulted in a serious explosion.

Air Traffic Control in crisis: Federal Aviation Administration recruitment looks to high schools to fill jobs

by Jeffrey White on

Confronted with an exodus of veteran air traffic controllers who are hitting retirement age, the Federal Aviation Administration is busy recruiting — at, among other places, high schools.

The FAA is busy wooing recent high school grads to come right on board, so to speak, and begin training to be controllers. They’ll go through three months of training before becoming “controllers in training.” Not long after that, they’ll be staff.

The New York Post broke the story today.

The FAA has just completed a recruitment drive that placed ads on Craig’s List, Myspace and at high schools nationwide. The feds were offering more than $100,000 in signing bonuses to newbies to draw them to the New York area’s five understaffed radar centers, says the Post.

There’s a one-time $27,000 bonus at the start of training, with another $75,000 paid out over four years.

So far, the Post says, one recent hire is a 20-year-old man who is currently monitoring radars at a station in Westbury, LI. He happens to have majored in air traffic control, but the FAA says students who have completed the 12th grade are eligible.

This news comes after two recent near-misses above the skies of New York that are being attributed to understaffed radar stations.

On July 5, two passenger jets inbound to JFK came within 100 feet of colliding in mid air, which the FAA considers to be an extremely close call. On June 25, a Learjet was given the green light to land at Teterboro Airport on a runway on which maintenance employees were busy working.

By 2011, nearly 60 percent of all air traffic controllers nationwide will have less than five years experience on the job, the Post says.

I don’t know how to feel about this. On the one hand, the FAA has to get new people in there to bring staffing numbers up to a safe level. Then again, how safe do we feel knowing the FAA is searching out applicants for this life-or-death job on Myspace?

Emirates chucks magazines…to save fuel

by Iva Skoch on

Interesting idea, but it honestly doesn’t make much sense to me.

Emirates has made a decision to get rid of all paper from the seat pockets on its new Airbus A380. Why? The Economist reports that they’re trying to save weight and, hence, fuel.

Don’t get me wrong. I think throwing out those silly in-flight magazines is a grand idea. However, can you seriously save significant weight by removing, say, 1000 magazines? Let’s say it’s the same weight as one passenger (after dinner.)

Does that really make a big difference?

The Economist writes that removing 2kg of paper from each of the 500 seats shaves a tonne off the plane’s flying weight. What do they mean by “2 kilos” of magazines, exactly? That’s 4 pounds. Maybe I’m missing something here, but I have never been on a flight where you find 4 lbs of reading material in the seat pocket in front of you.

What does Emirates provide for the reading pleasure of their customers? Bridal magazines?