Indian pilot forgets to load enough fuel for his flight

by Scott Carmichael on

Let me open by saying that the details of the incident I’m about to write about are sketchy at best.

The report comes from an Indian news site, and appears to be translated quite poorly, it’s still interesting enough to write about, but I highly recommend reading the source article for a real chuckle.

Apparently, the captain of Kingfisher flight IT335 was preparing for his Mumbai to Delhi flight, but failed to check his fuel loads. Of course, when you do this in your car, you get a “ping” and an orange light comes on, but on a fully loaded jet, things are a little more complicated.

To make matters worse, the jet encountered poor visibility upon its approach to Indira Ghandi Airport and the captain was not certified for those conditions.

Eventually, the plane managed to reach the airport, presumably running on fumes with a pilot not trained or certified for the weather conditions.

The story then recommends people to check with the captain that enough fuel was loaded. I’m sure that will go quite well, and I certainly plan to ask the flight attendant on my next flight to confirm with the captain that he loaded enough gas.

My next report will probably be about how the federal air marshal Tasered me and dragged me off the plane for demanding to check the fuel gauge in the cockpit.

Other “troublemakers of the sky”:

Chaos as immigration computers crash at Taiwan airport

by Josh Lew on

A computer crash at Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport caused a major headache on Monday. The computer system used by the National Immigration Agency (NIA) failed, forcing immigration agents to get back to basics, taking down people’s information by hand. Needless to say, lines became quite long, and frustrated expressions of passengers were commonplace. Add to that the fact that yesterday was an exceptionally busy travel day as people headed home after their holiday vacations.

Approximately 20,000 people left the country during the computer blackout. NIA had to wait until the system came back online to see if anyone had entered or exited the country illegally. The agency recently terminated its contract with the company that performed computer maintenance tasks. A new company began working on the system only last week.

According to airport officials, no one missed an outgoing flight as a result of the system’s crash. However, the incident comes of the heels of a baggage mishaps a day earlier. People on a dozen flights were forced to leave without their checked baggage after a conveyor belt broke down for almost two hours.

[Related]

Booze and air travel – a bad idea or a travelers necessity?

by Scott Carmichael on

If there is one thing we never seem to have a shortage of here on Gadling, it’s stories that involve drunk passengers misbehaving.

We’ve written about a planeload of 40 drunk Irish, a drunk Russian with an empty bottle of Chivas, a passenger so drunk he beat up his wife and blamed the airline and of course a passenger who drank so much, he killed 5 others (and himself).

Of course, this brings me to the bigger issue; are airlines creating these problems for themselves by refusing to serve some passengers, or should they simply stop service booze on all their flights?

Booze on aircraft is a big thing – it’s often the one time a year when some people get to drink fairly decent liquor and cocktails (assuming they are flying a decent airline and are not in coach), and when booze is free, why hold back?

I actually know several people who fly to drink – that’s right – they cash in their miles, use their elite status to liquor up in the airline lounge, and continue the binge on board. With mileage tickets costing as little as $25, it’s a cheap and efficient way to get hammered.

Some frequent flier boards are regularly filled with outrage when an airline changes its brand of champagne to something less expensive and some folks seem to obsess over the size of the glasses the booze is served in.

Some of the comments in recent booze related articles mentioned that alcohol is a major cash cow for the airlines, but I have to disagree – the expensive stuff is mainly served in first and business class, and is free. And alcohol sales in the back of the plane never really seem to be that high, certainly not on the flights I’ve taken.

So, would you survive a flight without booze? Airlines already banned smoking, so would removing the one final vice be that much of a blow to your comfort level?

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Woman used at LAX as Jamie Lynn Spears decoy threatens to sue LA Police

by Jamie Rhein on

The moral of this story seems to be, if you’re going to use a person as a decoy for a famous person, ask first. Don’t just pick the person out of a crowd and let her or him be surrounded by paparazzi while the celebrity gets to trot off without being noticed.

This is exactly what happened to Adessa Eskridge, a woman from Ohio who happened to look a bit like Jamie Lynn Spears, AND, as fate would have it, be on Jamie Lynn’s flight. I wrote about this and similar celebrity excitement that goes on at LAX in a post last September. Back then, I didn’t know the story behind this story.

While Eskridge was minding her own business, just being her pretty self, the LA police noticed her, and according to this article, surrounded Eskridge as she got off the airplane. The eight or nine officers directed her to keep her glasses on and led her to baggage claim where the paparazzi snapped her picture. In the meantime, Jamie Lynn was able to trot off with her new baby without anyone noticing.

According to Eskridge, the police didn’t tell her what they were up to until right before the moment the paparazzi swooped in. Even though she was beyond confused, she went along with them. After the incident, Eskridge decided she’s not too pleased to have been used in this way. It caused her mental anguish and upset. As a result, she wants the LA police department to pay her more than $100,000 for her efforts. If the police department won’t pay up, she’s suing.

While reading the details, I’m thinking that getting hired out to be a celebrity decoy could be a plausible job in these days of celebrity love. Wouldn’t it be a cool job to look like someone else so that your picture could end up on the cover of a magazine next to the check-out line at the supermarket and you’d get paid for it? Particularly if you get to travel to some exotic locations in order to throw off the scent.

In Eskridge’s case, since she didn’t sign up for the job, if the police won’t pay up, maybe Jamie Lynn could get Eskridge a nifty gift as a way to thank her for a few hassle free moments.

What strange things have been found on planes?


Do not be scared about the burning 747 at Schiphol airport

by Scott Carmichael on

Imagine arriving at your Amsterdam airport hotel room and the first thing you see out the window is a burning Jumbo with a bunch of crash tenders on the runway.

It took me about 10 seconds to remember passing the “jet’ when we taxied to the terminal, and realizing that it wasn’t actually a real plane, but the practice jet for the airport fire department.

Jerry wrote about these practice runs back in November of last year, but I can’t help wonder how many people see the outline of a burning 747 and freak out. It certainly isn’t the kind of thing I’d like to see on my final approach to the airport and the proximity to the main terminal is quite scary.