Breaking: United grounds all Boeing 757 aircraft

by Grant Martin on

If you were scheduled on a United 757 earlier today and are wondering why it was canceled, we now know why. According to the Wall St. Journal, the airline is in the process of grounding its entire fleet in order to perform maintenance checks to air data computers that were modified earlier this year.

According to Gadling’s resident pilot Kent Wien:

There are two air data computers on every 757 and they’re used to take inputs from pitot tubes, static ports and temperature probes to determine the speed, rate of climb and altitude of the airplane. Any difference in the captain and the co-pilot’s side requires a quick determination as to which side is giving the correct data. In 1996 a 757 experienced a blocked pitot tube that caused it to crash off the coast of the Dominican Republic. While not the same problem as an ADC failure, the failures would look very similar to the pilots.

In this specific case, checks have acturally already been completed on the 96 767s; this round of study is in order to comply with Federal Aviation Administration requirements that were not followed at that time. Continental‘s 62 aircraft are not affected.

Each check takes less than two hours so the groundings should be brief. But operation on the aircraft will be disrupted for the rest of today and into tomorrow’s schedules.

Contacted for comment, United Airlines’ Charles Hobart confirmed:

We have about 25 cancellations. The maintenance checks are ongoing and will continue until completed. We expect minimal further disruption tomorrow.

First major signs of the United – Continental merger: 500 jobs lost in Houston

by Scott Carmichael on

We’ll file this piece of news under “quelle surprise” – now United Airlines and Continental Airlines are working hard to merge their companies, the first victims will be found at the Houston based headquarters of Continental.

Within the management and clerical ranks, 500 people will soon be without a job. The firings begin in April, and will continue through June 30. Workers will leave with a severance package and subsidized health care benefits.

Since both airlines are about the same size, it is a tricky task to figure out where the various departments will be headquartered, so this loss of jobs is most likely only the beginning.

The new airline does not expect any job losses in frontline staff positions such as pilots, gate agents or anyone that works at the airport.

There is some other good news too – despite the loss of 500 jobs, the Texas Workforce Commission expects a net gain in jobs once the merger is complete, as George Bush Intercontinental Airport will be one of the largest hubs for the new airline. Later this year, United Airlines expects to announce its first major round of job cuts.

[Photo: Getty Images]

United Airlines launches Three Perfect Days contest — win a free vacation!

by Grant Martin on

Good with a video camera and a Final Cut Pro? United Airlines might have the perfect opportunity for you to win your dream vacation.

Yesterday they launched a new promotion on Facebook soliciting video entries for their “Three Perfect Days” contest. All that you have to do to enter is make a short video explaining what you would do with three perfect days of vacation and post it to their site. The submission that gets the most “likes” wins two free round trip tickets, a digital camera and a $2,500 Visa debit card (you could use it to pay off the taxes!) at its complete disposal. You’ve got until March 1st to come up with the most “likeable” video on the web.

Having sumbitted a few entries and reviewed a few more ourselves at Gadling Labs, permit us to give you a tip before inking the celluloid: people who vote in these contests dig two things:

  1. The best cinematogrphy ever known to man
  2. Hotties

Aim to have one of the two concepts in your entry and you’re guaranteed a shot. Have both and you’ll take home the gold.

United and American sue City of Chicago for planned O’Hare expansion

by Scott Carmichael on

United Airlines and American Airlines have taken a disagreement with the City of Chicago to court, asking a judge to block a planned expansion of the airport.

At the heart of the disagreement is “phase 2” of the O’Hare Modernization Program (OMP). The modernization of O’Hare started years ago and was badly needed – it included new runways, a new air traffic control tower and upgrades to the existing terminal buildings. Phase one of the program added runway 9L/27R – the first new runway added to the airport since 1971.

Now Phase 1 is almost complete, work on Phase 2 has started – and is expected to cost an estimated $3.36 billion. In Phase 2, the airport will rebuild two runways, extend one runway and build a new western terminal building. Problem is – the two airlines that provide over 80 percent of air traffic to O’Hare are not convinced the airport actually needs the expansions.

The two airlines made the rare move of joining forces to issue a combines statement about the changes, and filed their lawsuit in the Cook County Court. Whether or not the airlines get their way won’t matter – the lawsuit alone will probably become just another delay in the modernization program.

And if you feel sorry for the airlines – don’t – most of the money for the modernization program comes from “passenger facility charges” in the form of bonds – and these “PFC’s” make up a small chunk of every ticket sold. End result – O’Hare becomes one of the most expensive airports in the country.

Still, as someone who uses O’Hare regularly, I’m really not against paying a couple of bucks extra to improve the airport. Things (read: delays) have become more bearable in recent years, but there are still plenty of ways the airport can improve itself. If the airlines actually want to fix things, they can start by improving their own terminal facilities and lounges (hint: AA, your presence at O’Hare really sucks)

For more on the lawsuit and for a link to the actual filing, check out Chicago Breaking Business.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Hot coffee hijacks United Airlines plane?!

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Drinking and driving is a problem … and drinking and flying is no different. A United Airlines pilot found this out the hard way: he spilled his coffee, which triggered a hijacking alert. So, United Flight 940, which was set to go from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany, had to dash across the border to Canada for an unscheduled stop.

A hijacking alert can have that effect, you know.

The plane landed safely in Toronto, an emergency was declared and the defense department in Canada was notified. In the end, everything was sorted out

Hey, buddy: ever heard of a travel mug?

[photo by dimnikolov via Flickr]