Delay grounds entire airline for a month

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Delays in Newark are keeping an entire airline on the ground. We’ve seen how a single flight’s delay can have impacts at airlines across the country, but preventing an entire airline from going wheels up … that’s huge.

JetAmerica has had to defer its launch for a month, citing problems getting takeoff slots at Newark Liberty International Airport. This isn’t the first time an airline’s blamed an airport, but it must resonate with the many passengers who have spent too much time at Liberty gates thanks to delays.

Of course, this holdup is costing JetAmerica, the wannabe low-cost carrier, an absolute fortune. So far, it’s had to refund half a million dollars to more than 6,400 passengers, ostensibly because the folks in Newark temporarily clipped its wings.

If JetAmerica ever does really get off the ground, it will offer 34 flights a day, servicing such desirable destinations as Toledo, Lansing and South Bend.

Buffalo crash pilot lied on job application

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Remember that plane crash in February, in Buffalo? There were 50 fatalities. Well, it turns out the pilot would have lost his job if he hadn’t lost his life. Marvin Renlsow, who was a pilot for Colgan, reportedly falsified his job application by not disclosing two failures on flight tests in small planes. Had his supervisors known, he “would have been immediately dismissed.”

Currently, the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating whether the crew responded inappropriately to a stall warning … as well as Colgan’s hiring and training practices. Among the issues is whether unauthorized chatter among pilots and fatigue played roles in the crash. Renslow’s copilot, Rebecca Shaw, flew from Seattle to Newark overnight, arriving the day of the accident and evidence suggests she wasn’t able to get much sleep that day.

The plane, a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 crashed in Clarence Center, New York en route from Newark, New Jersey to Buffalo. All 49 people on the plane died, along with on person on the ground.