Two jets collide at San Francisco airport

by Catherine Bodry on

It’s finally happened: after a year of reports on near misses, overworked air traffic controllers and airports as clogged as a teenager’s pores, two jets finally bumped into each other.

Despite the dramatic headline, it was actually a gentle collision and there were no injuries. The accident happened at San Francisco International Airport when two airplanes being pushed by “tugs” backed in to each other. One was a United Airlines 757 and the other was a SkyWest commuter jet. Good thing it was only a gentle bump, because that 757 could totally beat the commuter jet up.

Maybe this will be the collision that fires everyone up and makes the skies (or taxiways, or runways) safer.

Good thing an Airbus A380 wasn’t involved! We’d sure hate to hear about a disturbance on such a peaceful flight.
%Gallery-9672%

Related: Obama’s plane clips another aircraft at Midway Airport

Eight mice found – dead and alive – on United Airlines flight

by Catherine Bodry on

If something runs over your foot on your next flight, beware: it might not be the beverage cart.

In a reversal of roles, the United States nearly imported its own tainted goods to China on a United Airlines flight recently. While en route to China, United employees discovered a total of eight mice — some dead, some alive — hidden in pillows throughout the cabin. On arrival, Chinese officials greeted the plane with rat poison and mouse traps.

The story was printed in newspapers yesterday, along with lists of viruses mice can carry. The articles also probably incited panic when they wrote of the potentially fatal damage mice could do by chewing through wires on aircraft.

Could these tiny creatures be more dangerous than the terrorists?

Think that’s bad? Check out some other unpleasant flight experiences. How rotten would it be flying…

[Thanks to Joshua Davis (articnomad) for the great shot of a plane.]

Near-collision videos show need for updated airport safety technology

by Catherine Bodry on

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released dramatic animation of two runway near-collisions, in order to promote the need for improvements in runway safety. The re-creation was based on radar and flight data recorder information from the planes involved.

The video includes audio from an air traffic controller yelling “stop! stop! stop!” to a United plane as it begins to taxi onto a runway where a Delta flight is landing. The planes came within 230 feet of each other. In another situation, one plane lands while another is taking off on a perpendicular runway. The leaving flight is able to lift off early while the landing flight hit the breaks and stops in the middle of the runway. The planes avoided a collision by as little as 30 feet.

The animations were presented at the annual NTSB board meeting, where the agency reviews its most transportation safety concerns.

Read the full article and watch the video on CNN.com.

The Airlines Hate Us

by Jonathon Morgan on

Airlines are treating their passengers worse than ever, with customer service blunders on the rise for the third year in a row. According to the annual Airline Quality Rating, last year saw more people bumped, more bags lost, and more flights delayed than in 2005.

Worst of all, it looks like things will continue to go downhill. An industry spokesman told the Associated Press that because the number of flights is exceeding the capacity of air traffic controllers, “We’re going to see more delays and those delays translate to cancellations, mishandled bags and unhappy passengers.”

United — who’s stranding of passengers for hours on runways wasn’t included because it was weather-related — tied for the most-complained-about airline with US Airawys, while Southwest registered the fewest complaints.

I’m at the point where I almost expect some kind of delay when I’m at the airport. But what about you, is the change noticeable? Any flight-delay horror stories you’d like to share?

Woman Imagines Terrorist Hijacking, Refuses To Stop Using Cell Phone In Flight

by Jonathon Morgan on

Erin Callahan Lambert got drunk and did some really, really stupid things on a flight from Boston to San Francisco last Sunday. Now she’s facing federal charges for making comments about a hijacking, trying to open a cabin door and fighting with flight attendants.

It all started to go awry when Lambert began talking on her cell phone halfway through the flight. When attendants asked her to stop, she became “combative.” Then, she claimed that she was “calling 911 because the plane is being hijacked.”

But it gets better (or worse, I suppose). After the first episode was diffused, Lambert later got up again, this time trying to take her luggage and her pet carrier into the bathroom. When flight attendants confronted her a second time, she said “…you are going to have to kill me and my dog.”

After a brief struggle, the nutcase was finally handcuffed, and, upon landing, turned over to San Francisco airport police. Thank goodness no one was hurt!