US Airways to remove all movies from it’s fleet

by Grant Martin on

If you were one of the last six people in the country that thought that US Airways was cool, you now have a reason to jump ship: the Tempe, Arizona based company just announced that it was abandoning all of its domestic In Flight Entertainment (IFE) systems and that it will further scrap any plans of ever implementing any.

The culprit, they claim, is the five hundred pounds of extra weight that the systems add to each aircraft, thus taking more fuel to fly around the country.

US Airways: I know that your focus groups and business travelers don’t place that high of a priority on In Flight Entertainment because they like to work on their laptops or crackberry around. But this is AMERICA. Our favorite national past time is watching television. We love it. And the 90% of people that don’t have a laptop, Blackberry or Malcom Gladwell’s last piece of non-fiction are going to get PISSED when their TV’s go away. Do yourself a favor and save one of the last things that you had over the other legacy carriers with no IFE.

If you were still booked on an overseas US Airways flight, you can take down your craigslist posting for your tickets down and breathe a sigh of relief for now — only domestic IFE is going away. But at this rate, who knows how long the airline, proper, is going to last.

Rumor: United and US Airways could announce merger soon

by Grant Martin on

Word on the secret underground is that United Airlines and US Airways may be in talks to merge, and may even announce their plans as early as TODAY. Other reports say that they’re waiting on union approval and could postpone an announcement in early May.

I know we’ve all been speculating about whether any other legacy carriers were going to merge after the Northwest and Delta deal got rolling; many believed that Continental and United were next in line, especially with Continental’s suspicious postings on their new website, co-industryconsolidation.com.

Perhaps that’s not the only deal in motion though? United and US Airways, two airlines that have faced particular hardship over the last few years could well-benefit from the consolidation of their services. Both are in the same airline alliance and have numerous domestic hubs that could directly compete with the the new Northwelta.

Keep an eye on the news and UAUA today. Again, this is all still speculation but big news could be on the way.

Pilot who misfired gun in cockpit will be fired

by Justin Glow on

Remember the US Airways pilot that fired a gun in the cockpit? CNN is reporting that the airline will eventually fire him for the incident.

The Federal Flight Deck Officers Association, the organization “which represents pilots who are federally trained and allowed to carry firearms on flights,” will be fighting the termination, calling the incident “accidental not intentional.” Well, duh.

I don’t think anyone was questioning whether the shot was intentional or not, and its intention doesn’t make the bullet any less dangerous. But should he be fired for the mistake?

What do you think?

%Poll-12894%

Part of U.S. Airways plane breaks and falls to the ground somewhere in Maryland

by Justin Glow on

Do you live in Maryland? Did you find an unknown piece of metal in your backyard this afternoon?

If so, U.S Airways and the FAA, no doubt, would like to have a word with you, as it most likely fell off the wing of one of their planes. A local ABC affiliate reports,

“The company notified local fire departments that a 17-square-inch piece of wing fell off and may be somewhere in Anne Arundel or Prince George’s County, or even somewhere near Kent Island.”

U.S. Airways officials are confident it fell off somewhere over Maryland, but they’re not quite sure exactly where. Help them out, please.

[Via Consumerist]

US Airways pilot’s gun discharges while in flight

by Grant Martin on

If there’s one thing that fires people up besides shirts with the F word on it, it’s guns.

At issue is whether or not pilots should be allowed to carry weapons in the cockpit. While it’s a definitive way to reinforce security at 30,000 feet, the presence of a firearm onboard increases the potential for accidents — and disaster.

That’s what happened last Saturday when a US Airways pilot’s gun accidentally went off in the cockpit during the flight. Nobody was injured and the aircraft landed safely, but wow, they were lucky.

Suppose that bullet went through the front window instead of somewhere into the fuselage. At that altitude could the pilots withstand explosive decompression? Would the entire cabin decompress and the pilots be killed?

According to the TSA, the pilot in question was trained under the Federal Flight Deck Officers program and last certified in November. Details are still sketchy on how the firearm was stored and what caused it to discharge in the cockpit, but I’m pretty sure that with the safety on and without a bullet in the chamber a weapon shouldn’t accidentally fire.

I suppose if it were up to me and on my flight, I would prefer the pilot to have a gun and thwart a terrorist at the small risk of having an accident. While flight deck doors are locked from the inside these days and any instigator would have a really difficult time getting access, the extra layer of security does supply a grain of comfort. I’m glad everyone was safe on the US Airways flight.