tagged w/ Airplanes
-
Los Angeles Times...
.
Plane flies into Ferris wheel in Australia
Children trapped on a ferris wheel are seen after an ultra-light plane crashed into it at a fair in Australia. (Reuters)
Associated Press
October 1, 2011, 10:35 a.m.
.
CANBERRA, Australia -- An ultra-light plane crashed into a Ferris wheel at a rural festival in eastern Australia on Saturday, trapping two children on the ride and two adults in the aircraft for hours. There were no serious injuries.
The Cheetah S200 carrying two men did not topple the Ferris wheel when it hit the frame near the top on the first morning of an annual three-day festival at Old Bar, a coastal village 220 miles (350 kilometers) north of Sydney, New South Wales Rural Fire Service spokesman Ben Shepherd said.
Two children - a 9-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl - were trapped in a carriage at the top of the wheel near the wrecked plane for 90 minutes, police said.
The 52-year-old pilot and his 32-year-old passenger were trapped inside the mangled aircraft more than 30 feet (10 meters) above ground for almost three hours, police said.
Shepherd said rescuers used a crane to free the four.
"Thankfully, everyone was taken down and were able to walk away from it," Shepherd said.
The pilot, Paul Cox, said he did not see the Ferris wheel before his plane hit it.
"The next thing I knew, I was stopped inside the Ferris wheel," he said. "I had no idea for a few minutes and I was just hoping no one got hurt."
Witnesses said the Ferris wheel was full of children minutes before the crash. But because of impending rain, only five had dared to take the final ride, said a festival organizer, who gave his name only as Terry.
"The kids were fantastic," said Brett Campbell, a paramedic at the scene. "They were so calm and so well-behaved and very brave. And so were the two gentlemen in the plane. They were just the best patients we could ever hope for, and the best thing about it, no one really had any injuries."
Fizal Meah, a witness, said one of the children in a carriage below the area of impact was struck by debris and was left distraught but uninjured.
"Because the rain was stopping and starting, stopping and starting, it was almost empty," Meah said.
Local resident Gary Jones said his 9-year-old twin sons were among the last to ride the Ferris wheel before the crash.
"It was a hell of a shock," Jones said.
Police and air safety investigators were at the scene Saturday.
The plane had just taken off from a nearby airstrip when it crashed, Meah said.
.Los Angeles Times...
.
Plane flies into Ferris wheel in Australia
Children... more
-
-
New air traffic control system at crossroads
By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press – 2 hours ago
PART ONE...
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration is creating a new air traffic system that officials say will be as revolutionary for civil aviation as was the advent of radar six decades ago. But the program is at a crossroads.
It's getting harder to pry money out of Congress. The airline industry is hesitating over the cost of equipping its planes with new technology necessary to use the system. And some experts say the U.S. could lose its lead in the manufacture of high tech aviation equipment to European competitors because the FAA is moving too slowly.
Seventy-five years ago this week the federal government, spurred by the nascent airline industry, began tracking planes at the nation's first air traffic control centers in Newark, N.J., Chicago and Cleveland.
The original group of 15 controllers, relying on radioed position reports from pilots, plotted the progress of flights using blackboards, maps and boat-shaped weights. Air traffic control took a technological leap forward in the 1950s with the introduction of radar. That's still the basis of the technology used today by more than 15,000 controllers to guide 50,000 flights a day.
Under FAA's Next Generation Air Transportation System program, known as NextGen, ground radar stations will be replaced by satellite-based technology. Instead of flying indirect routes to stay within the range of ground stations, as planes do today, pilots will use GPS technology to fly directly to their destinations.
Planes will continually broadcast their exact positions, not only to air traffic controllers, but to other similarly equipped aircraft within hundreds of miles. For the first time, pilots will be able to see on cockpit displays where they are in relation to other planes and what the flight plans are for those other aircraft. That will enable planes to safely fly closer together.
When planes approach airports, precise GPS navigation will allow them to use more efficient landing and takeoff procedures. Instead of time-consuming, fuel-burning stair- step descents, planes will be able to glide in more steeply with their engines idling. Aircraft will be able to land and take off closer together and more frequently, even in poor weather, because pilots will know the precise location of other aircraft and obstacles on the ground. Fewer planes will be diverted.
Pilots and airline dispatchers will be able get real-time weather information. Computers will spot potential weather conflicts well in advance so that planes can be rerouted. And, controllers will do a lot less talking to pilots. Many instructions now transmitted by radio will instead be sent digitally to cockpits, reducing the chance of errors.
Together, the suite of new technologies and procedures being phased in will significantly increase the system's traffic capacity, FAA officials predict. That's critical if the number of passengers traveling annually on U.S. airlines grows from an estimated 737 million this year to over 1 billion a year in the next decade, as the FAA forecasts.
And, the FAA predicts, NextGen will save significant time, fuel and money. It also will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and noise.
"It really is a revolution in air transportation," Deputy FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said in an interview. "The decisions we're making in the next several years will set the foundation for the next 75 years of air traffic control."
Paying the tab for NextGen — estimated at as much as $22 billion for the government and another $20 billion for the airline industry through 2025 — may be FAA's biggest hurdle. The program has widespread support in the Obama administration and Congress, but it isn't immune to budget cuts in the current climate of austerity. The House wants to reduce FAA's budget authority by $1 billion a year over the next four years, while the Senate has favored higher funding.
Even longtime NextGen supporters like Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's transportation subcommittee, warn that full funding is no longer automatic.
"We need to see a realistic strategy for funding NextGen," she told FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt at a May hearing. "To date, the FAA has filled its budget request with a laundry list of programs and development activities, and a vague promise that somehow the agency will achieve its goals by 2018. But that approach is not enough this year."
If funding is reduced, some elements of NextGen could be delayed. There is no date for completion of the entire program, which officials say is constantly evolving.
CONTINUED...
.New air traffic control system at crossroads
By JOAN LOWY, Associated Press –... more
-
-
NPR...
Airlines Positioned For Big Gains In Efficiency
by The Associated Press
Chart shows airplane fuel consumption to fly one passenger 1,000 miles
July 4, 2011
Planes are being built out of the same lightweight materials used for Formula 1 race cars. Their engines are being redesigned to squeeze more thrust out of every gallon of fuel. And governments are developing air-traffic systems that will allow airlines to fly shorter routes.
Those and other advances have positioned airlines for the biggest gains in fuel efficiency since the dawn of the jet age in 1958. For airlines, more efficient jets will reduce their biggest expense. For passengers, it means fares won't jump around as much with the price of oil.
"We're seeing 25 years of improvements compressed into 10 years," says Hans Weber, president of TECOP International, an aviation consulting firm.
Airlines' urgency to reduce fuel use is being driven by two trends: soaring oil prices and tougher environmental regulations.
Pressured by airline executives for improvements, manufacturers have pushed the frontiers of technology by building lighter planes and borrowing essential engine-design advances from the auto industry, like automatic transmissions.
Airplane manufacturers have already reduced fuel consumption twice as much as car and train manufacturers have. In 1980, it took an average of 46 gallons of fuel to fly a passenger 1,000 miles. Today, it takes 22, according to an AP analysis of Department of Transportation data. Experts say the coming improvements could bring that number below 18 within a decade.
That can't come soon enough for airlines struggling with the rising price of oil.
U.S. airlines lost a combined $1 billion in the first three months of this year, in large part because of a 24 percent spike in fuel costs. A decade ago, fuel accounted for 15 percent of an airline's operating budget. Today, it's 35 percent.
U.S. carriers with European routes face hundreds of millions of dollars a year of additional costs pegged to their fuel consumption starting next year, when the European Union begins limiting how much carbon dioxide airlines are allowed to emit before paying a penalty. The restrictions are expected to cost airlines worldwide $3.3 billion a year. The U.S. airlines are fighting the law in European courts.
With billions of dollars of aircraft and engine orders at stake, manufacturers are turning designs that were dreams only a few years ago into reality.
Boeing and Airbus are both building long-range jets — the 787 Dreamliner and A350, respectively — with half of their bodies made of carbon-fiber composites. The carbon-fiber weighs 20 percent less than traditional aluminum alloy.
But the real revolution will come from the way planes are powered.
Pratt & Whitney and CFM, a joint venture between General Electric and Safran, are unveiling engines that promise to cut fuel use by 15 percent. These engines are designed for single-aisle planes, which account for more than 75 percent of the 22,000 jets worldwide. The engines should save more than $1 million per aircraft per year.
"For the first time, we're seeing a propulsion horserace," says Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with the Teal Group.
The PurePower engine from Pratt & Whitney will debut on the new Bombardier CSeries in 2013. Its main technological advance is to add gears — similar to a car's transmission — that will allow different parts of the engine to operate at different speeds. That boosts fuel efficiency and provides the same amount of power as a traditional engine but in smaller, lighter housing.
The LEAP-X from CFM has advancements in air flow and temperature-resistant coatings that allow the air passing through the engine core to be at temperatures otherwise hot enough to melt the surrounding metal. Those higher temperatures allow the engine to be more efficient.
Airbus is redesigning its A320 jets to accommodate both engines and says its A320neo, which starts flying in 2016, will cut fuel consumption by 20 percent. Airbus has already received more than 1,000 orders and commitments for future orders.
Boeing plans to offer the new engines on a single-aisle jet but has yet to decide whether it will update the 737, its best-seller, to accommodate them or design a new plane.
Other ways airlines will save on fuel:
— A satellite-based air traffic control system in the U.S., several years away, that could cut fuel consumption by 12 percent. Airlines and the government are fighting over who will pay for it. The current system is based on less precise World War II-era radar, which can force planes to zigzag miles out of their way.
— Aerodynamic improvements to jets, including vertical extensions at the tip of each wing called "winglets" that prevent drag. They've been around for several years but are being deployed on a wider range of planes.
— Carrying less weight inside the plane. American is replacing its 19,000 catering carts with models that weigh 16 pounds less. Southwest is testing seat covers made with lighter fabric. JetBlue chose thinner seats for its new A320s. Every pound removed from a plane saves 30 gallons of fuel a year.
— Replacing older jets faster. American, which has the worst fuel economy among U.S. airlines, is replacing aging MD80s with 737s that use 35 percent less fuel per passenger.
Airlines are cutting costs in other areas as well.
Ten years ago, salaries and benefits accounted for 39 percent of industry expenses. Now they account for 28 percent. Several major airlines filed for bankruptcy and that allowed them to renegotiate labor contracts.
But with oil at $100 a barrel and expected to rise more in the years ahead, analysts say the long-term imperative for airlines is singular: they must dramatically cut their fuel consumption.
"Either they do it," says Darryl Jenkins of the Aviation Consulting Group, "or they go out of business."
———NPR...
Airlines Positioned For Big Gains In Efficiency
by The Associated... more
-
-
NBC L.A. ...
Two Arrested Allegedly for Pointing Lasers at Aircraft
Monday, Jul 4, 2011 | Updated 10:10 AM PDT
Laser Pointer Sting Nabs Two
Two men could face federal and state charges after they were arrested Monday morning for allegedly pointing lasers at law enforcement and fire department helicopters as well as aircraft flying in to LAX, a Los Angeles police sergeant said.
A third man was also arrested at the same location on an outstanding warrant unrelated to the laser pointing, LAPD Sgt. John Campos, a watch commander at the Newton Station said.
The LAPD ran a high-flying sting to pinpoint the location of their two attackers.
Officers wearing new protective glasses flew overhead to draw the suspects' laser shots. Meanwhile, Newton Station officers on the ground stood ready to close in on their location, said Sgt. Mel Stevenson in the LAPD Air Support Division.
LAPD officers arrested two unidentified men, one 20, the other 22, and recovered two laser devices at a home in the 2900 block of Paloma Street in the USC area about 3 a.m. Monday, Stevenson said.
The two suspects face multiple charges for pointing lasers at the police helicopter twice this morning and also ten days ago, Stevenson added.
"We have numerous reports of laser incidents from that location,'' Stevenson said. "We're going to notify the F.B.I. because they're possibly involved with airliners landing at LAX.''
Posted Monday, Jul 4, 2011 - 8:11 AM PDTNBC L.A. ...
Two Arrested Allegedly for Pointing Lasers at Aircraft
Monday, Jul... more
-
-
The scene was apparently bedlam at airports in cities across the country last night as United Airlines' computer system totally failed, leaving thousands of flyers stranded for hours. So what the hell happened?
The airline called the problem a "network connectivity issue," already in the midst of trying to resolve the issue. If that sounds vague, I'm with you. It was a serious one at that, knocking out their departures, processing, and reservations systems. Anxious passengers were left trapped on grounded planes, stuck in lines, and sitting in lobbies at airports in major cities like New York, Detroit, and Los Angeles. By 2 AM, United's tech team had started to resolve the malfunction, allowing people to reach their destinations.
No statement has been made at to why United's computer system's failed, but they have been gracious enough to allow affected passengers to rebook their flights without penalties.
It just leaves one to wonder: What could cause a malfunction of this size to affect such a major airline? Hackers again?The scene was apparently bedlam at airports in cities across the country last night as... more
-
-
Time...
How Flu Spreads on a Plane
By Bryan Walsh Thursday, June 16, 2011
Brian Stablyk / Photographer's Choice / Getty Images
As if the generally horrific experience of flying wasn't bad enough (maybe I'm just a little sour about the 90 minutes I spent on the tarmac at Newark last night), a new study [PDF] in Emerging Infectious Diseases shows that flying can make you as sick as you are miserable.
Australian researchers studied flu infections that spread aboard two large airliners during May 2009, at the height of the H1N1/A flu pandemic, and found a zone of infection around sick passengers. And — no surprise here — the closer you sit to someone who's sick, the better the chance you'll be coming down with the flu.
Sit within two rows of someone with flu-like symptoms, and your chance of getting ill increases by 3.6%. Sit within two seats of the sick passenger, and your chance of coming down with the flu goes up by 7.7% (and, I imagine, your chance of generally having a horrible flight increases by 100%).
Paul Kelly, one of the paper's authors and an epidemiologist at Australian National University, told LiveScience that the time spent aboard the plane played a role in the chance of infection as well:
"The closer you are to an infectious person, the higher your chances of becoming infected yourself," said study researcher Paul Kelly, an epidemiologist at Australian National University in Canberra. "This is especially the case on long-haul flights," those lasting more than four hours.
Kelly believes that governments should screen patients for flu symptoms and prevent them from flying — a practice that tends to spike during pandemics and other outbreaks, but usually wanes not long after. (From my experience, you'd need to be breaking out with bubonic plague before most U.S. airlines would take you off a flight.)
If you do end up near a sick person, Kelly suggests you ask to be moved — good luck with that — wear a cotton mask, or even suggest that you're [SIC] sick neighbor wears one. (It's considered common courtesy in Asia for those with flu-like illnesses to wear masks when venturing out in public.)
The results of the study have consequences for infectious disease control beyond stopping the sniffles. Modern airline travel allows us to move from one end of the globe to the other in less than a day, and that means we can bring our germs with us. In the case of the SARS outbreaks of 2003, the disease was almost always introduced into a new country via airline passengers. The next big infectious disease — which could be much more deadly than SARS or H1N1 — is out there somewhere, and it will almost certainly be riding a plane.
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/06/16/its-true-flying-can-give-you-the-flu/#ixzz1PbjVa9VJTime...
How Flu Spreads on a Plane
By Bryan Walsh Thursday, June 16, 2011... more
-
-
Video at the link (click the pic)
The Air France jet which crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 fell for three and a half minutes before hitting the ocean, French investigators have said.
The investigators say the crew had struggled with contradictory speed readings before the plane stalled and fell.
All 228 people on board were killed in the disaster, which is only now being pieced together following the recovery of the plane's flight data recorders.Video at the link (click the pic)
The Air France jet which crashed into the... more
-
-
pdy
-
added this
-
9 months ago
- |
-
This footage shot by a plane spotter at an airport in the Moscow region shows a Tupolev-154 apparently going out of control shortly after take off. No passengers were on board the Ministry of Defense plane at the time. The film released on the Internet has bloggers praising the skills of the pilot as he manages to regain control and land safely. Aviation authorities are investigating the incident.This footage shot by a plane spotter at an airport in the Moscow region shows a... more
-
-
An Air France Airbus A380-800 clips a Comair Bombardier CRJ-700 at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Ce la vie, non?An Air France Airbus A380-800 clips a Comair Bombardier CRJ-700 at New York's... more
-
-
The 1910s was a dynamic and tumultuous decade that ushered in the modern era. “Our Future Is In The Air” is an eclectic centennial exhibition devoted to photography of the 1910s. The exhibition provides a fascinating look at the birth of modern life through photographs by some 30 artists, who include: Eugène Atget, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Eugène Druet, Lewis Hine, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Adolph de Meyer, Christian Schad, Morton Schamberg, Charles Sheeler, and Stanislaw Witkiewicz, among others.
As cameras became smaller, faster, and easier to operate, amateur photographers such as the child prodigy Jacques-Henri Lartigue pushed the medium in directions that trained photographers of the time shied away from. Since Lartigue was recognized much later as a key figure in photography, prints such as the ones showing speeding motorcar are exceedingly rare. Lartigue made one of his most memorable photographs, Le Grand Prix A.C.F. (1913), by swinging his camera in the same direction as the car, as it sped by. The camera also afforded access to the previously invisible, such as the trajectory created by simple changes in body position, shown in the motion studies by Futurist artist Anton Giulio Bragaglia.
At the same time, photography became an agent of democratic communication, and documentary photographers used its growing influence to expose degrading conditions of workers, the injustice of child labor, and the devastation of war. Beginning in 1908, Lewis Hine made 5,000 photographs of children working in mills, sweatshops, factories, and street trades.
During World War I, photography was utilized to document the mass casualties of mechanized warfare. The exhibition presents an evocative 1918 photograph of Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks entertaining a huge crowd at a war bonds rally on Wall Street.
The presentation is accompanied by video of Louis Feuillade’s Les Vampires, a 1915 serial about a brazen band of criminals, which was shot on the streets of Paris (silent film with music track).
This piece includes a number of vintage photographs, a slide show and Louis Feuillade’s 1915 film, “Les Vampires”
http://disembedded.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/our-future-is-in-the-air-an-eclectic-centennial-exhibition-of-1910s-photography/The 1910s was a dynamic and tumultuous decade that ushered in the modern era.... more
-
-
The bodies of some of the 228 victims of the worst air crash in Air France’s history have been found nearly 4 kilometers below the Atlantic Ocean.
Eerie images of the underwater tomb, which includes British and Irish victims, have been taken by submarines equipped with robot-controlled cameras.
As investigators released some of the images in Paris, they said they also showed the "vast majority" of the Airbus A330-203 had also been discovered, including its engines.
This raises renewed hope that the black box flight recorders can be retrieved, so helping to explain why Flight AF 447 crashed en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, 2009.
The £8million search is being financed jointly by Air France and Airbus, who are both at the centre of a criminal enquiry into the disaster, and face manslaughter charges.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1373189/Victims-Air-France-flight-447-Atlantic-year-mystery.html#ixzz1IZZrfLw4The bodies of some of the 228 victims of the worst air crash in Air France’s... more
-
-
Kia Ora! In case of unforseen disco, Air New Zealand's planes' floors can be used as a dance floors. Woop!Kia Ora! In case of unforseen disco, Air New Zealand's planes' floors can be... more
-
-
The air traffic controller suspended for failing to respond to two planes heading into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport has told investigators that he had fallen asleep, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The controller, a 20-year veteran, "indicated that he had fallen asleep for a period of time while on duty," according to statement released Thursday by the safety board. "He had been working his fourth consecutive overnight shift (10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.)."
"Human fatigue issues are one of the areas being investigated," the statement read.
Federal Aviation Administration chief Randy Babbitt said earlier Thursday that the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the incident and that the air traffic controller has been suspended from all operational duties.
An FAA official speaking on background said the controller was given a drug test after the incident. The official said the drug test was "standard procedure" and did not know the results.
The situation began at 12:10 a.m. Wednesday, when an American Airlines plane attempted to call the tower to get clearance to land and got no answer, said Peter Knudson, a spokesman for the safety board. The plane had been in contact with a regional air traffic control facility, and a controller at that facility advised the pilot that he, too, had been unable to contact anyone at the tower, according to a recording of air control traffic at the website liveatc.net.
"1012," the controller said, using the airline's flight number, "called a couple of times on landline and tried to call on the commercial line, and there's no answer.
"The tower is apparently unmanned."
Apparently asked why by a pilot, the controller later responded, "Well, I'm going to take a guess and say that the controller got locked out. I've heard of this happening before. Fortunately, it's not very often," he said.
Knudson said the plane landed without incident in a situation termed an "uncontrolled airport."
About 15 minutes later, a United Airlines flight also failed to reach the tower but landed without any problems, he said. After that, the controller in the tower was back in communication. Knudson said one controller was staffing the tower at the time this occurred.
The controller's admission that he was asleep during the landing emergency underscores concerns about the effect of fatigue on underslept controllers at work.
In 2007, then-NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker wrote in a letter to the FAA that four plane incidents "provide clear and compelling evidence" that controllers are sometimes operating while fatigued because of their work schedules and poor use of rest periods.
"That fatigue has contributed to controller errors," Rosenker wrote.
The incidents cited by the NTSB were:
-- A March 23, 2006, incident in which a Chicago air traffic controller cleared a plane to take off from a runway on which, 15 seconds earlier, he had cleared another aircraft to cross. The pilot of the departing plane stopped when he saw the other craft in the taxiway intersection. The controller told investigators he had slept only four hours during a nine-hour break between shifts.
-- An August 19, 2004, incident in which a Los Angeles controller cleared one passenger jet to take off and another to land on a runway at the same time. The pilot in the landing aircraft noticed the other on the runway and pulled his plane up 12 seconds before they would have collided. The controller said he had slept five or 6 hours before coming to work.
-- A September 25, 2001, incident in which a Denver air traffic controller approved a request from a cargo plane pilot to take off from a runway that had been closed for construction. The aircraft came within 32 feet of hitting lights that had been installed in the construction zone. The controller said he'd slept only two hours between work days.
-- A July 8, 2001, incident in which a Denver controller cleared one passenger plane to cross a runway where another was about to land. The landing pilot hit the brakes, stopping 810 feet from the other plane. The controller said he had worked three shifts in two days.
Of the most recent incident, Babbitt said, "In my 25 years as a professional airline pilot, I've never seen anything happen like this.
"I am outraged by it," Babbitt said. "We're going to make sure something like this never happens again."
Babbitt stressed that, because of a backup system, neither plane was out of "positive radar contact, nor were they out of communication with the FAA, thus allowing both to land safely.
"That said ... this should not have happened," Babbitt said. "We should not have had this gap in communication. We had to rely on a backup system, which shouldn't have happened."
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood ordered the FAA on Wednesday to schedule two controllers on the overnight shift.The air traffic controller suspended for failing to respond to two planes heading into... more
-
-
According to media reports a glowing round object making a speedy descent near the West Bengal-Bihar border early on January 26 left pilots of five aircraft baffled, triggering widespread speculation about UFO.
The first person to sight the object was a senior Air India pilot who was navigating the aircraft at a height of 34,000 ft during its flight from Kolkata to New Delhi.According to media reports a glowing round object making a speedy descent near the... more
-
-
When we think of fighter planes, we might not typically think of China. Rest assured, the sleeping dragon of the East has quite a number of awesome fighter jets.When we think of fighter planes, we might not typically think of China. Rest assured,... more
-
-
Some random guy decides to post a blog complaining about how someone might get close to his junk and suddenly horror stories about the TSA start pouring in....so typical for a country in which one of the primary news stations, CNN, uses Facebook, Twitter, and iReports to fill up the 24 hour news cycle. Thank God we don't consider the possibility of focusing on stories which enrich our minds and culture.
The guy was whining about being patted down, which is something that happens to anyone who has been in a rough part of town or a high security area. Go to a club downtown, get patted down. Work at intelligence, military, or research facilities... get patted down. Any areas in which there is an obvious security risk will probably result in people being patted down.
Just in case some people missed 9/11 and the kamikazes, a plane happens to be a mobile and potentially explosive device or, in other words, a flying bomb. A plane in the wrong hands can take out any building at any time.
The original TSA blogger(whose name I refuse to waste my time looking for) complained about how he felt he was going to be molested by the TSA. I could understand if the TSA officer happened to enjoy the pat down or if he stuck his hands down the homophobe's pants and played with his balls, but as is he just sounds like another whiny US citizen who thinks that his privacy supersedes the safety of all the other passengers.
The idea that he deserves special treatment begs the question of whether or not US citizens believe that only certain people(the brown ones?) deserve to be scrutinized. I'm sure the terrorists on 9/11 were standing around screaming "Allahu Akbar" with bombs hanging out of their pants.
Some horror stories have popped up involving children, cancer patients, etc. However, if you review the non-mainstream news you will realize that the TSA's actions are potentially justifiable. Children have on multiple occasions been utilized by parents or relatives to try to sneak drugs past security checkpoints in airports and prisons. A young Asian man recently disguised himself as a seemingly innocent and defenseless old man in order to sneak onto a plane. Appearances are deceiving but US citizens are too arrogant to realize that.
Granted some of the TSA agents went too far, however condemning an entire agency because of a few cases out of the millions of people who travel each year is absolutely idiotic. But the story has gained traction because the quality of the US media has degraded to the point that controversy has replaced the former viewpoint of if it bleeds it leads(which replaced if it's culturally significant it lead. Mr. Murrow, how I miss you so).
From a purely sociological standpoint, one can find a multitude of instances during which authority figures have abused their power. Cops have been accused of crimes including: assault, rape, child molestation, murder, theft, etc. Review the Standford prison experiment and you can see how quickly a person can be corrupted by power. The people working for the TSA are just as capable of becoming corrupted as a police officer or a soldier(hopefully everyone noticed the story about the US soldiers killing civilians just for fun).
The solution....fire the abusive TSA officers. Don't condemn an entire agency just become some homophobe couldn't deal with the possibility that a man might graze his clothes covered penis for a few seconds.
Football players slap each other's butts all the time, and some depraved individuals kick or punch each other in the balls from time to time. It's not like some dirty old man or woman is going to latch onto you and ask you if you like it during a TSA pat down. Most of the officers are just there to do a job for a paycheck, like everyone else. Grow up America and please stop acting like paranoid idiotsSome random guy decides to post a blog complaining about how someone might get close... more
-
-
Full body scanners and enhanced pat downs in private rooms are fueling anger among air travelers in the US. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is coming in for severe criticism while passengers are planning a boycott of the scans on Nov. 24 - traditionally the busiest travel day of the year.Full body scanners and enhanced pat downs in private rooms are fueling anger among air... more
-
-
-
SCROLL DOWN TO READ MOST RECENT UPDATE...
----
Canadian authorities are investigating an "unbelievable" incident in which a passenger boarded an Air Canada flight disguised as an elderly man, according to a confidential alert obtained by CNN.
The incident occurred on October 29 on Air Canada flight AC018 to Vancouver originating in Hong Kong. An intelligence alert from the Canada Border Services Agency describes the incident as an "unbelievable case of concealment."
"Information was received from Air Canada Corporate Security regarding a possible imposter on a flight originating from Hong Kong," the alert says. "The passenger in question was observed at the beginning of the flight to be an elderly Caucasian male who appeared to have young looking hands. During the flight the subject attended the washroom and emerged an Asian looking male that appeared to be in his early 20s."
After landing in Canada, Border Services Officers (BSOs) escorted the man off the plane where he "proceeded to make a claim for refugee protection," the alert says.
"The subject initially claimed to be in possession of one bag; however, flight crew approached the BSOs with two additional pieces of luggage which were believed to belong to the subject. One bag contained the subject's personal clothing items while the second contained a pair of gloves. The third contained a 'disguise kit' which consisted of a silicone type head and neck mask of an elderly Caucasian male, a brown leather cap, glasses and a thin brown cardigan."
The man put on the disguise for the officers who "noted he very much resembled an elderly Caucasian man, complete with mimicking the movements of an elderly person. The subject admitted at this time that he had boarded the flight with the mask on and had removed it several hours later," according to the alert.
"We can confirm that officials from the CBSA met a passenger arriving off AC018 Hong Kong to Vancouver on October 29 and the matter is still under investigation," said Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick, who noted that "there are multiple identity checks before departure at the Hong Kong international airport, including Chinese government-run Hong Kong passport control, which Hong Kong originating passengers must undergo."
Hong Kong officials said they are aware of the incident and would call back with more information later.
Jennifer Bourque, regional communications officer for the CBSA, confirmed that "we intercepted an individual, on October 29, attempting to enter Canada under false pretenses on-board an Air Canada flight."
"CBSA can confirm that the foreign national is currently in CBSA detention," she said. "The individual will present before an IRB hearing. The officials of the CBSA will not disclose further information on this file."
Because of Privacy Act regulations, she said, she cannot provide details about specific cases.
"However, I can tell you that CBSA officers examine all passengers arriving on international flights at Vancouver International Airport," she said. "CBSA works closely with air carriers and local, national and international law enforcement partners, to ensure the safety of our borders and our communities. Getting the right information at the right time is a key element in keeping Canada's border closed to safety and security threats."
The agency would not discuss when or why the man put on the disguise or details about how he boarded the plane. But the alert indicated that the suspect boarded the plane with a board pass belonging to another passenger.
"It is believed that the subject and the actual United States Citizen passenger (whose date of birth is 1955) performed a boarding pass swap, with the subject using an Aeroplan card as identification to board the flight," the alert said.
Aeroplan is a credit card where card holders can earn frequent flyer miles.SCROLL DOWN TO READ MOST RECENT UPDATE...
----
Canadian authorities are... more
-
-
You can do a lot of things on an airplane. E-mail a friend, watch TV, even lie in a bed if you're flying overseas in first class. But you can't smoke.
One company hopes to change that. Blu Cigs, maker of electronic cigarettes that offer the taste but not the tobacco found in a regular cigarette, is partnering with a charter jet company to provide free samples to passengers. It hopes some commercial airlines will consider following suit.
http://www.sinlung.com/2010/11/airline-gives-out-free-electronic.htmlYou can do a lot of things on an airplane. E-mail a friend, watch TV, even lie in a... more
-
