Both are being accused of speaking to the press without authorization, and each faces up to 20 days in jail if they are found guilty.

The air traffic controllers are striking because the lack of equipment constitutes a risk to security, and requires them to space arrivals even further. They also demand better working conditions and the demilitarization of the air traffic control in the country.

The lack of personnel and infrastructure to handle incoming aircraft has caused severe delays for 114 flights, 22.7% of the total influx of flights in the entire country, and 11% of the total had to be cancelled.

A similar strike last year was evidently unsuccessful at addressing the problem.

They trapped over 60 critters. “Hares have always been present on airport grounds,” said Nicoletta Angioni, a Linate Airport spokesperson. “However, there are so many now that they interfere with the airport’s radar monitoring systems”.

The critters were stored in wooden boxes and sent to a reservation close to the airport.

Cape Air grounds 34 of its 49 C402′s

The air carrier Cape Air voluntarily grounded most of its Cessna 402 twin aircraft due to three engine failures in three weeks, AvWeb reported.

Two failures occured late in May, and one occured Thursday before last. While all of the aircraft landed safely, the incidents prompted the Massachusetts-based carrier to look at the wear rate of certain engine components, as evidenced by a statement they issued on their website last week.

The company expects to resume normal operations next week.

According to the lawsuit, Jeppesen “has been a main provider of flight and logistical support services for aircraft used by the CIA …,” and therefore, should be liable for the actions of its customer.

The ACLU really needs to get a life. I applaud them for some of the causes they have undertaken in the past… But this has to be the most ridiculous lawsuit ever. It’s like filing a lawsuit against a spoon manufacturer for making the spoon that was eventually purchased by a serial killer and used to beat five people to death (hey, sometimes truth IS stranger than fiction).

I suppose that the aircraft manufacturers who “knowingly” sold their aircraft to the CIA are next on the ACLU’s list… Believe it or not, that wouldn’t be as much of a stretch as this nonsense they decided to sue for.

According to the Associated Press, the young man purchased a pilot suit over the Internet, created a fake pilot ID and got a boarding pass from a friend. With these, he managed to fly between Peking and Gizhou, his hometown, as a standby crew member. His knowledge of aviation vocabulary, acquired by reading aviation books for several years, allowed the man to speak to pilots who only suspected of him mid-flight. The aviation aficionado was detained by police.

For his feat, the man was convicted to 10 days in jail, and forced to pay a 500-yen ($68) fine. It is likely that he was inspired by Frank Abagnale Jr., the main character in Steven Spielberg’s film “Catch Me if You Can”.

Who wants to bet that this one will give some ultra-conservative pundit in the USA some ammo to say that aviation-related information should be confidential for the sake of national security? Not that it isn’t kind of hard to get as it is (so much for the Freedom of Information Act).

Pirates on the ATC frequencies?

The Times of India reported that the air traffic control supervisors at Jerusalem’s Ben-Gurion International Airport halted takeoffs for over an hour yesterday because interference from pirate radio and television stations made communications between the aircraft and ATC impossible.

Apparently, the issue is not uncommon over there; in fact, the frequencies are hijacked roughly once a month, said Uri Orlev, an airport official, on an interview with Channel 2 TV.

Officials did not specify which pirate station it was, but in the past stations from Israel, mostly from ultra-Orthodox Jewish movements, have taken down air traffic control frequencies.

I don’t think I need to editorialize that one, it speaks for itself.

Regarding Mr. TUI, that is just lame. Now, I understand that some folks are terribly afraid of flying; heck, after a traumatic flight I had 6 years ago, I joined the ranks of the “FoF” (Fear of Flying) crowd for a couple of years. However, that doesn’t excuse you from having some degree of self-control. It’s like these people who think they can go about life getting drunk and getting laid. Could they? Sure they could… But they might encounter some bumps along the way, or, if they’re extremely unlucky or extremely dumb, they might kill themselves. But I digress.

Mr. TUI was charged with “mischief, causing a disturbance, and failing to comply with instructions of a flight crew. Suits him right.

On related news, a 51-year-old passenger on a 747 flight from Berlin to New York’s JFK (presumably a Lufthansa flight) caused a diversion as well, because he decided to give himself an upgrade from coach to first class. When the flight crew approached him, he became aggressive. I must confess that I find it intriguing when a guy becomes territorial about a seat that never belonged to him in the first place. I wonder if this was another Mr. TUI?

Ah well, I suppose some handle being stuck in an aluminum tube at 30,000ft. better than others.

We’ve all heard the stories, often second-hand, of that one smelly passenger, or the crazy old lady sitting on 12A… Well, Hester brings tons of these stories from the front lines, some extremely uncanny.The narrative is not so much rich in detail as it is flat-out fascinating, and oftentimes very ironic. This book is remarkably easy to read, and could be enjoyable for anyone, from a high school student (which I was when I first picked it up) to a retired airline captain (a friend of mine who also read it).

This is not a technical book at all. In fact, it’s precisely the lack of a “specialized language” that makes it so appealing to so many different people. It is not deep, but it is not intended to be. Plane Insanity goes highly recommended!

“Passengers on an American Airlines flight that was stuck on the tarmac in Austin for nearly 10 hours last month are pushing for a national Passengers Bill of Rights to protect traveling consumers.

The proposal would require airlines to return passengers to terminal gates after three hours on the tarmac. It would also impose penalties on airlines for losing baggage and bumping passengers, and create a consumer committee to review and investigate complaints.”

Even for those of us that like aviation, such long waits would be painful. Let’s face it, staring at a wing ain’t so hot after 10 hours sitting on the tarmac. In an industry as competitive as commercial aviation, you’d think the “pieces of meat”out back would get better treatment than that, but by the looks of it, you’d be sadly mistaken.

So, to get the ball rolling, here are my top 5 items for this list (tongue in cheek, of course)… Feel free to add yours by commenting to this post.

1. If the flight is delayed, the flight is open-bar. You want to see timely departures and arrivals from the airlines, you say? Make it even more expensive for them if they’re late. Sure, it might not work, and they might still be late. But at least you can get plastered for free!

2. If they want you to pay extra for food, it should be food that’s worth paying for. I can’t emphasize this enough. See, I don’t mind airline food… It’s part of the flying experience at this point. But paying five bucks for a box with some peanuts, a crappy sandwich and some crackers is just disturbing.

On the other hand, if that sandwich was from Subway or Quizno’s or something (which I know one airline was considering), I’d be much more willing to pay for it. It would be nice to be able to specify which meal you want in advance, probably during check-in, so you can get something that’s actually edible for your hard-earned cash.

By the way, can you see a pattern emerging? My top 2 priorities are food and alcohol.

3. Babies and children must be heavily sedated, or checked in with the luggage. I know it sounds cruel and/or inhumane, but when one of these little bundles of joy is sitting behind you and starts kicking and screaming, anything goes, as far as I’m concerned. Just make sure you punch some holes on the crate.

4. Some flight attendants need an attitude check. This one gets on my nerves. Some flight attendants I know just complain on and on about the “pieces of meat”, and how annoying passengers are. I say, if you hate your job so much, quit. I know the yadda yadda… “We’re  there for safety”. Right. But the job description also includes serving drinks. I know that customer service jobs can be difficult… But many people hate their jobs, and that’s no excuse to be impolite to their clients, or do a less than stellar job. Oh, and get me some Coke!

5. If you have too many/gigantic bags, you leave some behind. I don’t get why airlines try so hard to accommodate people who aren’t capable of complying with common sense. I know of one carrier that actually instructs their employees to deny boarding to passengers rather than take out excess luggage. It’s total nonsense.

Your carry-on shouldn’t be larger than your check-in luggage, period. How many things do you actually need to have on hand during a flight? I know, it’s annoying to have to wait for the luggage to be unloaded… But such is life. If you can’t pack light, that’s the price you’ve got to pay. Pushing and punching a large bag won’t make it fit into the corner of an overhead bin, it will just annoy the crap of the “bin neighbor” if he has to take his bag out mid-flight.

As I said, feel free to add on to this by posting a comment.

“First Class travellers on a British Airways transatlantic flight were horrified when they were forced to sit next to a dead body for three hours.

The elderly passenger had died of a heart attack just minutes earlier and was carried into their cabin to continue the journey to America.”

Apparently, the crew tried to revive him, but after 35 minutes, they were unsuccessful. They moved the body to first class, and put him in one of the recliner seats. I feel for anyone sitting on the same row… That would be awkward.

On related news, a court in Dusseldorf ordered that British Airways (BA) pay 260 euros to a German passenger who was removed from a flight because of offensive body odor in 2005, according to a news story published by the Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día (in Spanish). Despite having lost twice, one time because he didn’t make it to court, the man’s persistence finally paid off, and he’ll be 260 euros richer. One just has to wonder how much he spent on lawyers to get this decision, and if that money would have been better spent getting some soap and deodorant for his next trip. The man claimed damages equivalent to 2,200 euros.

 Hard Landing (1996)

When I picked this one up, I did it because I was doing a research paper about aviation, and since the book was written by a Thomas Petzinger Jr., a Wall Street Journal journalist/editor, I figured that he’d prove to be, or at the very least provide, a great source to get my research started. However, when I started reading the book, I just couldn’t stop. Hard Landing is the story of the airline industry, but focused specifically on the people behind the scenes, the ones who make it happen: the CEOs.

Being from the Wall Street Journal, Petzinger does take an angle that would be quite at home in the business section, very much like other books that have been written about airlines, and how the initiative of certain entrepreneurs translated into economic success. However, there is something different about Hard Landing; it does not just deal with the business initiative of these people, it feels sort of like being in the company gravepine, but for the entire aviation industry. It feels like hearing stories about how your boss got his job, and who was a victim of his success along the way.

This is a very well-written book, as one would expect. The narrative style is great, although the way the stories intertwine can be confusing at times. For example, you may be reading about United Airlines in the ’90s, and then go to Continental in the ’70s in the next chapter, which can affect the continuity unless you read carefully. It would flow better if the stories were going on in a more sequential manner. However, Petzinger’s method (associating related events) works pretty well, as long as you read carefully to avoid getting lost.

One aspect that I mentioned earlier, but would like to expand on, is the “gravepine factor”, so to speak. This is a book that is largely based on interviews, but it rarely quotes things, or mentions its sources. It feels almost as if Petzinger was telling you the “inside story” of how it went down, and that is what makes this book a must-read as far as I’m concerned. This is investigative reporting at its best, and it is so well-done, that it feels as if it was common knowledge.

Overall, I can wholeheartedly recommend Hard Landing. This one is definitely a must-read aviation book for aviation fans, and is worth a read even if you are not into airplanes at all. Pick it up!

A news article published this month says that Boeing’s latest project, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, might be facing some difficulties meeting the optimum weight specifications for the airframe on the first six production models. The community over at Airliners has been discussing it, and I figured I might as well take a stab at it at this point.

Before I get into the topic fully, I think a disclaimer is in order. I am a Boeing fan, I won’t hide it. I love everything they’ve made, and I think they’re the better manufacturer, all said and done. However, credit has to go to Airbus for putting up a fight, and making Boeing work for it. Let’s face it, competition is often what drives innovation, and nowhere has this been more evident than in recent aviation history.

In my opinion, the whole thing about the airframe being 2% overweight is not a big deal, as long as is it within the margin of the performance promised to the airlines. Since we can’t really see the contracts, there’s no way to know for sure that it is… But surely Boeing left themselves some wiggle room in there, since things can and do happen.

I can’t help but think that someone who wants to make a big deal out of something like this is simply trying to compare a minor occurence during 787 program (which is on schedule so far, mind you) to the A380 fiasco.  If you have somehow been spared from the news, search for “A380 delay” in Google and you’ll see what I mean. Now, I give full credit to Airbus for trying, and really, the plane is an outstanding feat… But the delays have got to stop, and changing CEO’s as if they were hats won’t do it.

Obviously, the customers (the airlines) are not pleased about the constant delays in the A380 program, and with a more than valid option offered by Boeing in the recently unveiled 747-8, there is really no reason to put up with such a mess.

To be honest, I’m no analyst; but I’ll be surprised if the A380 program does not turn out to be another white elephant in European aviation history, very much like the Concorde was to the consortium that built it back in the day.

Regardless of what happens with Airbus, however, one thing is for sure: the Boeing lineup for the next few years looks phenomenal, and should keep them ahead of the competition.