Trivia 2015 (miscellaneous news)

[Passenger]

"...The same Internet access now available on most commercial flights makes it possible for hackers to bring down a plane, the U.S. government watchdog "Government Accountability Office" warned on Tuesday..."

Associated Press:
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/70bbdd2e ... -be-hacked

Report:
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-370

[Passenger]

Remarkable decision by the Amsterdam Appeal Court (14/04/2015):

The taxi regulation for AMS Schiphol airport has been declared illegal. Just like at BRU, only taxis with a special airport licence are allowed to pick up passengers at the airport. For AMS, this licence is given by the city council of Haarlemmermeer. The appeal court ruled that those taxi rules are against the Dutch law on municipal legislation, which only allows city councils to promote/improve taxi transport. The fact that there is a special lane for taxi pickups at the airport is too little for that, the appeal court states. The court also states that the taxi lane at AMS is a public road, which means that Schiphol Airport is not allowed to limit taxi activities on that taxi lane.

Appeal Court decision:
http://uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl/inzien ... :2015:1347

Belgian legislation on municipal authorities differ from the Dutch, but we could expect some extra-legal taxi activity at BRU in the near future.

The Dutch press reports that taxi fares at AMS are the most expensive ones. Just like at BRU thus, where taxis are allowed to charge a tariff that includes the empty return to the airport.

[sn26567]

we could expect some extra-legal taxi activity at BRU in the near future.

It has just started: now you can order an Uber car at the airport.

[Passenger]

Richard Branson has no topic here, so I've put his special appearance in Chicago here:

[airazurxtror]

http://www.air-journal.fr/2015-04-18-la ... 42894.html

L’Etat français a officialisé la vente pour 308 millions d’euros de 49,9 % de la société de gestion de l’aéroport de Toulouse-Blagnac (ATB). L’acheteur est le consortium chinois Symbiose, consortium composé du groupe d’Etat chinois Shandong Hi-Speed Group et du fonds d’investissement hongkongais Friedmann Pacific Asset Management.
Les objectifs des nouveaux actionnaires chinois est de faire grimper le trafic passagers sur la plateforme toulousaine de 7,5 millions aujourd’hui à 18 millions de passagers à l’horizon 2046.

49,9% of Toulouse-Blagnac (TLS) have been sold by the French State to Symbiose, a chinese consortium. The Chinese plan to raise the traffic at TLS from 7,5 million in 2014 to 18 million in 2046.

[sn26567]

The Falcon of the Serbian Government transporting President Tomislav Nikolic from Belgrade to the Vatican had to return to Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport because a stewardess had spilled coffee on the controls of the plane. The pilot and a stewardess urgently started wiping the instruments and accidentally activated the flaps. Then the plane began to shake and lose altitude. The pilot had to switch off the auto-pilot and start a controlled descent to the airport.

http://www.bosniatoday.ba/plane-with-to ... e-failure/

[Passenger]

The Falcon of the Serbian Government transporting President Tomislav Nikolic from Belgrade to the Vatican had to return to Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport because a stewardess had spilled coffee on the controls of the plane. The pilot and a stewardess urgently started wiping the instruments and accidentally activated the flaps. Then the plane began to shake and lose altitude. The pilot had to switch off the auto-pilot and start a controlled descent to the airport.

http://www.bosniatoday.ba/plane-with-to ... e-failure/

If this would have been published on 1st April, we would see "that's a good one".

[sn26567]

Errr! 47 minutes in the air for an Air France B777 from New York/Newark EWR to New York JFK? And what is the purpose of such a flight?



Edit: I got the answer: it was a diversion to EWR due to bad weather (fog), thus the plane was coming back to JFK.

[sean1982]

Stumbled upon this video about the last months of Swissair (and so also SABENA)
Pretty longwinded at times, but I still found some bits very interesting to watch (and sad)

[sn26567]

Stumbled upon this video about the last months of Swissair (and so also SABENA)
Pretty longwinded at times, but I still found some bits very interesting to watch (and sad)

Nice (but long) video indeed. Not much about Sabena, except that they were responsible for 2 billion CHF of the Swissair debt. But the video was, of course, not made to exonerate Sabena.

I learned also that it was the world famous management consultant McKinsey that suggested the expansion drive of Swissair. A big mistake and a very bad advise...

[sn26567]

Tupolev Company completed ETOPS testing of Tu-204 aircraft

On March 28th 2015 certification testing of Tu-204-300 (tail number 64026) aircraft aimed at confirming the jet’s compliance with ETOPS-120 standard was successfully completed in Ulyanovsk.

Following the results of ETOPS testing, changes will be made in the jet’s operational documentation. A lot of data obtained during the process will be used in the network of Tu-214 ETOPS-120 certification, which will be carried out in future.

Source: Russian Aviation

[sn26567]

TF-MOM and TF-DAD have finally found each other!


Source: FR24

[sn26567]

First time I see an airline apologising for a go-around!

Date: Thursday, 23 April 2015
Ref: 027-2015

The flight crew of today’s flight KM514 to Vienna performed a ‘go-around’ procedure just prior to landing.

A go-around is a normal procedure and not uncommon at busy airports.

Air Malta regrets any inconvenience caused to its passengers and wishes to stress that at no time were passengers in any danger.

[Homo Aeroportus]

First time I see an airline apologising for a go-around!

Well, maybe the "go-around" meant flying back to Malta?

H.A.

[Passenger]

Two totally different cabin crew stories recently made headlines on social media:

1. A Ryanair flight attendant who had found a forgotten camera after landing didn’t report this to the airline/airport. At the contrary: he took the expensive camera with him home and tried to sell it on eBay. The passenger however searched eBay, where he saw his camera and then contacted Stansted police. Ryanair said: “This persons employment was immediately terminated once Crewlink became aware of these court proceedings”.

Source – more info, including the mails between thief and victim:
http://www.breakingnews.ie/discover/rya ... 72093.html

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2. Burcu Kirmaci, a female Türkish Airlines flight attendant, was praised in Japanese and Türkish media for extraordinary assistance to a Japanese passenger. The passenger fainted three hours before landing in Instanbul and was injured when she felt down. After landing, the Türkish stewardess, who speaks Japanese, joined the ambulance to the hospital, where she stayed with the passenger during treatment. Burcu Kirmaci then made the necessary changes to the itinery of the Japanese passenger, and only went home once this was all done.

Source - more info:
http://national.bgnnews.com/turkish-fli ... aberi/5254
and
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/17541/Het-leuk ... ning.dhtml

[sean1982]

Two totally different cabin crew stories recently made headlines on social media:

1. A Ryanair flight attendant who had found a forgotten camera after landing didn’t report this to the airline/airport. At the contrary: he took the expensive camera with him home and tried to sell it on eBay. The passenger however searched eBay, where he saw his camera and then contacted Stansted police. Ryanair said: “This persons employment was immediately terminated once Crewlink became aware of these court proceedings”.

Source – more info, including the mails between thief and victim:
http://www.breakingnews.ie/discover/rya ... 72093.html

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2. Burcu Kirmaci, a female Türkish Airlines flight attendant, was praised in Japanese and Türkish media for extraordinary assistance to a Japanese passenger. The passenger fainted three hours before landing in Instanbul and was injured when she felt down. After landing, the Türkish stewardess, who speaks Japanese, joined the ambulance to the hospital, where she stayed with the passenger during treatment. Burcu Kirmaci then made the necessary changes to the itinery of the Japanese passenger, and only went home once this was all done.

Source - more info:
http://national.bgnnews.com/turkish-fli ... aberi/5254
and
http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/17541/Het-leuk ... ning.dhtml

God you are a sad person Do you really get up in the morning and start googling on which dirty FR story you can dish up today?

I can give you a thousand crew stories about FR in the style of the Turkish airlines one

After an accident just prior to making my return journey, I was unable to walk. As soon as the Ryanair rep at the airport saw me she arranged for a wheelchair and I was delivered to the departure gate and helped onto the plane. During the flight the crew supplied me with a folding wheelchair and pushed me to the toilets, moved my seat so that I had room to rest my leg on the food table and bought me a bag of ice to help the swelling in my leg. I cannot praise them enough.

[airazurxtror]

Japan has amended the rules on retirement of airline pilots: they can now carry up to age 67.
The measure allows Japanese airlines to extend by three years the maximum retirement age of the captains until their 68th birthday. A way for the country to fight against the shortage of experienced pilots.
Exceptional measures accompany the prolongeded veterans career: checking reflexes, epilepsy test, adjusted schedules and working time (maximum 80 hours per month and 216 hours over three months) - and forbidden to have a copilot of more than 60 years...

http://www.air-journal.fr/2015-04-24-ja ... 43213.html

[Passenger]

Belgium is sending its B-Fast Team to Kathmandu. VTM reports that the flight will take off around 20h on Sunday evening, and that the flight will make two fuel stops: in Cairo and Dubai.

[sn26567]

Austrian Airlines Airbus A320 OE-LBS has received a special livery for the Eurovision song festival:



Remember Conchita Wurst?

[Lysexpat]

"...The same Internet access now available on most commercial flights makes it possible for hackers to bring down a plane, the U.S. government watchdog "Government Accountability Office" warned on Tuesday..."

Associated Press:
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/70bbdd2e ... -be-hacked

Report:
http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-370

At this moment there is no connection at all between aircraft systems and onboard WiFi or the internet, so it is impossible for hackers to bring down aircraft through the onboard WiFi.