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Press Release – FAA Celebrates Recovery Act Funded Airfield Upgrades at Kentucky’s Georgetown-Scott County Regional Airport

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration celebrated the completion of an airfield upgrade at Georgetown-Scott County Regional Airport in Kentucky, paid for with $3 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.

“Airport Recovery Act projects are helping boost local economies all across the country,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. “The Recovery Act is helping us keep our runways safe and well maintained.”

Recovery Act funds provided the full cost of repaving Georgetown-Scott County Regional Airport’s 5,500 foot-long runway. The runway had deteriorated and had not been fully repaved in nearly 17 years. The construction also included the widening of the ends of the parallel taxiway, which will now be able to accommodate larger aircraft turning on and off the runway.

“General aviation is incredibly important to local communities nationwide and the Recovery Act is funding necessary safety improvements and upgrades that otherwise might not get done,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt.

Nationwide, $1.3 billion in Recovery Act money has been made available for both airport improvement projects and air traffic control facility and system upgrades. Because of low construction bids for projects, more Recovery Act dollars were available for additional facilities and equipment as well as airport projects. These Recovery Act grants have been distributed to airports that serve commercial passengers, cargo and general aviation.
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    American Airlines Provides Business Update Following Commercial Disputes With Orbitz and Expedia

    Company Thanks Customers For Continued Loyalty

    FORT WORTH, Texas, Dec. 29, 2010 — American Airlines today thanked customers for their continued loyalty in the wake of a commercial dispute with two online travel agencies, Expedia and Orbitz, that is preventing American Airlines fares from being featured on those sites.

    American Airlines said it has seen a year-over-year increase in its overall ticket sales since Dec. 21, when it removed its schedules and airfares for American Airlines and American Eagle flights from Orbitz.com and websites powered by Orbitz.com, and since Dec. 23, when Expedia.com began discriminating against American’s flights and schedules by listing them lower in the search display than those of other airlines.

    While the year-over-year increase in ticket sales is roughly comparable to that seen earlier in December, American has noted a shift in ticket sales to other channels, notably online travel agencies, such as Priceline.com, and referrals from metasearch engines, such as Kayak.com, as well as increased volume on its own website, AA.com.

    “Our results to date show that consumer choice is alive and well and that our customers continue to have thousands of options to purchase American’s competitive fares and convenient schedules,” said Derek DeCross, American’s Vice President and General Sales Manager. “It is also clear to us that other online travel sites and traditional travel agencies are capitalizing on this market opportunity to gain business. Beyond that, we want to thank our customers and travel partners for their continued loyalty and support. We appreciate your business.”

    DeCross reiterated that American is committed to working with all distribution channels, including traditional travel agencies, online travel agencies and global distribution systems, to benefit from adopting its direct connection model, powered by Farelogix, which delivers to travel agencies and their customers more customized travel choices and options. There is no cost to tap into American’s direct connection.

    “Our direct connection offers a path to a new era of buying and selling travel services,” DeCross added. “Traditionally, airline products have consisted of different flavors of airfares. In the future, however, we envision the world of travel evolving into a much wider variety of products and services beyond fares. Our direct connection will help travel agencies help their own customers by giving them access to customized choices and delivering the best value to travelers. We do not envision a future in which we only sell to our customers through our own branded website. Our goal is to have broad distribution channels and choices for our customers, with our products and services delivered efficiently and without unnecessary costs flowing through the process.”

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    Boeing Names Jeffrey Johnson New Leader for Middle East

    CHICAGO, March 1, 2011 — The Boeing Company today named Jeffrey Johnson as president of Boeing Middle East. Johnson succeeds Paul Kinscherff, who has been appointed chief financial officer for international finance.

    Johnson will be based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and report to Shep Hill, president of Boeing International and senior vice president of Business Development and Strategy. Johnson will be responsible for Boeing’s growth and productivity plans across the Middle East region, working closely with Boeing Saudi Arabia president Ahmed Jazzar.

    Johnson will lead company-wide activities that include government affairs and the development and implementation of the Boeing Middle East strategy focused on new business and industrial partnership opportunities, corporate citizenship projects, expanding the Boeing presence and strengthening company relationships with customers and other stakeholders.

    “Jeff’s leadership skills, business development experience and detailed customer knowledge will strengthen our efforts to grow our business in the Middle East,” said Shep Hill. “In this regard, Jeff will continue to build on the solid foundation established by Paul and what he has accomplished across the region.”
    Prior to this appointment, Johnson was a senior director of business development for Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS). Before that, he served as the Middle East and Africa business development director for BDS. Johnson joined Boeing in 1982 and has managed programs in more than 40 countries during his career. Johnson also worked in Design Engineering, Electronics Design and Manufacturing, System Engineering, Program Management and Flight Test Engineering.

    Kinscherff served as president of Boeing Middle East from March 2008. During his tenure, the company has doubled its presence across the region, expanded its defense and aviation business and forged closer customer relationships. In his new role, Kinscherff will be based at the company’s headquarters in Chicago.
    “Paul was instrumental in expanding our business and strengthening Boeing’s image in the Middle East. Under his leadership, Boeing implemented a robust strategy to grow its business and develop long-term relationships critical to the company’s success,” added Hill.

    Boeing’s relationship with the Middle East dates back more than 60 years. Its first office was established in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in 1982. Since then, the company has expanded its presence and relationships across the region. Boeing opened an office in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in 1999, a regional office

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    Aviation Industry: Time for a Black Box Upgrade

    Woodland Hills, CA — (ReleaseWire) — 07/07/2016 –No one is saying that aircraft tracking doesn’t need an overhaul. It does. Examination of plane crash events demands it.

    Aviation experts have been asking for pinger battery improvements since a month after the crash of Air France 447 on 1 June 2009, when the pinger battery ran down in July. Air France 447 was not recovered from the ocean floor until May 2011, nearly two years after it was lost. Debris from the accident was recovered in the interim, but if the pinger had been louder, or the battery designed to last longer, then there’s a good chance that the plane would have been discovered sooner. One of the outcomes of this terrible event was a determination to design a pinger system with longer lasting batteries. EASA amended requirements for flight recorders and underwater locating devices in its 2013-26 amendment(RMT.0400 & RMT.0401 (OPS.090(A) & OPS.090(B)) — 20.12.2013) but implementing these requirements takes a prohibitively long time.

    Aviation experts have been asking for better tracking technology since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared on 8 March 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, to Beijing Capital International Airport in China. Because this plane departed from its planned route, finding where it came down has been a unique challenge. Inmarsat’s satellite communications network concluded that the flight continued until at least 08:19 and flew south into the southern Indian Ocean. Triangulation of Inmarsat’s satellite communications has been the only credible source searchers depend on to develop the search area.

    Aviation experts have been suggesting the blackbox be water-activated (or have water-activated duplicates) with flotation of some kind so the blackbox can be found faster. More recently, aviation experts have wondered about EgyptAir Flight 804 which crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on 19 May 2016. It was known fairly precisely where it came down, and yet salvage and rescue units were unable to be on the scene in time to help any survivors—if survivors there had been. We will never know because no one was there. And while tracking the location of the blackbox fell within the thirty day battery limit, if the technology had more power, it could have been located sooner. Finding the wreckage sooner means less money spent on the search, and a shorter time for the families agonizing over their losses.

    So here is what is new: Inmarsat provides SwiftBroadband service for plane’s inflight Wi-Fi on many aircraft. Immarsat is developing a streaming system described as a “blackbox in the cloud.” This streaming system they are working on will allow crucial data to be streamed off a plane on the occasion of specified trigger events like a course deviation or disappearance from radar.

    One only need consider a few factors to realize that a cloud-based system is a crucial development that current technology can easily handle. We need only to look at the cost of the search for a missing plane. According to France and Brazil, those two countries spent more than $40 million over two years to recover the black boxes from Air France Flight 447. Bloomberg reported the recovery cost of Air France 447 was $100 million. According to the South China Post, the cost of the (as yet unfound) MH370 will be as much as ten times more than AF447. Like the expense of MH370’s search, the cost of finding EgyptAir Flight 804 is still ongoing.

    Even when Inmarsat’s streaming system will be available, the aviation industry is going to be resistant, mostly because it is going to be costly. Is this a cost that we must afford? I think it is.

    Let me know your thoughts on this crucial topic at https://twitter.com/GeorgeHatcher

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    Lufthansa and UFO union agree pay settlement for around 16,000 flight attendants

    Successful arbitration under Heide Simonis / Agreement on 22-month pay freeze and significant improvements in working conditions

    Deutsche Lufthansa AG and the independent UFO flight attendants’ trade union have reached agreement at their protracted pay talks. Both sides today accepted a mediated settlement put forward by former Schleswig-Holstein Premier Heide Simonis, ending months of negotiations stretching back to March 2010. Under the terms of the arbitration settlement, the pay accord for some 16,000 Lufthansa flight attendants is to be extended and the collective wage agreement re-defined.

    At the talks on remuneration, the two sides agreed on a pay freeze. The existing pay settlement is to be re-concluded unchanged for a period of 22-months, lasting up to 31 December 2011. The new collective bargaining agreement is to last up to 28 February 2014. It envisages further improvements in working conditions: Among others, it reduces changes to duty rosters, giving cabin crews greater planning security, as well as defining and extending rest and break periods. Furthermore, in compensation for the staggered implementation of improved working conditions, cabin crews are to receive a structural, compensatory payment amounting to 1,000 euros in March.

    On conclusion of the pay accord, Member of the Lufthansa German Airlines Board Finance & Human Resources, Dr. Roland Busch, said a fair compromise has been reached after long and difficult negotiations. It takes account of the need of flight attendants for planning stability and the special pressures they encounter in air traffic as well as the Company’s need for flexible and cost-efficient operations. “With this pay settlement, we are investing in significantly better working conditions for cabin crews. That was highly important to our staff, which is why we have made material concessions where their need for change was greatest. Now is the time to look ahead and face the challenges from competition in the industry together,“ Dr. Busch emphasised

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    The Ironic Tragedy of Germanwings Flight 9525

    mountain

    Cockpit door designed to lock trouble out locks in Suicidal Pilot

    Pasadena, CA — (ReleaseWire) — 04/02/2015 — As an advocate (not a lawyer) of fair compensation for the victims of plane crashes, I have been closely following the story behind the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 and the now notorious 27-year-old co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz. As is always the case, a team of expert investigators will dig out the facts to determine the most likely scenario behind the crash. That careful investigation will take a year at the very least. In this Germanwings accident, the one factor that stands out already is the role played by the pilot’s state of mind in what appears now to be his deliberate collision course with the French Alps. It is now common knowledge that the plane disintegrated on impact with the Massif des Trois-Évêchés. Imagine how horrified the families were when the transcript of the CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) was quickly leaked by tabloids. Journalists have been shouldering each other out of the way to get to the front of the line, “scooping” each with another “leaked” nugget. A girlfriend’s interview. A medical report here. A video there. TV commentators and newspapers from CNN and the venerable New York Times to the most scurrilous tabloids are spouting “the facts” faster than investigators can have gotten to the information. Tweeting the news as I do results in loads of source-checking, and plenty of on-going head-scratching moments while weeding out wild supposition masquerading as news in sources one would normally consider impeccable. When one source says “the plane is blue,” another says “the plane is red.” Sometimes I can determine which is the truth, but sometimes I have to leave it to readers to puzzle out.

    I have been working Wrongful Death cases for some forty-seven years now. I am a consultant to attorneys across the globe who represent the families of Wrongful Death victims. Each investigation is exactly the same in terms of the emotional impact of the accident. Devastating. Whether the case may or may not end up in court, whether or not the accident catches the media’s attention, every aspect is always impossibly difficult for the families. Some accidents seem similar because they share a factor, whether it be similar weather conditions, mechanical difficulties, or a particular flaw in a particular model of plane.

    Some aviation accidents personify extremes. Consider that while there is always some degree of speculation as to an accident’s cause, MH370 brought as many conspiracy theorists out of the woodwork in this past twelve months as Amelia Earhart’s disappearance has in the past 87 years. Everything seems plausible when people are desperate for an explanation. Because in this age of cell phones and satellites, there is simply no explanation for a plane to vanish, MH370 has become the “poster child” for speculation. I expect MH370 will continue to spawn new theories and will endure as a mystery until, at some point, the wreckage will be found and examined.

    If I were comparing MH370 and Germanwings 9525, I could write a whole piece examining the conflict of government transparency vs. individual confidentiality, but that was not my intent today. I was just thinking of aviation safety, and how 9/11 became the catalyst for upgraded multifaceted flight deck security. One outcome of 9/11 is the impregnable, indestructible cockpit door, the brain child of countless engineering hours, security and scientific research. Passengers since 9/11 have flown safe in the knowledge that no intruder could again gain entry to the cockpit and overpower the pilot thanks to redundant enhanced security precautions and a door designed to keep the dangerous people out. Now there’s a cockpit voice recording that appears to show that same safe cockpit door is the barrier that kept the PIC from being able to save everyone aboard. Captain Patrick Sondenheimer died trying to get that door open.

    The impregnable cockpit door, the terrible irony of Germanwings Flight 9525.

    About Air Crash Consultants

    A division of Wrongful Death Consultants, Air Crash Consultants was established to network between lawyers and their clients, bridging the gaps, especially in regard to International clients, freeing and enabling the lawyer to concentrate on higher priority commitments. Air Crash Consultant services might also be designated as an umbrella, because the company’s functions encompass a variety of problem-solving areas in support of the lawyer-client relationship as needed. Services are not limited to finding experts, developing translation teams, client support, document handling, drafting demand letters, client interviews, etc. Visit the company websites at”
    http://aircrashconsultants.com
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    http://wrongfuldeathconsultants.com

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    NTSB INVESTIGATING TODAY’S JETLINER RUNWAY EXCURSION IN WYOMING

    The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into an incident in which a passenger jetliner departed the runway while landing at Jackson Hole Airport in Wyoming.

    At about 11:38 am MT today, American Airlines flight 2253, a B-757 (N668AA) inbound from Chicago O’Hare International Airport, ran off the end of runway 19 while landing at Jackson Hole Airport. No injuries were reported among the 181 passengers and crew on board.

    The aircraft came to rest in hard packed snow about 350 feet beyond the runway overrun area. The weather was reported to be snowing at the time of the incident. No damage to the aircraft has been reported.

    Senior NTSB Air Safety Investigator Joseph Sedor has been designated as the Investigator-In-Charge.

    At this time, parties to the investigation are American Airlines, Boeing, the Allied Pilots Association, and the Federal Aviation Administration.

    Improving runway safety has been on the NTSB’s Most Wanted List of Safety Improvements since its inception in 1990: http://go.usa.gov/rTn

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