Emergency On Board

When you read about an on board medical emergency such as the Continental Airlines medical emergency, it does make one think about the potential for on board emergency rooms. Not only is the technology (two-way air-to-ground RDT equipment) available, it is becoming cost effective, especially considering the expense of a 525-passenger Airbus A380 making an emergency landing can cost up to $200,000. Imagine if an online emergency room could care for a critically ill individual until the flight actually reached it’s destination. Or even if the equipment were only used DURING an emergency landing–it would result in a greater survival rate when a medical emergency occurs. It bears thinking about.

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    And a Little Dog Shall Lead Them…

    The dog was in his crate, and got anxious; his owner tried to comfort him, and let him out of the crate, accidentally or not. So the anxious, terrified dog bit a passenger and a flight attendant. And consequently the pilot of Newark-Phoenix U.S. Airways Flight 522 landed in Pittsburg, booted out the senior citizen and neurotic little Toto too, and flew the rest of the way to Phoenix.

    And the senior citizen and the little dog took another flight from Pittsburg to Phoenix. No word if it was on U.S. Airways or not.

    George’s Point of View

    If Solomon had been on that flight, what would he have done?

    Threaten to cut the eight pound dog in thirds? I can see it now, as he is posed with a plane-legal 10th century BC weapon, ready to divide the dog into thirds, to the horror of the dog’s owner. Given the mindset of most contemporary Americans, rather than being upset, the bitten attendant and passenger would likely both have their hand out, even after getting their share of dog. However, possibly not, since only a diehard dog lover would try to handle an angry chihuahua (or whatever the little canine is.) Let’s hope for the owner’s sake that the injured comrades-in-travel were forgiving dog lovers.

    And also, let’s hope that Fido, Rover, Toto (or whatever his name is) stays home instead of going on the next trip.

    The thing that I don’t understand these days is the suspension of common sense. How many thousands of dollars in fuel and expenses did that diversion to Pittsburg cost? Was it really essential to make an emergency landing to strand a senior citizen and pet in Pittsburg? How serious were the bites? There’s no mention of a medical emergency.

    Let’s hope no charges are filed.

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    Severe Weather Disrupting Travel

    George’s Point of View

    The weather in Los Angeles may be a gray, drizzly 56 degrees today, but much of Europe is suffering travel-suspending ice and snow. Snow on the forecast, snowplows on the runways, chains on the cars and weather delays on the calendar. And who is embroiled in all of this? Pilgrims and passengers, wayfarers, tourists and businessmen, travelers all.

    And these brave folk out going where many have gone before are complaining about “unnecessary” delays in their travel plans. They are getting all wound up.

    Listen, when you fly in winter, delays are going to happen. Need I say it is better to be safe than sorry? Believe me, I know. And my feet have been in your cold, wet, uncomfortable, transient shoes all too many times. But waiting is better than crashing.

    I understand firsthand the griping of the thousands of travelers stranded overnight in hundreds of airports all over the world. Truly, I feel your pain. But it reminds me of butter. No, it reminds me of chiffon. (Forgettable margarine. Memorable cosmos.)

    Remember that 1970’s commercial….

    If you’re going to try to fly when there’s five inches of snow on the runway at Heathrow, delays are going to happen. You’re going to get a message like “Due to the continuing bad weather, further flight delays and cancellations are likely over the coming days and beyond. We are operating a reduced schedule until 06:00 on Wednesday, 22 December.”

    If you’re going to take off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in December, delays will happen. Look at Rouen in the snow. (Livecam) Airports are chaotic enough around the holidays but when you throw this kind of weather in the mix, you’re relying on the airport who is relying on every contractor they can get their hands on to get runways clear in an uphill battle; and you’re relying on planes that don’t function at their best in freezing conditions; and you’re relying on an industry that is hamstrung by untenable weather.

    This weather will pass. Enjoy the scenery. Fly safe. I hope that there will be one less aviation-related accident for me to hear about.

    So where ever you are this holiday season, take your cup of cocoa with marshmallows, or coffee, or whatever is your cuppa tea, and cozy up somewhere warm. You can’t fool (with) Mother Nature. It’s going to be a long winter.

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    Pilots Notorious from GOL Case Find Four Year Sentence Commuted

    Joseph Lepore and Jan Paul Paladino were sentenced to four years and four days in prison in the Amazon plane collision case when the Legacy 600 jet they were piloting made physical contact with a Gol Airlines Boeing 737. All 154 passengers and crew of the Boeing 737 were killed.

    Their sentence was commuted to being banned from flying for four years, and also community service to be carried out in the US. The sentence accuses the pilots of being imprudent and inexperienced, and contends that they turned off the transponder, which the pilots deny.

    The Gol jet collided over the Amazon rain forest with an Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet owned by ExcelAire Service Inc. of New York. The GOL InvestigatIon alleges that the pilots of the New York-based executive jet had placed the transponder and collision avoidance system on standby before colliding with the Boeing 737 operated by GOL Linhaus Aereas Inteligentes SA on Sept. 29, 2006.

    The Legacy landed safely but everyone on the GOL jet died.

    Flight controllers failed to alert pilots that they were on a collision course and also did not notice the transponder was off; in fact they deny turning it off.

    On September 29, 2006, at approximately 4:57 pm, Brasilia standard time, a midair collision occurred over the Brazilian Amazon jungle, between a Boeing 737-800 (PR-GTD) operated by Gol Airlines of Brazil, and an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet (N600XL) owned and operated by Excelaire of Long Island, New York.

    The accident investigation is being conducted under the authority of the Brazilian Aeronautical Accident Prevention and Investigation Center (DIPAA). Under the provisions of ICAO Annex 13, the United States, as state of registry and operator of the Excelaire Legacy, and state of manufacture of the Boeing 737 and Honeywell avionics equipment in both airplanes, has provided an accredited representative and technical advisors for the investigation. The U.S. team included the accredited representative from the major aviation accident investigations division of the NTSB, as well as technical advisors in operations, systems, air traffic control, flight recorders, and aircraft performance. Additional technical advisors from Boeing, Excelaire, Honeywell, and FAA have also been included.

    If the transponder is off in either one of two approaching each other aircraft, the T Cast anti collision avoidance system will not work for either. We know there was no aural
    warning in either plane to “pull up. Pull up.” Or vice versa.

    So for sure the transponder was off in at least one of the planes, and that was probably the Legacy. However, in this Honeywell transponder, it is relatively easy for the
    transponder to go off without the crew knowing that (due to design flaws.)

    ATC put both aircraft coming at each other from oppostive directions at the same altitude, FL 370, and failed to track and warn, even though they had to know that for some reason the transponder in the exec jet was not working properly.

    And who should we look for accountability to if the pilots are being held responsible for a Honeywell issue?

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    ICAO’s Dangerous Goods Panel Proposes Ban on Lithium Batteries in Passenger Planes

    ICAOA recent meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP), held in Montreal, discussed the proposal for banning lithium batteries as cargo in passenger air crafts.

    According to the meeting report, the DGP agreed to prohibit lithium batteries in cargo, except those which are packed or contained in some equipment or are kept in the aircraft cabin by the passengers. The panel further proposed Jan. 1, 2015 as the effective date for start of prohibition.

    The DGPs decision will be presented for final approval.from the Air Navigation Commission (ANC) in late April,

    The report states that “the ANC may adopt the DGP’s decision but has within its prerogative, the option of amending/extending it…..The actual text of the decision, including associated consequential amendments, can be expected towards the end of May.”

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    US Airways Emergency Landing in Salt Lake

    What: US Airways Bombardier CRJ900 regional jet en route from Edmonton, Canada, to Phoenix, Arizona.
    Where: Diverted to Salt Lake City –Salt Lake City International Airport
    When: 10:20 am
    Who: 86 passengers and three crew members transferred to other flights to Phoenix
    Why: Diverted due to a crack in the front windshield.

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    NCAR Beta


    Funded from NASA’s Applied Sciences Program, the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and several partners developed an 8-hour convective weather forecast based on fuzzy logic and cloud top and moisture level input from the two Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) that cover a large portion of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

    Storms and turbulence, are noted in deep magenta (closest to the value of 1.0). Visitors to the site can then click on any of the eight hourly forecasts that follow, or play all of the pictures together in movie mode.

    See NCAR Atmos News

    The NCAR beta site is live here:
    http://www.rap.ucar.edu/projects/ocn/realtime_sys/global_extrap/

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