PIA Pilot Guilty of Drunk in Charge of Aircraft

A pilot has pleaded guilty to being “impaired by drink” in the cockpit of a plane at Leeds Bradford Airport.

Irfan Faiz, 54, had more than four times the legal alcohol limit in his system when he was arrested after getting on board the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft, Leeds magistrates heard on Friday.

Other staff had noticed he was “unsteady on his feet” and smelt of alcohol before the flight to Islamabad on Wednesday night.

He was eating chewing gum and mints to mask the smell as he boarded the plane, the court heard.

Faiz, from Pakistan, was carrying out pre-flight checks when police were called and arrested him. The 180 passengers who were on board had to disembark and were put up in a hotel overnight before flying out on a rescheduled flight on Thursday.

Faiz pleaded guilty to carrying out an activity ancillary to an aviation function while impaired by drink.

Chairman of the bench James McAuley told Faiz: “By your actions you breached the trust of the public who must be comfortable that when travelling they are safe to travel.

“The consequences could have been serious loss of life.”

Faiz, who could face a prison sentence, was remanded in custody to be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court at a later date.

Singapore Airlines Unveils Grand New Cabin Designs, Launches 777-300ER

The race for the best international premium cabins heated up yesterday whenSingapore Airlines unveiled a new interior design in their upcoming Boeing  777-300 ER fleet. In a small event at the Boeing delivery facility outside of Seattle, the airline previewed the next phase of their cabin experience set to reach customers later this year.

Though the airline has widely been heralded as one of the best international carriers, it continues to innovate in this long range Boeing aircraft only five years after launching a new product on the A380. Asked about the short development cycle, James Boyd, VP of PR Americas said “We never want to rest our laurels,” and pointed to a tradition of innovation at the company.

While that evolution has resulted in aesthetic changes and inflight entertainment upgrades throughout the entire aircraft, the upgrades are most apparent in the first and business class cabins.

Seats have been redesigned to accommodate the ergonomics and needs of today’s business traveler with power, USB, lights and seat controls all at arm’s reach. There’s now space to stow a tablet computer and noise-cancelling headsets, and the seats have been updated to recline in a wider variety of positions.

Two Arrested After Sri Lankan Jet Diverts

A man is in hospital and another is in police custody after a plane was forced to make an emergency landing.  The Sri Lankan Airlines A330 Airbus, which was carrying 267 passengers and crew, was due to land at Heathrow Airport but was diverted to Stansted Airport in Essex just after 7.30pm yesterday.

Sources said the drama unfolded after a passenger was overheard claiming "something" was on board the flight in the luggage hold. Once the aircraft touched down police boarded the aircraft and two British men, aged 49 and 57, were arrested.

A source said: "The plane was flying in when a passenger overheard a man saying there was something on the plane in the hold baggage.

"Obviously, they have to take it very seriously and go through their procedures and protocols and contact the police."

Police are treating the investigation as a criminal matter rather than a terrorism investigation. The suspects, who along with other passengers departed for Heathrow from Colombo, were arrested on suspicion of endangering an aircraft.  The 49-year-old is being treated for a medical condition, not an injury, in hospital.

An Essex Police spokeswoman said: "The 49-year-old is currently receiving medical treatment in hospital and the other is in custody at Harlow police station.

"They will be interviewed by detectives.

"The incident is being treated as a criminal investigation.

"All passengers left the aircraft safely and have travelled onwards to Heathrow by coach."

Singapore to Crack Indian Market - with a little help.

• By Gaurav Raghuvanshi

India’s aviation market has proved too hard a nut for many carriers, but Singapore Airlines and Indian conglomerate Tata Sons are taking a crack at it just the same.

Their 1990s joint-venture proposal was rejected by the government, but the partnership has since become possible: India changed its rules to allow foreign airlines to own up to 49% equity stake in Indian carriers.

Bloomberg News

Next stop, India

Reviving a partnership with the Tatas makes a lot of strategic sense for the Singapore flag carrier. It has cash to spare, India is one of its key markets and the bulk of international traffic from India goes further west, which means the joint venture’s routes won’t overlap those of Singapore Airlines.

Still, the partners will have to contend with perils have caused many airlines in the last two decades to fail: Heavy regulation, notorious red tape, a state-subsidized flag carrier, cut-throat competition and a lack of brand loyalty among passengers.

Vijay Mallya‘s Kingfisher Airlines Ltd.532747.BY -1.08% was grounded last year amid mounting debt and unpaid bills. Previously, East-West Airlines, Modiluft and NEPC Airlines tried and failed in the Indian market. Entering India now may give the new carrier a chance to help fill the void left by Kingfisher’s exit.

“India’s aviation market has been expanding and we have been eager to participate in it,” said Nicholas Ionides, the senior vice president of public affairs at Singapore Airlines.

Mr. Ionides declined to give details about business strategy or the kind planes the joint venture would use, but he said the new airline would like to operate on international routes if it gets permission. Under current rules, an Indian carrier must fly domestically for five years before it can apply for permission to fly abroad—which makes profits hard to come by, said Brendan Sobie, an analyst with aviation consulting firm CAPA-Centre for Aviation in Singapore.

“It’s a long-term investment and they can’t expect profits in the initial years,” he said of the joint venture. “It’s a market in which nobody really has made money.”

Singapore Airlines has been keen to invest in newer airlines to chase growth as it battles weak profits in its main business. Its new long-haul budget unit Scoot Pte. started flying last year and the company doubled its stake in Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. to 19.9% earlier this year. In June it shed its 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic Ltd., selling it to Delta Air Lines Inc., writing off an investment that never made any money.

“They don’t want to sit still and watch the rest of the world change around them,” said Mr. Sobie. Singapore Airlines wants to expand in key markets—Australia, China and Indonesia in addition to India—both by increasing flights there and by growing “inorganically” where it can, he said.

Singapore Airlines might also want to find a strong partner airline in China and even take an equity stake if it could, but at the moment the regulatory environment is not too encouraging for foreign airlines and there are no obvious carriers for Singapore Airlines to partner with, said Mr. Sobie.

In 2007 the airline planned to buy a minority stake in Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines Corp, but the high-profile deal was blocked by flag carrier Air China Ltd., which itself had been building a sizable stake in China Eastern.

The report continues here -  

American Airlines Aircraft EL

An American Airlines plane flying from Costa Rica to Miami made an emergency landing on Colombia's San Andres Island Thursday, the airline said.

The airline said a "mechanical issue" was behind the pilot's decision to divert the flight to the island, located on Colombia's north coast.

CNN affiliate Caracol TV reported that smoke was seen in the cabin.

Flight 1204 was carrying 172 passengers and six crew, American Airlines said.

The passengers disembarked while the aircraft, a Boeing 757, was evaluated.

No one was injured, Caracol reported.

Tower audio released of 777 Crash at San Francisco

SF AIRPORT CRASH: Tower audio released of Boeing 777 crash. More soon.

777 Crashed at San Francisco

Breaking news,

A Boeing 777 bound from South Korea crashed Saturday upon landing at San Francisco International Airport, sending up a huge fireball and spinning before finally coming to a stop -- having lost its tail and, eventually, much of its charred roof.




Asiana Airlines Flight 214 left Seoul's Incheon International Airport earlier Saturday, according to FlightAware, a website that offers tracking services for private and commercial air traffic. An airline spokesman told media that 291 passengers and 16 staff members were aboard.   The U.S. Coast Guard has transported one person to Stanford Hospital, said Corrine Gaines of the military branch. She did not provide additional information on the patient's status.

In brief remarks to reporters around 2 p.m. (5 p.m. ET), airport spokesman Doug Yakel did not offer any details on the conditions of the plane's passengers. Anthony Castorani, who witnessed the flight land from a nearby hotel, said he saw the plane touch the ground then noticed a larger plume of white smoke. "You heard a pop and you immediately saw a large, brief fireball that came from underneath the aircraft," he told CNN.

 Plane loses tail during crash landing Plane crashes at San Francisco airport'Large, brief fireball' as plane landed Kristina Stapchuck saw the dramatic scene unfold from her seat on a plane on the airport tarmac. Soon after Flight 214 touched down, "it looked like the tires slipped a little bit and it rocked back," she said to the media.  Parts of the plane began to break off as it rocked and then began to spin. Follow latest developments in the story "It all happened so suddenly," Stapchuck said. A photo provided to tv news by Eunice Bird Rah -- and shot by her father, who was a passenger on the plane -- shows flames and smoke bursting out of many of the aircraft's windows. Rah's father knew something bad was coming, he told his daughter, telling her the plane was coming in too low and the pilot tried to raise it at the last minute. Rah said her father "is doing fine, thank God," but noted that others appeared to be hurt. Said Rah: "It's heartbreaking." Video taken soon after the crash and posted on YouTube showed dark gray smoke rising from the plane, which appeared to be upright. That smoke later became white, even as fire crews continued to douse the plane.

CNN iReporter Timothy Clark was on an eighth-floor balcony of a nearby hotel when he heard the noise and saw a "dust cloud." "Then people running from the plane, then flames," Clark said. A photograph posted to Twitter shows what appear to be passengers walking off the plane, some of them toting bags, as smoke rises from the other side. "I just crash landed at SFO," read the accompanying message from David Eun. "Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine. I'm ok. Surreal..."

The Boeing 777-200LR has been in service since March 2006 The plane can carry 301 passengers and travel a maximum distance of 9,395 nautical miles Asiana Airlines operates 71 aircraft and serves 14.7 million passengers annually The airline was voted Airline of the Year by Global Traveler in 2011 In 1993, Asiana Airlines Boeing 737 crashed killing 68 people The top of the aircraft was charred and, in spots, gone entirely, according to video from CNN affiliate KTVU. The plane was on its belly, with no landing gear evident and the rear tail of the plane gone. Debris settled from the water's edge, along San Francisco Bay, up to where the plane eventually came to a stop. Fire trucks were on site; first responders could be seen walking outside the aircraft. Evacuation slides could be seen extending from one side of the aircraft, from which there was no apparent smoke. Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer and author of the book "Lean In," was supposed to be on the flight. But she wrote on her Facebook page that she'd switched instead to a United flight, arriving about 20 minutes before the Asiana flight crashed.

The Bay Area airport was closed to incoming and departing traffic after the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration said on its website, adding that the time when it's expected to reopen is unknown. Flights destined for San Francisco's airport -- known by its call letters, SFO -- were being diverted to airports in Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose and Los Angeles, said Francis Zamora from the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management. He added his office is working with San Mateo County's Office of Emergency Services in responding to the incident, Zamora said. San Francisco International Airport, located some 12 miles south of downtown San Francisco, is California's second busiest, behind LAX. There were a few clouds in the sky around the time of the crash, and temperatures were about 65 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Winds were about 8 miles per hour.

The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a "go team" that will be led by chairwoman Deborah Hersman to investigate the crash, the agency said. Boeing is "preparing to provide technical assistance" to investigators, company spokesman Miles Kotay said in a statement. There are no signs of terrorism related to the crash, a national security official told CNN. Asiana Airlines -- one of South Korea's two major airlines, the other being Korean Air -- is investigating the cause of the crash, a company spokesman told CNN. The airline got the plane involved in the incident in 2006, according to the Aviation Safety Network. The craft has two Pratt & Whitney engines, it said. Asiana operates many of its flights out of Incheon International Airport, which is the largest airport in South Korea and considered among the busiest in the world. According to information on Asiana Airlines' website, the company has 12 Boeing 777 planes. They have a seating capacity of between 246 and 300 people and had a cruising speed of 555 mph (894 kph). 

Lufthansa strike sees 'massive' flight cancellations

 

Passengers have been warned to expect "massive" cancellations

• Boeing 787: Facts and history
• A brief history of airliner problems
• What are the battery problems?
• The great London airport debate

German airline Lufthansa has cancelled the majority of its flights scheduled for Monday due to a strike.

The airline said about only about 30 of its flights would run as planned on Monday, out of more than 1,700 originally scheduled.

Ground staff have called a one-day strike in a pay dispute.

Last week Lufthansa rejected union demands for a 5.2% wage increase over the next 12 months.
Strikers are also looking for guarantees over job cuts.  Like many airlines, Lufthansa is looking to cut costs in the face of stiff competition from low-cost carriers and big Gulf airlines, as well as rising fuel prices.

Unions staged a similar one-day strike last month. Short "warning strikes" are a common tactic among German unions, designed to put pressure on wage negotiations.
In a statement on its website, Lufthansa said passengers should expect "massive" flight cancellations and delays that will start to affect long-haul flights from Sunday.

Travel Books - Adam Shepard takes off on an epic adventure - One Year Lived!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to feel the wind in your hair, be free and  take off for a year to travel the world?  No fixed itinerary set in stone, no restrictions on the time you could spend in one particular place before moving on to the next destination, or the things that you do there?   Imagine that freedom and that excitement, wouldn’t that be one awfully big adventure.

 From late 2011 to late 2012 that is exactly what author, motivational speaker and the Worlds slowest bar-tender, Adam Shepard did, as Jason Shaw recently found out.   Shepard saved up some money,  packed up a backpack with the bare basic essentials and after saving up for a while he set off on one of life’s massive adventures,  during which he visited seventeen countries on four continents and remarkably he spent less that it would have cost him to stay at home. 

In Australia he hugged a koala, in Slovakia, he bungee jumped off a bridge, in the Philippines  e went wake-boarding   but it wasn’t all relaxation and pleasure. Shepard also dug wells in Nicaragua to install pumps for clean water and in Honduras he served with an organisation that helps to improved the lives of poor children.

Shepard is no stranger to adventure,  even before this epic journey around the world, just three years earlier he made national headlines for taking a year to test the viability of the American Dream.  With just $25 in his pocket, he boarded a train and headed to Charleston, SC.  Where he lived in a homeless shelter for seventy days. He took odd jobs until he managed to find a full-time job, eventually earning enough money to buy a pickup truck and a furnished apartment. He wrote about his experiences  in the book Scratch Beginnings, which garnered a lot of publicity and interesting in the media, being featured on the Today Show, CNN, FOX along with many other publications.

 This time the handsome man from North Carolina has written with a passion and a refreshing view on his travels in the book One Year Lived,  published on 18th April.  Shepard hopes his story of an epic adventure will spur on young American’s to really become global citizens and travel beyond America’s shores.   “In Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Europe, it’s normal for people to pack a bag, buy a plane ticket, and get ‘Out There.” Shepard says, “But in the U.S., though, we live with this very stiff paradigm—graduate college, work, find a spouse, make babies, work some more, retire—which can be a great existence, but we leave little room to load up a backpack and dip into various cultures, to see places, to really develop our own identity.

  I recently caught up with Adam to find learn more his book One Year Lived and his epic adventure,  I started by asking him if the prospect of spending a year away from home comforts, family and friends was at all scary or daunting? 

“The prospect of being away was not daunting or scary, because I knew that home was waiting on the back end. I didn’t think twice about what I was giving up (career, etc.) by leaving, because I knew that this experience would supersede what I was skipping out on.”

 “The toughest parts of this journey were leaving places where I had spent a month or more, where I had developed friendships with people. I likely won’t ever see any of them again in my life, and I knew that as I left the place. “

“My mom? Dad? Matt? Korey? I knew I would see them again. Beatríz (my home stay mom) in Antigua, Guatemala? Likely not.”

  During this journey of discovery, you've visited so many places,  experienced so many different things,  are there any that really surprised you?

 “Many things opened my eyes. The three biggest things that surprised me were: How far an American dollar goes abroad. I took this trip when we were still “in a recession” but in many countries I went to (Central America and Asia especially), I was still able to do a lot on a little. How unrestricted many countries are. A lot of things you see abroad would never fly in the States. High alcohol-content liquors (absinthe, for example) are normal in Europe. In the Philippines, cockfighting is a staple. In Thailand, you can just go to the firing range and rent an AK-47 while drinking your beverage of choice. That it took me four months to get robbed. “

 That sounds nasty and could have been a real disaster?
 “Getting robbed in Nicaragua could have been a lot worse. They got me for a couple hundred cash and my ATM card, but if I would have lost my emergency credit card, too, and my passport, my journey would have been devastatingly stalled for a good amount of time.”

How far out of your comfort zone did you go? “The trip itself was not far out of my comfort zone. I always knew I wanted to take a trip like this; it was just a matter of timing and affordability.”

 “But the challenge I laid for myself was to make sure I didn’t leave any experience undone. I knew that I had the opportunity to live a pretty unique year, and I made sure I was front and center whenever there was a volcano to climb or corral to explore.”

 “The best example is with the volunteering I did. I believe in giving back, but I’ve done this with a few hours at a time or writing a check to my college. But for my trip around the world, one-third of the year was dedicated to service, namely on two projects: working with a vacation activities program for children in Honduras and digging for clean water pumps for the native Miskito people of Nicaragua.”

 “The most wonderful experiences of my year involved volunteering in Honduras and Nicaragua, and as such, one can say that the best times for me came when I stepped outside of the box of what my life had previously been.”

  Where there any scary moments during the trip?

Photography Lighting Kits That Work

Grow lights are an important part of hydroponics, and selecting the right photography lights can be a big decision. There are lots of different photography lighting kits and lights available from www.thelashop.com. There are tons of different nutrient additives that you can add to your hydroponics set-up to make your plants successful. Happy plants are healthy plants and you can be sure that with the right nutrients, you will be growing a fantastic indoor garden. With the right supplies and the right amount of knowledge, anyone can turn into a super hydroponics grower! If you want plants that will be grown in stable environment as opposed to outdoors where weather can harm them, try hydroponics! You don’t have to wait for a certain season, you can start growing tonight if you wanted. There is lots of information available online for people to learn about indoor plant growing, and it is continuing to be a growing trend in many communities. This is very helpful to those cities that dwell in colder areas since crops are harder to grow outdoors. Hydroponics is the answer to most of outside gardenings problems! Having a hydroponics garden is extremely smart if you want to start growing food for your family all year round to save on groceries, as well as for hobby growing! No matter what the plant, with the right grow lights and nutrients you will have a wonderful garden and collection. Choosing the right grow light can be crucial to making sure your plants grow as they should.

787 Makes Emergency Landing.

 

 

Japan's two main airlines have grounded their Boeing 787 Dreamliners after one was forced to make an emergency landing because of battery problems.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) grounded its fleet of 17 Dreamliners when its flight NH 692 from Yamaguchi Ube was forced to land shortly after take-off.

Japan Airlines followed suit, saying it would ground its fleet of seven 787s from 16 January until further notice.

This is the latest setback for Boeing and its problem-hit Dreamliner planes.

In recent weeks, Dreamliners have suffered issues including fuel leaks, a cracked cockpit window, brake problems and an electrical fire.

"You're nearing the tipping point where they need to regard this as a serious crisis," said Richard Aboulafia, a senior analyst with the Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia.

"This is going to change people's perception of the aircraft if they don't act quickly."

Battery malfunction

On Wednesday, ANA's flight NH 692 left Yamaguchi Ube in western Japan at 08:10 local time (23:10 GMT) and headed for Tokyo's Haneda airport.

Helicopter Crashes Over London

 
 
Breaking news,  live from London.   Shortly after 8am this morning a helicopter, believed to be an Augusta 109 clipped the top of a crane and crashed down onto the road below engulfing in a fireball.  So far there are no reports of casualties either from the helicopter or on the ground, although early indications are that up to three cars have been caught up on the following fire.
The London Fire Brigade said it had received multiple calls of a helicopter hitting a crane in the Vauxhall area,  not far from the Battersea helicopter centre.  Eyewitness's have reported seeing the helicopter clipping a crane on top of a building under construction and then plummeted straight into the ground before it burst into a ball of flame as the aviation caught alight.
Police sources said they first received calls at 08:00 this morning, London Ambulance Service confirmed it had sent a number of paramedic units to the scene.
It was a misty morning in central London and the building the helicopter hit has been shrouded in mist for some time.  The crane at the top of the building was now hanging down the side of the building, and is now being treated as a second scene by the emergency services.
There are believed to be three cars involved on the ground and at this stage it is unclear if the occupants managed to escape before flames took hold.  Early reports indicate that the helicopter was an Augusta A109 with no passengers on-board, being flown by one pilot.





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New Boss For Virgin

Virgin Atlantic has announced that American Airlines executive Craig Kreeger will be its next chief executive.

Mr Kreeger will take up the job on 1 February, replacing Steve Ridgway, who is retiring after 11 years.

The news comes a month after US carrier Delta Air Lines bought Singapore Airlines' 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic for $360m (£224m).

Dreamliner Review

 

 

US regulators have ordered a review of the 787 Dreamliner plane after a series of incidents put a question mark over the safety of Boeing's flagship plane.  The review by the Federal Aviation Administration will look at the design and manufacture of the planes.

It is not clear whether the planes in the air at the moment will be grounded.   An electrical fire, a brake problem, a fuel spill and cracks in the cockpit's windshield have affected Dreamliner flights in the past week.  "We are absolutely confident in the reliability and performance of the 787," Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said. "We are working with the FAA and our customers to ensure we thoroughly understand any introductory issues that arise.  While we take each issue seriously, nothing we've seen in service causes us to doubt the capabilities of the airplane."

More 787 Dreamliner Problems

 

 

It has been confirmed that a brake problem forced an All Nippon Airways flight to be cancelled in Japan  - the third glitch in as many days involving a brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

It was scheduled to fly from the Yamaguchi prefecture in western Japan to Tokyo's Haneda Airport.

But the domestic flight was grounded by Japan's ANA because brake parts to the rear left undercarriage needed replacing, a spokesman at Yamaguchi Ube Airport said.

An ANA spokeswoman said: "In the cockpit, an error message related to its brake system was displayed.

"The exact nature and the cause of the error message is not clear yet."

All 98 passengers on board were switched to another flight for Tokyo.

On Tuesday, a Japan Airlines jet was grounded at Boston Logan International Airport in the US following a fuel leak, a day after another plane of the same type suffered a fire.

About 40 gallons (150 litres) of fuel spilled from the jet that was supposed to be bound for Tokyo from Boston last night.

On Monday, smoke was spotted in the cabin and cockpit of a JAL Boeing 787