Flight International

Chinese Man Lives in Tokyo Airport, Blames ANA

2009-11-17T05:51:20Z

(Flickr Creative Commons License)

What is it with all these people (and not Tom Hanks in The Terminal) living in airports?

The Financial Times reports:

Mr Feng has been haunting the halls of Japan's Narita airport since being turned away from his own country by Shanghai police on November 4.
...
Mr Feng's presence in the airport no-man's-land stems from his outrage at his treatment by Chinese authorities and Japanese airline All Nippon Airways.

Mr Feng, a Chinese human rights activist on behalf of individual Chinese complaining of illegal mistreatment at official hands, says Shanghai police, assisted by an ANA employee, physically forced him on to a flight back to Japan after he was barred from returning home for the eighth time.
"I refuse to enter Japan. For a Chinese to be kidnapped and taken to Japan like this is a humiliation for me and a humiliation for China," he told the Financial Times during an interview in a Narita corridor.
...
ANA said its staff had needed to use "just a little bit" of force to ensure Mr Feng was on the flight, since it was already an hour late and Shanghai authorities had made clear it could not depart until he was on board.

Friday the 13th Strikes Virgin Blue

2009-11-16T06:09:14Z

Update 17 November: the e-mail in question was sent to one million members

Last Friday--13 November--Southwest Airlines cheekily wrote a blog post saying travel figures for the day had not dropped and thus passengers were not superstitious of the legendary "Friday the 13th".

Virgin Blue, unfortunately, did not fare so well.

A processing error accidentally upgraded "many" (the airline won't say how many) of its Velocity frequent flyers, including yours truly, to its top-tier gold elite status for one year. Normally gold status is obtained after accumulating 50,000 status credits. Gold has the perks of complimentary lounge access (which otherwise costs $369 a year), priority boarding and checking, and free checked luggage.

The mistake e-mail

Two and a half hours later Virgin Blue sent a message saying "Friday the 13th strikes!" The carrier apologised and informed passengers that no, they were not elites.

Oops!

While the carrier's mistake is easily forgivable, there were naturally were some displeased passengers venting on Twitter. The ACCC, Australia's consumer watchdog, said it would investigate any complaints but was unlikely to take action.

Oman Air's Crash Drill Mistaken For Real Crash

2009-11-15T00:59:26Z

Last night at the 2009 Dubai air show the Flightglobal achievement award for aviator of the year went to US Airways Captain Chesley Sullenberger, who famously landed an A320 in the Hudson River last January.

Sullenberger's win for his phenomenal skills remind us preparation and training are two keywords in this industry. But perhaps there are times when preparation go too far, or at least too public.

As reported from Gulf News, Oman Air with government and airport agencies staged a drill to respond to a hypothetical aircraft crash.

The Oman Air website even put up a condolence message from their CEO for 'those killed in the crash'.
The crash announcement on the website said: "Exercise Exercise Exercise Exercise 13th November 2009 11:14 hrs. Revised information indicates that Flight WY900 had a total of 158 people on board, there are 126 injuries, 29 fatalities (including all 8 crew) and 3 unaccounted for. It is further reported that there are five resident fatalities."

Anyone know of any other drills that got mistaken for a real incident?

TWEEK: Twitter Week

2009-11-14T10:02:35Z

(Lori Ranson)

Last week's TWEEK (review of trending aviation topics on Twitter) was Star Alliance-heavy with the Star Mega DO following Continental's entry in Star Alliance. This week Mexicana became the 11th member of the Oneworld alliance. You can see photos of Mexicana's Oneworld-themed aircraft here.

The A380 has been in service for two years and we produced a special report. One of the more popular features was the comparison of A380 cabins (here for Singapore, Qantas, and Emirates and here for Air France).

Last week saw the launch of the Flightglobal iPhone application. It gives you all the latest news from Flightglobal. It's free so go ahead and download it, give it a whirl, and let us know how it is.

Some other popular articles included:

Finally, it's the 2009 Dubai air show! There will be lots of Tweeting about the show. You can search for the #DXB09 keyword or view the Tweets with our handy Dubai Tweet directory.

Red Arrows Get First Female Pilot

2009-11-14T08:53:46Z

Photo from AirSpace user Wowbagger

The Red Arrows, the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, unveils its 2010 line-up - and for the first time, it includes a female pilot.
Flight Lieutenant Kirsty Moore from Lincolnshire previously served as a Flying Instructor, teaching students to fly the advanced fast jet trainer at RAF Valley, before flying the Tornado GR4 on operations in Iraq.

From the BBC, which has a great video of Moore giving a tour of a Red Arrows aircraft.

Houston, we have a problem

2009-11-13T13:52:48Z

Despite all the fanfare last month, some Internet sites are clearly struggling to remember that Continental Airlines has joined Star Alliance. Like this one.

PICTURES & VIDEO: UK charity to benefit from 2010 Ryanair Cabin Crew Charity Calendar sales

2009-11-11T11:43:18Z

As part of low cost carrier Ryanair's launch of its 2010 Cabin Crew Charity Calendar earlier today, three local cabin crew braced themselves for chilly autumnal London temperatures to pose for pictures in front of hundreds of photographers and eager onlookers.

The airline aims to raise €110,000 for UK charity KIDS which provides support to disabled children in the UK. The calendars are available on the Ryanair website for €10.

KIDS, through its web-based Direct Short Breaks service, gives disabled children and their families access to regular and much needed short breaks.

The latest calendar was shot at Ryanair's Alicante base in September.

Ryanair's press officer Stephen McNamara said: "Ryanair's cabin crew stunners once again strip off for charity and this year they're doing it for the KIDS charity. Every year the calendar sells like hot cakes and the 2010 edition won't be available for long.

"Ryanair's cabin crew have raised almost €300,000 for charity over the past three years".

KIDS chief executive, Kevin Williams said: "It's great when a bit of fun can serve such a serious purpose."

More pictures -

Hollywood Takes on Frequent Flyers

2009-11-10T13:38:06Z

In another example of art imitating life, George Clooney is starring in Up In the Air, a film about a frequent flyer mile hoarding businessman who loves traveling and found a woman who loves it too--but suddenly his company grounds him and puts him back at the desk.

Last month Gabriel Leigh made a documentary about frequent flyers.

Who knew such a relatively small group could garner so much interest?

Check out Clooney's advice on how to navigate those pesky security queues. The film hits cinemas next month.

World's Strangest Airports

2009-11-10T12:34:20Z

Stuck on a layover with nothing to do?

No worries. Travel + Leisure has compiled a list of the strangest activities at airports around the world, from 4D movies in Hong Kong to teeth cleaning in Sao Paulo.

Read about it here.

TWEEK: Twitter Week

2009-11-09T10:30:04Z

After a bit of a delay, here's what was popular over the last week on Twitter.

The story of the errant Northwest A320 was still on the minds of the Twitterati with our story of FAA Administrator Babbitt defends revoking licenses of Northwest laptop pilots

Safety concerns continued with No survivors as Il-76 crashes in eastern Russia

and two more articles:

Rockwell Collins: New avionics for a safer runway

Sleep cycle factors strongly in new ALPA pilot fatigue policy: Natural circadian rhythms factor strong

In-flight entertainment and connectivity proved to still be a hot topic with this article drawing attention:
Boeing ranks the cost of new commercial jet subsystems: #1 engines; #2 in-flight entertainment

Out of London was the news BA is considering one-cabin only short-haul flights from Gatwick

In the US, one hot topic was NASA's decision to fund Boeing for open rotor noise study

Last week was the Star Mega DO, the largest-ever gathering of frequent flyers. Holding various Star Alliance frequent flyer memberships, the group stopped by Chicago, Newark, Frankfurt, Oslo, and Toulouse. On their journey they visited the offices of United, Continental, Lufthansa, SAS, and Airbus. In Oslo, user nickpiggott Tweeted, flight attendants sang on an aircraft wing inside a hangar while the snow fell outside. For more, search for the tag #starmegado.

Also last week was the first flight of the A330-200F, and the Twitterati were keen to see photos of the first flight.

On the topic of social media, a shout out goes to Simpliflying's Shashank Nigam, who was awarded the Global Brand Leadership Award for airline branding.

Finally, what would a week be if Ryanair wasn't in the news? Ryanair received lots of attention with its pressuring of Boeing and threat to cancel 737 orders.

Success on Air NZ Matchmaking Flight

2009-11-09T08:40:52Z

Last month Air NZ turned one of its LA-Auckland flights into a special "matchmaking" flight. Passengers who sign up have in-flight mingling activities, a special ball in Auckland, as well as general time to socialise--and hopefully find Mr/Miss Right.

Did it work?

Well apparently so. One passenger wrote about her experience and at the end said as a result of the flight she's now in a relationship--with one of the pilots who was on board the matchmaking flight.

Who knew you could fine love at 35,000 feet?

UK Royal Family Chooses VIP S76 Sikorsky Helicopter

2009-11-06T08:51:59Z

Cutaway of the S76. (More cutaways here.)

From a Sikorsky statement:

Sikorsky Global Helicopters, a business unit of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., has delivered a new VIP S-76C++™ helicopter to the Royal Travel Office for use by the Royal Household of the United Kingdom. Sikorsky is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.

Sikorsky has provided helicopters to support the Royal Family since the early 1950's, including the R4, S-51, S-55, S-58, S-58T, S-76B and the S-76C+ helicopters. The new S76C++ helicopter entered service in September.

"The new S76C++ helicopter will continue to provide the Royal Family with a high quality and efficient helicopter travel service," said Captain Christopher Pittaway, Manager and Chief Pilot of The Queen's Helicopter Flight. "It most closely meets the mission requirements by providing a quiet and comfortable cabin environment, low carbon footprint and best value for money. We have enjoyed excellent product support from Sikorsky over many years and I look forward to a continued relationship."

Carey Bond, President, Sikorsky Global Helicopters, said: "The S-76C++ helicopter has distinguished itself by its quality, safety, performance and style as an aircraft of choice for VVIP transport. We are honored that the Royal Family and so many others entrust their safety and comfort to us."

The S-76C++ helicopter features engine, air vehicle, interior and avionics upgrades. These include a more powerful Turbomeca Arriel 2S2 Engine, an inlet barrier filter to protect the engine against erosion and environmental contaminants, a new VIP interior, a new optional Health and Usage Monitoring System and a quiet main gearbox using Quiet Zone™ technology that significantly reduces interior noise levels without any weight maintenance penalties.

The S-76® helicopter serves a multi-mission role that includes offshore oil transport, VIP transport, including head of state, emergency medical transport, search and rescue and civil defense. The S-76C++ helicopter was initially certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in January 2006. More recently, it was certified for unconstrained operations in extreme snowy conditions. The European Aviation Safety Agency certified the type design in July 2006, allowing for the export of the S-76C++ helicopter to all European Union countries.

Two New Flightglobal Twitter Accounts

2009-11-05T13:39:03Z

Attention Twitter users, we have two new accounts for you to follow.

For in-flight entertainment and connectivity news, follow @FG_IFEC

For aviation and the environment news, follow @FG_Environment

Thanks to the list function on Twitter, you can easily find and follow all of our accounts here.

Stefan's Phenom-enal journey - Orlando to Oxford

2009-11-05T09:19:47Z

Hi Stefan here.

FlairJet recently took delivery of its Phenom 100 which took off from Orlando. I was lucky enough to be invited to travel on the first UK 'G' registered Embraer Phenom 100 (G-SRBN).

We touched down at its new home at London Oxford Airport, at 15.28 (GMT) on 29 October. At the controls were Oxford-based FlairJet CEO and Capt David Fletcher and Capt Graham Rose.

We were met by the FlairJet team at the Oxfordjet FBO with champagne at the ready. I might have had more than my fair share.

The journey back began from Orlando where FlairJet attended the 62nd NBAA show and picked up the aircraft.

Last minute changes meant we needed to fly from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale in the Phenom 100, then from Miami to Sao Paulo by a scheduled TAM flight.

FlairJet formally accepted the aircraft from Embraer in Sao Jose dos Campos following the certification of airworthiness issued by the UK CAA. The delivery was completed in two stages with the Phenom 100 originally leaving Embraer's Brazilian facility for delivery to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

See the rest of our route below and click on the images of me.

It was truly a Phenom-enal journey(!) and although it wasn't the most direct route, it meant I got acquainted with FlairJet and its new aircraft.

Capt Fletcher said: "The aircraft handled brilliantly. It was a joy to fly, especially the spectacular approaches into the Caribbean, the Dutch Antilles of St Maarten and the fjords of Narsarsuaq, Greenland."

Total 'delivery' flying mileage was 7,730nm. Capt Fletcher, former pilot on Monarch Airlines' Airbus A320, compared flying the two aircraft: "In many ways, the Phenom is similar to the A320 with its intelligent flight management system and ease of operation, but it is much more fun to fly."

Flightglobal Business & General Aviation Editor Kate Sarsfield reports on the Phenom 100 delivery to FlairJet...

Does that '87 come with fries?

2009-11-05T09:15:04Z

From the third-quarter results of SAS Group today: