Turbulence Forecast Blog » Airlines

US Airways 1549 in river, all survived

tb_neg — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 21:50:21 +0000

US Airways 1549 taking off from LGA was forced to land in the Hudson River due to a bird strike. Everyone survived, although the river is freezing cold!

Incredible Pictures.

Article.

Baby born on transatlantic flight

tb_neg — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 19:23:26 +0000

A baby was born on a transatlantic flight from AMS-BOS.

The six-pound (2.7kg) baby named Sasha was delivered on New Year’s Eve with the help of two doctors on the eight-hour-long Northwest Airlines flight.

No word on whether or not the baby can claim frequent flier miles on her first flight aboard the soon to be absorbed Northwest Airlines.

Northwest Airlines

Delta and Northwest to merge, turbulent rides ahead?

tb_neg — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:29:21 +0000

In our discussion forums is an interesting thread about two different flights. One, operated by Delta, flew through some decent moderate turbulence. Another, operated by Northwest, stayed low and dodged most of the turbulence. Which flying personality will prevail in a Delta/Northwest merger? Will it be Northwest’s turbulence adverse strategy, or will that die with the Northwest name? See the thread for details.

Merger details.

Emirates allows you to shower at 43,000 feet

tb_neg — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:42:32 +0000

Considering that at one time, you could find a piano bar in a 747, a shower on an airplane while in the air at 43,000 isn’t that far of a reach. but I wonder what happens if you hit a rough patch of air in the shower? Drop down seat in the shower? Waterproof seat belts? Speculate all you want after watching this video of the new Emirates A380 with shower spa. Other features include a fully stocked bar, and apparently, a rubber duck is included.

Shower Spa Video.

Emirates

Delta will add Wi-Fi to all domestic planes

tb_neg — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:29:34 +0000

Good news for those of you who want the latest Turbulence Forecast. Delta Airlines will offer Wi-Fi on all domestic flights, starting with the MD-80/MD-90 fleet first and throughout the whole fleet in 2009, for between $9.95 and $12.95 per flight, depending on length.

Press Release.

Delta

Another emergency for Qantas

tb_neg — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 16:46:49 +0000

Qantas is in the news again, with another incident involving a open cargo door on a 767.

Qantas

Giant hole in Qantas 747

tb_neg — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:01:52 +0000

A rather scary incident aboard a Qantas flight resulted in shaken people, but no loss of life as a giant hole appeared in a Qantas 747. The cause of the incident is still unknown. Flight QF30 from Hong Kong to Melbourne diverted to Singapore after the incident.

Somewhat disturbing, a report of oxygen mask failure.

Times Online Article.
Sun Article.
BBC Article.
Video of inside.
Video 2.

Qantas

Southwest maintains no fees, others tack them on

tb_neg — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:12:48 +0000

While many people like to ‘harsh’ on Southwest Airlines for their particular practices (opening seating, serving secondary cities), it’s also quite clear that out of all the major airlines, they are the only airline to ‘get it’. While other airlines ratchet up fees, Southwest counters with a brilliant advertising campaign as explained, and seen in the video below. No other airline can come close to claiming 35 years of profitability in a row, but Southwest can. They must be doing something right. While I’m still a Northwest fan, I’d take Southwest in a second, and I found that on a recent trip, my first on Southwest, was completely satisfactory in a clean plane with on time performance. I’d say that 35 years of profitability is no accident, and a testament to a clear vision and respecting customers and employees alike.

United Flight 1427 hits severe turbulence, 2 injured, out of Denver

tb_neg — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:48:45 +0000

United Flight 1427 hit severe turbulence out of DEN and turned around to land.

CBS4Denver has the details. Please buckle up at all times, especially in the mountain areas.

And here is the Pilot Report of Turbulence from that flight, it must have been quite a ride. According to the report, the aircraft’s altitude varied by 1800 feet in the course of a minute.

DEN UA /OV ALS030060/TM 0625/FL370/TP A320/TB SEVERE TURB/ SEVERE MTN WAVE/RM ± 1800 FPM

Thank you to Chris Sloan from the Airchive for sending this in.

Northwest and Delta to Merge

tb_neg — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 01:43:37 +0000

Delta and Northwest are set to merge, if approved by regulators; they will keep the Delta name, thus ending the legacy of the Northwest name (1926-2008). You can read their spin on the merger here: Delta Northwest, and even see their combined effort at a site designed to present the merger in a positive light.

Turbulence Forecast has always been a proponent of Northwest Airlines for many reasons. First and foremost of interest to site visitors is their turbulence avoidance strategy, as seen in previous blog posts here: one, two, three, four.

Despite those blog posts, Delta never stood out to me one way or another in terms of avoidance. Since their respective route structures essentially do not overlap much at all, I never really had a chance to evaluate Delta very much in those aforementioned posts, but I will be watching next time the opportunity presents itself.

Delta did, and still may participate in a program related to turbulence, although the current status of that program is unknown and information is hard to come across. If anyone knows (Delta representatives especially encouraged to contact us), please post a comment or contact the site.

While I’m very familiar with Northwest’s web site for ticketing and other management features, a quick glance at Delta’s offering makes me hope that they retain Northwest’s ticketing system and self management features, as well as the features of the Elite program that Northwest offers.

Sadly, due to the raising cost of fuel, the merger was probably inevitable and it certainly makes sense just given their route structure, very little overlap. I hope that new Delta will maintain the best features of the old Northwest (large planes on many routes, and the points mentioned above) and turn the merger into a positive. Only time will tell.

It is Turbulence Forecast’s opinion that the merger will be permitted to go through. The retirement of the DC-9 fleet will probably accelerate due to fuel costs. The Northwest Airlines DC-9 fleet has an average age of 35 years, which is amazing if you think about it; they don’t build them like that anymore.

Links: Airliners.net thread, Flyertalk Delta thread, Flyertalk Northwest thread.