Poorly executed planning at Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 has left many travelers in misery as over 15,000 pieces of luggage pile up due to a multitude of factors:
Lack of parking for baggage handlers
Computer systems that did not allow baggage handlers to login
Poor training of baggage handlers on procedures regarding new baggage system
Be sure to watch this incredible video of a Lufthansa A320 attempting to land in a strong cross wind on March 1st. Fortunately, there were no injuries and the plane is back in service.
British Airways Flight 38, despite losing power to both engines, was saved by an incredibly skilled flight crew, and managed to land the plane short of the runway with only minor injuries and no fatalities at London’s Heathrow airport. There is no official cause to the incident yet, but an official report and findings can take years of investigating. Some might call it a miracle, but I think that it takes away from the skilled crew that saved everyone’s lives.
Turbulence Forecast reminds you to pay attention during safety drills and help the flight crew do the job by following all instructions.
CrankyFlierposted a fascinating video of a undular bore, which may have caused the severe turbulence on Air Canada Flight 190, that injured 10 passengers and forced the plane to make an emergency landing to treat the passengers.
AeroChannel, a new website that predicts how long it will take you to get to the gate of your airplane, has written an article on turbulence.
Explaining the turbulence, the pilot said they had hit a significant amount of windshear on the approaches. On the flight back, Snyder noticed the same crew working onboard the plane. When he mentioned to one of the flight attendants that he had been on the “windshear” flight, her face turned ghostly white. “I’ve never been so scared before,” the flight attendant confessed. And then she said, “I thought we were going to crash.”
Read about the turbulence experienced by CrankyFlier on a flight to Charlotte, and also learn more about turbulence including some turbulence encounters that people have had.
Another day, another opportunity to evaluate choices made by the airlines for passenger comfort. While no one would praise Northwest for in flight amenities, that hardly matters if the plane you are on is shaking in the mountain wave air. Right now, there are a lot of reports of moderate turbulence over Colorado, and that makes it easy to evaluate the airlines. Using FlightAware, I tracked flights who regularly fly over Colorado for the most efficient route. Comparing that route to routes taken today show a lot about which airlines care the most about your comfort.
Compare the path that Northwest 1191 takes in comparison the regular routes taken. On this graphic, NWA1191 is the green line. The regular flight path is in red. The shaded area indicates turbulence activity.
Northwest takes top prize for turbulence avoidance by flying completely around the area with a wide berth. Southwest gets a close second, as they flight a bit south of the area.
Delta does alright on some flights, flying around the area, and some fly through the area.
And the losers of this challenge: United, American, US Airways, Spirit, all flew right through. While not a safety issue, it is a comfort issue. Even if Northwest charges slightly more, consider where you spend your airfare money next time you fly, and reward the airlines that go the extra mile to ensure a smooth flight and your comfort.
Using FlightAware, take a look for yourself, the information is easy to find and easy to draw conclusions from.
Among all the hype that is Apple and iPhone, a rather amusing commercial indicates that a pilot with an iPhone knows more than the dispatchers for the airlines, simply by looking at the radar. See below:
One thing you can do with your iPhone is visit Turbulence Forecast while waiting at the gate. The site has been fully tested and works well. When the captain doesn’t tell you how the flight will be, you’ll still know.
Thanks to LiveATC, you can listen to flights battling turbulence as they fly through a storm system over the plains. Go to this page and scroll down until you see ZKC (Kansas City air traffic control center), and listen.
I’ve always liked FlightAware for tracking flight paths, and I’ve just discovered a new interesting feature they’ve recently added.
When you search for flights, but don’t know the flight number, you can enter a city pair, and it will show you a list of all flights for the day to choose from. They’ve just added a nice map that shows all flights in the air between the two cities, which makes comparing airlines approach to turbulence avoidance much easier. See a sample graphic, and try it on your favorite routes. Also see our previous posts on Northwest’s legendary turbulence dodging. [ OneTwo ]
Neil Cavuto from Fox News shares a story about a plane ride that got unusually rough. As the turbulence increases though, something very special happens. I don’t want to spoil it, but this is a must read.
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