As the announcement to switch off our phones is broadcast. I watch some people settle back in their seats content or smug, they have complied. Some will discover upon landing that their phone wasn’t actually off! In fact the Airline Passenger Experience Association and the Consumer Electronics Association found 30 percent of passengers accidentally left an electronic device turned on during a flight -61 percent said it was a smartphone. Another group will get up and check in a panic, only to find they have indeed already switched their phone off. On a recent flight,…
Monthly Archives
Monthly Archives for August 2013.
Mapping 10 Busiest Air Routes of 2012
Was fascinated by this mapping of the Top Ten busiest air routes by Visual Statistix. The article is from Amadeus which noted that 300 of the world’s routes carry 20pc of the world’s passengers. They also state that each of these 300 “super routes” has one million plus passengers per year. It seems seven of the top ten routes are in Asia, one in Australia, one in Africa and one in the Americas. Considering 60 per cent of the world’s population live in Asia, this makes sense. The high use of trains in Europe probably…
Hyperlooping Sci Fi or Real?
;Imagine sitting in a sealed pressurised car shaped capsule with 27 other passengers travelling at 1100+km/h (660mph) in a near vacuum through a tube in an electromagnetically suspensed vehicle. The tube would be built on pylons above or next to the current California Interstate 5 highway between Los Angeles and San Francisco reducing the 380-mile (610km) journey between the two cities to “about half an hour”. One major advantage of this system is that riders could go directly from city centre to city centre. The proposed Hyperloop is a “cross between a Concorde, a railgun…
Booted for phone use
Following on the proud tradition set by Alec Baldwin in 2011 who was infamously thrown off one an American flight after refusing to turn off his phone and becoming combative with flight staff… Two incidents in two months involving passengers being kicked off planes for cell phone usage. The first was a 22 year old woman who fought airline staff as they removed her from US Airways flight 906 scheduled to fly between Fort Lauderdale, FL to Charlotte, NC. She reportedly “kicked a deputy in the groin, elbowed another in the face and scratched two other deputies”.…
My 500th Route!
My 977th flight today from Penang to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was my 500th route. Since my first flight 45 years ago, I have spent 131 days instead aeroplanes. If I count check in and waiting times, I have probably spent a year of my life in air travel! Eleven of my Top 20 routes have been in Australia with sixty nine trips being between Sydney and Melbourne’s main airport Tullamarine. Not surprisingly Melbourne, Australia my home port which I have travelled into or out of 320 times features in eleven of my top routes. Los…
Stay Well En Route
After my post, last Wednesday, about the students who flew home ill from Chile last week, thought I would share some tips to stay well. Getting sick is part of the joys of travel, so be prepared! Feel free to add your suggestions. Before Travel Get all appropriate vaccinations for the area you are travelling to Get your up to date flu vaccination Make sure you have appropriate travel insurance coverage Take a travel-size bottle of hand sanitizer Carry medication for headaches, toothaches (it can happen) and diarrhea Have mosquito repellant When Flying I drink a fresh squeezed…
Stunning look at Earth from Space
I was very taken by this. Watch and enjoy. Related Posts Astronaut Tweets Flood Pics
Where you will find the 787
The 787 grounding seems a while ago. There will soon be 14 airlines utilising the 787. As of 10th August, LOT Polish will be the first carrier to have Boeing 787 aircraft as its sole long-haul fleet type. By 31st August 2013, Norwegian will be the second carrier to have Boeing 787 aircraft as its sole long-haul fleet type. The carriers are: AeroMexico (from October) Mexico City to Monterrey, Tijuana, JFK Air India Delhi –to Sydney, Melbourne, Birmingham, Bangalore, Chennai, Dubai, Frankfurt, Kolkata, London Heathrow, Paris All Nippon Airlines ANA Tokyo Narita to Beijing,…
Lion Air hits Cow
It was holiday time in Indonesia to celebrate Eid, the end of Ramadan. Planes are full of passengers aiming to get home to see family and friends. As a Lion Air flight JT-892 came into land at Gorontalo airport on northern Sulawesi island, on Tuesday 6th August, the Boeing 737-900 crashed into a cow and skidded off the runway into a field with the plane’s tail remaining on the runway. Not one of the 110 passengers and seven crew on board was killed or seriously injured and all passengers disembarked safely. The cow, however, was crushed to death under one of the…
Flight from Hell for Qantas Sick Pax
Last Thursday, 26 passengers, high school students and their teachers, spent most of a horror flight from Santiago vomiting and experiencing diarrhoea on a plane with eight available lavatories. The passengers were okay when they boarded QF28 but three hours into the flight, reported symptoms consistent with a highly contagious infection norovirus, the leading cause of gastroenteritis. The group had been on a pilgrimage to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil for World Youth Day to see Pope Francis. The airline believes the students were sick before boarding. A team of paramedics met the 747 when…
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