Extraordinary footage of Boeing 737 MAX planes grounded at Paine Field in Everett, Washington, USA, forty kilometers (25 miles) north of Seattle. The footage was taken by local TV network King5 in June 2019. Globally, there are approximately five hundred grounded 737 MAX’s and 100 of those are at The Boeing Company’s Renton, Washington Factory in southern Seattle. There are now so many 737 MAXs waiting that Boeing has started placing them in the employee car park. It must be a weird feeling driving into a car park to be confronted by a product that…
Air Safety
Category Archives for Air Safety.
Brunei Launches Genocide Program
Royal Brunei Airlines’ advertising campaign asks “how far will you go”. When launched, one wonders if their advertising agency realised how far the country of Brunei would go to create their own vision of moral purity? Brunei, a tiny nation which abuts Malaysia. this week quietly unveiled a law designed to wipe homosexuals from the country. In a world where many countries are better supporting the human rights of all of their citizens, Brunei is taking a proud step backwards ignoring scientific knowledge, UN conventions and international human rights laws. From 3rd of April, 2019,…
China to ground 737MAX fleet
China’s Civil Aviation Administration, has reportedly asked its airlines to temporarily ground Boeing 737 Max aeroplanes following the Ethiopian Airlines crash. Many airlines, Canjing reports had already switched 737MAX flights, replacing the plane with the older (and reliable) 737-800 I think a grounding is a sensible precaution following the two similar crashes of the model in clear weather; Ethiopian yesterday and Lion back in October 2018. Two fatal crashes in five months of a brand new aircraft is too great. Such a grounding is significant. China is also one of the biggest travel markets on…
No to flying 737 MAX, after 2nd crash. What we know about Ethiopian 302.
Plane crashes are so rare these days, despite the huge volume of air traffic. Safety, systems, pilot training and modern aircraft have made air travel safer and safer. So the news of a tragedy is something that is surprising, gripping and terrifying. At 844 in the morning of Sunday March 10th, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 registered as ET-AVJ, vanished from radar screens just six minutes from its departure from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on a flight to Nairobi, Kenya. The plane was operated by Ethiopian Airlines as ET302. Media in Ethiopia said 157 people died: …
Drones, Drones, Drones – How can we protect airports & skies after Gatwick?
As the world knows, Gatwick airport (the second busiest in the UK) was closed for about 36 hours on 19th and 20th December because of repeated drone sightings near the airfield. The Police said they received 115 reports of sightings with 93 confirmed as “credible” with a pilot, airport staff and police officers amongst the reporters. The risk of collision and damage with an aircraft is a nightmare scenario. The airport has a one kilometre exclusion zone around it, in which it is illegal to fly any unauthorised drones. In addition, drones must be kept…
Lion Air’s Woeful Safety
Have you seen those rants (usually on Facebook) from passengers fuming because “their” plane has been cancelled or delayed. The tone they use often suggests they believe that airline has single handedly selected them to punish them. There are many reasons for aeroplane delays with weather and technical issues being the most common. An airline with a good safety culture will not fly a plane which has had a technical issue until that fault is properly rectified. This suits me. Likewise, an airline with a good safety culture will empower their pilots not to take…
INSIDE the Aeromexico 2431 Crash
Like many passengers, I sometimes film the take off or landing whilst en route. Some of my films are interesting and some are not. The video below is definitely very interesting as it captures the failed take off of Aeroméxico Connect Flight 2431 which crashed on Tuesday July 31, 2018 during takeoff from Durango International Airport. The Embraer 190 was bound for Mexico City, 765 kilometres (475 miles) away. Whilst accelerating in stormy weather, the aircraft apparently became airborne briefly and then veered off the runway after being hit “by a gust of wind”. The left wing…
New Turkish vid combines humour, safety, Lego and planes!
The boring safety announcements are looking more and more endangered as airlines increasingly use their on board safety videos to differentiate their brand. The videos are designed to grab your attention and build your awareness of who you are flying with. Whoever in the Turkish airlines marketing department managed to involve the Lego franchise was a genius. Everyone (especially if you have small and big kids) will be remembering this video. If you are familiar with The Lego Movies, then the characters and some of their behaviors will be familiar to you. The safety video…
Hainan Airlines Cartoon Safety Video featuring Teapots!
This is one of the more unusual safety videos I have seen! I confess, I have still not flown Hainan so not seen their video on board. The “teapots” go off duty and go on holidays which includes their first time on a plane. They do everything wrong on the plane (luggage in the aisles, smoking on the lavatory, leaving electronics on, panic during a storm, brace inappropriately, take luggage off with them at evacuation etc) The video has one of the most graphic “emergency” situations, I have ever seen in a safety video. …
Air New Zealand Safety Video: Cool or Cruel?
I have been pondering about what to say about Air New Zealand’s safety video. On 28th November 1979, Air New Zealand flight TE 901 took off from Auckland for a sightseeing flight over Antarctica. Due to a computing error, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 slammed into Mount Erebus a 3,794 metre (12,448 ft) volcano located on Ross Island. All 237 passengers and 20 crew were killed. This was followed by complex search and rescue mission and a bitter and complicated investigation. There was such grief in NZ as the small nation felt connected to the disaster…
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