On July 12 a parked Ethiopian Airlines’ 787 was attended by several emergehcy vehicles at London Heathrow when a fire broke out. The blaze caused extensive damage to the rear of the plane’s fuselage. No one was aboard the plane and there were no injuries. Investigators have found that the fire coincided with the emergency locator transmitter, which is powered by a lithium-manganese dioxide battery. This system operates independently of the plane’s power system. It is also different to the system on the plane that caught fire in Boston earlier this year. The British investigators…
Ethiopian expands through Malawi
Some good news from Ethiopian after their 787 fire. Ethiopian Airlines is determined to stake its claim as Africa’s most significant airline. It announced last week that it has finalised a 49 percent equity shareholding deal in the new Malawian Airlines. 20 percent will be held by the Malawian Government and 31 percent by Malawian private investors. The Republic of Malawi (known as Nyasaland until 1963) is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on its east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawai. The capital is…
Funny or Racist? TV reveals wrong Pilot names.
An anchor for Bay Area KTVU-TV read some supposed names of Pilots involved in the Asiana crash landing at San Francisco on July 7th. The report was accompanied by a slide with the phony names listed next to a photo of the burnt plane. The four names were claimed to be: Captain Sum Ting Wong (something wrong) Wi Tu Lo (We too low Ho Lee Fuk (Holy F***) Ban Ding Ow The station after a short break corrected the “mistake” but by then the Broadcast had spread across the Internet. Now millions of viewers have…
Self serve at home bag tags
In the “old days”, check in would consist of issuing of a Boarding Pass and Luggage Tags. Increasingly boarding passes are printed at home or available on a mobile phone. Air New Zealand have allowed passengers to print their bag tags while checkig in. Qantas do the same. Now Spanish airline Iberia lets customers print their own baggage tags at home. This occurs when checking-in online at iberia.com . Using a single sheet of A4 paper for each tag, you fold it into quarters and place it in a reusable plastic envelopes. These envelopes are…
All about laptop travel
Laptops are a great boon for travel. They allow you to blog, capture photos, send emails and skype cheaply and make travel plans as you go. They are also a time waster, can cause you to not engage with whats happening around you as you travel. Think carefully before a trip as to whether you need your IT. If two of you are travelling consolidate your electronics! It amazes me when I see couples carrying multiple smartphones, two laptops, two (or more) iPads, two kindles, and two cameras. Check that your insurer covers damage and…
Ethopian’s 787 Fire
Planes are not supposed to catch fire while sitting waiting eight hours between flights. Yet this is what happened to An Ethiopian Airline’s Boeing 787 at 1550h (330pm) on Friday in London while the aircraft was parked at a remote stand. There were no passengers aboard the plane. Heathrow Airport closed both its runways for 90 minutes. 42 short haul flights were cancelled and some flights were delayed for six hours. It is just on six months since fire broke out aboard an empty Japan Airlines 787 whil it was standing in Boston on January…
ANA downgrades their 787s
I wondered how long All Nippon Airways would maintain their roomier international 787 Econom Class. Unlike every other 787 operator , ANA and Japan Airlines opted for an a eight across 2-4-2 Economy layout. Everyone else (Ethiopian, Qatar and United) puts their passengers into a nine across 3-3-3 layout. ANA’s international 787s currently can carry 158 passengers: 46 in business and 112 in economy. On its new 787s, ANA are adding a Premium Economy class with seven across seating arranged 2-3-2 The room will come from Economy shrinking from 14 rows of 8 across to…
Asiana crash lands @SFO [updated]
It has been a relatively quiet year for plane crashes. On July 6, 2013, however, the Korean airline Asiana Airlines experienced a crash. Their flight 214 on approach to San Francisco International Airport from Seoul crashed after reportedly clipping a sea wall. The crash landing sheared off the plane’s landing gear and tore the tail off from the rest of the fuselage. It then burst into flames. The Boeing 777 had 307 people on board (291 passengers and 16 crew). The passengers included 141 Chinese nationals, 77 South Koreans, 61 Americans, three Indians, three Canadians, one French,…
380,000 points for $70
Here is a deal for you! When Mr Agius of Melbourne, Australia got a letter from the National Australia Bank (NAB) in January, offering him 100 additional points for each eligible purchase made on a NAB Qantas credit card, he went into action. He made 7000 purchases of one cent each – mostly between January 6 and January 9. Most of the purchases were used to top up his CityLink Tollway pass. For the bank had made a fatal error in that they didn’t specify how much you had to spend on each purchase to…
Ten tips to not leave stuff behind
It is a horrible feeling to realise that you have left something important or valuable in a hotel room, on a bus or in a taxi. I have lost a small amount of stuff over the last 49 years of travel. Some steps to reducing: Take less stuff Avoid travelling with valuables- assume you can and will lose whatever you take and ask yourself “is it worth the risk” Label stuff with your name and email/phone Place a shoe on top of or right next to your hotel safe. This will make you think twice before forgetting stuff…
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