I rank every city I visit based on various factors, including aesthetics, culture, and transport. Santiago, the capital of Chile in South America is the 242nd city of over 100,000 people I have visited. Chile is my 85th country, so I’m pretty confident in my ratings! Location and Orientation Santiago is the capital and largest city of Chile, nestled in a valley surrounded by the snow-capped Andes to the east and the Chilean Coastal Range to the west. The city sits at approximately 600 meters (1,968 feet) above sea level, providing a stunning backdrop of…
Safety
Tag Archives for Safety.
Don’t Waste that Safety Briefing-Save a Life
The aviation year has started with a bang — literally. We saw the first Airbus 350 destroyed in a ball of fire. The pictures of the burnt-out shell are chilling. Then the USA grounded all Boeing 737 Max 9s after a brand-new Alaska airlines plane had part of its fuselage ripped out violently. Tragically, Japan saw five lives lost in the smaller plane on the runway that was hit by the JAL A350. People going to start others impacted by the recent Japanese quake. After 1580 flights with just one scary landing (plus three memorably…
Air Malta Flight Fails to Soar
The choices for a direct flight between Milano, Italy and the stunning island of Malta were between Air Malta or Ryanair, who I avoid flying at all costs. I was keen to try Air Malta, the tiny flag carrier, which has been financially struggling for a long time. But, when I booked this flight, I hadn’t anticipated the October 3rd announcement that the current Air Malta will be shut down in March next year. To make matters “more interesting”, Italy had a general transport strike on the day I departed Milan, which caused delays or…
Where are you? I want to hear from you!
I am safe at home and finishing my quarantine in two days. At that time, I will be then be able to remain at home under lock-down! This tantalizing view from my bathroom shows me the (quieter) world outside. I am curious to know where other people are and what they are doing? Are you stuck somewhere and cannot get home because you have no money or access to travel options? Are you in self isolation or quarantine having come back to your home county? Have you had to cancel your travel plans and are…
Do I wear a mask on the plane? Latest on staying healthy.
By now you will have seen the picture of the guy wearing a tent on his plane to protect himself from the corona-virus. Impractical, and uncomfortable but necessity is mother of invention! I cannot see them being sold by airlines as part of their onboard merchandise! As someone who lives in Asia and travels extensively, I am following the news of the current coronavirus now known as COVID-19 very closely. Here is as much info as possible to assist fellow travellers which does not include selling you a tent. What is COVID19 COVID 19…
Air NZ becomes Air AllBlacks in brilliant new safety video
I have been a huge fan of Air New Zealand safety videos and have run out of superlatives for their amazing productions over the years (with one exception). But lets face it, the Qantas safety video brings a tear to my eye and the Oman ones are cool too so I may just be a softie for a good air safety video presentation. Their newest one, launched this week and which apparently took nine months to make will be hard for Aussies, South Africans and French people to sit through as it hammers home the…
Air NZ Worst safety ad -pulled. What went wrong?
I have not met anyone who has disliked the highly creative Air New Zealand safety briefings until now. After hree months of criticism from NZ Politicians, celebrities, and the public, the airline has pulled their latest $2.5m safety ad: The video took American hip hop ground Run DMC’s 1987 hit “It’s tricky” and replaced “tricky” with “Kiwi”. The jingle was “It’s Kiwi to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that’s safe and fly,” It starred Kiwi actor Julian Dennison (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Deadpool2), local musicians Kings, Theia and Randa and talent from 30…
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…
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…
Air Safety- Who I will and won’t fly.
Flying is incredibly safe. There are over 5000 airlines with ICAO codes. Very few of those carriers experience any major emergency incidents. Others do. Who do you know is safe or not? I rely on airlineratings.com, that rate about 10 percent of all airlines. Out of those airlines, extrapolating airlineratings.com data, 35% of airlines are fully compliant with seven safety measures. Now no one can guarantee that a “seven star” airline won’t have a crash involving fatalities but they are compliant with the most stringent safety requirements. In addition, 12% are one star airlines that…
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