When families of the passengers on Malaysia 370 were notified via text message that those aboard the missing jetliner were likely dead, attention focused on the ham handed-ness of such a notification. “Deep sadness and regret” delivered via cell phone just seems wrong.  There is another significance to this first-ever, intentional digital notification in an air disaster, as pointed out to me last night by the thoughtful and experienced French air accident investigator Olivier Ferrante. So far, it is a crash with no airplane, no bodies, no crash site, no physical evidence, he told me. “It is a virtual crash until a piece of wreckage… Read More…

Everywhere you go there are Malaysian airliners, on the makeshift sympathy signs dotting the town, on a magnificent mosaic hidden in a highway underpass, on the back of (some) 20 ringgit notes. I’ve already written how the tragic mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has engaged the people who live here. Now that I’ve finished reading the history of the Royal Selangor Flying Club, I understand that a little better. The airline and the club grew up together and can even be considered products of the same parents. But as aviation soars, especially in this part of the world, the once formidable 85 year old… Read More…

With the latest news, that an Australian ship may have detected the sound of pinging from the black boxes on the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner, the massive effort in the South Indian Ocean begins to seem a little less overwhelming. But let’s set aside the search and the constant speculation over whether this is an accident or a crime. I want to write about the effect the event is having on the people who live in Malaysia. Since arriving in Kuala Lumpur on March 13, to assist ABC News in its coverage of this unusual story, I have been repeatedly startled that so many Malaysians… Read More…

It comes as no surprise to me that Ireland has approved the operating certificate of Norwegian Air International over the protests of labor unions and U.S. based airlines.  The decision to grant the airline permission to base its international division in Dublin means the airline is one step closer to its plan to offer no-frills, low fare flights between Europe, the United States and Asia. Kevin Humpreys, the chief of safety and regulation at the Irish Aviation Authority dismisses as “rubbish” the challenges by labor organizations including ALPA, the Air Line Pilots Association. “ALPA doesn’t know what it’s talking about,” Humphreys said. “They don’t know what they’re… Read More…

Oxnard, California — Along the 14 hundred foot Port Heuneme Pier fishermen dangle lines into the Pacific while dog walkers, joggers and families enjoy the occasional sight of dolphins arcing their way through the water. On the beach, more dolphins are depicted in bronze on the memorial to the victims of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, which crashed 14 years ago today. Eighty eight people died in the disaster – the result of a failure of the screw mechanism used for pitch control on the horizontal stabilizer. This was ultimately attributed to lax maintenance practices by Alaska Airlines and lax oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration. The… Read More…

If the Air Line Pilots Association has accomplished one thing during its 12-year battle with their members from the former Trans World Airlines, it is this; it saved up money for the rainy day that has arrived. That does not mean, however that the leadership has learned how to be magnanimous in defeat.  The union has agreed to pay $53 million dollars to settle the long standing lawsuit in which a court found it failed to properly represent the TWA pilots when their company was acquired by American Airlines in 2001. Insurance will fund half of the amount and ALPA the other. But paying up is not the… Read More…

Twelve years may be a long time to wait for justice, and it may not have arrived even now. Still, today the twenty three hundred pilots who worked for Trans World Airlines, and who wound up on the bottom of the seniority list when the airline was acquired by American in 2001 are closing in on a settlement in their lawsuit against the Air Line Pilots Association.   Allen Press ALPA told its members this afternoon that it had agreed to stop fighting a court finding that it had betrayed its TWA members and will instead pay them $53 million. The settlement, “allows your union to… Read More…

Through the rain splattered window of the Aston Martin I was driving on 12th Avenue in Manhattan, I could see my bicycle parked forlornly outside the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. A plastic grocery bag protected the seat from the storm. At 4:30 on a Monday night, traffic on the approach to the Lincoln Tunnel was at a crawl. These were not the ideal conditions for test  driving a V12 DB9 Vanquish Volante, a car with a price tag of $200,400. But then again, I was hardly the company’s target customer. The really serious potential Aston Martin owners would get their chance to drive this car in a few hours… Read More…

Lacinda and Spud Homfeld at the Hangar Hotel When an aviation geek says, “Let’s go somewhere where we can watch airplanes take off all day”, and the non aviation geek partner says, “Yeah, let’s do that”, the couple is probably headed to the Hangar Hotel at Gillespie County Airport in Fredricksburg, Texas. Earlier this week, Lacinda and Spud Homfeld chose to celebrate their 36 years of togetherness by pursuing their separate interests with a two night stay at the aviation-themed hotel.  For a few hours each day, Spud and Lacinda could sit in the sun on the hotel’s outdoor balcony overlooking runway 14/32 and watch… Read More…

NEW POST REVISES THIS ONE. READ IT HERE It has taken 17 years but the most qualified of the amateur investigators into the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 seems to have found his voice in a powerful documentary that’s making headlines this week. Tom Stalcup teamed up with Kristina Borjesson in the (too long by half) 90 minute documentary. Together they raise intriguing questions about what might have caused the explosion that brought down the Boeing 747 on a flight from New York to Paris on July 17, 1996. All 230 people on board died. It is with careful parsing that I praise this… Read More…