Infrastructure chief Warren Truss and ATSB chief Martin Dolan Writing from Canberra – Despite saying that I don’t want to be an “I told you so” I am feeling a bit smug about today’s confirmation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau that an unresponsive crew/hypoxia event seemed the “best fit” for the available information on the missing Malaysia Flight 370. The Australians have been asked by the Malaysians to head up the search for the Boeing 777 that went nordo on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8th. The suggestion that hypoxia events have a lot in common with the known facts… Read More…

Queen of Sheba at Bole International Airport The Ethiopian Airlines pilot had no idea that the lady bounding off the bus filling with passengers headed out to board ET Flight 602, was an aviation blogger with plenty of ink both behind and in front of her on the subject of the prone-to-ignite Dreamliner batteries. But, as are many Ethiopians, he was courteous and answered my questions in the 45 seconds I had before being shooed back on the bus by the driver and my fellow passengers. Pointing across the runway at the plane I thought to be ET-AOP, I had asked him, “Isn’t that the… Read More…

>The aircraft arriving at LAX in 2013 courtesy Jay Davis The recent release of communication data from missing Malaysia Flight 370, shows the Boeing 777 probably flew for no longer than nine minutes beyond the point at which the plane ran out of fuel. Buried in the 47-page report (warning: heavy on numbers and light on text) is the notation that between 8:10 and 8:19 the morning it disappeared on March 8, the plane lost and then regained power. Fuel exhaustion and engine flameout would cut power to the airplane. The only explanation for what caused it to ramp up again is the deployment of… Read More…

At Newark the night of my departure for London Writing from London — When I arrived at Newark Liberty International Airport earlier this week for my United Airlines flight to London, the check in agent had bad news; while a reservation appeared in her system, the ticket processed by Lufthansa, had not been generated. To fix this, I’d have to walk to the next terminal and get Lufthansa to sort it out.  Forty-five minutes later the problem was solved. Only the exceedingly pleasant demeanor of the United agents mitigated my frustration at the disconnect between these two airlines, who are supposed to be thisclose as… Read More…

In the Woody Allen movie, Annie Hall, an estranged couple is seen in separate visits to their therapists answering the question; “How often do the two of you have sex?” “Aways,” the woman says, “three times a week.” “Never,” the man says, “three times a week.” When it comes to the way the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board see the question of the “safety” of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner the same flexibility in perception is on display. How well-contained are the risks on the world’s newest wide body airliner? “Very” says the FAA. “Not so much,” says the NTSB. In March,… Read More…

When I told my friend the other day that I’d be traveling on Etihad she asked, “What’s that?” In the United States, the 10-year old airline is not a household name. And though I am more than tired of writing stories about the mad rush by airlines – including Etihad – to woo and coddle the premium class, I have to give the Abu Dhabi-based carrier credit for it’s audacious new luxury product unveiled to the public on Sunday.   So spectacular was the series of beyond first class accommodations that will be installed on the airline’s soon-to-be delivered Airbus A380s and Boeing 787 Dreamliners,… Read More…

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…

Writing from Kuala Lumpur — The case of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has taken another unexpected turn now that searchers in the South Indian Ocean have moved from the last-best guess of where the airplane might be to an area 1100 kilometers north east.  Ten airplanes and six vessels headed to the new location, off the coast of Perth, as the 30 day clock on the black box locator pingers ticks down. You may be asking, what new information prompted the moving of all this expensive hardware? I’m here to tell you. According to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority and the Australian Transport Safety… Read More…

The aircraft arriving at LAX in 2013 courtesy Jay Davis Writing from Kuala Lumpur — Regarding the quizzical disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370 and the overwhelming flow of theories from professional and arm chair investigators alike, Tom Haueter told ABC News on Monday, “All it would take is one additional data point to say, ‘Wow, we were completely off base.’” These wise words from the former director of aviation safety with the National Transportation Safety Board should serve as a mantra for everyone reading, writing and jawboning about the Boeing 777 that left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8th and never arrived. Several days… Read More…