Airline News

**thaimeme** · 04-03-2016, 07:52 PM

Originally Posted by BobR

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

It is a great aircraft, especially upstairs at the front on Qatar.

You wouldn't even know there are hundreds of riff raff on the same plane as you.

Being part of the "riff raff" in the back is actually less unpleasant on a smaller plane. It's about $900 to Los Angeles in economy class, and over $4000 in business class, there is no way I can justify paying that. Having sleeping pills also makes being riff raff less unpleasant.

Yet, no one pays full fare in business or first class...
Usually pre-paid or an upgrade from accumulated FFM status.

**BobR** · 05-03-2016, 09:19 AM

Originally Posted by thaimeme

Originally Posted by BobR

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

It is a great aircraft, especially upstairs at the front on Qatar.

You wouldn't even know there are hundreds of riff raff on the same plane as you.

Being part of the "riff raff" in the back is actually less unpleasant on a smaller plane. It's about $900 to Los Angeles in economy class, and over $4000 in business class, there is no way I can justify paying that. Having sleeping pills also makes being riff raff less unpleasant.

Yet, no one pays full fare in business or first class...
Usually pre-paid or an upgrade from accumulated FFM status.

I've read that some employers are willing to pay it because if the employee flies Business Class he or she is expected in the office immediately or the first business day morning after arrival whereas that is not practical if the employee has been in cattle class, and the employer has to pay a wasted day's salary, hotel and meals.

**hazz** · 05-03-2016, 12:59 PM

In the uk the rule in many businesses implemented everyone flys economy for a long time, after publicity over the risk of DVT this changed to if the flight is less that 6 hours its economy and if its longer business class.

The rational is the nanny state liability for breaking their employees. The risk of throwing a bloodclot as a result of sitting in a seat is seen to become a liability after you have made your employee sit for over 6 hours.

giving an employee an asprin and telling them to get in cattle class is not an option as the same nanny rules only allow an employer to provide employee protection if its not possible or practical to get rid of the risk.

**Bettyboo** · 05-03-2016, 01:19 PM

Used to be simple economics in my business days: local flights, business class, say within Europe may have only been 200 more than cattle class, and that's justifiable given the chance of meetings over-running and money saved on meals at business lounges, etc. Flying longhaul, fistclass was thousands of pounds more, and often business class was approaching 1000 more, so it just wasn't worth it; often went premium economy or something similar which was a couple of hundred pounds more than cattle class, but decent.

Also, I used to fly out a lot on Fridays and come back on Mondays, including weekend hotels the rates were often still cheaper with airlines such as BA, due to the way they charged 'business purpose' flights at very high rates.

Also, some meetings came out of my personal budget so I had choice, some meetings came out of the department budget so I had influence, and some meetings were arranged by a different department and you'd end up with whatever their policy was.

Lastly, a lot of stuff were last minute meetings that I had an American Express personal representative who I'd call, tell them what I'd want and how much I wanted to pay, they'd arrange it all in 20-30 minutes, job done - this was an excellent service back in the day, and they seemed to always find good rates; made things easier on expenses too that all travel costs were on one bill...

The choice of which grade/class to travel was very eclectic, and when the company was doing well there was less concern, when the company was struggling (or maybe quarterly targets hadn't been met), you'd have to take more care with expenses - if you were making money, nobody overly worried about what class you were travelling or which hotels you were staying in; I once upgraded from business class to first class on a plane from London to LA because there was a CEO of a company I wanted to do business with on the flight - cost 2,700 pounds for the upgrade alone! &, no, I didn't ever get a deal done with that company (it was a multi-million $ deal potentially)... Eclectic! Even if we were going through really bad times, if somebody wanted me to fly and meet them I'd often get their company to pay, and then I'd always insist on business class. Eclectic in the business world...

**Dillinger** · 05-03-2016, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

I once upgraded from business class to first class on a plane from London to LA because there was a CEO of a company I wanted to do business with

**Little Chuchok** · 25-03-2016, 12:01 PM

Qantas cleared international pilot one month before crash

11:42 AM Friday Mar 25, 2016
Police believe Paul Whyte deliberately crashed his light aircraft into the ocean off northern NSW.

Police believe Paul Whyte deliberately crashed his light aircraft into the ocean off northern NSW.

Qantas cleared international pilot Paul Whyte to fly one month before police believe he deliberately crashed his light aircraft into the ocean off northern NSW.

The Lennox Head man passed a mental health check in February even though he had been struggling to deal with a marriage breakdown for nearly a year.

Qantas confirmed the father-of-two had flown Boeing 747 aircraft with a capacity of 467 passengers on the Brisbane to Los Angeles route as a first officer in the weeks before his death on Monday.

The Australian and International Pilots Association has repeatedly declined to comment saying "we are not obligated" to speak about the incident, despite Mr Whyte officially representing the union at Civil Aviation Safety Authority meetings in recent years.

Revelations Mr Whyte was cleared for duty have raised questions from mental health experts about the quality and frequency of checks.

Griffith University psychiatrist Harry McConnell said mental health checks could not pick up sudden changes in stability and called for pilots to more readily report warning signs of their peers to managers.

"Even if he had a mental health screening, it would only have been valid at the time," he said.

"Even if he wasn't suicidal a month ago, obviously there was something that happened in the interim that has changed his way of thinking and his mental state.

"These peer programs like they have in North America are good for that and lets mates to look out for mates.

"It would allow airlines to keep track of mental health on a more immediate level."

A Qantas spokesman said all pilots had annual health checks which involved "a number of physical and psychological tests".

The tests rely heavily on pilots themselves reporting any "significant" change in their health to obtain a medical certificate.

"Pilots who have a history of psychosis, alcoholism, drug dependence, personality disorder, mental abnormality or neurosis are disqualified from holding a Class 1 medical certificate - therefore cannot be a commercial airline pilot," he said.

"As per CASA regulations, all Qantas pilots undergo annual medical evaluations in order to maintain their flying licence.

"This includes a number of physical and psychological tests conducted by a designated aviation medical doctor in a process overseen by CASA.

"Paul passed his annual medical check in February this year. He also passed his proficiency check in November 2015, which includes simulator testing."

The spokesman added: "There are a number of failsafes from a safety of flight perspective, including the 'two in the cockpit' rule that was introduced last year.

"On most international flights there are generally four pilots on board each flight."

Qantas Chief Pilot Captain Richard Tobiano told the Gold Coast Bulletin the tragedy was "very upsetting" for Mr Whyte's "family, friends and colleagues".

"It is with great sadness that I confirm that an off-duty Qantas pilot was flying a light aircraft which went missing off the northern coast of New South Wales on Monday evening," he said.

"As you can imagine this is a very upsetting time for his family, friends and colleagues, and we're providing them with as much support as we can.

"I ask you to respect their privacy at this time.

On Monday the father of two rented a Cessna 172 from the Northern Rivers Aero Club in Lismore, sent a final text message to his family and crashed the plane six nautical miles offshore from Byron Bay. Qantas has confirmed he was in cleared for active duty on the day he died.

**BobR** · 25-03-2016, 01:19 PM

If it is a suicide, may the poor man rest in peace. At least he had the decency not to do it in a passenger plane.

**MrG** · 31-03-2016, 09:06 PM

And now for Comics Section of airline news.

Flight attendants reveal the worst things they've done while at work
The Independent
3/4/2016

A survey from JetCost asked 718 British airline stewards to reveal their secrets, and found that 89 per cent had broken airline rules during flight.

More than a fifth of those surveyed said that they had “indulged in sexual relations” with a colleague during a flight, with 14 per cent having had sexual encounters with passengers.

The most common misdemeanour among stewards was lying about the availability of products in the in-flight catalogue, which 28 per cent of stewards admitted to doing.

One in five stewards admitted to short-changing passengers who bought products. Of those who pocketed passengers’ money, the average rule-breaking steward made £331 ($473) per year from short changing.

Over half of those who took passengers money said that they gave passengers change in a different currency in order to fool them, while others said that they got away with it simply because the passenger didn’t check their change.

Jetcost.co.uk co-founder Antoine Michelat said: “It’s completely unacceptable for cabin crew to be short-changing passengers; they’re knowingly pocketing the money that should be going back to the customer and are therefore stealing.

"They may think it’s OK by passing it off as the odd 20p (25 cents) here and 50p (50 cents) there, but that’s still money that’s not rightfully yours and belongs to someone else.”

http://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/trav...rtY?li=BBnb7Kz

**harrybarracuda** · 12-04-2016, 01:41 AM

Kept a bit quiet....

Incident: Thai Lion B739 near Chiang Mai on Apr 10th 2016, loss of cabin pressure

By Simon Hradecky, created Sunday, Apr 10th 2016 19:31Z, last updated Sunday, Apr 10th 2016 19:31Z
A Thai Lion Boeing 737-900, registration HS-LTM performing flight SL-539 from Chiang Rai to Bangkok (Thailand), was climbing through FL370 about 130nm south of Chiang Rai and about 90nm southeast of Chiang Mai (Thailand) when the crew initiated an emergency descent, the passenger oxygen masks were released, due to the loss of cabin pressure. The aircraft diverted to Chiang Mai for a safe landing about 25 minutes later. Two passengers were treated for dizziness after landing.

Incident: Thai Lion B739 near Chiang Mai on Apr 10th 2016, loss of cabin pressure

**hazz** · 12-04-2016, 08:56 AM

I know a chap who used to work for malaysian airlines who got a company award for managing to carry out an emergency decent before the masks were deployed, under rather similar circumstances. . he sure if it was an award for not spooking the customers as much as they could have been or it was for the saving in not having to replace the oxygen generators.

**klong toey** · 13-04-2016, 06:08 PM

Anyone found a wheel in their back garden.

Incident: Orient Thai B733 at Nanning on Apr 11th 2016, dropped nose wheel.

An Orient Thai Airlines Boeing 737-300, registration HS-BRI performing flight OX-616 from Phuket (Thailand) to Nanning (China), completed what appeared to be an uneventful flight.

A post flight examination however revealed the left hand nose wheel was missing from the aircraft due to a fractured axle.

The missing wheel has not yet been located.

Incident: Orient Thai B733 at Nanning on Apr 11th 2016, dropped nose wheel

**harrybarracuda** · 13-04-2016, 06:36 PM

I wouldn't fly that fucking deathtrap of an airline if you paid me.

**BobR** · 14-04-2016, 12:15 PM

Originally Posted by klong toey

The missing wheel has not yet been located.

Probably lost last at some other airport and just noticed. Orient Thai boards from side stairs so they don't do push backs, where it would have to be noticed. Like Harry, I would not think of flying that airline.

**harrybarracuda** · 24-04-2016, 05:28 PM

More Screamliner news......

FAA Orders ‘Urgent’ 787 Repair After Engine Fails at 20,000 Feet

April 22, 2016 — 9:27 PM AST

Airlines flying Boeing Co.’s 787 Dreamliner jets with the latest General Electric Co. engines were ordered to repair them, or swap out at least one with an older model, in an urgent safety directive issued after an in-flight failure.

A GEnx-1B PIP2, part of a family of engines plagued by issues related to icing, suffered “substantial damage” in the Jan. 29 incident, when ice on the fan blades broke loose, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said in an order published Friday in the Federal Register.

“The potential for common cause failure of both engines in flight is an urgent safety issue,” the FAA said in its order.

The GEnx, a high-efficiency engine developed for wide-body aircraft, has faced earlier issues with icing. In 2013, the FAA ordered airlines to avoid flying 787 and 747-8 planes equipped with the GE engines near thunderstorms in high-altitude cruise flight. Even in those sub-freezing temperatures, moisture from the storms could enter the engines and form dangerous ice, the FAA said.

The latest issue is unrelated to the 2013 situation. The incident occurred at 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) altitude, which was lower than previous icing issues encountered by the engine model.

Jet engines are critical to GE as the company sheds the bulk of its finance arm to focus on industrial manufacturing. GE Aviation, its largest division, generated sales of $24.7 billion in 2015, or about 21 percent of the company’s total revenue.

Airlines operating 787s with GE engines have 150 days to make sure that they have made repairs or have installed at least one older version of the GEnx engine on each plane so that they won’t risk losing power in both, the FAA said. The older GEnx model isn’t as susceptible to damage from icing.

Airlines must also instruct pilots within seven days how to prevent engine icing while flying above 12,500 feet. When pilots suspect ice may be forming, they have to momentarily add power to each engine once every five minutes, the FAA said.

“We see it as an operational issue and we want to correct it,” Rick Kennedy, a company spokesman, said in an interview.

The FAA order applied to 43 planes flown by U.S. carriers. While the FAA’s order applies only to U.S. operators, other nations typically follow the FAA’s lead on safety issues.

There are 176 aircraft operated by 29 airlines around the world that may be susceptible, according to the FAA. Kennedy said GE plans to address the issue by September. Engines in production also are being altered.

Engines can be fixed by shaving off a small amount of metal from the case surrounding the fan, giving the blades more clearance to prevent the rubbing that caused the damage in January, Kennedy said. The repair can be completed without removing the engine from the plane, he said.

GE and Boeing have been investigating the issue and are working with FAA to resolve it, Boeing spokesman Doug Alder said in an e-mailed statement. GE’s recommended actions were given to airlines on April 1, Alder said.

“Work mandated by the AD is already well under way with more than 40 engines complete,” he said, referring to the FAA’s airworthiness directive.

United Airlines is the largest U.S. operator of the 787, with 28 of the carbon-fiber jets delivered to date, according to Boeing’s website. United hasn’t had a problem with its 787s and is “immediately complying with all FAA and manufacturer directives,” spokesman Charles Hobart said in an e-mail.

American Airlines has taken delivery of 15 of the planes. Dozens of carriers around the world have taken delivery as well.

The GEnx, developed from the earlier GE90 turbofan engine, is one of the marquee products for GE Aviation. The company also makes power plants for narrow-body aircraft through its CFM International joint venture with Safran SA.

After a troubled entry marred by supply chain issues and battery fires that grounded the global fleet, the 787 Dreamliner has gained a reputation as a steady performer. Boeing officials have touted dispatch reliability that is now about 99 percent of flights, second-only to the 777 among long-range jets.

FAA Orders ?Urgent? 787 Repair After Engine Fails at 20,000 Feet - Bloomberg

**bindog** · 25-04-2016, 10:19 AM

^ I recall that the Japanese airline/s flying the 787 have been / were unable to fly it to Australia during the thunderstorm season due to these types of concerns. There are other airlines flying the type to/from Oz, so the Japanese issue sounds like it may be engine-type related.

I avoid the 787 due to the way most airlines have configured their economy seating in them, but these engine issues don't instil confidence in the plastic fantastic do they?

Lufthansa is having trouble with the first A320 NEO due to engine issues as well. I think they may also be GE.

**Troy** · 25-04-2016, 10:51 AM

A320 neo is powered by Pratt & Whitney engines. Having problems restarting after shutdown.

**bindog** · 25-04-2016, 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by Troy

A320 neo is powered by Pratt & Whitney engines. Having problems restarting after shutdown.

I believe you without even Googling it - the guy driving Thunderbird 1 (?) has got to know more than I do about aircraft.

**harrybarracuda** · 25-04-2016, 04:42 PM

Originally Posted by Troy

A320 neo is powered by Pratt & Whitney engines. Having problems restarting after shutdown.

I used to have that problem with a 1969 Vauxhall Viva.

**harrybarracuda** · 28-04-2016, 05:00 PM

Now that is what I call a disgruntled employee!

**Hans Mann** · 09-06-2016, 05:23 AM

Russia on Wednesday presented a new medium-range passenger plane which state media said was superior to its Western-made counterparts in many respects and would be snapped up by both Russian and foreign carriers.

In a glitzy ceremony at a factory in Siberia attended by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Irkut Corporation (IRKT.MM) rolled out its new MC-21 passenger plane which is still undergoing testing but is due to enter serial production next year. The plane is sometimes also known as MS-21.

Medvedev hailed the new twin-engine short and medium-range aircraft as "cool," saying it was important that Russia remained in what he called the top league of aircraft makers despite the high costs involved.

Squeezed by Western sanctions over its role in the Ukraine crisis, the Russian government is trying to rejuvenate domestic industrial production to make the country less dependant on foreign firms.

"I only want to say that I am absolutely certain that the airliner will be the pride of Russian civil aviation, and that our citizens and foreign people will take pleasure in flights on MC-21," said Medvedev.

The plane will be built in two variants, the MC-21-300 which will have 160-211 seats, and the MC-21-200 which will have 130-165 seats......

Russia unveils new passenger plane it says will rival Boeing, Airbus | Reuters

**sabang** · 09-06-2016, 10:38 AM

Well good- carve up the duopoly. That's what free enterprise & competition is for, and it benefits the consumer.

**VocalNeal** · 09-06-2016, 10:44 AM

Russia/USSR has a long history in aviation. Some very clever people there.

**Cold Pizza** · 09-06-2016, 10:51 AM

^ and ^^. Yup.

Competition is good and yeah, those Russkies have done a lot up in the air and space.

**harrybarracuda** · 09-06-2016, 11:26 AM

They've been awfully quiet since that Sukhoi was flown into a mountain.

Plus they've probably nicked all the technology from the manufacturers, like they did when they made Concordski... and look how that turned out.

Won't see me flying on the airborne Ladas

**Cold Pizza** · 09-06-2016, 11:37 AM

Da crash

What a great crew that was.....

The Mount Salak Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100) crash occurred on 9 May 2012 when an SSJ-100 aircraft crashed on a demonstration flight operating from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, Jakarta, Indonesia.[1]

The final report, released 18 December 2012, indicated that the accident was caused by crew members ignoring terrain warnings that they had incorrectly attributed to a database problem. The crew had turned off the terrain warning system and were unaware that they were operating in close proximity to mountains. The crew, including the captain, were engaging in conversation with potential customers as the aircraft impacted the ground.[5]

Demonstration tour[edit]

The jet was flying as part of a "Welcome Asia!" demonstration tour when the crash happened. With a different jet, a demo flight had been flown successfully in Kazakhstan, but when the tour moved to Pakistan, potential buyers could see the aircraft only on the runway as no flight took place, reportedly due to a technical glitch. A leak in a 'nozzle in the engine' was found in this plane on the way to Myanmar, according to Alexander Tulyakov, vice-president of the United Aircraft Corporation, and it returned to Moscow. The jet involved in the accident was then flown in as a replacement to continue the tour.[9] It had been scheduled to visit Laos and Vietnam.[10] At the time of the crash, Sukhoi had 42 orders of the type from Indonesia, 170 in total, and was hoping to produce up to 1,000 aircraft.[11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_...rjet_100_crash

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