FLYING LESSONS HAS MOVED
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View ArticleCome Fly With Me
Recently I asked readers, what I should do to celebrate when Flying Lessons achieves one million page views. And while many people suggested having a cocktail or going flying (not at the same time of...
View ArticleBrussels Attack Should Prompt New Look at Airport Population
Damage at the airport in Brussels Via Twitter @infos140A bomb in the departure area of Brussels Airport that killed 11 people this morning is already prompting discussion about how to better secure...
View ArticleMore Than Meets The Eye in Kenya Plane Spotter Arrests
Men from Manchester held by Kenya photo courtesy of The StarThere's something very strange about the news out of Nairobi in which four British men were arrested after taking photos of airplanes at the...
View ArticleUnited Makes Peace by Reinstating Fired Crew, Qatar Not So Much
Two stories with big consequences for the participants and lessons for the rest of us were in the news this week. After years of fighting their firing for expressing concern about the security of their...
View ArticleQuest For More From CNN From MH-370
Full disclosure: The Crash Detectives, my own book on the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370, will be published by Penguin in September. This may have colored my perception of Richard...
View ArticleNick Tramontano; An Aviator's Legacy of Kindness
Consider this quote from Irish aviation executive Willie Walsh talking about the boss of a competing airline, Virgin's Richard Branson. "I don't like him, I don't admire him, I don't buy his bullshit."...
View ArticleFAA Funding Collides With ATC Overhaul and Airplane Fire Threats
The public has sporadic interest in air travel news; seat size and ticket prices get attention, as do stories of badly-behaving flight attendants. But two issues being debated in Washington deserve...
View ArticleNote to Allegiant: Emergency Landings Are Not the Problem
Recently a friend asked me what airlines were the safest to fly. I get asked that question all the time. I find the question challenging in part because of the chasm between risk and perceived risk....
View ArticleThird World Bathrooms in OneWorld Terminal
Warning to readers: Photos of toilets appear in this post.Travelers at the airport hail from many countries and speak many languages but women arriving on oneworld flights into New York’s John F....
View ArticleAviation Year in Review Has a Star Wars Sci-Fi Feel
Harrison Ford and cast Disney handout photo Star Wars dominated the end-of-the-year entertainment news. Harrison Ford, the ageless superstar most associated with the ageless film franchise also arrives...
View ArticleWWJD? If Jesus Had Been a Pilot
A patient being carried All photos courtesy Samaritan Aviation.Mark Palm thinks he knows what Jesus might do if he were a pilot. He might climb into the left seat of a Cessna 206 Amphibian and fly the...
View ArticleHappy Birthday from Syria and Other Places in a Troubled World
One of my Facebook messages todayNot long after my eyes opened this morning I enjoyed reading some of the early birthday greetings posted on my Facebook page. (Don't judge me.) It is heartwarming to be...
View ArticleNice Landing or Scary Takeoff A350 Enters Service With Both
A350 arrives in Brazil photo courtesy TAMWhat a difference a week makes. Early this morning, TAM Airlines happily welcomed its first Airbus A350 when it touched down uneventfully in Brazil after a...
View ArticleMerry Christmas for U.S. Airlines With Record Profits in 2015
US Carrier profitability takes offIt will be a merry end of the year for North American airlines which will earn nearly $20 billion in profits in 2015, according to numbers forecast today by the...
View ArticleScience Shows Metrojet Crash Triggered by a Bomb
The blast that took down a Russian Airbus A320 over the Sinai last month, had to be triggered by a bomb, an experienced explosives expert said today. "If the information about the plane being at 31,000...
View ArticlePrudence and Probable Cause Not the Same Thing in Metrojet Crash
UK Prime Minister Cameron Government photoAll over the news today is the story of the UK and Irish governments canceling flights out of Sharm el Sheikh. British Prime Minister David Cameron told...
View ArticleEyebrows Ascend as Airline Execs Demonstrate Their Plonker-ism
It never ceases to amaze me how often senior airline bosses will prattle on regardless of what they know about the subject. The latest you've-got-to-be-kidding remarks come from Alexander Smirnov, the...
View ArticleDon’t Be Spooked if 787 Battery Box is a Smoky Cauldron
Note: This post has been updated with new information from TUI Arkefly.Two years ago, episodes of smoking and sputtering lithium ion batteries on two Boeing Dreamliners were so horrifying the entire...
View ArticlePassion but Few Tears in Amsterdam for Airliners That Fly into the Past
Too often air travel is an antiseptic experience for the passenger as we sit in tile-floored, waiting rooms, our heads down and our minds in cyberspace. It is so rare and so thrilling to actually smell...
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