Sea Plane Flight Is Medicine for Modern Air Travel

Capt. Grant Tamminga, 42, a sea plane pilot for Vancouver's Harbour Air, probably does not make the kind of money other airline captains make, nor does he stride through the airport on his way to work while travelers sneak surreptitious looks, imagining his glamorous life. Many are the times, though, that a jetliner pilot traveling as Grant's passenger will admit to jealousy.

Bike Tour of Calgary Airport, a Memorable First

The bike path approach to Bergamo's Orio de Serio Airport

I've written before about airports that are dear to me because I can get to them by bike. There were some notable omissions from that post; forgive me I didn't know about Calgary International Airport. Now I do and for that, I can thank Sid Barber, a reader of my blog who upon learning that I would be in Calgary for interviews and a tour of the scrappy upstart, WestJet, invited me to visit his airline, Canadian North. 

Using Pilots As Political Pawns Could Trigger a Domino Effect

Capt. Murat Akpinar

The kidnapping on Friday morning of two Turkish airline pilots in Lebanon is upsetting on a number of levels, beyond the obvious tragedy of their capture in the first place. Captain Murat Akpinar and first officer Murat Agca were taken at gunpoint from the van in which the entire eight person flight crew was being transported from Rafiq Harari International Airport to the crew hotel. 

Just the pilots were taken - none of the four cabin attendants -and early reports do not say whether there was security in the van at the time.  

Passenger Defiance of FAA Rules Boon to Accident Investigators

On July 22, as Southwest Flight 345 descended through 400 feet on approach to New York's LaGuardia Airport with an 11 knot tailwind, the captain took the controls from first officer. They were flying onto a runway with headwind of 11 knots, the crew reported.  Then, for some reason, the captain put the plane down, nose gear first, sending the gear strut upward into the electronics and equipment bay of the Boeing 737-700 and making a very dramatic screeching skid down Runway 4.

These details are among those released by the National Transportation Safety Board today, as the investigation into the cause of the accident continues. If you've noted that more than two weeks has passed since the accident and these details are just coming out, credit that to some extent to the fuss kicked up by the Air Line Pilots Association which as been "engaged in discussions with the NTSB leadership and senior staff" according to a letter sent by Lee Moak, the union boss to members over the weekend.

Safe, Until You Step Off the Plane

SUPER SHUTTLE has replied, read the update here.  

I'm no different from any other gal, on Friday I like to kick back and think about relaxing. As the weekend approaches, I try to blog about the fun stuff, aviation books, aviation music, aviation movies. Today, though, I'm ticked off so fasten your seat belts because the rant is about to begin.

In the newspaper world stories are measured in column inches. Well, column miles have been written about the crash landing of Asiana 214, a dramatic accident to be sure, but one in which a surprisingly large number of passengers survived in spite of the plane losing its tail and spinning up on one wing before screeching to a halt. Not long after that, Southwest 345 made its own spectacular nose first landing in New York.