JFK Junior to blame for crash?

An audio recording of a conversation between an airport intern and a Federal Administration Dispatcher, which may provide clues as to the reason why the plane carrying JFK Junior and two others crashed, has been released.

Transcripts of the conversation between Adam Budd (student employed at Martha’s Vineyard Airport), and the Automated Flight Service Station in Bridgeport was publicly announced and reported four days after the July 1999 crash.

In a quiet tone, Budd is asking if the FAA can locate Kennedy’s plane.

"Well, who are you?" an unidentified FAA dispatcher asked.

"I'm with airport operations," Budd said not stating which airport he was calling from.

He then said: "Actually, Kennedy Jr.'s on board. He's uh, they want to know, uh, where he is."

Budd retreated when information he wanted wasn’t given

"OK, well, if it's too much trouble, it's ... I'll just have 'em wait. ... It's not a big deal," he said, according to the 1999 transcript.

This call was recorded four hours before a search and rescue mission was put together. Kennedy, his sister-in-law and his wife were all killed when the Piper Saratoga crashed seven miles away from his home.

The blame was pushed onto pilot error saying Kennedy wasn’t experienced enough for nighttime flying and became disorientated.

Ryanair flying high

Low budget airline Ryanair have seen profits up 23% on last year. The no frills airline also saw passenger numbers up by 19% with over 10 million people flying with the airline.

This is particularly surprising considering the newly introduced fare increases.

Near miss in Japan

The late takeoff of a Japanese Jet almost caused a fatal disaster at Taoyuan International Airport when it could have collided with a China Airlines 747.

The Japan Asia Airways jet was preparing for takeoff whilst at the same time the 747 was preparing to land on the same runway.

The engine of the JAA shut off which resulted in a delayed takeoff which the China Airlines jet wasn’t notified of straight away and hence began its descent onto the runway.

It wasn’t until the Boeing was approximately 200 metres away from the JAA jet that the control tower notified them of the delay in takeoff. The landing gear was pulled up and an almost certain fatal accident was averted.

Lack of pilot experience on the behalf of JAA’s pilot and the slow response from the control tower to notify the 747 of the change in circumstances were to blame for this incident.

Fire!

A Quantas 747 with 274 passengers on board had to divert back to Australia when flames were seen flowing from one of the engines.

The plane on its way to Los Angeles had its engine shut down immediately and an airline spokesman later said that nobody onboard had been in any danger.

Problems started ten minutes after take off where flames were seen to be coming from the engine by local residents. An hour or so later the aircraft landed safely back at Sydney airport.

A replacement flight had been reorganised to depart late Saturday, alternatively passengers were offered other flights.

Crazy4Planes Desktop Wallpaper

I shall, from time to time post a Desktop Wallpaper for use on your PC, Mac or Laptop, please feel free to download, enjoy and share.

PC users: Right-click the image for your monitors resolution and choose 'Set as Background'.

Mac users: Click and hold down on mouse, select 'copy' then go to the Apple Menu, select Control Panels - Appearance - Desktop, paste and select.

1024 x 768

800 x 600

Enjoy!

Double Levy No Legal Basis?

Although a doubling of passenger duty costs have been introduced today, a legal expert has insisted that passengers are entitled to refuse to pay the extra amount.

Duty for a short-haul flight rises from £5 to £10 while long-haul flight duty goes up from £20 to £40.

Many disgruntled passengers are expected to challenge the extra costs and a flight industry insider has described the scenario as a potential nightmare.

Chancellor Gordon Brown has been heavily criticised for this new levy, which has been seen as a retrospective tax.

And, although it is the airlines who are legally required to pay the tax, Virgin, Ryanair and Easyjet will be passing the extra cost onto their customers. Only British Airways have insisted that they will absorb the cost.

A leading commercial barrister commissioned by the Conservatives to analyse the new tax, said that it had no legal basis because the Chancellor had not passed it through the House of Commons. He said that the tax would not be legal before it has been approved in the Finance Bill, which is not expected until April.

Airlines insist that the small print allows them to pass increases in tax on to passengers, but Mr Jack said that small print does not legally apply if the tickets were bought before December 7, the date of Mr Brown’s announcement.

Tour operator First Choice was among the first to say it would challenge the Air Passenger Duty increase, which it says has cost travel agents about £45m.

Free flights scrapped

Plans for allowing Senior Directors free first class flights to destinations of their choice have been discarded after only a matter of hours since it was announced.

In a meeting involving BA’s Executive Management the somewhat questionable proposal was rejected by Chief Executive Willie Walsh.

Martin Broughton apparently approved the scheme more than a week ago yet a BA spokesman said, “Martin fully supports the decision.”