(AirToons.com)
• Pardon my French, but we’re &%#$@# going down! Passengers on an Aer Lingus flight became a little concerned after an automatic announcement told them they were about to crash when a mis-translated message was announced. After telling English-speaking passenger that they were about to enter turbulence, it was then explained in French that they would be ditching into the water and they went over emergency procedures. Calm was soon restored after the French passengers became hysterical, nearly surrendering to panic. Whoopsies! [DailyMail]
• Officials in Thailand seized a Georgian-registered IL-76 in Bangkok that had made a stop after leaving North Korean that was loaded with weapons. The weapons shipment violates sanctions placed on North Korea due to difficulties in agreeing on their nuclear weapons development. Early word is that the aircraft was bound for Pakistan, and the aircraft’s registration of 4L-AWA seems to belong to a company in Kazakhstan.
Here it comes! (Photo by Jeremy Lindgren)
• Boeing says it’s going! Though whether reports indicate there may be some issues, Boeing says they plan to move forward with the fir flight of the 787 tomorrow morning. Stay tuned on NYCAviation for Twitter updates, photos and video coverage!
• British Airways’ cabin crew union has announced their intention to strike for 12-days beginning December 22nd. At what is obviously the worst time for such an action, losing 13,000 flight attendants would be a major blow to the airline and passengers over the Christmas holiday. BA says the overwhelming vote is “a huge overreaction to the modest changes we have announced for cabin crew which are intended to help us recover from record financial losses.”
• Colgan Air is saying that the crash of Flight 307 that crashed near Buffalo this past February was partly the fault of the aircraft manufacturer, Bombardier. Citing a lack of cockpit warnings for when the speed is set to below stall and poor warnings on how to set the correct landing speed in icing conditions led Bombardier to show that their aircraft is reliable and certified. [CDC News]
Here is a clip of a rotation test by the 787 taken by Liz Matzelle. What a tease…
12-12-09 Taxi Test #8 – Rotation! from Liz Matzelle on Vimeo.
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