In the aftermath of the most recent tragedy, Air France Flight 447, and a year that included a crash in Buffalo and a miraculous crash-landing on the Hudson, we may start to think that 2009 is an unlucky year for air travel, or that it is somehow unsafe. Those of you who are nervous, let’s…
Image via Wikipedia Delta was forced to cancel the launch of two new routes to Africa today. The airline was set to operate its inaugural flight between Atlanta and Nairobi, Kenya via Dakar, Senegal today, but cancelled after federal security officials denied approval. It was also denied for their flight to Monrovia, Liberia, set to…
The New York Times reports that the Brazillian Minister of Defense has issued a statement that “without a doubt” the wreckage spotted by Brazillian military planes is indeed that of the missing Air France A330-200. The debris included an “an orange life vest, an aircraft seat, a drum, kerosene and oil,†according to an earlier…
Here is Part Two of our Multi-Part Series on the History of Aviation in Ithaca, NY. Part I can be found here. We’ll see how it is received. It is exciting for us to use material we gathered years ago, when we used to spend a lot of time in Ithaca. Some of the material…
View Larger Map Last month, we reported on rumors that Ithaca-Tompkins Regional Airport was going to lose its regional service to Newark on Continental Connection.The story prompted us to break out some old material about Ithaca’s aviation history. In good news, Continental announced last week that it would retain the service. The airline had cited…
Image by puregin via Flickr We spun off Infrequent Flier to provide basic travel tips and advice, allowing Flight Wisdom to be, as its tagline says, “News, Thoughts, and Advice on Air Travel and the Travel Experience.” Today, we’re testing out a new theme at Infrequent Flier. We like to mix things up every so…
Image by randomcuriosity via Flickr Why bother with Travel Agents? That is the big question. We recall the experience, from long ago, of going to the travel agency. Sitting at a desk, paper tickets were brought out, a check given, and the transaction was complete. Nowadays, we have electronic ticketing, a myriad of travel agency…
Image by Getty Images via Daylife The reason why we are often hesitant to comment on investigations in progress is that the information changes from day to day. The Brazilian air force has said that the debris they initially reported as being from missing Air France Flight 447 is in fact…not. It has been verified…
Image via Wikipedia Yesterday, the Brazilian navy discovered the bodies of two passengers from the Air France flight, and three additional bodies today, as well as a number of items associated with the plane, including a ticket for the flight. Items recovered include sections of wing, seats, and luggage. The Brazilian officials said their first…
The search for the wreckage of Air France 447 continues. Search teams found a large section of the plane’s tail section and additional large amounts of wreckage. The Brazilian military doesn’t have the means of locating debris underwater, however. “Brazilian military officials reduced the number of recovered bodies from the 17 announced Sunday, saying there…
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Delta Air Lines, in a memo issued to its employees and released as a press release on their site, announced it would be making additional cuts due to the current global environment and oil prices once again rising. Delta will initiate the following cuts, reducing international capacity from 15%,…
Image by Ivan Makarov via Flickr We’ve been on a trip out to Northern California the last few days, which you may have noticed if you follow our Twitter account. We’ll have more on some new observations of JetBlue later. We have another trip cross-country planned for August, and we’re going to try to take…
New service is proudly announced, but cancellations are usually not. One day, we discover that a flight we recall is no longer on the books. Of late, many flights are being cancelled, airlines are slashing capacity. Air Canada launched its Portland, Oregon to Calgary, Alberta service yesterday. The service, operated by 50-seater CRJs, operates once…
Image by matt.hintsa via Flickr JetBlue will be welcoming the inaugural flight from New York to LAX in a few short hours. At 10:45AM Pacific, at Terminal 6, Gate 69B at LAX. LAX is JetBlue’s 56th destination, and will be served twice daily from both New York and Boston. JetBlue also served Long Beach and…
Image by Getty Images via Daylife Continental Flight 61 was en route from Brussels, Belgium to Newark Liberty Airport landed safely at 11:49AM local time today, after the 61-year old pilot died at the controls, apparently of natural causes. The flight included a relief pilot, who, with the co-pilot, landed the plane. To avoid panic,…
Image by caribb via Flickr (Updated 06/19 with corrections courtesy of Mr. Kamens) The issue of unaccompanied minors has come into the news lately, courtesy of Jonathan Kamens. Kamens put his daughter Miriam on a flight to Cleveland out of Boston on Sunday to visit her grandparents. He paid the unaccompanied minor fee. The fact…
Image via Wikipedia The pilot of Continental Flight 61 has been identified at Craig Lenell by several news outlets. Lenell, age 60, lived on a farm outside Houston with his wife and more than 32 years of flying experience. A third pilot is required onboard all flights in excess of eight hours, and was certainly…
Here is a brief photo notation of our Multi-Part Series on the History of Aviation in Ithaca, NY. Part I can be found here, Part II here. After we finished that last entry, we did a google search for Robinson Airlines and discovered some interesting photos online. The images appear on the following site, assembled…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DagVklB4VHQ For those of you starting to feel concerned about the possibility of upcoming air travel, we have already addressed that issue. While searching for something appropriate for that post, we came upon the following Youtube clip of the late comedian George Carlin on airlines. Whatever you can say about him, amidst the occasional bit…
Image via Wikipedia Boeing is expected to conduct the maiden flight of the 787 Dreamliner this month. The plane has been plagued by delays. When the A380 was plagued by wiring problems, we said that Boeing had to make sure that it got the Dreamliner out on time to ensure the lead it got was…
Image by Jennifer Pickens via Flickr “Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!” In one of our earlier posts, we commented on the issues of customer service. Three years later, there are much to revisit. Why it is marketing departments…
Earlier, we were commenting on the lack of pride in customer service as a part of business, specifically referencing United Airlines, among others, and discovered this, a 1989 United commercial on the very same subject. It so perfectly illustrated some of our thoughts. We wonder if someone at United should see it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ6Z8kcoi-E
For those of you interested, an artist in Vancouver has created animations showing the flight paths of Twitter users, using the search term “Just Landed in…” and the home location of the Twitter user, creating the first map of the migration patterns of the traveling Twitterer. Certainly fun. 36 Hours of Twitter Migration [vimeo 4587178]…
Air France will pay about $24,500 in initial compensation to the families of each victim of the crash of Air France Flight 447 this month and is providing them with counseling. So far, salvage operations have found around fifty bodies and dozens of pieces of debris, indicating they have pinned down the likely area where…
Image by Getty Images via Daylife The recent crash of Air France 447 has created many questions about communications systems on aircraft. One of them being why GPS is not used to keep track of aircraft. The latest discussion involves the design and capabilities of the flight data recorders, also known as the black box(actually…