We respect Nick Bilton and his writing. We even bought and read his book. His writing on the issues of the ban on portable electronics on airplanes have always made sense to us…till now. We believe his frustration, frustration we share, by the way, at the Federal Aviation Authority is warranted. But the tone seems…
The Federal Aviation Administration said it would seek more detailed inspections for cracks on the tops of Boeing 737-300, 400, and 500 series aircraft. This is a direct result of a hole that tore open in a Southwest Airlines jet back in 2009. They will be expanding rules to include new inspection methods with scanning…
Clive Irving is an expert on Boeing. He wrote a 1993 book on the history of the 747. The 737 is the bestselling commercial airliner. Nearly 10,000 have been produced over 40 years. Irving says there are serious issues with the fuselage design of the 737. Specifically, he says that the skin is too thin.…
The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport is the 22nd busiest in the United States- and it’s about to get busier. On Monday, a ground-breaking ceremony was heldat the airport, marking the beginning of a $791 million runway expansion project. A princely sum, indeed, but the project which will lengthen an existing secondary runway from 5,276 to…
Last week, Southwest Airlines apologized to the family of a terminally ill boy after they would not allow him use of a specially made car seat that allows him to sit comfortably. They have advised they are working with the family and hope to learn from the experience to improve their practices. The concern appeared…
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="250" caption="Image via CrunchBase"][/caption] Several generations ago, a heretofore unimportant Senator arose brandishing a list which he claimed contained the names of 207 known Communists who had infiltrated the State Department. Never mind that Senator McCarthy had no such list, that the number changed from day to day. He knew that State…
The FAA announced it intends to add more air traffic controllers to the midnight shift at 27 airports that are currently staffed by a lone controller. This follows the suspension of controllers at Washington National, Reno, Lubbock, and Seattle for falling asleep on the job. The situation prompted Henry Krakowski, who oversaw the ATC system, to resign over the situation.
On Friday, a Southwest Airlines flight lost cabin pressure after the fuselage ruptured. This is not the first time that this has happened, of course. There was an unrelated incident last year where a Southwest plane made an emergency landing after decompression, and Southwest has even grounded some of its fleet before.
Gadling reports that the shifting in the Earth’s magnetic north pole has forced Tampa Airport to close one of its runways to repaint its designation. Runway 18R/36L will be redesignated 19R/1L when it reopens on Thursday. The other runways will change over later this month. The magnetic north pole has been shifting toward Russia at a rate of forty miles per year for the past decade.
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The Briefing is the first to feature a guest, Benet Wilson, who covers Business Aviation for Aviation Week. We don’t usually cover Business Aviation at Flight Wisdom, as it isn’t our area of expertise, but it is Benet’s business. Benet also joined our host for the first annual Aviation Geek Gilbert and Sullivan Day back in January, which we’re hoping to repeat next year. Pinafore, anyone?
Image by dyobmit via Flickr The FAA admitted last week that airlines whose flight attendants had been telling passengers to keep their items out of the seatback pocket were ‘following their guidance’. However, several carriers have never heard of this regulation and have no plans to enforce it. Even the FAA spokesman did not initially.…
[caption id="attachment_1329" align="alignnone" width="384" caption="Hole in Southwest 2294 - 7/13/09 (AP Photo/The Charleston Gazette, Chris Dorst) "][/caption] We’ve had mixed feelings in the past about reporting on airline incidents. We were tempted to take the high road and say nothing until the NTSB issued a report, which is months later. We decided that since it…