The notion of a Very Fast Train for the Melbourne-Sydney corridor has been shot down by new plans from Airbus to fly Very Large Planes between the two cities, because the entire cost, and risk, is funded by the privately owned airlines and airports.
Articles by Ben Sandilands 
Safety screwed over wrong washer
The aircraft engineers union is pursuing claims that Qantas avoided a detailed safety investigation of a 747 last year, which could have caused some of its engines to fall off in flight.
Qantas 767 aborts 700 feet above tarmac and wheels up
Last week, just 700 feet from landing, Qantas pilots were forced to abort a landing when it was realised that the wheels had not been lowered. It was a close call for a Qantas and the Boeing 767 is to be investigated,.
Qantas flies underwater for the first quarter
Qantas group operational statistics for September confirm that the airline has been flying at a loss for the first quarter of this financial year — just how deep the total group loss will be depends largely on the success of its sales of “loyalty” frequent flyer points.
Memo CASA chief: an uncritical media is not your friend
The underlying managerial culture of modern enterprises is to push productivity to within a millimetre of breaking the people or the equipment, and to lift output year in year out. Unfortunately in the airline game, that can kill hundreds of people at once.
Crikey Clarifier: The JSF project … the J is for ‘joke’
The JSF or Joint Strike Fighter is a massively hyped, much-delayed defence project by which a single type of jet will supposedly defend the US and its allies from baddies. Think of a super duper X-box with wings. It has got everything. Or has it? asks Ben Sandilands.
The earth-asteroid collision that didn’t make headlines
On October 8, a mini-asteroid screamed into the upper atmosphere over the Indonesia and exploded with the force equivalent to two to three times that of the atom bombs that incinerated Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Singapore Airlines tries to get a grip
Singapore Airlines is claiming to be acting for everyone, not just itself, by encouraging travellers to buy cheap fares to European cities.
Virgin’s wheel of fire at the hub of wider problems
Virgin Blue lawyers are crawling over the words of aircraft engineers union federal secretary Steve Purvinas like ants over road kill this morning, but what is really going on?
Chilling out on Jetstar: cash grab or coincidence?
Flying Jetstar? Pack a pashima, because if one Crikey reader’s complaint is correct, they may try and freeze the loose change out of your pockets.
Harsh US airline penalties highlight lack of them here
Aviation safety regulation in this country is incompetent and ethically corrupt, and significant ministerial oversight hasn’t existed for at least 50 years.
Ship trails stop rainfall in its tracks
Any doubts about industrial activity changing the atmosphere ought to be answered by this image, seen by some researchers as answering one of the many puzzles about the causes of anthropogenic global warming.
Questions by the plane load for Qantas AGM
The most urgent question for shareholders at next week’s Qantas AGM in Perth isn’t the lavish reward to former CEO Geoff Dixon, but whether the group’s toxic management culture will destroy his replacement Alan Joyce and cripple the carrier.
The tragedy of Boeing’s demise
In many respects, Boeing is a metaphor for failed corporations, and the wider failings of modern US business managements to engage with the realities of design and production.
In tourism, even libel can be a world away
Libel tourism has been catapulted into the headlines after aviation writer Joe Sharkey was served a writ for defamatory statements he says he didn’t make in Brazil after surviving a mid-air collision in 2006.
Pilots challenge Air France with their AF 447 crash ‘truth’
Two Air France pilots have challenged Airbus and the French air crash investigators to face up to critical factors in the June 1 crash of flight AF447 in the mid-Atlantic, which killed all 228 people on board.
Jetstar to take on Qantas (etc) as air wars hot up
Qantas is pulling out all stops to fend off an aggresive Tiger, as Jetstar begins to shadow Qantas’s Cityflyer jets on the hotly contested Melbourne-Sydney route.
Australia isn’t ready for a tsunami
The killer tsunami in Samoa this morning points to the missing link in Australia’s recently completed warning system. We know how to detect tsunamis — we just can’t warn people in time yet, says Ben Sandilands.
Australia isn’t ready for a tsunami
The killer tsunami in Samoa this morning points to the missing link in Australia’s recently completed warning system. We know how to detect tsunamis — we just can’t warn people in time yet.
Things looking so bad for Qantas they might be good
Today’s traffic results are a mixed blessing for Qantas. Terrible news regarding international passengers, but overall, the group’s passenger numbers rose 6% in August compared to August 2008, clearly lifted by growth by Jetstar.
Dust storm 2: a health hazard beyond comparison
Particulate pollution has soared to levels never seen in Australia in recent hours as the red dust storm intensifies over much of the top three quarters of NSW.
Dust storm 1: chaos, mud, lightning. Oh my!
It no longer looks as blood red as at dawn. No Dorothy, no Tin Man, no wicked Witch, so far. But the dust storms sweeping NSW have brought red snow!
Qantas’ annual fairytale lands
The Qantas 2009 annual report out this morning is served up with side dishes of amnesia and hope. And a big plan for restoring their reputation. Will it work?
The shape of jets to come, maybe
Airbus have released some teasers overnight about the future of aviation. Are these the shapes of jets to come or just a whimsy on the part of Airbus?
Virgin minds its Vs and Qs over its future
Virgin Blue revealed yesterday that the day is coming when all of its airlines — Blue, Pacific Blue and V Australia — will be united under one brand. But why let this “secret” out? Perhaps Virgin are hoping to send Qantas flying into a panic.
