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?
Aviation
Video of the Day: Taking flight over New York
A paper plane is tossed from a building in New York’s financial district. See how it flies.
The war time diary of a B-17 navigator
This mission-by-mission account of flying and surviving as the navigator on a B-17 in WWII makes for compelling reading, says Ben Sandilands.
So you survived a plane crash — now what?
Stay put. The biggest mistake stranded victims make is trying to swim. Body heat naturally creates a warm envelope of water around your person.
Desperate British Airways chief: what if you worked for free…?
BA chief exec Willie Walsh, in an article in the airline’s staff newspaper, BA News, has suggested that staff should consider working for free. Hard sell. Walsh earns £700,000 a year.
Air France Flight 447: a detailed meteorological analysis
Tim Vasquez tries to isolate the aircraft’s location against high-resolution satellite images from GOES-10 to identify any association with thunderstorm activity.
Mystery and speculation surround Air France flight AF447
Only two things are certain about the loss of Air France flight AF447 last night. It suffered unprecedented massive electrical failures, and a catastrophic loss of control. Everything else is speculation.
40 years ago today: remembering the Airbus’s modest debut
When the Airbus A300 debuted in 1969, 40 years ago today, people were more interested in flying to the moon. Ben Sandilands was there when it first took flight in 1973.
Keeping Russia’s luxury jets in the air
The economic crisis has severely dented the wealth of oil-rich Russia. That means turbulent times for luxury jet entrepreneurs.
Tiger Airways outlines Oz expansion plans
A rapidly expanding Tiger seems as near a certainty as anything can be in the airlines game. It will really gain momentum in July when it begins the Sydney-Melbourne route, says Ben Sandilands.
Jumbo jet “eats” a whole luggage container
Ever wondered where lost baggage goes? Mystery solved: the plane eats them. A Japan Airlines plane at LAX sucked a luggage container into one of its engines, forcing the plane to be grounded.
ICAO audit reveals Australia’s third world skies
The deficiencies found in CASA air safety oversight by the ICAO audit are sufficient for the US Federal Aviation Administration to downgrade Australia’s rating under its International Aviation Safety Assessment program to Level 2, the same as Indonesia.
Jetstar turns cannibal to subdue the Tiger
Jetstar looks set to “accidentally” take on its parent airline Qantas on the Melbourne-Sydney route for the greater goal of keeping Tiger Airways in its cage.
Qantas asks how Emirates’ near crash flew under radar
Sometime early in April, Qantas senior management is believed to have put rockets up News and Fairfax senior management.
We're all going to die Emirates flight 407: centimetres from death
On 20 March, Emirates flight EK 407 from Melbourne and the 275 people on board were seconds and centimetres from a fiery death.
Now open, the Crikey angry flyers’ lounge
Tiger Airways had now said sorry three times in six days to angry customers and the RSL.
The low-flying plane that had New Yorkers clutching their chests
A jumbo jet being chased by a F-16 fighter jets buzzed Lower Manhattan, frightening New Yorkers. But it wasn’t terrorists behind it — but Obama.
Hotel made out of old Boeing 727
Hotel Costa Verde, Costa Rica used to be just a lodge until they added a fully outfitted, two bedroom suite made from a refurbished 1965 Boeing 727 airframe.
Banned in Europe, Garuda still calls Australia home
Ongoing inquiries by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau make it clear that Garuda remained capable of being a menace to air safety in this country until at least 17 December last year, writes Ben Sandilands.
Justice fails in Indonesia
The most guilty party in the March 2007 crash of a Garuda 737 at Yogyakarta which killed 5 Australians escaped punishment in Indonesia today. That party was the airline, Garuda.
Qantas has confessed, now Singpaore and Emirates face ACCC
Emirates and Singapore Airlines have lost a Federal Court bid to prevent their pursuit by the ACCC for fixing fuel and security surcharges, writes Ben Sandilands.
Poisoning cyberspace with Arab hate mail
A fresh coat of hatred has been poured over a hoary old internet fakement about ignorant Arab pilots and a brand new Airbus they destroyed on the ground in France, writes Ben Sandilands.
Planes flying blind at regional airports
Australia has tolerated, at airline insistence, the criminally insane mixing of scheduled passenger aircraft and smaller objects, writes Ben Sandilands.
Qantas row: rude mechanics vs goons
A union not involved in the Qantas baggage dispute has blown the whistle on dangerous practices by the management staff that entered the tarmac in efforts to keep the airline running, writes Ben Sandilands.
Qantas throws a match into bonfire of the airlines
The QF+BA “merger of equals” discussion, which sources credit to former Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon, is to consolidation what the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand was to world peace in 1914, writes Ben Sandilands.
