Ben Sandilands
Editor of Plane Talking @PlaneTalking
Ben Sandilands has reported and analysed the mechanical mobility of humanity since late 1960 - the end of the age of great scheduled ocean liners and coastal steamers and the start of the jet age. He’s worked in newspapers, radio and TV in a wide range of roles as a journalist at home and abroad for 56 years, the last 18 freelance.
The US Federal Aviation Administration audit of airline safety oversight in Australia hasn't gone smoothly, and could see this country downgraded to the same untrustworthy category as parts of the third world.
Why is Jetstar untouchable when it breaks the law? It failed to notify the ATSB of a reportable air safety incident, yet it's escaped prosecution. Where is the integrity and consistency of the ATSB?
Another set of nails have been driven into the coffin of class distinctions and curtain partitioned cabins in short haul air travel, with Air New Zealand to offer single cabin services across the Tasman, writes Ben Sandilands.
Ben Sandilands looks the changes in media-PR relationship through the eyes of a reporter who spent 49 years on shipping, aviation and other rounds: the PR person is increasingly the reporter.
For a text book case study in how to screw a brand into oblivion, British Airways in Australia is irresistible. It has shrunk to triviality thresholds in this country, writes Ben Sandilands.
The neglect of airline safety regulatory enforcement in Australia compared to the US is highlighted by the different treatment recently of safety failures in Jetstar and American Airlines.
Emergency checks are being made worldwide for "suspect components" in the tail of the widely flown latest or NG models of the Boeing 737, but no rush to check the more than 100 Qantas and Virgin Blue jets.
Major airport buyers bought the right to charge customers at the airline, retail and individual level anything they think they can get away with in the medium- to long-term.
A new report on the JSF Joint Strike Fighter project was released in US Congress today, and it is a shocker: the cost has shot up 60-90% per jet, and they are running at least two-and-a-half years late. Time for our own government to admit it's a flop, says Ben Sandilands.
The latest gimmick in computers -- see-through screens -- has actually existed in the aviation industry for years, explains Ben Sandilands. But, impressive as it is, the technology poses some serious safety risks.
