Image from PlaneFinder.net via NYCAviation.com.
Watching airline activity live via social media can have interesting consequences. Last week, I happened to see the #7700 tweet [which are tweets that are auto generated that go out any time an aircraft in coverage squawks 7700] from Planefinder.net as soon as it was posted and went to check out what was happening. Normally when you catch these emergencies, not much happens immediately, and the aircraft either continues on to its destination, or diverts to another airport.
This time I noticed that the aircraft immediately entered a very rapid descent [see an image of normal descent]. In my experience, something like that is usually caused by a loss of cabin pressure, where the pilots level off at 10,000 feet to asses the situation. However, this aircraft passed 10,000 and continued to rapidly descent, which was worrying. Was this a huge emergency, website error or just standard procedure for some issue on the flight?
Flying Qantas First Class – Photo: Mal Muir | AirlineReporter.com
I was beginning my day off the way any premium cabin passenger should; spending time in the lounge prior to my flight. But this wasn’t just any lounge and this wasn’t just any flight. For two and a half years I had dreamed and worked towards this day. I had been earning Qantas points purely for this reason: First Class flight on a Qantas Airbus A380.
Arriving at Melbourne Airport I was dropped off in front of the dedicated First Class check-in area, which can be easily missed if you don’t know where to look. Thankfully my driver did know as the check in was hiding behind a line of trees. I was a little too early to check in for my flight, but was able to sit down in the lobby area (which looks almost identical to the First Class lounge).
The completed A350 XWB MSN001 is welcomed by Airbus employees in Toulouse. Photo from Airbus.
The painting of the first Airbus A350 XWB was completed today in Toulouse, France. The aircraft is sporting the typcial Airbus livery that took about seven days to complete.
The aircraft, MSN001, has also completed flight-test-instrumentation (FTI) verification, engine installation and a subsequent intensive phase of ground vibration tests. Airbus is expecting MSN001 to complete its maiden flight this summer.
Frontier Airlines new livery. Image from Frontier.
Do not worry, the cute animals are not going away! But Frontier has updated their livery to promote their website versus just the silver “Frontier” titles seen previously on the aircraft. The first animal to see the new livery is Mickey the Moose, who was previously on a Q400 and Boeing 737 before being brought out of retirement to be on this Airbus A319.
“Changing our livery provided us an opportunity to promote FlyFrontier.com,” Frontier spokesperson explained to AirlineReporter.com. “We won’t change the rest of our fleet all at once, but when we add aircraft to our fleet or older aircraft need to be painted, we’ll add the FlyFrontier.com to those aircraft as well.”
LOT Polish Airlines started service to New York in 1973 using the Ilyushin IL-62. Check out those paintings. Photo from LOT.
Hopefully the title of this story makes total sense to you already. What the heck does LOT Polish Airlines celebrating 40 years of flying from Warsaw (WAW) to New York (JFK) have to do with James Bond? Oh just wait.
It was a big step for LOT to start their Warsaw to New York flights in 1973 using the Ilyushin IL-62. “Taking into consideration Poland’s political situation at that time, the launching of airline operations to the US in 1973 should be recognized as a breakthrough in Poland’s relations with the West,” said Sebastian Mikosz, President of LOT Polish Airlines. “We are proud of such a long tradition of this flight, being the most popular among our passengers. Thanks to the well timed and plentiful connections, our North Atlantic flights also generate a big flow of traffic via our Warsaw hub.”
