Two years ago today I posted my first blog with no idea where it would lead. Hopefully there will be many more years to go. Thanks again for everyone’s support and sharing your personal stories with aviation!
David
A person checks a body scan image.
Some folks might have no problem having their privacy violated to fly on a plane, but how about a child? Do you know who the TSA agent is viewing those partly-nude images of your child? What if you are not even there with your child?
Recently a 12 year old girl was put through the scanner without her parents consent at Tampa International Airport (the same location where I avoided the scanners). As the girl describes, going into the body scanner happened quickly and she was not aware what the machine was.
The girl was traveling with her friend and her friend’s parents back to her home in Baltimore. The St. Petersburg Times was able to get a phone interview with the 12-year old passenger about her experience:
“Okay, I was coming home to Baltimore, Md., from Siesta Key, Fla., and I was with my friend and her parents and I was going to this airport security check.
I put my bag through, and they pulled me aside and told me to go over here. I thought it was some high-tech scan and I walked right through it and this lady said ‘”Hold on, you can’t just walk through this thing. Put your feet on the yellow footsteps and make a triangle above your head.” I guess it was so they could see my whole body.
I heard a beep and she said, ‘Okay you can leave.’
I heard one of the guards say ‘affirmative on the female,’ and I knew they were talking about me. And that made me worried.
I couldn’t see my friend and her dad, and I was really worried that I was separated from them. I was trying to look happy when I saw them but inside I was really scared.”
I think the parents might be overreacting a bit, they took their daughter to a doctor to have her checked out, but I think there are some important things to consider with this instance. I am more concerned with someone’s child being scanned against their will, since the child does not know what is going on with the body scanners. Heck, most adults don’t know what is going on with the body scanners, but at least they are old enough to be aware of what the body scanners are.
“Our daughter was scared and didn’t understand what was happening,” said Michelle Nemphos, the mother of the girl. “In essence they conducted a strip search on a 12-year-old girl without her parents present to advocate for her.”
Yes, there are little signs showing what the body scanner does, but is that enough? The images it shows are small and passengers do not understand these machines are optional. Even if you think body scanners are a good idea, do you think children should be scanned as well?
Thanks Sam for pointing out this story!
Image: Mirror.co.uk
My Twitter page, where all the action happens!
I know I talk about Twitter on my blog quite a bit. I get a mixed-bag reaction from people about what Twitter is and how it works. I use it a lot and link to quite a few interesting stories and photos that I do not share on my blog or on my Facebook.
For those who haven’t stepped into the world of Twitter or maybe you have, but got confused with all the Twitter talk, let me try to help. If you have absolutely no interest in Twitter or learning about it, go ahead and skip this blog.
So what is Twitter? Well, it depends on who you are and what you use it for. If you have a personal Twitter, you probably are going to use it differently than a business one. I use my Twitter to #1 share interesting stories I find that I might not blog about #2 Let you know real-time what I am doing, if I am doing an aviation-related event #3 Connect with airlines, others who write in aviation, and my readers in a way I cannot do with other mediums. If you use Facebook, Twitter is a lot like your status updates. If you don’t use Facebook, Twitter is like a blog and instant messaging that mated and had kids. If you don’t know what blogs or instant messages are, I don’t think I can help :).
The fun part is, unlike blogs or Facebook status updates, you only have 140 characters to make your point, so long-winded folks need not apply.
If you have tried out Twitter you might quickly get confused with all the @ and #’s you see everywhere. It took me a while to get used to it, but after a little practice, it works. I will just keep this simple as if you are just trying to read my and other people’s Twitter feeds.
THE @ SYMBOL:
This is used before a user name to talk about or to someone. I am @AirlineReporter on Twitter. Let’s say you see me Tweet: “hey @danwebbage, I enjoyed meeting you the other day.” That means I am talking to Dan Webb on his Twitter account. He is able to see any message that someone mentions him in and even though I am talking to him, you can still see the message. Let’s say you found this cool airline story and want to share it with me. You could be like, “@AirlineReporter I found this cool, story, what do you think? www.coolstory.com?”
THE # SYMBOL:
The hash sign represents a topic. So let’s take the Farnborough Air Show happening soon as an example. Anyone talking about that topic will put a #FARN10, so if you want to see what anyone is saying about it, you can look it up. For example, recently I did the Virgin America new flight from San Fransisco to Toronto. Anyone who was talking about that experience used #VXToronto.
THE RT:
You probably see “RT” a lot too. This stands for “Re-Tweet” and is when someone copies someone else’s origional message. Let’s say Mary Kirby (@RunwayGirl) just wrote something on her blog and Tweets about it. “Hey check out my cool new blog on in-flight entertainment.” If I like what she is saying and want my readers to see what she is saying, I can RT or repeat what she is saying. It would then look like this, “RT: @RunwayGirl Hey check out my cool new blog on in-flight entertainment.” So you know the original message was done by Mary, but I repeated it. Now if someone then RT’s my Tweet, it can get complicated and look like this, “RT: @AirlineReporter RT: @RunwayGirl Hey check out my cool new blog on in-flight entertainment. ” Someone doing the RT can also make comments. Remember that cool story you Tweeted to me earlier? Let’s say I want to share that with my readers and I RT it with a comment, like this, “Awesome! RT @YouTwitterName: @AirlineReporter I found this cool, story, what do you think? www.coolstory.com?” Don’t worry if it is starting to sound confusing. With a little playing around, you will get the hang of it!
You do not need to create an account to read Twitter, but it sure helps. By creating an account, you are able to add people that interest you onto your friend’s list (that is my friend’s list) and see what they are Tweeting. When you get a little practice you can create groups. Like I created a group of airlines on Twitter that I will look at to see what they are Tweeting about. If you do create an account, it can be totally anonymous, all of Twitter can be anonymous if you want. You decide what information you let people know about.
It is ok if it is confusing at first. It took me a few months to get the hang of it and longer than that before I even know what the #-tag was for. After a while you get used to it and really use it as a resource to see what is going on in the world and connect to people and companies in ways you never have before. You can read about your Aunt Frannie feeding her cat and even hear about awesome travel deals, all in one spot. And I will tell you what…if you run into trouble or have any questions, go ahead and ask me and I will see if I can help you out!
Ok, if you will excuse me, I need to Tweet about this blog now!
To learn more try these out:
* About Twitter page
* The wiki article on Twitter really helps
* Video showing how using Twitter for personal use works
The rear of the slate is de-laminating on this American Airlines Boeing 757 on flight 1990.
Last Saturday American Airlines flight 1990 was about to take off from Miami to Orlando, when a passenger noticed a bit of damage to the wing’s right slat. As the flight of the Boeing 757 progressed the passenger, who wishes to remain anonymous, noticed the small damage had spread to the width of several feet and he notified one of the flight attendants.
WESH of Orlando spoke with American spokesperson, Tim Smith, and he confirmed that the Boeing 757 did have some de-lamination on the plane’s right wing. He stated the plane was taken out of service and ferried back to Miami to have repairs completed. Smith stated the de-lamination occurred on the rear of one of the wing’s slats, and even if the problem had affected the operation of the slat, the slats simply make the plane more aerodynamic but do not affect the plane’s ability to fly safely.
“I really do want to assure folks that safety wasn’t compromised and no one was in any danger because of this,” he said.
Some others aren’t so sure. Eric Norber of Orlando FAA Safety Team feels that the pilots should have made an emergency landing. At first glance this might look like a serious incident, but I am not so sure.
First off the flight from Miami to Orlando is extremely short and it might have taken longer for the pilot to make an emergency landing back in Miami versus continuing to Orlando. Obviously American felt it was not a safety risk, since the plane was flown back to Miami with no passengers aboard.
Ice or debris on the leading edge of slats can cause a loss of lift and serious issues, however the damage was on the rear of the slats and appears to be mostly cosmetic. While the rear of the slat is make of laminated composite material, the front part is made of alloy and the damage would not been able to spread.
That being said, I will continue to find out more information about this incident, but on the most part, this might just be a non-incident (except for a few interesting photos).
Someone on Airliners.net also posted a very cool image showing how the rear of the slat (this photo is of a Boeing 747, but still similar construction) is to the front.
Thanks Chris S for pointing this story out!
Image: WESH
Jasper Schuringa who attacked the Christmas Bomber on Flight 253
I am sure we can all remember the Christmas Bomber who tried to blow up Delta Air Lines flight 253 back on December 25, 2009. Recently, the passenger who bravely overpowered the terrorist and could have saved lives. Jasper Schuringa heard a loud pop and smelled smoke in the cabin before taking action. Schuringa quickly climb over seats to confront the terrorist Farouk Abdulmutallab. When Schuringa reached the terrorist he had the explosive in his hands on fire. Even though it didn’t explode how it was supposed to, it still could detonate at anytime and the flames were catching pillows on fire. Schuringa took the explosive away and tried to put the flames out with his bare hands. When that didn’t work he threw it on the ground and asked for fire extinguishers.
While other passengers worked to put out the flames, Schuringa started to attack the terrorist putting him in a headlock and fighting with him in the aisle. Other passengers and crew members then joined in the attack and were able to get Abdulmutallab into handcuffs.
Schuringa ended up suffering burns on his hand and was credited for his quick actions to subdue the terrorist. Schuringa was awarded by the Conway Safe Skies Award, which has been given out since 1990 to recognize outstanding efforts to protect the global air travelers’ safety. Nominees can include flight crews, passengers, ground crews, law enforcement officers, security personnel, aircraft designers, airport officials, and scientists developing explosives detection devices or other security systems.
Thanks Michael for point this out!
Image: NYPost