First off, it took me a while to realize there were TWO different stories here. I kept seeing headlines about Jetstar Airways treating a disabled passenger wrongly and it took me a while they did it TWICE.
Most recently a blind couple, Glen Bracegirdle and Kathryn Beaton, arrived at the Melbourne airport, wanting to board their flight with their guide dog. The ticket agent screamed, “no dogs, no dogs, no dogs,” even though Jetstar’s own policy allows guide dogs to travel with disabled passengers. Instead of getting in a huge confrontation with the airline, the couple booked with another. They received an apology from Jetstar, but they still plan on reporting the incident to the Human Rights Commission.
About a month ago Kurt Fearnley, a paralympic champion, was asked by Jetstar to check his own wheel chair. They did offer to let him have one of theirs, but stated he would have to be pushed by airline staff. Fearnley wasn’t so keen about giving up his independence and be wheeled around by someone else. He said the equivalent for an able-bodied person “would be having your legs tied together, your pants pulled down and be carried or pushed through an airport.” To protest the treatment, Fearnley declined their wheelchair and pulled himself on the ground to the gate.
”People with disability have the same right to travel by air as the rest of the population,” commented Bill Shorten, the Australian government’s parliamentary secretary for disabilities. “They should not be treated like children or as an inconvenience.” Being asked about the multiple incidents Jetstar has had recently he added: “I’m furious. I’m sick of hearing about it.”
Airline spokesman Simon Westaway insisted that both reports were isolated occurrences, telling the local press that Jetstar has a “great record” for handling disabled passengers. But the federal government has rejected claims the incidents are unrelated. I hope Jetstar is right and this doesn’t happen again.
The Aviation Geekfest happened at the Future of Flight. Photo by Airline Reporter
The Aviation GeekFest was amazing yesterday. I got there a little early to enjoy what the Future of Flight has to offer. I was treated to seeing a Boeing 737 doing touch and go’s (can you guess what airline will be getting this aircraft?) from the Strato Deck.
It was nice meeting all the other aviation geeks. It is always great to be around other aviation-minded people and talk in length about the airline business.
After grouping up we were able to get a special VIP tour of the Boeing Factory up in Everett. It was hard because we weren’t allowed to bring in cameras or phones on the tour. Most of us are technology geeks and I wanted to pull out my iPhone about two dozen times to take pictures and Twitter, but I wasn’t able to. Harriet Baskas, who was also on the tour and aviation pro, was lucky enough to smuggle out a drawn picture of the Boeing 787 ZA001. After seeing her nice picture I was happy that Boeing was also kind enough to take pictures of our group during the tour (which I included on my Flickr).
The money shot! Our bus got with-in a few feet of the ZA001 Boeing 787 on the flight line. Its strobes were flashing and one engine spinning. Photo by Boeing
Probably the best part of the tour was being able to drive out on the flight line. Normally the tour doesn’t do this, but we were all about 50 feet away from Boeing 787 ZA001. It had its strobes on and one engine spinning. Pretty much aviation geek heaven. I think most people had goose bumps being so close and I REALLY wanted to have my camera right then. The Boeing 787 just looks amazing that close in person and I can’t wait to see it take flight.
We then went into the Boeing facility where we could see the Boeing 777, 747-8, and 787 being built. It just amazed me how Boeing makes it look so simple to build some of the most complex machines in the world. Seeing all the parts and how complex the process is, it is incredible how these machines are able to fly for 20-40 years with almost no issues. Tour guide Mike (also a Airline Reporter reader, HI MIKE!) did an AMAZING job with his tour and left no question unanswered (except “hey, when is the 787’s first flight?” — although it was hinted it might be December 15th now).
It was great looking out and seeing the new Boeing 747-8 being built. Photo by Boeing
Then it was back to the Future of Flight for some awesome pizza from Garlic Jim’s and beer compliments of Horizon Air. Although I didn’t win any of the raffle prizes (two VIP tickets to the 787 first flight, $250 Alaska Airlines gift certificates, an amazing looking model by Custom Models, and more) I was totally ok with that since it was a great event.
They hope to do it again in the future, so be sure to keep out a keen eye for invites (add everyone listed in the previous paragraph and me to your Twitter account to hear about the next event). A special thank you to everyone who made the event possible and I can’t wait until the next one!
Make sure you have your sound on for this one. This is a Royal New Zealand Air Force Boeing 757 going at high speeds and then going up at a 45 degree angle. Yes, I know technically this is not an airline, but the plane is used in many airlines and it is always awesome seeing them do amazing things. The video was taken during RNZAF 2007 Open Day celebration.
Balkan Holidays Airline (or BH Air) is a special charter airline for Balkan Holidays that provides special tours. to Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Serbia and Romania. The tour company has been around since 1966, but the airline was created more rently in 2002. The airline flies chartered flights to the UK, Scandinavia, Germany, Israel, Switzerland, and others.
The charter airline started with one lone Tuplov TU-154, but today they have four aircraft, all Airbus 320’s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bh_air_a320-200_lz-bhd_takes_off_at_manchester_arp.jpg
Tupolev Tu-154, LZ-HMI, Balkan Holidays, Manchester, June 2006
Balkan Holidays Airline (or BH Air) is a special charter airline for Balkan Holidays that provides special tours. to Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Serbia and Romania. The tour company has been around since 1966, but the airline was created more recently in 2002. The airline flies chartered flights to the UK, Scandinavia, Germany, Israel, Switzerland, and others.
The charter airline started with one lone Tupolev TU-154, but today they have four aircraft, all Airbus 320’s.
A Batavia Air Boeing 737 that was at the Ngurah Rai Airport in Indonesia had some issues with one of its engines and caused passenger panic. Airport Commander, Lt. Col. Aldrin P. Mongan, stated “, there was a blast-like sound which shook the plane when the second engine was turned on.”
The blast caused smoke, which caused some passengers to think the plane was on fire. “[Passengers] demanded the cabin crew to open the emergency exit door and some of them jumped off disorderly. They jumped before the slider came out,” Ketut Parwa, the head of the Bali rescue team stated. Three passengers jumped out of the aircraft and all were injured.
The act of these passengers is very selfish. It seems they were not listening to the flight crew and put other people’s lives at risk. However, I don’t know how I would react if I was on a plane and honestly thought it was on fire. Especially when knowing all Indonesian airlines (except Garuda Indonesia) are banned from flying to the European Union since 2007 due to their poor safety record.
