Iran Aseman Airlines B727 EP-ASC
When I am trying to sleep, I can find the “look out this window to see _______ mountain,” a little annoying. However being asked to pray by a pilot while in mid-flight would wake me up QUICK.
An Aseman Airlines Boeing 727-200 took off from Tehran, Iran, after a six-hour delay. About 45 minutes into the flight, there was a “technical glitch” and the plane had to turn around to go back to Tehran. The pilot informed the passengers of the issue and asked them to pray.
The plane landed and all passengers were safe. Details at this time are scarce and the airline is slacking a bit in the PR department.
Iran has been in the spotlight recently with the crash of a Caspian Airlines Tupolev 154 in July that killed all 168 aboard.
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Source: AFP Image: A330
Photo of Paine field where one of the assembly lines for the Boeing 787 are located in Everett, WA. Photo by Flight Blogger
After much anticipation, Boeing has announced they will be building their second assembly line for the Boeing 787 in Charleston, SC. As a Seattle native, this comes as disappointing news. The company will still build some of the 787’s at their Everett facility. Both cities and states have been negotiating hard to win the rights to build the facility. Flight Blogger reports that talks between Boeing and the unions broke down late yesterday, causing speculation that Boeing would choose South Carolina.
Once the dust settles on this, we will take a look at why this happened and what this means for the future of Everett, and the production of new planes. Until then, please feel free to follow Flight Blogger for up to the minute information.
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One of about 85 Boeing 717's that AirTran currently flies.
The Boeing 717 is a unique airliner. It started life as the McDonnell Douglas MD-87-105, then the MD-95, but when Boeing bought out MD, they continued building the aircraft under the name “Boeing 717.” The aircraft was produced from 1998 to 2006, with 156 built.
The Boeing 717 is very similar in size to the Boeing 737-600, but Boeing felt it could successfully market both aircraft. The 737-600 is more suited for long hauls, and the 717 for short ones. The name “717” had been used to promote the Boeing 720, but that was short-lived and the name was never fully resurrected.
The aircraft was marketed to airlines with aging DC-9’s that needed replacements. Customers such as Northwest Airlines and Qantas Airlines started to see how efficient and cost effective the planes were, but they did not produce enough sales, since most airlines were moving to aircraft commonality.
Also, the 100 seat market became competitive with Bombardier and Embraer making fierce competition. In January 2005, Boeing announced it would cease production of the jetliner and the last Boeing 717 rolled off the assembly line in April 2006. It was delivered to AirTran on May 23, 2006, which was fitting, since AirTran was also its launch customer.
Now the former Boeing 717 manufacturing site, located in Long Beach, CA is being converted into a $375million movie studio across its 77 acres.
Flying on a Boeing 717 almost feels like traveling in time. Being able to fly on an aircraft that looks very similar to the DC-9, but built almost 40 years later, can be an exciting experience.
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Southwest Airline's green logo
No, Southwest isn’t re-painting their exteriors green, but they are going green with their interiors. The airline is testing a Boeing 737-700 with innovative ideas to reduce weight and to use recycled material.
To start, there are new seats that are about 5lbs lights than their predecessors. This cuts down weight, which cuts down on fuel, which reduces the aircraft’s carbon footprint. It also has carpet that is made of 100% recycled materials and can be replaced in sections, instead of needing to replace the whole aircraft’s carpet, reducing waste.
Materials are not the only change. The aircraft is also kicking off Southwest’s new recycling program, where more items used on the plane will be recycled.
More and more airlines are going green, which is a good thing. However others are trying to reduce weight, to cut costs, to increase profit. Then they say they are doing it to cut down on carbon emissions and as a bonus they can say they are saving the environment. However, Southwest is going a step further, saying this goes past the testing phase and goes fleet-wide.
I talked to Marilee Mcinis, who does Public Relations for Southwest and she stated, “The usage results and customer feedback will help us make a decision on how best to move forward with these materials. We are testing for durability, comfort, etc., so we want to make sure we pick the best product available to meet all of our standards. This is a true test, so we don’t have a particular end date in mind.”
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Source & Image: InteriorDesign.net
Upclose and personal with an Airbus A320
NOTE: This blog was updated, see below.
The good news is the pilots were not sleeping on Northwest Airlines flight 188 that missed Minneapolis by 150 miles. The bad news is they still missed the airport and the real reason is not enough to save their jobs.
The Airline Biz Blog has a great run down of the complete text of the current NTSB text on the incident. Some of the bigger points:
* The Captain, 53 years old, was hired in 1985. His total flight time is about 20,000 hours, about 10,000 hours of A-320 time of which about 7,000 was as pilot in command.
* The First Officer, 54 years old, was hired in 1997. His total flight time is about 11,000 hours, and has about 5,000 hours on the A-320.
* Both pilots stated that they were not fatigued. They were both commuters, but they had a 19-hour layover in San Diego just prior to the incident flight. Both said they did not fall asleep or doze during the flight.
* Both said there was no heated argument.
* Both stated there was a distraction in the cockpit. The pilots said there was a concentrated period of discussion where they did not monitor the airplane or calls from ATC even though both stated they heard conversation on the radio. Also, neither pilot noticed messages that were sent by company dispatchers. They were discussing the new monthly crew flight scheduling system that was now in place as a result of the merger. The discussion began at cruise altitude.
* Each pilot accessed and used his personal laptop computer while they discussed the airline crew flight scheduling procedure. The first officer, who was more familiar with the procedure was providing instruction to the captain. The use of personal computers on the flight deck is prohibited by company policy.
* Neither pilot was aware of the airplane’s position until a flight attendant called about 5 minutes before they were scheduled to land and asked what was their estimated time of arrival (ETA). The captain said, at that point, he looked at his primary flight display for an ETA and realized that they had passed MSP. They made contact with ATC and were given vectors back to MSP.
* Both pilots said there are no procedures for the flight attendants to check on the pilots during flight.
It is against Northwest Airline’s policy for pilots to access laptops while in flight and these pilots have been doing their job long enough to know this. They had the radio on, but were engrossed in their conversation and laptops to notice people were concerned they lost contact and missed the airport. It is too bad that one incident like this will ruin these pilot’s careers, but with so many lives and Northwest Airline’s reputation at stake, there needs to be serious consequences for their actions.
UPDATE 4:33pm:
Airline Biz Blog is reporting that Delta Air Lines (parent of Northwest Airlines) is stating the pilots will lose their jobs. The airline’s policy states that using laptops while in flight will lead to a pilot’s termination. Delta CEO Richard Anderson said: “Nothing is more important to Delta than safety. We are going to continue to cooperate fully with the NTSB and the FAA in their investigations.”
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Image: AV8NLVR